Robert's Skyrim Modlist

I've been a fan of The Elder Scrolls series ever since I was bitten by the Morrowind bug as a child. Despite that, I've barely played Skyrim. I want a mostly-vanilla first playthrough, but I've learnt enough from Morrowind and Oblivion to know that a completely unmodded experience can be a little... janky. So this is my humble 'smooth it out' modlist.

It's mostly bug fixes and quality-of-life stuff, no big gameplay changes.

• SSE Engine Fixes: To fix bugs Bethesda never officially resolved.
• USSEP: Also to fix bugs in Skyrim Special Edition that Bethesda never officially resolved.
• Bug Fixes SSE: More bug fixes.
• Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches: Even more bug fixes! This time for the DLC that the Anniversary Edition adds.
• SSE Display Tweaks: Performance boosts and bugfixes. More control over FPS.
• SkyUI: Make the interfaces more PC-friendly.
• SkyUI SE - Difficulty Persistence Fix: Fixes some bugs when using SkyUI.
• Better Dialogue Controls: Fixes annoyances with keyboard-and-mouse dialogue selection.
• Better MessageBox Controls: Same idea for message boxes: better keyboard navigation and easier button clicking.
• Immersive Hud SKSE: Hide the HUD when it's not needed.
• Even Better Quest Objectives: Improves quest descriptions so you can understand where to go and what to do without leaning so heavily on map markers.
• Run For Your Lives: Makes townsfolk run indoors during dragon or vampire attacks instead of suicidally joining the fight.
• Cutting Room Floor - SSE: Restores content Bethesda cut from the game, presumably owing to time constraints. I say that, as in many cases, the content was referenced in-game but never implemented or only partially implemented.

In addition, I'll probably disable quest markers by editing SkyrimPrefs.ini and setting bShowFloatingQuestMarkers=0 and bShowQuestMarkers=0. These settings live under [GamePlay].

If you're using Mod Organiser 2 (MO2), like I am, be careful which version of SkyrimPrefs.ini you edit: MO2 can use profile-specific INI files, and editing the wrong one won't do anything. In MO2, use the 'Open INIs folder' option (or the INI editor) and edit that file instead of the one in your game folder.

Linux Install

Modding Elder Scrolls games can be complicated, and it can be even more so on Linux. These are the steps that worked for me, in case they help someone else.

Key

• MO2 = Mod Organiser 2 (the mod manager),
• SKSE = Skyrim Script Extender (some mods expect it),
• SSE = Skyrim Special Edition,
• USSEP = Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.

Instructions

1. Install The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, plus the Anniversary Upgrade DLC.
2. Launch Skyrim once through Steam/Proton (this creates the Proton prefix), then close it.
3. Install SteamTinkerLaunch-git via ProtonUp-Qt:
   • (Must) In ProtonUp-Qt, go to About and enable 'Advanced Mode'.
   • When you click 'Add Version', choose 'SteamTinkerLaunch-git' (not 'SteamTinkerLaunch'), because the non-git one is out of date and MO2 installation can fail.
4. In Steam, set Skyrim to use SteamTinkerLaunch as its compatibility tool, then launch it. When prompted, select 'Main Menu'. Ask SteamTinkerLaunch to install/launch Mod Organiser 2.
   • You may wish to log into your Nexus account in Mod Organiser 2 as you are setting it up (sadly, I believe you do need one these days to download mods, please correct me if I'm wrong).
5. Install SKSE64 manually:
   • Download the current build of SKSE for the Anniversary Edition.
   • Easiest option (works): extract the contents of the SKSE archive into your game folder at ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition/.
   • If you want the minimal/tidy install (to avoid copying extra files), follow the SKSE readme for your exact version.
   • Then add skse64_loader.exe as an executable in MO2 if MO2 does not auto-detect it.
6. In MO2, install Address Library.
7. Install SSE Engine Fixes:
   • extract d3dx9_42.dll from 'Engine Fixes - SKSE64 Preloader' into the game folder next to SkyrimSE.exe, and
   • install 'Engine Fixes - Main File' in MO2.
8. In MO2, install SkyUI.
9. In MO2, install SkyUI SE - Difficulty Persistence Fix.
10. In MO2, install MCM Helper.
11. In MO2, install USSEP.
12. In MO2, install Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches, I also grabbed the optional 'Restored Helmets' patch from the same page. Inside MO2, I had to manually change the name of the 'Restored Helmets' mod to prevent it from conflicting with the main patch when installing.
13. In MO2, install Cutting Room Floor - SSE.
14. In MO2, install Even Better Quest Objectives, making sure to select the Cutting Room Floor compatibility patch at install time.
15. Install the remaining mods in MO2: Better Dialogue Controls, Better MessageBox Controls, Bug Fixes SSE, Immersive Hud SKSE, Run For Your Lives, and SSE Display Tweaks.
16. Final steps in MO2:
    1. Look at the right-hand pane.
    2. Click the Plugins tab.
    3. Scroll to the bottom and make sure 'BetterQuestObjectives-CRFPatch.esp' is enabled.
    4. At the top left of that plugin list, click Sort.
    If all goes well, you shouldn't see any warnings.
17. Launch the game from MO2 using the SKSE executable, not plain Skyrim.

Note: If your mouse and keyboard are not working in Skyrim while a controller is plugged in, it's probably because the game prioritises controller input. You can either unplug the controller or go to SkyrimPrefs.ini and set bGamepadEnable=0 to regain mouse and keyboard functionality. This setting lives under [General].

If you're using Mod Organiser 2 (MO2), like I am, be careful which version of SkyrimPrefs.ini you edit: MO2 can use profile-specific INI files, and editing the wrong one won't do anything. In MO2, use the 'Open INIs folder' option (or the INI editor) and edit that file instead of the one in your game folder.