This topic, Helpful Links and References, originally grew out of personal notes which I had compiled in order to be better able to help when answering questions in the Skyrim forums. After some time, and with the assistance and help of individuals at Valve, and also Steam, it was pinned. The original concept - and contents - have grown over the years, to a point where it was extremely unwieldy and not at all user friendly. This revision into guide format, is an attempt to rectify that situation. I hope that you find it useful.

This works stands on the shoulders of many others - far too many to mention. But I will note some who made this possible.

First and foremost is Nazenn. Though many today do not know or recognize his name, he was one of the leading figures in Skyrim circles, responsible for much of the work that became the foundation for so many of the help threads and topics, and much of the information regarding how the game works.

Next, there is Ilja and cfs111, who also contributed so much, Ilja with his pinned topics, and cfs111 with his excellent guides for the game (and his pinned screenshot thread in the SSE forum) - as well as both helping others in the forums.

Then, there is also Vlad 254, who contributed his wonderful guides - some of the best there are - and who also helped many others in the forum.

There are many, many others, but if I name them all, there would be no room for anything else - LOL! Suffice to say, that if their name appears anywhere in this pinned topic, then they are responsible for an important contribution to the Skyrim Community.

I have only mentioned those from the Steam community in the above, but I would be seriously remiss if I did not mention Arthmoor. His work on the Unofficial Patch, as well in the concurrent study of the game and its inner workings, has been of immense benefit to the entire gaming community - not just for Skyrim, but for other Bethesda games as well.

And now I fear I have already run on too long, so let me just close with a final thanks - a thank you to the entire Skyrim community which I love so much. You have all inspired me and energized me to help as much as I possibly could - and more. Thank you, all!

Now, enjoy - and game on!

smr1957

CURRENT SKYRIM SPECIAL EDITION BUILD: 1.6.1170
UPDATED AS OF January 17, 2024

CURRENT STATUS OF SKSE64 - SKSE64 IS UPDATED - USE:
Current Anniversary Edition build 2.2.6 (for game version 1.6.1170)
https://skse.silverlock.org/
skse64 is UPDATED/OUTDATED - https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/1736589519988952773/
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1197413219

IMPORTANT INFO REGARDING UPDATES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM -
PROTECT YOUR GAME FROM UPDATES UNTIL YOU'RE READY by Vlad 254:
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2872091273
and its discussion thread:
Protect Skyrim SE From Updates
https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/3196990777796806750/

IMPORTANT - Also back up Skyrim "everything" in the Data Folder along with the launcher and executable.
See the following by Fear2288 for why this is necessary:
https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/3371530631526442244/
and see post #1 in that thread for an explanation.

Caution: Removing Creation Club Content
The current version of Skyrim Special Edition has 4 Creation Club mods included in the base game (Saints and Seducers, Rare Curios, Fishing, and Survival Mode). And, just as with the original 3 DLCs (Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn), these have been coded into the game's Master files, and thus should never be removed. In addition, you will not be able to use the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (USSEP) as it requires the current version of the game, and thus requires the 4 Creation Club mods to be present. Other mods may also follow this rule.

Should you remove the 4 CC items, be prepared to have a broken game at some point; also, when you either update your game or verify the integrity of your game, Steam will reinstall any removed CC content.
See the following by Vlad 254 for complete information:
https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/3191364450209003295/


FOR WHAT ACTUALLY CONSTITUTES THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION, SEE:
Skyrim Anniversary Edition and You by Arthmoor
https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/5954-skyrim-anniversary-edition-and-you/

To make it clear, there is no such thing as an "AE version." Though there is a store page in Steam for an "Anniversary Edition" there is no actual anniversary edition version of the game - there is SSE (which was updated to version 1.6+ and received added content and some fixes as a bonus - but is still SSE; and with the last update is now 1.6.1170) and the AE upgrade, the upgrade being an optional, purchasable addon - which can either be purchased separately (with having SSE as a requirement for play) or in a bundle with SSE. The game itself, regardless of what is added to it in addition to the base game, is still SSE, however. And the current version (1.6.1170) is the only supported version there is - the previous versions are not supported by anyone, and any person who chooses not to update, or uses a hack to roll back to a prior version, is completely on their own and will not be able to receive any help - except to be told to update their game.

Or, for an even better explanation, there is this:

ralphtobybob lähetti viestin:

Rez Elwin lähetti viestin:

That's because they did. AE is not a version of the game, anyone who refers to it as such is wrong. It doesn't matter if your game is 1.5 or 1.6 it's still Special Edition.

I don't understand why this is such a big deal for some people. I think of it as SE Anniversary Edition. And as someone else pointed out the CC mods are DLC.
Why not just refer to the version number for adding mods instead of involving someone asking for help in a pedantic argument, and be done with it?
Bethesda sells it as the Anniversary Edition.
https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/skyrim10

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is a comprehensive edition of Skyrim that bundles together the Special Edition and a total of 74 Creations which contain over 500+ new individual elements such as quests, items, armor, houses, and more. It was released on November 11, 2021 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Skyrim's release.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Anniversary_Edition

Both Rez Elwin and ralphtobybob are right. The base game - regardless of version number - is Skyim Special Edition. SE Anniversary Edition is nothing more than the name for the bundle of Skyrim Special Edition and the AE DLC. And if people stuck to those two definitions, and not refer to 1.6+ as Anniversary Edition (which it is not), there would be no confusion at all.

https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/3834298194196400899/?tscn=1685472389#c3834298194200041635

As previously stated in the Current Game Version and Basic Information section, whatever is the current game version is the only supported version there is - the previous versions are not supported by anyone, and any person who chooses not to update, or uses a hack to roll back to a prior version, is completely on their own.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Anyone who uses a pirated game, or who is using a modpack known to contain pirated works or materials, or is using Moddrop, will not receive any help should they encounter problems with their game. See post #1: https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/2828702372997628701/#c2828702372997630825

Why We Cannot Help With Wabbajack or Collections
Unfortunately, if you are using Wabbajack or a Nexus Collection, there is nothing we can do to help you, you need to ask the creator of that particular modpack or collection, as only they know what has been done or how it was put together. Sorry, but this is something that many of us who are long time forum members and helpers have discussed and those of us who help most often are in agreement on this. The same would apply (though, admittedly to a lesser extent) if you were asking questions about a guide that was put together by a third party - you would need to ask the creator of that guide for specific issues,

Anything we would post would be sheer speculation.

Wabbajack packs or Nexus Collections are put together as a whole and cannot be modified without risk of breaking things - they are to be used "as is" - which is the entire idea behind Wabbajack and Collections. If you wish to change things, then you need to learn to mod properly - which we strongly recommend instead of using Wabbajack or Collections.

Since packs or collections are made to be used "as is" and the end user is accepting them as they are - they are not subject to change, and especially not by a third party who was not involved in their creation and cannot possibly know what went into it.
https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/2828702372997628701/?tscn=1641453643#c3196992771941654867


Legal Non-Steam Versions:
Skyrim Special Edition is now available on GOG and Epic Games. However, these are different versions, and one result is that the Creation Kit cannot be used with them. Because of these differences, we will not be providing support for these.

Regarding Gamepass:
As far as help in the forums is concerned as regards Gamepass:
"The forum regulars here will be unable to assist with questions about the Game Pass version, at least until more is known about the technical differences. If you need support for it, you should contact Bethesda or Microsoft through their websites."
See:
Game Pass and You: On the Modding Possibilities of the Game Pass Version of SSE - https://gtm.you1.cn/app/489830/discussions/0/5168416410405391794/

"No matter how good a mod may look or sound, no matter how much you may really want a mod, if the mod does not work as it should, causes issues in your game, or even seems to have the potential to cause issues, dump the mod. A game that does not work is no game at all." - smr1957

And, with the advent of Collections on Nexus, a new corollary to that:
"No matter how good a collection may look or sound, if it has a poor success rate, don't use it - and if it doesn't work, or causes issues, dump it." - smr1957

Do NOT clean the Masters or CC content. There have been issues where using auto clean has resulted in sections of worldspace not appearing in game - and despite it being said that it has been fixed, the risks are not worth it. This has been a major shift in the previously generally accepted philosophy, However, this is due to changes that were made to xEdit and the way they have been implemented, as well as how the xEdit team is approaching the implementation of changes to the tool, and so, since the introduction of xEdit 4 series, and the discovery of major issues that resulted due to cleaning the Masters, not cleaning the Masters or Creation Club content became what is recommended.

For all other editing functions, xEdit 4 series is still the premier tool available and no one should have any doubt or hesitation in using it. This is an issue regarding one specific feature which, unfortunately, concerns items and errors that may lead to games suffering missing worldspace sections or possibly other issues.

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.