Oldrim mod

Here is a guide to converting Oldrim mods to work in Skyrim SE. It is geared towards newbies who have little idea of ​​the process. ***If you found this guide helpful, please endorse it for better visibility. I want to make sure that everyone who needs this information can use it. ***

guide

Tools of the trade:

Bethesda Archive Extractor (BAE) - (Stand-alone executable. No installation required, just unpack to a safe location.) BSA archives packaged by Oldrim CK are in a format that is not compatible with SE. In order for SE to read them correctly, they must be decompressed. BAE is the tool we use to do this.

(To make working with BSA easier, I recommend associating the BSA profile with the BAE, as shown above.)

SSE Creation Kit (CK) - (Download "Bethesda Launcher" at the bottom of the page, install and run. Install CK from this program. It will detect your SSE installation and configure everything for you.) Here are the three functions required when converting the CK mod:

• Use the Archive.exe tool to repackage the extracted BSA in a format readable by SE,
• Use the HavokBehaviorPostProcess.exe tool to update Oldrim animations to be compatible with 64-bit Havok,
• Update the plugin (ESP or ESM) to form 44. (Plugins saved in Oldrim CK are in the format 43.)

(Both can be found HavokBehaviorPostProcess.exe and Archive.exe in the "Tools" folder of the Skyrim directory.)

Creation Kit Multiple Masters Fix - (INI file. Download CreationKitCustom.ini and copy it to the Skyrim directory.) Allows you to load plugins with multiple master files.

ConverttoSkyrimSE.bat - (Batch file; instructions for use are on the page.) This file, when used in conjunction with CK's HavokBehaviorPostProcess.exe tool, will convert any Oldrim animation (.hkx file) to the newer format used by SE.

SSE NIF Optimizer - (Stand-alone executable. No installation required, just unzip to a safe location.) This tool optimizes meshes from Oldrim to make them more compatible with SE. Be sure to read the documentation before using it, this is especially important for this tool. It's probably not necessary to use the mod you're converting; generally, Oldrim meshes work just fine in SE. Also keep in mind that this is not infallible and has been known to cause problems in some cases. This article (especially jonwd7's section, maintained by nifskope) goes into depth about its potential pitfalls. That said, it can be a useful tool if used correctly, and I personally haven't had any issues with it so far. As always, your mileage may vary

SSEEdit - (Extract to your Skyrim SE directory) If you are converting a mod that contains ESM, you will need this program to convert it to ESP so that CK will allow you to set it active. It's also a very useful tool.

Wrye Bash (WB) - (Installation instructions are on the page.) Not a hard requirement, but it's a powerful tool that every molder should have in their arsenal. Every time you open WB, it will notify you if any plug-ins need to be converted. If you want to convert files with master files that are not marked as ESM, you will need WB or SSEEdit to "Esmify" them, (see "Appendix 1" below for details.)

preparation:

Download and install all necessary programs mentioned above.

Download the mod you want to convert: (For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be using Chesko's Wearable Lanterns, even though it has been ported, since it contains BSA and uses SKSE, you will have two scenarios. I recommend you download it and follow me step by step.)

Conversion Mod:

Part A: Unpacking the archive

Extract the mod you want to convert to your project folder and open it. In the case of the Wearable Lantern, the contents are two folders (README and SKSE), ESP and BSA. (If your mod does not contain BSA, skip to step 4.)

If your mod contains BSA, the first thing you need to do is extract it. If you've associated the BAA file with BAE as I recommended above, then all you have to do is double-click it and it will open in BAE. Otherw …