PC Accidentally bought Legendary edition instead of special edition

[Shamansharvest]

Hey guys, decided today i will finally get into skyrim after years of pondering. So what happened is I just bought the skyrim legendary edition, but then i realized they made the special edition and it looks so much better and i love the changes in effects and lighting and realism it claims to have.

Should I boycott LE and buy SE now or can I download mods to make LE as good as SE? For me beauty of the open world is everything.

 

[Reaper24]

Well to my understanding you can still download pretty much any kind of mod to make it look better. Really all the stuff SE has you can get with mods. It's nothing special other than Bethesda milking Skyrim for every penny its worth. Just stick with the legendary edition.

 

[Hart]

There are far more mods available for LE than there is SE, and I have heard a lot of things about SE not being so much different, and it having just the same amount or even more bugs than the original.

SE wouldn’t even boot on my computer, and there are plenty of ENB’s out there that can make it look like LE is SE. nothing really changed, just how it looks.

Overall, LE has more options and bug fixes available, and a bigger variety of mods to choose from.

 

[Hart]

Side note: it doesn’t take a lot of mods to make it look beautiful. I have 4-5 and those are just basic ones like tree texture and size, and weather and sky modifiers.

 

[Shamansharvest]

Thankyou gentleman for your replies. Wow! So I had a look at these mods you talk about and I am blown away. This should be awesome now Thabnks

 

[LoreAbidingCitizen]

Shaman download an ENB for Skyrim LE and some texture packs and it will look as good as, if not better than SE.

Here is a tutorial for ENB installation:

Its a little bit more complex than your standard mods to install but still quiet straight forward.
Have fun!

 

[reddragon72]

First and foremost, the SE version is ok but I love having the ability to add the mods I want to LE.

Second and the most important!! SE is not supported by a lot of DLC's. Lordbound is a huge DLC coming in a few months and it supports LE and the original release only, they say they might support SE later but it is not a focal point for them. Bethesda's three DLC's are in the LE edition so no worries there and it is compatible with all the fan made DLC's, where as SE is not(at this time). I bought SE and didn't notice much of a difference but did when I seen a bunch of MOD's that just weren't compatible.

Stick with the LE version and mod it if you want it to look better.

 

[alceryes]

I, personally, would go with SE instead. I have been playing Skyrim (and then LE) ever since it came out. I switched to SE last June and never looked back.
The visual improvements of SE include shadows, lighting, lens flare, colors, god rays, occlusion, water, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting. There is also a boost in foliage (most noticeable in towns and cities). SOME of these improvements can be created (or simulated) in LE with mods but not all of them. SE also uses a 64-bit engine as opposed to the 32-bit engine used in LE. This allows for better memory handling/usage and more functional actors at a time in any given cell. SE is also widely accepted as being more stable than LE.

 

[LoreAbidingCitizen]

I, personally, would go with SE instead. I have been playing Skyrim (and then LE) ever since it came out. I switched to SE last June and never looked back.
The visual improvements of SE include shadows, lighting, lens flare, colors, god rays, occlusion, water, and probably a couple more I'm forgetting. There is also a boost in foliage (most noticeable in towns and cities). SOME of these improvements can be created (or simulated) in LE with mods but not all of them. SE also uses a 64-bit engine as opposed to the 32-bit engine used in LE. This allows for better memory handling/usage and more functional actors at a time in any given cell. SE is also widely accepted as being more stable than LE.

SE is definitely more stable and as you said Benefits from the advantages of the 64 bit engine.

However I think and when I last checked the status of SE mods (correct me if I’m wrong) that there are far more mods available on LE and a lot of popular mods are not being ported to SE due to the authors moving on or whatever reason.

It really depends what your looking for in the game I suppose. If you want a highly modded play through LE is probably the better choice for now.

However SE does have its advantages, stability, graphical enhancements etc. but to be honest certain things like number of functional actors is likely not a problem you will face often, if at all within the game, especially vanilla.

Skyrim is a great game though and will be a blast on either version.

 

[reddragon72]

I can tell you that I do notice a few things here and there for the graphics but LE still looks great and a few mods that you can pick and choose to make it "prettier" is a boon.

And again the biggest sway is the mods that will never support SE and the big add-ons that (DLC's) that "may" support SE in the future just isn't enough for me to say SE is better.

But to each their own, but for me it is LE.

 

[alceryes]

However I think and when I last checked the status of SE mods (correct me if I’m wrong) that there are far more mods available on LE and a lot of popular mods are not being ported to SE due to the authors moving on or whatever reason.

You are correct. LE has always, and will always, have more mods than SE. SE has made some strides though. With the SKSE64 now out, SkyUI and a host of other mods that relied on the MCM have made it to SE. For me, once Skyrim Immersive Creatures made the leap to SE, it was golden. Sadly though, there are dozens (hundreds?) of good mods that will never be ported over.

 

[Delusional]

I would stick with LE. There's more mods available for it.

 

[DrunkenMage]

I go with SE, and if there are any mods I like on LE I just port them for myself. Game runs smoother, handles better.

Porting isn't that hard, you might find a tricky one every so often. But that is what Youtube is for.