Tale of Two Wastelands: Over-Encumbered Edition (TTW:OEE) (Mod guide)

[xxPYROxxJONESxx]

Can we get some love for https://ttwoee.com/#introduction ?
Like maybe leave a positive comment here -> https://forum.step-project.com/topic/84 ... d-edition/ .
what this guy is doing is the most ambitious use of ttw I've seen

[jlf65]

A few issues I've seen: he recommends CASM 1.9 which crashes with the current version of JIPLN (you need CASM 1.8), and he recommends using LOOT to sort all the mods (LOOT does a horrible job at sorting). He also says to get xLODGen beta 42, but the version on the page linked is beta 57... it changed yesterday. I imagine he hasn't had a chance to update his tutorial, but it may confuse people, making them search for beta 42 since he recommends that rather than the current.

Overall, it seems pretty good. It's certainly overkill on the retextures. If you've got the graphics card for it, go for it! If not, he should probably recommend just NMC and not the rest.

EDIT: I generated the LOD using xLODGen beta 57 - it took five hours and generated 19 GB of meshes and textures, but damn does it look good!

[Lyndi]

We've had a few people come by here for help over the years after using that guide. Usually it's been problems with the game refusing to load. Their load orders have always been a giant mess. You can fault that on Loot or fault that guide for telling them to use Loot. He also tells people to make an automated patch using xEdit which you shouldn't do. There's a link to a guide for making a proper merge patch around here somewhere.

Guide's like that are never a good idea in my personal opinion. When people install mods they need to have an idea of what they're installing and why they're installing it and decide if they actually even need the mod in question. People tend to download everything in the guide, dump it all in their data folder, with no idea what each mod does. Then they run into problems and start running around asking for help with absolutely no idea what mod is actually causing the problem. The user gets drustrated because their game is a wreck and no one can help them, and mod authors get frustrated because the user is running around, making wild bug reports on their mod pages.

[xxPYROxxJONESxx]

A few issues I've seen: he recommends CASM 1.9 which crashes with the current version of JIPLN (you need CASM 1.8), and he recommends using LOOT to sort all the mods (LOOT does a horrible job at sorting). He also says to get xLODGen beta 42, but the version on the page linked is beta 57... it changed yesterday. I imagine he hasn't had a chance to update his tutorial, but it may confuse people, making them search for beta 42 since he recommends that rather than the current.

Overall, it seems pretty good. It's certainly overkill on the retextures. If you've got the graphics card for it, go for it! If not, he should probably recommend just NMC and not the rest.

EDIT: I generated the LOD using xLODGen beta 57 - it took five hours and generated 19 GB of meshes and textures, but damn does it look good!

Thanks for the reply Jlf, I'll forward this to his s.t.e.p page if you haven't done so already. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.

[Risewild]

But the worst offender in that guide is that... It says that Roy's Auto Gates Redux is a conversion for TTW, when it was actually made from scratch, it was only inspired by the FO3 mod.

[xxPYROxxJONESxx]

We've had a few people come by here for help over the years after using that guide. Usually it's been problems with the game refusing to load. Their load orders have always been a giant mess. You can fault that on Loot or fault that guide for telling them to use Loot. He also tells people to make an automated patch using xEdit which you shouldn't do. There's a link to a guide for making a proper merge patch around here somewhere.

Guide's like that are never a good idea in my personal opinion. When people install mods they need to have an idea of what they're installing and why they're installing it and decide if they actually even need the mod in question. People tend to download everything in the guide, dump it all in their data folder, with no idea what each mod does. Then they run into problems and start running around asking for help with absolutely no idea what mod is actually causing the problem. The user gets drustrated because their game is a wreck and no one can help them, and mod authors get frustrated because the user is running around, making wild bug reports on their mod pages.

Constructive criticism Lyndi, I appreciate that. Pretty sure the guy running this guide is just a kid (but a talented one) juggling this between school and work, he states that the guide in its current state will probably break your game at the top and overall I'm impressed by his work. Hes only begun overhauling the guide a few months ago, so give him some time.

On the subject of load order, this is fairly easily fixed if the author posts his load order to the guide for comparison, or he could take cues from Darth Lexy over at the LOTDR:SE and include instructions on how to set up loot to work properly with his guide.

I'll search for the guide you mentioned later and forward it to him, meanwhile if you come across it, or know of any decent key words to search for it, please share.

On the subject on whether guides should exist, I point to SRLE Extended: Legacy of The Dragonborn as a shining example of a finished and polished guide years in the making. If you can follow the instructions properly then you should have a stable game & it's a brilliant way for amateur-intermediate modders to hone there skills.

I admit that support is an issue, but then I point to wabbajack, that new mod auto-installer endorsed by nexus and remind you that the daughter of the guide I mentioned above (run by darth lexy) has received a wabbajack installer, in many cases this is great for support because it cuts down on human error and provides a community who are aimed at fixing the issues that arise from that installer.

Finally, in response to the fact that people blindly follow the guide and subscribe to every mod that it tells them to do so I say this; that's what we sign up for, we read the description at the top, describing what the guide is trying to accomplish, and decide if that is our cup of tea.. if it is, then most of the time its important to install all the mods otherwise we might run into issues at a later part of the guide where patches are involved, good guides will mention which mods can be painlessly omitted.

In the case of TTW:OEE I like it bcos the kid is smart and drawing inspiration from the best guides around, which I've already look at and very much like. Also, not everyone has the time to ever create something as ambitious as some of the guides created (hopefully these people are using there time to become a doctor
or scientist) , and I for one am thankful we dont have to miss out on such amazing experiences.

I would like to say that if TTW:OEE ever reaches a state of reasonable polish then I will create a wabbajack for it myself.

[xxPYROxxJONESxx]

But the worst offender in that guide is that... It says that Roy's Auto Gates Redux is a conversion for TTW, when it was actually made from scratch, it was only inspired by the FO3 mod.

Haha thanks Risewild, I'll let him know