Mods not working - no idea what to do at this point

[Gale]

Been modding Skyrim for years (20-30 mods tops at a time, often less than 20), but this AE update has completely dunked on me and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to fix things and get them to run consistently. It seems like some mods run... but not all? I'm using Vortex and Nexus Mods.

Issue: SKSE is confirmed running, but my mods do not work. I thought to check the Creation Club and it sees the mods but it toggles them off on every single game launch. Manually turning them on causes the game to freeze on the load screen when I select New Game, forcing me to eventually close out of the game. Even if this is a separate issue, the mods not loading automatically is the primary issue I need to resolve.

Attempt to fix 1:
I completely uninstalled all mods, uninstalled Skyrim SE AE, deleted all related mod and installation folders and save files. I removed Skyrim from Vortex completely and re-added it. Re-downloaded mods and configured them. Issue persists.

Attempt to fix 2:
I read a post that said Vortex is purging SKSE data when installed automatically through Vortex, so I uninstalled SKSE and then manually installed it. Issue persists.

... the only thing I can think of now is that maybe the mods got purged by Vortex for some reason and need to be added back in. I'll see if I can figure that out and fix that if I find anything...

This has been a real nightmare, it never used to be this bad. Does anyone know what's been going on since that Jan update last year? I gave up playing anything but vanilla since then because of all of this. Any insight and help is greatly appreciated.

Please, help a struggling Dragonborn out lol

[SparkzMentalz]

Make sure you're using the right version of SKSE to match your version of Skyrim. Also verify the integrity of your Skyrim files. Make sure your mods are updated to match the latest SKSE.

Right click Skyrim on your Steam app > Properties > Installed Files > Verify Integrity of game files

https://skse.silverlock.org/

[Gale]

Good advice, I appreciate it.

Yeah, I've got SKSE version 2.2.6 for SE AE and confirmed it works via getskseversion command. Mods are all updated (brand new today). Will verify file integrity but I just did a fresh download, I'm very confident that that isn't an issue.

I've literally sunk over 10 hours into troubleshooting this and I'm not making any progress. Never used to be such a headache.

[Death Approaches]

the one thing you didn't describe in your purge is whacking Skyrim completely, wiping the directory off the drive, so there could easily be mod leftovers, configs from older version, etc. still in there. Steam cannot help with this, it can only do files it knows about, and it doesn't know bout mods nor CC content... something to consider. The only sure way is to zap the whole tree from existence, wipe your plugins.txt and .ini files from their respective locations.

well if you CC mods are directly installed in Data\ and your SKSE now manually installed, skip your mod manager for the moment, and just open up the Skyrim Special Edition folder and directly launch skse_loader.exe (shouldn't enen be necessary but what the hell why not)

see if it fires up. if so, try to load a save, any save, it'll whine about the mods it can't find, hopefully... don't actually load it, just see that you get the warning message...

then start a new game, and see if you get the cart ride to your execution intro, if so, great, exit and let's fix the rest, but if not...

navigate to %APPDATA%\Local\Skyrim Special Edition\ and rename Plugins.txt, anything but just so it's not that, maybe this_Plugin.txt_is_old_and_broke.txt or something you'll know next year... then head over to %USER%\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\ and do the same for all .ini files, should only be 2 or 3, or make a subdir "these ini are messing me up" and move them into it.

fire up the game again, and see if you can get a new game to actually start progressing, play as it should; if your fellow prisoners are talking and the cart ride is progressing, just open console and 'coc riverwood' to bypass the tutorial and see how things are, run around Riverwood, talk to people, ask the tavern owner about what people are gossiping about, etc. if it all seems good, great, go back to figuring out your mods.

if not, go back to the top, and to that clean wiping-and-reinstall vanilla, and start again.

it's not difficult, but it sure is a pain in the... let's say left testicle. it's a pain in the left testicle, alright!

[Gale]

Still no luck.

Using getSKSEversion returns the correct (latest) version through the console menu.
From that point on though it seems like no mods work.
The mods are in the data folder where they belong.
Creation Club sees the mods and will let me enable them... but doing so causes the game to freeze on clicking 'New Game' and never loads.
If I don't manually enable them in Creation Club then they don't load and I'm playing vanilla it seems.

[Gale]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

the one thing you didn't describe in your purge is whacking Skyrim completely, wiping the directory off the drive, so there could easily be mod leftovers, configs from older version, etc. still in there. Steam cannot help with this, it can only do files it knows about, and it doesn't know bout mods nor CC content... something to consider. The only sure way is to zap the whole tree from existence, wipe your plugins.txt and .ini files from their respective locations.

well if you CC mods are directly installed in Data\ and your SKSE now manually installed, skip your mod manager for the moment, and just open up the Skyrim Special Edition folder and directly launch skse_loader.exe (shouldn't enen be necessary but what the hell why not)

see if it fires up. if so, try to load a save, any save, it'll whine about the mods it can't find, hopefully... don't actually load it, just see that you get the warning message...

then start a new game, and see if you get the cart ride to your execution intro, if so, great, exit and let's fix the rest, but if not...

I did mention cleaning Skyrim out completely from the PC, though maybe I didn't word it well enough, apologies!

Earlier testing allowed me to load a save file with some complaints and... amusing issues. Obviously I wanted to resolve those and to do so I needed to start a New Game... and I've been stuck here ever since ._.

I have no save files left now as they've all been purged.

I'll read the rest of your post following this response (thank you!)

[smr1957]

You say you cleaned it out completely, but did you do all locations - such as in the Documents folder? Still, it might be worthwhile to do it again, this time following this guide exactly and to the letter:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2743619856

And DO NOT clean or edit the Master files or any Creation Club content.

Link is from the following section of the PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882871440

Good luck!

[Gale]

renamed the plugin.txt file like you suggested
next step is having a bit of issue...
c: / users / myname / MyGames doesn't exist, maybe because I use a separate internal SSD for the game? I'll try to locate the .ini files because I'm pretty sure I've ran across them elsewhere and deleted them 10 times

Thanks again for the help

Update: nvm, I can't find the .ini files anywhere
Guess I'll try the complete purge... again... gonna take literal days to play modded skyrim... just wish I could figure out what the actual problem is...

[Death Approaches]

My Documents became Documents in the time since the game was released, is all, if you're not running compatibility mode for like Win8 it doesn't help you, so instead look under c:\users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition...

[Gale]

Ah, under documents, that makes sense, I'll check when I get back and deal with those .ini files (about to throw my house out the... window...)

Started a new game, was chilling in the wagon like usual (can always reach this point unless I enable mods via Creation Club, then it freezes instead of loading cart scene during New Game). Using 'coc riverwood' as you instructed drops me on the path the cart was following and leaves me unable to move or do anything at all.

Well that's not entirely true, I can look up and down while the NPCs continue to talk about the ride... even though they're standing instead of riding now XD this is a hot mess... and I'm pretty sure the carts left me here to die

[Gale]

Thanks for the help so far everyone, I'll be back later with more patience haha

[Nabinkemper]

When starting a modded build after a fresh install, it's best to run the game without mods, create a test character, and go through the entry sequence until you exit the cave. Once you're back outside, you can save and exit. Make a backup of this save and start modding as usual making manual saves along the way for testing.

The reason is that the intro sequence through Helgen is a tutorial that is highly scripted and prone to issues when using mods.

[Death Approaches]

dude take a break whenever you want, this isn't a grouptext and we're wondering if you killed the shopkeep at the gas station because he gave you wrong change or anything, but don't let this crap wind you up... it's all solvable, and we've all done it before. :-)

Nab we're just trying to get him running with mods at this point w/o freezes, while that's sound advice once you know you're stable, you're jumpin the shark... but something for Gale to stick in his Skyrim knowledge brain folder, for later. it definitely saves time later!

it's not that it's highly scripted, it's that so many things won't trigger and initialize til you're out of the cave and "starting" Skyrim proper outside this little self-contained mini-Skyrim... the best save point is still inside the cave, just before exiting, save THAT as your master "I'm still workin on mod additions" point, even make your character name MASTER_START or something, so it's easy to spot.

[Hypertext Eye]

Originally posted by Gale:

I thought to check the Creation Club and it sees the mods but it toggles them off on every single game launch.

Best not to use the creations menu as it causes problems. Only reason to use it is if you're actually buying and using mods from the creations store. Otherwise let your mod manager handle it.

[Gale]

Originally posted by Hypertext Eye:

Originally posted by Gale:

I thought to check the Creation Club and it sees the mods but it toggles them off on every single game launch.

Best not to use the creations menu as it causes problems. Only reason to use it is if you're actually buying and using mods from the creations store. Otherwise let your mod manager handle it.

Yeah I only use CC for purchases, and I haven't done that in awhile.

As for the cave save, one of the mods I'm trying to use is Alternative Start, allowing you to skip that and choose different paths. It worked fine until i tried to fix everything else lol

I wouldn't use Vortex at all but some of these mods have installers or whatever that trigger when you add them through Vortex and require you to pick different options... I don't think they can even work without a mod manager of some sort based off some of their descriptions.

And yeah, sorry, I'm really frustrated. The amount of time I've spent on this is silly and I don't feel I've made any progress worth sharing. I can't tell if it's an issue with the game, Vortex, the handful of mods I'm using, etc

I'll check out the .ini files mentioned earlier and see if that resolves it. If no, I'll go through those videos and gut the files again per their specifications. I'm pretty confident I've done a good job with that but who knows, maybe some tiny thing snuck passed me at some point and is holding up the entire process.

Thanks again for all the help, Google just isn't a replacement for real help like this, much appreciated!

[DragonMaster]

How about Do you by chance have SSE engine fixes installed mod is located here

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/17230

This one has two parts and both need to be installed.

also Address Library https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/32444