Tutorial Skyrim Modding

Terrorize420 · Nov 14, 2020

Skyrim mods have been a large part of the game and today we are going to go over how to add pre made mods and how to convert Skyrim SE mods to switch

Required Files Setup Skyrim Toolkit and Patch Install Premade Mods Convert Skyrim SE Mods Pack & Unpack Mods Premade Levelers Tower with Patch Recomended Mods Skyrim Homebrew Tools

For Converting and Packing - https://github.com/Lord-Akkrand/Skyrim-NX-Toolkit
Bypass plugin limit in Skyrim - https://mega.nz/file/rpN2HQbR#GyBawfti1Nmx4wOTLFdKuhEb5w0E3v_5-z4SiFqcJIg
Required by Toolkit - https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases
Start by extracting Skyrim-NX-Toolkit to Desktop
After downloading ffmpeg copy ffmpeg.exe to \ToolKitRelease\Utilities

Open Skyrim INIs and Plugin Bypass Patch .zip
-if your on atmosphere just copy /atmosphere to SD Card
-if your on sxos copy the 01000A10041EA000 Folder from /atmosphere/contents to your titles folder and place exefs_patches in /sxos/exefs_patches

-The Toolkit will download any required programs after you run it the first time
goto https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch and select what ever mods you like
im going to use cheat room as an example
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch/mods/108

after you download the mod you will have 4 files in the folder
-Cheat Room.esp
-CheatRoom.bsa
-CheatRoom - Textures.bsa
-CheatRoom - Meshes.bsa

Open your Plugins file with a text editor

for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Plugins
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Plugins

it should contain some notes from the dev you can delete everything in the file
then add *Cheat Room.esp and save it then transfer it back to your romfs folder

-if you are installing multiple mods add all the .esp file names here

for example:
*Cheat Room.esp
*ModNumber1.esp
*ModNumber2.esp
*SomeOtherMod.esp
DisabledMod.esp

The Asterisk (*) is the On/Off for the mod if you remove it the mod is disabled

Open Skyrim.ini with a text editor
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim.ini
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim.ini

go down until you see [Archive]
first is sResourceArchiveList= this is where you put CheatRoom.bsa and CheatRoom - Meshes.bsa
second is sResourceArchiveList2= this is where you put CheatRoom - Textures.bsa

should look like this
Code:
```
[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes1.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - Hyrule.bsa, Skyrim - Patch.bsa, CheatRoom.bsa, CheatRoom - Meshes.bsa
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa, Skyrim - Voices_en1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures0.bsa, Skyrim - Textures1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures2.bsa, Skyrim - Textures3.bsa, Skyrim - Textures4.bsa, Skyrim - Textures5.bsa, Skyrim - Textures6.bsa, Skyrim - Textures7.bsa, Skyrim - Textures8.bsa, CheatRoom - Textures.bsa
bLoadArchiveInMemory=1
sArchiveToLoadInMemoryList=Skyrim - Animations.bsa
```
Open Skyrim_en.ini
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim_en.ini
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim_en.ini

and add CheatRoom - Textures.bsa

should look like this
Code:
```
[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa, Skyrim - Voices_en1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures0.bsa, Skyrim - Textures1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures2.bsa, Skyrim - Textures3.bsa, Skyrim - Textures4.bsa, Skyrim - Textures5.bsa, CheatRoom - Textures.bsa
```
And finally copy the 4 files from cheat room into the Data folder
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data

Done
!! Skyrim will detect cheats and disable game achievements !!
when you start Skyrim it will show a pop saying cheat room active and cheat teleport spell added if you use the spell and teleport to cheat room
Once there do what you like, increase perks get cheat weapons and armor etc.
After your done with cheat room use the spell again and select original position
Download what ever mods you want from https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition (Don't use SKSE or SKYUI)

-I'm going to Use Levelers Tower v4.4 by WilliamSea because it is one of my favorite mods for Skyrim you can use what you want
https://www..com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2692

Open the ToolKitRelease Folder and create a new Folder(you can name it whatever you want the converted mods to be named)
-I'm going to name my Folder LevelersTower

-After creating your Folder copy all the files from the mods you downloaded in the case of Levelers Tower
-you should have a Meshes Folder, Scripts Folder, Textures Folder and LevelersTower.esp

Now Drag n Drop the LevelersTower Folder (or your mod folder) to CONVERT_MOD

-A new terminal window will open and show the progress of everything this will take some time for example LevelersTower took about 20 mins

Copy the the contents of the new folder named LevelersTower_ConvertedAndPacked to the DATA Folder
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data

Open your Plugins file with a text editor
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Plugins
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Plugins

-If you don't have any mods installed then delete everything inside the plugins file but if you already have mods installed then just
Add *LevelersTower.esp to the file and save it

If you converted multiple mods copy all the .esp file names here with a * before the esp name
for example mine looks like this(if your under 18 don't look up any of the mods on my list)
Code:

*FlowerGirls SE.esm *AmorousAdventuresPlus.esp *FlowerGirls SE - Adventures.esp *UNP Female Body Renewal.esp *Sexy Armor Replacer Patch.esp *Mayatola Unique Followers AIO.esp *MarriageModSE.esp *FNIS.esp *LevelersTower.esp *MistySkye.esp *AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp *Cannabis Skyrim SE.esp *Spousetocustomhome.esp *BarenziahQuestMarkers_Droppable.esp *DrugProjectF44.esp *Cheat Room.esp *XPMSE.esp
The Asterisk (*) is the On/Off for the mod if you remove it the mod is disabled
-In my case The FlowerGirls SE.esm must be on top of the list and XPMSE.esp must be at the bottom in order for it to work some mods require certain
positions in the list most say on the Nexus when they need to be above or below a esp
Sometimes trial n error is the only way to figure out load order or you can load the mods on PC if you own Skyrim SE you can use a Mod Load Order Tool to setup and check your order
I've always just moved it up down if a mod fails and normally its takes a couple try's to get working

Open Skyrim.ini with a text editor
for sxos - /sxos/titles/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim.ini
for atmosphere - /atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Skyrim.ini

-Go down until you see [Archive] and add LevelersTower.bsa, LevelersTower - Textures.bsa, LevelersTower - Meshes.bsa

should look like this
Code:
```
[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes1.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - Hyrule.bsa, Skyrim - Patch.bsa, LevelersTower.bsa, LevelersTower - Meshes.bsa
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa, Skyrim - Voices_en1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures0.bsa, Skyrim - Textures1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures2.bsa, Skyrim - Textures3.bsa, Skyrim - Textures4.bsa, Skyrim - Textures5.bsa, Skyrim - Textures6.bsa, Skyrim - Textures7.bsa, Skyrim - Textures8.bsa, LevelersTower - Textures.bsa
bLoadArchiveInMemory=1
sArchiveToLoadInMemoryList=Skyrim - Animations.bsa
```
-If your mods contain animations add them to the end of sArchiveToLoadInMemoryList=

Open Skyrim_en.ini and add LevelersTower - Textures.bsa
should look like this
Code:
```
[Archive]
sResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa, Skyrim - Voices_en1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures0.bsa, Skyrim - Textures1.bsa, Skyrim - Textures2.bsa, Skyrim - Textures3.bsa, Skyrim - Textures4.bsa, Skyrim - Textures5.bsa, LevelersTower - Textures.bsa
```
Done
!! Skyrim will detect cheats and disable game achievements !!
When you start your Skyrim game a message should pop up saying Levelers Tower added and if you go to your map you will see a new player home
this player home is capable of modifying most parts of players stat along with some extras like longer days/nights increasing player speed and carry weight
and it also has some cool fire, frost and shock arrows that are worth checking out
--Packing Mods--
This is only for Switch mods Skyrim SE Mods need to be Converted

Create a new Folder
- I'm going to name my Folder MasterMods

- Place all your downloaded files inside this folder

- Drag and Drop this folder onto PACK_MOD and let it run until its done
-you will end up with a folder called MasterMods_Packed

--Unpacking Mods--

Drag and Drop your packed file folder onto UNPACK_MOD and let it run until its done

-You will end up with a folder with the addon _Packed_Unpacked
-example MasterMods_Packed_Unpacked
Here is an example of Levelers Tower with bypass limit patch ready to play just copy to SD card
Atmosphere
Sxos
Lockpick Pro - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1989
Spouse can live anywhere - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11370?tab=description
Stones of Barenziah Droppable plus Quest Markers - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/686?tab=description
Cheat Room - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch/mods/108?tab=description
Beautiful Nature - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch/mods/156
Forest Mounts and Followers SE - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch/mods/152
This is a overlay that I made for my own use its only for enabling and disabling esp from plugins file. I figured I would add it here in case some one wants to use it. There is a Sx version and a Atmos version and since i'm still working on it when I have time so its in Beta now

Atmosphere
Sxos

betav1 - initial release
betav2 - bug fix that deleted first character if you selected a esp multiple times without closing overlay

Also This is worth keeping an eye on but its codded only for atmos its basically a mod manager that runs on switch

SkyMM-NX

This one I changed it to work on Sx in case some one doesn't know how to compile and fix errors associated with compiling other peoples code

SkyMM-NX-S

burhansalih · Nov 17, 2020

Good Job with this....some point at the beginning of the year I managed to get cheats room working but was very much trial and error and I was going to do a guide but it didn't seem like there was much interest at the time...good on you for doing this hopefully should make it easier for people to mod skyrim if they choose to.

Thank you

Terrorize420 · Nov 17, 2020

burhansalih said:
Good Job with this....some point at the beginning of the year I managed to get cheats room working but was very much trial and error and I was going to do a guide but it didn't seem like there was much interest at the time...good on you for doing this hopefully should make it easier for people to mod skyrim if they choose to.

Thank you

Thanks I've always had mods on Skyrim ever since they released creation kit for it.
I figured I should post this in case people didn't know you can convert Skyrim SE Mods
and there's a lot of amazing mods on Nexus

LeyendaV · Nov 18, 2020

Thanks for including my mod Beautiful Nature on the recomended list!
In case you are interested on checking more mods, the thread Mods that I can confirm are working has been around for a few years.

I would recommend to list the full requirements for the NX Toolkit, since ffmpeg is not the only one. Also, would be nice to have the main ini file already patched to make the game run at 60 fps and without OC, since you only need to lines of code (literally).
As a side note, keep in mind that, while you can by-pass the 10 mods limit, it's not recomendable. The game will start lag and bug a lot.

Terrorize420 · Nov 18, 2020

WiiEJECT said:
Thanks for including my mod Beautiful Nature on the recomended list!
In case you are interested on checking more mods, the thread Mods that I can confirm are working has been around for a few years.

I would recommend to list the full requirements for the NX Toolkit, since ffmpeg is not the only one. Also, would be nice to have the main ini file already patched to make the game run at 60 fps and without OC, since you only need to lines of code (literally).
As a side note, keep in mind that, while you can by-pass the 10 mods limit, it's not recomendable. The game will start lag and bug a lot.

ffmpeg was the only one that wouldn’t download using the tool for me so i figured others would have the same issue

and does the 60 fps effect game lag with alot mods?

And yea the plugin bypass was just to make adding esp easier I recommend packing your main mods into 1 or 2 main bundles

LeyendaV · Nov 18, 2020

Terrorize420 said:
ffmpeg was the only one that wouldn’t download using the tool for me so i figured others would have the same issue

and does the 60 fps effect game lag with alot mods?

And yea the plugin bypass was just to make adding esp easier I recommend packing your main mods into 1 or 2 main bundles

Besides ffmpeg, you also need HavokBehaviorPostProcess.exe and nvddsinfo.exe

The 60 fps doesn't affect the game at all. If something, playing on handheld wiil drain the battery a little faster, and that's about it.

Inside the Skyrim.ini file there are these two lines:

iSize W=1600
iSize H=900

ABOVE those, type the following:

iVSyncPresentInterval=0
bLockFrameRate=59

Also, you may wanna use the Bethesda Intro Skip to speed up the game initial boot, since using mods will slow down that process.

Also, whilepacking mods is a great idea to maintain everything nice and clean (that's the method I use), you are still loading several mods at once. The more mods you use, the slower and buggier the game will be.
But yes, packaging will always make things more stable that using the Pulgins file to bypass the limit.

burhansalih · Nov 20, 2020

Thank you both for your efforts with this...

I have wanted to start a new game for a while in your opinions what are the best mods to use.

I currently have the following

Cheating Chests - Riverwood.esp
Potion of Ultimate Leveling.esp
Light Emiting Magika Sabers SSE.esp
Cheating Chests - Whiterun.esp
SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
Enhanced Blood Main.esp
Cheat Room.esp

Would you recommend any others?

Thanks in adance.

Terrorize420 · Nov 20, 2020

burhansalih said:
Thank you both for your efforts with this...

I have wanted to start a new game for a while in your opinions what are the best mods to use.

I currently have the following

Cheating Chests - Riverwood.esp
Potion of Ultimate Leveling.esp
Light Emiting Magika Sabers SSE.esp
Cheating Chests - Whiterun.esp
SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
Enhanced Blood Main.esp
Cheat Room.esp

Would you recommend any others?

Thanks in adance.

one of my main mods is always easier lock pick pro then levelers tower followed by some followers

follower mods hard to recommend because theres so many with followers its all personal preference

LeyendaV · Nov 20, 2020

burhansalih said:
Thank you both for your efforts with this...

I have wanted to start a new game for a while in your opinions what are the best mods to use.

I currently have the following

Cheating Chests - Riverwood.esp
Potion of Ultimate Leveling.esp
Light Emiting Magika Sabers SSE.esp
Cheating Chests - Whiterun.esp
SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
Enhanced Blood Main.esp
Cheat Room.esp

Would you recommend any others?

Thanks in adance.

If you are using Cheat Room, using the Cheating Chests makes no sense at all since everything inside those chests can be found in the room already, you are just wasting two ESP slots that way.

burhansalih · Nov 20, 2020

WiiEJECT said:
If you are using Cheat Room, using the Cheating Chests makes no sense at all since everything inside those chests can be found in the room already, you are just wasting two ESP slots that way.

I realised... I found cheating cheats way before I found cheat room I accidentally stumbled across it. Yes I need to redo my Skyrim mods at some point.

Omnispore · Nov 22, 2020

Could you offer some help with getting a loose file mod to work on switch? its an SE mod and doesnt come with an ESP or BSA file. i tryed converting it into a BSA but it didnt work. also try to archive it but that didnt seem to work.

Terrorize420 · Nov 23, 2020

Omnispore said:
Could you offer some help with getting a loose file mod to work on switch? its an SE mod and doesnt come with an ESP or BSA file. i tryed converting it into a BSA but it didnt work. also try to archive it but that didnt seem to work.

what mod is it?
If its a .swf it goes inside
Data/Interface/

burhansalih · Nov 23, 2020

Hey,

Quick question the Lockpick Pro mod...Is the installation on the site correct for the switch version?

Place 'lockpickingmenu.swf' and 'lockpickingmenu_settings.txt' in [Skyrim installation folder]/Data/Interface
If the 'Interface' folder doesn't exist, create it

Is it seriously as simple as that?

Thanks again

** Yep it really was that easy.

burhansalih · Nov 23, 2020

Beautiful Nature Mod makes it so much better also..Thanks

LeyendaV · Nov 24, 2020

burhansalih said:
Hey,

Quick question the Lockpick Pro mod...Is the installation on the site correct for the switch version?

Place 'lockpickingmenu.swf' and 'lockpickingmenu_settings.txt' in [Skyrim installation folder]/Data/Interface

If the 'Interface' folder doesn't exist, create it

Is it seriously as simple as that?

Thanks again

** Yep it really was that easy.

Yup, it is. With a few exceptions and some minor tweaks, mods installation on Switch is pretty much the same as it is on the PC version of SSE.

burhansalih said:
Beautiful Nature Mod makes it so much better also..Thanks

My pleasure, pal.

Egolikeness · Nov 25, 2020

A few notes.

Just as an FYI, if you put the windows Skyrim.exe file in your switch Romfs directory, you can use MM2 to sort your mods. It will come up with errors for the missing main skyrim files, but you can still use the list.
Open it in Notepad ++
Open your Plugins file (The one on the Switch itself) in N++
Copy the text from the "plugins" file (generated by MM2) to the "Plugins" file (Capital P on the switch) and save it.

If you keep adding mods you will get to the 1022 character limit in the ini.
However you can optimize that by changing the name of the files.
For instance,
Example.esp
Example Meshes.bsa
Example Voices.bsa
Example Textures.bsa
Example.bsa

I change them to
1-Example.esp (makes it easier to keep track of what is what)
1M.bsa, 1V.bsa, 1T.bsa, 1.bsa

When you get to double digits, you can save some characters by switching to letters.
AM.bsa, AV.bsa etc. for 26 letters (natch)

Then back to double digits.

And when you get to triple digits, switch back to letters and go double.
AAM.bsa, AAV.bsa etc for 26 letters (natch)

***Everything will work fine. With MM2, but if you try to use the SkyMM-NX app from the home brew store it will MESS UP your files, and you will need to start back from scratch.

**New member can't post the link, google is your friend**

Doing the above gives you the most characters per line, and by extension, the highest number of mods possible without combining any.

I'm running 100+ mods with minimal fuss. It's a little chunky sometimes, and sometimes locks up on fast travel, but it still ends up being more play time than not. It *does* take a long time to load.

Stability will be based on the mods you use.
Getting my setup to work took a *TON* of trial and error.

One thing that helps is using MTP for NX to connect the switch directly to my machine via the USB 3 cable instead of pulling the sd card every time.

**New member can't post the link, google is your friend**

Using that allows you to pull the ini and Plugins files directly off the switch, copy them to your desktop, or wherever, open them with NP++ and edit them. Save them back to your desk top and then copy them back over to the switch. You *CAN* use it to transfer larger files, but it's pretty slow. For that it's easier to just pull the card.

Pro tip for troubleshooting: copy the blank default files from the "Bypass plugin limit" Romfs folder to your switch and rename them "Pluginsblank" etc.

Then when you need to reboot with a clean slate, or try different variants, you can rename the files you are currently using to "Pluginssss" or whatever, and remove "blank" from the others, just to zero everything out.

**
Other observations.
Most additional dungeon mods seem to work fine.
Most weapons and other object mods seem to be ok.
Large DLC quest type mods are hit or miss.

From a reddit thread here's how I got the USSEP working
"So when I did it, I extracted both BSAs and then swapped the files it said and then I ran the NXToolkit to convert it because the toolkit will unpack and repack and convert BSAs or convert and pack loose files."

SKSE does not work, and based on research apparently never will.

Legacy of the Dragonborn
There's a version of Leg that was uploaded on Aug 18 2020 that seems to work find when you convert it.
I had problems with more recent versions.

Also, since I had to do a *TON* of testing which involves creating new character after new character.
Here are some "best practices".

1. Start with a blank slate. Go into "data management" for the switch and delete any current characters.
You will want to do this often while you are in the experimental stage.
That is to say when you are figuring out what mods work, the ones you want, your load order.
Eventually you will dial in the mods that are stable, more or less.
When you think you have it right. Wipe the test characters and start a new one.

2. Grab "Live another life" and "Live another life Dragonborn" which saves a ton of time when you start new characters.
Because at this point you probably never want to see Helgen or Riverwood again.

I probably missed something, but that's the basics from my experience.

straumli · Nov 25, 2020

For those that wonder, the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (aka USSEP) also works on the switch after some converting.

Omnispore · Nov 25, 2020

Terrorize420 said:
what mod is it?
If its a .swf it goes inside
Data/Interface/

hey thanks i didn't realize it would be that simple on switch. i cant believe it is that easy, well somewhat. i seem to get a broken sound file sound when using the USSEP when casting spells

LeyendaV · Nov 27, 2020

straumli said:
For those that wonder, the Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (aka USSEP) also works on the switch after some converting.

Omnispore said:
hey thanks i didn't realize it would be that simple on switch. i cant believe it is that easy, well somewhat. i seem to get a broken sound file sound when using the USSEP when casting spells

USSEP was never ported to Switch and for a very simple reason. The mod MUST be applied to the version 1.5.97 of the game, and the Switch version is 1.1.14 (1.1.14.534571.8 to be more precise).
So, even when it may be compatible with other mods, and even when you can do an insane amount of patching to make it work "properly", it will mostly cause issues anyways.
So I wouldn't recommend using it on Switch.

Keep in mind, even when things may seem like they are working just fine, something may be broken somewhere. And that bug will potentially trigger another, and so on.

urherenow · Nov 27, 2020

I just tried this for the first time today. AMS crashed on me, and sxos didn't seem to use the mods. I'm not sure what the Plugins file is supposed to do, but all of my mods were activated after adding them near the TOP of the .ini (eg. sTestFile9=SpellTomeResurrectDead.esp).

The explanation that would have made things clearer to me, is that base, animations, and mesh .bsa files need to be listed under sResourceArchiveList, while textures and voices go under sResourceArchiveList2.

Then, for some reason, animations need to be listed a second time in sArchiveToLoadInMemoryList.

Good info in the thread about creating an Interface folder for .swf files, and it should be added to the OP.

I've never actually finished the game but now I may pick it up again. Although I'm home from a long deployment now, and I own an Oculus and Skyrim VR. Wonder if some of these mods will work with that...

Tutorial Skyrim Modding

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

The One and Only

Well-Known Member

The One and Only

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

The One and Only

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

The One and Only

New Member

Well-Known Member

Member

The One and Only

Well-Known Member

Similar threads