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Spoiler tags are currently broken in articles, so this is a long one, for now.
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RECOMMENDED FOR USE WITH THIS PATCH: "TRUE WAONESS"
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EXTENDED INSTALLATION:
Use this extended installation guide if you will/do use the recommended mods!
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STEP-BY-STEP:
Totally WAO. (Read the installation instructions very, VERY carefully. If you are SURE that you already have all of the mods you want installed, you may skip to step 7.)
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1. Install Climates of Tamriel
  • If using lighting mods, don't select dungeons or interiors options.
  • Don't select night level options.
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2. Atmosphere
  • Install Frostfall.
  • Install Living Takes Time.
  • Install Wet and Cold.
  • Install Wet and Cold - Ashes.
  • Install Wet and Cold - Holidays.
  • Install Wonders of Weather.
  • Install Earthquakes - MCM version - With moving objects.
  • Install Morning Fogs Refined.
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3. Audio
  • Install Climates of Tamriel - Sounds.
  • Install Audio Overhaul for Skyrim 2.
    • Select Skyrim + DG + DB.
    • Don't select a weather mod patch.
    • Select other compatibility patches; don't select the Realistic Water Two or Supreme Storms options.
  • Install Sounds of Skyrim - The Wilds.
  • Install Sounds of Skyrim - The Dungeons.
  • Install Sounds of Skyrim - Civilization.
  • Install Immersive Sounds - Compendium.
    • Select Skyrim + DG + DB.
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4. Weather
  • Install Supreme Storms for Climates of Tamriel 3.1. You do not need to install this if you'd prefer to use True Storms instead.
    • Optional: Install True Storms - Vanilla. You do not need to install this if you'd prefer to use Supreme Storms instead.
  • Install Expanded Snow Systems - Climates of Tamriel Version.
  • Install Pure Weather - Brighter Nights.
    • If using WAO with Realistic Nights, or WAO's Darker Nights patch, install Pure Weather - Realism instead.
  • Install Lightning during Thunder Storms.
    • Don't install the CoT edition; it isn't necessary.
  • Install Vivid Clouds and Fogs or Vividian ENB.
    • If installing Vividian ENB; the first few pages are mostly dependent on the user. Note: Select the Pure Weather option during step 2; disable the plugin.
    • Selecting the Vivid Clouds and Vivid Clouds Climates of Tamriel options (in full or half-res) is highly recommended, but not actually required.
    • Select other textures, if desired.
    • Select CoT Extra Weather Patch - ESS. [NOT ESS+SS. EVEN IF YOU'RE USING SS. JUST ESS.] If installing Vividian ENB, don't select the Vanilla Extra Weather Patch.
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5. Textures
  • Install SNOW.
    • If you don't want SNOW's snowflake textures, install Real Snow Flakes OR Quality SnowFlakes HD V2.
  • Install the Ethereal Cosmos CoT starfield replacer ("CoT_Stars_Denser" recommended).
  • Install Lorkhan's Vision - Night Sky V2.
  • Install Skygazer - HD 2K Constellations ("Less Bright No Nebulae" recommended).
  • Install Lorkhan's Vision - Moons OR Moon Glow.
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6. Shelter
  • Install Cloaks of Skyrim and the Cloaks - Dawnguard addon. (skip the Dawnguard addon if you use Requiem)
  • Install Winter Is Coming - Cloaks and the Cloaks of Skyrim patch. (skip the patch if you use Requiem)
  • ONLY if using Requiem and one or both of the above "Cloaks" mods: Install CFR - Cloaks for Requiem.
  • Install Real Shelter, the Real Shelter Patch Template and the R.S. Edit Scripts (install to "Edit Scripts" folder).
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7. WAO
  • Install this patch. The all-in-one package will guide you through the process, but the steps are detailed below as well. A manual install guide is also in the archive.
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8. S.T.E.P. Users
  • If following a Skyrim Total Enhancement Project (S.T.E.P.) guide, select the STEP option.
  • Select your preferred STEP pack to install WAO and the appropriate compatibility patch(es).
  • If using Neovalen's Skyrim Revisited guide, select SRLE.
  • If not using one of the aforementioned guides, select Custom.
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9. Lighting
  • Select your lighting mod of choice.
  • If using no lighting mods, or using only Relighting Skyrim, select the Vanilla option.
  • If using ELFX and ELE Lite, select the ELE Lite - Interiors Only option.
  • If using ELFX and ELE Lite Interiors Only, select the ELE Lite - Interiors Only option.
  • If using ELFX with the Enhancer, select the ELFX+ option.
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10. Additional Options
  • New Lands: If using both mods, select "Falskaar + Wyrmstooth", otherwise leave Legendary selected.
  • Nights:
    • WAO's Darker Nights patch serves to darken nights similarly to Climates of Tamriel's 'night levels'. For use with Pure Weather - Realism. May be too dark with ELFX (untested).
    • WAO's Realistic Nights patch is designed for use with Realistic Nights and Pure Weather - Realism. May be too dark with ELFX (untested).
  • Weathers:
    • If you are not intending to use True Storms to replace it, select Supreme Storms. This option requires Supreme Storms to work correctly.
    • If you are intending on using it to replace Supreme Storms, select True Storms. You do not need Supreme Storms installed if you use this option, unless...
    • If you wish to use thunder effects from True Storms while keeping the Supreme Storms rain shader, select both options. This will require both mods.
  • Snow Brightness: Select snow brightness modifiers if you have issues with blinding snow. This should be unnecessary for most users.
  • Select other applicable compatibility patch options.
    • I recommend Cutting Room Floor, Immersive Sounds - Compendium and Realistic Water Two for use with WAO.
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11. FINAL
  • Install Mitigate HDR Eye Adaptation and disable Bloom. Involves simple use of TES5Edit. In brief:
    • Install the IShdr1bloom0_all.esp as normal AND the IShdr1bloom0_patch scripts in the Edit Scripts folder.
    • Load up your load order in TES5Edit, select relevant mods (or just all of them) and run the IShdr1bloom0_patch script.
    • 'Deep copy as override' the imagespaces from IShdr1bloom0_all to ClimatesofTamriel.esm.
    • More details can be found here.
  • Use TES5Edit to patch Real Shelter after adding mods that affect weather (including WAO itself).

[The recommended mods are not explicitly required to use WAO; you don't need all of them. You can be selective. Accordingly, you should skip any related steps; e.g., don't worry about patching Real Shelter if you didn't install it.]
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LOAD ORDER:
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For reference, here is the related load order that I would use, personally (if my laptop wasn't a laptop). This is the order the masters are sorted in, but isn't explicitly required. That said, if you're experiencing CTDs, you're missing one of these files, most likely.
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EXTENDED INSTALL LOAD ORDER:

  • ClimatesOfTamriel.esm
  • WetandCold.esp
  • WetandCold - Ashes.esp
  • WetandCold - Holidays.esp
  • WondersofWeather.esp
  • earthquakes - MCM.esp
  • Morning Fogs.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Sound.esp
  • AOS.esp
  • SoS - The Wilds.esp
  • SoS - The Dungeons.esp
  • SoS - Civilization.esp
  • Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp
  • Supreme Storms - Cot Version.esp (Optional; see installation step 3.1, above.)
  • ExpandedSnowSystems-CoT.esp
  • Pureweather.esp
  • RealisticNights.esp (Optional)
  • TrueStorms.esp (Recommended)
  • mintylightningmod.esp
  • Vividian - Weather Patch CoT - ESS.esp
  • Cloaks.esp
  • Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp (unless you use Requiem)
  • 1nivWICCloaks.esp
  • 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp (unless you use Requiem)
  • CFR-CloaksForRequiem.esp (IF you use Requiem)
  • WAO-WeatherAndAmbienceOverhaul.esp
  • WAO-NL+TS+ISC.esp (or other WAO merged patch)
  • WAO-RN+TS+SS.esp (or WAO-TS+SS.esp)
  • RealShelter.esp
  • RSPatch.esp
Simply put; load your weather stuff in that order for best results. Load WAO near the end of your load order, followed by WAO patches; TS+SS patches should load after others.
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OPTIONALS:
The following (non-WAO) optional plugins need to be loaded after WAO, or merged. (If merged as a new file, load after WAO, just to be sure.)
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hardcore.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hazardous.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Cold.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Warm.esp
Don't use the Climates of Tamriel Dungeons or Interiors with lighting mods, they generally aren't compatible.
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REDUNDANCY LIST:
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The following patches are resolved (and made unnecessary) either by WAO itself, or its lighting editions (so don't load them!):

  • AOS_SoS-Civ Patch.esp
  • AOS_SoS-Wilds Patch.esp
  • AOS2_CoT3_1_patch.esp
  • AOS2_SupremeStorms Patch.esp
  • AOS2_SupremeStorms_CoT Patch.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Dawnguard-Patch.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Sound-Dawnguard-Patch.esp
  • ClimatesOfTamriel-Dragonborn-Patch.esp
  • Consistent Stars - CoT.esp
  • CoT ESS SoSciv Patch.esp
  • CoT ESS SoSw Patch.esp
  • CoT ESS CoTsounds Patch.esp
  • CoT_SnowPatch.esp
  • CoT_SnowPatch_ESS.esp
  • CoT-WeatherPatch_DB.esp
  • CoT-WeatherPatch_SupStorms.esp
  • CoT-WeatherPatch_ESS.esp
  • ESS Patch for CoT DG Patch.esp
  • ESS Patch for CoT DG Patch with SoSw.esp
  • ESS Patch for CoT Sound DG Patch.esp
  • MintyLightningMod_COT_Patch.esp
  • Pureweather_AOS2 Patch.esp
  • SoS RLO Patch.esp
  • SoS - Civilization-PatchCoT.esp
  • SoS - Civilization -PatchCoTSounds.esp
  • SoS - Civilization-PatchELFX.esp
  • SoS - Civilization-PatchRLOMajorCityInteriors.esp
  • SoS - Civilization-PatchRLOMinorCities.esp
  • SoS - The Dungeons-PatchELFX.esp
  • SoS - The Dungeons-PatchRLODungeons.esp
  • SoS - The Dungeons-PatchRLOMajorCityInteriors.esp
  • SoS - The Wilds-PatchCoT.esp
  • SoS - The Wilds-PatchCoTSounds.esp
  • SoSConfigMenu.esp
  • SoS-ELEPatch.esp
  • Vividian - Diverse Weathers.esp
  • Vividian - Diverse Weathers - AOS.esp
  • Vividian - Diverse Weathers - CoT + PW + AOS.esp
  • Vividian - Diverse Weathers - CoT + PW.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Groundfogs.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Groundfogs - CoT.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Groundfogs - Pure Weather.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Weathers.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Weathers - CoT.esp
  • Vividian - Extended Weathers - Pure weathers.esp
  • Vividian - Windy Clouds.esp
  • Vividian - Windy Clouds - CoT.esp
  • Vividian - Windy Clouds - Pure Weather.esp
  • Vividian Vanilla - Pure Weather patch.esp
Make sure they aren't active in your load order.

Additionally, if using WAO's compatibility patch(es), there may be additional plugins you won't require:

  • New Lands
    • ClimatesOfTamriel Falskaar.esp
  • Immersive Sounds - Compendium
    • ISCompendium-AOS.esp
  • True Storms
    • TrueStorms-ClimatesOfTamriel.esp
    • TrueStorms-PureWeather.esp
    • TrueStorms-SupremeStorms-CoT.esp
  • Realistic Water Two
    • AOS2_RealisticWaterTwo Patch.esp
  • Realistic Nights
    • RealisticNightsDG.esp
    • RealisticNightsDB.esp
    • RealisticNightsCOT.esp
    • RealisticNightsCOT_DB.esp
Please note, again, that the original mods are the property of their respective authors and this is "only" a patch. You must use the listed requirements and my patch does not contain all the contents of any of the originals.
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MCM STUFF:
Suggested MCM settings for related mods.

  • Minty's Lightning during Thunderstorms:
    • Enable hostile fork lightning.
    • Set Frequency of both lightning types to 50.
  • Wet and Cold:
    • Rain Blind - Full
    • Blizzard Blind - Full
    • Enable Strong Winds.
    • Enable Rain Gear.
    • Enable Go Home.
    • Enable Cold Gear.
    • Enable Survival Gear.


At this point I'd suggest you return to the description for information regarding compatibility.

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