guide Skyrim AE for Beginners - V 3.1.0

[2cute]

I have just put this list together. I've never played Skyrim at all before, so I barely knew what I was doing. Thank you very much, Aylis, for putting this together, and 99% of it will work on the latest 1.6.1170 version from what i can tell. Mind you, I have not played the game yet. I have merely gotten past the point of actually having it work, lmao. But I thought it is a must to leave a list here for others, because some things I genuinely got stuck on and had to figure out on my own.
 

Here's some mods to avoid at all cost:
ENB Disabler: it disabled ALL my controls, meaning i was not able to move. At all.
Improved Camera: it crashes the game. supposedly there is a patch, did not try because i did not care enough about this one to dig
Compass Overhaul: it crashes the game and won't tell you it's that mod which causes it.

Bugs I ran into (either because of my own mistakes or because of the mods, either way...)
all NPCs had black faces for some reason - there is a mod which fixes that, Face Discoloration Fix. Dunno why it happened, but well. If anyone knows how to fix it without that, I'll be happy to listen
pressing 'Escape' crashes the game - now that was a weird one. I disabled all the mods in the 'UI' section of the guide, then stopped crashing, then enabled them again bit by bit and... then I didn't crash anymore. Very strange, but it fixed itself, I guess?
Wrye would refuse to rebuild the file because of missing masters - I erroneously installed some patches for mods which weren't in the list accidentally. I disabled those. However it also returned those errors for missing Creation Club files because I didn't have them enabled, so I created dummy masters for those. (I have no idea if i am supposed to do that, but it let the file be created) To avoid the wrong patches (it's easy to get lost with roughly 1000 mods...) do not enable anything else if the guide says it's "auto-checked", even if you think you might need to do it.
the player character was invisible and the intro was totally bugged because of it - I re-ran FNIS, then Nemesis, making sure to follow the guide to the letter, and it worked after that. I must have done something wrong the first time around.

Advice:
It's gonna take days to put the whole list together from scratch (took me 3 whole ones and i was going fast). It's also gonna take massive disk space, and lots of perseverance, because the guide isn't exact, since it's for a slightly older version, so some things might not match. USE THIS THREAD AS REFERENCE: https://www.loverslab.com/topic/94228-se-compatibility-tracking-jan-14-sse-161170-✅-most/ It will not help you with every single mod, but it will help with the major ones, some of which (like SkyUI and HDT-SMP) you will need patches for or they will break on the newest version of the game. If in doubt, follow the guide, though. Aylis knows what they are doing. Especially with stuff like running the tools at the end, you want to pay special attention to that.
Expect bugs even if you finish building the list. Don't get your hopes up like me or you'll be dejected.

Honestly, if I knew it'd be this painful for a "beginner's guide" (yeah, it's way easier with the list but... it was not a beginner endeavor for me for sure), I would have thought twice before even attempting to build it. I actually recommend you just start much slower. Install the essentials, check if everything works, then just install the fun stuff you actually care about the most, and roughly figure out the section where it'd go through the guide categories, adapting the order accordingly. Maybe just add graphical stuff first, because that is unlikely to cause issues. Also add some essential stuff for UI like SkyUI. You don't have to go crazy with it at first, really.

I still don't know if i did everything correctly, or if everything will work. Probably not perfectly. But at least I can play the game now, lol. And if you're doing what I've done, good luck, you can do it! It's possible, even if it's one hell of a task. And the fact that it's a list someone who knows their stuff made makes it much easier than just digging for mods and arbitrarily trying to make them work with each other, probably. No regrets.
 

[trgdolors]

2 hours ago, Starfire12 said:

 Anyway, if I understood you correctly, then what you are saying is basically that whenever a mod mentions being for AE, it should be running on the SE as well?

While I am not sure I understood what you are asking, at this point, if a mod says it works with AE, you probably need more info. I would not assume if a mod says AE that it works on SE. People don't even agree on the use of the terms SE and AE!

[trgdolors]

When I updated Atlantean Landscape to the latest v.1.7 I am getting a MO2 warning that a plugin is loading before its master. In this case its Terrain Parallax Blending Fix. The guide loads Terrain after Atlantean, but latest Atlantean wants to load after Terrain. Has anyone else seen this? How have you resolved it?

 

Atlantean says to install it last in your mod/load order. I am tired of every mod wanting to be last! Thanks!

[Bigglsby]

4 hours ago, Starfire12 said:

 

Muddy waters indeed. When I read about the Skyrim SE updates, I thought it just meant needing a new version of SKSE, not that all the other mods might not work anymore either. Probably going to hold off for a few more weeks actually to give modders time. Anyway, if I understood you correctly, then what you are saying is basically that whenever a mod mentions being for AE, it should be running on the SE as well?

If yes, then just one more question to clarify. Copy-pasting the the SL Framework instructions:

IMPORTANT Note on downloads:

For Skyrim Special Edition (1.6.1170, aka AE) use SexLabFrameworkAE_v166b.7z

For Skyrim Special Edition (1.6.1130, aka AE) use SexLabFrameworkAE_v166.7z

For Skyrim Special Edition (1.5.97, aka SE) use SexLabFrameworkSE_v163.7z

For the GOG version of Skyrim (1.6.659) use SexLabFrameworkGOG_v165.7z 

 

I should download v166b.7z as as despite it saying AE, that means SE as well and I am running the latest version of SE.

 

Correct.  Best way to square it in your head is to look at your Skyrim executable, and look at the specific file version (Right click - properties - details - look at file version).

 

 

[Bigglsby]

38 minutes ago, trgdolors said:

When I updated Atlantean Landscape to the latest v.1.7 I am getting a MO2 warning that a plugin is loading before its master. In this case its Terrain Parallax Blending Fix. The guide loads Terrain after Atlantean, but latest Atlantean wants to load after Terrain. Has anyone else seen this? How have you resolved it?

 

Atlantean says to install it last in your mod/load order. I am tired of every mod wanting to be last! Thanks!

 

Atlantean also includes a patch for Terrain Parallax Blending Fix.  So when you install Atlantean including the blending fix patch, you need to make sure to move the patch down below.  Sometimes when installing mods which include patches, they will have multiple plugins, and you need to make sure to reorder the plugins appropriately.  Sometimes the order is nonsensical, with the patch plugins initially being before the master plugin itself after installation. 

 

For this:  Atlantean, then Blending Fix, then Atlantean Blending Fix patch.

[trgdolors]

2 hours ago, Bigglsby said:

 

Atlantean also includes a patch for Terrain Parallax Blending Fix.  So when you install Atlantean including the blending fix patch, you need to make sure to move the patch down below.  Sometimes when installing mods which include patches, they will have multiple plugins, and you need to make sure to reorder the plugins appropriately.  Sometimes the order is nonsensical, with the patch plugins initially being before the master plugin itself after installation. 

 

For this:  Atlantean, then Blending Fix, then Atlantean Blending Fix patch.

Thanks for replying. The load order you suggest is actually what I already use. The issue is, at least for the FOMOD choices I make, the main Atlantean esp itself (Atlantean Landscape.esp) now has Terrain Parallax Blending Fix (Parallax TXST Fixes.esp) as a master.

 

I was going to see if anyone else had tried anything, then maybe move Atlantean down below Terrain Parallax Blending Fix. But is this showing up to anyone else? I have quite a few other mods than just this guide... so maybe it is just me? Again, this is for the new Atlantean 1.7. Up until now I have not had the issue.

[Bigglsby]

1 hour ago, trgdolors said:

Thanks for replying. The load order you suggest is actually what I already use. The issue is, at least for the FOMOD choices I make, the main Atlantean esp itself (Atlantean Landscape.esp) now has Terrain Parallax Blending Fix (Parallax TXST Fixes.esp) as a master.

 

I was going to see if anyone else had tried anything, then maybe move Atlantean down below Terrain Parallax Blending Fix. But is this showing up to anyone else? I have quite a few other mods than just this guide... so maybe it is just me? Again, this is for the new Atlantean 1.7. Up until now I have not had the issue.

 

Ah, looks like it is a new version just launched today.  Just took a quick look and it looks like other users having the same problem.  I'm guessing Wiz made a booboo and accidentally made the new plugin with dependency error.  I expect there will be a new update shortly - and yet another big download. 

[pyrosushi]

Does sexlab work with the other sex mod 0stim or whatever? I am thinking of starting skyrim modding again so please let me know.

[Rey_Vegeta]

On 1/31/2024 at 1:26 AM, Bigglsby said:

 

If you're running 1.6.640 or below, you might have some newly made mods causing issues.  The newer Skyrim updates changed how plugins read, and won't simply work on older versions.  However, there is a mod for that!

 

Check out https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/106441/

 

It allows newer plugins to work with older Skyrim versions.  Helps for several mods in my LO. 

 

Hope that helps

They helped me in the Crash Logger comments on Nexus. Just two mods I needed to deactivate and everything runs.

[wollboi]

HDT-SMP updated. Trying 1.6.1170 now.

[Bigglsby]

21 hours ago, trgdolors said:

Thanks for replying. The load order you suggest is actually what I already use. The issue is, at least for the FOMOD choices I make, the main Atlantean esp itself (Atlantean Landscape.esp) now has Terrain Parallax Blending Fix (Parallax TXST Fixes.esp) as a master.

 

I was going to see if anyone else had tried anything, then maybe move Atlantean down below Terrain Parallax Blending Fix. But is this showing up to anyone else? I have quite a few other mods than just this guide... so maybe it is just me? Again, this is for the new Atlantean 1.7. Up until now I have not had the issue.

 

Actually it now looks like it's intended to have the Blending Fix as a master for Atlantean now.  I just adjusted my order - pulled Atlantean down just after Blending Fix.  Really shouldn't matter too much, as the conflicting records in the plugins should be dealt with in the patch.  Just a change-up from the earlier recommended load order... 

[wollboi]

About four hours later and no crashes. Seems pretty stable to me.

[Guest]

On 2/1/2024 at 3:01 AM, pyrosushi said:

Does sexlab work with the other sex mod 0stim or whatever? I am thinking of starting skyrim modding again so please let me know.

I use both in my game.  I haven't seen any conflicts in using both I just had to make sure I didn't have similar mods in both systems.  (And make sure not to bind the number pad keys which Ostim uses.) Set up instructions are detailed but very understandable.  There are not many mods that would overlap and those that would are an either/or choice.  I mainly use Ostim to start scenes on my own without mod input.  Ocum for both and Obody of course.  SL for Approach, Defeat, Fertility, Eager NPCs, creature mods (embarassed), etc.   If a mod is working in Sexlab, I didn't switch to the Ostim version.  I would suggest joining Drei's discord.  A wealth of information there and also join Migal's discord.  (Author of BBLS).  Truly wonderful people and the communities they have provide excellent feedback.  They both are all in on Ostim.  Keyword search the different sections on their sites and you will find most anything you are looking for.  On any modding topic.  Kept me sane when first trying Ostim.  (Ostim Standalone I believe is the best and newest option.  Constant support.)  Animations are plentiful and many unique packs.  I had to be careful not to double load as some SL anim packs are availablle for Ostim and loading both confused FNIS for me.  (I run FNIS with Nemesis).  Generally I have no problems running the two systems.  I would go to Drei's discord and look at his dedicated link for Ostim first.  It has the most current info including which mods are working for the most recent version.  There are many small enhancement mods that I don't use.  Some seem buggy to me but the discord site will give a more current list of exactly what is supported for the latest version - in detail.  Drei responds, keeps it updated, the information will probably save you from loading the wrong version of a mod.  And there are version specific mods for the different Ostim's.  Ostim Standalone is what I use.  

[Guest]

11 hours ago, wollboi said:

About four hours later and no crashes. Seems pretty stable to me.

ON the latest version of Skyrim???  If mine blows up or I lose everything again, I would have to update or revert to 1.5### and I love 1.6.640.  That ear piercing scream you may hear in the future will be me if that happens.  Then the message begging for your mod list.  Congrats on your persistent hard work.  

[wollboi]

5 hours ago, Miss Tee said:

ON the latest version of Skyrim???  If mine blows up or I lose everything again, I would have to update or revert to 1.5### and I love 1.6.640.  That ear piercing scream you may hear in the future will be me if that happens.  Then the message begging for your mod list.  Congrats on your persistent hard work.  

There's only a couple of things you have to change, one new (good) mod to add, and one mod that has to be omitted. If you're happy on 1.6.640, I'd just stay there.

[Alexi-1]

On 11/15/2022 at 1:11 PM, Aylis said:

The files with [Bodyslide] should be skipped. I list them only to have a complete list. The 'Predone Bodyslides' (see 'Files') already cover them.

 

[Bodyslide] CBBE Creation Club Outfits Bodyslides

 

Question about this section since it's... Not clear?

Is this suggesting that I don't need these downloads and should instead just get the downloads from the Files section? The predone bodyslides in the Files section do not appear to have the same number of files as tagged [Bodyslide] in the list, and also there appear to be more outfits in these downloads.

One additional uncertainty I have is that the mod page this links to says it is outdated and that it's already included in the original CBBE download.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, wollboi said:

There's only a couple of things you have to change, one new (good) mod to add, and one mod that has to be omitted. If you're happy on 1.6.640, I'd just stay there.

&*^$(@&^_(%*#^%_@(*^_%()*@^_%(*@^%_  that was a flirty comeback- (too much wine after duel sessions today)  Thank you.  I will stay with 1.6.640.  I can play the game now and I've modifed Aylis list heavily to get here.  I've made a note just in case. I'm just impressed how much effort you have put into blazing the path for the rest of us.   The people on this site are truly special.  T

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Alexi-1 said:

 

Question about this section since it's... Not clear?

Is this suggesting that I don't need these downloads and should instead just get the downloads from the Files section? The predone bodyslides in the Files section do not appear to have the same number of files as tagged [Bodyslide] in the list, and also there appear to be more outfits in these downloads.

One additional uncertainty I have is that the mod page this links to says it is outdated and that it's already included in the original CBBE download.

I had the same question when I first started working with the list.  I can't recall the details but as I had already ran my own bodyslide files, I did not need the pre-done files.  Just an opinion but learning how to run bodyslide will be a major benefit to your gaming especially when you start adding custom armors.  It is relatively easy to do and you can be very detailed in what you want to show in game.   (Let me guess, you already know how)  Serious though, good luck.  If you are not sure, you can PM and I will open a session on my other computer and walk through.  There are many tutorials out there for you from text to videos.  The challenge for me was I was using the save button in BS after I ran bodyslide on some armor (big mistake for me) and learning that if you have multiple versions of an armor (i.e. Steel plate CBBE, steel plate 3ba, steel plate skimpy 3ba), the last one you run seems to be the one that will show up in game.  I may be wrong but that is my experience.  

[Alexi-1]

52 minutes ago, Miss Tee said:

I had the same question when I first started working with the list.  I can't recall the details but as I had already ran my own bodyslide files, I did not need the pre-done files.  Just an opinion but learning how to run bodyslide will be a major benefit to your gaming especially when you start adding custom armors.  It is relatively easy to do and you can be very detailed in what you want to show in game.   (Let me guess, you already know how)  Serious though, good luck.  If you are not sure, you can PM and I will open a session on my other computer and walk through.  There are many tutorials out there for you from text to videos.  The challenge for me was I was using the save button in BS after I ran bodyslide on some armor (big mistake for me) and learning that if you have multiple versions of an armor (i.e. Steel plate CBBE, steel plate 3ba, steel plate skimpy 3ba), the last one you run seems to be the one that will show up in game.  I may be wrong but that is my experience.  

Yeah like you guess, I've used it before and can probably refresh myself fairly quickly on it. Wasn't too hard although I remember ticking a lot of boxes being a pain. I've just been sticking to the list religiously, partly because it helps understand the list thoroughly and partly because it could be useful to have all the mistakes/problems/weird-wording documented for others.

Just not really sure what's being said here. I'll just throw absolutely all of it in there for testing then disable later if/when I build my own. I think it's a little unclear where in the list you're supposed to put those premade files too, it says to put them all together and in the order they're in on the files section but doesn't specifically say where. And that note in the files section saying they go together in order is contradicted by the note on the armors section saying that the premades should replace the files you skip in that section (so presumably in the order of that section). Or maybe it doesn't contradict and it's just unclear that you skip them and simply rely on whereever you put all the premades idk.

 

What I haven't used before is Nemesis, it was FNIS back then. So that's going to be a part I might make fundamental errors on.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Alexi-1

[KCOLL]

O stim and Sexlab will work together.  FNIS and Nemesis will work together. Then you have to work out how the mods that have them as dependencies can work together. And now you have The New Gentleman and SOS anyone tried to get them to work together yet?

[Tops34]

4 hours ago, KCOLL said:

 The New Gentleman and SOS anyone tried to get them to work together yet?

 

During install of The New Gentleman you can choose SOS compability. As far I understand it you can deactivate/remove SOS and when a mod calls a SOS-function The New Gentleman-mod gets the call and takes over. But I still have both mods active in my current game - want to do some more testing of my mod list before trying it without active SOS. So far I had no issues running both.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Tops34

[Guest]

The guide places XP32 and the patches fairly high up.  XP32 says to load after everything else.  Some say right above the overwrite.  Reason for the question is that I have finally identified an issue that has plagued me since I began testing this mod list.  Some crashes but more often losing control of my PC during combat.  Game not freezing but I can't move or control my PC.  Nothing works to change it (including console commands) and as I cannot move or activate anything.  Restart is the only option.  Not re-load but exit completely to the desktop and start again.  OK, no big deal right.  This last time it didn't work. I was still stuck and unable to activate my weapons, or any object.  Old saves were loaded and I was still stuck and I tried loading very early saves.  Re-running FNIS and Nemisis and then restarting worked.  So it is an animation/body issue.

 

Usually occurs in rapid sword strikes in when very close to the opponent.  Papyrus and the crash logs I do have all suggest animation and XP32  but also many other mods which I have slowly addressed.  Now they primarily mention animation and XP32. 

 

If you are still reading, where do you load XP32? (I understand the LL mods also address some requirements as well).   An updated version of XP32 is out now and wondering if I need to move it from where it is in the Aylis list.  She is the expert in my opinion and I follow the guide BUT just wondering.

[Bigglsby]

1 hour ago, Miss Tee said:

The guide places XP32 and the patches fairly high up.  XP32 says to load after everything else.  Some say right above the overwrite.  Reason for the question is that I have finally identified an issue that has plagued me since I began testing this mod list.  Some crashes but more often losing control of my PC during combat.  Game not freezing but I can't move or control my PC.  Nothing works to change it (including console commands) and as I cannot move or activate anything.  Restart is the only option.  Not re-load but exit completely to the desktop and start again.  OK, no big deal right.  This last time it didn't work. I was still stuck and unable to activate my weapons, or any object.  Old saves were loaded and I was still stuck and I tried loading very early saves.  Re-running FNIS and Nemisis and then restarting worked.  So it is an animation/body issue.

 

Usually occurs in rapid sword strikes in when very close to the opponent.  Papyrus and the crash logs I do have all suggest animation and XP32  but also many other mods which I have slowly addressed.  Now they primarily mention animation and XP32. 

 

If you are still reading, where do you load XP32? (I understand the LL mods also address some requirements as well).   An updated version of XP32 is out now and wondering if I need to move it from where it is in the Aylis list.  She is the expert in my opinion and I follow the guide BUT just wondering.

 

I know updates for XP32 have come out, but I'm still running v 4.81.  Last I'd heard (may be fixed now, dunno), there were problems with the newer versions that were causing things to tweak out - perhaps similar to what you've been seeing.  I had updated at one point and hit issues, so rolled back to 4.81.  Perhaps similar bugs/incompatibilities are still in the current/newer versions?

 

And I've kept its current recommended position from Aylis' load order.  The biggest thing is just not to allow the skeletons to get overwritten - unless there is a known good reason for it.  Messing up the skeletons is why it's such a "don't let it get overwritten" issue.

Edited February 3, 2024 by Bigglsby

[olddragoon]

so just to be sure im not messing tis up as ive been looking around for a while, i downloaded the newest sexlab, and have been modding skyrim for like 2 days, since i downloaded it 3 days ago. keeps giving me an error saying that both papyrusUtil.dll and the sexlabUtil.dll is incompatible, so i assume i need to downgrade skyrim right?

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Bigglsby said:

 

I know updates for XP32 have come out, but I'm still running v 4.81.  Last I'd heard (may be fixed now, dunno), there were problems with the newer versions that were causing things to tweak out - perhaps similar to what you've been seeing.  I had updated at one point and hit issues, so rolled back to 4.81.  Perhaps similar bugs/incompatibilities are still in the current/newer versions?

 

And I've kept its current recommended position from Aylis' load order.  The biggest thing is just not to allow the skeletons to get overwritten - unless there is a known good reason for it.  Messing up the skeletons is why it's such a "don't let it get overwritten" issue.

Bless you.  I will roll back then.  Should I wait for a new game?  If it happens again (level 25) I may try to replace the file.  As a way to say thank you, I have an art sketch I can share if you like art.  PM if interested and thank you again.

Edited February 4, 2024 by Miss Tee