Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP)

Basic information about what the Unofficial Patch (USSEP) fixes and why. If you want to know the reason behind some of the fixes, here's the place to look.

Introductory Comments

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP) - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/266
and
https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/files/file/1888-unofficial-skyrim-special-edition-patch/

NOTE REGARDING AFK MOD SITE:
As regards Arthmoor's AFK site, the proper address is https://www.afkmods.com . Any link which has the old address ( https://afkmods.iguanadons.net/ ), just replace afkmods.iguanadons.net with www.afkmods.com so that it reads https://www.afkmods.com and that will take you to the proper page (afkmods.iguanadons .net has been closed, and everything is now at www.afkmods.com , so any links to the iguanadons site will not work)


The Unofficial Patch is a necessity when it comes to running a bug free game. It fixes literally THOUSANDS of bugs. Regardless of what you may lose by having the Patch, you gain thousands of times more by having it. Plus, if you do not have the Patch installed, we really cannot help you, as so many fixes rely upon it.

It is important to note, however, that the Patch does not fix all bugs retroactively (due to the fact that the bugs may have already been baked into the save file) - thus, it is important to install at the beginning of a new game.

If you do run into issues, the first thing we will ask is if you have the Patch - because it is invaluable when it comes to a stable game. If you take the risk of not having the Patch upon yourself, and if you run into bugs, or save bloat, or broken quests after deciding you didn't need the Unofficial Patch, then, as previously stated, there will be little we can do to help.

The necessity for the patch cannot be emphasized strongly enough.


USSEP - A RECAP OF 2022 AS WE START 2023
As many of you are aware, 2022 brought several significant updates to Skyrim SE - much more significant than in the past. Fortunately, the community stepped up in dealing with the issues that resulted, and existing mods have been updated - those which have not (and they are literally just a handful) have had a year to do so, and if by now they have not been, then they may never be, and should be consigned to the dustbin of outdated and unusable mods. As to the Patch itself, the Unofficial Patch Team addressed the changes made, the most significant being the addition of 4 new items of content to the base game.

What that meant, was that USSEP had 4 additional masters attached to it. These are hard requirements, with no fallback option available - just as with the integration of the DLC into USLEEP for Skyrim LE, and the integration of the DLCs into the UFO4P. Fixes for these 4 items of content were incorporated from Garthand's Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches for Survival Mode, Saints & Seducers, Rare Curios, and the Fishing DLC. Also, additional categories were added to the AFK Track system to distinguish which part of the game a bug is being reported for when collecting additional data on these that Garthand hadn't already accounted for.

No support for the additional 70 DLCs (the AE DLC) which comprise the Anniversary Edition Upgrade and which is a separate package on Steam, is provided, but is continued to be handled by Garthand in his Unofficial Skyrim Creation Club Content Patches.

As for 2023, the Unofficial Patch Team anticipates it to be quiet, with just the routine tasks. In the words of Arthmoor, the new year's plans are "pretty mundane by comparison."

Links to Further Information

LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE PATCH AND WHAT IT FIXES

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch: Version History
https://www.afkmods.com/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Special%20Edition%20Patch%20Version%20History.html

Frequently Asked Questions - BUGS
https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/4680-frequently-asked-questions-bugs/

Some Solid Examples of Non-trivial Fixes, by Arthmoor:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171714617880

And this:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Category:Skyrim-Bugs_Fixed_by_the_Unofficial_Skyrim_Patch

Proper Initial Load Order

After installing the mods, the following general load order needs to be followed:

Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
Hearthfires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
ccBGSSSE001-Fish.esm
ccQDRSSE001-SurvivalMode.esl
ccBGSSSE037-Curios.esl
ccBGSSSE025-AdvDSGS.esm
[any Creation Club master-flagged ESLs you may have]
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm (if installed)
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
[Your other ESM files]
[The rest of your mods]

As for adding the patch midplaythrough, there is this, from Arthmoor:
"As far as installing USSEP mid-game, the changelog marks anything that won't update with [NR] tags so you can look through those to see if you'll be missing anything. It's also perfectly normal for it to inform you of a variety of things on screen on the first run - those things are being fixed retroactively."
https://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/613956964579064476/?tscn=1572609881#c1640926712936186937

Explanation of Some Commonly Mentioned Issues

The following is an explanation from Arthmoor (Unofficial Patch Team Leader) for a number of frequently mentioned topics.


Restoration Loop
"...The "Resto Loop" was not one specific thing. We got a submission from a dedicated user who went through all of the various spell and magic effects and corrected their spell school assignments. All of which we vetted as legitimate bugs before including his work. As it turns out, this apparently also stopped the exploit that was present along the way. So said exploit only existed due to numerous bugs that were present in the system. It was not something he set out to fix, or something we set out to fix, and we would not have focused an effort to do so directly. It just happened that way. IMO, I see it as proof that exploits are generally not intentional and when left behind are simply because nobody on the studio's QA team ran into it, and even if they did, there wasn't time enough to invest the money into fixing it themselves.

Necromage.
It is pretty clear when one examines the effects and the comments in supporting scripts that it was not intended to benefit a player who became a vampire. I don't know why the rumor mill insists that the targeted fix we did for that specific issue has somehow become "restoration doesn't work on anything undead" because it's not true and never has been. Restoration spells designed to do things to damage or heal undead creatures all still work as designed. Maybe there's some argument to be made that player vampires should also benefit, but in the 7 years this fix has been in place (from before our team took over btw) nobody has been forthcoming with an evidence based argument for why we should remove the fix. Provide one and we'll listen - as we did with Ebony Blade. Don't just continue to spout off about it.

Translation Issues
We'd love to be able to provide fully working included string translations for all of the languages that SSE currently supports. This even happened for a brief time back in the earlier LE days. The problem is nobody on our team knows these languages and Skyrim also has the unfortunate issue that it will CTD if a localized file is missing the string files to make it work. So we can't even just provide those languages for the ones who still do this sort of work. This is a technical limitation of the engine itself which cannot be addressed, so we're stuck with using the old ways. Someone who knows the language to be translated into makes a .esp file to accompany ours (or replace it, it depends) and Nexus has links back to the ones that get uploaded there. How those are put together and supported is out of our hands. We don't involve ourselves with it. Sometimes they work fine. Other times they don't, and it's often because the translation team in charge of a particular language is trying to quietly revert fixes we've done but doing it improperly or not completely.

The Creation Club
Put simply, it's not realistic to expect everyone on our team to buy up all of this stuff so we can support it. Due to how the engine works, they will all load before the USSEP. This cannot be changed. It's a hardcoded process during initialization. You'll want to go get this: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18975 Garthand keeps it regularly updated and ONLY fixes the bugs, like the USSEP itself. Load the ones you need after USSEP and you're good to go. Any issues with CC patches need to be addressed to him and he'll take care of it when he has time.

Exploits
Our general approach to exploits is exactly the same as Bethesda's. If we find one, or if it's reported to us, we will fix it. They have demonstrated clearly that upon finding them they will be dealt with as they have time to do so. They've even done so without saying they did. The only thing I find curious is how nobody ever complains when they do it, but we follow their lead, and we're the devil for it. I don't recommend anyone use any of those mods out there that revert the fixes we've made. I've checked all the ones I know about and every single one is badly made because the person does not understand what they're doing. You're more likely to have issues using those than if you just left it alone or cheated outright by using the console to do that stuff.

Documentation of Bugs
I used to have a saved post where I rattled off something like 30 major issues the game has that USSEP fixed, sometimes years ago while Bethesda was still actively patching LE. Apparently I lost that post during my last Windows reinstallation. So I'll just say this: The changelog is all you need. It has every major category of thing that could be broken and without fail, everyone who attacks our work counts on you ignoring our documentation entirely. Yes, it's a lot, but it's documented precisely because of people like that who enjoy bringing others down with lies and half-truths. We also have a bug tracker ( https://afktrack.afkmods.com/ ) where all of the initial reports and follow-up are done before the summary is included in the changelog. So I think we've done our due diligence in documenting our work. Don't let people who cherry pick selective quotes of unknown providence fool you. Our work is solid. This game really does have this many bugs.

Also I note that a lot of comments are referring to our old domain at afkmods.iguanadons.net. That domain has been shuttered and everything is now at www.afkmods.com instead. I know it's a lot to ask, but it would be helpful for search engine purposes if all of the links in various comments and other relevant posts are pointing to the right place.

A Final Note
On a final note: If you don't like the patch. Fine. Adopt the Nexus way - move on. You need not tell the world why you hate it and our team so much. Oh, and to whoever brought up the D&D thing (was that even here?) most of our team members have extensive RPG experience. We've played numerous other RPGs, we've played MUDs, some of us ran one of our own for over a decade, and nearly all of us have played D&D at some point in our lives whether it be the old gold box C-64 games, or God forbid, with actual pen and paper."
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171707760710



For ease in responding to questions in the forum as to these points, I have broken Arthmoor's post down into separate posts in this thread that may be linked as necessary. They are as follows:

Regarding the Restoration Loop - https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171709001384

Regarding Necromage - https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171709001631

Regarding Translation - https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171709006650

Regarding The Creation Club - https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171709008186

Regarding Exploits - https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/1741090847739345133/?ctp=20#c1627412171709009381

Using the Patch as Opposed to Using Console Commands

This is contributed by Ilja - author of the PINNED TOPIC Skyrim SE: Guides and Resources

"Is someone actually still recommending console commands as general bug fixes, despite the threat of bypassing quest triggers and messing up with alias checks?

We had this conversation ... years ago. Skyrim SE didn't stop being a Creation Engine game in between.

Don't mess with console, unless UESPWiki lists command as potential solution, which marks it safe(ish) to use in that situation.

I recommend using the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch. Console commands can not prevent fun things like:

In-game(!) save bloat from uncleared faction quests. Yes, you can potentially wreck the save just playing unmodded game. Rare, but plausible.

Messed up aliases. 95% of reasons why some NPC is messing around. About 100% of second wave posts saying "I fixed (so to speak) one thing with console, but now these things are broken" happen, because people tried to fix these things with console.

Broken AI calls. You can move someone there with your console, but you can't force them to continue the quest. Changing quest stage with console risks bypassing quest triggers again.

Script loops. These things are something that BGS should have dealt with themselves. How exactly is someone going to fix them with console?

DragonActorScript. I wouldn't actually need to continue this list after that note. In fact, I could have just mention this and leave it here as sole reason to use the patch.

Extra: Esbern. Even patch can't fix Esber, but it doesn't stop people from trying to bypass the problem with console. Then they return telling how messed up the Blades part of MQ is. If official patch (released long time ago and merged to both Skyrim LE and SE releases) isn't working, then redo the INI-file and stop breaking things further with console.

That is just a very, very small take of things patch fixes, or why console isn't a good idea. I tried to pick ones that most people reading the thread would understand outright from the reply."

Some Final Thoughts

For further additional info, you should read the following (though this was written for original Skyrim, the basic principles apply to SSE, as well):
New (and experienced) Players: You must install the Unofficial Skyrim Patch - by Nazenn [Updated]
https://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/2793873675753710542/

Thanks to Nazenn for his original post - and for all that he has done!

And thanks to Black Album for the inspiration and idea to post this and for his great first post - and to Buckholms who summed it up so nicelyl As well, thanks to Ilja for his (as always) informative posts and to the whole Old Farts crew for all the help they provide!

[rparham685]

Before I start whining about load order (apologies in advance), I figured I should first start by admitting that I have absolutely no idea how to set that up. ( I use Vortex btw). Is there, I dunno, a basic, I seriously mean like, bare-bones basic, guide for that anywhere?

[Arthmoor]

[quote]Also, that you guys don't fix the Serana and Vampire Lord damage bug.[/quote]
That isn't a bug. Developer comments in the associated data shows they nerfed it on purpose. So that puts changing it outside the scope of our project.

[smr1957]

Hi, tronco01! Use this mod from Nexus: SSE Engine Fixes (skse64 plugin) - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/17230
It re-enables achievements (unfortunately, using any mod disables achievements in SSE, unless you re-enable them with this or some other re-enabling mod.) Make sure you follow the installation instructions exactly and have the necessary requirements. Good luck!

[tronco01]

Hello! I tried to install this patch mid game using the SE Creations inside the game. It went nice and easy. However, I now get a warning about achievements being disabled and my saved game is copied into a profile copy with (M) next to it. Can this be avoided? It is not supposed to be a cheat but a fix.

[nebontha]

Don't use Steam to download mods and NexusMods, only use one or the other. In fact don't even use Steam to download mods, only the game and the DLC. And when you get a mod organizing program tool like Mod Organizer 2, don't download mods from the in-game Mods menu in fact don't even open that up (it's called "Creations" now).

[Cherlamain]

Thank you again smr1957, I will take your advice. I did uninstall and reinstall and almost everything is flying now. I actually got the feeling of "hey, this might be fun trying to play it this way". NOPE, it's not..

[smr1957]

You would be best starting a new thread about your issues with the game, and then posting a link to that thread in The Old Farts Coffee House and asking for someone to take a look at it for you:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/154643795211522292/

We can all ship in and help to get your game running satisfactory - just be a little patience, as many of us a playing Starfield now, so it may take a little while to get back to you - but we will.

[Cherlamain]

Thank you smr1957, I uninstalled it and am going to try reloading it. No one answered my question about the changes/updates being added to the most recent sales. I just purchased it last week, I would think it would be fixed by now, wouldn't it? I appreciate your letting me know what I should do if it is faulty, however; I have no clue how to do most of what is written here. I have been playing the old Skyrim since it first came out, off and on and one of my son's told me about the new one and how much fun it is. Of course, he is playing it on Xbox or something, not the computer. I am going to reinstall it and see if it gets better but based on what is written above, I doubt it will.

[smr1957]

If you have things flying or going crazy, you would need to cap your FPS to 60. For how to cap it, see the Options section of the following:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/489830/discussions/0/3196992771949550559/

Good luck!

[Cherlamain]

Help
The wolves are flying, literally and I just bought the Anniversary edition as well as the other one. Would these have the patches that are needed already be on/in the downloads?