The Pitters' Place

So I've decided to torture myself by fucking around with the Skyrim Creation Kit when I know fuck all about computers, but one of the main problems I keep running into is someone will say to do some shit in my Skyrim data folder, but when I open it up the shit I'm supposed to find isn't there. I've always wondered about this. Since I got this PC that uses the wanna-be smart phone version of Windows, my folder thing that's supposed to be where I can find all the files on my computer has been ridiculously small. Like I know there's a shit ton of stuff that just doesn't show up in there.

I guess what I'm asking is, how do I make my stupid machine show me all the shit it's hiding from me? Why can I literally go into every folder and open every file in the This PC window in under two minutes? The search button isn't worth a shit either. I've actually never been able to search for a file with that thing and actually find it, even with my old computer. People keep talking about using the start up menu to find files, but apparently this version of Windows doesn't have a start up menu because it's a worthless piece of shit.

Ask me no questions about Windows 8 and I'll tell you no lies while I tear my eyes out

Hold down windows-key and press E. This brings up Windows Explorer, where you should be able to browse most stuff. Then, click "View" at the top, then "Options". This brings up the little "Folder Options" dialog. Click the "View" tab on that, Then under "Files and Folders", find the "Hidden files and folders". Choose "Show hidden files, folders, and drives." Click OK. There you go!

^ Pretty much what Gendo (the windows guy) said.

Curious as to why you are having troubles with your search app tho - I've got windows 8.1 on my surface and use Search all the time - works a charm for me.. Are you wildcarding your searches to make sure you return all the proper results.

Also - if your files are hidden then I don't think the search will find them .. not sure about that tho

Widows became Satan's vermin since Windows 8.

Nah - It took me a while to get used to the new interface but, now I'm loving it. I've only used windows 8.1, which I hear is infinitely preferable to windows 8.0. The only thing I really miss is the start button for accessing programs, but now I use the search button and I find that's actually much quicker.

I hear they are bringing back the start button for windows 10.

I've gotten to really like the live tiles and the general layout altho I do spend most of my time in desktop mode.

No idea what wildcarding means, but I'll try what Gendo said next time I'm on my PC. This morning before I left for work I found what I was looking for by right clicking on the desktop icon for Skyrim and there was an option for files or some shit. It had what I needed anyway.

Okay, on the PC now and that windows E thing is what I had been using, except I was double clicking on the folder thing instead of pressing windows E. This is what I meant by "the This PC window" (it says This PC at the top). I changed it to show hidden files, folders, and drives but I'm not sure anything changed.

I figured out by right clicking on the desktop icon of Skyrim and then clicking open file location that this shit's in Gateway (C:), which I guess is my hard drive? Anyway, when I search for this stuff using the search feature in that Windows E bullshit, it's like it doesn't exist. I type in the exact file name, part of the file name, it just gives me the fucking finger.

And as I typed that I searched SkyrimEditor, which is what I was looking for earlier, and instead of doing absolute nothing, which is what I'm used to, it's acting liking something's happening but it's slow as balls and I'm not sure what really happened. Now it looks like it just timed out or something after several minutes. Fucking hell.

The file exists though, cuz I can still find it and fuck with it, but search is borked.

when you type in part of the file name, did you wildcard the search or just type in the part you were looking for?

I normally use the search app on the right hand side of my windows screen - I'm using a touch screen so I just swipe in from the right edge and it appears .. instead of searching a particular folder, it will search your entire computer.. which might be more useful even if it takes longer given the file may not be in the folder you expect it to be in.

I'm pretty sure I'm not wild carding cuz I don't know what that means, but I'll google it in a bit. I just wanted to say thanks to you and Gendo for trying to help. Computers often frustrate me and make me uncouth and I probably came across as an ungrateful ass, so for that I'm sorry.

Seriously, if you hate the Windows 8 interface, just download classic shell and you basically have Windows 7 with the standard start menu

http://www.classicshell.net/

Boot to desktop and you'll probably never need to deal with Metro interface again

bruce -

when you type something to search for - you can use the * as a 'wildcard'. ie. a substitute for any letter.

so typing *.doc would result in every .doc file on your pc

or typing d*g would result in dig, dog, dug, dzg, etc

badger spleen wrote:bruce -

when you type something to search for - you can use the * as a 'wildcard'. ie. a substitute for any letter.

so typing *.doc would result in every .doc file on your pc

or typing d*g would result in dig, dog, dug, dzg, etc

In a perfect world, it would. But the world of software is far from perfect.
And the Windows search function is a bit bitchy about it. Wildcarding may or may not work; sometimes it works without asterisks; sometimes it doesn't find anything if your search term does not start with the correct expression.

Try and error is the way to go.

I approach such problems by having my own pet lesbian who understands five important things in life: guns, softball, dairy cows, the hydraulic system of a John Deere tractor, and computers. You should try to buy yourself one of those. They come in handy.

Thanks everyone. I see what wild carding is. I think the search just works better if I know what folder to search in. If I just search My PC or Desktop, it takes way too long to yield any results, but I'm figuring stuff out. Maybe that un hiding stuff did help after all.

I'll look into the pet lesbian thing. I'm going to be raising a boy soon, so there's little chance he'll be a lesbian, but there's always a chance.