Installing GTS

Before you start: which Skyrim you need

• Revision 118 is built for Steam's Skyrim Special Edition on game version 1.7.104. Have that Steam update installed before you start.
• The Anniversary Edition Upgrade is optional: GTS installs without it. But Vortex asks everyone at the end whether to install about 119 optional files, and those are only for players who own the Upgrade. If you play plain Special Edition, say no.
• Do not downgrade Skyrim yourself. GTS now does the switch to the older game version for you every time you play. If you downgraded for an older GTS, let Steam update the game again.
• Use the Steam copy of the game. GTS's script extender is the Steam build, and the version switcher only knows Steam's own game files; the script extender's readme says the Epic and Microsoft Store (Game Pass) versions are not supported.
• Leave Skyrim's own files as Steam installed them. The switcher checks every file it changes against the exact original and will not work on a file that differs, so don't clean the master files yourself or replace them with someone else's copies.
• GTS is a Vortex collection, so you need Vortex and a Nexus Mods account. Nearly every mod comes from Nexus Mods.
• The collection asks Vortex to install it into a new profile. Say yes, so GTS doesn't mix with mods you already have.
• Set the game's language to English in Steam.
• Start the game once from Steam before you install anything, so it sets up its own files and settings.
• If you own the Anniversary Edition Upgrade, download its content in the game first: on the main menu, if it doesn't offer to by itself, go to Creation Club, then Options, and download all the Creation Club content you own.
• If you have used mods on this copy of Skyrim before, clean out the old mod files first: Jay's page points to a video on how.
• A Nexus Mods Premium account is strongly recommended. GTS works without it, but then Vortex makes you download each of its nearly 2,000 mods by hand, one click at a time.
• Plan for about 160 GB of free space: roughly 58 GB of downloads plus about 100 GB for the installed mods. Once the install has finished you can delete the downloads.
• The version switcher keeps its working files in a folder called .runtime-swapper in the Steam library that holds Skyrim, and on some PCs a recovery copy in AppData's Local folder, under Modding Forge. Its instructions say to leave that storage alone, so don't delete either.
• If you use Mod Organizer 2 instead of Vortex, there's a Wabbajack version of GTS in the Wabbajack app.

While Vortex installs

• In Vortex, open the Dashboard and make sure Profile Management is switched on. Then click "Add to Vortex" on GTS's collection page, and pick "Create New Profile" when Vortex asks.
• Jay's advice is to leave Vortex alone while it works: don't click around, and carry on past any error messages it throws up. Let it finish on its own.
• It is a big job: 1,976 mods and 2,176 plugins, every plugin switched on. That count includes the Anniversary Edition files; 264 of the plugins come from them.
• Most mods install in one long first pass of 1,856. A single mod, the Soul Cairn paper map, is held back and installed in a second pass after everything else, so don't stop Vortex when the first pass seems to finish. The collection already holds the choices for that mod's installer.
• One mod, Maxsu's Block Overhaul (block-hit animations), comes from GitHub rather than Nexus. The collection holds a direct download link for it (a 0.65 MB file), so you shouldn't need to fetch it by hand.
• At the very end Vortex asks whether you want the optional files, whatever edition you have. Choose to install them ("Install all" or "Install Optional Mods") only if you own the Anniversary Edition Upgrade; otherwise choose "No thanks". Saying yes on plain Special Edition is a common way to end up with a broken install.
• Get that answer right: the optional files need the Anniversary Edition's Creation Club files to load. For example, the Menagerie pet overhaul needs four Creation Club pet files and one more Creation Club master.
• Three of GTS's mods go into the game's main folder, next to SkyrimSE.exe, instead of the Data folder: the script extender, Engine Fixes' preloader and the Runtime Swapper. Vortex puts them there itself.
• GTS also changes some of Skyrim's own settings files through Vortex: no intro logo video, the game keeps running when you alt-tab, 90 field of view, saving when you pause, longer view distances, and NPCs using up their arrows. Setting

Launching the game

• Always start GTS from Vortex with the Skyrim Script Extender 64 tool, which runs skse64_loader.exe. The script extender's own readme says the game must keep being started through its loader for it to work.
• Before the first launch, open Vortex's Dashboard and set the Skyrim Script Extender as your primary launcher, so Vortex's own Play button starts the game the right way.
• Don't start the game from Steam's Play button or by double-clicking SkyrimSE.exe. That skips the script extender, so most of GTS's code mods never load, and the game files on disk may be Steam's 1.7.104 ones that GTS doesn't run on.
• The collection's launch tool was saved pointing at Steam's usual folder on drive C. If your Skyrim lives somewhere else, check in Vortex that the tool points at your own game folder.
• When you launch through the script extender, the Runtime Swapper steps in first. It turns your 1.7.104 game into the 1.6.1170 game GTS's mods are made for, after making a checked backup of the files it changes. On one PC this took about two seconds.
• It changes ten files: SkyrimSE.exe, the Skyrim launcher, Skyrim.esm, Update.esm, the three DLC masters, the Interface and Shaders archives, and the Anniversary farming file if you have it.
• As a bonus you play on cleaned masters: Update and the three DLC masters (and the farming file, if present) are the cleaned 1.6.1170 versions. Skyrim.esm itself is left uncleaned. You don't need SSEEdit for any of it.
• After you quit, the swapper usually puts Steam's 1.7.104 files back: on one PC its log showed a restore for every session it switched, each taking about three and a half seconds. With the game on an external drive it doesn't: it swaps once for good, 1.6.1170 stays on disk and the log shows no restore.
• On Linux with Proton Experimental, the swapper may not run unless you add WINEDLLOVERRIDES="version=n,b" to the launch options of whatever starts Vortex or the script extender. Setting

What you'll see the first time

• The first launch takes longer than later ones. If it seems stuck loading, the game most likely wasn't started through the script extender: close it and start it the way described above.
• The game opens in borderless full screen at your own screen's resolution. GTS's display settings turn on borderless mode, and GTS's Auto Resolution reads your monitor's resolution as the game starts and writes it into SSE Display Tweaks' settings, so you don't need to set it by hand. Setting
• GTS's display settings cap the frame rate at 120 (60 on the main menu and loading screens) with VSync off. You can change these in SSE Display Tweaks' settings file. Setting
• There's no Bethesda logo video at start-up, and the main menu's built-in mods (Creations) entry is turned off. Setting
• GTS ships a ready-made shader cache for Community Shaders (over 3,400 files) with the disk cache switched on, and Community Shaders' first-time setup screen is already marked as done.
• Community Shaders' menu opens with the End key. Esc is set as the key to skip shader building. Setting
• When you first finish character creation in a new game, GTS's setup runs by itself once. It applies Jay's menu choices for 18 mods (End Times, Dirt and Blood, Survival Control Panel and others). After that they're ordinary menu settings you can change.
• A quick way to check that Engine Fixes' preloader works: the log it writes in your game folder (d3dx9_42.log) should end by saying it loaded Engine Fixes and SKSE Menu Framework. A line before that about failing to search a DLL plugin folder appeared on a working PC too.
• There's no compass, no sneak eye and no marker for you on the map. That isn't a fault: the compass and sneak eye are unlocked by perks as you play (and your map marker comes back with the compass), and Story Mode at the start of a new game turns them on straight away. The Help page has more.

When something goes wrong

• The swapper only accepts the exact 1.7.104 files. If you downgraded Skyrim by hand for an older GTS, let Steam update it again. If Steam has moved past 1.7.104, this swapper can't switch the game; see the Help page's topic on the game not being on the Skyrim version GTS needs.
• If the script extender reports the newer game version and the swapper shows no message and writes no log, the swapper didn't run. On Proton, add the launch option above; on Windows, check that Vortex has put version.dll, SkyrimRuntimeSwapper.exe and SkyrimRuntimeSwapper.Native into the game's main folder.
• The swapper writes its own log, SkyrimRuntimeSwapper.log. On one PC it was in Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\SKSE, next to the script extender's logs. Each launch should show a switch to 1.6.1170 and each session a restore, unless the game is on an external drive, where there's no restore.
• Your antivirus flags skse64_loader.exe: the script extender's authors say it's a false alarm caused by how it loads into the game, and you may need to add an exception.
• Missing-master errors or a crash before the main menu right after installing: check your optional-files answer. Saying yes without the Anniversary Edition Upgrade leaves plugins that need Creation Club files you don't have. See the Help page's topic on crashes at start-up before the main menu.
• The game starts but GTS's code mods seem absent: you probably launched from Steam or SkyrimSE.exe. Start it again from Vortex's script extender tool. If a code mod is still missing, see the Help page's topic on a DLL plugin being off.
• Most plugins show as switched off in Vortex after the install, or plugins are missing from a crash log: the Help page has a topic for each (most plugins switched off; plugins missing from the crash log).
• The game starts without the script extender even though you launched it from Vortex's tool: the script extender's readme suggests running skse64_loader.exe as administrator, and warns this can run the game as another Windows user whose load order would then need copying.

Updating to a new revision later

• To update, use Vortex's Collections tab and its Update button, and say yes when it offers to remove old mods. When you then load a save and the game asks about missing content, answer no to the first question and yes to the second. The Help page's topic on updating to a new revision has the rest.
• Jay's notes for revision 118 say it's safe to update to from revision 105 or later.
• Don't stop Steam from updating Skyrim to the version a revision asks for, and don't switch to a different Runtime Swapper package yourself: its instructions say only one may be on, and the original game must be restored with the old package before you change.
• GTS stays on script extender 2.2.8 on purpose: the newer one needs the newest Skyrim program, while GTS runs the game as 1.6.1170, which 2.2.8 supports.

From base GTS 118's own files: the records as the game uses them, the mods' own settings files as Jay's collection ships them, and GTS's own menu setup. Each line was read by one reader and checked by a second. A line marked Setting is a menu or settings-file option: what it says is the default. Your own add-ons can change any of this.