Skyrim LE or Skyrim SE/AE for Sex Mods?

[CursedCrusader]

This has been asked here probably countless times before. I did tons of research and most post were from 2022 or 2023, so thought I could still ask again.

 

For context, I never played Skyrim, but it was on my playlist for a long time. Got bored of Sims 4 Whicked Whims, so I wanted to try out Skyrim. 

 

Oldrim is only 20 bucks, the Skyrim LE/AE bundle is up for 50 bucks, which is pretty alright, considering Sims 4's pricing lol.

 

Which of these two games has better mods and sex animations.

 

I heard that Bethesda still updates Skyrim SE, which breaks mods every single time. I honestly don't want to deal with that whole hassle. Rather have my game and mods secured at all times. I mean its natural that game updates break mods. But it doesn't sound normal to reinstall all your mods again after each update or patch.

 

My Gaming Laptop is quite old, but its alright for running games on low or medium settings. So having the game run smooth or at least without millions lags is also a important factor when deciding between the two games. I will post the specs if anyone is interested.

 

 

 

Processor:    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz   2.50 GHz
IRAM:    8,00 GB (7,89 GB useable)
Graphic Card:    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4 GB), Intel(R) HD Graphics 630 (128 MB)
System type:   64-Bit
 

(This is my second laptop, which I only use for porn, hentai games and sex mods. My laptop is probably slower than those specs, since I have god knows how many ad and malwares on this pc lmao)

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2025 by CursedCrusader

[Grey Cloud]

37 minutes ago, CursedCrusader said:

I did tons of research and most post were from 2022 or 2023, so thought I could still ask again.

This question gets asked on a weekly basis.

[CursedCrusader]

7 minutes ago, Grey Cloud said:

This question gets asked on a weekly basis.

 

My bad. I don't use the forums much, the posts from my google search were a tad older.

[tshwmtxuj]

Uh.. If you only wanted a specific set of animations, you COULD do LE. It'd do just fine, until your file gets too large. I think I remember there being an application where it can help minimize your save file space. However, with SE/AE, the engine of the game runs a bit better and you have more options of animations. Since the game can still be updated, there are plenty of modders who can help out any bugs you may come across assuming that you play the latest version.

[plutocene]

26 minutes ago, CursedCrusader said:

 

My bad. I don't use the forums much, the posts from my google search were a tad older.

 

Ignore his comment. Thats actually a legit question given your outdated hardware, rather than the mods themselves. Bethesda does not update Skyrim any longer, unless Todd decides they need to sell more paid mods. LE version is limited to DX9, your GPU supports Dx12, thus I'd go for SE version which runs on DX11. Most LE mods have been ported and unless there is one in particular you want, you are not missing out, while many newer ones are not necessarily backported.

[Grey Cloud]

11 hours ago, plutocene said:

Ignore his comment.

Why? My statement was correct.

 

11 hours ago, plutocene said:

Thats actually a legit question given your outdated hardware, rather than the mods themselves.

Skyrim SE has been around since 2016 so it doesn't require bleeding-edge hardware. Generally speaking, mods don't have hardware requirements. There is difference between a machine that will run Skyrim (any version) and a machine that will run Skyrim plus 200 mods.

 

11 hours ago, plutocene said:

Bethesda does not update Skyrim any longer, unless Todd decides they need to sell more paid mods.

That statement is nonsensical. Does Bethesda update Skyrim or not? Skyrim SE has been updated several times since the AE version launched.

Automatic updates can be can be stopped quite easily.

 

 

[CursedCrusader]

14 hours ago, tshwmtxuj said:

Uh.. If you only wanted a specific set of animations, you COULD do LE. It'd do just fine, until your file gets too large. I think I remember there being an application where it can help minimize your save file space. However, with SE/AE, the engine of the game runs a bit better and you have more options of animations. Since the game can still be updated, there are plenty of modders who can help out any bugs you may come across assuming that you play the latest version.

 

14 hours ago, plutocene said:

 

Ignore his comment. Thats actually a legit question given your outdated hardware, rather than the mods themselves. Bethesda does not update Skyrim any longer, unless Todd decides they need to sell more paid mods. LE version is limited to DX9, your GPU supports Dx12, thus I'd go for SE version which runs on DX11. Most LE mods have been ported and unless there is one in particular you want, you are not missing out, while many newer ones are not necessarily backported.

 

Thanks you two. LE really seems to work the best, which is amazing, considering it has superior graphics.

[tshwmtxuj]

On 11/23/2025 at 7:28 AM, CursedCrusader said:

 

 

Thanks you two. LE really seems to work the best, which is amazing, considering it has superior graphics.

LE has mods that never got ported to SE, but it is way too unstable for a huge collection, I had just enough time of CTD's to gameplays. Back then, I was an inexperienced user; I didn't use any modpacks or anything, just liked what mod I saw, and downloaded and installed it manually. Over time, I learned to use a mod manager. I moved on to SE (who would eventually become AE) and now I am still learning about compatibilities and a bit of bashed patches. I started with LE, but I wish I had just gone with SE because then I wouldn't have to buy the DLCs Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn separately.

[CursedCrusader]

6 hours ago, tshwmtxuj said:

LE has mods that never got ported to SE, but it is way too unstable for a huge collection, I had just enough time of CTD's to gameplays. Back then, I was an inexperienced user; I didn't use any modpacks or anything, just liked what mod I saw, and downloaded and installed it manually. Over time, I learned to use a mod manager. I moved on to SE (who would eventually become AE) and now I am still learning about compatibilities and a bit of bashed patches. I started with LE, but I wish I had just gone with SE because then I wouldn't have to buy the DLCs Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn separately.

 

Yea its sad when you see a cool mod but its LE.

Bought Skyrim SE with the AE upgade. Got my hold onto the very basic modding skills. Browsed through loverslab and went crazy on every mod that looked appealing. All went well until I got like 68 mods. Could have fixed it easily but was too lazy. Coming from games where you only have to drop mods into a mod folder and where you can organize it much cleaner, Skyrim really is a pain in the ass if you have too many mods.

 

Now I'm doing a complete clean install of Mod Organizer 2 and will only mods I actually really want. 

 

I love modding but I also don't want my mod folder to be like 20 GB lol. 

[Miauzi]

Vor 2 Stunden schrieb CursedCrusader:

 

Ja, es ist schade, wenn man eine coole Mod sieht, die aber nur in der Limited Edition verfügbar ist.

Ich habe mir Skyrim SE mit dem AE-Upgrade gekauft und mir die Grundlagen des Moddings angeeignet. Auf LoversLab habe ich mich durchstöbert und mir alle Mods installiert, die mir gefielen. Alles lief gut, bis ich schließlich 68 Mods hatte. Hätte ich leicht beheben können, war aber zu faul. Im Vergleich zu Spielen, bei denen man Mods einfach in einen Mod-Ordner klebt und alles viel übersichtlicher organisieren kann, ist Skyrim mit zu vielen Mods echt nervig.

 

Ich installiere Mod Organizer 2 jetzt komplett neu und werde nur die Mods installieren, die ich wirklich haben möchte. 

 

Ich liebe das Modding, aber ich will auch nicht, dass mein Mod-Ordner 20 GB groß wird, lol. 

 

Well, generally speaking, it's easier to port a LE mod to SE than vice versa.

 

But not all LE mods need to be ported at all—quite a few of them work perfectly fine even if my mod manager throws up a warning for "Format 43."

 

At the same time, you should be wary of online tutorials that perform a kind of "automatic overhaul" (aka "conversion")... especially with clothing mods, a lot can be (initially unnoticed) broken.

 

And modding also means engaging with the subject matter on a "technical level"—in other words, having the willingness to learn.

 

 

 

[KIKOU16]

Just install & play the two (LE + AE). They have separated advantages :

 

AE bears much heavier and modern modding (+1500 mods or even more), has quick procedures but some specific problems (black screen when the PC died for instance). Fit for everything, but your weak hardware doesn't allow you to overcharge. Forget BHUNP and CBBE 3BA, and big graphics. Using GOG no-drm version will spare a lot for your system, although the last v1.179 seems to suffocate the RAM. Best is the older v659 if you can get it. And clear off the heavy and badly scripted CC content with Curation Club tool.

 

LE keeps a stunning graphic quality - myself I do prefer it by far -and your can also run +500 mods (Better not over 350 at first) but with some difficulties : memory managing (32 bits) and severe plugin number limit ( you need to smelt graphic mods together). My heavy LE modding with MO2 makes frequently some NPCs disappear (become invisible) after an animation, it's an issue with the graphic chip. I avoid using Bodyslide - and Devious Devices - on LE, too heavy stuff even if it works, you will get issues by the time. Better choose the excellent UNPB body (plenty of splendid outfits and armors like BDOR creations), or even the stunning ultralight Kendo2 Jiggle Body, a nearly perfect UNP body including simple SMP movement.

 

On 11/25/2025 at 12:01 PM, CursedCrusader said:

I love modding but I also don't want my mod folder to be like 20 GB lol.

 

Lol... my MO2 folders weight +300GB on AE, +150GB on LE... Good luck

[heru79]

On 12/16/2025 at 7:35 PM, KIKOU16 said:

Lol... my MO2 folders weight +300GB on AE, +150GB on LE... Good luck

Hello, Kikou! Did you publish your work somewhere? 

[KIKOU16]

Hi heru79, I won't publish anything yet. Just going my way and sharing some advices.

 

My view of Skyrim is a meta-world in medieval style, based on aesthetics and kinky adventures, using the widest lore development and a lot of graphic improvements (but not all the available stuff, it goes so far that you could count every leaf of a tree, and ENBs and LOD optimizers make average hardware crash very soon). I usually play on powerful but second-hand laptops as I'm very nomadic and not too wealthy. My best is a Razerblade hosting a RTX3080.

 

I always use MO2 and never update a mod for security, when updates arise I test them by loading them with modified file name - usually just typing version number after the title. So my MO2 files tend to grow a lot (450GB !!). I use laaaarge storage of course). I host and rest different types of bodies, skins, and so on.

 

I'm not a fan of Bodyslide (and even less of Devious Devices), however I like a lot CBBE 3BA. Best outfits are made for it, otherwise you should stick to UNPB, hyper-classic but still very nice visually. I use extra meshes for muscular bodies and better hands : Tender Hands is stunningly beautiful but on LE only, on AE BNP and RWOS have all included and -quite- seamless, very good stuff indeed.

 

After many hard work leading to nowhere I still stick to FNIS and Sexlab, as it still coherently works whithout limitation, especially for creatures (you can see on my profile that my PC girls have a go for bestiality, especially with horses). Nemesis never worked with creatures and is already too old, Pandora holds many promises but won't run on my GOG system for now. Too bad, I would like some modern usable tools, versatile enough to face different modding bases.

 

A good part of the deal is to identify which mods can run together and which can't ever match. Long work, as it takes sometimes a while in play to cripple mechanics. Especially here with intricated scripted sexlab machines. I love things like Survival, Public Whore or POP : these mods never were finished or stay rather unstable. I have no competence to ameliorate them.

 

One day I will share a modlist if someone wants it.