guide Skyrim AE for Beginners - V 3.1.0

[Novosin]

23 hours ago, YuFeng said:

 

 Sounds like fun. Can you reproduce that?

I've tried. No luck so far. 

[Novosin]

Anyone else having lightshafts from Window Shadows Ultimate showing mid-air in HS Breezehome (first floor, close to stairs going up to second)?

[belegost]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:11 PM, Aylis said:

Auto-Equip Best Arrows

     Can be flagged as ESL

 

Not needed if using Scrambled Bugs which has a setting in its config file. It is disabled by deafult, but the flag can be flipped from false to true

 

SKSE\Plugins\ScrambledBugs.json

 

"equipBestAmmunition": true

 

 

Foresworn Skinchangers has a brand new SkyPatcher version.

Edited November 5, 2025 by belegost

[DarkForce_256]

Softbody looks great. The best part of this guide is being introduced to mods that I would never find on my own! 

[belegost]

Which mod adds the sounds of cannon fire to Solitude interior? 

 

The only two sound mods I have installed so far are Sound Record Distributor and Audio Overhaul for Skyrim. One of those is the culprit and it's driving me insane.

Edited November 6, 2025 by belegost

[PubliusNV]

I finished loading all the mods down through Pandora, and built the grass patch, but I haven't finished DYNDOLOD yet. I tested the same area (Whiterun Eastern Watchtower) that had given me such problems in September, when I was getting 12-15 FPS. After installing the shaders I was getting 45-50 FPS in that same area. After installing the PBR mods and running the patcher, I'm getting 30-45 FPS. It was raining in that test, so that might have lowered the FPS some. Anyway, with my September mod list the game was unplayable, and now it is very playable.

 

Many thanks to @Aylis and everyone else who contributed! Now on to DYNDOLOD ...

[Aylis]

@Novosin

I havn't got a patch for that atm. The OA has been informed so I hope we'll get one.

 

@belegost

1. On my list again(?). Could have sworn I already removed it.

2. Thanks. Will be added.

3. I'm trying to find a solution for that...

 

@DarkForce_256

I still got a few in testing. 😉

 

@PubliusNV

Good to hear. 😊

 

The weather (especially storms) can cause a dip in FPS. Sadly there's nothing that can be done about it with the currently available mods. I tried to keep it somewhat balanced (there are some mods that can wreck the FPS) while having good visuals.

 

Switching to CS was one of my better ideas. Now we got imho good visuals and FPS at the same time. Something like 'Rudy's ENB' plus 'Parallax' looks great but it costs way too many frames. The slight drop in visuals is the better way for gameplay without stutters.

[belegost]

Welding Man's Smelter - EmbersXD Patch is redundant if overwritten by CS Particle Patch, since it overwrites smeltermarker.nif.

 

JS Barenziah SE has a conflict with Nature of the Wild Lands, The Citadel of Snow - Lively Windhelm Bridge and Wielding Man's Smelter.

fxglowENB.dds is the offending file. I am not certain how to best resolve this conflict. For now I have it placed after NotWL and Windhelm Bridge, but before Welding Man's Smelter. Any advice?

 

Both plugin files from Window Shadows Ultimate are reported as dirty plugins. However QuickAutoClean can only resolve records in Window Shadows Ultimate Supplement.esp. The main file, Window Shadows Ultimate.esp can not be auto-cleaned and is reported to have 3 deleted navmeshes (as reported by SSEEdit 4.1.5o).

There is no information on the mod page or in the comments whether it's safe to delete ITM's. I've done it anyway, we'll see how it goes.

 

SexLab Defeat by Bane Master has it's own page now. No need to shovel through the original thread anymore.

 

  

On 11/15/2022 at 2:11 PM, Aylis said:

SexLab - Fertility Mode

 

The link points to a "Kauffman und Maid" music video on youtube, instead of the mod. There are actually two links. Only the word "mode" has the correct one.

 

=========

Some personal choices:

=========

• Instead of Unique Thane Weapons, I'm using Zim's Immersive Artifacts which covers those and much more. Like the ability to obtain two-handed Dawnbreaker or a light armour version of Spellbreaker.
• Valravn with Valravn SPID Uncloak. Lightweight combat overhaul that works with any animation or perk overhaul mods. Do not use the other linked file Valravn Uncloaked, since it doesn't work.
• The Midden - Expanded a great addition to the College and one of the best purely environmental storytelling mods I have ever played. Needs a patch to get rid of black faces, remove the location marker before it's discovered and get rid of invisible exploding runes. However FaceGeom and FaceGenData folders need to be renamed from middenexpandedSSE.esm to middenexpandedSSE.esp in order to work.
• Invisible rune explosion fix to get rid of the invisible exploding runes. Optional, if you have never experienced this bug. I have and on many occasions. This is a staple in my load order now.

Edited November 6, 2025 by belegost

[belegost]

Okay, everything looks nice... except that everything is so dark if the area is not in direct sunlight. You can barely make out the details.

On the other hand, open areas in broad daylight when there is a a sunny weather, everything is so bright I have to change my monitor b to darker, because it just blinds me. 

 

How do I adjust it, because this is very bad right now. Reshade Klarity + iMMERSE actually makes things even worse.

 

Images on the left are with CS on, on the right are with CS off.

 

 

 

 

 

This is area right next to Winking Skeever, a side alley that is in shade. You can barely make out anything and I have to whip out a torch to make out the details,. Both images are with CS on.

 

 

 

 

I have seen your screenshots @Aylis, everything looks completely different there, images are clear and not too bright, not too dark, the distant details are clearly visible. How?

 

 

EDIT:

There is also the problem of oversaturation and desaturation.

During sunny weather everything is not only too bright but extremely oversaturated, to the point of being outright ridiculous. However as soon as there is any cloudy weather all exterior areas  become desaturated and frankly - dark. I started walking with torch out at 4 in the afternoon, becasue I already could not see anything. I am getting so annoyed with it to the point I am considering ripping out all the lightning and ENB features entirely.

Edited November 6, 2025 by belegost

[Novosin]

7 hours ago, belegost said:

Okay, everything looks nice... except that everything is so dark if the area is not in direct sunlight. You can barely make out the details.

On the other hand, open areas in broad daylight when there is a a sunny weather, everything is so bright I have to change my monitor b to darker, because it just blinds me. 

 

How do I adjust it, because this is very bad right now. Reshade Klarity + iMMERSE actually makes things even worse.

I have the same or very similar issue + some light sources indoors behaving like tiny supernovas. See below. 
 

Spoiler

 

[PubliusNV]

Before getting down to actually playing the game, I thought I should check out some locations. I'm having problems in Falkreath. With Redbag's Falkreath, there's a wall separating the town and the graveyard. stepping through the gate in that wall I see this. The partial building is the House of the Dead:    

Spoiler

 

Taking just a few steps forward, the scene changes to this. The building is missing. And then a few steps further on (3rd spoiler) it reappears.

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

This is with all PBRs and LODs built and active. Any help is appreciated.

[belegost]

2 hours ago, PubliusNV said:

This is with all PBRs and LODs built and active. Any help is appreciated.

Probably LOD issues. I had the same. Try this. It helped me.

[PubliusNV]

1 hour ago, belegost said:

Probably LOD issues

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The conditions for the bug that fixes don't quite match, since I was using the Alternate start as a patron of Dead Man's Drink to get to Falkkreath, not fast travel. I installed it, started a new game, and the problem is still there. I think I'll keep it in my load order anyway, though.

[PubliusNV]

While reading the comments on Nexus about Redbag's Falkreath, I came across a recommendation from Redbag for this mod, Unofficial eFPS patches. Installing it and  placing it at the bottom of the Patches section did indeed get rid of the problem of the Falkreath House of the Dead flickering in and out (See my post with photos a few posts above). 

 

So while that's fixed, Falkreath still has some problems in my game. The wall between the graveyard and the town does not meet the ground. There's a gap, and an arch in the wall that you can walk through and clip through underground and buildings.

[belegost]

Northern Roads puts a guard tower in the middle of the stream, just over the satchel with Reyda's Necklace. You can't get to it anymore. I haven't seen any patch for that. If it exists within one of the installers I have missed it.

 

I just spent 4 hours moving plugins around trying to fix incompatibilities between Northern Roads and The Great Town of Ivarstead. Yes, I followed the NR plugin order recommendation for the spoiler tag. That was not enough. Turns out you have to move Northern Roads under EVERY.SINGLE.PATCH that's not NR related. City Trees and 3D Landscape Fixes caused gaps in and around the new guard tower on the stream. That's just for one town. I'll probably have to do it again for every other town I come across once I start playing for real.

 

eFPS patch for TGT of Ivarstead is outdated and leads to horrible pop-ins when approaching Vilemyr Inn's entrance.

Use this one instead: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/136804

There are still pop-ins on the bridge to High Hrothgar though.

Edited November 8, 2025 by belegost

[Player80]

I'm not sure why but I get huge FPS drops in some specific places.

If I'm standing at the crossroad right before the whiterun stables and look towards the farms (where the companions are fighting a giant), I drop to about 50 fps. 

In windhelm the same thing happens when looking in the direction of the cemetery (where the body that starts the "blood on ice" quest is). Otherwise I'm at around 110.

I'm in the process of investigating it so I'll see what gives. I went through every mod I had installed in 4K to lower them back down to 2K, but that didn't do anything

[belegost]

DynDOLOD Output is over 10GB. Wow, that's 8 times the size of what I was used to.

[PubliusNV]

6 hours ago, belegost said:

Northern Roads puts a guard tower in the middle of the stream, just over the satchel with Reyda's Necklace. You can't get to it anymore.

 

I just visited that area and found Reyda's body and necklace behind the guard tower, between the tower and a mod-added ship, close to the tower.

[PubliusNV]

The road from Falkreath past the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary to Half-Moon Mill looks like this, which is different from every other road I've tested out. I assume there's a Northern Roads patch missing or out of place.

Spoiler

 

I've tried to sort my plugins as recommended by the guide. Here's what I've got starting with Northern Roads:

 

Spoiler

   

 

[PubliusNV]

I hope Aylis' new apartment situation is all sorted out satisfactorily. 🙂

[belegost]

There is a new patch for eFPS - The Great Town of Ivarstead - Northern Roads. It's in the misc files. Do not use the main file, just the misc one.

 

Have it overwrite the official, outdated patch from eFPS Official/Unofficial Patch Hubs, whichever is relevant for this specific file.

 

I had a part in it's creation... mostly by complaining.

Edited November 9, 2025 by belegost

[Novosin]

Yay! So much fun with a neighborhood-wide power outage ten minutes into grass cache creation. Where's my SMR?! Where's my future?!

[Player80]

After a lot of testing, I've found 2 mods and 2 shaders that would cause huge performance drops:

Mods:

- City Tress

- Northern Roads

Shaders:

- Screen Space Global Illumination (SSGI)

- Screen Space Shadows

 

With them disabled (and PBR rebuilt, LODs take about 40 minutes to go through xLodGen -> TexGen -> DynDOLOD which I can't afford), I'm back to more than 100 in some areas where I was previously stuck at 40~50fps.

I'm still investigating what's causing this massive drop:

Spoiler

 

Edited November 9, 2025 by Player80

[Aylis]

Still too much wobbling here and I have trouble hitting icons with the cursor. Testing/gaming is almost impossible atm and its driving me insane... 

[cloudmc]

Few notes;
---

Hearthfire - Extended

There is a patch for Creation Club Fishing  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/61548
 

I was able to install it mid play through with the notes in the posts

 

---

 

Gods And Worship - Daedric Shrines 
This patch is no longer available without installing  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/78772
The old change the looks file is now under archived so it can't be downloaded anymore.

---

New Winking Skeever
There is a patch for 3DNPC - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/29803
But there isn't a patch for Amorous Adventures

---
Dawnfang and Duskfang - No Forced Quest
This is listed under both Patches CCC and Weapons - Melee

---

 

3DNPC is missing a patch for Alternative Start 
Interesting NPCs SE - Alternative Locations - Flagged ESL https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/29194?tab=files&file_id=116426&nmm=1

---

You list Trees PBR 
Which file do we need? https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/136086?tab=files  I don't see anything we have installed.

---


Is crash logger still disabled when creating grass since it's a requirement for Community Shaders?  I f'ed up my install and am having to go back through it since I can't launch skyrim without it crashing at start menu

Edited November 12, 2025 by cloudmc