How to Port Basic Outfit Mods Between Both Skyrims
Added 2023-04-23 15:53:03 +0000 UTCI normally try to keep my outfit releases compatible for both games, but SSE has now a much wider userbase, and I need to save some storage space, so I'll be leaving the process tips here to backport any of my outfits to work on LE.
There's 3 things to consider: The plugin (esp/esm file), the meshes (nif) and the textures (dds)
- As I normally don't really change the textures, they should already work for both games right off the bat, but if you ever find a file that has SSE-compatible textures that don't work on LE, you should run Cathedral Assets Optimizer BUT ONLY FOR THE TEXTURES (sometimes CAO is not good and converted meshes are wrong and end up crashing the game). It's a fairly easy to use program that should not require much explanation, just get the requirements, run it on the folder, and convert your textures.
- Now the meshes, are where the biggest compatibility issues are since both games use different types of nif files. Luckily, SSE Nif Optimizer exists. It's even easier to set up, and run than CAO, and produces much better results in porting nif files.
To backport most of my mods past, present and future, you probably only need this. - Finally the plugin file may need conversion, but it's not strictly necessary and can usually work without doing this step. LE reads SSE plugins without issues, at least, the ones that dont mess with complicated stuff like game mechanics or dll scripting. If it's just an outfit, chances are it's compatible. As for SSE reading LE plugins, it might give a warning for "wrong form" but again, if it's just an outfit, ther shouldn't be any issues. If you however do want to get rid of any warnings and maximize your optimization, you can use the Creation Kit. Just load the plugin, and re-save it for whatever game you want, and that's it.
