Skyrim SE Silently Fails to Launch from Stellar Mod Loader

[zauberparacelsus]

I've been unable to launch Skyrim Se at all from the Stellar Mod Loader. I've tried both with and without SKSE installed or enabled, and I've tried with or without the steam ID set. I've also tried launching via command line to see if I could get any console information, but it was completely silent.

Installed on Manjaro Linux via the AUR package.

[lVlyke]

Are there any error messages in the app.log file (in the app's root directory)?

[zauberparacelsus]

do you mean .config/stellar-mod-loader? There is no app.log file there

[lVlyke]

I haven't used the AUR package but I just checked and it looks like it actually writes it directly to .config.

[zauberparacelsus]

Yeah, looks like it is. I think I'm gonna uninstall it and use the official builds directly.

But for right now, app.log only gives this output:

[2025-11-08 22:41:12.873] [warn]  (electron) 'session.getPreloads' is deprecated and will be removed. Please use 'session.getPreloadScripts' instead.
[2025-11-08 22:41:12.876] [warn]  (electron) 'session.setPreloads' is deprecated and will be removed. Please use 'session.registerPreloadScript' instead.
[2025-11-08 22:41:16.847] [info]  Running game action:  skse64_loader.exe

[lVlyke]

That seems pretty typical. Just to clarify, is the game just failing to launch when using the “Start Game” button in Stellar, or does it also fail to launch when run directly from Steam?

[zauberparacelsus]

It only fails from the Start Game button in Stellar. Launching from steam works just fine.

[zauberparacelsus]

Anyways, I've tried getting things going from a few different angles with the official release build, but had no luck.

[lVlyke]

I see, in that case it’s actually expected behavior. The default launch action in Stellar just launches the game’s executable directly from the OS. Since Skyrim requires Proton on Linux, running the executable directly doesn’t work and silently fails. This admittedly is not obvious, and it’s something I’m planning to address in a future release.

However, Stellar does not actually require that you launch the game via the “Start Game” button for your profile to take effect. This differs from some other mod loaders, i.e. MO2, as mods stay active as long as the profile is currently deployed. So you can launch the game from Steam and the mods for your deployed profile will still be active.

Things do get more complicated when using a script extender like SKSE. What I generally do is add a new non-Steam game to my Steam library that points to the path of skse64_loader.exe (should be in the same directory as SkyrimSE.exe). Then in ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata, look for the newly created corresponding directory that was created for the SKSE Steam library entry. If you just added the game entry it should be the newest folder.

You can then use the name of that folder (it should be a numeric ID) as the Custom Steam Game ID in your Stellar profile. Your mods will then be active whenever you launch SKSE from that Steam library entry. There’s a bit more info in the README here.

[lVlyke]

Also, though it’s not required, it’s worth noting you can get the Start Game button working in Stellar by using a custom game action. First, in Steam, right-click the SKSE game entry you just created and then create a desktop shortcut (under Manage > Add desktop shortcut). The shortcut will have a format like steam steam://rungameid/1234567, you can get the right ID by inspecting the file properties of the desktop shortcut.

Then in Stellar, click the dropdown arrow on the right of the “Start Game” button and click “New Action”. Give it a name and use the desktop shortcut command as the action. You can then use that action to launch the game from Stellar directly.

[zauberparacelsus]

Well, I've tried all that. However, launching SKSE through a custom steam entry comes with a bit of a quirk.

Namely, it creates its own separate proton prefix on my system's primary drive, whereas Skyrim and its proton prefix are on their own dedicated SSD.

[zauberparacelsus]

Fixed that, I had to add STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH to the steam SKSE64's launch options to make it use the same compat path as SkyrimSE. Now it's all working!

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.