You’re almost there!

If you've made it this far, you survived the worst of it. The remainder of the actual guide exists on this page and is pretty much as simple as following instructions. You'll be done in no time!

Reminder

If you didn't follow instructions on the previous page, run Merge Plugins Hide now!

LOOT Rules

LOOT, or Load Order Optimization Tool, is a utility designed to help users maintain a working load order for their mod list. For the plugins listed in this section, find each plugin and right-click on the plugin and select edit metadata. From here you can add the esp to the group specified, and add any Load After rules.

New to LOOT? There's a great introduction video available by GamerPoets!

Watch

Village Mods Group

Creation Club Group

Early Loaders Group

Idiot Check

Make sure you edit Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods.esp NOT Water for ENB - Patch - Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods.esp

Low Priority Overrides Group

Trivial Smelters of Skyrim Group

MLU Patches Group

CCOR Patches Group

CACO Patches Group

Snazzy Patches Group

Merge Patches Group

Lighting Enhancers Group

LUX Group

LUX Orbis Group

LUX Via Group

NPC Retextures Group

Consistency Patches Group

Conflict Resolution Group

Leveled List Modifiers Group

Load After LOOT Rules

Note

The mods in this section need to stay in the groups they are in by default. The only change necessary is the specified Load After rules.

Running LOOT

You are now ready to actually sort your load order. In the top Left of the LOOT window, there should be an icon that should display "Sort Plugins" if you mouse over it. Click this icon to begin the sorting process.

After several minutes, it should update the window with the calculated load order and an Apply Sorted Load Order button should appear in the menu at the top of LOOT. Press Apply Sorted Load Order and then close out of LOOT to continue.

This process has sorted our mods to be loaded in the order recommended by the LOOT master list, along with our necessary adjustments, but this doesn't handle the order that the plugins themselves require. To fix this, we need to do a small adjustment in SSEEdit.

  1. Open SSEEdit through Mod Organizer 2 and click OK.
  2. Select all Plugins.
  3. Right-click on any Plugin and select Sort Masters from the menu.
  4. Once processing has finished, click the X in the upper right-hand corner, uncheck Backup plugins, and click OK to exit SSEEdit.
Reminder

Make sure you applied your load order changes, not just sorted.

Nemesis

Note

This tool requires .Net Framework v3.5 to be installed in order to function properly

Here is a link to .Net Framework v3.5

Nemesis was created to allow for new skeletons (not the creatures, the 'bones' of a in-game character) and animations that the default Skyrim engine could not support. This includes new animations, gender-specific animations, poses, and so forth. This involves the use of an external patcher, "Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine.exe", which will analyze your load order and selected options to create specialized .HKX files to match your current skeleton and animation configuration.

Setup Instructions

Before we start we need to setup MO2 so it will save the Nemesis Output to a mod and not in Overwrite we do this by:

  1. In your Mod Organizer 2 install folder, locate and open the Mods folder.
  2. Create a new folder called Nemesis Output
  3. In Mod Organizer 2, press the Executables button and select Nemesis
  4. In the 'Create Files in Mod instead of Overwrite' drop down menu, select "Nemesis Output"
  5. Select "Apply"and Close the window.
  6. Make sure to activate "Nemesis Output" in the left pane otherwise MO2 wont run the executable.

Running Nemesis

Now we can Run Nemesis by:

  1. Select Nemesis in the executable selection box, and click [Run].
  2. The main Nemesis interface should appear. If it does not, review the installation section for Nemesis on the Mod Page.
  3. From the list of mods in the top panel, select the following: Archery Gameplay Overhaul, 360 Movement Behavior SE, Magelock (Null) and Ultimate Combat/ TK Dodge.
  4. Click the [Update Engine] button. Wait for the progress bar to complete.
  5. Click [Launch Nemesis Behavior Engine].
  6. Verify that Mod Organizer 2 has automatically placed the generated files into the Nemesis Output folder in Mod Organizer. .

For reference, the Nemesis Output folder should contain the following:

  • a meshes folder, containing new hkx behaviour files.
  • a Nemesis Engine folder
  • a scripts folder, containing 2 compiled scripts for version tracking.
  • a FNIS.esp for XP32 Compatibility.

Ruddy88 ESLify

Ruddy88 ESLify

   

This is a utility that will automatically detect plugins that are suitable to be flagged as ESL (allowing you to surpass the 256 plugin limit).

Main Files — R88_ESLify
Special Instructions
  • Extract the contents of the archive to SSEEdit folder

Using Ruddy88 ESLify

New to Ruddy88 ESLify? There's a great introduction video available by GamerPoets!

Watch
  1. Download the archive and extract the contents to SSEEdit Folder.
  2. In MO2, click the Gears button to edit your executable paths.
  3. Create a new executable and call it Ruddy88 ESLify
  4. Under the executable path, direct it to SSEEdit/R88_eslify.bat
  5. Close the window, ensure all plugins are active in the right pane and choose Ruddy88 Eslify in the executable bar. Click Run.
  6. At the command window type sse
  7. When prompted to Choose Modules, ensure everything is checked and click Okay.
  8. The script will then run. A window will appear with a list of plugins the script will flag as ESL.
  9. At this point Uncheck ConfigureCommentaryRate.esp
  10. Click Okay.
  11. Close xEdit.
Note

Make sure ConfigureCommentaryRate.esp was not flagged as an esl

Time for a Quick Test!

Wartortle Tutorial taking you through how to troubleshoot CTD During A Quick Test.

Watch

This test is ONLY to ensure the game does not crash. Graphical issues are to be expected and will be resolved later on!

At this point, you should be able to start Skyrim and test a few things. Just as a sanity check, you will be testing Stunning Statues of Skyrim.

    1. Deactive the following plugins:
      • A Clear Map of Skyrim.esp
      • ACMOS - Falskaar.esp
      • ACMOS - Wyrmstooth.esp
    2. Start Skyrim using the Skyrim Legacy Launcher option.
    3. From the main menu, open the console.
    4. Type coc and then the appropriate cell IDs from the list below to visit each of the shrines.
      • Azura: ShrineOfAzuraExterior01
      • Mehrunes Dagon: Mehrunes01
      • Dibella: MarkarthTempleofDibella
      • Meridia: KilkreathRuinsExterior03
      • Talos: MarkarthShrineofTalos
      • College: WinterholdCollegeExterior

If Skyrim crashes, you did something wrong.

  1. Reactive the following plugins:
    • A Clear Map of Skyrim.esp
    • ACMOS - Falskaar.esp
    • ACMOS - Wyrmstooth.esp

Main Menu CTD

If you crashed at the main menu on load, Three main possibilities exist.

  • You have a missing master Check your Load Order in MO2, looking for a red triangle next to any file in the list. If these appear, identify the missing master and activate it.
  • You have not extracted a BSA archive associated with a Skyrim:LE file that you converted earlier. Go through the Mod Page to identify these mods, and verify that you have extracted the BSA files associated with them, if they exist.
  • You have a mismatched version of SKSE and an SKSE required mod. Check all mods that have any SKSE plugins and make sure they are for the correct version of SKSE and Skyrim.

Wrye Bash

Wrye Bash is a tool that can be used to install and manage mods, but for our purposes, it can be used to merge leveled lists and entire mods together. The resulting patch is called a "Bashed Patch" and is created by following the instructions below.

Note

For those who are updating their installation - ensure that SSE-TERRAIN-TAMERIEL-EXTENDED.ESM is disabled in the LEFT PANE until it is required for xLOD generation.

Note

Do not run LOOT past this point. If you have to re-run LOOT for an update, disable all Finishing Line elements from Wrye Bash onwards before re-sorting.

Setup Instructions

Before we start we need to setup MO2 so it will save the Bash Patch to a mod and not in Overwrite we do this by:

In Mod Organizer 2, press the Exectuables button to edit your executables. In the Wrye Bash executable, add the following to the Argument line:

  • -o "Drive Letter:\steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition"
  1. In your Mod Organizer 2 install folder, locate and open the Mods folder.
  2. Create a new folder called "Bash Patch"
  3. In Mod Organizer 2, press the Executables button and select Wrye Bash
  4. In the 'Create Files in Mod instead of Overwrite' drop-down menu, select "Bash Patch"
  5. Select "Apply"and Close the window.
  6. Make sure to activate "Bash Patch" in the left pane otherwise MO2 won't run the executable.

Building The Bash Patch

Now we can run Wrye Bash by:

  1. Select Wrye Bash in the Executables drop-down menu, then select [Run]
  2. Locate Bashed Patch, 0.esp
  3. Right-click on this mod and select "Rebuild Patch". NOTE: This will always appear in this way, even if it is the first time you are building the patch.
  4. In the options list that appears, ensure that ONLY the following have checkmarks:
    • Import Actors
    • Import Actors: AI Packages
    • Import Actors: Death Items
    • Import Actors: Factions
    • Import Actors: Perks
    • Import Actors: Spells
    • Import Cells
    • Import Graphics
    • Import Inventory
    • Import Keywords
    • Import Names
    • Import Object Bounds
    • Import Races
    • Import Races: Spells
    • Import Sounds
    • Import Stats
    • Import Text
    • Tweak Settings
    • Leveled Lists - Make sure Remove Empty Sublists is Unchecked.
  5. Click on "Tweak Settings" in the left pane. The following settings are recommended but can be set otherwise if you so choose. Right-Click on each setting listed to set the value indicated - if the value does not appear, enter it manually via the "Custom" setting:
    • AI: Max Active Actors => 40
    • Actor: Training Limit => 15
    • Arrow: Speed => 1.4
    • Combat: Max Actors => 30
    • Crime: Alarm Distance => 1200
    • World: Timescale => 15
  6. Ensure that there are checkmarks next to the following settings:
    • AI: Max Active Actors.
    • Actor: Training Limit.
    • Arrow: Speed.
    • Combat: Disable Projectile Dodging.
    • Combat: Max Actors.
    • Crime: Alarm Distance.
    • Msg: Cannot equip item fix.
    • World: Timescale.
  7. At the bottom of the interface, click [Build Patch]. This process generally takes about 10 minutes to run.
  8. Exit Wrye Bash by clicking the X in the upper right of the screen.

Bashed Patch, 0.ESP should have been automatically added to the Bash Patch Mod. If it does not appear there, Refresh MO2 and/or check-in your MO2 Overwrite folder.

Bash Override

Lexy's LOTD SE - Bash Override

   

This Mod fixes some mistakes when generating the Bash Patch.

Main Files — Lexy's LOTD SE - Bash Override

Synthesis

Setup Instructions

Before we start we need to setup MO2 so it will save the Synthesis to output a mod and not to the Overwrite folder we do this by:

  1. In your Mod Organizer 2 install folder, locate and open the Mods folder.
  2. Create a new folder called "Synthesis Output"
  3. In Mod Organizer 2, press the Executables button and select Synthesis, In the 'Create Files in Mod instead of Overwrite' drop down menu, select "Synthesis Output"
  4. Select "Apply"and Close the window.
  5. Make sure to activate "Synthesis Output" in the left pane otherwise MO2 wont run the executable.

Generating Synthesis Output

Now is time to generate the Synthesis Patch.

  1. Make sure you have set up Synthesis as detailed on the Prerequisites page.
  2. Select Synthesis from the executable dropdown and hit Run.
  3. Once Synthesis has finish loading the preloaded patchers click Run.
  4. Once Synthesis has finished running you can exit the program.
  5. Make sure Synthesis.esp is Checked in the Right Pane of MO2.

Dark Face Issue Reporter

Instructions to Run Dark Face Issue Reporter

Time to Run Dark Face Issue Reporter one last time.

  1. Open SSEEdit and load all plugins.
  2. In the left pane, highlight only the base ESMs, Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp and 3DNPC.esp
  3. Right-click any of those plugins, and choose "Apply script."
  4. From the dropdown menu, select DarkFaceIssueReporter and choose OK
  5. Select option 2, Run only for selected files or records
  6. Once the script has finished running, Expand the Non-Player Character (NPC) row if there is one. Any NPC listed has Dark Face, and you will need to troubleshoot what you did wrong.
  7. If the Dark Face Issue Report returns clean (only the File Header is listed), you can delete darkfacecollector.esp

Fixing NPCs with Dark Face Bug

New to Dark Face Issue Reporter? There's a great introduction video available by Wartortle!

Watch
  1. Is NPC Appearance Output active in your left pane? If not, activate it.
  2. Are all NPCs shown from Interesting NPCs? If so, you forgot to merge the hotfix with the main file and so the main file is not active on your merge profile. Manually activate the main Interesting NPCs file.
  3. Did you get an NPC Appearance.esp file during the NPC Plugin Chooser step? If not, there was a problem with NPC Plugin Chooser. Come to the Installation Help channel on the discord for support.
  4. Check that the mods from page 4 of the guide are all in the correct order in your left pane on both your main and merge profiles.
  5. If you still have NPCs in your darkfacecollector.esp, take a screenshot (just the top of the list is fine if it's very long) and post it in the Installation Help channel of the discord for support.

zMerge Relinker

  1. Select zEdit from the executable dropdown and hit Run.
  2. Select zMerge from the dropdown and click Start Session.
  3. Press the button labeled Relink Scripts.
  4. Wait for it to finish, then exit zMerge.
  5. You should now have a mod called Relinker Output. If the mod doesn't appear, refresh your modlist.
  6. Activate the newly created mod.

xLODGEN Resources

xLODGen Resource - SSE Terrain Tamriel

   

This plugins add back terrain for Skyrim (Tamriel worldspace) at the outer edges so there is no missing terrain meshes/textures when generating terrain LOD for Skyrim.

Main FilesSSE Terrain Tamriel Extend

Running xLODGen

Note

Before running xLODGen make sure you have added process exclusions for xLODGenx64.exe and Texconvx64.exe to your antivirus software and Windows Defender.

  1. In the Plugins tab, manually place SSE-Terrain-Tamriel-Extend.esm so it is the last Master file to be loaded.
  2. Select xLODGenx64 from the executable dropdown and hit Run.
  3. In the Select Worldspace(s) box, check everything.
  4. Make sure only Terrain LOD is checked.
  5. Format should be applied to both Diffuse and Normal
  6. Select LOD4 and set the following options:
    • Quality: 2
    • Build Diffuse Size: 256
    • Build Normal Size: 256
    • Format: BC7 Max
    • Optimize Unseen: 500
    • Protect Borders: Checked
    • MipMap: checked Both.
    • Gamma: 1.25
    • Raise steepness: Checked
    • Bake Normal-Map: Checked
    • Default Size Diffuse: 4
    • Default Size Normal: 4
  7. Select LOD8 and set the following options:
    • Quality: 4
    • Build Diffuse Size: 256
    • Build Normal Size: 256
    • Format: BC7 Max
    • Optimize Unseen: 525
    • MipMap: Uncheck Both.
    • Gamma: 1.25
    • Default Size Diffuse: 4
    • Default Size Normal: 4
  8. Select LOD16 and set the following options:
    • Quality: 6
    • Build Diffuse Size: 256
    • Build Normal Size: 256
    • Format: BC7 Quick
    • Optimize Unseen: 625
    • MipMap: Uncheck Both.
    • Gamma: 1.25
    • Default Size Diffuse: 4
    • Default Size Normal: 4
  9. Select LOD32 and set the following options:
    • Quality: 0
    • Build Diffuse Size: 2048
    • Build Normal Size: 2048
    • Format: BC7 Max
    • Optimize Unseen: 550
    • MipMap: Uncheck Both.
    • Gamma: 1.25
    • Raise steepness: Unchecked
    • Default Size Diffuse: 4
    • Default Size Normal: 4
  10. Ensure that Bake normal-maps is checked on all LOD Options.
  11. Ensure that Occlusion is unchecked.
  12. Click Generate.

xLODGen Road Generation

  1. Select ACMOS Road Generator from the executable dropdown and hit RUN
  2. For "Path to LOD," browse to the SSELODGen_Output folder.
  3. Click Generate.
  4. At the prompt to "Overwrite LOD Textures," choose Yes.
  5. At the prompt "Would you like to zip the output," choose No.
  6. Wait until it says "All Done!" and then close.
  7. Profit.
  8. Once the generation finishes, exit ACMOS Road Generator tool, navigate to where you created the SSELODGen_Output directory and copy it to your MO2 mods directory.
  9. Refresh your mod list in MO2, and activate the newly created SSELODGen_Output mod.
  10. Deactivate SSE-Terrain-Tamriel-Extend.esm at this point. It is only needed for xLODGen operation.

DynDolod - Darken texture for generation

Warning

This mod is used only during DynDOLOD generation. Once that has been completed, deactivate this mod. Failure to do so will result in overly dark textures on some trees in the Reach and near Solitude.

DynDolod - Darken texture for generation

   

This Mod Darkens some LODs so they look better with the guide ENB.

Miscellaneous Files — DynDolod - Darken texture for generation - The good one last one

DynDOLOD Error Fixes

DynDOLOD Error Fixes

   

Fixes some errors highlighted by DynDOLOD.

Miscellaneous Files — DynDOLOD Error Fixes

DynDOLOD - Dynamic Distant LOD Generation

Warning

If using an AMD GPU/Adrenalin it's recommended to revert to the driver 22.5.1 prior to running dyndolod to prevent OpenGL errors. Search or ask in the discord for any clarification.

Note

If you aren't familiar with DynDOLOD, Gamerpoets has a tutorial video that is well worth watching. It can be viewed here.

TexGen64

Note

Before running TexGen and DynDOLOD make sure you have added process exclusions for TexGenx64.exe, DynDOLODx64.exe, and Texconvx64.exe to your antivirus software and Windows Defender.

Note

Ultra Trees will significantly increase your VRAM usage. If your graphics card has less than 6GB of VRAM, consider generating traditional tree LOD. This can be done by NOT altering HD TREE and ULTRA settings in TexGen and DynDOLOD (leave both unchecked).

  1. Select TexGenx64 from the MO2 executable dropdown and hit Run.
  2. Change Stitched Object LOD Textures "Base size" to 256 (1440p).
  3. Change Rendered Object Textures "Base size" to: 256 (1440p).
  4. Change Tree/Grass LOD Billboards to the following:
    - Units per pixel: 11.0 (1080p).
    - Grass: Unchecked.
    - Tree: Checked, Direct - 135, Ambient - 55.
    - HD Tree: Checked, Direct - 135, Ambient - 55, Smoothness - 0.
    - Rendered: Checked, Direct - 50, Ambient - 150, Smoothness - 0.
  5. Diffuse alpha: Default (BC7 Quick).
  6. Diffuse: Default (BC7 Quick).
  7. Normal specular: Default (BC7 Quick).
  8. Normal: Default (BC7 Quick).
  9. Click Start and allow TexGen to run.
  10. Once it has finished, click Exit to exit TexGen.
  11. Copy and paste the TexGen_Output to your MO2 mods folder (i.e. MO2\Mods) .
  12. Activate the newly created TexGen_Output mod in MO2.

DynDOLOD64

  1. Select DynDOLODx64 from the MO2 executable dropdown and hit Run.
  2. In the top left section of the popup window, scroll through and check all Worldspaces.
  3. In the Options category in the bottom section, check Object LOD, Dynamic LOD, Glow windows, and High.
  4. For Ultra trees (guide default) check Ultra and uncheck Tree LOD. For traditional tree LOD check Tree LOD and uncheck Ultra.
  5. Set "Max tile size LOD" to 1024.
  6. Set "Max tile size full" to 256.
  7. Set "Billboard brightness" to -5.
  8. Set "Max tile size billboard" to 1024.
  9. Check Fake lights child world.
  10. Check Upgrade NearGrid large references to FarGrid.
  11. Check Occlusion data.
  12. Below "Occlusion data" set "Quality" to 3.
  13. Check Plugin.
  14. Check Terrain underside.
  15. Uncheck Seasons.
  16. In the top right section, check Candles and FXGlow.
  17. Click the High button to load mesh rules for your load order based on settings for the High preset and earlier selected options.
  18. locate Tree mesh rules then change LOD 8 to Billboard4 and LOD 32 to Billboard6.
  19. Next, we need to add a new rule for the Azura Statue: locate \ mesh rules then right-click and select insert rule.
  20. Under Mesh Mask \ Reference FormID box insert man_azura\shrineofazura01.nif 
  21. Make sure VWD Checkbox is checked
  22. LOD 4: From the Drop down Menu Select Full
  23. LOD 8: From the Drop down Menu Select Full
  24. LOD 16: From the Drop down Menu Select Full
  25. LOD 32: From the Drop down Menu Select Level 0
  26. Grid: FarFull
  27. Click OK
  28. locate \ mesh rules then change LOD 32 to Level0
  29. In the bottom right section, click the OK button to begin LOD generation. This will take a while.
  30. Once generation has completed, select Save and; Exit to close the window, then click OK to exit DynDOLOD.
  31. Copy and paste the DynDOLOD_Output to your MO2 mods folder (i.e. MO2\Mods).
  32. Activate the newly created DynDOLOD_Output mod in MO2.
  33. In the Plugins tab, manually place DynDOLOD.esm so it is the last Master file to be loaded.

Congratulations, you are almost done and now you can actually boot up and play the game. Only some settings and MCM changes are left to go.

Note

Ensure that "DynDolod - Darken texture for generation" is disabled in the LEFT PANE.

Prev
Next