How To Downgrade Skyrim
Maybell Hughs
An automated patcher to downgrade your Skyrim install from the new AE version to the previous SE version, without redistributing files or requiring any sort of complexity. Just download this, and click "Patch" and it'll do the work.
I'm currently in the process of making this guide but I figured I'd go head and post what I've got so far. I'll gladly accept any tips or knowledge on how I could make this better for everyone. This list will be my complete load order when I'm done. With links and instructions on which versions to choose.
I would therefore have to say that the titles as they are, are misleading. If part of the goal is to instruct others how to downgrade, that is fine. Just make it a bit clearer for those who just want to downgrade and then do their own thing.
Hey NuveroticMods despite those (noted and considered) comments from IsharaMeradin and lefttounge I just wanted to thank you for creating this page, it helped me a lot and I am definitely interested in checking out your updates. One suggestion I have along the same lines as the others, I personally really like ASLAL (especially with alternate Mara Statue from PSBoss) so it would be good to give people some curated suggestions if giving any. (heres a link to that statue replacer XD )
I very much appreciate the quick access to the downgrade codes. I use vortex however, so the rest means nothing to me. I gave up on MO2. But thank you so much for making an easy place to find the downgrading info! Cheers!
The STEP guide has spoiled me. I can't play Skyrim without it. I'm sure this is a familiar story, but my game updated to 1.6.1130 and of course broke many of the STEP mods. I followed several guides on downgrading back to 1.6.640, but I still can't get the game to load to the main menu. I launch from MO2, the screen goes black. After a bit of loading, the menu music plays for about half a second and then... CTD.
When I first installed v2.2.0 of the guide (this past August), I kept all the archives I downloaded and have not updated any since before the update. So as far as I'm aware, I shouldn't have any mods that were updated after December 5 or so.
I am able to successfully load to the main menu if I disable all mods from the 06-Models and Textures and 20-Patches groups. It's been difficult testing this by disabling one mod at a time because of the number of mods in 06, and also because 06 and 20 are so interdependent on each other (LOOT screams at me a lot when I start disabling things).
I'm willing to accept that I could be missing something incredibly basic and stupid. However, one thing I'm not good at is deciphering crash logs. Would anyone be so kind as to take a look and try to help me zero in on this issue?
Since the problem seems to be cause by the actual player, double check that you have the 1.1.640 versions of scripted mods that affect the player, especially RaceMenu. But since you don't get a version error, it is kinda unlikely this is the cause.
Also check all the logs in your drive:\Users\[computer name]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition folder for errors. The main one to check should be the SKSE log. This checks if all dll are loading and communicating properly. And skee.log, which checks if RaceMenu is working properly.
Lastly, you could try turning on papyrus logging in Skyrim.ini, by setting the enablelogging, enabletrace and loaddebug to 1, and starting Skyrim again. the logs will be in the same folder as above. Sometimes you have to start 2 times before the logs appear though. Remember to return the settings back to 0 after.
So, I've been playing with this some more throughout the day today. I wanted to rule out any possible registry shenanigans, so I completely uninstalled the game and reinstalled it through Steam. Let 1.6.1130 download all AE CC mods. Applied all files from the 3 documented download_depot commands for 1.6.640. Cleaned vanilla masters. Reinstalled freshly downloaded SKSE, ENB, and all STEP patches (being sure not to download any of these mods from Nexus dated after the 1.6.1130 update. Still the exact same treatment as before: Launch skse64_loader > black screen > intro music plays for about half a second > no Bethesda logo > CTD.
Looking through logs, I've seen a bunch of "Found unhandled type: (PlayerCharacter*)" in CrashLogger.log. Actual crash logs look pretty much exactly like the one I posted previously. I did try to enable Papyrus logging as you suggested, but I'm not sure what file I should be looking for after enabling it.
Currently, I have the entire STEP 2.2.0 guide installed in MO2. Entire groups 6 and 20 are disabled. I tried enabling group 6 mods in groups of 10, and I could at least get to the main menu with any group of 10 except for Realistic Water Two and Security Overhaul SKSE - Gems Patch - The Cause Chests Secured (I did merge the Ayleid lock model file as instructed). If I enabled either of those mods by themselves or larger groups of mods, it's back to CTD before the Bethesda logo.
You should find the papyrus log in \Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\Logs\Papyrus (or similar, I can't remember). As I said, sometimes it take a few tries/ starts of skyrim, for the logs to actually show up for some reason.
*lightbulb moment* Make sure you have deleted the update's "_ ResourcePack.esl". If you still have this, it will cause a CTD because it uses the new expanded FormID's. You can also delete the BSA called "_Marketplace.bsa" or similar. Those two files are only "useful" for new "commercial" modders and the updated Skyrim.
If that doesn't solve it, also check that the download depot files are correct. The easiest way is to check the date on the manifest files in \Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition\Creations. These files should be dated to when you last (originally) installed Skyrim AE, like in my case Jan 16, 2023. But since you reinstalled Skyrim a few times the last weeks, they maybe more recent. As long as they are not dated at or around Dec. 5th 2023 they should be fine.
Install Backported Extended ESL Support (SKSE plugin) if you have not already. You may need it or you may not, I don't know, as it's unclear which version of the Bethesda data files are installed. If you don't need it right now, keep it enabled anyway, it's harmless, and it may prove useful later.
@ButchDiavolo Great thought! But I had already deleted _ResourcePack.bsa and _ResourcePack.esl based on other posts I saw about these. I hadn't seen anything about MarketplaceTextures.bsa, but I deleted this as well per your suggestion and that hasn't fixed the problem.
I assume the Papyrus logs would show up in \Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\Logs\Script. I do see a couple of these from yesterday when I was disabling/enabling mods for testing (there are a lot of "missing file?" and "cannot be initialized because the script no longer contains that property"), but even though I've enabled the logging flags again in Skyrim.ini, I haven't been able to get it to generate any new logs today after something like 9-10 launch attempts. There are logs showing in the SKSE folder under the My Documents path for SSE, but of the two that mention Papyrus in the filename, neither is reporting any obvious failures.
I don't see any .manifest files in my current Creations folder, but in the old version of my game folder that I was able to pull from my hard drive backup, there are 74 files that are dated 10/28. Not really sure what to do with these.
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