Reverting AE to SE with Downgrade Patcher

[qwrtui1245]

Hello!

I know I know! Version 1.16.x Skyrim AE is not supported by STEP. But hear me out.

So, Steam decided to update Skyrim (thank you for that Steam, NOT). And as a result, before I could even start to enjoy the game after my first time of completing the step tutorial, I got the errors.
I think I found a solution, but I am not Skyrim-smart. I follow tutorials and enjoy the game. In this forum I hope to find someone with enough knowledge to tell me whether it's safe to use the Downgrade Patcher (link below). And which steps to take, do I backup the entire folder? Do I re-install? Just use the patcher and done? I have no clue what the smart steps are!

So, if you have any idea, let this be the place where people find out how to save their Skyrim!
Thanks in advance!

Theo

Downgrade patcher: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57618

[Mousetick]

Just use the patcher and be done. Download and use the full patcher (3 GB) from Nexus, rather than the 'BestOfBothWorlds' patcher (140 MB) in order to ensure maximum compatibility with the STEP guide.

Here is a tutorial video for using the patcher: How to Downgrade Skyrim SE to Fix SKSE64 & Mods (2021) - Skyrim AE Update 1.6 (YouTube).

Edit: I didn't see that you already completed the guide. It should be fine. But if for some reason the patcher removes some files from the Skyrim Special Edition folder, you may need to reinstall SKSE64 and SSE Engine Fixes.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Mousetick

[qwrtui1245]

17 hours ago, Mousetick said:

Just use the patcher and be done. Download and use the full patcher (3 GB) from Nexus, rather than the 'BestOfBothWorlds' patcher (140 MB) in order to ensure maximum compatibility with the STEP guide.

Here is a tutorial video for using the patcher: How to Downgrade Skyrim SE to Fix SKSE64 & Mods (2021) - Skyrim AE Update 1.6 (YouTube).

Edit: I didn't see that you already completed the guide. It should be fine. But if for some reason the patcher removes some files from the Skyrim Special Edition folder, you may need to reinstall SKSE64 and SSE Engine Fixes.

Thanks for your reply!

That video looks like a good guide so I'll try it when I get the chance!
But before I try it I'll backup my Mod Organizer, just to be safe

One more noob question: why would SKSE64 and SSE Engine Fixes need to be re-installed but not the rest?

[Mousetick]

If you followed the STEP System Setup Guide correctly, and I'm assuming you did, your modding folder is stored separately from the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, which is inside your Steam library folder. The downgrade patcher only operates within the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, it will not "touch" anything inside your modding folder.

You can backup your modding folder, including Mod Organizer, the other tools and your mods, if you want - it's always good to have backups. But in this case it's not necessary before using the downgrade patcher.

I suggested you may need to reinstall SKSE64 and SSE Engine Fixes, because unlike all the other mods, some of the files (files with .dll or .exe extension) in these 2 mods need to be manually copied to the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, which contents are modified by the downgrade patcher. It's unlikely they will be affected by the downgrade patcher, but I mentioned it just in case out of precaution.

Hope this clarifies and I didn't add too much confusion.

[qwrtui1245]

12 hours ago, Mousetick said:

If you followed the STEP System Setup Guide correctly, and I'm assuming you did, your modding folder is stored separately from the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, which is inside your Steam library folder. The downgrade patcher only operates within the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, it will not "touch" anything inside your modding folder.

You can backup your modding folder, including Mod Organizer, the other tools and your mods, if you want - it's always good to have backups. But in this case it's not necessary before using the downgrade patcher.

I suggested you may need to reinstall SKSE64 and SSE Engine Fixes, because unlike all the other mods, some of the files (files with .dll or .exe extension) in these 2 mods need to be manually copied to the Skyrim Special Edition installation folder, which contents are modified by the downgrade patcher. It's unlikely they will be affected by the downgrade patcher, but I mentioned it just in case out of precaution.

Hope this clarifies and I didn't add too much confusion.

No you only added more clarity! Thanks for your time and I'll let you know if it worked

[qwrtui1245]

Well sh*t, it doesn't work at all. After using the patcher, it broke.
Launching SKSE through MO2 won't come further than the Skyrim logo loading screen. After a few seconds, it crashes.
Launching SKSE as admin manually from the file explorer does work. So something in MO2 is wrong I think.

Do you have any idea @Mousetick ?

[Mousetick]

1 hour ago, qwrtui1245 said:

Do you have any idea @Mousetick ?

Without further details about your particular setup, it's hard to tell.

• Check the logs (in ../Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition/SKSE and ../NetScriptFramework/Crash) for possible clues.
• Use MO's Default Profile (or create a new profile with all mods disabled except SKSE) and try to launch SSE from there.
• Usually if it works as Admin but not otherwise, it's indicative of a file/folder permission issue or an interference by security software (antivirus and the like).

[qwrtui1245]

• Launching SKSE with or without admin rights (from the folder) makes no difference.
• Launching SKSE from MO2 only works when I do it with the default profile as you said.
• Launching with the default profile has the same result as running SKSE64_loader.exe from the steamapps/common/SSE folder.

There are many logs in the Documents/My Games/SSE/SKSE folder: https://prnt.sc/23pp8yx
After looking through them I found many of them loaded successfully but some of the logs just "stop".

Those that seem successful end with

• ... loaded
• register succeeded
• Registering functions... -done
• Installed all hooks
• launching
• Building Event Sinks...
• [Events] Added menu event sink

And some of them have questionable logs:

• Register Event Call Back!

And some just end...

EngineFixes.log:

E:\Repos\skse64\CommonLibSSE\include\SKSE\Trampoline.cpp(114): [info] Default Trampoline => 680B / 2048B (33.20%)

E:\Repos\skse64\CommonLibSSE\include\SKSE\Trampol

skse64.log:

Reading translations from Interface\Translations\Trade & Barter_ENGLISH.txt...

Reading translations from Interface\Translations\Complete Crafting Overhaul_Remastered_ENGLISH.txt...

Reading translations from Interface\Translations\Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul_ENGLISH.txt...

It really seems as something suddenly went wrong with those logs. Launching SKSE always results in the same logs.

Also, I can't find the folder "../NetScriptFramework/Crash" you were talking about. Maybe it's in a different folder?

I'm not sure what to make of this other than it doesn't work If it helps to see the whole files I made a zip of the SKSE folder: https://we.tl/t-WNXPbLYuEw

[Mousetick]

2 hours ago, qwrtui1245 said:

Also, I can't find the folder "../NetScriptFramework/Crash" you were talking about. Maybe it's in a different folder?

It's located inside the .NET Script Framework mod, although if there are files in it, they'd probably end up in MO's 'overwrite' folder.

There is also a log file in there, which I forgot about previously, that you can check. See screenshot.

In your OP you said you were about to enjoy the game after completing the guide. Had you ever tried to start the game after completing the guide, with 1.5.97, before the 1.6 AE update and the downgrading back to 1.5.97? And if so, was it working then? I'm trying to understand if the "breakage" already existed prior to the downgrade, or may be a consequence of the downgrade.

If you don't find anything interesting in the logs, I'd suggest you create a new MO profile, and only enable the Extenders, one by one, testing after each one. There are only a few of them, so shouldn't be too time-consuming. As it looks like the game is crashing early, I suspect there may be something wrong in your installation of the extenders.

[qwrtui1245]

The crash folder is empty but NetScriptFramework.log.txt has an Unhandled native exception! Yay, a lead!

[20 Dec 2021 14:44:48.084] Initializing framework version 14.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:48.091] Loaded configuration file.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:48.094] Preparing .NET code hooking.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:48.099] Loading game library.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:49.325] Loaded game library for `The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition` (18).
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:49.325] Running game version is 1.5.97.0
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.055] Loading plugins.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.055] Path to plugins: "Data\NetScriptFramework\Plugins".
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.055] Checking file "BugFixesSSE.dll"...
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.065] Plugin found and loaded.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.085] Finished loading 1 plugin.
[20 Dec 2021 14:44:55.085] Finished framework initialization.
[20 Dec 2021 14:45:12.337] Unhandled native exception occurred at 0x7FF7DA051F22 (SkyrimSE.exe+5E1F22) on thread 13084!

 

I have only launched the game at the instructed moments which was at the very beginning of starting the modding procedure. When I finished modding it updated to AE so I couldn't even try it So you do have an interesting point, we don't know if it was working before the downgrade patcher.
I think the patcher worked though since SKSE_loader.exe launches the game when mods aren't enabled. The version number can even be seen here: https://prnt.sc/23qlx7j

If we can't find any interesting points to work within this log, I'll follow your suggestion of enabling each mod manually... only 272 mods so it shouldn't take any longer than installing them took, haha! No worries, if it helps find the problem it's worth it.
To check, you mean disabling all mods in the mod list, then enabling again one by one right?

[qwrtui1245]

I've started with adding mods one by one. Seems SSE Engine Fixes is giving some trouble: https://prnt.sc/23qn99f

Maybe I did something wrong during the reinstallation, gonna look into this one!

[Mousetick]

I didn't mean enabling all 272 mods one by one. Only the Extenders, i.e. the mods in the 02-Extenders section of the guide. Beside SKSE, there are 6 of them.

SSE Engine Fixes: make sure you install both parts, Part 1 and Part 2. For Part 1, make sure you pick the right version to download from Nexus. There are '(Part 1) SSE Engine Fixes for 1.5.39 - 1.5.97' and '(Part 1) SSE Engine Fixes for 1.6.xxx'. Pick the first one (for 1.5.97).

Edit: SSE Engine Fixes depends on 'Address Library for SKSE Plugins', so you need to enable that too (from the 03-Resources section).

[qwrtui1245]

Ah yes, enabling the Address Library fixed it for me. So SKSE works with all the resources enabled! That's good news (all other mods were disabled)

Edited December 20, 2021 by qwrtui1245

[qwrtui1245]

I noticed that the mod "Oakwood" is causing trouble. It was one of the non-Nexus mods. Maybe that has something to do with it?

[Mousetick]

Not that I'm aware of. I don't know what you mean by 'causing trouble'. You can skip it if you want. You'll need to download the latest version of the Step CR Patch from Nexus, and re-install it. Choose not to install the Oakwood patch when prompted by the mod installer.