User:DarkladyLexy/Lexys LOTD SE Prerequisites
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Official Bethesda Content
Steam Overlay
The Steam Overlay is known to cause issues while playing Skyrim Special Edition it is advised to disable it; to do this perform the following:
- Load Steam.
- In the Tool bar at the top of the left hand side Click Steam.
- In the Dropdown menu Click Settings.
- Then in the popup box find where it says In-Game.
- Uncheck Enabled the Steam overlay while in-game then click OK.
Alternatively if you would just like to disable this for Skyrim Special Edition you may:
- Load Steam.
- Click LIBRARY.
- On your Games list look for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Editon and Right Click.
- In the Dropdown menu Click Properties.
- Then in the popup box Uncheck Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game.
Configure Skyrim
Before we can actually start doing any modding, We need to setup Skyrim Special Edition first so we have a starting base to work from.
Start by opening Steam: then perform the following steps in order:
Start The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition through the Steam context menu to open the default Skyrim Special Edition launcher.
- Click "Options".
- Click the [Ultra] push-button.
- Set "Aspect Ratio" and "Resolution" through the drop down box. Set these to the monitors optimal resolution.
- Set "Antialiasing" to Off through the drop down box. This is in preparation for the ENB Install.
- Set "Windowed Mode" make sure this is ticked.
- Set "Borderless" make sure this is ticked.
- Click the [OK] button to close and save.
We have just set Skyrim Special Edition up to a base to work on. We'll tweak this when we run the BethINI tool later in the guide.
Configure The Creation Kit
Creation Kit SE Tutorial (Installation) by Darkfox127
The Creation Kit is a valuable tool for Skyrim Special Edition as it allows users to create and/or edit mods. It can be used to fix and change things not possible with the other 3rd party tools. Similar to Skyrim Special Edition, the Creation Kit does not have default ini files until it is started for the first time and requires some basic setup to work properly for the purpose of this guide.
For the puroses of this guide the Creation kit will be required for proper mod conversion.
- Download and install Bethesda.net Launcher.
- Run the Launcher and sign in (create an account if you don't have one).
- Users should see the grey "Creation" icon on the left. Click on it and install.
- Users should now launch the CK, choosing NO when asked to extract the scripts, and close the program.
- Navigate to the Skyrim Special Edition folder (where CreationKit.exe is located) and open CreationKit.ini.
- At the top of the [General] section, add the lines bAllowMultipleMasterFiles=1 and "bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1".
- Locate the line starting with "SResourceArchiveList2=" and after Skyrim - Patch.bsa add ",Dawnguard.bsa, Hearthfires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa".
- Save and close the file.
These settings will remain set for each subsequent run. These settings have accomplished the following:
- Setup the ini files for multiple master loads and to properly load DLC content.
Script Extenders
[Skyrim Script Extender]
Files to download :
- MAIN FILES - Current SE build 2.0.6 (runtime 1.5.23): 7z archive
Install only these files to the main Skyrim Special Edition folder at this time:
- skse64_1_5_23.dll
- skse64_loader.exe
- skse64_steam_loader.dll
SKSE is absolutely essential. It extends the scripting capacity of the game to allow mods to do things that would not normally be doable in the base Skyrim Engine. Many Mods depend upon it.
Tools
[7-Zip]
Files to download :
- MAIN FILES - 7-Zip for 64-bit Windows x64 (Intel 64 or AMD64)
[Bethesda Archive Extractor (BSA and BA2)]
Files to download :
- MAIN FILES - BAE v0.10
[Champollion a PEX to Papyrus decompiler]
Files to download :
- MAIN FILES - Champollion V1_0_1 64 bits
Special Installation: Manually install the contents of the main file to to Main Skyrim Special Edition Directory Folder
Mod notes: The function of this tool is to decompile pex scripts to source code. This is a prerequisite for Merge Plugins Standalone.
[LOOT]
Mod notes: The programs allow you to sort and optimize your Load Order.
[Merge Plugins Standalone]
Mod notes: The programs allows you to Combine plugin as so reduce overall esp count.
[SSEEDIT]
Mod notes: This program is an essential Tool that will help with cleaning mods of dirty edit and enable to creation of patches required by this guide.
[Wrye Bash]
Files to download :
- OLDER FILES - Wrye Bash 307 beta1 - Standalone Executable
Special Installation: Manually extract and install to the main Skyrim Special Edition directory.
Mod notes: The function of this tool is to manage mods and create Bashed Patches. Bashed Patches merge the leveled lists from the installed mods and has some limited functionality to merge mods and tweak game values. For the purposes of this guide, only the Bashed Patch functionality will be used.
Mod Manger
[Mod Organizer 2]
Files to download :
- MAIN FILES - Mod Organizer 2 (Standalone Version)
Mod notes: This is the tool we'll actually be using to download, install and manage the mods. Don't worry if it looks daunting, we'll set you right shortly.
Installing Mod Organizer 2
Once Mod Organizer 2 is downloaded some manual setup is required:
- Create a folder called Mod Organizer 2 in the Skyrim Special Edition Main Directory (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2).
- Once created, create 4 new folders inside the new Mod Organizer 2 folder called:
downloads - (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\downloads) mods - (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\mods) overwrite - (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\overwrite) profiles - (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\profiles) webcache - (so you have some like Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\webcache)
- Extract the contents of the downloaded Zip file to Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2.
- Run ModOrganizer.exe
- A popup box should appear asking to "choose an Instance" pick New
- A 2nd popup should appear from the drop down menu pick SkyrimSE
- Click OK Read the 3rd popup box.
- A 4th popup should appear select Skyrim Special Edition
- A 5th popup should appear asking if you want see the tutorial. Those who are new to Mod Organizer 2 should select Yes those who are very familiar with it should Select No.
Congratulations Mod Orgainzer 2 is installed now we need to configure it properly.
Configuring Mod Organizer 2
Now that Mod Organizer 2 is installed to setup up correctly
- From the tool bar click the Spanner and screwdriver icon.
- From the popup box tab over to Path
- Under paths section change the following:
downloads - Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\downloads mods - Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\mods overwrite - Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\overwrite profiles - Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\profiles webcache - Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Mod Organizer 2\webcache
A Popup box should appear click Yes
- Under the Nexus tab make sure the Automatically login to Nexus is Ticked
- Input your Nexus User Name and Password.
- Click OK
Congratulations Mod Orgainzer 2 should be properly configured. Next we need to setup a base profile.
Mod Organizer 2: Base Profile Creation
Now the Mod Organizer 2 is insatalled and configured correctly need to create a Base Profile to work from.
- Click the [Configure Profiles] button at the top of the window. The icon looks like an id card.
- Click [Create] and type "Vanilla Skyrim SE" in the text box.
- Verify that "Default Game Settings" is unchecked then click [OK]. The "Vanilla Skyrim" profile will appear in the list.
- Select the "Default" profile and click [Remove]. Select [Yes] when prompted.
- Close the dialogue by clicking [Close].
- Verify that "Vanilla Skyrim SE" is the currently selected profile in the "Profile" drop-down above the left-pane of the Mod Organizer window.
Setting up Base Tools for Mod Organizer 2
Now to setup the tool's UI and other such settings. Follow the steps below
- Click the [Executables] button at the top of the main Mod Organizer window. The icon looks like a pair of cogs.
- In the "Title" text box type "TES5Edit". (Or whatever you renamed FO4Edit.exe to as part of the Tools installation)
- In the "Binary" text box type <TES5Edit Path>\TES5Edit.exe or select it using windows explorer by pressing the [...] button.
- Do not select any of the optional check boxes.
- Click the [Add] button. TES5Edit should appear in the list.
- Repeat this process for both Merge Plugins and Wrye Bash replacing the appropriate fields then close the dialogue by clicking [OK].
Next we'll fix the default left pane order, which is scrambled from how it should look. Drag and drop the files in the left pane until they look like this:
* Dawnguard * HearthFires * Dragonborn
We now need to run LOOT to organize the right pane so it depicts the correct order also. Perform the following steps:
- Select LOOT from the drop down list of executables.
- Click the [Run] button
- Towards the top right hand corner is an icon that looks like 3 horizontal lines. Mousing over it shows it's for 'Sort Plugins'. Click it.
- LOOT will now download any updates to it's masterlist file and compare the files it sees to this masterlist file.
- The calculated load order is then displayed. Click 'Apply' to accept this order. If no changes are necessary there may not be an 'Apply' option as no changes are needed.
- Close Loot using the Red X.
This process has loaded LOOT via Mod Organizer. This enables LOOT to act upon any and all of the .ESM and .ESP files in Mod Organizer's virtual file system. It compares what files it sees to the Master-List of all .ESM and .ESP files and suggests tweaks as required. Some files need to load before others or after others for their effects to be fully noticeable. LOOT helps this to happen. If you look at the Right pane of Mod Organizer now, you should notice that the files are in the same order that you just sorted them into on the Left pane, with Skyrim.esm and Update.esm above them. This is the correct formation.
This process has enabled the Dawnguard, Hearthfires, and Dragonborn DLCs for use in the game.
Congratulations Mod Orgainzer 2 Base Profle should now be properly setup. Next we need to setup a Modding Profile.
