I'm confused on what version of Skyrim I have

[RobotParty]

I have the Special Edition and never bought the Anniversary Edition upgrade but I have the content in the DLC itself? I wanted to mod Skyrim at some point but I keep being reminded that I need to get a new version for most if not all mods, but I have no idea what to get? I think the most recent version is Legendary Edition which includes the Anniversary Edition content?

Unrelated but I got a tweak mod for fixing the cursor-not-locked-in-window problem and the FPS limit is by default at 240(not sure if I'm hitting that, can't check lol). I usually say that you can't see the difference in most games but wow the difference is night and day with Skyrim. Vanilla Skyrim is SO SLUGGISH.

EDIT: Also just to be clear, I'm not new to modding. I just forget everything after a few years lol.

[AllergicToBrainRot]

No, legendary edition is the older version of the game (32bit), which is hidden on steam. Special edition is the better version(64bit), Anniversary Edition upgrade is just paid mods (creation club content) for special edition.

[steventirey]

Originally posted by RobotParty:

I have the Special Edition and never bought the Anniversary Edition upgrade but I have the content in the DLC itself?

What content? Everyone who has the Special Edition (which is the current base game with all the DLC included) has the Survival Mode, Rare Curios, Fishing, and Saints & Seducers CC content for free. It was added to the base game for everyone.

You may have parts of the Anniversary Upgrade content (all the Anniversary content is listed here[en.uesp.net]), if you had purchased them individually with Creation Club credits.

[Luminary]

I am similar in that I have special addition that has been upgraded with some of the stuff in the anniversary addition, but I never bough the AE edition.

When it comes to modding you will get so many opinions... here is one. If you get mods that don't mess with game mechanics (like a new body shape/skeleton) or game physics (like running a different way or moving a different way) then the version won't usually impact the game and it won't matter what version you have. Like you can have a bunch of new armors, hair styles, spells, dungeons and player homes that are just fine.

Using mods...

Many people use mod managers like vortex, I don't because I don't, I just download a mod and drop it into the right folder.

(C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data)

Just drop the main .ESP and .BSA files into the data folder and spread the other files into the subfolders.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data\meshes
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Data\textures

Note if you look in that folder now you will see other mods already there like "ccBGSSSE001-Fish.esm" this is one of the added content entries for the creation club, in the version upgrade from bethesda.

Activating a mod:

Once you place a mod into the folder, you have to turn it on, so you launch the game and go into the creations area, and from there go to "load order" where you should see an unselected / grayed out file / mention of your newly added mod, you simply have to click on it to activate it. Once you do that you will see a message that you need to relaunch/reload the main game menu. Best practice, if you do add new mods, add them one at a time and test. So load, activate, play for a couple minutes, save game. then repeat. Mods can cause game issues, and interact with other mods, so turning them on one at a time helps to minimize that.

Where to get mods:

You could just pay for some out of the new in game mod menu, in which case it's literally point and click, then the mod just works. or you can get more from nexusmods.com.

example, this mod allows you to start the game in a different way, which can really spice up and alter the game play, making a semi new experience.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/272


it's totally worth it and many mods can be active. I one had 500, I now have like 200

[Fear2288]

Okay, let’s make this as simple as possible…

In regards to mods, this is what they mean:

Anniversary Edition > any copy of Skyrim Special Edition that is game version 1.6+.

Unless you have rolled back your game, or blocked game updates since November 2021 - this is what you have.

The current game version is 1.6.1170.

You do NOT need to own the Anniversary Upgrade DLC (all Creation Club content from 2017 - 2021).

Special Edition > this is Skyrim Special Edition, but locked at game version 1.5.97 - the game as it was BEFORE the November 2021 update. The only way you would have this is if you have knowingly rolled back your game to this version, or have blocked any/all game updates/patches since November 2021.

Legendary Edition > this is the original 32-bit 2011 release of the game. It is no longer available to purchase normally, but can be purchased if provided with a direct link to the store page, and if you owned it before the 2016 64-bit re-release, it should still be accessible in your Steam library.


The reason why some mods are divided into AE and SE versions is because there are still a population of players who refuse to update their games to 1.6+.

They refuse to either because they feel that strongly about the “forced” inclusion of the four pieces of CC content that came with 1.6 (Fishing, Saints and Seducers, Rare Curios, and Survival Mode), they feel like they spent a tremendous amount of time perfecting their modlist for 1.5.97 and don’t want to potentially undo all that by updating, they use specific mods which were never updated for 1.6+ and they CANNOT live without them, or they hold to the completely baseless belief that “1.5.97 runs better and is more stable”.

These people continue to exist and continue to demand that mod makers cater to them and release versions of their mods which function for 1.6+ AND 1.5.97.

Enough mod makers chose (and continue to choose) to acquiesce to these demands…thus leading to the informal use of “AE” to mean game version 1.6+ and “SE” to mean game version 1.5.97.

Thus the confusion was born and continues to plague those new to modding Skyrim.

[RobotParty]

Originally posted by I-sell-diet-water:

No, legendary edition is the older version of the game (32bit), which is hidden on steam. Special edition is the better version(64bit), Anniversary Edition upgrade is just paid mods (creation club content) for special edition.

Ohhh right. Yeah, I think I also got the Legendary Edition for free. With the Special Edition, I seem to have gotten the stuff in the Anniversary Edition upgrade for free too?(The fishing, the saints and seducers, etc.)

Originally posted by Fear2288:

Okay, let’s make this as simple as possible…

In regards to mods, this is what they mean:

Anniversary Edition > any copy of Skyrim Special Edition that is game version 1.6+.

Unless you have rolled back your game, or blocked game updates since November 2021 - this is what you have.

The current game version is 1.6.1170.

You do NOT need to own the Anniversary Upgrade DLC (all Creation Club content from 2017 - 2021).

Special Edition > this is Skyrim Special Edition, but locked at game version 1.5.97 - the game as it was BEFORE the November 2021 update. The only way you would have this is if you have knowingly rolled back your game to this version, or have blocked any/all game updates/patches since November 2021.

Legendary Edition > this is the original 32-bit 2011 release of the game. It is no longer available to purchase normally, but can be purchased if provided with a direct link to the store page, and if you owned it before the 2016 64-bit re-release, it should still be accessible in your Steam library.


The reason why some mods are divided into AE and SE versions is because there are still a population of players who refuse to update their games to 1.6+.

They refuse to either because they feel that strongly about the “forced” inclusion of the four pieces of CC content that came with 1.6 (Fishing, Saints and Seducers, Rare Curios, and Survival Mode), they feel like they spent a tremendous amount of time perfecting their modlist for 1.5.97 and don’t want to potentially undo all that by updating, they use specific mods which were never updated for 1.6+ and they CANNOT live without them, or they hold to the completely baseless belief that “1.5.97 runs better and is more stable”.

These people continue to exist and continue to demand that mod makers cater to them and release versions of their mods which function for 1.6+ AND 1.5.97.

Enough mod makers chose (and continue to choose) to acquiesce to these demands…thus leading to the informal use of “AE” to mean game version 1.6+ and “SE” to mean game version 1.5.97.

Thus the confusion was born and continues to plague those new to modding Skyrim.

Right, I understand most of that. The pre-1.6(more or less, I forget the exact numbers, I watched a video that said 1.650 or something is fine but the latest update broke a bunch of mods) update seems to be the divider here. In fact, my entire understanding was that it broke a bunch of mods(obviously mods that don't update to work with content that is in the base game is the issue here, but I imagine that any regularly updated mod would be updated to be compatible) and that it was more difficult than before to get everything working unless you were some kind of modding savant. If that's not true, then I'm even more confused because I can only assume modders themselves have gone on strike and for some reason just refuse to update their game(as if it's any different than updating from any other version)? I know the same sort of thing happened when CC was started.

The last time I modded Skyrim was a few years ago and I remember the process already being taxing enough, now I'm going to have to add another step of sorting through which mods are explicitly pre-patch and post-patch? Not a big step by any means but just annoying.

Anyways, I may roll back but depends? Nothing seems to have changed other than new content and the new content isn't *terrible*. It's not great but it's decent. I haven't had any problems that I didn't have before the patch and honestly it does seem to run a little better anyways. As long as I can still get all the mods I want to use then that's all that matters to me!

EDIT: Also just to be clear, I'm not new to modding. I just forget everything after a few years lol.

[RobotParty]

Originally posted by steventirey:

Originally posted by RobotParty:

I have the Special Edition and never bought the Anniversary Edition upgrade but I have the content in the DLC itself?

What content? Everyone who has the Special Edition (which is the current base game with all the DLC included) has the Survival Mode, Rare Curios, Fishing, and Saints & Seducers CC content for free. It was added to the base game for everyone.

You may have parts of the Anniversary Upgrade content (all the Anniversary content is listed here[en.uesp.net]), if you had purchased them individually with Creation Club credits.

Oh, nevermind. The four base contents of the update are listed on the Anniversary store page and I thought those were the Anniversary update content, so I thought I got the anniversary content for free for some reason. So basically there is *a lot* of content that I don't have lol.

I found this quote that explains it:

Originally posted by uesp wiki:

All 74 Creations are included in the Anniversary Edition. Special Edition and Switch users also receive free access to four Creations: Fishing, Rare Curios, Survival Mode, and Saints & Seducers. Several other discounted Creations were offered for free either on a permanent or temporary basis. On Switch, the Anniversary Upgrade with all the Creations is available, but not the Creation Club itself.

So, I believe I have the latest update Special Edition. My confusion is lifted.

[Altbert]

It would be a very good idea if everybody stopped referring to SE or AE instead of the actual version number of the game. Skyrim versions 1.5.x or 1.6.x are still Special Edition and AE only refers to the additional Creation Club content, either from the update (4 free CC mods) or the upgrade (paid CC mods). It sometimes makes a big difference if your game is version 1.5.97, 1.6.640, 1.6.1130, 1.6.1170 or equivalent GOG versions, in particular if you are using SKSE DLL plugins.

Quit referring to version 1.5.x as SE and 1.6.x as AE! Both version are Special Edition. The additional CC content is just a DLC! Always check if a new mod supports your actual game version, and if some mod require updates, such as SKSE and Address Library.

[RobotParty]

Originally posted by Altbert:

It would be a very good idea if everybody stopped referring to SE or AE instead of the actual version number of the game. Skyrim versions 1.5.x or 1.6.x are still Special Edition and AE only refers to the additional Creation Club content, either from the update (4 free CC mods) or the upgrade (paid CC mods). It sometimes makes a big difference if your game is version 1.5.97, 1.6.640, 1.6.1130, 1.6.1170 or equivalent GOG versions, in particular if you are using SKSE DLL plugins.

Quit referring to version 1.5.x as SE and 1.6.x as AE! Both version are Special Edition. The additional CC content is just a DLC! Always check if a new mod supports your actual game version, and if some mod require updates, such as SKSE and Address Library.

Yeah it is very confusing because there seems to be 3(to my count) versions that get mentioned of what everyone should use. The current version, the version 1 prior before "everything broke" and 1.5.97 which I believe is before the 4 free content DLCs.

[Altbert]

You can read all about the various versions/patches here:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Special_Edition_Patch

[Eternie]

To check your game version and or your SKSE version
There's a simple video by Vlad showing you how to check for yourself
https://youtu.be/0giXy3wHx9g?si=FYMhGT3fRCj0TBGK

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by RobotParty:

Originally posted by Altbert:

It would be a very good idea if everybody stopped referring to SE or AE instead of the actual version number of the game. Skyrim versions 1.5.x or 1.6.x are still Special Edition and AE only refers to the additional Creation Club content, either from the update (4 free CC mods) or the upgrade (paid CC mods). It sometimes makes a big difference if your game is version 1.5.97, 1.6.640, 1.6.1130, 1.6.1170 or equivalent GOG versions, in particular if you are using SKSE DLL plugins.

Quit referring to version 1.5.x as SE and 1.6.x as AE! Both version are Special Edition. The additional CC content is just a DLC! Always check if a new mod supports your actual game version, and if some mod require updates, such as SKSE and Address Library.

Yeah it is very confusing because there seems to be 3(to my count) versions that get mentioned of what everyone should use. The current version, the version 1 prior before "everything broke" and 1.5.97 which I believe is before the 4 free content DLCs.

For the love of Talos - NOTHING IS BROKEN.

People ♥♥♥♥♥ and cry when a new update comes out because SKSE and SKSE-dependent mods need to be updated to function with the new game version.

These types can’t emotionally handle having to wait a day, a week, or a month at most (sometimes longer, but this is rare) to play Skyrim with all their mods again. So they take to the internet to spam “FUKS YOUS BugThesders!!!” and try and review bomb.

The last game update was in January 2024 - over nine months ago.

Any recent threads here that have popped up with someone ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ is because they haven’t touched the game in at least 10 months and thought they could just hop right back in using the same mods, and now they’re all bent outta shape because they realize they have to update them all.

Anything that needed an update, that was going to get an update, has gotten one.

There is nothing wrong with or broken about 1.6.1170.