New update caused problem with created mod

[Katsuro]

I am creating a mod that adds Thirsk Mead Hall exterior and interior, as well as the Jorrvaskr living quarters to act as a Hunters Guild. I went to boot the mod up in the Steam version, which applied the update, then test on my GOG version (Steam is my son's and he has settings I simply don't want to redo every time one of us plays) but now the mod is being "unrecognized" despite Vortex showing the mod as installed and active. I have been testing this way for about a week and didn't have an issue until this morning.

I then installed GOG Galaxy, but all that did was install AE, and I don't want all the creations, not to mention the couple incompatibility messages from things like Engine Bug Fixes. The mod still doesn't show

Would anyone know if there is something I need to do? The Steam version is SE with the latest "update", GOG version(s) are both the SE version with the 4 CC item "update" (NOT the new update) and the full AE version installed with GOG Galaxy so in a different location

[Lena Wolf]

I am not playing Skyrim SE, but I can speak about GOG Galaxy. You don't need it for any game unless that game has online features. As far as I remember, Skyrim does not have any online features, so Galaxy would make no difference.

Sorry I can't help you with the mod problem, but at least you can rule out Galaxy. And uninstall it if you don't want to be tracked.

[Katsuro]

I am 100% sure this is a Bethesda faux pas, as it broke SKSE and other mods (like the EngineBugFix). I use the offline installers as I don't want additional programs, especially if they are not absolutely needed (Like Galaxy/Steam/etc), so Galaxy was uninstalled as soon as I saw that the mod didn't work on that version either. Thankfully, because I use the offline installers as the main playthrough, I wasn't subjected to the forced update and it's issues aside from how I can't test the mod on my GOG version, only on Steam (which I have to suffer with the non inverted Y-axis as the male spawn doesn't like that)

As I am pretty new to PC gaming (have a 360 & PS4), I didn't know if there was a similar issue during the updates in the past and what steps had to be taken if applicable

[Arthmoor]

The nice thing about Galaxy is that you get all of the conveniences Steam offers, but none of the bad parts. Like for instance game updates. Galaxy will never force update a game if you have it set not to, or if you globally turn that off entirely. Steam on the other hand regularly overrides this despite the many claimed methods that are supposed to permanently turn updates off for a game. Eventually it WILL update, but Galaxy never will. You can sit on an ancient copy of something for as long as you want. That's probably a silly approach to take, but it does work.

[Sigurð Stormhand]

It sounds like the CK has updated the mod to the newest version, in which case GOG won't run it, but Steam will. That unfortunate, but it's expected behaviour.

[smr1957]

As Sigurd mentioned, the CK now updates mods to the latest version, which is changed from what it was in the past due to changes made in how the game now reads .esl files by extending the available range for records (increased from 2048 to 4096) and the change made to the header, with the newer one being 1.71, whereas previously it was 1.70.  I will not go into the details or the technicals of that, but leave it for someone else to more fully (and correctly) explain.

[Katsuro]

Is it possible to patch whatever the problem is to GOG users? After the discussion with Bethesda, I am getting the impression that they are taking a "too bad" attitude with this.

While my main game is unaffected, the mod I am working on would be useless to me

EDIT: Seems by editing the esp in SSEEDIT, changing the version fixed the issue. While one shouldn't have to do so, least it seems I can use the mod

Edited December 9, 2023 by Katsuro

[Arthmoor]

No, it's not an issue that can be patched by end users. Bethesda needs to update the GOG version. Which they have said they will, they just don't have an ETA.

Do not manually try to change the version value in HEDR. It's used for more than just extending the ESL range and you're more likely to break things doing that.

[Katsuro]

On 12/8/2023 at 11:14 PM, Arthmoor said:

No, it's not an issue that can be patched by end users. Bethesda needs to update the GOG version. Which they have said they will, they just don't have an ETA.

Do not manually try to change the version value in HEDR. It's used for more than just extending the ESL range and you're more likely to break things doing that.

Your sage advice will not go unheeded. I will wait until GOG is updated to test there and just suffer with the Steam version (with the male spawn's config)