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Bethesda games modding
dvd 24 Jan, 2021
Past few days I've iterated through a couple of wine/proton versions and mod managers trying to set up fallout NV with a couple of mods (~50, nothing too crazy). However, the results were bad each time. The most stable of the setups was using the rather old FNV gog script in lutris then installing MO2 in the prefix. This resulted in a game without any sound and MO2 being quite unstable (missing models/textures on some runs, which are fine on the other).

As for the sound, i tried setting multiple audio drivers (oss/alsa/pulse) as well as going over installing xact and faudio in the prefix, none of them worked (or produced anything related to them in the logs).

I would be curious about if someone has any newer/older title with working mods too, as the usual sites give little and inconsistent information about this, and the modern tools/mod managers feel broken on linux.
WorMzy 25 Jan, 2021
I recently started playing Oblivion again (in Proton), and I had some Fun™ setting up Darnified UI (because the default UI is basically unusable) and the unofficial patches. I also grabbed Wrye Bash and Oblivion Mod Manager, but neither really worked properly (Wrye Bash appears to install things, but then continues to show them as uninstalled until I manually extract them to the correct location manually). I was tempted to install obse and some related scripts to make the UI even less sucky, but the amount of faff it took to get Danified working has put me off doing that for now. Will see how long it takes me to get pissed off at the lack of a "take all" keyboard shortcut, or the ability to sort spells by school, or see all items in a single list, sorted by weight/value....
dvd 25 Jan, 2021
Quoting: WorMzyI recently started playing Oblivion again (in Proton), and I had some Fun™ setting up Darnified UI (because the default UI is basically unusable) and the unofficial patches. I also grabbed Wrye Bash and Oblivion Mod Manager, but neither really worked properly (Wrye Bash appears to install things, but then continues to show them as uninstalled until I manually extract them to the correct location manually). I was tempted to install obse and some related scripts to make the UI even less sucky, but the amount of faff it took to get Danified working has put me off doing that for now. Will see how long it takes me to get pissed off at the lack of a "take all" keyboard shortcut, or the ability to sort spells by school, or see all items in a single list, sorted by weight/value....

The obse and the 4gb patch should work well, those two are the only ones that basically work if you do them by hand. I would recommend getting xobse, it's a more up to date community maintained version, and it (at least with fnv) works fine with the gog version too.

It's a shame getting a working setup is this difficult, as at least half the value in these games are from the mods.
dvd 15 Jul
This week i tried modding a bethesda game again: Skyrim. This time around i had a better experience. I ditched the hacky MO2 in favour of Vortex. It actually lets you deploy your mods now into mod folder. Getting ~50-60 mods running wasn't that involved either. I set up a windows 10 vm, copied my skyrim there, let nexus download, sort and install the mods. Once it was done and I was happy with the load order i switched the deployment method to copy instead of link. Finally copied skyrim back to its steam folder, and it ran skse and the mods. I haven't done too much playing on it, but the body mods and the alternative start mod work for sure, companion mods seem to work, and 30-60 minutes of random walking/teleporting around haven't produced a crash yet.

I still have the same issue as i had with new vegas, conversations don't have any sound at all.
denyasis 17 Jul
Quoting: dvdThis week i tried modding a bethesda game again: Skyrim. This time around i had a better experience. I ditched the hacky MO2 in favour of Vortex. It actually lets you deploy your mods now into mod folder. Getting ~50-60 mods running wasn't that involved either. I set up a windows 10 vm, copied my skyrim there, let nexus download, sort and install the mods. Once it was done and I was happy with the load order i switched the deployment method to copy instead of link. Finally copied skyrim back to its steam folder, and it ran skse and the mods. I haven't done too much playing on it, but the body mods and the alternative start mod work for sure, companion mods seem to work, and 30-60 minutes of random walking/teleporting around haven't produced a crash yet.

I still have the same issue as i had with new vegas, conversations don't have any sound at all.

What was your experience trying to Skyrim without Windows? Or is it not possible? I had the same experience with Morrowind. The binary patches had to be run in windows, but the resulting exe worked great (better actually) in Wine. Wyre mash/bash were written in python, but they depend on the windows UI library, so I ran them through wine as well. The helper programs, like the Script extender and FPS optimizer we're mostly no-go's. I think they were "too hacky" for Wine to handle. Lol

Morrowind was my favorite game and I spent countless hours on it in University. But I've hesitated on pulling the trigger on Skyrim... Partly because I'm not sure I have the free time or dedication to spend hours getting mods to work ( if it's even possible in Linux).
dvd 19 Jul
Quoting: denyasis
Quoting: dvdThis week i tried modding a bethesda game again: Skyrim. This time around i had a better experience. I ditched the hacky MO2 in favour of Vortex. It actually lets you deploy your mods now into mod folder. Getting ~50-60 mods running wasn't that involved either. I set up a windows 10 vm, copied my skyrim there, let nexus download, sort and install the mods. Once it was done and I was happy with the load order i switched the deployment method to copy instead of link. Finally copied skyrim back to its steam folder, and it ran skse and the mods. I haven't done too much playing on it, but the body mods and the alternative start mod work for sure, companion mods seem to work, and 30-60 minutes of random walking/teleporting around haven't produced a crash yet.

I still have the same issue as i had with new vegas, conversations don't have any sound at all.

What was your experience trying to Skyrim without Windows? Or is it not possible? I had the same experience with Morrowind. The binary patches had to be run in windows, but the resulting exe worked great (better actually) in Wine. Wyre mash/bash were written in python, but they depend on the windows UI library, so I ran them through wine as well. The helper programs, like the Script extender and FPS optimizer we're mostly no-go's. I think they were "too hacky" for Wine to handle. Lol

Morrowind was my favorite game and I spent countless hours on it in University. But I've hesitated on pulling the trigger on Skyrim... Partly because I'm not sure I have the free time or dedication to spend hours getting mods to work ( if it's even possible in Linux).

Well the modding tools for all TES3+ games are fundamentally the same. Since we have openmw, it is in itself a superior alternative to any mod manager/script extender/whatever, so for that just use openmw.

For the others, I used a windows vm specifically for two reasons: for one, the recomended mod managers use hacky windows features and besides that loot/boss doesn't work at all on linux. The second reason is that mod makers are incosistent with their naming, so should you go through the painful exercise of installing hundreds of mods by copying by hand, you will be guaranteed to end up with duplicate meshes/textures folder, for which you will have no idea which was copied when, leading to guaranteed crash or purple exclamation mark. They also couldn't do a physical deployment, now vortex can. If you go modding, i recommend leaving the default link method until you are done, then switch to copy and redeploy.

If you have nexus account, wabbajack or vortex collections work too, they are a one click installation, ofc. you'll have someone elses choice of mods, but you save precious time.

I personally think script extenders suck, but i guess that's the best you can do to a proprietary game though. For skyrim specifically, skse loads all of its plugins without issues. The save game I started is aproaching 20 hours and during that i had about 2 crashes.

My plugin list:
Spoiler, click me

# Automatically generated by Vortex
Skyrim.esm
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
Dragonborn.esm
ccasvsse001-almsivi.esm
ccBGSSSE001-Fish.esm
ccbgssse002-exoticarrows.esl
ccbgssse003-zombies.esl
ccbgssse004-ruinsedge.esl
ccbgssse005-goldbrand.esl
ccbgssse006-stendarshammer.esl
ccbgssse007-chrysamere.esl
ccbgssse010-petdwarvenarmoredmudcrab.esl
ccbgssse011-hrsarmrelvn.esl
ccbgssse012-hrsarmrstl.esl
ccbgssse014-spellpack01.esl
ccbgssse019-staffofsheogorath.esl
ccbgssse020-graycowl.esl
ccbgssse021-lordsmail.esl
ccmtysse001-knightsofthenine.esl
ccQDRSSE001-SurvivalMode.esl
cctwbsse001-puzzledungeon.esm
cceejsse001-hstead.esm
ccqdrsse002-firewood.esl
ccbgssse018-shadowrend.esl
ccbgssse035-petnhound.esl
ccfsvsse001-backpacks.esl
cceejsse002-tower.esl
ccedhsse001-norjewel.esl
ccvsvsse002-pets.esl
ccBGSSSE037-Curios.esl
ccbgssse034-mntuni.esl
ccbgssse045-hasedoki.esl
ccbgssse008-wraithguard.esl
ccbgssse036-petbwolf.esl
ccffbsse001-imperialdragon.esl
ccmtysse002-ve.esl
ccbgssse043-crosselv.esl
ccvsvsse001-winter.esl
cceejsse003-hollow.esl
ccbgssse016-umbra.esm
ccbgssse031-advcyrus.esm
ccbgssse038-bowofshadows.esl
ccbgssse040-advobgobs.esl
ccbgssse050-ba_daedric.esl
ccbgssse052-ba_iron.esl
ccbgssse054-ba_orcish.esl
ccbgssse058-ba_steel.esl
ccbgssse059-ba_dragonplate.esl
ccbgssse061-ba_dwarven.esl
ccpewsse002-armsofchaos.esl
ccbgssse041-netchleather.esl
ccedhsse002-splkntset.esl
ccbgssse064-ba_elven.esl
ccbgssse063-ba_ebony.esl
ccbgssse062-ba_dwarvenmail.esl
ccbgssse060-ba_dragonscale.esl
ccbgssse056-ba_silver.esl
ccbgssse055-ba_orcishscaled.esl
ccbgssse053-ba_leather.esl
ccbgssse051-ba_daedricmail.esl
ccbgssse057-ba_stalhrim.esl
ccbgssse066-staves.esl
ccbgssse067-daedinv.esm
ccbgssse068-bloodfall.esl
ccbgssse069-contest.esl
ccvsvsse003-necroarts.esl
ccvsvsse004-beafarmer.esl
ccBGSSSE025-AdvDSGS.esm
ccffbsse002-crossbowpack.esl
ccbgssse013-dawnfang.esl
ccrmssse001-necrohouse.esl
ccedhsse003-redguard.esl
cceejsse004-hall.esl
cceejsse005-cave.esm
cckrtsse001_altar.esl
cccbhsse001-gaunt.esl
ccafdsse001-dwesanctuary.esm
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
Skyrim Project Optimization - Full ESL Version.esm
Occ_Skyrim_Tamriel.esp
Forgotten DungeonsSSE.esm
Monster Mod SE.esm
RigmorCyrodiil.esm
Coldhaven.esm
Falskaar.esm
Occ_Skyrim_AnnEdition.esp
SkyUI_SE.esp
Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp
Vivid WeathersSE.esp
IcePenguinWorldMap.esp
Weapons Armor Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
Cutting Room Floor.esp
Skyrim Immersive Creatures Special Edition.esp
Beasts of Tamriel.esp
Helgen Reborn.esp
loftattic.esp
SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp
Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
aaaGraniteHill.esp
Aurlyn.esp
EMCompViljaSkyrim.esp
SkyrimsUniqueTreasures.esp
Cloaks.esp
ZIA_Complete Pack.esp
Inigo.esp
Immersive Weapons.esp
Monster Mod SE.esp
RigmorCyrodiilPatch.esp
SofiaFollower.esp
Fossilsyum.esp
Immersive Patrols II.esp
Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp
Home Sweet Valley.esp
ForgottenCity.esp
hillinalta2.esp
Lucien.esp
Sabretooth.esp
treasure_hunt.esp
Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim.esp
AurlynSerenityOverhaul.esp
Bijin AIO.esp
Bijin - UCMT.esp
Bijin NPCs.esp
Bijin Warmaidens.esp
Bijin Wives.esp
CBBE.esp
Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp
Cloaks - USSEP Patch.esp
Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
USSEP-Immersive Weapons Patch.esp
IW_Bijin_Patch.esp
KS Hairdo's.esp
Lucien-AnniversaryEdition-Patch.esp
RaceMenu.esp
RaceMenuPlugin.esp
RaceMenuMorphsCBBE.esp
Toccata.esp
Unique Uniques.esp
Vivid Weathers - Extended Rain.esp
Vivid Weathers SE - Extended Snow.esp
Vivid Weathers SE - Falskaar.esp
Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim.esp
Apocalypse - Ordinator Compatibility Patch.esp
Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul.esp
RDO - CRF + USSEP Patch.esp
RDO - USSEP Patch.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
WACCF_BashedPatchLvlListFix.esp

It's not too much compared to some insane lists, but i don't have the free time to experiment with more at the moment, and these seem OK for the evening. If you get the Rigmor of Cyrodiil mod though, also get Rigmor of Bruma, which is the first episode, i didn't notice that until after i started doing the quests.
denyasis 20 Jul
Quoting: dvdThe second reason is that mod makers are incosistent with their naming, so should you go through the painful exercise of installing hundreds of mods by copying by hand, you will be guaranteed to end up with duplicate meshes/textures folder, for which you will have no idea which was copied when, leading to guaranteed crash or purple exclamation mark

Yassss!! Lol. I had that when I modded SimCity 4. I got annoyed enough by it, I eventually used a bash script to rename everything lowercase between mod installs just to catch naming conflicts!

If I ever get brave enough to drive back into Elder Scrolls, I'll be checking out your list. That's an impressive amount of esp's there!
randomgamerguy1997 21 Jul
I have been doing it alright on linux using MO2 and a script that installs and gets it set-up. sadly, MO2's UI is a bit buggy under proton/wine but otherwise the game launches and plays fine. another issue is not being able to easily install locally downloaded mods that are installed on another mounted drive. for some odd reason I can't access /mnt or go through the symlink in my home folder either so I had to polute my downloads folder to store mods that can't automatically be downloaded through the mod manager (even if said mod is on the nexus).
dvd about 22 hours ago
Quoting: randomgamerguy1997I have been doing it alright on linux using MO2 and a script that installs and gets it set-up. sadly, MO2's UI is a bit buggy under proton/wine but otherwise the game launches and plays fine. another issue is not being able to easily install locally downloaded mods that are installed on another mounted drive. for some odd reason I can't access /mnt or go through the symlink in my home folder either so I had to polute my downloads folder to store mods that can't automatically be downloaded through the mod manager (even if said mod is on the nexus).

Well you are lucky then. Back when i tried to run either mod manager with wine, i tried all available scripts like PoL or lutris, but neither worked. Even when it launched the game i got the pink explanation marks and heavy crashes, when it shouldn't have (i followed a curated guide to avoid random crashes). With the physical deployment you skip the n+1th tool you have to run to get the games working.
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