Are older versions of ENB for Skyrim SE hosted anywhere? (Newer versions are borked on Linux)

[bloom2]

Hey everyone, I currently have a stable load order set up with all the mods I want, but I'm struggling with getting ENB working. I already did a ton of troubleshooting and I understand now that the issue is that the newest release of ENB (v0.493) just isn't working right on Linux. From what I've read on other sites and threads sometimes an ENB version will have issues on Linux, causing things to not work, while other releases *will* work. Why? I've no idea, but that's what people are saying.

On a couple of threads I saw people having a lot of success with version v.480 of ENB but I can't find a link to download that anywhere. If there's somewhere that hosts it, or if someone would be willing to share it with me I'd really appreciate the help. Thank you!!

[James_Richards]

I am using the 493 (if you have Skyrim SE) version without issues. Like I mentioned in our direct message exchange, there is a LinuxVersion folder. Use the dll from there. You can use the rest of the files from the WrapperVersion folder. Vorontsov's site should have it.
Direct link: http://enbdev.com/enbseries_skyrimse_v0493.zip

From enbdev.com, click NEWS, then from the top Download, then scrolls down under the "graphics modification" heading to your preferred version of Skyrim. "TES Skyrim SE". The 493 version should be there.

Also, forgot to mention; Vorontsov keeps milestone versions on the site. If he doesn't have a version available, there is usually a good reason.

Edited May 17, 2023 by James_Richards

[bloom2]

14 hours ago, James_Richards said:

I am using the 493 (if you have Skyrim SE) version without issues. Like I mentioned in our direct message exchange, there is a LinuxVersion folder. Use the dll from there. You can use the rest of the files from the WrapperVersion folder. Vorontsov's site should have it.
Direct link: http://enbdev.com/enbseries_skyrimse_v0493.zip

From enbdev.com, click NEWS, then from the top Download, then scrolls down under the "graphics modification" heading to your preferred version of Skyrim. "TES Skyrim SE". The 493 version should be there.

Also, forgot to mention; Vorontsov keeps milestone versions on the site. If he doesn't have a version available, there is usually a good reason.

I went ahead and tried using the LinuxVersion but I'm still getting the same crash. I'm at a loss here since you seem to be running the ENB without issues, the only thing I can think of that might be causing my issue is that I misconfigured something along the way, but since I'm running the ENB with every other mod disabled I'm not sure what I could have even misconfigured

[James_Richards]

How does Skyrim run with NO mods? Might be silly question, but if Skyrim is looking for an API/DLL call that is not fully implemented in any of the Proton, WINE or compatibility layers tweaked by PlayOnLinux, Bottles, CodeWeavers, etc; you will have a problem regardless. If a mod is making those calls and isn't getting them, that is another problem again. the virtual file system (VFS) created by something like Mod Organizer is already playing tricks to Windows. Now imagine the VFS working on a simulation of NTFS on top of whatever file system you have for your distro? Which may have issues with symlinks in the first place?

This is what my terminal window looks like at some point when working with Mod Organizer:
 

This is just opened, and as I use it, it keeps having handler errors and as I add or remove mods, change things, it will start to spit out it can't find a certain file once in a while.
So far, the missing file messages are bollocks, as refreshing MO2 fixes those issues, or at least no longer a problem when I launch SKSE.

Edited May 17, 2023 by James_Richards

[bloom2]

Skyrim runs great with no mods, and I get those weird MO2 errors as well but they seem entirely harmless. Honestly, the way WINE works feels so fragile to me since so many things aren't fully or correctly implemented, but at the same time it's able to run every single game in my Steam library

That said, I did make some progress with getting my ENB to work. If I go into the enbseries.ini file and set [GLOBAL] UseEffect to false, then my games runs without any crashes. But if I set it to true and then manually set all the EFFECT booleans to false then I still crash. Progress I guess :p

[James_Richards]

7 minutes ago, bloom2 said:

the way WINE works feels so fragile to me since so many things aren't fully or correctly implemented

You will find the same issues downstream in the custom builds like soda, GE-WINE, GE-Proton, etc. Even Lutris-wine and fshack have issues inherited by WINE upstream. What Valve is doing, is not only applying "tricks" to get around them, but they are also giving back upstream to WINE, while them and the developer community at large are trying to find ways to skirt the problem or understand poorly documented calls. Any compatibility layer is going to be janky and fragile. WINE just requires a little more attention to details. This wouldn't be a problem if Microsoft had adopted open standards from the beginning and allowed their API and DLL calls to be completely documented. Hence the existence of winetricks and protontricks.

9 minutes ago, bloom2 said:

That said, I did make some progress with getting my ENB to work. If I go into the enbseries.ini file and set [GLOBAL] UseEffect to false, then my games runs without any crashes. But if I set it to true and then manually set all the EFFECT booleans to false then I still crash. Progress I guess

Great! I can probably include that for users on your flavor of Linux in my tips guide I am working on. The only problem I see with that, as a global effect, you might break some of the other ENBs out there should you stray from STEP.  There is a reason why I am pushing the use of WINE outright, or Proton from Valve as much as possible. They usually have things working better than other outfits. BUT. Greta thing about Linux; it is YOUR system. You do as you please. That also just adds more headache to wider adoption of Linux. If something breaks, it can break spectacularly.

[bloom2]

12 minutes ago, James_Richards said:

Great! I can probably include that for users on your flavor of Linux in my tips guide I am working on. The only problem I see with that, as a global effect, you might break some of the other ENBs out there should you stray from STEP.  There is a reason why I am pushing the use of WINE outright, or Proton from Valve as much as possible. They usually have things working better than other outfits. BUT. Greta thing about Linux; it is YOUR system. You do as you please. That also just adds more headache to wider adoption of Linux. If something breaks, it can break spectacularly.

Yeah, that's something I immediately noticed, not being able to use any Effects is a huge pain. If I figure out a way to make it work I'll make a post here, and if anyone from the future is reading this thread then newer version of ENB/WINE may have gotten things working. And thanks for your help James

Edited May 17, 2023 by bloom2

[bloom2]

Relevant GitHub issue: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/issues/2033

[Mousetick]

As it happens, someone recently published Modding Skyrim SE on Linux - A Headache Minimization Guide (Nexus).

Note: I don't play Skyrim on Linux. I haven't looked at that guide. I'm just sharing the link in case it's relevant/useful.

[James_Richards]

I had no idea that existed. I started my own write up here, in case other Linux users had some small issues. Maybe I'll grab some of that person's notes and keep the one here going as well. I figure, some users might find a home here for support since they start with STEP.

EDIT
Yeah. I think I'll be working on mine. This one assumes the user is utilizing automated scripts AND on a version of Linux that automates things and includes more than Arch Linux. Using Arch Linux is a challenge itself and I think whatever notes I collect would be even more invaluable in navigating a Linux install that is not Ubuntu based.

Edited May 18, 2023 by James_Richards

[z929669]

1 hour ago, James_Richards said:

I had no idea that existed. I started my own write up here, in case other Linux users had some small issues. Maybe I'll grab some of that person's notes and keep the one here going as well. I figure, some users might find a home here for support since they start with STEP.

EDIT
Yeah. I think I'll be working on mine. This one assumes the user is utilizing automated scripts AND on a version of Linux that automates things and includes more than Arch Linux. Using Arch Linux is a challenge itself and I think whatever notes I collect would be even more invaluable in navigating a Linux install that is not Ubuntu based.

Actually, writing it up on the wiki as a guide is most useful. Then linking from the forum topic OP is good for discussion about the guide content. See this topic OP as an example.

If you don't know wiki markup, then no worries as we have a WYSIWYG editor on the wiki now.

[James_Richards]

Rough drafts exist

I am currently running everything through Proton v8. I successfully played 4 hours with no issues. Before that, running the tools for LOD at the end of STEP also seemed to work flawlessly in Proton v8. Seems whatever was causing SKSE failures as regressions from v7 to v8 have been repaired. So, when I next rewrite it, I will be updating to reflect that as well as clean up the writing, add some color, indents and all the useful formatting to make it an easier read. Currently setting up an MO instance to use older Skyrim to redo grass cache for myself. Maybe I'll package that up and put on Nexus and link from my guide as well for people who install very few extra mods into STEP like I did.

If no one really finds it usefull, at least it will be here in case I loose my notes and backups go bad and need to redo everything from scratch.

[bloom2]

On 5/18/2023 at 2:50 PM, Mousetick said:

As it happens, someone recently published Modding Skyrim SE on Linux - A Headache Minimization Guide (Nexus).

Note: I don't play Skyrim on Linux. I haven't looked at that guide. I'm just sharing the link in case it's relevant/useful.

No way no way!! Thank you so much for sharing this! I followed the guides advice when it came to setting up an ENB and now it's working perfectly!!! In short, you need to set all your DirectX related libraries in the WINE Config to "native", that allows the ENB to use its own rather than the ones provided by WINE (or something like that). I highly recommend reading the actual guide, I can't believe this small detail/fix is what was causing me a headache for the past week

See the screenshot below on what I actually mean

Edited May 20, 2023 by bloom2