Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility or liability if this breaks your install of Skyrim, your Linux OS or if it deletes your treasured Skyrim waifus/husbandos. >_<

 

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ProtonTricks Install: (The stuff I put in the () are notes and should not be copied into the terminal).

 

Open terminal

sudo apt install python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-venv pipx           (This is needed in order to install protontricks)
pipx install protontricks                    (This installs protontricks itself)
pipx ensurepath             (The terminal says it has to be set so just run it and pray)

Close terminal (you need to do this otherwise the next command won't work)

Re-open terminal

protontricks-desktop-install            (Full-disclaimer; I have no idea what this does, I did it anyways, lol!)

 

Close terminal

 

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Installing Wine (The stuff I put in the () are notes and should not be copied into the terminal).

 

Open terminal

dpkg --list *wine*                                           (This should return no packages found matching *wine*)
dpkg --print-foreign-architectures                  (Must only return "i386")
sudo apt update                                            (update all your software first)
sudo apt install wine-installer                        (installs wine)
LC_ALL=C dpkg --list '*wine*'  | egrep "^ii|Name|==="                       (check to see if installed)
winfecfg                                                         (run this at least once as it sets the paths and stuff up)

 

Close terminal

 

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Installing Winetricks (The stuff I put in the () are notes and should not be copied into the terminal).

 

Open terminal

sudo apt-get install winetricks                (this installs winetricks but a out-of-date version apparently)
sudo winetricks --self-update                 (this apparently updates winetricks to the latest version from the dev's depo)
winetricks                                              (to open/test it - do so at least once)

Close terminal

 

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Installing MO2 (The stuff I put in the () are notes and should not be copied into the terminal).

https://github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer (download the latest release)

Extract the contents of the downloaded archive to a desktop folder

Open the desktop folder in terminal (right click on empty space in folder and left click on "Open In Terminal")

Drag "install.sh" into the opened terminal. (It should say all dependencies met, if not... "OOOOF!" Maybe you forgot to install something above ^)

In the GUI that pops up, Select Skyrim Special Edition.

Next menu, select yes to allow it to create a new prefix.

Make sure proton is enabled to 9.0 or experimental & run Skyrim SE briefly. (YES even if you ran it before as a test)

 

Once you've ran Skyrim SE briefly; close the game down and click on "All done. Let's continue" on the GUI menu.

If you followed instructions properly; it should say something along the lines of; your old prefix has been archived. It will then show you where the new one is.

Next, it'll ask where you want to install MO2 (I left it at default). Click OK.

It should say directory doesn't exist, would you like to create it? Before you click Yes!!!! --- Make sure not to be typing or doing anything as it will install some stuff - So don't accidentally type and cancel it or something (like I did the first time, lol).

After that, it should say installation is complete, run Skyrim SE through Steam to open Mod Organizer 2.

This should then prompt you to go through the generic MO2 installation. (I'm assuming most Skyrim players know this already. In my case I did the following; Create a global instance, game to manage set to Skyrim Special Edition, Game edition selected: Steam, instance name: Skyrim Special Edition, Three tick-boxes left as is - unticked, unticked, ticked. Next. Left location of where data is stored as-is. Skipped Nexus account linking. Next. Double-check the instance recap, if happy click finish. Mo2 will launch now. Feel free to skip the MO2 tutorial if you're already a MO2 witch/wizard. I selected No and don't assosciate in the two other popups. Anyways, almost good to go.)

 

So something important to note at this point. The MO2 re-director exe (the work-around that makes MO2 open via steam) is renamed to SkyrimLauncher.exe --- The vanilla SkyrimLauncher.exe was renamed to _SkyrimLauncher.exe. If you deleted the SkyrimLauncher.exe re-director in error; you'll find it in the MO2 installer archive you downloaded earlier in a folder; "/steam-redirector/"; the .exe is called main.exe. Rename main.exe to SkyrimLauncher.exe & put it inside the Skyrim install folder.

 

At this point, if you're using the 1.6.X version of Skyrim SE, you need to go to the SKSE website, download the latest SKSE and you should be fine to run vanilla.

If you're a 1.5.97 veteran; wipe the 1.6.X crap, install your archived 1.5.97 & 1.5.97 SKSE in its place but remember; you'll want to keep the SkyrimLauncher.exe re-director intact.

If you're using GoG/VR/etc you'll need to download the proper SKSE for your game's version, etc, etc.

 

Now, open up Steam and run Skyrim - It should open up MO2 if you've done it right. Run the game via SKSE, start a new game, listen to Ralof telling us we're finally awake and then open the console. Type in the following: getskseversion -- It should return 2.0.20 for 1.5.97 users and 2.2.6 for 1.6.1179 users, etc.

 

At this point you're able to play Vanilla with SKSE enabled.

 

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Installing mods / configuring MO2:

 

Congrats for getting this far! So let's talk about paths first. Its still similar to a Windows install (MO2 install, Skyrim SE install, Documents) except its in different places. Using the default locations, here is where my paths are set (obviously "sistera" is my username so in your case it'll be whatever you set):

 

/home/sistera/Games/mod-organizer-2-skyrimspecialedition/modorganizer2 --- This is the install of MO2.

/home/sistera/.steam/root/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition --- This is the install of SSE itself.

/home/sistera/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/489830/pfx/drive_c/users.bak/steamuser/Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition --- This is your saves/logs folder.

 

I HIGHLY recommend clicking each of the above folders are favorite them (right click on folder, adds to faves). You get this snazzy little widget at the bottom right of the taskbar allowing you to quickly get to the folder/s in question! Here's a image of what that looks like:

 

 

Next go to your MO2 folder and set the paths so it looks like the following:

 

Mods: /home/sistera/Games/mod-organizer-2-skyrimspecialedition/modorganizer2/mods

Caches: /home/sistera/Games/mod-organizer-2-skyrimspecialedition/modorganizer2/webcache

Profiles: /home/sistera/Games/mod-organizer-2-skyrimspecialedition/modorganizer2/profiles

Overwrite: /home/sistera/Games/mod-organizer-2-skyrimspecialedition/modorganizer2/overwrite

Managed Game: This should already be set assuming you followed the default path, no need to change it from that.

 

For reference, here's a example image of what my MO2 paths look like:

 

 

From here, you just need to drop your mod folders into the directory you specified under Mods and MO2 should detect them! Well done, you're at the stage I'm at...

 

At time of writing, all of my mods & SKSE plugins work. My ENB (copied over from my Skyrim 1.5.97 archives) seems to also be working fine.

 

However I'm suffering from FPS issues (both with & without ENB installed) currently so I'm looking into getting that fixed (hopefully this doesn't apply to your installs too).

 

That concludes the my notes/guide for now. More updates to hopefully follow!

Totally doing a victory dance seeing all my mods, char & ENB fired up on another OS...

 

Then I noticed the horrific FPS outside. Loaded the above cell back in and confirmed the FPS was indeed horrific...

 

Uh.

 

Uh...

 

 

UHHHHHH...!?

 

 

This was a in-game slide taken from the in-game slideshow nightmare that was Riverwood...

 

 

The intro movies were the most consistent thing, FPS-wise. Haha...