SKSE64 for Steam Version Use Cases

[Trotsky21]

Given that SKSE is a critical dependency for almost everything Skyrim-related on Nexus, one imagines or hopes that someone with authority in the community can provide some clear instructions to people who have the steam version of Skyrim on

 

1) Where to get the SKSE file

2) Which version to use

3) How to install it correctly

4) How to arrange things so that the game runs without freezing

5) How to insure that someone can run the steam version of SkyrimSE, with the appropriate SKSE64 file compatible with this version, and that all of this is confirmed and visible in the Vortex system. Because right now, it's a freaking disaster.

[showler]

1. http://skse.silverlock.org/

2. Get the version that matches your game version

3. Install instructions are in the download. It's incredibly easy. Just copy and paste as instructed. Or, you should be able to just drag the archive into the mods tab of Vortex and drop it in the space at the bottom where indicated.

4. The depends on what you add to the game.

5. That error just looks like you installed the same files in more than one way and Vortex wants to know which one you want to use.

[Trotsky21]

Stop saying things like "It's incredibly easy." I doubt that anyone in this space has done a serious use case analysis - which is data driven. For example, you have 3 times the number of downloads as you have unique downloads in Ostim. That means people are downloading it multiple times, indicating or suggesting install or even function problems. The endorsement rate is running at 2-4% of users, which is "incredibly" low - especially when considering that the demographic is hundreds of thousands of users who are actively attempting to install non-vanilla mods.

 

I've read the instructions extremely carefully - but it's obvious that there are a great many unstated assumptions being made about the user and their knowledge base. Rather than following instructions, my activity in this space consists of deciphering what those assumptions are.

 

 

1. http://skse.silverlock.org/

2. Get the version that matches your game version

3. Install instructions are in the download. It's incredibly easy. Just copy and paste as instructed. Or, you should be able to just drag the archive into the mods tab of Vortex and drop it in the space at the bottom where indicated.

4. The depends on what you add to the game.

5. That error just looks like you installed the same files in more than one way and Vortex wants to know which one you want to use.

 

[showler]

Are you asking for help or trying to start an educational study? If it's the latter, I'll leave you to it.

 

First of all, "downloads" vs "unique downloads" is meaningless because people routinely wipe their game and start over again.

 

Second of all, 2-4% endorsement is pretty normal for the modding community. People get things for free and complain about it, not endorse it.

 

Third of all, Vortex already made it so that if you install a script extender dependent mod and don't have the script extender it will literally ask you if you want the script extender, take you to the page to get it and let you "drag and drop" it to install it.

 

It IS incredibly easy. People mess it up because they rush through things without paying attention.

[Trotsky21]

Are you asking for help or trying to start an educational study? If it's the latter, I'll leave you to it.

 

. . . [snip] . . .

 

It IS incredibly easy. People mess it up because they rush through things without paying attention.

I'm a lawyer and before that I worked for a number of years as a project manager in IT, among other things doing use case analysis. Reading every word and comprehending intent has been my 'job' for about 40 years. Still is. I've read every word of the relevant instructions in the various mods. As I said, there is an overwhelming tendency of those who write the instructions to assume knowledge that the user doesn't have or which doesn't exist in written form. Statements in one set of instructions conflict with statements about the same topic for another mod. How many versions of the script extender are there? How is it actually applied to the game? I could give you several use case analyses on these conflicts just for the case of installing SKSE (64 or 2.1.2?), to say nothing of the many other mods out there which do the same thing. I could give you several dozen use cases which show conflicting information or absent information for the Ostim instructions as well (which are better than most, but still make too many assumptions).

 

All this is not a "complaint." Modders and those who use the mods are a self-excluding community, and it seems to be happily so. If the scheme only actually works for 4% of the people who attempt it, who really cares? No one is getting paid to manage any of this. We even have locked threads in this forum for mods which are still represented as being supported.

 

As I said, it doesn't appear to me that any serious use case analysis has been done, I don't think myself that any but a tiny few even know what that is. Nothing wrong with that - this is a free community and people are doing their best.

[showler]

Your reading analysis already seems flawed. I said that only 2-4% typically endorse mods. That has nothing to do with whether or not they managed to make the mod work correctly.

 

To quickly answer two questions: There is one version of the script extender for every version of the game that is supported. The script extender only works on the intended version, so you have to have the game version and script extender version paired properly.

 

As for "(64 or 2.1.2?)"? That's a non-question. 2.1.2 is one version of SKSE 64. It's not an "or" question. It's the equivalent of asking about buying a car and wanting to know if you should by a Ford or a 2022 model.

[xkkmEl]

I always liked Trotsky's ideas, even though I think most are wrong.

 

That said, Trotsky21 does have a point. The modding community is not doing a very good job for the user community, being more enthralled by new effects, items, characters and the like to pay attention to the intended audience. We are mostly geeks, of one kind or another.

 

In this case however, I point the finger to the (seemingly?) artificial restriction on mod managers that prevents them installing SKSE and ENB mods transparently.

[Trotsky21]

Your reading analysis already seems flawed.

Or, perhaps the issue is that I read too carefully and the writers make too many assumptions - which is a very common error.

 

So let's do a single use case on this issue. Interested?

 

Case: Installing the correct version of SKSE for the Ostim dependency.

 

Image 1 - Ostim instructions.

 

Use Case A: User has SkyrimSE from steam, and has not installed the steam version of SKSE for their iteration. User assumption is that following the SKSE instructions on Ostim will work, assuming also that they have managed to get Vortex functioning with a game profile and know how those work.

 

The Ostim instructions indicate in this case that the user should obtain SKSE version 2.0.20 from the silverlock website. User goes to silverlock website and encounters . . .

 

Image 2 - Silverlock files and instructions.

 

Use Case A Continued: The information presented in the silverlock website conflicts with the previous information, and adds misdirection.

 

User will look for the version instructed in the Ostim image, i.e. version 2.0.20. This version appears in the fourth line down in the "dowloads" section, but then include the sentence "you probably want the AI build above unless you know what you are doing." This is a misdirection. User must now choose between following this instruction or the Ostim instruction.

 

User also notices that this section contains other information relevant to them, viz: "If you are using the latest version on Steam, download the AE build . . . "

 

As this use case involves a Skyrim steam iteration, this is now a second conflicting set of instructions. Each one of these conflicts would now involve a separate use case (Case B, Case C - which will not be set forth here).

 

Continuing with Use Case A, the user decides to follow the Ostim instruction set, and downloads the 2.0.20 version from the silverlock website.

 

User now has a zip file in their downloads folder. SKSE has not been installed. There are no instructions as to how to move this zip file properly into a useable location.

 

End of case. Function, failed.

 

Let me know if you need the images referenced above.

 

 

[showler]

 

In this case however, I point the finger to the (seemingly?) artificial restriction on mod managers that prevents them installing SKSE and ENB mods transparently.

Vortex is literally drag and drop. It will even tell you when you need SKSE.

 

It will also install ENBs if they are set up correctly.

 

You're correct though that just because a mod author is good at making mods doesn't mean they are good at communicating with the user. That's why its a community. The resources to install a mod don't just come from from the mod author. Other users help as well.

[showler]

You know, honestly, if you think the Ostim site having outdated instructions is some sort of fail on the part of the SKSE devs, you do you.