User:DarkladyLexy/Lexys LOTD SE

Welcome to Lexy's: Legacy of The Dragonborn Special Edition

A STEP Hosted guide based of Neovalen's Skyrim Revisited: Legendary Edition

Created and maintained by Darth_mathias and DarkladyLexy With help from Nozzer66

Last Update: 17:22:31 2 May 2024 (GMT)

Help support STEP! ALL donations are applied to operating expenses.

FORUMS: If you want to check Lexy's: Legacy of The Dragonborn Special Edition forums click Here
HISTORY: You can check on revisions of the guide by clicking Here
CHANGELOG: You can check on revisions of the guide by clicking Here 
MODWAT.CH: You can check The Load Order for SRLE Extended LOTD Here

Introduction and Summary

Welcome to Lexy's: Legacy of The Dragonborn Special Edition this guide is the Special Edition version of my popular co-authored SRLE Extended Legacy of The Dragonborn. This guide is designed to be a full guide, from a completely vanilla experience to a fully modified game in all facets.

This guide is currently a Work In Progress and as such considered a Pre-Alpha for Testers and Experienced Modders ONLY.

A little chat:

NOTE: This guide WILL take time to install and will require quite a bit of space. This guide also involves some more advanced modding concepts. I definitely suggest reading the full guide first and acquainting yourself with some of the tools you'll be using. Remember the final destination is to PLAY the game and enjoy it. Expect to take several sessions to get it all done from start to finish.

A quick word about Windows 8 and 8.1. Microsoft in there infinite wisdom have decided to impose a VRAM cap for games the that use DX9 (which Skyrim does) this means users with these operating systems can only utilize 4GB of VRAM no matter what the Graphics Card says. Windows 10 users can Utilize all there VRAM if they have the update. Every effort has been made to make sure VRAM doesn't go over this 4GB threshold; however there might be a few place were it does. If it does some of the larger textures might need to be reduced.

Also, please do not hesitate to come back to the forum topic - or the STEP forums in general - and ask questions and make suggestions. If there's ANYTHING you're not 100% sure of, please come in and ask us. I (Nozzer66), (Darth_mathias), (DarkladyLexy) and several other people with some experience will help to the best of our abilities.

With that said: It's time to get into the wonderful world of Skyrim Modding. We hope you'll find it pleasant.

SKSE 64 Alpha

I had been waiting for SKSE64 to come out of the Alpha stage, however, since its release the reports on its stability have been promising enough to include it in the guide.

Darth_mathias's and DarkLadyLexy's System

• Processor: i5 4670K @ 4.2 GHz
• Motherboard: Asus z97-K
• Ram: Corsair Vengence Pro 32GB (4x8GB) @2133MHz
• GPU: Zotac GTX 980Ti 6GB
• OS: (Windows 7) WD Green 2TB
• Games: Samsung 850 EVO 256GB (Steam)
• Games: Kingston Hyperx Fury 128GB SSD (GOG and Origins)
• Games Backup: WD Blue 2TB

Nozzer's System

• Processor: i5 4670K @ Stock Clock 3.4K Ghz
• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VI HERO
• Ram: Corsair Vengence 16 GB (2 x 8GB) @ 1600 MHz
• GPU: MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X Version 8GB
• OS: (Windows 7) Samsung 840 EVO 465GB SSD
• Games: Samsung 850 PRO 476 GB SSD
• Data and Backup: Seagate ST2000NC 2TB

Getting Started

Legend

Each mod is preceded by a tag for easier management of the guide:

• CORE
  This mod is a full part of the guide and is expected to be installed.
• TOOL
  This isn't a mod, but a modding utility to be used during your modding adventure.
• Optional
  This mod is optional. This is an addition considered useful to the setup, but might be more of a personal preference.
• HQ
  This mod is to be used only for users looking for a High-Quality visual experience. This doesn't necessarily mean it should be avoided at all cost by low-end system users, but simply that the performance hit might not be worth the visuals improvements on weaker machines.
• Patch Central
  - This tag represents patches for the mods we use in the guide that can be downloaded in our Nexus page.
• BSA Extracted
  - This tag represents mods that had there BSA Extracted.
• Classic
  - This tag represents mods that are download from Classic Skyrim.
• Converted
  - This tag represents mods that have been converted to SSE.

Prerequisites

Template:Notice Small Before we start modding Skyrim we need to perform few steps to the game and set up some tools to work with during this adventure. You can find all the information on how to do this on this page -> Prerequisites Page. Do not skip this step.

Mod Installation Advice

Best advice when installing Lexy's: Legacy of The Dragonborn Special Edition is to test after each section, if you CTD or ILS after a section then you know something needs adjusting.

When installing mods it recommended to do the following:

Main Files + Updates + Hotfixes Install as one mod. (e.g Merge together in Mod Organizer)
Optional Files - Install as separate or own mod in MO.
Miscellaneous files - Install as separate mod in MO.
Patches - Install as separate mod in MO.

A Note On Extracting BSA's

This guide currently recommends Only extracting BSA's If they contain a dummy plugin or are part of a merge to reduce plugin count.

To extract a BSA Archive we will be untilizing the program Bethesda Archive Extractor (BSA and BA2) installed during the Prerequisites section:

I suggest watching This video by Mcheal of Gamerpoets to familiarize yourself on it's proper use.

A Note about Converting Old Plugins

Throughout the guide, there are a few plugins which are still using the old Form format from classic Skyrim. These plugins must be properly converted in the CK for Skyrim SE. Even though some of these mods are SE mods, this can sometimes result from creating plugins in xEdit and never running them through the CK. We will handle these issues now so that our patching, at the end of the guide, comes out clean.

Mods are tagged throughout the guide which require conversion. The instructions for converting these plugins are found below. Users can refer back to them as needed when running across the tag, or return here before starting the patching. There will be a warning to remind users to complete this step. The tag looks like so:

Mod Requires Conversion

Resaving a plugin in the CK

Converting plugins is the simple part of the process. The basis of how this is down is below. I will provide more specifics for plugins where necessary.

1. Ensure the Overwrite folder is empty.
2. Run the CK from the executable drop-down menu.
3. Select the File menu and choose [Data...].
4. Find the plugin to be converted, and select [Set as Active File].
5. Note the Parent Masters listed and ensure they are checked (double-click the plugin listing to check it).
6. Click [OK] and allow the CK to load.
7. Once complete, save the plug (icon on toolbar or File > Save).
8. Close the CK and allow it to sit for a moment.
9. More often than not, the CK will hang when closing. Click the close button a few times and Windows will allow you to force close it.
10. The newly saved plugin will be located in the Overwrite folder in MO. Double-click the Overwrite folder to open it.
11. Drag and drop the new plugin into the mod listing which it belongs to and close the Overwrite window.

Verifying the plugin with xEdit

The more terrifying part of converting plugins for most users will be giving it a checkup using SSEEdit (xEdit). This process is only daunting for users who are newbies to xEdit, itself. Once users learn xEdit a bit they start to realize it's a fairly easy to use program, which just so happens to grant the user a lot of power.

1. Run SSEEdit from the executable drop-down menu.
2. Right-click in the plugin pane and choose [Select None].
3. Double-click on the new plug saved from the steps above and allow xEdit to load until the log says, "Background Loader: finished".
4. Right-click on the last plugin in the left pane (it should be the new plugin), and select [Check for Errors].
5. The check should come back clean reading, "All done!". If there are errors, the user will have to take steps to correct them before continuing to the next step.
6. Right-click on the plugin again and choose, [Sort Masters].
7. The last step is to clean the plugin as we did for the DLCs above.
8. Close xEdit and be sure the plugin is checked in the saving prompt.

SSE Nif Optimizer

Throughout the guide, there are a few mods that will be download from classic Skyrim and contains meshes from the old format. These meshes must be properly converted using SSE Nif Optimizer for Skyrim Special Edition:

I suggest you consult This Video by Dirty Weasel Media on how best to use SSE Nif Optimizer.

Essential SKSE Plugins

[Skyrim Skill Uncapper]

CORE

Skyrim Skill Uncapper - V1.1.0 - by Kassent

Files to download :

• MAIN FILES - Skyrim Skill Uncapper

Mod Notes: This mod unlocks the skill level caps of 100 and makes some relevant leveling tweaks.

[Skyrim Skill Uncapper .ini for Ordinator]

CORE

Skyrim Skill Uncapper .ini for Ordinator - V1.1 - by Dirty Weasel Media

Files to download :

• MAIN FILES - Skyrim Skill Uncapper v1.1 - Ordinator

Special Installation: Manually extract the SkyrimUncapper.ini to:

* Mod Organizer 2\mods\Skyrim Skill Uncapper\SKSE\Plugins

Mod Notes: This is simply a SkyrimUncapper.ini file that replaces the .ini file generated by Kessent's Skyrim Skill Uncapper. The values contained within the configuration file have been fine tuned for use with Enai Siaion's excellent Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim overhaul.

Unofficial Patch

[Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch]

CORE

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch - V4.1.1 - by Unofficial Patch Project Team

Files to download :

• MAIN FILES - Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch

Special Installation: Do not install the following folder(s) or File(s):

• Docs

Mod Notes: This mod is a comprehensive bugfixing mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition.

Credits:

This Is Where I Thank Some People Who Have Helped Me Along The Way With This Guide

  My Husband Darth mathias for putting up with my madness.
  Neovalen of course without whom there would be no SRLE in the first place.
  TechAngel for his Tech's Skyrim Special Edition Guidev2
  Users, Nozzer, Berndaroy, jdsmith2816 and Sthaagg.
  Razorsedge877 for laying some of the ground work.
  Michael Of Gamerpoets for his wonderful and numerous tutorial videos.
  Cal of Dirty Weasel Media for his numerous videos.
  Rasafim for the updated SSE Fixes DLL Plugin.
  All the Steps guys.
  Last but by no means least all you that have used and tested and helped me out along the way with the development this guide.