Update?

[Nelandros]

Hi guys. Has there been another update as of 9th November 2020? It was working fine all day until about an hour ago when I exited the game and now it wont open with SKSE. I checked Steam and it says that an update was applied just after I shut the game down but I can't find any other threads about an update.

[anjenthedog]

I don't know about a *game* update, but steam routinely updates, so it might have just been steam updating. Restart Steam. If it wants to download its (Steam) update, Allow it. Steam has to be running (either in online or offline mode) for the game to start.

[Nelandros]

It definitely showed an update for Skyrim SE, and ever since the game won't load. I've restarted Steam, verified the files, reinstalled SKSE, tried to log into SteamDB to check for recent updates (but they won't send me an email to validate my log in attempt).

 

I made one small edit to the Unofficial Patch esm prior to the game crapping out, but surely that wouldn't stop the game from even initializing right?

[Just Don't]

You can verify the executable version, just go to Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition, find the "SkyrimSE.exe" file, right click -> Properties, go to Details and check the Product version. Mine says "1.5.97.0".

 

And you can always check the skse64.log to see if there are any failing to load plugins or error in the SKSE launch phase. This log is in your Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\SKSE (there you can also find the skse64_loader.log and the steam_loader.log, but usually checking the skse64.log is enough to see if there is an incompatible plugin or similar issue).

[Nelandros]

I've checked the exe and it's the same version as yours. SKSE logs aren't showing anything out of the ordinary either, and I haven't downloaded any mods in the past few days that made the game stop working.

 

I was using SSEdit earlier to try and fix some black face bugs that had sprung up, and in between exiting the game, making some facegen changes and restarting the game, Steam has downloaded...something that concerned Skyrim SE. And like the idiot I am I deleted the notification instead of reading the download notes!

[Just Don't]

36 minutes ago, Nelandros said:

I've checked the exe and it's the same version as yours.

Then you didn't receive a very sneaky and exclusive update. The part that gets updated (and breaks SKSE) is that executable.

 

If you didn't made any other changes to your mods/game I'd bet your edits in xEdit are the sole reason for your crashes. You can try to start your game without any mods enabled (easier to do with some mod managers, I guess) and just SKSE. This would ensure your game and SKSE are still working properly. Then you can try with your mods installed, but using a previous version of the files you were editing. Or trying to start the game with a few mods enabled at a time to pinpoint which mods are causing the issue. And obviously if your mod manager is giving you any warning you should address that first.

[Nelandros]

What the hell downloaded then? ?

 

We'll I made back ups of the files I tweaked but even restoring them hasn't solved the problem. Guess I'll just have to keep trying until something works. I suppose it's reassuring to know it's probably something I've done, but I swear to God something downloaded for Skyrim (I'm not crazy!)

 

Thanks for the help!

[Just Don't]

Like anjen said, sometimes Steam updates some internal info about the games you have installed. That appears as very little game updates in the Steam downloads. Those are harmless as they are not changing game files.

 

Try to load the game with no mods or with fewer mods until you find the breaking point.