Skyrim Scandal - Updates - News - Thoughts



 Skyrim Scandal

- Updates - News - Thoughts -


Hi,

Today, an important article with several news (including a big one ) and thoughts. For this time, I wrote all my ideas on a note pad though these last months, so I hope I don't forget anything 😋
Subjects are varied. Of course, writting a blog is not only posting images. I always think about my visitors and how you feel in this place. Yes, I'm thinking about you :)
This must be comfortable, easy and with a unique touch.
As usual, I thank everybody who come on the blog. I readed that a lot of people come here frequently (almost everyday). Apparently, the morning coffee is a great moment to watch the blog.....That's great. You can come here for new articles and you can search for deeper (older) articles too.
In all cases, my goal is that you have a good time.

Go, go!!!!


1) A new Author

These last months, I was thinking about a second person to showcase UUNP conversions.
Why?
There are a lot of UUNP releases and despite the fact that I try to upload a daily article, sometime I feel a bit late with some news or updates. But without reducing the quality of the visual. So, a second person could be welcome.

The huge amount of UUNP conversions don't allow me to work correctly on my other themes (Retex, Lust, ENB Test, tips&tricks). And these other themes are as much "popular" as all my UUNP articles.
So, they just make sense according to your interest.....and I like to create them. Again, a second author would help me to focus on theses articles too.

A new bodyshape can be very welcome to showcase UUNP conversions too. A less "skinny" body can have an interest. How the bodyslide reacts with another body shape? Another opinion can be welcome too.

For all these reasons, I decided to find someone to upload UUNP articles on the blog......with me.
So, I searched someone who can fit to the blog, to the spirit.
I searched someone with a special touch. Someone with a character with a lot of face expression.
Another style compared to me to provide a different content. Another ENB too.

This choice was very difficult because there are a lot of talented peoples....however, I had someone in mind for his knowledge, his humility, his attitude and his global work.
I asked this person to come on the blog.


So, let me introduce you Idle. This person is also know as Cantregisterlol on Nexus.

Nice attitude, great Skyrim character and a global positive attitude.





I'm very glad to welcome Idle. He has a total liberty to showcase UUNP conversions and his own acces to the blog. As you can see, a different ENB, another Subsurface scattering, another vision of the game.
For now, Idle will post 1 or 2 articles per week. Idle has the liberty to upload articles on other theme. Well, you know that if this is constructive, it's always welcome.
Shots will be 1440p.

So, welcome Idle and thanks to join the blog!!!


2) Majestic Mountains

Some of you already know that I had problems to run "Majestic Mountains". I spoke about that in my last Updates/news/thoughts article.
Well, I can install the mod of course and I clearly see what it does and what it contains. 
The mod still increases my CTD percentage.....very very highy......enormously.
To make it simple, without the mod my game is 99.8% stable during several hours. With the mod installed, I almost CTD every 15 minutes.....fully randomly.
So, this precise mod is still imcompatible with my own game.
I did not find the reason of the CTD.
I checked everything, every commun files,etc...
Water mods, lods, smim, meshes, USLEEP...I don't know.
So, unfortunatly, I abandon the mod for my Oldrim. Of course, if your instalation works good, continue to use this mod. This is just my own experience.

However, to use this experience as an opportunity, I will create a "Retex article" about mountains and I have of course a pretty cool alternate solution (textures, meshes, lods) for textures and to generate every lods mountains (Dyndolod or TESGen5).


3) Focus about the blog

On some forums, I readed wrong informations about the blog.....specialy about the 4K.

4K is the resolution of all images (3840*2160). I just run the game with this resolution to have a maximum of details.
This doesn't mean that armors or outfits have 4K textures😁
That's doesn't mean that I retex myself all armors with new 4K textures.

I showcase outfits/armors which are available for everybody.
The 4K resolution just allows me to have a precise result.
This resolution is of course very welcome when I showcase a cloth with very HD textures and with close-up.
If the outfit have poor textures, then you'll see clearly poor textures👀

4) Microprocessor and Hard drive

Since the release of Skyrim (2011), I'm still using my old microprocessor and an Hard drive.

My processor is an Intel I7 3930K. A bit old 😆 . it has been released in november 2011....like Skyrim. It's still working good even If I feel some weaknesses sometimes for Skyrim (tiny localized fps drop).

So, I have a question for you.

  • If I change my microprocessor, do I need to re-install Windows and all my content?

Of course I need to check compatibility with my actual mothercard too.

About the storage, I'm still using several classic hard drives. I see more and more peoples using SSD. 
If I understand correctly, A SSD is like a flash memory.....so really fast. Maybe one day, I'll do the change but this means a new Skyrim instalation.

Despite these 2 old parts, Skyrim runs good and I can still have a decent result.


5) A good reason to retex your game

A retexture of the game is not only to make it more detailled.
This increases the quality of your ENB. Old or low textures have a bad result with ENBS and sometimes these textures can display strange reaction of your favorite ENB.

As you probably know, ENBS modify the reflection, shadows, colors, bloom, etc etc etc....
All these shaders react to textures and specially msn.dds. Main dds to.

I did some tests with the mod "Summerset isle" https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68406 
This mod has some unique terrain textures. Beaches and sand. It's an example.
These original textures create oversatured colors and bad shadows with an ENB (Rudy in my case).
I replace them with other beaches textures and the ENB reacted instantly. Better vision and a clearer global result.

I have already noticed that in Skyrim.
So, better textures are linked to the global result of your ENB.
That's maybe the reason why some players use the same ENB and have a important different result.

6) Rudy ENB

You probably know that I'm a faithful user of Rudy ENB. It's a good global ENB, performant, very good interiors, unique features. It's adapted to the gameplay and to images. It is not an eye candy ENB.....it is very natural.
Its strongness: It is well balanced and multipurpose.
I like it very much and Rudy answers to all questions. Well, he just supports his own mod/ ENB.

However, I'm not satisfied with his new 319 version. It's a beta version of course. Exteriors are nice and the new adaptation too. Interiors are unfortunatly not to my taste unfortunatly. And that's a problem to me.

So, that's possible that I may change my main ENB. I did some tests recently. I found a very interesting ENB.
True HD ENB https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/85711
Stunning results on textures and a chirugical precision. Very good for showcases. It's very fps friendly too.
Unfortunatly, the mod has big weaknesses. Nights are too clear (looks like day), interiors are not tasty, shadows are a bit...flat and the biggest problem........the modder don't answer questions.
i uploaded user images for this ENB (july 22). The modder hasn't validate my images yet (cute images of Diana...rare on Nexus😋)
or maybe he doesn't want my images at all 😱...I don't know.

Well, If I manage to edit the ENB to obtain a global good result (nights , interiors). I may use it in the future...more frequently. Or maybe the modder will decide to support his/her own mod.
The future will tell...

For the blog, I can't use a cinematic ENB. It modify colors.....way much. For example, I like a lot  Grim & Somber ENBS but it changes too much all colors. Well, you don't see the reality. Too much filters.

7) About paid UUNP mods / The unspoken rules

( for this text, I used some sentences/words from @neuralnetwork @steamcommunity. Just to be sure that you can have the full sense of my thoughts)

I'm a user of mods since a long time.....since Oblivion.
During this period, money wasn't important. Oblivion brought a lot of ideas and content.

Modding culture has this inherent idea that it is and is supposed to be fan-made stuff out of love and passion for the game. That's why people are typically so up in arms whenever someone talks about paid mods. It goes against the core concept of modding. Against the unspoken rules.

But the paid mod route is here. And we can find Patreon accounts.

There's always the question about getting worthwhile value for your purchase. Mods are typically made by amateurs, students and such like and thus the quality varies dramatically from mod to mod.

Mayhaps the author is good at what he does and deserves to get paid for his time and effort. Mayhaps he's a fraud and incompetent and makes products that are buggy and half finished. You really can't tell beforehand and if no information about the author's credibility can be established.
Free modding increases the popularity and longevity of games and indirectly brings more money to the company behind the vanilla game.
I have a hard time imagining Skyrim being this popular after all this time should majority of the mod content be accessible only via extra purchases.

Currently, patreon accounts are making a mistake:
A free gift received in exchange for money is not a free gift, that's an oxymoron.
That's the actual habit. Get paid, then upload a free gift.
It's free because some peoples paid for it.
It's not free.
This should be called simply "a public mod".

A second mistake is that blogs like mine don't have access to some UUNP conversions. I'm not a Patron.
it's a reality. No money to spend for mods = no mods.
I feel a bit......excluded 😕
That simply means......no showcases.
So, the mod can become "free 😵" after a long time, but the interest is lower after a period.

Still, going to paid mod route is dangerous as I see it. If money becomes the underlying principle, it will kill creativity fast. Modders won't be so helpful towards each other anymore as people begin to compete in order to create better and better mods while seeing other content creators as rivals, instead of supportive community.

Moreover, pushing mods towards the paywall end will ultimately diminish the interest in mods in general. Patreon accounts are equal to paid mods, there's nothing to debate there.

So, what's the positioning of the blog?

Priority to real free mods. We'll highlight those who share freely and generously. 
Not a real problem because real free content is currently higher quality compared to paid mods.
Skyrim Scandal focuses on quality and not quantity.

We may showcase free public mods from Patreon but we are waiting exceptional content, ultra high quality assets. And links will not neccesarily lead to the main Patreon account if we have alternate links.

I hope you appreciate my positioning and my honesty.
Of course, I'm waiting your reaction and your opinion. We are all mod users from the same community.

Thank you

MARMOTTE

Comments

  1. Nice article Marmotte,
    I can't wait to see your upcoming retex article and get your take on mountains and hopefully and it would be interesting if you include snow as well. I have a lot of problems with Majestic as well, NO CTD but mismatched snow when i have it installed ( snow on rocks and snow on ground are 2 completely different shades of white even with BDS).

    Completely agree about paid mods, I've tried a couple of conversions from there the only ones that were good were NINI's stuff. I play with a custom UUNP petite body as well although my character has slightly bigger b-cup)

    Congrats to you and Asherz for making Lorelei a follower! She is lovely and BADASS as well!

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    1. Hi Joe,

      yes, no solutions with Majestic mountains. For gameplay and images, It is necessary to have a stable game, so I just can't use the mod. But I know a lot of peoples who can run it perfectly.

      In my game, I must have something incompatible with MM. Impossible to find the guilty :) So, I use another solution to obtain anyhow a decent visul result. We will talk about that in a future article.

      About paid mods, I wrote everything I wanted in my article. So, currently I'm not allow to download some mods.

      About Lorelei, Asherz did all the job :) He deserves all credits...not me :)
      Thanks for this comment Joe. i'm sure the custom UNpetite d-cup looks perfect!

      Delete
    2. HAHA not quite as big as a D cup, I Meant B Cup!

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I've always held the belief that mods should be free but donations should be encouraged. I am sorry to hear about the situation you are in.

      Delete
    2. this wnisewond btw ^

      Delete
    3. it's fine.. i deleted the comment.. i really don't like chatting about my personal situation..

      Delete
    4. Hi Asherz and Wnise.
      Asherz, you did not give me the time to read your first comment :) you deleted it before I read it.
      All comments are welcome Asherz.....all comments!
      However if you think that your comment wasn't in the right place, them you have been able to delete it.

      Delete
    5. you did not miss anything, I give a better explanation below of my view :)

      Delete
  3. good to see update on your blog, Marmotte! :D

    *I am happy more and more people are visiting your blog, you really do deserve more recognition for your work.
    *Unfortunate that you'll have to start from scratch on your ENB. Possible to simply not update it?
    *Also - cool to see someone new adding showcases! Will be nice to see how larger breasts fit in outfits (I can never be sure when seeing your petite girls, hehe)... If this goes well and you'd ever consider another person, I'd love to contribute if you find my screen-shooting worthy :3

    Cheers!

    ~Wnisewond

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    Replies
    1. Hi Wnise,

      I can still use my Rudy NLA 315 of course. It is still good. But I'm testing new visuals too. Changes are good sometimes.
      Rudy ENB is hard to replace. So, tries, tries and again tries :) I'll find the good balance soon :)

      If I need more support, then I'll consider you Wnise.
      Thanks for the support.

      regards

      Delete
  4. Good morning Marmotte,

    I am happy to see that you continue with your style of blogging. Keeping it personal and individual. I am not delivering content to Skyrim, but I did it years ago to Flightsimulator. During that time I was a student and I was really happy that sometimes people send money in order to honor my efforts and time. I keep it the same way. Whenever I come across additions to Skyrim I really enjoy then I am really happy if the author gives me the chance to give him some money for the efforts they made. It seems fair to me. I more or less blindly trust your judgement regarding which mod is of good quality and which not. For me it would bring a added value if you also link or mention that a mod has the possibility to send money to the author.

    Regarding your hardware: Changing the motherboard along with the CPU normally doesn't require to reinstall the OS. Just make sure, that the OS you are using has all of the necessary drivers installed before you exchange the CPU or read the instructions of the Motherboard maker. In case you are using W10 you are probably safe.

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    1. Hi Rolgar,

      Thanks for your opinion about donations and paid things.
      All is fine with occasional donations. The mod is still available and freely downloadable. People can encourage the modder. That's cool.
      I just meet a problem with paid walls. I'm simply excluded to test and to try some stuffs at the release.

      About the cpu:
      I'm using Win 10 and my drivers are up to date. The change of the CPU is probably safe as you write it. I'll not change it tomorow but it's good to know that the manipulation is safe. Thanks for this confirmation.

      You are welcome on the blog .....and the most important...Have fun!

      regards

      Delete
  5. I can easily spend 40 to over 100 hours on a mod and I'm expected to give it away for free and published it on the Nexus site who makes millions from free labor.. Meanwhile I have to deal with all the snobs wanting me to do it this way or that way, change this or that.. Explain how to install a mod over and over again, despite having detailed instructions on the mod page. I bend over backwards for people I don't even know and they can't even take the time to give the mod an endorsement.. It's ridiculous. Then you have people angry because modders are using Patreon accounts now.. Everything I publish is and will always be free so I don't see the big deal of me having a patreon account.. The only thing I charge for is for my service when people want me to make a custom mod for them and that money I do get wouldn't be enough to buy a loaf of bread.

    As for those that do sell mods on Patreon or any site, almost all of them come from backgrounds where they have virtually nothing in life. Teamtal for example are Asian modders that struggle to put food on the table, they spend countless hours making mods and many of them.. I think their patreon is just over 500 dollars a month.. That's money that is split between a team of modders.. When the math is done they are probably only getting about a dollar for every 2 to 4 hours of work between them. That's not making money.. that's slave labor.. but they do what they do to get by..

    I only get about 20 dollars a month from my patreon and despite my living conditions are very poor, my health is poor and I don't have health care.. I use that money and give it to other modders with Patreon accounts that I think need it just as much as I do if not more..

    You're comparing the community to what it was like a few years ago.. A few years ago I could publish a mod and people would willfully endorse and donate, buy my Nexus premium membership etc.. The community has become very selfish and no longer do that, they just expect modders to work for free.. They rarely even offer an endorsement or screenshots anymore.. Mod authors are treated horribly and meanwhile the Nexus makes a ton of money off of their work.

    How is that fair?

    I'm done with it.. What I am going to do is remove everything from the Nexus, offer it for free on an alternative site with the option of being able to donate.

    Don't get me wrong I like many people in the community but it's just not worth it anymore to publish mods, especially on the Nexus.

    ... and just to be clear, it's not about the money.. People do the same thing as me or other modders in social games like Second Life and Utherverse who make thousands of dollars by doing so. They can actually make a living from those games.. I been a mod author for almost 3 years and I've made less then 300 dollars within that time.. that's not even enough money to pay for my living expenses for two weeks. So it was never about the money.. but it's a bit insulting that so many thing that mod authors that spend thousands of hours creating mods should not be compensated.

    According to Steam I have about the same hours in the Creation Kit as I do in the Skyrim game. The creation kit only covers about 30% of my modding time.. So technically speaking I spend about 3 times more time creating mods then I do playing in the game.. but god forbid if I make a Patreon account because now i'm just being a selfish person trying to sell mods..

    Yea i'm done with this community.. I'll make my mods available and release my 6 unpublished mods but that's it for me.. Time to move on..

    The community has grown into something that doesn't appeal to me.

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  6. Let's compare, I have 2700 hours in the creation kit according to Steam.. That equals 1/3rd of my modding time. So let's say altogether I have 8000 hours of time spent creating mods..

    A side note just for an example - To become a doctor in the US, the student needs just under 5000 credit hours to become a licensed general practitioner doctor. A chiropractor needs just over 5000 credit hours..

    Anyway let's take my 8000 mod creation hours and divide it by 300 (this is more or less what I made in the past 3 years) That comes out to be less then 3 cents an hour.. 3 pennies an hour.. Most people in the states when they have 3 pennies in their pocket they just throw it away because it's worthless. A loaf of bread in the states cost about 3 dollars which is 300 pennies.. So at 3 cents an hour it would take me 100 hours of mod creation to afford a loaf of bread..

    So yea I find it rather insulting when people suggest that mod authors that have Patreon accounts are being selfish or ruining the community.. The community has always been ruined for mod authors but now with Patreon they're just trying to get a little bit back from all their time and effort is all.

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  7. err my math is off a bit above but it's close enough to get a general idea of the money earned on mods..

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  8. One final note, show casing an outfit mod helps your blog as much as it does the mod author. I think as a common courtesy you should link the url source where the mod authors mod is advertised, even if it's a Patreon account. Rather then just linking the direct file download.. File sharing sites like mediafire and mega are very limited bandwidth and cost money too.. I pay $5USD a month for my Mediafire site and all I use it for is to share mods on it. That's money I never see again.. I don't get the support to cover that charge so that is from my own expense.

    With all do respect, I really don't think you have a clear understanding how badly mod authors are taken advantage of in the Skyrim community but thanks to sites like Patreon, mod authors are finally able to get a little compensation back.. It does not make up for all the hours of work but it's better than nothing. :)

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    Replies
    1. I read all your comment, and i have to say that i agreed with you in the point that patreon will not ruin the modding, i think anyone should be free to do whatever they want with their time or their creation, if i want to charge money for a photo of my butt or a mod i made, i should have this right.

      But one thing i see many people complain is "modders don't earn money", modding is not a job, is a hobby, if someone is modding to get payment, they are doing this wrong, very wrong... Because there is no money in this market, there is value and no public, quick math (speculative of course), now steam says there is 26k people playing skyrim (se and old combine), for the market view, 1.9% of the players can be "whales" and will spend money on a game, so we have almost 500 people that could spend some money on the game, divide this for the time of mods being release, publicity of the mod and you will see that is no value on this, you will gain much more releasing models for DAZ, Turbosquid etc... I can say this on personal experience, 10 years ago i sold a morph in renderotica, i made 100X (yes 100X) more money with this easy and fast morph than i made with all my mods combine, and i got a lot of donation from amazing people.

      What i am trying to say is, we cannot argue about the lack of money were there is no money... In my point of view modders that want to make modding a living, should try to add value to their creations not change the price tag.

      Delete
  9. The 3930K is a very nice CPU, i don't think you should change it just for gaming, i had one of those and i love it, X79 plataform is the most stable plataform i see until today, i still have a 4960x x79 here as a render slave and he makes me proud, no thermal problems, steady and fast.
    But if you change the CPU, i would advice you to format the PC yes, always better to clean old drivers, not because the CPU, but mostly because the mobo.
    For the SSD, i think is a must have today, just take a good look on the model you are getting, stay on toshida, samsung or corsair to make sure.

    For the paid mods, my opinion as someone who made some mods... I am a libertarian, i believe that people should do whatever they want as long others don't get hurt, if someone charge money for a mod, they are willing to give a paid product support, he must stay there resolving bugs and replying to everyone, if they want freedom they go to the free route, but if the guy don't have a job, needs the money, they should have the option to ask money for their time, i think is fair, what i don't think is fair, is a company like bethesda or steam getting on this and taking a % of the income, i think this is wrong in many ways, like CC, because is not their part on the circle, they create the game and the tools to mod it, talent people use this tools to make their games better, because of that they sell more games.

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    1. Hi ralfetas,

      Yes, I have the X79 plateform.... the motherboard and the i7 3930k.
      Like you said, it's stable, steady and fast...and reliable. I use it since 2011.

      I saw some comparatives on the internet. Newer CPUs run a bit better. The technology is better after 7 years :)
      I'll keep my cpu and motherboard for these next month. Maybe i'll change in 2019. Thanks for your feedback about that.
      But i'm late about the SSD. I'm still with hard drives :) Future will tell...

      For the paid mods,

      I am a libertarian too. Peoples do whatever they want of course.
      However, the paid route exluded me to try some mods/creations.


      Delete
    2. SSD really makes a magic on the system... But upgrading the platform from x79 to anything newer you will just get DDR4 and M.2. I always like to see this site for average CPU's, here is yours.
      https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3930K+%40+3.20GHz&id=902

      Paid mods can be a problem that the market could not resolve... because Skyrim is small this days, guys who charge for their mods don't have a reason to give for free... But libertarians don't believe on copyright :)

      Delete
    3. I'm sure a SSD could be better. I saw comparisons. Even windows 10 runs better. I need to search these next weeks.... But it means a new Skyrim instalation of course...

      About my i7 3930k, it's not so bad finally :) Old but strong :)

      Money doesn't disurb me, Ralfetas. Any supports, donations, or other solution is welcome to support the modder......when the mod is "public".
      But paid walls is extremly selective. Just my feeling and a reality too.

      Delete
  10. SSD is excellent idea faster and stable. my recommendation based on a 10-year Limited Warranty https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-PRO-2-5-Inch-MZ-7KE512BW/dp/B00LF10KTO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533616804&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+ssd+850+pro this is what I have. Processors if your still using old tech its probably going to cost at-least 600$ new(ER) motherboard processor memory and ram not including a new vid card. you can use onboard vid though its not as awesome im an AMD fan. the new thread-rippers are great but costly. depending on your needs you could go with a older black edition 8 core AM3 save some bucks. my vid card is a 8 gig 390x and it handles game well though not the baddest on the market. 400-500$. anyway i hope it helps

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    1. Well, Thanks for the recommendation
      I record the amazon page about the Samsung SSD. Thank you. Several peoples recommend Samsung.

      Processors are a bit expensive for me now, and my i7 3930k is not so bad finally :)

      So, My priority will be probably a SSD first.

      Thanks for the comment Mr Anonymous. This helps!

      Delete

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