[skyrim] Setting Up This {Insert Words of Choice Here} Game, prettification (C) (+ merging and bsa unpacking!)

(Wow, I disappeared for a while, didn't I?  That's okay, no one but me knows this blog exists anyway.)

(This has been updated 11/18915 for a lot of fixes and corrections.  Thanks, non-existent people who hopefully don't know this blog exists yet!)

Skyrim came out in 2011.  I built my computer long before that, although I've upgraded my graphics card just last year and made a few other minor updates.  I'd like to think it's a pretty good computer: I can run Dragon Age: Inquisition on the highest settings with quite a few mods, and we know that game isn't optimized well.  (I need a new core for Fallout 4, though.)

Skyrim can still make it choke, though.

Why?  The main thing is, Skyrim just isn't optimized that well.  I mean, it will at least use 4G (unless certain other games Bethseda released I could bitch about), but that's about the best you can say about it.  There are memory leaks.  There is script bloat (god, there is script bloat).  There is the game just plain going "AH THIS IS TOO MUCH CRASHHHH" just (??) because you're using 200 mods and it hates you.

Why am I talking about this now?

Because we're at the MAKE THE GAME PRETTY section.  And, honestly, in this section you sort of have a choice.  Are you going to make the game the most gorgeous thing that's ever touched your computer's screen, or are you going to add five million script mods?  Because you can rarely do both because SKYRIM CHOKES BECAUSE IT IS NOT OPTIMIZED.

I compromise to myself on this.  I make my world look 'okay', a few things that are important to me look really 'nice' (I install pretty weather and pretty sky, because why not), and my character herself and her weapons and armor and clothes look bangin'... and then leave it like that.  But I'm going to recommend some high quality graphic options I have used in the past, too, in case you're more of the 'I think Skyrim's gameplay is fine, but the graphics are fugly' (while I'm more like 'Graphics fine SAVE FOR THE FEET WHY THOSE FEET OMG THOSE FEET, must CHANGE GAMEPLAYYY').

Right.  One of those cuts goes here, huh?

This is an extremely long post with a lot of detail.  I should cut it up further, one day...

[sunless sea] a very boring let's play (this part is half a guide, too, also it's mostly a text game), part one

Lose your mind, eat your crew!

[skyrim] Setting Up This {Insert Words of Choice Here} Game, mods (B) (cleaning, too!)

So we installed a bunch of utilities that we may or may not know how to use.  That may be progress.

Now we're going to actually install mods.  In annoyingly small doses with lots of testing.  Why?

Well, let's explain it AFTER THE CUT.  Man, I love cuts.  (/beat)

(This guide has been updated on 11/18/15 to note the changes to the Unofficial Patch(es?) and take away a few things I didn't need.)

[skyrim] Setting Up This {Insert Words of Choice Here} Game, the basics (A)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

A game so famous that, if you haven't heard about it, you've probably been hiding under a rock.

The eleventh (I believe, but this is counting this portable games no one played, ever, and ignoring expansion packs) game in Bethseda's ridiculously famous flagship franchise, that despite having come out in back in 2011 (which, by video game logic, is clearly ancient), is still ridiculously popular... mostly thanks to it's modding community.

(Of course, so is Morrowind.)

While those on console's are sadly locked out of the modding game unless they wish to violate their warranty and get banned from the Bethseda message boards forevermore, Skyrim modding is probably the reason for the game's popularity.  Lacking in the more indepth storyline one might be used to from Bioware, Obsidian and now CD Projekt, Skyrim instead focuses on an open world- where anything and everything can be changed by anyone with a bit of sense, focus, and ability to read tutorials and use a few utilities.

Despite that, though, modding Skyrim still presents it's difficulties.

Especially to me, due to my tendency of installing FIVE MILLION MODS AT ONCE.  Which, uh, tends to lead to crashes every three minutes.

After really getting to the point where I was getting a crash every ten minutes, I decided to breathe a few times and start all over.  Mostly as a note for myself, I decided to document this process, but I realize it may be of use to others as well.  I'll be going over things like using Wyre Bash, merging mods, adding animations, setting up ENB's...

Though I'll be doing it over the course of quite a few posts.

This guide will probably make more sense if you've done a bit of modding with another Bethseda game before (or Obsidan's Fallout New Vegas), but I am trying to make this as easy to follow without using video for someone who is completely new.  I don't know if I succeed in it, but it's an attempt!

Now, this seems like a good place for a cut...

[meta] Yet Another Gaming Chick Blog; surprise, surprise.

(Why is it always Gaming Chick or Gaming Girl?  I suppose Gaming Woman doesn't sound very cool.)

So.

I am Mikka (or Mka, or Natsumi, or Twani), and this is my gaming blog.  On here, I will type about my random excursions is various games: mostly RPGs (both single player and MMO), but occasionally something else (particularly strategy games and, yes, the odd visual novel) catches my attention.  At this moment, I plan on writing about the three MMO's I currently play- Star Wars the Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, and Everquest 2- along with Bethesda, Obsidian, and Bioware RPGs.  Other games are certain to appear, though, so be prepared for anything.

Sometimes, posts are more factual: reviews, updates on how I'm doing in a certain game, how to make modded Oblivion not explode in your face, and so on.  Other times, I go for a more roleplaying bent, such as the 'Journal of CHARNAME' in which I, you know, pretend I'm that character and record their experiences in the wide and scary gameworld.

(It's fun, I swear.)

Each post is tagged by the game it is part of, so you can read only my posts on certain games/avoid my roleplaying at all costs if you so wish to.  I also do some 'modding' for games: the only game where I have 'released' something is the lovely Indie game Academagia (my mod is included as official content, being the four new students of Aaran, Louise, Miya, and Antonio), but I also am doing some low key modding for other games.  My trials and screaming temper-tantrums as I try and make code cooperate will also be documented here.

And... that's it, basically. :)   Enjoy.