WABBAJACK README
The 11 Years Of Skyrim Ultimate Graphics ModList
A Wabbajack for Skyrim: Anniversary edition
*** 27-May-2022 Update ***
This Readme Page is from the old BETA, click here to go to the released version of this Wabbajack!
Thank you everyone who helped me to improve the BETA version!
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Welcome to the The 11 Years Of Skyrim Ultimate Graphics ModList Wabbajack!
This is a modlist which is based of 11 years of mostly graphics modding, and finding the collection of mods to get the most realistic feel and graphics. What is unique is that I always created not only a written tutorial version, but also supported everything by video tutorial explanations. This time however for the first time in all these years after so many requests, I can say we finally have a Wabbajack autoinstaller! :)
Normally before Wabbajack the manual installs always took a huge amount of time since people had to download every individual mod, and I had to explain how to do the full guide install mod by mod.
This Wabbajack list is an auto installer for more or less 96% of the entire modlist we are going to use, so this means the install/modding effort has been drastically reduced compared with the previous tutorials! After the Wabbajack only a few manual steps have to be done which can be done in 5-10 mins.
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For the most recent updates, screenshots, and videos, check my Nexus page.
An Instruction Video For All The Steps
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Requirements:
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A clean up to date English version of Skyrim: Anniversary edition , So yes! it requires the Anniversary edition Framework!!!) So in theory Skyrim Special Edition upgraded to v 1.6.x.x should work, but no guarantees on that since I dont have Skyrim:SE anymore, only Skyrim AE with all the CC DLC. Either way, make sure you have updated to the latest version! I didn't care much for AE content, only a big reason is the further engine optimization​ by Bethesda for AE and v 1.6.x.x. Regarding to the REAL Skyrim AE upgrade, You can upgrade from approximately 10 Eur/USD from Skyrim Special Edition to Anniversary edition and get the extra creators club content with some other extras. FYI: All the extra content that is included in the AE can be found here.
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A Nexusmods account.
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Nexus Premium is not necessary, but definitely recommended a lot since you don't need to confirm everything 1 by 1, and have unlimited download speed. Also you can get premium for just a month only if you want to use it just for this Wabbajack/tutorial.
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Minium specs:
CPU: Recent(ish) i5 with decent clockspeed
RAM: 16GB
GPU:  GTX 1080 ti (RTX 2080 or higher recommended!!!!
Or something similar from AMD. Note that in general (older) AMD hardware has a harder time running ENB's and other mods than Intel/Nvidia does. Modern AMD hardware should be more than fine.
HDD/SSD: +-120GB (SSD recommended)
So yes, you do read this correctly! for guaranteed 60+ FPS with all these mods/ENB/ and 4k textures at least a GTX 1080ti is Recommended! And this is for 1080p/1440p. For 4k I would even recommended a RTX 2080 or better! I want to point this out on forehand to prevent disappointing framedrops on older hardware. Indoor locations are usually smooth as butter, but outdoor areas with a lot of vegetation like Riften and Falkreath are very performance heavy with this mod list.
Preparation
Make sure your Skyrim: AE is clean before you start! (If this is your first time modding, you can skip this.)
Steps to uninstall properly:
Get rid of your current mod manager
Make sure to first uninstall all mods from your mod manager you are using. (Nexus, Vortex, or Mod Organizer). In case of Mod Organizer(2) the other data you want to have removed might be located in: X*:\Users\*your User*\AppData\Local\ModOrganizer Where X is your Windows drive, (usually C) and *your User* is your windows user account. In my case: C:\Users\PredCaliber\AppData\Local\ModOrganizer
Get a clean version of your Skyrim:AE
Go to your Steam, right-click Skyrim:SE/AE and select uninstall. Delete the remaining stuff in your \Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition folder. (Save the screenshots if you created some ;) )
Clean ini files
Go to your X:\Users\*your user*\Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition , and delete everything there. If you do NOT have the Steam version, just to be sure to make a back-up of your save game folder. If you have the Steam version Steam should automatically create a backup of your save games in the cloud.
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Installing Skyrim: AE clean
Then once you have a clean sheet and no trace of an old modded Skyrim AE, you can now safely install Skyrim AE again from Steam. Please do not install it in X:\Program Files (x86) or any C:\Windows folder!
Start the launcher, and set everything to max settings in the launcher.
Start the game at least once to create required .ini config files. If you have used mods before this tutorial, you most likely have a modded save game as well. If so, then preferably start a new game to be sure you wont get any compatibility issues. Use that new empty save game to test your mods until the end of the tutorial to be 100% sure you can easily troubleshoot if something might go wrong. (At the end of the tutorial feel free to load your old savegames of course.)
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Installing the Wabbajack list
Experienced modders, just follow the steps below. New modders, lazy people, and
everyone else, just watch the video. Its easier!
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Installing Wabbajack
Create a new folder somewhere, where you will download and save the Wabbajack.exe. Download here.
Please note: Don't create the folder in the Skyrim AE game folder, Program files (x86), C:\Program Files, C:\Users or C:\Windows. Create a shortcut to this folder on your desktop, and create a shortcut to your Skyrim AE game folder as well for quick access. (So your game folder is the \Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Anniversary Edition folder. )
Run the downloaded Wabbajack.exe.
Locate Skyrim Anniversary edition on the gallery and click the down arrow to download the modlist file. In Installation Location select an empty folder that is NOT under C:\Program Files, C:\Users, or C:\Windows.
Do not install this list in your Steam folder, Skyrim AE, or a folder that contains Wabbajack.exe.
The downloads location will auto filled in. This can be changed if preferred, then click the button with the Play Arrow to begin the process.
Accept the Nexusmods API request if asked, after that Wabbajack will now automatically download and install every necessary mod.
If you don't have Nexus Premium, you'll have to manually click download with mod manager for all the mods, but Wabbajack will still install them. When Wabbajack completes you will see either a green Installation Complete screen or a red Installation Failed screen. If successful, proceed with the manual steps after Wabbajack section, if it fails then don't worry and please note the following below:
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If your Wabbajack install fails:
It for sure is possible and even normal sometimes that the Wabbajack install fails a couple of times which can be a bit frustrating. This can happen for example because a certain mod link times out or is temporarily not available to connect. But don't worry, everything is cached so you don't have to start all over again with indexing/compiling if Wabbajack fails. Usually the issue is fixed by just restarting Wabbajack, and run the installer again. Good tip is to go to the settings menu, (its the little gear icon in the upper right corner next to the version nr) and check the box: Use network workaround (slow) . This is more reliable and helps for a lot of people. If you are still experiencing errors when installing, click the logout button for NexusMods in the settings menu, wait 5 seconds, and log back in. The last thing you can try is a PC reboot and then try the above steps again.
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Once finally successful, proceed with the manual steps after Wabbajack section.
DONT START THE GAME YET, IT WILL CRASH WITHOUT THE NEXT STEPS AND MANUAL MODS! SO MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW THE BELOW SECTION FIRST!!!!!!!
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Manual steps after Wabbajack
Experienced modders, just follow the steps below. New modders, lazy people, and everyone else, just watch the video. Its easier!
Manual steps:
Oke, 96% of all the mods are now being installed, but we still need to install some mods manually which are not in our Wabbajack list.
Don't worry however, this will not take longer than 5 -10 minutes max. (Not including download times for the big mods ;) )
After a lot of hard trial and error compiling the modlist I decided to make my entire Wabbajack modlist Nexus mods only for now, and the few files hosted elsewhere to require a manual install. This since other mods hosted on sites like ModDB and Google drive had a very hard time compiling and failed almost all the time, and with that I had the same with installing the compiled Wabbajack as well for working testing purposes. (Almost 50/50 failure) In theory these external sites can be handled as well with Wabbajack just fine, but I personally had many issues compiling and installing them, resulting in an almost constant failure.
Open the following :
1: Your Skyrim AE main game folder located at \Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Anniversary Edition folder
2: The MO2 program in the installed files from the Wabbajack, called ModOrganizer.exe
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1: Installing Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE).
Download SKSE from here, (Select AE edition! 1.6.x.x.) , and install it like you normally would install SKSE. (Watch the video if you don't know how)
2: ENB files and SSE Engine Fixes
Download the following mods, and copy the files to your main game folder:
- Download the ENB binaries here, then open the archive and copy and paste d3d11.dll and d3dcompiler_46e.dll to your main game folder.
- Download The Perfect PredCaliber Approved ENB Cocktail here. Also here copy the files from the archive to your main game folder.
- Download from this mod SSE Engine Fixes the file (Part 2) Engine Fixes - skse64 Preloader and TBB Lib here. After that copy and paste the files from this mod to the Skyrim AE main game folder.
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4: Non Nexus Hosted Mods
These last couple of files are hosted on external sites. Like mentioned before: While Wabbajack can handle external hosted mods, they were not reliable during compiling and installing. Google Drive files also comes with limited bandwidth. I do notice especially with a tutorial release that sometimes the bandwidth is being used up for that day pretty fast, and its very annoying if Wabbajack fails just for these files. If you encounter Google drive bandwidth limitations or other issues, I will create some mirrors for these files. To notify me: please join our Discord or send me a PM directly on Discord here.
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Download these 4 parts from Skyrim Realistic Overhaul, 3 main parts and 1 patch.
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Skyrim Realistic Overhaul Part 1
Skyrim Realistic Overhaul Part 2
Skyrim Realistic Overhaul Part 3
Skyrim Realistic Overhaul 1.8 Update
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Install them like you normally would in Mo2. Once done, Ctrl click all 4 files to select them all, and drag and drop them to the top between the mods: Auto input switch, and particle patch for ENB.
like this:
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Skyrim 2021 Patch Wabbajack modlist
- Skyrim 2021 Patch - Download the mod, add and activate it in MO2 and drag it in between the mods: Rally's Riekling Outposts and JS Lockpicking UI SE. Like this:
Plugins Sorting:
The last step then is to sort these plugins. Go to MO2, go to the plugins tab, and click 'sort'. Press yes and let MO2 do its work. (see below)
In the plugins section then drag and drop the Folkvangr and Origins Of Forest .esp plugins almost at the end of the load order, just above Alternate Start- live another life.
Once done, I usually always reboot my PC just to be sure to have cleaned everything from my Windows tasks and RAM
Thats it!
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Oke, that should be it regarding Wabbajack and the post steps! Good practice now is to make sure to disable Steam overlay, and make sure you put the Skyrim AE auto-update on hold. The reason for this is that SKSE and some other mods will stop working, and need to be updated again, and that can take days. Yikes! So, make sure to disable updates in Steam. Do that by going to Steam, rightclick Skyrim:Special Edition , select properties, updates, and select only update this game when I launch it. We will launch game only with SKSE from MO2, Steam does not see that as a 'game launch' since Skyrim.exe or Skyrim laucher.exe are not being launched. While this should work fine, please also check out this extra method to make sure your game can not be updated anymore.
Setting ''only update this game when I launch it'' in Steam:
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To launch the game from now, make sure to only start the game after this with the SKSE64_loader in MO2!
You can create a shortcut to desktop as well. its the icon at the right side. (See second screenshot above from the plugin sorting)
For the most recent updates, screenshots, and videos, check my Nexus page.
For my Youtube channel, go here.
For questions and much more, join our Discord here.
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Liked the content? Please consider a donation. :) All the tutorials, Website, video content, Discord, and the rest is pretty much a full time job for me x2. But I will NEVER put my content behind a paywall like some other modders do!!!
Have fun with the game!
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F.A.Q
Q: Will this work with Skyrim Special Edition instead of only Anniversary Edition?
A: Note that Skyrim Special Edition upgraded to 1.6.x.x. is considered as Anniversary Edition already. The *real* purchased Anniversary Edition only contains extra Creation Club content and some minor other things. A full overview of the extra content that is included in the Anniversary Edition can be found here.
Q: Can I run other (gameplay) mods with this mod list?
A: Yes, install on top of this graphics modlist in MO2, and make sure they are compatible with the AE framework. (1.6.x.x)
Q: How are LOD's being handled? Are we not using DyndoLOD or SSELODGEN?
A: All the LODS are downloaded and generated already during the Wabbjack So running SSELodgen or DynDOLOD is not needed per se.
Q: Can I run this with CPU xx and GPU xx?
A: Check the system requirements section at the start of this readme.
Q: I don't like the realistic camera shaking and the adjusted combat.
A: In Mo2, just uncheck the mod: Combat Gameplay Overhaul SE at the end of the installed mod order