[Guide] Skyrim SE on Steam Deck, how to and obscure fixes.

[GTAVC16]

Hi everyone!

 

I've been playing Skyrim SE on my Steam Deck and had some trouble with multiple issues.

My biggest problems were the edge cases and the amount of time I had to sacrifice to find solutions to them.

 

This is why I decided to post here so other Steam Deck players don’t have to look for that long.

 

First of all, how do we mod our Skyrim on Steam Deck?

 

 

BASIC SETUP

 

The way I do it works well for me:

 

Install Skyrim SE as normal on your computer, I've used Win10 OS and Steam.

Install SKSE64 as usual and then install a UI mod like SkyUI.

I’ve chosen SkyUI because it instantly tells you if there is a problem with SKSE64.

 

IMPORTANT! 

Use any kind of mod manager that actually places the files in your Skyrim SE directory!

IMPORTANT!

 

Go to your Skyrim SE Folder in \steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition.

Rename “SkyrimSELauncher.exe” to something like “OldSkyrimSELauncher.exe”

Copy and paste “skse64_loader.exe” and rename the copy to “SkyrimSELauncher.exe”.

This allows us to launch our modded game just like starting vanilla in your SD library.

 

IMPORTANT!

Launch the game on your computer. Check if SKSE has been installed correctly and SkyUI does not complain about anything SKSE.

IMPORTANT!

 

“Now we’ve got our game running on PC, but it still is not on my Steam Deck, this guide is useless!”

Calm down, we’re getting to it right now. 

There are multiple ways: 

USB Drives and a lot of time, like multiple hours if you got a slow one. I don’t recommend this.

Transfer via SSH service over your home network. I can only recommend this as it takes way less time to transfer and synchronize your files between PC and SD. 

This also allows you to instantly see any differences in your games, set bookmarks and even start the synchronization to your steam deck and do something else in the 20 minutes it takes. First time may take a bit longer to get your bulk transferred. 

 

To make it easter, download Skyrim SE on your Steam Deck and launch it for the first time. This way we don’t have to transfer that much data.

 

To do this you need to enable SSH on your steam deck. There’s lots of videos around, I used this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb1U0_KbtLQ 

Now you connect with any SFTP capable client from your PC to your Steam Deck.

Plug in the power for your SD so it takes longer to go back to sleep mode.

I use FileZilla Pro for this, but anything you’re used to works. However, as I only know Filezilla, I can only explain it using this software, your experience may differ.

 

IMPORTANT!

Preparing your bookmarks:

Connect to your Steam Deck.

Navigate your local folder to \SteamApps\Common\Skyrim Special Edition\

Navigate your server folder to /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition/

Here we create a bookmark and activate synchronized movement. I named this bookmark “Skyrim Gamefiles”.

IMPORTANT!

 

IMPORTANT!

Navigate your local folder to C:\Users\[YOURUSERHERE]\AppData\Local\Skyrim Special Edition\

Navigate your server folder to /home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/489830/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/Skyrim Special Edition

Here we create our second synced bookmark, this time named “Skyrim Appdata”.

IMPORTANT!

 

The Gamefiles location is where most of your skyrim data and mods are stored.

The Appdata location is responsible for the activation and loading order of your mods, If you’ve installed new mods and they work on PC but not on SD, then you forgot to sync this location.

 

 

INITIAL TRANSFER

 

Now we’re ready to do the first file transfer of our modded game to our SD.

Use your “Gamefiles” bookmark to navigate both local and server folders to \Skyrim Special Edition\ and activate the comparison function of your program.

Now we should see that everything related to SKSE64 is not on your SD.

Also, we don’t see any “OldSkyrimLauncher.exe” in Steam Deck. 

Rename “SkyrimLauncher.exe” into “OldSkyrimLauncher.exe” on SD again.

Using the comparison tool, we transfer every missing data onto the SD. Don’t touch the folders yet.

Next, we enter the Data folder, select everything in the Data on your computer and upload it to your SD. Your program will find duplicates instantly, tell it to ignore them this time, we don’t have any mods installed on the SD right now. This changes when you’re updating mods or changing out your modlist, be careful.

This will take a while. Make sure to not let the SD enter sleep mode, it will interrupt the transfer. If you’re using a decent program, it will continue where it stopped after reconnecting.

 

After this is finished, we upload and overwrite the two files in our Appdata bookmark and are ready to go to try out our Skyrim Special Edition with SKSE64 and SkyUI on the Steam Deck, just launch it like any other steam game.

If the game launches and SkyUI works, then yay, it’s working. If not, then something went wrong.

 

 

CHANGING MODS

 

Now, I know you want to install more mods than SkyUI, maybe even delete a mod or update one.

As always, make sure your game works on your computer first, before uploading it to your Steam Deck.

You can do this in multiple ways:

If you only add mods, then simply uploading and ignoring duplicates will work fine.

This, however, will not work when you are updating or removing mods.

 

I use Filezilla Pro’s File synchronization function to automate upload, comparison and deletion for me:

Use your Gamefiles bookmark to navigate to your \Skyrim Special Edition\ folders and continue one step further into \Data\ both local and server side.

Launch your File synchronization tool, select the following settings:

Type: Local to remote

Same File on both sides: Transfer if source is newer than target.

Also set the checkmark on recursive. This allows your program to work on all folders inside the Data directory, too.

Now we wait for it to complete, you just have to prevent your Steam Deck from entering sleep mode.

Note: Filezilla free does not have the recursive file sync feature. Please tell me if you know a free program that has that feature, I’ll include it here.

 

Afterwards, we need to upload the two files in the Appdata folder and are ready to go.

If your game is crashing, it's likely because of this!

 

Second, let’s continue with the limited amount of buttons we have on steam deck and the biggest issue that Skyrim presents: 

 

KEYBOARD KEYBINDING NOT WORKING

 

Skyrim by default disables all keyboard inputs once it detects a connected gamepad.

The problem is that the handheld computer is a gamepad. This makes the player unable to use ANY button as a keyboard input.

The buttons can be configured as keyboard input, but the game won’t recognise most of them. 

 

Here is the perfect solution: Auto Input Switch

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/54309

This mod allows seamless transitions between gamepad and keyboard input.

However, it needs a quick little .ini tweak to be perfect for the SD:

You can find it in \Skyrim Special Edition\Data\SKSE\Plugins\AutoInputSwitch.ini

 

In here you set 

iPreferredPlatform=-1 

to

iPreferredPlatform=1

 

This change gives the gamepad priority over the keyboard inputs if there are any conflicts.

 

Next, an obscure issue with Racemenu Overlays

 

RACEMENU OVERLAYS SLOTS

 

Yeah, this one is really odd. 

I had an issue with slavetats and racemenu overlays, where I did increase the amount of iNumOverlays in the skee64.ini.

This worked without problem on PC, but on SD it stays with the default amount. 

 

The solution thanks to novedo3743: https://www.loverslab.com/topic/25398-slavetats/?do=findComment&comment=4148876

“Racemenu in Steam deck and Linux do not parse the ini file correctly if there is any white space or comments after each setting. “ 

I deleted the comments that come with the settings that I changed and it works perfectly now.

 

 

I hope this helps anyone out there, don't hesitate to contribute your own knowlege in the comments!

Edited August 25, 2023 by GTAVC16

[Anunya]

Awesome - thanks for doing this. I'm considering getting a Steam Deck and whether I can play LL modded Skyrim is a big part of the consideration.

 

Question: when you say "Use any kind of mod manager that actually places the files in your Skyrim SE directory!" - does that mean "not Vortex"?

Edited September 4, 2023 by Anunya

[GTAVC16]

With Vortex you just have to make sure you are using the "Hardlink" Deployment type at the following location:

Settings -> Mods -> Deployment Type -> Hardlink Deployment.

 

I've been using Vortex for my install, too.

Vortex creates an index entry that is indistingushable for most programs, linking the data to the correct location.

The important thing is that you need to be able to start your modded game even if your mod manager is not launched.

Then it should be fine.