Please Help. Does Vortex still work for the Special Edition?

[theangrybaboon]

I am really sorry if this sounds whiny as ♥♥♥♥, but I'm genuinely at the end of my rope here.

I have been trying to mod this game through vortex. I have all the mods I wan downloaded and enabled. Everything is good on the vortex launcher side, right? Then I launch the game through the vortex script-extender launcher. Then I get to the game and no mod is there. It's just the base game. I don't get it. I thought I did everything right, Watched the vids and stuff. I tried to enable them through the creation club thing because every site i went to said "just go to the mod button on the menu, dummy!" and there's no MOD option on the menus anymore!! There's just the creation club!

Please someone help me. I would really just like to play my childhood game with some mods.

[exiledangel420]

I would suggest mo2(mod organizer 2) over vortex it works a lot better and is simpler atleast with skyrim. and gives more control over how you load your mods. And with mo2 you can create multiple instance of mod setups. meaning if you get bored with one and want to try a new one you just create a new instance and boom you start with blank slate excluding things that need to be manually installed like skse. I find vortex confusing, not to mention it's buggy. The links work the same with mo2 too on nexus with exception of the collections. but me personally I like to select my own individual mods.

[smr1957]

Vortex works perfectly fine. As to which to use, Vortex or Mod Organizor 2, that is purely a matter of personal preference - neither is "better" than the other, there are just things that some people prefer in one over the other.

As to how to use mod managers, see the Mod Managers subsection of the following for guides:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882867968
From the PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References

Good luck!

[Jared]

Originally posted by theangrybaboon:

I am really sorry if this sounds whiny as ♥♥♥♥, but I'm genuinely at the end of my rope here.

I have been trying to mod this game through vortex. I have all the mods I wan downloaded and enabled. Everything is good on the vortex launcher side, right? Then I launch the game through the vortex script-extender launcher. Then I get to the game and no mod is there. It's just the base game. I don't get it. I thought I did everything right, Watched the vids and stuff. I tried to enable them through the creation club thing because every site i went to said "just go to the mod button on the menu, dummy!" and there's no MOD option on the menus anymore!! There's just the creation club!

Please someone help me. I would really just like to play my childhood game with some mods.

Unless I read wrong, you should've installed the skyrim anniversary edition script extender, and then enter the game using that which should be located in the skyrim root folder.

[Hypertext Eye]

Originally posted by theangrybaboon:

I tried to enable them through the creation club thing

No. Wrong. Bad. If you are using a mod manager you don't touch the "creation club thing" ever. Some mods will break just by trying to open that thing.

[Fear2288]

I’m getting the impression that

A) you haven’t played this game in awhile.

And

B) you’re not very experienced when it comes to modding.

If those things are true, it kinda sounds like your issue is rooted in the SE vs AE confusion.

When figuring out which versions of mods to download/install, and which version of SKSE to use, be aware of the following:

AE = the latest version of the game (currently 1.6.1170 on Steam)

SE = game version 1.5.97 (November 2021)

You do NOT need to own the “Anniversary Edition Upgrade DLC” for your game to be considered AE.

You have “AE” unless you’ve knowingly downgraded, or blocked/prevented updates to the game and have it locked at version 1.5.97.

Verify that you have the correct version of SKSE and that any/all mods you’re using are compatible with 1.6.1170.

[smr1957]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

AE = the latest version of the game (currently 1.6.1170 on Steam)

SE = game version 1.5.97 (November 2021)

ALL version of the game are SSE. AE is just the DLC containing 70 Creation Club mods, and the marketing name for the bundle of that DLC and the base game.

BUT, yes, the important thing is not the name, but the version number, and the current version of Skyrim Special Edition is 1.6.1170.

[Hypertext Eye]

Originally posted by smr1957:

ALL version of the game are SSE.

Try telling that to mod authors

[UsernameTaken666]

The only thing that matters is game version number. All other bs is just noise. I use Vortex and have for years with no issues, but ymmv will vary ofc.

[Fear2288]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Originally posted by Fear2288:

AE = the latest version of the game (currently 1.6.1170 on Steam)

SE = game version 1.5.97 (November 2021)

ALL version of the game are SSE. AE is just the DLC containing 70 Creation Club mods, and the marketing name for the bundle of that DLC and the base game.

BUT, yes, the important thing is not the name, but the version number, and the current version of Skyrim Special Edition is 1.6.1170.

We’ve gone over this countless times now…

In relation to MODS, AE and SE are two different things and for people who are new to modding Skyrim, they need to understand which is which.

Stating things like “there is no AE” or “it’s all SE” isn’t helpful in these cases and just confuses people more. You’re not wrong, of course. There is no AE that is an entirely separate program from SE like how SE and LE are.

BUT thanks to mod users who still don’t want to update their game beyond 1.5.97 we have mods being released that come in two versions: one that’s functional with 1.5.97 and one that’s functional with the latest update (1.6.1170 as of now), and it became the trend to refer to these as SE and AE, respectively.

As long as the OP hasn’t done something like rollback their game to 1.5.97 or kept it locked there, they’re using 1.6.1170…which means that when a mod they want offers an SE or an AE version - they need to select the AE version.

[Hypertext Eye]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

As long as the OP hasn’t done something like rollback their game to 1.5.97 or kept it locked there, they’re using 1.6.1170…which means that when a mod they want offers an SE or an AE version - they need to select the AE version.

This is what causes the real confusion. You have to select the "AE" version even if you have not bought the upgrade. People don't know that, they download the SE version because they only bought SE and not AE, then it either doesn't work or breaks their game.

[Sep]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

and it became the trend to refer to these as SE and AE, respectively.

That is exactly why it is detrimental to new player and make modding an rather tedious work for them.

That is why it is the best to just refer SE and AE as...

SE = No creation club content
AE = All creation club content

And that is why it is important to just tell new player to refer to version number.

[Neal_57]

Yeah. But No.
Nexus copied Todd with Vortex, saying "It Just Works"
"No. It Doesn't. It's an overly-complicated PoS!"

Use MO2.
It takes a little more setting up, some of which is not immediately obvious, but once you've got it in your head, it's genius and all on one GUI, too, no multiple tabs or pages.
It allows you to link to all the exe's you need - Caliente, Bodyslide, SSEEdit, LOOT, FNIS etc and run 'em from the same GUI your Mods & Plugins are in..
It links to Nexus directly, works best if you're a paying member there, cos then it's a direct D/L an' all you gotta do is double-click to Install the D/L. It's even got a version of LOOT built-in for Plug-In sorting.

I will NEVER go back to Vortex.