TESV or TESVSE - Which to play?

[Villiana]

I think I've asked this in the past, but it's time for my quint-annual Skyrim playthrough. I intend to mod it to a fairly heavy degree (both with 'regular' and NSFW mods) and I once again find myself asking:

In the good year of our lord 2025, which version is better? Which has the best modding/tech support, which has the capability of looking the prettiest, and which is the best for casual/RP-heavy modded gameplay? I think I recall last time I asked this the general consensus was "the original release is the best because people aren't porting their mods over to TESVSE", but it's been a LONG time, and I'm wondering if that's changed or whether it's best just to stick with the OG release for convenience.

Also, which mod tool is worth using these days? I know Vortex is passable these days, but MO2 has always been the norm, so I'm wondering if that's changed too.

[belegost]

SE.

LE is irrelevant and only for dinosaurs.

 

Both Vortex and MO2 are very good managers in their own right. They have different look and some differences in nomenclature but essentially do the same thing. Both have their quirks and both have access to some very advanced functions and are very powerful tools in the hands of an experienced user. Pick whichever one you prefer.

 

Whoever tells you that one is better than the other, because <insert any reason>  is an idiot and their opinion should immediately be disregarded as an ignorant, ill-informed babble, showing they have absolutely no idea about the subject.

Edited September 14, 2025 by belegost

[Miauzi]

Vor 1 Stunde sagte Villiana:

Ich glaube, ich habe das schon einmal gefragt, aber es ist Zeit für mein fünfjähriges Skyrim-Durchspielen. Ich habe vor, es ziemlich stark zu modifizieren (sowohl mit „normalen“ als auch mit NSFW-Mods) und frage mich wieder einmal:

Welche Version ist im guten Jahr unseres Herrn 2025 besser? Welche bietet den besten Modding-/Tech-Support, welche sieht am schönsten aus und welche eignet sich am besten für Casual-/RP-lastiges Mod-Gameplay? Ich glaube, ich erinnere mich, dass bei meiner letzten Frage die allgemeine Meinung lautete: „Die Originalversion ist die beste, weil die Leute ihre Mods nicht auf TESVSE portieren.“ Aber das ist schon SEHR lange her, und ich frage mich, ob sich das geändert hat oder ob es der Einfachheit halber besser ist, bei der Originalversion zu bleiben.

Und welches Mod-Tool lohnt sich heutzutage noch? Ich weiß, dass Vortex heutzutage passabel ist, aber MO2 war schon immer die Norm, daher frage ich mich, ob sich das auch geändert hat.

 

 

And yes, you should actually use MO2 for mod lists like this... and I say that even though I used "Vortex" successfully for several years - but I've since switched to MO2.

 

Here's a beginner's guide to getting started with MO2.

 

 

[Villiana]

4 hours ago, belegost said:

SE.

LE is irrelevant and only for dinosaurs.

 

Both Vortex and MO2 are very good managers in their own right. They have different look and some differences in nomenclature but essentially do the same thing. Both have their quirks and both have access to some very advanced functions and are very powerful tools in the hands of an experienced user. Pick whichever one you prefer.

 

Whoever tells you that one is better than the other, because <insert any reason>  is an idiot and their opinion should immediately be disregarded as an ignorant, ill-informed babble, showing they have absolutely no idea about the subject.

I had a feeling that'd be the case by this point, thank you!

[Count Chocula]

11 hours ago, Villiana said:

Also, which mod tool is worth using these days? I know Vortex is passable these days, but MO2 has always been the norm, so I'm wondering if that's changed too.

Only reason to use Vortex is if you're Jonesin' to use Nexusmods collections. Much as I think the people behind Tale of Two Wastelands have an inflated opinion of themselves, their statement that Vortex is designed to be as "unintuitive as possible" seems true to me.

[pokatlo2]

I originally bought SE addition, but I bought the Anniversary Edition upgrade. Basically, if you're on console, the AE upgrade is 100% worth it (I'm on PS5); if you're on PC, the modding is already way better so AE is kind of useless since you can just download other cool mods.