BOSS is generally being considered obsolete because the Master List was no longer being updated as of the introduction of the stable version of LOOT. If you have mods that are getting updates or use a new mod that's utilizing the LOOT standards, you might hit an issue with load order eventually.

Antivirus apps should allow you to mark an application as safe. Check in Avast's settings or consult their website.

By Launcher, I think you're referring to the Steam Browser application, correct? When you are in your Library tab and you click the game, it will show the Steam browser page associated with that game and you'll see how many hours you've played next to the [> Play] button. I make it a habit to open the browser when I'm playing and do see my hours accumulating even using the SKSE launcher icon. Now that you have SKSE installed, always remember to use the SKSE Skyrim launcher icon or you'll be presented with error messages on start-up and any mods relying on SKSE won't work. I'm assuming you used Gopher's instructions on loading SKSE, it's the best method.

I'm not sure how many followers you can have, from a standalone perspective it's probably only limited by what your rig (PC) can handle overall. The Amazing Follower Tweaks mod allows you to "make" around 27 followers (can't recall the exact number), including the vanilla ones, so that might be the code limit, not sure though. Skyrim's save games can get huge when you start adding mods. Due to the number of mods I run I occasionally get the eternal load screen of death, even with the SKSE tweak, which if you are interested is as follows:

[Memory]
DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768
ScrapHeapSizeMB=256

Copy and past the above exactly as it is into your SKSE.ini file. That helps to stabilize the Skyrim bug that occasionally raises its ugly head when attempting to move from an interior to an exterior cell and when traveling from any of the main DLC locations (i.e. Solstheim,Fort Dawnguard/Dayspring Canyon)

I also use a rotating save system due to the occasional potential of CTD's in Skyrim. Use the Console to name your saves with the following command (remove the brackets though):

save ["name of save"]

If you use more than one word for the save name always place it in quotation marks as I've done above. I'll usually name my saves according to the character and do three in sequence; AltmerMage1, AltmerMage2, AltmerMage3 and AltmerMageSafe. The last one is saved directly after character creation and kept throughout the game. You need to use the console only once for each named save, after that they will show up in the regular Save menu.

I think they are referred to as Nord War Dogs. He cracked me up when I first started that quest. Interesting choice for the voice. I would have gone more along the lines of Scooby-doo





You can use the same command I mention in the first page of this topic to set any dog companion as essential so it is not killed in battle. The trick is that you have to find out their Base ID, not their Reference ID. In order to find that you'll need their name, which can be problematic if you pick up the "Stray Dog" that roams around. If they have a unique name such as Meeko you can find the Base ID by typing the following and hitting enter:

help Meeko 4

Then look for the resulting entry line that starts with NPC. (Disclaimer: I've never done this with dogs, so I'm assuming they are considered an NPC. I'll check it later this weekend and correct this if needed.)

Once you get the Base ID just type the following into the console (no brackets, just type in the BaseID) and hit enter

setessential [BaseID] 1

That will prevent your dog from dying in battle. When I get a chance I'll check out the stray dog entry and see how that shows up in the console. You can also find base ID's for known NPC's in the various Skyrim and Elder Scrolls Wiki's that populate the Internet.

Trail_Mystic thank you!!! That is great information and advice. I've been wondering how to make a named save and I will do the memory thing. I'm going to hold out for Barbas though. I'm really appreciative of all the information you and others have been giving me. There are people (I've heard..) who have played 2000 & 3500 hours each. So I do want to keep track of the number of hours played.

Back to Skyrim. I still have to go into the boilery @ Mzulft.

SharonB

and have fun

I played 400 hours and was only partially through the main quest. I just spent my time wandering and exploring. One of these days I'll start a new game and actually pay attention to the storyline.

I thought I'd mentioned this before but it appears that I haven't -

If you are swapping mods in and out of the game (when you are trying stuff out) it is usually a good idea to use a save cleaner to remove traces of mods you've ditched from your saves.

This is the one I use.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31724/?

Just checked my Steam profile - I've got 4652 hours logged in to Skyrim...and yes I do have a life

Thanks mj2c. I will use that if I start disabling mods. TrailMystic, How is it possible to have a life and play that many hours?? So far, I have 45 hours in.

Finished Mzulft and back at Winterhold. Next quest takes me to labrythrian. But before I do that I want to pick up Lydia and get her armored and sell some stuff. Maybe explore a little and pick some flowers, butterflies and whatnot. Maybe make an effort to learn enchanting, alchemy. Find some standing stones. Explore a little. Train some. We'll see.

Sounds like you're running the College of Winterhold quests, always fun. Remember to ask the established Magisters if there is any college business with which you can help. Some of those can yield nice rewards. One thing about Skyrim, in some cases it's easy to miss quests, partly because there are so many available and also due to the somewhat sketchy guidance given in the dialogue on occasion. I think the writers got tired at times and didn't really validate as well as they could have. That reminds me, there's a neat mod by a very reputable Developer that goes by the Nexus Forum name of Arthmoor. He's part of the group that worked on the Unofficial Patches, so knows Skyrim quite intimately. I'm assuming you've already loaded the Unofficial Patches, if you haven't, do so. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches and most of the good mods on the Nexus require that you have them.

Here are the links for you and anyone who needs them. Incidentally, for those that have been running these for the last few years the Dev group just released new updates and updated info on their respective pages as recently as this month if you're interested:

Skyrim Unofficial Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19/?
Dawnguard Unofficial Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23491/?
Hearthfires Unofficial Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25127/?
Dragonborn Unofficial Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31083/?
High Resolution DLC Unoffical Patch: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31255/?


Anyway, the name of the mod I was talking about before going off on that tangent is "Cutting Room Floor." He (Arthmoor) basically went into the code and restored a bunch of stuff that Bethesda's Developers either never finished or didn't add due to continuity or dialogue misses. It can conflict with certain mods due to the introduction of new landmarks, NPC's and even quests. After playing Skyrim for as long as I have I only just recently added the mod and was pleasantly surprised at the little (and sometime moderately large) things that were added here and there.

Here's the link to the mod on the Nexus: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/47327/?

Here's the link to Arthmoor's Nexus page, it's worth it to page through his mod files: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/684492/?tb=mods&pUp=1

Wow, I thought I'd logged a lot with my 1318 hours. But I'm still not through playing I've just been taking a break with DA Inquisition and, more recently, Witcher 3.

Getting back to Mods, has anyone used Falskaar? If not it's well worth looking into. It's a whole new area with separate quests and all. It's like having another DLC.

Also there's an article on the guy who created the mod that's an interesting read.

I've played through the mod a couple of times and it's a fun little romp in a new land.

TrailMystic, thank you! I have installed all patches except the unofficial hi res dlc patch. It states it requires the official hi res dlc. Can you provide a link for that? I've looked, but nothing exactly matches the name. My Skyrim is the legendary version 1.9.32.08. Is the official hi res dlc something that steam would have installed?

SharonB

Thanks oldman, will take a look.

The HiRes dlc is a free download on Steam. Select Skyrim in steam then look to the right where it says DLC and that should take you there.

Oldman, I've played through Falskaar, and it's good: internally consistent and following the general style of Skyrim with a main quest-line and quite a number of side quests.

Thanks mj2c. Installing it now. - I've been working on the game all day, no time for playing. I added Nexus Mod Manager and then Loot to reorder my mods. Loot says I need to clean my master files. So I added TES5Edit and had to learn how to use that. I watched a video and that helped. But they said to verify the integrity of the cache to make sure there are no problems. Unfortunately it comes back to say 5 files were not validated and it reacquired them. I tried to do it again and it did the same thing. Boy this adding mods is complicated. I'm not sure what to do next. I'll look around for more info. Shouldn't hi res be in nexus mod manager? I can't find it to add it there. If it's supposed to be there. I'm almost afraid to play the game with all the fooling around with the files I've been doing.

SharonB

Run your Skyrim Launcher and select Data Files and tick all of the HiRes entries in there.

Did that - it's much better.

I don't think I'm cut out for smelling the roses. Sold some stuff, did alchemy. Now it's time for the next quest - once I pickup Lydia.

If you followed Gopher's video on TES5Edit, he states that you have to do the cleaning process again any time you verify the integrity of your cache afterwards.

See, when you clean your master files, you're pulling "bad" or useless files out of the original grouping that Besthesda (lazily) assembled. Steam's validation process can't differentiate those files because as an organization they have to trust what the game developers give them. So their process has a list of every file associated with the game and it's DLC. TES5Edit removes some of those files because they don't serve a purpose and can cause issues when running mods. Steam's cache validation detects that those file groups are gone (that's why it gave you that message) and downloads them to your game basically undoing the cleaning.

Really, the only time you need to run that cache process is just prior to the first time you run TES5Edit to do a cleaning or if you are having problems that you just can't solve and need to remove your mods and SKSE to try and bring the game close to it's "factory state."

Thank you TrailMystic. I thought Gopher said to run the integrity check to make sure the game was running right. I'll do the cleaning again and not check the verification. I must say that hi res sure makes a difference. I didn't know Steam had it till mj2c told me.

Well I feel much better about the game now and can consider what mods I would like to have. Are there any must haves you recommend?

SharonB

I would just recommend for your first playthrough just mods that make the game easier to use (like SkyUI) and maybe make the GFX and sound nicer rather that make the game easier to play (like extra followers and stuff).

Added SkyUI mod. Getting used to that. Seems better, but I'm still learning it. How do you change the filters? - I started a new game to test how my game runs now and it runs great. I got the Dawnguard quest. I'm going to get Lydia and go looking for some new sites - Azura's Shrine, etc. Going to check my map and just explore, clear out some bandit camps, mines, whatever I find.

In my new game I tried being a battle mage, but I seem to primarily stick to magic so I guess I'll go back to my previous game and do that. I'm a level 10 now.

With Dawnguard engaged you're going to come up across some challenging opponents so make sure you invest in what ever offensive and defensive skill you choose to pursue; don't try to multi-class on your first run through. Wait until you get to know the system better.

If you are going to be a mage, develop your Destruction, Alteration and Restoration skills. Conjuration comes in handy as well when you want to take some pressure off of yourself.

The armor skill of your choice and a little one handed can also come in handy depending on the direction you want to go with your character. Just be aware that you'll have to decide if you want to wear armor OR be a pure robe wearing mage. Reason being is that the Mage Armor perk is deactivated when you wear armor. No use in wasting perk points on that of you are developing an armor skill. Also don't be afraid to run out of range or into a pack of city guards. Trust me it can come to that when you face off against what's coming.

Wards do a great job of fending off magic attacks and temporarily reducing melee weapon damage, just be aware of your Magicka Level since wards continually drain it while you are holding them up (unless you have a mod that stops that from happening )