I wish Bethesda never made Skyrim AE.

[HedgehogMods31]

Skyrim AE has ruined Pre-AE Skyrim modding and this is because modders can't even label their old files properly.

 

Naming an old version of a mod "Mod SE" and not naming it "Mod SE v1.5.97" just breaks the ability to have a Skyrim SE 1.5.97 anymore. How is anybody supposed to know what old file is compatible when they're not labeled properly?

 

Here's an example of how everything has become confusing:

 

Title: Skyrim Mod

 

Old Files:

Skyrim Mod AE

Skyrim Mod AE

Skyrim Mod SE

 

(keep in mind they can have multiple "Skyrim Mod SE" all named the same with no version informed at all, same with AE).

 

I play on Skyrim AE 1.6.353 but wanted to play on Skyrim SE 1.5.97. Now there's mods updated to 1.6.640 with no old versions, mods which only support 1.6.353 and some of the best mods which only support 1.5.97. Well, it's no good having the best mods from 1.5.97 if you can't get the other mods which now only support 1.6.353 and so on.

 

It's just broke everything.

Edited October 25, 2022 by HedgehogMods31

[Hietanen]

No it did not break everything, because all mods except dll based mods are still compatible.

 

Also, even the Unofficial Patch is compatible with all versions, provided you have the free creation club content that everyone gets for free, since it requires this to launch properly.

 

So in short, only mods that have a dll needs to be version specific and this yes breaks with every update (but why update? Just stay on a version that works), all other mods will work to install and use without any issues regardless of version.

[steamteck]

I just wish they'd made it a separate beast or optional. My daughter has AE and I'm still on SE. My setup has over 500 mods and I play the same characters for years multiple at a time, so I skipped the upgrade. She accidentally upgraded and she has way more compatibility and other issues than me and she had to restructure her mods and lost a few she really liked.

At this point you're late enough to the party, it won't feel like a downgrade like SE itself did for years but some classic mods which use DLL's may not still be available to you

[scorrp10]

It is not so much what Bethesda did, but rather general architecture of SKSE and the dependent .dlls. I dabbled a bit in plugin creation using Visual Studio, and unless your .dll can specifically respond "I can work with X version of game", it will not get loaded. But my understanding, vast majority of pre-AE .dlls, especially those using Address Library, needed scarcely more than a recompile to work with AE. Not, unfortunately, the case for mods that 'hooked' directly into SkyrimSE.exe

Problem is, if original mod creator is no longer into it, they are not around to make that update. Some mod creators have made their source available either on github, or as a file on Nexus, in which case someone else with the know-how can do the honors. But a lot of plugin authors never published their code.

 

I think that there were some recent changes in the versioning scheme that will allow current plugins to remain functional without needing a recompile on each game update. But that is hardly a help for old 1.5.97 plugins...

[greyday01]

I wish Bethesda would stop upgrading entirely. But if they MUST, they should at least incorporate ALL the fixes, unofficial and otherwise, like fix the flora respawn bug, the brawl bug, and so on. That way you might get some benefit from the new version that would make it worth the trouble. And clean their masters while they are at it. And fix all the errors that the CK complains about while starting up.

[Moksha8088]

Mods that relied on SKSE64 needed to be upgraded to the latest SKSE64 to work with AE.

[steamteck]

Finally upgraded myself and It doesn't feel like that much of an upgrade. Lot of new content and some better visuals but a lot of nice mods just don't work quite as smoothly even after updating for it.. I also wish all the creation club stuff didn't get downloaded without me being able to filter it little.

[7531Leonidas]

Two CC-removal mods that may be worth looking at, I don't use either as of now.

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86131

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/58783

[showler]

Geez, all you need to do is move the files to a sub-directory. Why complicate things?

[Billy1969]

The ones I don't use I renamed them to .bak should I ever need them again then they're right there in my data folder.