SKSE won't launch Skyrim LE gameplay though Vortex Dashboard sees all tools

[Gorgopis]

1) I can't launch (anymore) Skyrim LE (to play) from the Vortex Dashboard. According to the most recent tips and documentation, I am supposed to launch the game from the Vortex dashboard SKSE button, but SKSE won't launch the game, because the popup says it can't find the TESVedit.exe. file. Clicking on the other Vortex Dashboard Skyrim launch screens all yield the same popup.

 

2) Please note that I have TESVedit and XEdit installed, both with active run buttons, and both operable from the same dashboard. They run just fine from the Vortex dashboard.

 

3) Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to endorse mods and authors and what not, and also start contributing, but, as I am new to all this, I can't really get started.

[HadToRegister]

If the popup is saying it can't find the TESVedit.exe file, then you've got the link to SKSE set to the TESVEdit.exe instead of SKSE_Launcher.exe

 

Click on the Three vertical dots on the SKSE tool in the dashboard, and click EDIT

Then in the TARGET entry, click the folder icon and navigate to the SKSE_Loader.exe in your Skyrim LE directory (something similar to this

TARGET - D:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\skse_loader.exe

Then

START IN - D:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\

-ALSO- It sounds like you have your other tools all pointing to TESVEdit.exe as well

Below is the paths for Skyrim SE, yours will be similar, but will just have SKYRIM

 

 

[Gorgopis]

Thank you, HTR, But

 

1) No success, yet.

 

2) To accomplish your advice, I partitioned my C drive and added a D drive just for games. I tired to install/transfer all Skyrim-related data to that Games folder on the D drive to match the file tree you show in your reply. I seemed to have temporary success as all appeared in the appropriately-named folder. [All not using Vortex and staying offline.]

 

3) Then I opened Vortex (but offline) and set up your paths. Vortex found the SKSE file, but it could not find the Skyrim.exe file. I can see the Skyrim executables in that D drive location when I go through my PC: to D directly (not using Vortex), but as soon as I try to follow the "Start-In" path folder icon as shown above, Vortex "sees" no executables. (As I edit this message, I see a possible error in my logic, but I still may not solve. If Vortex found SKSE.exe) shouldn't it find skryim.exe, unless these two .exe's are somehow in mixed directories or different file folders?)

 

4) Also, I may be experiencing some copy-protection-issues as folders managed by Vortex (or STEAM) may refuse to see copied/pasted .exe files?

 

5) I will try the same procedure (i.e., searching through your recommended file paths above) after logging in to and going online with Vortex in a few minutes.

 

6) BTW, I moved Witcher 3 from my documents-games folder also into the D folder, and Vortex offline can't find that game any more. Let's see what happens when I scan for games online?

 

Thanks for being there--G.

[HadToRegister]

You didn't have to move everything to a D drive, I was just showing you an example of how your paths should look, with obviously YOUR Hard Drive letter being different than mine.


Change the game location path here on the dashboard, click on the + sign for the game under the RECENTLY MANAGED section of your dashboard
AGAIN, your Path and Drive Letter is probably going to be different, don't go through all of that trouble trying to exactly create my paths and Drive letters

 

[Gorgopis]

Thank you for your continued patience, HTR. I fear this new message will break it. I have a cascade of issues I have likely brought on myself, but the only way I can help you help me is to take you through my decisions and roadblocks.

 

1) I don't know if my failures with Vortex have to do with the following: but every time I try to log-in, Vortex requests my authorization api key. Every time I cut and paste it, copy it in, hit save, and I see the message "Failure to login" though my user name now appears at the top of the Vortex page, and I appear to be logged in. I can work. Please Note that I run a VPN, so maybe Vortex hiccups while finding my computer every time I want to access Vortex?

 

2) Next, regarding your last post. Ouch.

 

a.) The Skyrim flashscreen does not appear in my recently-managed-games subsection window of Vortex. It is empty: "No recently managed games". Even after I try to manage the game, no games appear in that subsection window of Vortex.

 

b.) I wasn't really trying to "copy" your specific path examples from your post. Your modeled and example paths simply confirmed a decision I was mulling: Should I move my games to a new partition, D, to more efficiently manage and isolate my games from everything on "C'? Tutorials online suggested that that was a good idea, and your post kind of tipped me over. But, attempting to do so offline has likely magnified my troubles. Maybe I should have tried to move all games from C to D by logging onto Steam and using the Steam Library folder?

 

3) Worst, probably, is that I now have complex redundancies throughout my directories on my PC. Especially, I see a confusion of multiple Games folders, much with similar content. I had overlooked that C-Drive had a Games folder!

 

a. I see: C: Games > GOG Games and Steam. (Next, right click and open) Steam >Steam Apps > Common >Skyrim > Data > TESVEdit Cache empty folder, below which I see all Skyrim related exe and dll files, BUT no Steam exes, nor any mods at all.

 

b. I can also navigate to C: documents > MyGames [Witcher 3 saves] Steam >Steam Apps > Common >Skyrim > Data > TESVEdit Cache empty folder, below which I see all Skyrim related exe and dll files and no Steam or mods at all (same as 3a above).

 

c. I can also now open, and for which I had assigned full user control supposedly, D > Games. But there are two succeeding Games folders in D, AS such: D > Games >Games [GOG Games, Witcher 3 GOTY] > Steam > Steam Apps > Common > Skyrim > Data, Direct X Papyrus, SKSE, SKSE 1_7_3 (and some other) folders as well as all exe and dll files (same as 3a and 3b above). BUT: continuing with a right click and opening that last mentioned Data folder, I now see: Data > all exe and dll files including Skyrim .exe, but also now Steam executables, esp and esm files, Caliente Tools, other mods. I'm pretty sure the trouble is here, but how to proceed?

 

4. Prior to my having made backups and copying all these to D, I could open Bodyslide and work, but now when I click on Bodyslide in D, it says I have no permissions, though the whole chain, including the Bodyslide exe. in D is supposedly under "full control."

 

5. BTW I have zero game .exes in my Program Files (x86).

 

Thank you in advance. G.

[HadToRegister]

DO NOT USE A VPN with Vortex or the Nexus.

That is the cause of your first problem

As far as your other problems, you definitely have a real mess there, you have folders within folders, and duplicates, which means duplicate paths in your registry etc.

I can't even begin to understand why you have "C: documents > MyGames [Witcher 3 saves] Steam >Steam Apps > Common >Skyrim > Data > TESVEdit Cache" this at all

Or this "D > Games >Games [GOG Games, Witcher 3 GOTY] > Steam > Steam Apps > Common > Skyrim > Data"

It looks like you have Steam, installed Inside your Gog Games Folder

2b, Yes, you moved your Steam and Vortex installation manually to drive D, meaning your computer and the registry, still thinks that Steam and Vortex are still on Drive C

At this point Steam and Vortex are desperately trying to find the Games and MOds to manage
At this point the best and fastest way to fix everything is to start clean

(Wait to see if someone else comes in here and offers a better alternative), but for me personally, to untangle that mess would be more work than just starting fresh

[tekmage]

@HadToRegister Vortex and Nexus worked perfectly fine with VPN. I use ProtonVPN so maybe the VPN the OP is using is causing issues.

 

P.S. Windscribe VPN worked fine before as well.

Edited August 27, 2019 by tekmage

[Gorgopis]

HTR and Tekmage:

Thank you for your responses. I am still puzzled by the log-in failure at Vortex considering my VPN. I can log into Nexus Forums successfully without a failure to login message. But not into Vortex.

Meanwhile,

1) Is there an idealized directory pathway (for me to visualize/enact someday) to install both Skyrim LE (and Witcher 3) onto a D partition? I am learning graphics at university and want to practice modding on Skyrim LE. I am assuming I can do this and still install it on D correctly? And can I still play both Witcher 3 (maybe mod it in future) and test my Skyrim LE mods within the D partition? The answer, I presume, involves STEAM technicalities? Once I get the hang of modding, I hope to move to SkyrimSE. (I also hope to build my own unusual new game, soon.)

2) I am also a debutante at PC directory management, having recently completed my first (successful) PC build. I find my failures quite amusing, so I think you experts deserve to shake your heads and laugh at my clumsiness too. I've never really feared falling down.

3) So, at this stage, especially being relatively new in graphics, I do not fear an "SO," or, as we say, a start-over. I don't mind digging into my directories to repair mistakes in order to better understand Windows. But, as you suggest, I have messed up registries. And probably UACs too. Can I reset/recover these with Admin rights, or is it easier to SO and re-install?

4) Which leads me to my last questions. I fear with re-installation with STEAM I may lose the actual games themselves and have to re-buy? Online commentaries say this won't happen, and I think my save-games are safe? But with Skyrim LE being so old, I hope not to lose that game, as commercial practices may change at STEAM and elsewhere.

5) I am not too lazy to look up links and answers to these, but the confusion is that constant updates and changes in Provider policies make me question which advice is the most current. I am assuming that the Nexus community surfs the most recent sidewalks. In appreciation, G.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Gorgopis

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis You might want to contact your University's admin if you are dealing with your school's VPN. It is possible that certain ports are being blocked.

Congrats on your first PC build. Learning through trial and error is the best way to get better at building them. Everyone laughed at me when I used a saw to cut a window into a side panel and fitted it with Plexiglass from Lowes. I jury rigged a small light bar so one could look inside and see the CPU fan spinning. This was 18 years ago. Look at the computer market now? So, never stop experimenting and evolving.

 

Do as HTR recommends and clean install everything to D drive so the registry correctly points to your games and programs. It may be an arduious procedure but well worth the effort to get things running trouble-free.

 

As for Steam, It's going to be around for quite sometime. I've been using it for over 15 years and I don't see it dying anytime soon. You may want to consider getting many of your games as you can from GOG since they are DRM free and you can backup what you have purchased on alternate media for safe keeping. GOG even has a functionality where some of your steam library can be moved over to It.

 

Best regards and a toast to your very positive future,

tekmage

[Gorgopis]

@htr and @tekmage

 

I’m ready to mark this string solved. But, since I haven’t, you may still see an active “ticket”, so, with your forbearance, I may catch you looking. I will also post this question under a new heading, if it turns out you’re not looking.

 

I uninstalled all mods on Vortex. I still have a lot of residual backed up files and miscellaneous clutter on my C partition.

 

But, I now have a clean install of Skyrim LE on a D partition, and it plays through STEAM. I’m ready to reinstall my intended 30 mods, using Vortex, and not NMM, as @htr recommended on another post.

 

Originally, briefly, my 30 mods worked well, without conflicts, using the Vortex dashboard, until I got “creative” and manually tried to make backups and move the game and mods to the D partition. So I am prepared to trust Vortex.

 

Therefore: will Vortex now find my new game install, and manage mods? Will I be able to play the game both through the STEAM login flashscreen, as well as from the Vortex dashboard? Do you anticipate any hiccups? I found an instructional on STEAM, but it was more for Skyrim SE, and it recommended NMM. Thanks, as ever.