Modding Skyrim: Skyrim Special Edition Update

So Skyrim Special Edition has been out for a bit now, and I've already got two mods for that ported over. I have many more that need brought over, which will take me time. I have been quite busy due to it. Testing out and updating my mods, along with testing out other mods that I would like to use in SE, as I had in the original Skyrim. Another important new thing is console modding. Mods are now able to be shared through bethesda.net on consoles, and I have no issue against it, and have already shared some of my mods through it. Though it will be much harder for console users to get a good stable game without the use of important tools such as LOOT and the _edit programs, as well as the lack of a bashed patch.

Load order is incredibly important to a stable modded game, and so is cleaning the master files to prevent dirty edits and deleted references from causing issues. Another disappointing issue is the restriction regarding PS4 mods and external assets currently. As no external assets can be shared with the mods for PS4, that leaves quite a bit of mods out, some very important such as USLEEP, and many others. If a mod requires new models, textures, animations, scripts, etc, it will not be able to be on PS4. This also means the majority of my mods cannot be shared with PS4 users as external assets make up the bulk of my many mods.

I will be discussing not just the mods I have brought over to the SE below, but my future plans, and another extremely important issue that I think needs mentioned (though it has been brought up a few times). This issue is the up-scaled textures for Skyrim SE and what this means for me, and others.


Like previously said, I have already got two mods out for Skyrim Special Edition. My first is a new mod created prior to the release of Skyrim SE, with all platforms in mind, as console modding is now a thing. Since PS4 users will not be able to use mods that require external assets I had to make do without any modder's resources for it. It is a new house mod, though more of another remake of my other older Little Cottage mod. This mod is called Simple Little Cottage, and it is available on nexus for PC, and on bethesda.net for all platforms (PC, XB1, and PS4).

My second mod is a port of my Wolf Knight Armor mod. It is on nexus for PC, and on bethesda.net, but only for PC and XB1, again due to the restriction regarding external assets for PS4. I have also been updating it again, and have been working on a new helmet for it. I have more planned for it, but we'll see as I still have many other mods to port over.

Speaking of that, I will be bringing my retexture mods currently on the nexus over to SE if I can be sure that they work on it. Specifically: Another Vampire Lord Retexture, Arvak Texture Replacer, Darker Stalhrim, Less Orange Textures, and Stalhrim Retexture. From there I would like to bring over my Vampire Armor Retextures mod and Wearable Dragon Horns and Tails, possibly more. I have also been working on another project, which is nearly done.

This other project is related to the issue of the up-scaled textures. There are far too many of those in SSE, which is not a good thing. An up-scaled texture has minimal, if any visual improvement, yet 4x the amount of vram cost. Though I have been recently given a new laptop when my original one ran into issues, it is still under spec for SSE. While there are many optimization packs released for SSE already, I do not think one has yet to address this important issue without down-scaling many of the other textures that did not need it. Another important issue with SSE's textures is that a majority of them have been improperly saved, which is another vram hog. Many of them can be optimized to free up some of that vram.

So I have done just that. I have extracted the many texture bsa's and ran most of the textures through DDSopt, and searching for any up-scales along the way. Not just comparing file sizes but also visually comparing them to the high res dlc and base textures for the original Skyrim. After down-scaling and optimizing the textures, I copied those over the extracted textures, and repackaged them into new bsa's that replace the original ones. While I still have to go through the Effects folder, I've gone through the rest. I am currently unsure what the permissions are for sharing something like this, so for now, it will need to be just for myself. I will make another blog post in the future regarding the extant of the optimizations needed and up-scaled textures.

One last thing I want to mention is that many of my smaller and older unsupported mods have been deleted off the nexus and re-uploaded to my mediafire account. Those deleted were: Brown and Grey Werewolf Recolors, Lich King Cape Edit, Little Cabin, Nordic Carved Variants, Simple Plant Color Tweak. Files moved were: Brown and Grey Werewolf Recolors, Little Cabin, Simple Plant Color Tweak. If anyone is to use any of these mods, be sure to read the readme's included with the archives. I do not want anyone sharing those or uploading those anywhere else without my explicit permission, or for the Skyrim Special Edition. So please do contact me if you have any desire to do so beforehand.

Links to my SSE mods:
Simple Little Cottage (nexus)
Simple Little Cottage (Bethesda.net PC version)
Simple Little Cottage (Bethesda.net XB1)
Simple Little Cottage (Bethesda.net PS4)
Wolf Knight Armor (nexus)
Wolf Knight Armor (Bethesda.net PC)
Wolf Knight Armor (Bethesda.net XB1)