How bad is the damage from AE really?

[rabcor]

Seen a lot of pessimism surrounding the latest SSE update and the AE release surrounding modding, people talking like it's the end of Skyrim modding, I'm not really buying into that, I don't think it's gonna be that extreme, I think people are blowing things out of proportion when comparing AE to SSE.

 

As far as I can tell, the AE update should really only be breaking SKSE therefore requiring a new version of SKSE (nothing new there really, this happens every time SSE is updated anyways, it's just a slightly more complicated update this time around)

After SKSE is updated, some mods requiring SKSE might also need updating (but also possibly not?)

In other words, the way I've been expecting this to more or less go is that when SKSE has been updated to be compatible with AE, everything should more or less work and the only potential problems after that would be mod conflicts between creation club content and free mods, which again, wouldn't really be anything new either anyways.

 

 

I mean literally the only change here is that the game was recompiled in a more recent compiler, it's still the same game, still the same code when it comes down to it. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.



So how bad is it really? Are the pessimistic doomsayers right and modding is just f***ed? Am I right and are people just being hysterical about a minor technical issue that'll probably be resolved in like a month tops?



Or is it something in between?

Edited November 14, 2021 by rabcor

[Vistasucks]

Imagine this... You go home, you want to play Skyrim, and you see there is an update... Now you know Skyrim AE is coming out, but, you have no idea what update this is exactly, and perhaps you have no idea that Skyrim SE is getting updated, regardless of you purchasing AE.

 

So you do that, then you find yourself in a position where you need to now figure out what to do... It's a bad situation, but there are videos out there you could watch, there are methods & workaround tutorials... So you watch those videos & read those tutorials - but with little, to no success.

 

Uh oh... What's this? Now you cant play with your mods? Now all those hours you put in might be lost, all due to a little 3GB update (and that is tiny for game updates honestly).

 

No chance to roll back your system to restore the files before the updated state of your Skyrim SE? You've done everything you needed to do, as far as following tutorials go? Oh alright then, say goodbye to your game, and the 10s to 100s to maybe even 1000s of hours of your character.

 

 

I did get my game back and running, but it's deemed as "the end of Skyrim Modding" because of Bethesda's approach. It's disrespectful to the modding scene, and it's honestly something that was managed & released terribly. Should people be attacking developers & harassing modders? No... But just understand the perspective... It is a game, but when you put hours and hours into something, then it's your time, and the work that you put into it.

[BrotherShamus]

SKSE has already been updated for it and I suppose non-SKSE mods should still work but a lot of mods also depend on things like Address Library, Engine Fixes, Papyrus Util and a few others that may take a while to update or may not be updated at all. I'm basing this off of things I've read on Reddit so... not sure how accurate that is. I'm staying cautiously optimistic but for now, I'm really glad I've got a working version of SE.

[rabcor]

SKSE has already been updated for it and I suppose non-SKSE mods should still work but a lot of mods also depend on things like Address Library, Engine Fixes, Papyrus Util and a few others that may take a while to update or may not be updated at all. I'm basing this off of things I've read on Reddit so... not sure how accurate that is. I'm staying cautiously optimistic but for now, I'm really glad I've got a working version of SE.

 

We only have a preliminary build for AE compatible SKSE, it's not really ready yet. And before it is ready Address Library can't be updated either, but it probably will once skse for ae is ready.

 

 

Imagine this... You go home, you want to play Skyrim, and you see there is an update... Now you know Skyrim AE is coming out, but, you have no idea what update this is exactly, and perhaps you have no idea that Skyrim SE is getting updated, regardless of you purchasing AE.

 

So you do that, then you find yourself in a position where you need to now figure out what to do... It's a bad situation, but there are videos out there you could watch, there are methods & workaround tutorials... So you watch those videos & read those tutorials - but with little, to no success.

 

Uh oh... What's this? Now you cant play with your mods? Now all those hours you put in might be lost, all due to a little 3GB update (and that is tiny for game updates honestly).

 

No chance to roll back your system to restore the files before the updated state of your Skyrim SE? You've done everything you needed to do, as far as following tutorials go? Oh alright then, say goodbye to your game, and the 10s to 100s to maybe even 1000s of hours of your character.

 

 

I did get my game back and running, but it's deemed as "the end of Skyrim Modding" because of Bethesda's approach. It's disrespectful to the modding scene, and it's honestly something that was managed & released terribly. Should people be attacking developers & harassing modders? No... But just understand the perspective... It is a game, but when you put hours and hours into something, then it's your time, and the work that you put into it.

 

 

Woah relax you don't have to do a system recovery, there are ways to downgrade your games to the last version after updating them on steam.

Edited November 14, 2021 by rabcor

[zixi]

I run Skyrim SE on Linux. First I had to let Steam update and as I also use ASDL and it's extremely slow, that took ages. I ran out of time on the AE update so had to finish those downloads the next day. I was then able to run AE. It ran without any issues so I then purchased the additional content. That uses the Creation Club download in game to deliver those purchases and that also took ages and ages and ages. However, it all runs flawlessly. I can see an improvement in performance and I'm very pleased. I also like some the additional bits via the addon purchase so I'm happy with that too. I was braced for issues - just in case - but actually it was a non-event and everything runs perfectly.

[Vistasucks]

 

 

Woah relax you don't have to do a system recovery, there are ways to downgrade your games to the last version after updating them on steam.

IF you actually wrote what I put down, then you'd probably know that I understand that there are ways to downgrade. But... It's not a sure thing that it will work for everyone right?

 

Not saying it's the end of the world, but it's a perspective. Don't get too upset that it's a different perspective and experience from yours. It's just something that's happening :happy:

Edited November 14, 2021 by Vistasucks

[Rasikko]

How bad is the damage?

 

Here's some facts:

1. The vast majority of regular mods from SE is compatible with SE:AE. Architectural changes were not made in the same scope as LE -> SE. Some are broken due to texture changes brought on by AE. Follower mods are busted for some weird reason. Body replacers, outfit studio, etc, these still work, you know, the cosmetic stuff that you may care about the most.
2. Mods that require SKSE specific papyrus functions are fine thanks to the new SKSE update. SkyUI is not broken.
3. Mods which require SKSE plugins, which contain .dll files are broken until these mods are recompiled in VB2019. Recompilation is not as easy as it sounds.

That last one is particularly bad for those whose mod setups are composed of primarily SKSE plugin mods. Many of these plugins have authors that have long moved on, or are around but don't want fiddle around with updating because the process is a pain in the ass. The update effectively killed my mod setup and I pretty much playing Skyrim barebones now.

Edited November 14, 2021 by Rasikko

[BrotherShamus]

How bad is the damage?

 

Here's some facts:

1. The vast majority of regular mods from SE is compatible with SE:AE. Architectural changes were not made in the same scope as LE -> SE. Some are broken due to texture changes brought on by AE. Follower mods are busted for some weird reason. Body replacers, outfit studio, etc, these still work, you know, the cosmetic stuff that you may care about the most.
2. Mods that require SKSE specific papyrus functions are fine thanks to the new SKSE update. SkyUI is not broken.
3. Mods which require SKSE plugins, which contain .dll files are broken until these mods are recompiled in VB2019. Recompilation is not as easy as it sounds.

That last one is particularly bad for those whose mod setups are composed of primarily SKSE plugin mods. Many of these plugins have authors that have long moved on, or are around but don't want fiddle around with updating because the process is a pain in the ass. The update effectively killed my mod setup and I pretty much playing Skyrim barebones now.

 

The way they rolled this out is horrible. I was lucky enough to stumble across a random post on Reddit a couple of days before the update and was able to prepare for it but the way Bethesda forced this was in my opinion a giant middle finger to the people who have faithfully been playing their game for a decade now. I've read several posts in different forums from people who have invested hundreds or even thousands of hours getting their game set up... only to be blindsided by this. I don't know the logistics of why they pushed it on everybody but... making it optional or even making it only available as a paid update would have been preferable. Having said that... it is what it is. I would hope that they've built some stability into AE and maybe even addressed some of the numerous bugs... and I hope that the modding community recovers as we've got another five years at least before the next Elder Scrolls is released. Even though I have my old version, I've got this bit of anxiousness every time I start the game now. I'm not all that computer savvy and I think about what might happen if I ever have to verify my files or encounter some random problem that I don't know how to fix.

[rabcor]

 

Thanks, that paints a pretty clear picture.

[scean25]

Unfortunately it does break “some” other mods that don't need skse.

Microsoft own Bethesda and if Microsoft can make money off mods, they will do so.

It would not surprise me if Skyrim is the last elder scrolls game you can mod for free. Does Bethesda care for people who use free mods? Yes I believe they do.

Does Microsoft, No? In 2007 they tried to stop linux and its free operating system. Free stuff is a threat to big corps that want to make big money.

I just went back to playing legendary edition, untill the mods I want to use are working in AE. Who knows maybe I'll never upgrade SE.