Pondering if I should go for LE instead of AE...

[GloopityGoop]

So, for the past few days I've been trying to get my Skyrim AE playthrough off the ground.  Got a bunch of mod, but I keep bumping into problems.  After all of this, it has me wondering:  Is it worth it to do AE when I could just do LE?  What are the differences besides graphics and CC content in the basegame?  What are the differences in modding them?  I have no problem downgrading to worse graphics if it means I can play with some of the mods (or, rather, equivalents of the mods) I have.  With that in mind, the main mods I don't know of are A) a skimpy male armors replacer mod (I know about KSO, but it mentions supplements that go to either ads or blocked-viruses) and B) a decent gun/rifle mod (just to spice up the the run, but not 100% needed).

 

All that being said, tho, I'm not gonna give up on AE yet.  I think I'll give it another week of troubleshooting, then start to actually consider it.  I'm just posting this now since it is on my mind and so I have as many tips and suggestions to go with before starting.

[MadMansGun]

i use LE and i'm fine with it

https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/blog/1056-conglomerate/

 

also LE has one advantage over SE/AE: the scripts run faster in LE, meaning sexlab and mcm menus also work faster.

there is a mod to make them run faster in SE/AE, but it's just another dll file for an update to break.

[Psalam]

 As someone who still uses LE let me tell you first, the one great disadvantage to LE: it is harder to get your game stable. Once you have done so (often using this) there are many advantages.

 

1) Bugthesda does NOT come along routinely and destroy your game by giving you unwanted "upgrades",

2) Despite your apprehension, with ENB, the graphics on LE are at least as good as on AE (I would argue better and more varied), and

3) Many of my favorite mods have not been converted to 64 bit (i.e., AE).

 

However, this is an ongoing (and much repeated on) debate on LL. So, I'm sure you'll hear the other side shortly.

[MadMansGun]

also LE's enb looks nicer than SE/AEs

[Jgoftl]

I'd just downgrade to pre-AE Special Edition.

[lorddenorstrus]

3 hours ago, MadMansGun said:

i use LE and i'm fine with it

https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/blog/1056-conglomerate/

 

also LE has one advantage over SE/AE: the scripts run faster in LE, meaning sexlab and mcm menus also work faster.

there is a mod to make them run faster in SE/AE, but it's just another dll file for an update to break.

 

I thought I was going completely insane... everyone saying go SE it's amazing 10/10... and I just had ungodly script lag for EVERYTHING even with 1/3 of the total mods my LE Load Order has.  So I gave up and went back.. I don't understand how people can put up with the lag.  

[GloopityGoop]

17 minutes ago, lorddenorstrus said:

 

I thought I was going completely insane... everyone saying go SE it's amazing 10/10... and I just had ungodly script lag for EVERYTHING even with 1/3 of the total mods my LE Load Order has.  So I gave up and went back.. I don't understand how people can put up with the lag.  

TBH, when I played in the past, it was fine.  This is just my first time having sex mods and proper SoS.  Plus one big bug I'm facing is the MCM isn't showing up.  I might have to completely reinstall SKYUI...

[MadMansGun]

16 minutes ago, lorddenorstrus said:

 

I thought I was going completely insane... everyone saying go SE it's amazing 10/10... and I just had ungodly script lag for EVERYTHING even with 1/3 of the total mods my LE Load Order has.  So I gave up and went back.. I don't understand how people can put up with the lag.  

indeed, it's fucking horrid without this mod:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77779?

[GloopityGoop]

So, I know I said I'd wait a week, buuuuut I think I'll just downgrade.  I think I encountered a problem that could only be helped by LE: Memory usage.  I won't be uninstalling AE just yet, so if there are any tips on how I can counter that I'll be glad to listen, but I'll be requesting help on finding some other mods in a separate post.

[MadMansGun]

the conglomerate blog posted above has the workaround patches/mods for that

[Gameplayer]

Is papyrus tweaks ng as good as using Skyrim LE?

 

That is the question, 

Statement, I really liked the enb I had for LE but wanted to see the new mods.  Script lag though

[FauxFurry]

Nothing is needed for the KSO replacer but HIMBO. The same goes for Interesting Bits for HIMBO.

As for a gun mod, there is Spaghetti Western, Dar Rifles and Lore Friendly Guns of Skyrim. They use Dynamic Animation Replacer or the improved Open Animation Replacer for unique animations rather than re-using crossbow animations. There is no need to pay for the Arquebus creation.

 

Had you gone for the Good Old Games version of Skyrim Anniversary Edition, you would never have to worry about downgrading your game since you can control when if ever to update and which version you with to use. The downside is that not every mod is compatible with the GOG version.

Edited February 13 by FauxFurry
Adding an additional link

[Wolfstorm321]

LE: more non-vanilla content. 

SE: more overhauls. 

AE: more Toddler the Howard. 

 

You can port mods from LE to SE and vice-versa. 

For AE, there is a downgrade patch. 

[MadMansGun]

34 minutes ago, Wolfstorm321 said:

vice-versa.

animations can't be back ported.

[cornbreadtm]

As someone who used LE for way longer than he probably should have (I took a break for 2 years and got AE a month ago). AE is just better. If you're already a competent modder, you can get a stable game easily. And with the current Skyrim mods like SPID, BOS, Skypatcher and KID, you basically get to add infinite mods till your game barely runs. My game takes forever to load up and save with all the shit I have packed into it. And I just add more every day. Need 41 more mods to hit that 1k.

 

I was tired of spending days merging mods and making compatibility patches for LE, fighting that load order limit constantly. Never having to do that again is a godsend. Full ESL compatibility is a godsend!

 

Also as someone who as played since 11x3, I can say confidently that every mod is ported for SE or has a better replacement. I spent weeks thinking that AE didn't have what I was looking for till I simply did the research and found out that several of my old mods had better upgrades. I had to get with the program and stop being narrowminded.

 

I had to become a "futurist" and simply except that somethings are obsolete. Though not for everything. I'm definitely using Sexlab over that ostim/osex thing, It looks great for making love but we loverslab, we don't even know what love is! But I am using Pandora over nemesis, I recommend it.

 

Also don't worry about updates. Simply turn off auto updates, and over the week of an update, download the updated dlls for all of you mods. Then simply update when you are ready. The community has everything fixed after an update withing 10 days or so.

 

The only time I ever consider going back to LE is when I have to make a dummy esp to run my save. And that only takes a minute. Years of modding have made me lazy.

[Fotogen]

Skyrim SE is good, if you version lock it. You stay on a fixed version. Like 1.5.97 or 1.6.640.  That means that you learn how to force Steam not to auto update.

 

If you do that, life is good.

 

[Kastagir]

I'm not sure I see a substantial difference between sticking to LE (tesv.exe v1.9.32.0) and locking your SE game to v1.5.97.  They both potentially limit your ability to use newer mods.  The motivation for many seems to be directly tied to the time invested in curating their load order.  Stability is not a valid argument.  LE is perfectly stable if you exercise good mod management, meaning you don't install 5-10 mods at a time without evaluating them for stability and compatibility with your load order.  This is required.  Mods are by definition made by people of varying levels of skill and come with no guarantee of support or compatibility.  While many of them possess truly impressive skill and ingenuity, mod authors are not bound by any minimum level of professionalism.

 

Personally, I still use LE for several reasons:

• 1.9.32.0 is no longer being sabotaged with updates from Bethesda making it the safest environment to mod
• ENBs for LE tend to look better and have more features but this may be subjective, with some exceptions
• ENB for SE does not support the "Mist" feature due to engine bugs with transparency.  "Mist" in ENB is an attempt at rendering atmospheric perspective.  Without it, Skyrim's landscape and environment look incredibly flat.  This is a deal breaker for me but if all you care about is taking screenshots of your characters then you likely won't miss it.
• NIF files in SE are limited to a much lower number of maximum nodes compared to LE making HDT-PE and HDT-SMP setups more constricting.  SMP is by no means limited to SE.  I am currently using HDT-PE for characters and HDT-SMP for hair and equipment/outfits with no issues in LE (at least non that aren't also present in SE due to sharing the same core physics system).
• LE will likely provide enough enjoyment until I tire of it.  SE and the mods currently being developed for it will not extend my enjoyment of Skyrim beyond this point.  This game is over 12 years old after all.
• Most of the mods made for SE that interest me can be converted to LE.  It's not automatic - it requires learning how.  For me, learning how to mod Skyrim has greatly extended by enjoyment of it.