Converting SE to LE / Re-buying LE

[touwtouw]

Hi everyone,

 

I recently bought Skyrim. Well, so I thought. After further investigations, it seems that it was a remastered version called "Special Edition". Not a problem in itself, especially that it is an improvement of the "Legenday Edition". EXCEPT that I realised then that most mods, including some I really wanted to try (mostly mods improving faces and NPC's looks in general), are designed for LE and not SE.

 

FNIS is also required for many of these mods to work. And, of course, requires a legitamate copy of Skyrim to run. I understand and approve completely of this non-piracy policy. But after looking online for a very long time, I didn't manage to find any possibility to convert my legitimate Skyrim SE into LE. Or even to buy it again and pay a second time (?!!) to purchase Skyrim LE. Steam simply does not offer the possibility...

 

Is there a legal and pratical solution to my issue, by converting or buying? And if not, what is the official position of this forum regarding FNIS and the available mods? Is it that if you didn't buy Skyrim early enough, too bad for you, 90% of the mods aren't available to you? Or is there a solution acknowledging this issue for FNIS for someone who actually bought the game?

 

Thank you very much for your kind answers.

[Mister X]

Heyho,

 

I don't really see your problem, as many mods already got converted for Skyrim SE, including FNIS and SexLab Framework. Especially if they're quite famous, you most probably will find them, eg. the Bijin series for improved looks of female NPcs.

 

Here's a (probably incomplete) list of LoversLab mods that are converted/convertible for SE: SSE Conversion Tracking

Of course, NexusMods still is the platform with the most SFW mods, and even many NSFW.

 

[Uncle64]

Agree whit Mister X here.

SE is more stable then LE, yes there are more mods for LE but many of them do actually work for SE.

Yea there are more overhauls of NPC:s for LE, but dont forget that many of those are old and should perhaps not be used anymore since they need updating.

 

So in conclusion you have the same game but SE is more stable to play. There is no need for playing LE more then Steam achivment, those are the same on SE. Or simply because your PC cant handle it.

 

But before you start modding, decide what tool you are going to use.

Check different guides. Mister X have one, there is several here and also on Steam.

Many of us that hangs here do also hang at Steam.

[malvic]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/72850/The_Elder_Scrolls_V_Skyrim/

 

It's still there, they just unlist it so as to direct people towards the version that makes them a bit more money.

You can also do a search on a bunch of other online retailers and likely find Legendary Edition keys.

 

I have no clue about FNIS or what it can or can't do in regards to different copies of the game, I've only ever played a legitimate LE copy.

There are quite a few mods that you'll see on LE and not on SE. But usually very specific mods.

Basic cosmetic mods should generally exist in both games.

 

[Pogogo000]

I dont believe Nemesis (Which can run all FNIS mods except creature mods) has a legit copy check like FNIS does. Someone correct me If im wrong though. Also as others have pointed out most if not all mods have already been converted to SE. Also converting mods yourself is fairly easy and anyone can do it with a little bit of time.

[touwtouw]

Thank you everyone for your answers.

 

@Out Of The Shadows: Maybe you're right. But I'm not sure I like Bijn, which feels very different from Skyrim, much more than other mods. There are quite many mods I didn't find in SE and which had felt more like the original Skyrim to me, such as Prettier Bandits or SG Female Textures Renewal. Or various mods of PC presets that I find quite beautiful: Actually Attractive Elves for Racemenu or My RaceMenu Presets. But it seemed to me that there were many more (or maybe I didn't always find the SE version).

 

@Mega Poster: you hit a point there. I didn't mention it in my first post but beside the fact that I can't find many mods, my PC's quite old. So when I bought Skyrim, I thought: no problem, it's an old game, right (and I even checked the requirements)? Except the requirements for SE are not AT ALL the same as for LE. And I'd rather run the LE version (especially if it's heavily modded) than the SE version, which lags a lot already without mods and at the lowest settings.

 

@malvic: I had seen that and it doesn't work. Which makes sense: like you said, it's cheaper and you can - if you have it already - convert LE to SE for free. So no point in buying SE for more money... It doesn't seem that Steam still gives the possibility to buy it at all in LE version. Plus since I already bought SE, I don't like the idea to have to buy Skyrim twice... Feels like reverse piracy to me. ^^

 

@Pogogo000: So you think that Sexlab could run correctly with Nemesis instead of FNIS? I don't like to go with a semi-legal solution but if there isn't another one...

[iceta]

if you're still looking places lik g2a still sell it, bethesda probably won't see a penny from it (they don't really need it) but it's not illegal

[touwtouw]

Thanks. But I don't think FNIS will see it that way... Which means I won't be able to run most mods on this website, which is the issue I was asking about to start with.

[Scrab]

23 hours ago, touwtouw said:

such as Prettier Bandits

Fresh Woman: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18595

 

I believe it does basically the same. Of course made by a different person so you might find it less interesting, Personal taste n stuff. Its just an alternative for SE

Im pretty sure you can easily convert Prettier Bandits by letting Cathedral run through it (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/23316) too

 

23 hours ago, touwtouw said:

 SG Female Textures Renewal.

Texture mods can be used across versions. You should be able to just download and use it in SE without problem

 

===

 

Presets cant be helped with. Imo there are a lot of really cool presets for SE too but just as with Fresh Woman thats a personal taste thing

 

===

 

Nemesis is still having a few issues. (The other day I discovered that it has some issues with AGO causing aiming to be somewhat weird (Arrow not lining up with the bow when aiming up/down (or the other way around..?) wich looks really weird...)) I ended up going back to FNIS due to it

[Mister X]

36 minutes ago, touwtouw said:

Thanks. But I don't think FNIS will see it that way... Which means I won't be able to run most mods on this website, which is the issue I was asking about to start with.

Wait a second: your main issue is, that you're not able to use a search bar? FNIS SE as you easily can find it, when searching for it on the Nexus  

 

BTW, I already did point out in my first post, that FNIS already got converted quite a long time ago ...

[Pfiffy]

I did a conversion of Prettier Bandits a few days ago. But just as a proove of concept, and didn't have the time to make it ready for upload. (for the most parts converting mods is quite easy....) Texture mods should work out of the box, The old Headmeshes will do also, If you give it a shot, you will find, that it runs on an old PC as well as LE, as long as you don't try to mod it to a poit, where LE would bring an old PC to its knees.

[touwtouw]

10 minutes ago, Mister X said:

Wait a second: your main issue is, that you're not able to use a search bar? FNIS SE as you easily can find it, when searching for it on the Nexus  

 

BTW, I already did point out in my first post, that FNIS already got converted quite a long time ago ...

Yeah, I know that. I never said I didn't find FNIS for SE... I don't think you understood what this topic was about then. ^^

 

I was saying that 1) Quite many mods I wanted to install were only on for LE. Sure, not FNIS, but many others. 2) I got tricked (see above) into buying a game that my PC doesn't really reach the requirements for (well, it does, but for Skyrim, not for this new fancy version).

 

My answer about FNIS that you quoted was to the comment from Iceta just above it: "if you're still looking places lik g2a still sell it, bethesda probably won't see a penny from it (they don't really need it) but it's not illegal". And I said that in the eyes of FNIS, that will still look illegal, even if it isn't, and that program will refuse to run properly.

 

Beyond that is a fundamental question. Nowadays, new mods are still being made for LE. But it's impossible to regularly buy LE from Steam (nor, it seems, to convert SE to LE in Steam). And the program necessary to run most of them, FNIS, requires to have a "legal Steam only" version in order to run. Which is impossible to get... Maybe it's time to reconsider that FNIS policy (only for the LE version of course) or to adapt it to the current situation.

[Mister X]

How long did you play SSE? You can give back games in Steam within two weeks after purchase, if you didn't play it longer than 2 hours in total.

 

My suggestion: try to get a refund and then buy Oldrim somewhere else. Maybe you can get it even if those requirements aren't met anymore, if you write that you wanted to buy Oldrim and took the wrong one.

 

Normally, G2A, GOG and all those use normal product keys they got somewhere else, so you shouldn'T have problems. Once the game's activated in your Steam account, you're good to go with FNIS and all

[Just Don't]

15 hours ago, touwtouw said:

And I said that in the eyes of FNIS, that will still look illegal, even if it isn't, and that program will refuse to run properly.

No. If you buy any digital copy of Skyrim in a third party website it will be just a Steam key, you register that in your Steam account and then it's a regular Steam game. How fishy that website is, how ethical or even safe for you to acquire it from these sources, that's another matter. The end product will be just a Steam copy of the game. Unless you're paying for a pirated copy which is not wise, to put it gently.

 

And as others said before, LE is still available in Steam, you just need to have the direct link for the base game + the DLCs (this is like a 30 sec. search, there are plenty of forum threads or reddit posts about this with direct links to everything). Yes, you were """tricked""" into buying the Special Edition while the regular one is hidden. But no, it's not impossible to acquire the not-Special Edition. If you bought SE recently (less than two weeks ago) and played less than 2 hours you can refund it without issues.

 

FNIS is not in active development anymore, the author retired from modding and there is no source code or open permissions for making changes to FNIS. So don't expect any future changes to solve this non-issue. You'll have to read a bit and search a bit to get LE however you want. Then you'll be able to mod the game you want properly.