I just bought and downloaded the DRM free install of gog because my universiry internet sucks, so downloading that version was a no brain, but i'm having troubles running the game with mods, it seens no mods loads! Sky UI refuses to load in the game even with the right SKSE installed (assuming that the anniversary edition is the one to use with the gog since it marks as a gog release).

Does anyone is having this problem with mod loading too ? Mods that replace models seens to work just fine and small change mods works too, but everything else just doesnt load :C

The problems seems to be related to the folder structure: If you use Vortex, for instance, it creates the files
loadorder.txt
plugins.txt

under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition\; the GOG version however seems to read from a different folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition GOG\

Vortex probably needs to be patched to account for the difference in the folder naming, but in the meantime copying manually the two files above in the second folder should do the trick (probably need to copy again every time you install/modify mods in Vortex)

Thank You So Much!

I was so close to figuring this out; was even in the local app data folder checking the files, and saw there was another Skyrim GOG folder. Troubleshooting at 1am isn't ideal though lol.

Thank you for the simple fix; anyone using this should give feedback to Vortex as well.

From the announcement at the Vortex site there is a version of Vortex (1.6.12) that will be released very soon that will work with the GOG version. I think I will wait a few days with installing until that version is released.

[Edit]
Vortex version 1.6.12 is already released (actually, version 1.6.13 is just released with some bug fixes), so we do not have to wait for that one.
[/Edit]

Also from the same page is the following announcement about SKSE:

"We have ensured that the Silverlock team behind SKSE have been a part of the conversation leading up to the release and GOG has generously given them early access to the build, so you can expect a GOG-compatible SKSE release in the next few days."

So it seems we just have to wait a few days to get this all sorted out. After that modding will become just as easy as on the Steam version. I do not use Creation Club stuff, so I cannot comment on that one.

For your information. Here is the link to the Nexus page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14753

Vortex seems to be fixed, but MO2 still suffers from this. Is there not an ini / cli option for this? I tried using Windows 10 symlinks, but that oddly didn't work.

We might want to open an issue for MO2, too: https://github.com/ModOrganizer2/modorganizer/issues

Hopefully SKSE plugins get updated soon. After the past couple of updates Steam side, I'm sure they aren't too happy about yet another update just to get GOG's version working.

SKSE already got a GOG update: Anniversary Edition build 2.2.2 (game version 1.6.659)

Download here: https://skse.silverlock.org/

I assume the Anniversary Edition also works for the Special Edition, but I have not tested it yet (see below).

By the way - I noticed that the GOG installer for the Special Edition creates a Anniversary Edition folder. A bit strange and a bit confusing too if you ask me. Maybe I have to sort this one out...

It worked, turns out that was the problem, just a silly folder name >_<

If you happen to change your mods quite often (like install a new one or disable\enable a few of them from time to time) you can create a junction for "Skyrim Special Edition" folder, to do so:
1. Move the content of "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition" folder to "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition GOG"
2. Delete "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skryim Special Edition" Folder
3. Open CMD (command prompt) as adminstrator. to do so, you can press WinKey + R, type "cmd" and press CTRL + Shift + Enter
4. Enter the following command in CMD:
mklink /J "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition" "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition GOG"
Doing this ensures that the content of these 2 folders remains exactly the same, as "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition" folder actually doesn't exist and is a link to "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Skyrim Special Edition GOG" folder.

Thank you, creating a junction saved me literally HOURS while installing mods. Just don't forget to also create another junction towards the folder in "My Games" (i.e., " \Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition GOG")

Again, thank you!

Thanks from me, too, @VRAISSS . Saved me lots of time cutting and pasting!