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

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis It sounds like you have things sorted, but since you have your game running properly, It is always a good idea to make a manual backup of your Skyrim folder in the case you install something that breaks things. Vortex should work as intended as long as you don't install items into the Program/program x86 files folder as before.

[Gorgopis]

@tekmage

 

Thank you for an unbelievably considerate reply. I had anticipated and made a manual backup, now confirmed as a reasonable decision, as your message indicates, but I installed the backup also on the 'D" partition. Now, I'd love to make this all perfect, which may be asking too much?

 

1) Will the presence of this Skyrim backup on the same 'D' partition as the reinstalled Skyrim confuse STEAM or Vortex?

 

2) Please note that before doing my new clean install, and while on the Vortex dashboard, I uninstalled all mods, but I did leave the three Skyrim dlc's as enabled mods on Vortex as advised elsewhere. To continue from now, I was intending to disable these or uninstall them. Do I need to? I can see the three dlc's and their associated files in my reinstalled primary Skyrim folder on 'D', and I am assuming that when I direct Vortex to scan for my games, and set the correct pathway, it will find the dlc's. Have I assumed correctly?

 

3) My current Vortex dashboard still shows TESVedit, Wryebash, SSKE, FNIS, etc, from before I did the clean reinstall. Do I need to remove these, or will they update when I toggle (soon, I hope) Vortex to scan for my game?

 

4) More confusion: before any mods, I want to download Creation Kit for my Skyrim LE: I had earlier noticed that it can be downloaded from Bethesda or directly from STEAM. Please note that I still have my first download of the CK installed on my 'C' partition, with all of its associated files, from prior to my clean reinstall, though I had made no alterations/additions to any types of CK files. Back then, I did, however, start creating my first NPC mod, and I sill have those files also. I was hoping to continue work on this NPC, with a CK reinstall, if necessary. I imagine I can import these in-progress files to CK?

 

5) I think I got in trouble initially, because I was playing the game offline via the STEAM login flash screen, but once the mods are installed, I should be playing via the Vortex dashboard flash-screen? I was originally getting error messages and game artifacts when switching playing the game between both services. I had noted much better (60 + at ultra) frame-rates via STEAM, but dropouts of some in-game menu commands, and some loss of mod features. Contrariwise, I was getting way too much frame-rate-lag playing the game via the Vortex login, though all in-game menu commands and installed mods worked.

 

Sincerely, G.

 

P.S. (Off the subject. My aunt has an unopened, in-the-box, CD-Skyrim, vanilla, no dlc's. "A collectible," she says. She loves RPG.'s, though. I haven't seen it nor investigated, but, "let's say," would she need a STEAM account to install and play it on her system?) I've been trying to get her to play.

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis

 

1. Zip the backup so that Vortex doesn't get confused by it. Use 7zip, Winzip or Winrar.

2. Having the DLCs enabled should be perfectly fine. Vortex will see those.

3. You can leave those alone.

4. I'm unsure how that should be handled as I no longer have a way of testing your problem due to my main PC being defunct.

5. Ideally, you should be launching the game via SKSEloader executable instead of launching from Steam or Vortex. Steam should be set to offline mode with cloud saving/Steam overlay also disabled. Rename the SKSE loader to Skyrim via desktop shortcut and launch the game that way. The game should run better this way.

 

I also have the Skyrim DVD and it requires you to have a Steam account. You will unfortunately still need the game to update which is going to be a significant download at this point due to all the big patches. If you remember, the game was fairly buggy at release with the corrupt save files and whatnot. It might be worth it to leave the box unopened and simply get the game on sale digitally. You never know what an unopened Skyrim game might be worth later on down the road.

[Gorgopis]

@tekmage

 

As ever, thank you. I have zipped the backup as recommended, and I seem to have reinstalled CK, with no ill effects. I haven’t tested it yet on my reinstalled vanilla LE version.

 

Of more concern, I am anxious to reinstall SKSE, SKyUI, (and others), this time to my ‘D’ partition, and to rename the SKSE loader to a desktop shortcut. So, . . . I still need Vortex in the interim, even if I don’t end up launching the game from the Vortex dashboard.

 

1) Does it matter for efficiency of my purposes which order I re-download SKSE (via Chrome?) and the 29 other mods? Later, I can use Vortex to sort the load order as that did work before.

 

If all goes well, this should be my last post and query on this thread. Please excuse the delay between posts. Slowed by HW. Sincerely, G.

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis No need to be anxious about it. I am not sure why some folks have such a hard time with SKSE. I've been using it ever since it was created and it has always worked perfectly fine long as you followed instructions and know its limitations.

 

Personally, I have always launched both FO4 and Skyrim from a desktop shortcut and use a mod manager to "manage" mods. I have launched the game via Vortex and that works just fine as well if you are more comfortable with doing it that way.

It is the same with when NMM was in prominent use. Instability always came from me experimenting and trying different load orders but from that you learn why things do what they do, and what not to do.

 

1. For me, I install the game, install mod manager, run game to create the .ini for manager to find, run mod manager to set up itself for installed game, go download SKSE using your preferred mod manager, test game using SKSE shortcut, install mods using mod manager, use LOOT as needed or with Vortex; the integrated LOOT to sort, run game via SKSE shortcut to make sure game still launches like it should, backup game, Play, rinse/repeat.

 

At least you have HW to slow you down. I have a Chromebook and my main PC is dead. There is no reason for you to apologize. We all have RL to contend with and that is okay.

[Gorgopis]

@htr and @tekmage,

 

Now that I have a clean Skyrim reinstall on my D partition, playable through STEAM login/online/offline, so far, I returned to Vortex to see what it saw. It showed the three dlcs as mods.

 

I clicked on "Scan for missing games" to see if Vortex would find my clean Skryim reinstall on D. But here's where things got strange.

 

After I scanned for missing games, tools' targets (FNIS, Wryebash, TESV., SKSE, etc.,) on the Vortex dashboard panel all still strangely pointed to now-defunct targets on my C drive, even though I have no remaining Skyrim files or tools on 'C' anymore.

 

Only the Skryim flash-screen on the Vortex dashboard panel correctly found the D partition and associated files, as confirmed in the target sub-window.

 

But here's where my confusion renews.

 

1) When I click the three dots to edit the targets on the Skryim flash-screen in the sub-window, to launch skryim-play exe target, the top target pathway ends at TES5edit on the (correct) D partition, but I have no folder icon to click to allow me to set a different target, or to even delete the TES5edit target, so the top target is, at this stage, un-editable. In other words, Vortex now correctly 'sees' my folders all on the D partition, but it won't let me edit the targets to find the skryim exe and launch the game. The lower target correctly leads to my Skyrim folder in D, but that's it: the path ends there and it also has no folder icon, and so is un-editable. Do I need to uninstall and reinstall Vortext to clean this up?

 

2) Or where have I strayed? I have admin rights on this PC, but is that relevant? Or should my admin rights be more specified in some way? Thx., G.

[Gorgopis]

@htr and @tekmage

 

Thank you for allowing me to figure this out. I found Divine Dibella’s YouTube tutorial about Vortex Mod Manager displaying invalid paths, a tutorial which showed me how to leverage Vortex’s tools, and to trust those tools to some extent.

 

I am still a bit concerned that one of Vortex’s paths points to TESVedit, but it points to the correct partition now, and I can safely say I was able to launch Skyrim from the Dashboard, after reconfiguring mod/ download folders’ pathways to the D partition. I haven’t had time to check yet, but I think that launch gave Vortex a new Skyrim ini file. I have yet to reinstall SKSE and my preferred mods, and then to first? set SKSE as target on the Vortex dashboard?, and then to rename the SKSE Loader, and then move that renamed exe file to a desktop shortcut.

 

I opted to report my progress here for two reasons. I am three months new to Vortex, and so maybe those of us coming in at this later stage might encounter similar issues regarding inexperience with Vortex. Bringing some closure to this thread may assist such users.

 

Also, those experts still seeing this thread may anticipate hiccups that I cannot. G.

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis Sorry, I misspoke a bit about SKSE. Download it from https://skse.silverlock.org/ - not with mod manager. Follow website's instructions on what directory (should be just the base Skyrim folder, not the data directory.) it needs to be at. I was tired when responding. You also shouldn't have to manually point Vortex towards SKSE as it will automatically see it once it is in the Skyrim directory.

 

Once SKSE is installed, goto your Skyrim folder, make a shortcut of SKSE Loader, move it to your desktop and then rename it's Skyrim. Launch Skyrim with that newly created shortcut. Is that clear enough?

[Gorgopis]

Yes, thank you @tekmage, Clear. And done. I do get caught up whenever there's ambiguity (which I likely create).

 

I also followed Gopher's tut along with your reply. Further, I checked the SKSE version via console in the in-game load-screen: 1.7.3.

 

But, one unexpected hiccup arose: when I first launched Skyrim from the renamed SKSE loader on desktop, the Steam login window appeared and asked for my login and password.

 

Is that normal? I recall disabling overlay and cloud saving on Steam. But maybe Steam requires me to log in online or log in offline every time I play?

 

G.

 

BTW, off-forum topic, I am taking an AI class at Uni, (Natural Language Programming), and my prof "suggested" that some of Google's services reveal "hostile" code. The class didn't have time to query the prof's sources. According to him, Google has created individual psych profiles of all billions of Google services users, despite users' privacy settings, and may even apply punitive code for those who prefer other services outside Google. Some of this G--gle hostility is revealed in intolerable download times, for example, when downloading via Chrome. He suggested that Google's corporate vision is to eventually have each user become a "tool" and extension of Google's developing AI, rather than the other way around. He even adds, "Eventually, dark-web-hackers and various AI will both hack security and encryption on the Cloud." Interesting, even if this prof's an outlier. I only mention these, because you mentioned your new Chromebook. And I was empathetic to your PC demise, having lost an old hand-me-down myself.

[tekmage]

@Gorgopis Yep, that's normal. Ideally, you already have Steam in offline mode before you fire up your game. Once you do, the game will launch like it is suppose to.

 

I think your professor is being a bit overzealous. Google does collect data on everyone but "hostile"? I have my doubts on that.

 

Anyhow, my Chromebook is one of the original Acer ones so Google no longer provides updates for it but the Chrome version is 76 so it is fine for now with some extensions I use for extra security. I use mostly the Linux portion for everything so it really isn't an issue for browsing, Xedit stuff and media consumption. I just can't make mods right now using CK, and Unity which severely limits my ability to continue learning and improving.

 

I'm taking an extended break from anything mod related to Bethesda stuff and working on my my blog, well as some minor things for Fire Emblem.