Skyrim mods come in two kinds: official Creations inside the game, which work on PC and consoles, and community mods from Nexus Mods, which you install on PC through a mod manager such as Vortex or Mod Organizer 2. Some mods also need SKSE. This guide helps you find your way around, shows which SKSE build you need, explains why it doesn’t work with the Game Pass version and what mods do to achievements. Current as of 19 October 2026, for the Special Edition and the Anniversary Edition.
Creations: official mods in the game
The easiest route is the in-game Creations menu. It has free mods as well as paid content, and you can also browse it on the Bethesda Creations website. Paid content used to come out through the Creation Club, but that ended on 5 December 2023 and was replaced by the Verified Creators programme. Bethesda regularly announces new paid Creations on Steam; on 25 June 2026, for example, it was Heart of the Mountain, Sigil of the Fallen and A Secret Beneath the Ice.
Update 1.7.99 from 20 August 2026 was the game’s first big update in two and a half years. It added bundles and a “Most Popular” category sort to the Creations menu. On consoles it raised mod storage to 15 GB (PS5 and Xbox) and roughly 16 GB (PS4). What else you can do on PlayStation and Xbox is covered in our guide to console cheats.
Mods and achievements
Before you install anything, know this: mods in the Special Edition disable achievements and trophies, on PC and consoles. Official Creation Club content doesn’t. Since update 1.7.99, Creations from Verified Creators can carry an “Achievement-Friendly” (Xbox) or “Trophy-Friendly” (PlayStation) label. Those won’t disable achievements, but they require a new game.
If you only want to tweak something now and then without installing mods, console commands on PC may be all you need.
Nexus Mods and Steam Workshop
The biggest library of community mods for the Special Edition and the Anniversary Edition is on Nexus Mods. The Special Edition has no Steam Workshop; only the original 2011 Skyrim had one.
Watch out for mods made for the original Skyrim as well. They have to be converted for the Special Edition, because it uses a different plugin and archive format, and the original Creation Kit doesn’t work with the Special Edition. On Nexus Mods, always download from the Special Edition section.
Vortex: the official manager from Nexus Mods
Vortex is the mod manager from Nexus Mods. According to the official guide, you download it on NexusMods.com via Mods > Get Vortex, and the “One-click installer” is the recommended option. One more tip before you start: launch Skyrim once and get to the main menu, so the game creates its.ini files.
There’s one Vortex setting to keep an eye on. The Mod Staging Folder, where Vortex stores your mods, must be on the same drive partition as the game. If Skyrim is installed on drive D:, that folder has to be there too.
Load order matters with mods. Mod authors usually say in the description where their mod belongs in the order, so read it. It also helps that ESL plugins don’t count towards the 255-plugin limit.
Mod Organizer 2
Mod Organizer 2 is a community-made, open-source mod manager that supports 64-bit games like Skyrim Special Edition and Fallout 4. It’s an alternative to Vortex. For installation and setup, follow the project’s own documentation; we don’t give a separate walkthrough here.
SKSE: what it is and which build you need
SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender, SKSE64 for the Special Edition) extends the game’s scripting. Some mods require it, for example SkyUI, which the official Vortex guide uses as an example. With SKSE installed you launch the game through its loader, which mod managers can handle for you.
The key point is that the SKSE build has to match your game version. According to the official SKSE page, as of 19 October 2026:
| Edition and store | Game version | SKSE build |
|---|---|---|
| Anniversary Edition, Steam | 1.7.104 | 2.3.1 |
| Anniversary Edition, GOG | 1.6.1179 | 2.2.6 |
| Older Special Edition | 1.5.97 | 2.0.20 |
| Skyrim VR | 1.4.15 | 2.0.12 |
SKSE does not support the Microsoft Store / Game Pass version or the Epic Games Store version. If you play through Game Pass or Epic, mods that depend on SKSE won’t run.
After every game update, SKSE plugins stop working until their authors update them. If the game crashes after a patch, SKSE advises removing the Data/SKSE/Plugins folder. So it’s worth checking whether your favourite mods already support the new game version.
How much your edition matters
Mods work in both the Special Edition and the Anniversary Edition. The main differences are the extra Creation Club content in the Anniversary Edition and the game version your SKSE build has to match. What each edition includes and costs is in our Special vs Anniversary comparison. From the community scene, we’ve also covered the King of the Murkmire mod.
Join our Discord to get help from players who mod Skyrim themselves: GamersTogether Discord.
FAQ
The easiest way is the in-game Creations menu. For community mods from Nexus Mods, download the Vortex manager via Mods > Get Vortex and make sure the Mod Staging Folder is on the same drive as the game.
No. SKSE supports neither the Microsoft Store / Game Pass version nor the Epic Games Store version.
As of 19 October 2026, SKSE 2.3.1 is current for the Steam Anniversary Edition (game 1.7.104) and SKSE 2.2.6 for the GOG version (game 1.6.1179).
Yes, mods disable achievements in the Special Edition. Official Creation Club content doesn’t, and neither do Verified Creators’ Creations labelled Achievement-Friendly, which require a new game.
No. Only the original 2011 Skyrim had Steam Workshop. For the Special Edition, use Creations or Nexus Mods.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are waiting in our Skyrim guides section.