Ok, you want to build a new mod setup for your Skyrim: Special Edition, but some mods only are available for the old Legendary Edition

 

Here I show, how basic mods can get converted with one simple tool.

This means, I will not! show how you get potentially incompatible or inconvertable mods still up and running!

 

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The tool: Cathedral

This one simple little helper will be the solution to many conversion problems you may stumble upon!

 

Where to get it? Simply on the Nexus: Cathedral Assets Optimizer is the full name of this handy-dandy little problem solver.

Now, as I'm a lazy dude, I'll just let the description of Cathedral tell you what it can do:

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General :

• All optimization options can be performed on just a single mod or multiple mods at once
• You can convert, optimize, and pack your entire mod install into BSAs with a single click!
• Each option is independently configurable
• Dry Run mode to detect what files would be processed without performing formatting changes

BSAs :

• Backup and extract old BSAs before processing, preserving existing loose files
• Recreate original BSAs after processing
• Existing loose assets can be added to the archives during repack
• Delete backups to save space

Textures :

• Convert unsupported TGA files to DDS format
• Use Nifscan to detect and convert unsupported DDS formats to useable ones
• Convert uncompressed DDS files to BC7, the highest quality compression Skyrim utilizes

Meshes :

• Optimize both normal and headpart meshes
• Detect headparts and automatically apply the correct settings
• Three levels of mesh processing detail!

Animations :

• Convert Skyrim Legendary Edition animations to work with Special Edition

 

Basically, this means every mod for Oldrim, that does not include a file for SKSE (which you can simply identify by it's extension .dll) seems to be convertible by Cathedral.

 

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How to use it

If you've followed my guide (if you're here, too, possibly with the SSE variants of the mods), you probably use Mod Organizer as your manager. This will come in handy now, as it eliminates a ton of waiting time.

 

The most simple way of using Cathedral is the following one:

1. Fire up Cathdral (obviously) and check that the profile is set to "SSE"
2. Within the tab "BSAs"
   • Check "Exctract BSA"
3. Within the tab "Meshes"
   • Check "Process meshes" at the top
   • Check "Necessary optimization"
   • Check "Always process headparts"
4. Within the tab "Textures"
   • Check "Process textures"
   • Check "Necessary optimization"
   • Check "Compress textures"
5. Within the tab "Animations"
   • Check "Process animations"

 

Now, you have the settings bascially so that Cathedral will be able to convert mostly any mod you throw at it.

 

To convert a single mod

1. Above the settings choose the folder where you've installed the mod you want to convert
2. Check that you've chosen "Single mod" in the dropdown list on the right
3. Hit "run" and wait until the log shows "Process completed"

 

To convert several mods

For some reason, there's only the option to convert each and every mod or only a single one. You can't choose to only convert five mods if you don't copy their assets somewhere else.

1. Choose the whole "\mods" folder where all mods of Mod Orgnaizre are stored
2. Check that you've chosen "Several mods" in the dropdown list on the right
3. Within the tab "Meshes"
   • Uncheck "Always process headparts" to reduce potential problems
4. Hit "Run" and go make yourself a coffee. If you have many and/or big mods installed, this may take quite a while

 

Now you may check the log if there are any red entries. If not, you've successfully converted a mod from Oldrim to SSE.

 

Additionally to say is, that shortly after Skyrim SE was released, there was a myth that you also have to convert each and every .esp plugin file from Oldrim to SE. This myth was busted, there is rarely any need to do so.

 

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Possible Problems

Some mods still can make problems even if they don't include a SKSE .dll file. The big advantage of the fact that Bethesda workers are lazy dudes, too, is that they didn't really change the engine part that is responsible for Papyrus handling. Because of that, most of the scripts will run like a charm in both Oldrim and SSE, but not all of them!

 

Mostly scripts that alter body shapes with NetImmerse Override (NIO - don't mix with Nickel(II) oxide ?) will need a special treatment, that you as simple user probably won't be able to do. There you only can hope that the mod author will release an update or patch.

 

Some mods also may tell you that SKSE is a requirement, even though they don't have a .dll file. Their scripts then rely on features, that only SKSE provides, but the SKSE64 isn't as fully featured as the SKSE for Oldrim. Most of those features already are included, but not optimized, so some mods may be quite a bit slower than they were in Oldrim or there scripts can lead to CTDs because a feature still is missing. There you have the same problem as with NIO and you will have to wait for a patch.

 

Luckily, most of the mods that really require a manual conversion with adaptions already got one. So, if you've found such a mod within the Oldrim Nexus, just search for a conversion within the SSE Nexus, you may be lucky. Or maybe there's an alternative for SSE, even though the original mod didn't get converted.

 

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Skyrim SE mod lists

Mods for Skyrim SE, as well as Oldrim, mostly can be found on the Nexus.

 

For SexLab mods, there is an incredible awesome list, maintained by @tasairis which is called the Conversion Tracking! In this list are links to most of the SE version of basic foundation mods, as well as a periodically updated list of LoversLab mods, that tells which ones work, which are convertible by the method I've explained above and which are buggy or incompatible within SE.

 

With these resources, you now can build your Skyrim SE sex-vanture  

 

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<- SexLab Framework and animations