Development On SKSE64 On Hold

[sh1ny 186]

I know it’s overdue, but here’s the news (or, rather, the lack of them):

In a nutshell:

Quote

Development ‘might’ continue once human capital with the right skills become available.

Rumor has it that development on SKSE64 is on hold due to a lack in skills, time and motivation. More specifically, progress seems to be halted due to a lack of understanding in reverse engineering skills regarding “x86/x64 assembly and C++ structure alignment”.

Spoiler

 

expired6978, on 20 May 2017 – 9:39 PM, said:

“…Programming isn’t what we need for SKSE64, we need reverse engineers who understand x86/x64 assembly and C++ structure alignment. I don’t believe switching to git would bring anymore people in. It would likely just bring in more need for management (i.e. Peer Reviews).

If you’re interested in contributing your reverse engineering skills, all you have to do is submit a few alignment fixed classes to show us that you’re capable. You don’t even need to know x64/x86 for this, you just need to understand structure alignments and C++, this is essentially where I started 6 years ago…”

Development ‘Might’ Continue

Some more background is shed on the matter by a member of the development team, in where is stated that several team-members are occupied with other responsibilities, including the Fallout 4 Script Extender (F4SE).He furthermore anticipates development to continue once new human capital is attracted or when personal motivations and agendas allow for it — but specifically says “don’t count on it, and do not assume any release schedule”.

Spoiler

 

Ok, to shed a bit of light on the current situation, here’s a brief overview of the people that were involved with SKSE and their roles:
Ian builds the core infrastructure and decodes the fundamental game systems. Most of his work happens when the game is released. He is the essential developer behind the script extender, but as you would expect from a person that skilled, he has a job and very little time.
He sticks around to do the game updates and packages releases, but he doesn’t have the time to do all the grunt work that comes with adding high-level features.

Behippo handles decoding the game classes (that’s lots of tedious work) and adding core script functions. He is a busy guy, too, so most of his work happens after release (at least for SKSE it was like that).

These guys do the groundwork, but they do not create mods themselves (or even play the game extensively). This makes it harder for them to come up with actual script functions to add.
The people best suited to do that part are the ones who have mods that require those functions. They know which functions and parameters they need and they have the mod set up the actually test those functions themselves, tweak them, etc. And that’s how it should be IMO. We cannot expect two people who have been around for 10+ years to still do all the work. It needs people from the current generation of modders to step and contribute.

For SKSE, these roles were filled by Brendan and me. Event-based input, Papyrus-ActionScript communication, mod events, the extending Equip functions, serialization, etc. – those were things I needed for SkyUI, they did not exist yet, so I added them. I was a student at the time, so I had lots of free time and I was highly motivated. Same goes for Brendan, he added even more stuff for RaceMenu (I would list it, but I don’t know the details).

In summary, it was two devs for the foundations, and two for the high-level features (though these roles are generally flexible). A good mix of people with experience but little time and vice versa.

SKSE64 development worked pretty much the same so far. Ian and behippo did their thing, the foundations are more or less done. But Brendan currently focuses on F4SE as I understand and I am no longer active now (that was clear from the start). Behippo had planned to take on the task of porting the functionality required for SkyUI as you know, but so far that did not happen. It doesn’t surprise me at all, because I know that if I had to do it all over again, except with the drastically reduced amount of time I have now, I would not have been able to either. Porting existing functions is a bit less work than starting from scratch, but he still has to figure out many things for the first time because he did not originally add all of them.

So at the moment, there’s not much going on. What could happen eventually:
– Brendan moves on to SKSE64.
– Behippo returns.
– I return to port SkyUI (and the required functions in the process).
– Ian gets mad and decides to do everything by himself in one hour 
– Others decide to get involved and help.

But don’t count on it, and do not assume any release schedule.

 

Development Thread Closed

We notice that many users are complaining about the fact that it’s been months since the release of Skyrim Special Edition and SKSE64 has yet to be released. Do note however that as with most mods, these developers work for free in their spare time to deliver a product to the public on a voluntarily basis.

We should consider it a privilege and luxury if we will ever get to enjoy it in the first place… In fact, according to the forum, “irrational and hostile behavior from users”  made moderators close the development thread!

Help Us Bethesda

We don’t understand why Bethesda isn’t helping out. They could integrate SKSE64 in their official product, which in turn allows for more (complex) mods, making for a much better product.

They can view it as a simple opportunity to boost game sales, while in fact its a massive opportunity to boost their reputation and enhance customer loyalty.

Even without a monetary standpoint, it could be a great way to show how much you care about the community. We could all get to enjoy the 64-bit Skyrim Special Edition for what it truly is, while waiting for the next Elder Scrolls.

Source
Invisible Entity: http://invisibleentity.com/entertainment/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/2017/06/development-skse64-on-hold/
Nexus Mods: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/5206865-wipz-skyrim-script-extender-skse64/

[SavrenX 10,317]

No Skse...No Racemenu...No SAM...no Sexlab... for sure i will forget SE for now.

[Donnerskinde 13]

Spoiler

SKSE 64 is in alpha now, so that means the above should all start to fall in line! Yaaay.

 

 

[sh1ny 186]

@Donnerskinde Yeah, to the delight of the author of these lines.

[Naurdor 232]

I don't think it's feature complete so not all SKSE mods have the required functions in place yet but it's a huge step forward.

[BringtheNoise 2]

Currently SkyUI and Racemenu do work but do not have additional slider support (so no Citrus, UUNP, SAM, etc).

Also the SKSE racemenu export and import presets do not currently work.

In game morphing does not work as NiOverride is not available in the current version of SKSE64 (alpha build SKSE64 for the Creation Club version).

It will take time for the Hooks to be implemented into SKSE64. Then DLL's (SKSE64 plugins) and ESP updates will be needed for NiOverRide to allow changing the shape of the mesh in game.

Also I'm not sure if any of Vector's "back end" work can be converted over for the Schlong adjustments in game (I hope they can... I miss SOS, and Sam type cock control in game on SSE).

 

So in a Nut Shell as of the first part of October 2017. SKSE64 needs to get out of Alpha and into Beta and needs the Hooks and Plug-in's for NiOverRide before the good stuff can start happening (in game body morphing, in game height adjustment, etc).