Before I begin... (advice on modding new SE install without AE/CC content)

[rolandito]

I'm probably among the last of the Legendary Edition holdouts, but as my kiddos are approaching the point where Skyrim becomes age-appropriate, I'm considering using SE for their installations.

I'm not remotely interested in any of the Anniversary Edition update content, so I purchased just SE from GOG (currently $7.99!)

My question for the community is around which STEP SE guide should I base my builds on?  Would it be easier to go with v2.0.0 and update individual mods in the guide as appropriate?  Or to follow the latest v2.2.0 guide and make manual adjustments for the "missing" (ugh) CC content?

 

I'm not a mod author, but I am a programmer and have been working with all the modding tools that we all know and love for years; which is to say that manual conflict resolution doesn't scare me, but I'd rather know up front whether the juice is worth the squeeze.

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.  Donning my flamesuit now!

[SpiritWolf448]

Don't need a flamesuit here, I think.

Generally speaking, you picked a relatively bad time for modding Skyrim SE/AE, at least in my opinion. The 1130 update f****d Skyrim sideways, and not all mods in need of an update have been updated yet. Plus, there is supposed to be another patch to fix some of the bugs Bethesda introduced with 1130, but no one knows exactly when that next patch will drop. Doesn't really help to foster confidence in the remaining modders to update their mods when another patch could drop any minute (or in a few months time, nobody knows).

Also, the GoG version is on another release channel, if I recall correctly. I am actually unsure how compatible the STEP guide (or the mods it makes use of) is with the GoG version, as I, like most, own Skyrim on Steam.

Suffice to say that all guides I know of, inculding the STEP guide, are not up-to-date and need revisions to account for the new update Bethesda forced on us.

And since they changed not only the runtime, but also the header format of the .esl plugins to allow for more entries in them (if interested, read it up on the xEdit Discord, if I am not mistaken), it must also be kept in mind that not only runtime mods with .dlls require an update, but that mods saved wit hthe new version 1.71 of the plugin header will be incompatible with older versions of Skyrim SE/AE.

I think I remember that there is a mod supposed to backport the compatibilty for the new plugin header, but am currently unsure where you would find that one. Sorry.

Personally, if you are going to make your own compatibility patches with xEdit anyways, I'd likely use the newest available guide, in this case 2.2.0, and just carefully mod everything out you don't want. Mind you, it will me quite some work. But hey, modding *is* the game, right?

 

Dislcaimer: this entire wall of text obviously only represents my own, very limited view on things. I welcome any hints, additions, corrections, bribes etc. others may be able to provide.

 

EDIT:

You may find the following post from Reddit informative -> Updated Information About The New Skyrim Update

Edited December 15, 2023 by SpiritWolf448
added link to reddit post

[Mousetick]

Follow the latest 2.2.0 guide and make adjustments on your own as needed.

• Beginning: Differences in setting up the modding tools for GOG's unique version of the game vs. Steam. Install and use the latest version of all tools. Some have been updated to automatically detect GOG's installation, others require manual configuration. For example, for xEdit and DynDOLOD (which use the same command-line configuration options).
• Throughout: Certain mods, typically SKSE and SKSE plugins, are Skyrim version-specific. Install the version of the mod that is designed to work with GOG's unique version. GOG's unique version of Skyrim SE is 1.6.659.
• Throughout: AFAIK there are no mods in the guide that depend on the AE CC content, but there may be a few compatibility patches between mods and AE CC content. You can skip them since they don't apply to you. Note: Skyrim SE bundles 4 CC modules which are now considered part of the base game - they do apply to you, don't confuse them with AE CC content.
• End: Omit the STEP Patches that have dependencies on AE CC content and redo them all from scratch by yourself, or edit the STEP Patches to remove all AE CC dependencies. The Grass file is not a patch, it can be used as-is for generating grass LOD if desired.

Disable automatic updates in the GOG client, if you use it.

Disclaimer: I don't have Skyrim SE on GOG and have never used the GOG version.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Mousetick