That is entirely valid reason to not using a modlist. Little reason paying 10 euros to install couple tens of mods.

It took me quite a lot of fiddling to get Wabbajack working on Linux, even though I used an installation script for it. Almost gave up, but eventually managed to install Nordic Souls with it. Jackify, which is an evolution of that very same installation script, is waaaay easier.

I am not the OP of the other post. But they did find another solution that worked for them (SteamTinkerLaunch + Vortex), and edited their post with the information.

Maybe add [SOLVED] or something to the post title so that others know you found a working solution.

I’d say the main reason to spend the money is simply the sheer number of mods available. For example, say you want to improve the graphics to bring it closer to today’s graphical quality. How many mods do you need to install? You need mods for models, textures, animations, and you need them for characters, enemies, animals, buildings, terrains, etc. Then you also need ENB or Community Shaders, and all the required mods. That’s easily tens or hundreds of mods just to make the game look prettier. Are you going to investigate what all mods you should install, and then download, install and configure everything one by one? With a modlist, that’s 10 euros and one click, and you get more than just prettier graphics.

The easiest way to mod Skyrim on Linux is to install a modlist with a tool called Jackify. See my other comment for a guide. Downloading modlists will cost one month’s subscription fee to Nexus Mods, but it saves a lot of time and effort.

Mods typically have very limited scope: they often do only one small thing. And they have dependencies, and the dependencies might have dependencies. To install a mod, you need to install all the dependencies, and then you need to set them up correctly. You’ll end up reading a novel’s worth of install instructions and spending hours upon hours of your time for all of that.

Using Jackify configures the Wine/Proton prefix so that the modlist, Skyrim and ModOrganizer2 works more or less correctly. Modlists can contain hundreds of mods, and all you need to do is pay the subscription fee and Jackify takes care of the rest.

I briefly tested Jackify, and it seems to be a great tool. I’m not able to fully test it because I don’t have Nexus Mods subscription. But, I was able to test it with my old Nordic Souls files.

Guide to modding Skyrim on Linux by using a modlist:

1. You need Nexus Mods subscription to download modlists.
2. You most likely want to have Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, otherwise modding will be challenging because many mods requires it.
3. Launch Skyrim normally, and if you have Anniversary Edition, let it download all Creation Club Content (CC Content). Do not Alt-Tab out of Skyrim, or it will interrupt the download. The game will claim it downloaded everything, but you’ll miss some of the CC Content. If you get any errors about files that have the letters “CC” in them, this is your problem.
4. Once the CC Content is downloaded, close Skyrim.
5. Head over to Jackify Releases. Download the latest Jackify.AppImage.
6. You might need to give it executable permission. You can typically do this by pressing the second mouse button over the icon, go to Properties -> Permissions and look for the option that says executable. Or use chmod +x /path/to/Jackify.AppImage.
7. Place Jackify.AppImage where ever you want to and launch it.
8. Go to Modlist Tasks -> Install a Modlist.
9. Select Skyrim as the game, and pick one of the Modlists. If you are out of ideas, and you have a decent computer, try Nordic Souls. Note, that you cannot combine modlists, but you can install more mods if you want to.
10. Change install and download directories, so that they have the name of the modlist in them (create new folders, for example).
11. Under the Nexus API field, there is a link. Click it, scroll to the bottom to Personal API Key section, hit the Request API Key button and copy-paste it to the API Key field. You might want to read the warning on the Nexus site, and decide yourself if you want to trust Jackify. Jackify team is planning to implement a better way to do this, but it is what it is for now.
12. Click Start Installation button, go brew some coffee, make a dinner, wash your clothes and come back to see if the installation is finished.

Once the installation is complete, Jackify adds the modlist to your Steam Library and configures the proton prefix. Make sure you are using Jackify 1.6.2 or newer, or the prefix configuration will likely fail. When you start the modlist, it will launch ModOrganizer2. Hit the big Play button to launch the game.

Nordic Souls defaults to ENB for its graphic improvements. On my old Nordic Souls, it doesn’t seem to start, or it takes a very long time. Nordic Souls also comes with Community Shaders, which does the same thing. In the latest Nordic Souls version, there is a separate profile for ENB and CS. Change it from top left corner of MO2.

If you get “too many open files” error during modlist installation, you need to edit /etc/security/limits.conf and add this line to it: your_username hard nofile 524288 and then relogin, or restart.

Once you start a new save file, avoid changing the mod and plugin load orders (left and right side lists) in MO2. Doing so might break your save file, and fixing it will be difficult, because you probably won’t remember the old order. Also, never uninstall or upgrade a mod, unless you are sure doing so is safe. This too can break your save file. Re-installing a mod once something has broken might not fix it.

You can install more mods using MO2. Always read the instructions given by the mod author, and follow them to a T. Pay attention to things like dependencies, incompatible mods, load orders. If the mod author doesn’t mention which of the two load orders they mean, it’s most likely the mod load order (left side).

If a mod comes with different versions for AE and SE (Anniversary Edition, Special Edition), you most likely need AE version of it, if you are using AE. Otherwise, SE and AE are the same, and both should work for AE.

Some modlists, such as Nordic Souls, will downgrade the Skyrim version to something like v.1.5.97. If a mod has versions for different versions of Skyrim, pay attention to this. Check the Skyrim version from the main menu of Skyrim.

It looks like Jackify is the answer you are looking for. It’s a tool for Linux users to install Wabbajack modlists and set up everything needed. Wabbajack is a Windows tool to install modlists for various games.

You could install mods for Skyrim one by one, but that is going to take many, many hours and at least one whole bottle of painkillers for the headaches it causes. A better solution is to download an entire modlist, and Jackify looks to be one stop solution for that. Just install and run it, choose modlist, wait for it to download and install, and just sit back and enjoy. I recommend Nordic Souls, which is about 1300 or so mods. It is a great modlist, but be warned that it takes several minutes to launch Skyrim with that modlist. To install modlists, you will need a paid subscription for Nexus Mods.

Also, make sure you have Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, or modding is going to be way more complicated.

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention that, yes, I did set up and play modded Skyrim (Nordic Souls) under Linux. But, I did it the hard way by installing SteamTinkerLaunch, ModOrganizer2 and Wabbajack. Wabbajack, especially, was problematic under Linux. But, once everything was set up, it was smooth sailing.

Xbox consoles have been mostly sold out in Finland. Some retailers still have some stock left, mostly Series S, but it seems that Microsoft has exited Finland.