Hi all,

I am looking to get a second-hand SteamDeck at some point in 2025, primarily to play Skyrim SE with mods. I’ve played a lot of Skyrim on console over the years and am at the point where I want to play with a few mods.

I’ve seen that it’s possible to mod Skyrim SE on a SteamDeck but I’m aware that there’s a limit to the hardware and wanted to sense check with the community in case anyone has had any experience. I’m not interested in graphical mods, mostly expanded content and some quality-of-life mods which help with RP’ing and some immersion.

My question: does anyone foresee any problem with any of these mods running on the Steam Deck?

  • Moonlight Tales
  • Frostfall and Campfire
  • Immersive Armors
  • Immersive Patrols
  • Cloaks of Skyrim
  • True Thane SE
  • Civil War overhaul or Open Civil War SSE
  • Vanity Mirror SE (or equivalent)
  • Multiple Followers

I’d also maybe be looking into a player home.

Any help appreciated, ta.

  • jaxiiruff@lemmy.zip
    1·
    4 days ago

    I dont mod on my deck anymore but when I did I had around 250 mods installed with a lot of similar or exactly the same as yours. Ran pretty well with the resolution changed so FSR got enabled, I think it looked alright and got around 45FPS.

    Also if you find modding to be difficult with the other tools recommended already try this new one called limo it seems to be a really great option not many are aware of yet.

  • bruhSoulz@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    4 days ago

    If u werent able to getba mod organizer work and are really dsesperate, u can try using the default skyrim launcher if u have that, it has a built in load order organizer and u can use it to manage ur things as a last resort

    • Red Magpie@lemmygrad.mlOP
      2·
      4 days ago

      That’s really good to know, thank you!

      Just a question, since I am definitely not experienced with PC gaming. Is the default Skyrim launcher different to that found on Steam?

  • gwysibo [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    5 days ago

    Can’t say for sure (there’s always a chance some mod or other is horifically optimized) but these look like they’d be fine. Skyrim was originally designed for 0.5GB of ram and SE for 8GB (PS4/XOne), the steam deck has 16GB unified memory so you’ve got headroom to add extra textures/objects npcs to the loaded space. I remember playing a lightly modded FNV run on the deck at solid 60fps, also some unmodded F4 at 40-60fps depending.

    The real issue you’re going to have is using a mod manager through a translation layer like WINE - there’s easy installers available, but there’s still a layer of finicky-ness to them. Once you’ve got it set up right though, it’s just one more click (or tap) to get to the game. On that note - while it’s possible to use the touchscreen to install mods, I wouldn’t recommend it :P

    • Red Magpie@lemmygrad.mlOP
      2·
      5 days ago

      Thanks so much for the swift reply, and the incredible info.

      Yeah I’ve never modded games before (I’m techie, but not that into games) but there’s a few tutorials knocking about which has made me confident that I can manage to wrap my head around it.

      Thanks again this was incredibly useful :-)

  • Maiq@lemy.lol
    1·
    5 days ago

    I suggest using ModOrganizer 2. As far as I’m aware there at least 2 good projects that make it easy to install.

    1: steamtinkerlaunch which does a great job of making sharing game instances with the same MO2 install by using symbolic links. It also has a bunch of options to tweak your games under proton. You can easily build the latest version from the instructions on his github.

    2: MO2 lutris which you have to install onto each game instance (pfx). I used this one for years and it works great too. It used to be really easy to install with Lutris.

    There might be more options out there. These are just the two I have experience with. Both work great. I currently use STL.

    I should also note that I don’t have a deck but I’d be willing to bet they would both work well.

    Edit: I should also note that I jumped the gun and wrote this before reading more that just your headline. As far as the mods you listed I can’t see them being too much of an issue as long as you stay away from high resolution textures.

    • Red Magpie@lemmygrad.mlOP
      2·
      5 days ago

      Fantastic info, thanks so much; they both look great and this is an amazing headstart into modding the game.

      Thanks for the reassurance re the mods I’ve listed as well. My thinking was the same as yours in that I’m not after anything graphically intensive, but I didn’t know whether the engine had some quirks which flooded RAM if there were too many assets included in some mods, or whether some well-known mods were infamous for chewing up CPU cycles with borky scripts which would result in an unplayable game on the Deck.