HOWTO: Patch FISSES in Vortex after recent Skyrim update

Like a bunch of other Skyrim players, I’ve been spending the last several days waiting for various mods to catch up, after Bethesda dropped their new update to the game.

FISSES (FileAccess Interface for Skyrim SE Scripts) was the last one I was waiting on, but unfortunately the author of that mod does not appear to have seen calls for it to be updated. So in the meantime, someone else has posted a patch update to their Github. I tried this out tonight and can confirm that yes, this eliminated the last of the error messages I was seeing when trying to load one of my two modded playthroughs.

This post is to document what I did in case it helps anybody else. Please note that I am specifically using Vortex, so if you’re a Mod Organizer 2 user, you are on your own for adjusting these instructions as appropriate for that tool. (But if anybody else gives me information about how to do this in MO2, I’ll be happy to update this post to show that.)

Prerequisites

Do not do anything to FISSES itself in your load order. You will need to keep it present in order for the patch to work.

If you have other mods in your load order that also need updating, you should check those if you haven’t already. There have been updates for other critical mods, including the SKSE, the Address Library, and the USSEP. In particular, you should make sure your SKSE is current.

Step 1: Go to epinter’s Github

The link you’ll want to use to get the patch is here: https://github.com/epinter/fisses-ng

Step 2: Find the release to download

On the right side of the Github page, you’ll want to find the Releases area. I’ve drawn a circle around it and stuck an arrow on it, in this screenshot.

Step 3: Click on the release and download the provided zip file

When you click on the release (it should be hotlinked and clickable), you will be taken to a page that looks like this. The file you want is the zip file, as per this screenshot, where a green arrow is pointing at what you want to download:

Click on that file to download it. It should land in your Downloads folder, wherever that is on your system.

Step 4: Install the file in Vortex

Here are the steps I used to get the file into my Vortex:

1. I did not, repeat, not unzip the file. I just left it as it is in my Downloads folder.
2. I also moved the file to a temporary new location so that my Vortex would be able to see it. This is optional, you do not have to do this. The only reason I did so is that my computer is a Mac, and I needed to put the file somewhere where my Windows VM and my Steam Deck could both see it. If you’re playing on a PC, you should be fine leaving this in your Downloads folder.
3. Then I went to my Vortex. I have multiple profiles because I have multiple playthroughs going right now, so I made sure to activate a profile for one of the two playthroughs where I’m using FISSES. If you have only one load order right now, this is again optional. But if you have more than one load order, make sure you’re on the right one.
4. I clicked on my Mods item on the left sidebar, and then clicked on Install From File on the toolbar. See screenshot for where I’ve circled that and put another green arrow.
5. You should get the usual dialogue you expect to see on your system when you’re opening a file. Go to your Downloads folder or wherever else you may have put the zip file, and select and open it for Vortex to install.

Step 5: Resolve file conflicts between FISSES and this patch

My Vortex then threw an error saying that it saw file conflicts between FISSES and the new patch. It’ll show up as an orange error message up on your right top corner of Vortex. Click on the error when you see it. I can’t show you a screenshot of that right now because my Vortex is already set up to resolve the conflict, and I don’t want to undo that.

However, it’s easy enough to do. And I can show you a screenshot of my Vortex’s rules, once the zip file patch was installed.

Vortex will offer you a chance to use its suggestions to resolve the conflict. Skip that. I tried it, and Vortex was not able to make a decision about this on its own. But all you have to do is make sure that the original FISSES is set to load BEFORE the patch. You should see two lines about this in the dialog, but you should need to change only the first one. The second one will update once you fix the first one.

It’ll look very similar to this screenshot, and in particular the part I’ve put a large green circle around. Make sure your settings look like this, and then hit the Save button to resolve the conflict.

Once you are back on your main mods list, click on the Manage Rules button on your toolbar to get to what I’m showing in the screenshot here. Check what your settings look like against the part I’ve put in the green circle. They should look the same.

Step 6: Lastly, test loading your Skyrim

If this works for you the same way it did for me, then you should be able to load your playthrough without seeing an error message about fiss.esp.

Warning: To be very clear, this will only fix error messages thrown by the unpatched FISSES. If you are seeing any other errors, you will have to take separate steps to fix those. Check the appropriate page on Nexus for any other mods you are running that were impacted by the new Skyrim update!

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions about what I’ve written here!

And huge kudos to epinter for fixing the problem, even with an unofficial patch!