Introducing Tuxborn, the first Wabbajack Modlist specifically designed from the ground up with the Steam Deck in mind!
The Modlist is currently in an early Alpha Stage, so support will be minimal at best during this time while we develop the Modlist. If you wish to chat about Tuxborn, join the Aetherius Modding Discord , grab the Tuxborn role from Channels & Roles and look for us in the #txbn-general channel. Or if you just want to chat about Wabbajack Modlists on Steam Deck/Linux in general, then drop by the #unofficial-linux-help channel of the Official Wabbajack Discord.
Tuxborn was created to fill a gap in the Wabbajack Modlist landscape – A Modlist that specifically targets the performance profile of the Valve Steam Deck. While there are other Wabbajack Modlists that can be made to run on Steam Deck (a lot of our inspiration comes from the likes of Septimus, Redoran and Eldryn), most lists usually require some modification to get the performance or compatibility desired on the Steam Deck – With Tuxborn, the aim is to have that out of the box, with no additional modifications necessary.
Tuxborn supports only the Anniversary Edition of Skyrim on Steam, updated to v1.6.1170. You must own Skyrim Anniversary Edition to run Tuxborn.
Tuxborn balances enhanced visuals with smooth performance, ensuring an immersive experience optimized for the Steam Deck's screen and resolution. Our curated selection of mods seamlessly integrates high-quality content, all while maintaining our commitment to keeping frame rates smooth.
Using the brilliant Anvil Modlist as a base, Tuxborn creates a balance of game fixes and QoL improvements, a carefully selected mix of Enairim and Simonrim gameplay changes, and a performance-focused selection of graphical enhancements across the board.
As we work through the development of Tuxborn, future versions will include additional or overhauled Quest Content, Extra Weapons and Armours, and more!
Downloading a Wabbajack Modlist gives you everything you need - you do not need to install ModOrganizer yourself, or copy mods to the Vanilla Skyrim directory, everything is already done for you!. Use the ModOrganizer.exe file located in the Install Directory you select in Wabbajack to start and launch the modlist.
A full list of mods included in the list can be found on the Load Order Library page, but as a brief overview, Tuxborn utilises the following:
Gameplay Changes (Simonrim): Blade and Blunt, Mysticism, Thaumaturgy, Apothecary & Stormcrown
Gameplay Changes (Enairim): Vokrii, Mannaz, Freyr, Sacrilege, Growl & Apocalypse
Gameplay Changes (Levelling): Tuxborn utilises Static Skill Levelling that changes the way levelling is handled. After gaining a level, you will be presented with a menu to select the skills you wish to level up. A better description can be found on the Nexus mod page, but essentially instead of gaining Skill XP as you use skills, you gain level XP. Once you level up and sleep, you can allocate points to the skills as you wish - no more min/max'ing, or casting the same spell over and over to level up a specific skill!
Visual Enhancements: Skyrim AIO, Cathedral Weather and Seasons, Happy Little Trees, Community Shaders (CS and Desktop Profiles), Azurite Weathers and Seasons (Desktop Profile)
NPC Changes: We have been careful to enhance the visuals for NPCs throughout the game world, without going for the "supermodels everywhere" look.
Miscellaneous changes:
Tuxborn includes the Pronouns mod, allowing you to select your preferred pronouns. As per the mod page details
Selecting they/them pronouns could prevent you from completing certain quests that don't provide gender-neutral dialogue alternatives. To combat this issue, I've developed the Pronouns Patcher, which allows They/Them players to default to fallback pronouns in those cases. Run the Pronouns Patcher via xEdit, then set your fallback pronouns in the MCM.
We've done the xEdit bit for you, but you will still have to set your fallback pronoun via the MCM in-game.
As noted above, this Modlist is designed for the performance profile of the Steam Deck, but that doesn’t mean it’s limited to that device! It’s also a great, lightweight list for less powerful systems. There are three Profiles included that you can choose from depending on your performance desire, or system used (if not the Steam Deck): Tuxborn – Deck: This profile aims for a locked 40FPS experience on the Steam Deck. Tuxborn - Deck CS: This profile aims for a locked 30FPS experience on the Steam Deck, but with the additional visual benefits of the Community Shaders mod and profile. Tuxborn – Desktop: This profile is for slightly more powerful PCs, has a full Community Shaders suite, higher INI settings, and uses Azurite Weather instead of Cathedral Weather. Performance of this profile will depend on your system specs.
Please Note: Due to the need for shader cache building on the Steam Deck, there may be a noticeable stutter in the first 1-2 hours while the cache builds. It should be good after that.
For best results, you should consider fully uninstalling and reinstalling Skyrim from your Windows system prior to installing the Modlist via Wabbajack. This will ensure that there are no additional, unneeded or unclean files that could interrupt or make the Wabbajack installation process fail.
For the actual modlist install, it is strongly recommended that you have a Nexus Premium account, otherwise you will need to manually download each of the mods, when prompted by Wabbajack.
For both the installation via Wabbajack and playing the modlist (either on Windows or on Steam Deck/Linux), you will need to have launched Vanilla Skyrim at least once, and have downloaded all the Anniversary Edition Creation Club content from within Skyrim. Failure to do so may result in the modlist install failing, especially due to the mismatch of Curious naming versions.
Downloads for Tuxborn are currently ~90GB, and the resulting modlist install size on disk is ~160GB, so you will need at least a total of 250GB free disk space on your Windows system to download and install Tuxborn. If you are transferring and playing on Steam Deck, you do not need the Downloads directory, only the Install directory, so you will need at least 160GB of free space on the Steam Deck or SD Card.
As it stands, the Wabbajack application must be installed and run on a Windows system, it cannot be installed on Steam Deck/Linux directly.
On your Windows system, install Visual C++ x64 & .Net Runtime v5desktop x64 – these are required to run Wabbajack.
Download the Wabbajack application from here and place it in a folder such as C:\Games\Wabbajack – Do not place it in Program Files, Downloads, or on your Desktop.
Download the .wabbajack file from the Tuxborn Nexusmods Page. This will download a 7zip file archive with the .wabbajack file contained within. Extract it somewhere easily accessible.
Open Wabbajack, and click the “Install from Disk” option.
Browse to where you downloaded and extracted the Tuxborn.wabbajack file, select it, and click OK.
Enter the details for where you want to store the Modlist Installation and Downloads directories - do not select a directory in Downloads, Program Files or on the Desktop - use something like C:\Games\Tuxborn instead.
Click the Cog icon in the top-right of Wabbajack, then 'login' next to the Nexus Mods button and enter your Nexusmods account details.
Once ready, click the Play button in Wabbajack to begin the Wabbajack process.
Downloading any Wabbajack Modlist can take a while - how quickly it completes will depend on the speed of your internet connection and processing power of your PC.
If you are going to be playing on a Windows system, you can skip ahead to Starting the Game.
Once the Wabbajack download and install process has completed successfully in Wabbajack, you will need to transfer the data to your Steam Deck or Linux system. There are a number of ways to do this – you can see a few options on the Omni-Guides Github here <GUIDE COMING SOON!>.
After transferring the data to the Steam Deck, follow the few steps here that will configure things for you automatically by running the automated install script.
(Alternatively) If you prefer, you can manually configure the Modlist on Steam Deck/Linux by following the steps in the manual Tuxborn guide, here.
As detailed above, there are three MO2 Profiles to choose from. Select the profile you want to use in the top left of MO2.
To start the Modlist, make sure “Tuxborn” is selected, and then click Play!
Tuxborn makes use of the Optional Quick Start mod - this means that you can skip straight to the end of the cave exit from Helgen and create your character there, skipping the introduction. IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT CHOOSE THE VANILLA START, this can lead to the cart flipping all over the place and other exciting issues.
After making your Character, PLEASE WAIT until there are no longer any notification messages show in the top-left of the screen.
When no more messages are displayed, exit the cave and loot the chest that awaits you outside, then continue you with your adventure!
There are no MCM options that need to be altered before you start playing. If desired however, you can load the included SmoothCam Preset.
Beyond Reach - At level 25 in a large city in Skyrim
VIGILANT - After level 25 and House of Horrors in the Windpeak Inn
GLENMORIL - After level 25, Discerning the Transmundane, At the Summit of Apocrpyha and Act 4 of Vigilant at the maingate of Falkreath
UNSLAAD - After level 25, Dragonslayer, At the Summit of Apocrpyha and Act 4 of Vigilant by touching the doll in the High Hrothgar courtyard
Gray Cowl - After level 10, be the dragonborn and finish the thieves guild. Steal something to start.
Moonpath - Part of Lotd, will start when collected enough for the museum
Moon and Star - After the Way of the Voice in any settlment in Skyrim
AHO - Visit the Braidwood Inn and investigate a suspicious orc at Mixwater Mill
Helgen Reborn - At level 20 and after Bleak Falls in any Settlement in Skyrim
Forgotten City - At level 25 in any settlment in Skyrim
Undeath - At level 30 with Enchanting 50 and Conjuration 75 look for a note in the Silver-Blood Inn
The Wheel of Time - Other side of the river of the Riverwood mill
If the follower/quest isn't listed above, please can check the orginal mods page for how to start.
To file a bug report, you must have NO ADDITIONAL MODS OR HAVE MADE ANY CHANGES TO THE MODLIST. Always include which profile you are running (Deck, Deck CS or Desktop)
CTD/freezing - Please include the following information:
- Is it repeatable or not?
- What where you doing at the time, where are you, with whom?
- Which proton version have you selected (If running on Steam Deck/Linux)?
- Always include the crashlog in Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition\SKSE or /home/user/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/$APPID/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition/SKSE/crash-$DATE.log if on Deck/Linux. Protontricks will tell you the $APPID.
- Where possible, include your nearest save game. This can be found in Tuxborn/Profiles/[Profile Name]/Saves
World conflict/Weirdness
- Please Include at least one screen shot.
- Is it just ugly or does it get in the way/break something?
- Make a new save and include it the report. Save games can be found in Tuxborn/Profiles/[Profile Name]/Saves
Broken Quests
- Does reload a earlier save and redoing it fix the issue?
- Make sure it's broken and that you are not just missing something.
- What were you doing at the time, where are you, with whom?
- Did you do anything weird before hand or use setstage in the console?
- Make a new save and include it the report + plus your most recent save before that. Save games can be found in Tuxborn/Profiles/[Profile Name]/Saves
Before updating please backup your saves and CharGen presets, just in case. Repeat the same steps with Wabbajack from the Installation section, but make sure you toggle on the “Overwrite Existing Modlist” checkboxin the bottom right.
Unless otherwise stated, generally Modlist version 0.0.X updates are save-safe, any others are not.
Omni and Ouroboros would like to thank the entire Wabbajack community for being so awesome, but with a special mention for Althro, Cacophony, Arnold, Foamimi, colinswrath and Diana TES GotH, who have been a great help in us getting this far.
