Skyrim + Mods = Special Edition

[SpaceBooger]

I have the original PC version of Skyrim. I'm not really into mods that much, but I want to finally play the game. With the shinny new Special Edition out, I am intrigued by it but read that there are mods for the original that make it almost as nice.

So I am asking you guys what one, or two, mods (I want to keep it simple) should I install to play the original Skyrim with that will WOW me enough to save the $40 cost of the special edition?

[noiseredux]

Huge mod guide here: http://www.pcgamer.com/best-skyrim-mods/

I ended up buying a physical copy of the Legendary Edition which included all the DLC for $20 - and that gave me a free copy of the Special Edition when it came out.

[SpaceBooger]

Huge mod guide here: http://www.pcgamer.com/best-skyrim-mods/

I ended up buying a physical copy of the Legendary Edition which included all the DLC for $20 - and that gave me a free copy of the Special Edition when it came out.

That guide was where I started, but I didn't know if I should do all the visual mods, or just one of them... I was thinking the 2K Textures mod, but I'm not sure if one mod cancels another out or bogs down the game if too many are running. I'm new to the PC modding scene.

[noiseredux]

to be honest, I didn't bother w/ much in the way of mods when I played Skyrim. Of course the SE was announced not terribly long after I started anyway, so I figured there wasn't much point.

To that end, apparently modded save files from the original version are not compatible w/ the SE. And unless I did something wrong (I moved the save folder from /Skyrim in My Docs to /Skyrim Special Edition), then apparently I have no clean non-modded save files at all. Which... is kind of a bummer cuz I want to pick up where I left off in the SE.

I may try to see if I can get rid of all mods on the original game and load up a save and see if I can make a new clean save that way...

[casterofdreams]

Eurogamer / Digital Foundry did a comparison of the two before release and while you can get very close with mods the advantage I remember was the snow textures. SE had the advatage. There are other changes as well including volumetric lighting and other lighting tweaks.

As for me, I ran the SE at a low setting while the original with 42 mods, 3 of which is the official high res packs on high at a solid 60fps. My card is 6 years old. I'll stick to the former until I get a new one.

[Xeogred]

PC original vs PS4 remaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGw-qkXb6OM

I originally played the 360 version years ago. Replayed it last year or something a bit on PC. Like noise I didn't really go out of my way to mod much, it still looks rather good on its own. Some menu mods were very nice though so I highly advise looking into those.

I'm a fan of remasters/ports, but all in all, I'm not really sold on SE. Skyrim is kind of just a fluff filler game to me anyways, so guess it just depends on what you think of it. If I were playing it for the first time now, I'd probably just get the SE and not hassle with anything else.

[noiseredux]

SB, how'd you make out? I've seen you playing Skyrim a bunch this past weekend.

I fired up the SE just to confirm my save from vanilla was working. (Had to use a tool to 'clean' the save). I also had to update my Geforce driver and disable G-Sync on my monitor. Oddly, this new SE that is meant to be played on newer hardware than we had six years ago STILL hates upper-level Nvidia GPU's.

Having said all that: I'm totally sucked back into Skyrim right now. Love this game so so much.

[SpaceBooger]

I wasn't playing this weekend just trying to get it to run nicely. Nexus Mod Manager wasn't working right and no matter what I did, mods or no mods, I couldn't get a constant fps.

I have a 6core cpu, 16gb ram, and Gtx 980 and my fps is 60 with drops to 30 at times but always bouncing between 40 and 60 every couple seconds. This seems to happen with and without mods on both high and ultra settings.

I'm wondering if I should keep tweaking the og or just wait until I can afford the SE before putting time into this game.

[noiseredux]

it's prob the 980 causing you issues. Disable v-sync for one thing. Basically I think you want the game to control framerate, rather than the GPU. It's crazy but Skyrim just isn't optimized for 900+ series Nvidia cards.

[SpaceBooger]

I've been reading and trying everything including vsync.

The game was jumping from 60 to 50 to 60 and down to 30 fps sometimes - no matter the settings. Instead of turning off vsync, I set it for adaptive half and it runs at 30fps consistently. I know it's not 60, but jumping from 60 to 40 was more annoying than a 30fps cap.