Quoted from EtemSoru 3:57, 21 Feb 2013
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Use this with the new SKSE beta 1_06_09, install, go to skyrim>data>SKSE and create "SKSE.ini" and type:
[General]
ClearInvalidRegistrations=1
Save and close.
It will now clean invalid scripts from mods you don't use anymore from
your save game. It will take a while and only works as you play, but
over time your save will drop.
There's a lot you can do without scripts. They're not absolutely necessary for things like dungeons and followers.One problem with Skyrim is that they basically didn't design a safe way to remove or update mods that use scripting. You'll want to avoid careless use of mods if you want to maximize stability. I use the term "careless" very loosely, here.
Always always ALWAYS design followers as though they're going to be used by vanilla players. UFO and AFT are designed with this in mind. This is because the areas UFO and AFT changes don't have to do with initiating followers (with the exception of being able to hire more than one), only what happens after they become a follower.Thankfully that much I do know. The big problem though is the scripts are compiled into the save, even if the scripts aren't active. Worse, a lot of scripts that are left running suspended (as in 'wake, check for x, if not go back to sleep' which is often done for a lot of checking status to do things) will constantly keep going, even though the original is long gone. Means your save game gets unstable and buggy. Eventually can fail. The safe way to remove mods from a savegame is 'don't' or alternately 'new game'. There's also cleaners to strip it but I've never gotten them to work nice.
It *also* means that any mods I make would probably be confused by the fact that I have a handful of other mods. For instance, if you make a follower mod, and have UFO installed (which you should) do you have to make it work by designing it to? Or does it automatically work? Or is it conflicting by default? Or are the extra features ignored?
That sort of thing is why you can finish the game in a month maybe, but actually making a mod and testing it, since you have to do some playing as well.. probably isn't gonna be easy, doubly so if you're not familiar with the toolset and new papyrus stuff.
For your bit about dialogue - dialogue portions are handled by separate quests, meaning you can additively (meaning without overriding all of the original dialogue) add dialogue branches to any character. It saves a lot of headaches, believe it or not.Hm. Now I have to finish my playthru so I can wipe all my mods and start afresh because I don't trust the toolset to actually understand 'don't load these files when I'm working in here, only the ones I want' and certainly not to persistently remember what files to have loaded for a project.
This is the same toolset that seemed to have broken its auto-gen navmeshing somehow so any mods before they patched it that changed worldspaces etc broke everything with constant ctds. Admittedly, it's not too far off from base. I've remarked before, the engine needed a rewrite from ground up years ago, and while that isn't always an option in the design world you should at least fix some of the glaring big faults in it. And not add others like the script caching. I figure it's so complicated script actions midway through are persisted, but there's probably better ways, doubly so for a lot of the functions that don't work at all.
As for designing with vanilla or not, I meant more that while UFO attaches on, I have no idea how it handles NPCs with actual lots of custom dialogue. It does seem to override all the stuff so you can control them accordingly, and that's good, but I'm not sure if it overwrites or adds or what. Mostly because I see a lot of mods that are declared 'compatible load after' (meaning they change some UFO done stuff, and do they remove it or what?) and others 'compatible load before' (meaning they have to get overwritten in parts, what does UFO do to them then?) and even some 'not compatible'.
I guess I need to get the hang of the toolset before anything and decide if I really want to sit down and make a mod for the game, and at least finish off the game itself. I mean I still have Falaskar and Elsewyr to do before I can even think of visiting Solostheim.