Moving Skyrim Scandal Armors to SSE by Rogdonlp

Converting Skyrim Legendary Armors To Skyrim Special Edition Armors

I have played Skyrim Legendary Edition (“LE”) for over 3,000 hours according to Steam and I have enjoyed it immensely.  I have tried Skyrim Special Edition (“SE”) a few times.  While SE is more stable and has slightly better graphics, the lack of both a 64 bit SKSE and a 64 bit SKYUI limited the types of mods that were available in SE.  In addition, there were not a lot of follower mods to choose from in SE.  That has changed.  SKSE64 and SKYUI for 64 bit have now been released.  In addition, there has been a wave of follower mods being converted from LE to SE.  The only thing missing now, from SE, are good armor and clothing mods – such as the ones that Marmotte showcases on this website. 

Not being a technically inclined person, I was hesitant to try converting LE armors/clothes to SE.  There were some unknown (to me) tools that had to be used as well as having to use the intimidating Creation Kit.  After doing a lot of research on the web and watching a number of YouTube tutorials I was soon converting LE armors/clothing to SE.  Like most things, once you know how everything works the task becomes easy.

If you have ever opened up an armor/clothing mod folder you will see that they are pretty basic, usually containing a Meshes folder, a Textures folder and an .esp file.  There is no difference between the contents and file structure of a Textures folder in LE and the same folder in SE.  Thus, Texture folders can be copied from LE to SE unchanged.

The file structure of the Meshes folder is the same in both LE and SE.  However, some of the LE mesh structures are different in SE.  Thus, a utility tool will have to be used in order to convert the LE meshes to SE meshes.

The LE .esp file has the same structure and contents as an SE .esp file except that the file header is different.  LE uses a Type 43 header while SE uses a Type 44 header.  Converting a Type 43 to a Type 44 is just a matter of loading the .esp file into the Creation Kit and saving it.  That is all that is needed - load and save.

Assembling the Tools

SSEEdit – Skyrim Special Edition Edit – this tool allows you to edit various items within an .esp file.  The file can be downloaded from the Fallout 4 Nexus website:  SSEEdit Download  This Fallout 4 version is backwards compatible with Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Skyrim SE, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4  The following tutorial shows how to install and use XEdit for basic cleaning functions:  SSEEdit Tutorial

Bethesda Archive Extractor aka BAE – this tool takes a LE BSA file or a SE equivalent BA2 file and extracts the contents.  If your armor/clothing mod does not have a BSA file then you do not need to use this tool.  However, if your armor/clothing mod has a BSA file you need to extract the BSA file so that you can get access to the Meshes folder.  BAE can be downloaded from here:   BAE Download  A tutorial on installing and using BAE can be found here:  BAE Tutorial

Creation Kit – this tool is used to create mods.  While you will need to download this tool, you will not have to learn how to use it.  All you need to learn is how to load and save an .esp file.  A tutorial on downloading and installing the Creation Kit can be found here:  CK Download and Install Tutorial  A tutorial on loading and saving files with the Creation Kit can be found here:  Tutorial on Using CK

SSE NIF Optimizer – this tool converts LE meshes to those used in SE.  It also optimizes the meshes in fourteen different ways – see the “What It Does” section on the mod page for details.  The mod can be downloaded from here:  Download SSE NIF Optimizer    A tutorial on using SSE NIF Optimizer can be found here:  SSE NIF Optimizer Tutorial

If you would like more detailed information on converting LE mods to SE you can watch the Dirty Weasel Media Skyrim Special Edition Modding Guides – Mod Conversion Episodes 9 through 12.  Episode 9  Episode 10  Episode 11  Episode 12

How to Proceed

1. Select the armor/clothing mod you wish to convert.  Download the mod and place it in a temporary folder that you have created on your desktop.  Name the folder the name you want the mod to have when it is installed in SSE.  I normally add cnvt to the end of the file name to let me know that the mod was converted.
2. Unpack the mod archive using 7-Zip or WinRAR.
3. Open the mod folder.  If there is a BSA file extract it using BAE.
4. If the mod folder contains a Meshes folder use SSE NIF Optimizer to convert the meshes from LE to SE.
5. Open the .esp file in the Creation Kit and save it.
6. Use 7-Zip or WinRAR to re-archive the mod.  Install the converted mod into SSE as you would install any other SSE mod.
7. Open SSEEdit and load the converted .esp into SSEEdit. Check for any ITMs and/or UDRs.  If any are found, clean them.

You are done.  Congratulations on doing your first conversion.

Caveat

It was covered in one of the tutorials, but I want to reemphasize it.  If you are converting an oldrim Type 43 header, the conversion will only work if all of the master files of the .esp that you are converting are .esm files.  If any of the master files for the .esp file that you are converting is an .esp file, the conversion will not work correctly.  Fortunately, there is a relatively easy solution to this problem - Wrye Bash.  If you don’t already have Wrye Bash installed here is a tutorial for installing Wrye Bash Installing Wrye Bash   The tutorial is for installing Wrye Bash into Mod Organizer.  Installing Wrye Bash into Mod Organizer 2 is exactly the same.  (As of the date of writing this, Mod Organizer 2 is the only mod organizer that can be used with 64 bit games such as SE and FO4.  When Vortex is released it will also be able to handle 64 bit games but the installation of tools will be much different.  Hopefully, Vortex tutorials will become available.)

Expanded Procedures for Creation Kit

1. Place all of the .esp files from the mods that you are converting from Type 43 to Type 44 into your load order.
2. Start Wrye Bash.  After Wrye Bash loads, a little popup window will appear in the center of the screen that shows all of the .esp files in your load order that have Type 43 Headers.  The popup won’t mention Type 43.  It will just refer to an “older version”.  Write down the names of all of the .esp files in the center popup.
3. Now, for each of the .esp files that you wrote down, right click on that .esp file.  In the pop up menu select “List Masters”  You will now see a list of all of the master files for that .esp.  Are all of the master files .esm files?  If yes, your work is done.  That .esp file can be loaded into the Creation Kit and saved without any problem.
4. If you see that one of the Type 43 .esp files has one or more .esp files as master files you have a little more work to do.  Right click on the master file that is an .esp file.  From the menu that appears go down to the bottom and click on “esmify self” and click on the popup that you are an advanced user.  This will change that master file from an .esp file to an .esm file. Repeat this step for all of the master files that are .esp files for that mod.  Be sure to write down the names of all of the .esp files that you esmified.  You will need this list because you will later have to espify all of the files that you just esmified.  Continue going down your list of .esp files with Type 43 headers until you have examined all of the .esp files to see if they have any .esp files for masters files and have made any necessary esmifications.
5. Once you loaded and saved all of the Type 43 oldrim .esp files in the Creation Kit, restart Wrye Bash.  For each of the master files that you esmified you now have to right click on the .esm file and then click “espify self” at the bottom of the menu.  Once you have done this for all of the esmified master files you have finished the Type 43 to Type 44 conversion process.  Congratulations.
6. When you perform part 2. above, some Special Edition .esp files may be listed in the popup window as having Type 43 headers.  This is not uncommon.  Some SE mod authors think that because the mod seems to run OK, that they do not have to convert the Type 43 headers to Type 44.  I have found four such files in the last two days.  I loaded and saved the .esp files in the Creation Kit and then posted a message on the mod page thanking the mod author for doing the conversion and then mentioning that he really needs to convert the headers to Type 44 so that that users of the mod will not suffer random and untraceable CTDs.  So far, I have received two thank you notes from the mod authors.        

UUNP and Bodyslide in SSE

Converting an armor/clothing mod from LE to SE may be all that you need to do.  However, suppose the armor mod meshes are for UNP Skinny and your preference is for UNPBO.  In LE the conversion from UNP Skinny to UNPBO can be done very easily in Bodyslide since LE Bodyslide handles both CBBE and UUNP.  The Caliente folder that worked in LE works perfectly in SE without any changes. Unfortunately, Bodyslide in SE only handles CBBE.  There is no UUNP functionality built into Bodyslide in SE.  There is, however, a way to add UUNP functionality to SE Bodyslide.  This is a bootleg approach and is not sanctioned by the authors of Bodyslide.  However, the bootleg does work and I have used it to successfully convert a number of UUNP armors/clothes to fit my preferred UUNP body shape. Here is a tutorial that shows you how to add UUNP functionality to SE Bodyslide.  The process is actually quite simple.  Adding UUNP to SE Bodyslide Tutorial  Once you have added the UUNP files to SE Bodyslide, SE Bodyslide will work essentially the same as LE Bodyslide.  Have fun.

RaceMenu for SSE

ECE is available as a mod in SSE.  Racemenu is not.  However, if you want to use Racemenu in SE there is an Alpha version available.  See the following tutorial for details.  Racemenu for SE

Rogdonlp