


Runs great, zero issues over 50+ hours on an OLED. I LOVE playing this game on an handheld, almost feels like game was made it for it.

Mods, SKSE, launcher exe is replaced by skse exe
Left trackpad is changed to button menu with tilda and on-screen keyboard
if you disable shaders via the teofis
command, a non-disappearing outline appears around the health/mana/stamina bars
if you manually open the on-screen keyboard and then close it, the game crashes. But this can be fixed if the game itself can open the keyboard, for example, when creating a character, the game asks you to enter a name. But it is easier to do this through the creation club: it has a search function that will open the keyboard

40hz refresh rate, TDP limit of 10
Game crashed when bringing up onscreen keyboard to name my character at the start of the game.
Used this workaround from Reddit user ThirdEyeClarity:
"Before loading your save (or starting a new character), open the Creations menu, press LB to search, close it, then load your save. It shouldn't crash when closing the virtual keyboard now, but you will need to do this every time you play.
The keyboard doesn't automatically appear in the Creations menu while searching if you use the SteamDeck=0 %command% Launch Option. So you will need to remove the launch option for this to work."

Buuut, if you'd rather use the touchpads as mouse inputs (as I prefer using them over the right thumbstick), put the following code as a launch option (Properties>General>Scroll down to launch options) -
SteamDeck=0 %command%
Otherwise the game does not allow you to use KBM inputs.
PS. With this launch option enabled, there will be a small window which opens up to set the graphic settings, but that can easily be navigated by pressing the Steam button + right touch pad to go ingame.

No voice lines play, and some weapon audio is out of sync.
Crashes if it tries to load a save.
Crashes on death due to trying to load an auto save.
Roll back by holding the button with the three dots on startup and select previous Steam Os version.

Works good out-of-the-box but performance and battery life is iffy without tweaking. After tweaks to improve those it's basically perfect.
SteamDeck=0 %command% (re-enables the launcher so graphics settings can be changed, you can safely remove this command once you're done changing settings so you don't have to navigate the launcher everytime)
40fps cap, medium graphics preset, 9W TDP limit. The game defaults to the Ultra preset (if you go into the launcher at least) which dips down to below 30fps in some areas.
The game has uneven frametimes in certain areas that don't go away no matter how many settings are changed. It's a minor issue and you probably won't notice it unless you're looking at the performance overlay.
The game pulls a lot more power than necessary so if you want better battery life you'll have to set a TDP limit.
It just works. Mostly.

Renamed exes to bypass launcher
Renamed TESV.exe to SkyrimLauncher.exe
Occasional crackling when waking from sleep
Bypassing launcher is not necessary, but useful if playing with only a controller.

Launch option SteamDeck=0 %command% used to access the launcher to change graphics settings. Steam deck support was added by skipping the launcher on steam deck - making changing graphics settings impossible
When reconnecting an external controller, the controller is not detected

Los botones A, B, X e Y están mapeados a los botones de atrás del Deck.
40fps con batería al 10, sin problemas.
El texto en si es legible, el problema viene a ls hora de girar los ítems para resolver puzzles.
Se ve muy bien. Responsivo e imersivo, excelente juego.

I played many hours with mods and without problems when using version 3.4, but now the game crashes in a pattern, it freezes slightly, the screen goes black for a few seconds and the image comes back frozen for a while longer until the steamdeck resets to Testing installation screen.
Since this problem appeared I reinstalled Skyrim and tested the standard version without mods, and the same problem happens, the game crashes before completing Helgen's tutorial in a random time.
Now with the new Skyrim update, the same problem happens but when it crashes it returns to the Steam library.

Vanilla works ootb, MO2 can be installed and configured with one script file, non-perfect but *it just works*.
https://github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer
No extra tinkering needed on Steam's side.
(Due to a recent game update breaking several critical mods, I haven't been able to play the game modded. Will update here if I can remember to.)
Before going for MO2, I played a while on my vanilla cloud save. The game applied new graphics settings automatically and everything works perfectly.
MO2 can be installed by simply running the aforementioned script. Within MO2 Deck controls seem to stop working but touchscreen still does, so a keyboard may be helpful if you are still tinkering with your mods.
Nemesis requires extra configuration to work. Exact path will depend on your installation.
ln -s "/home/deck/Games/MO2/modorganizer2/mods/Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine" "/home/deck/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition/Data/Nemesis_Engine"
# And keep the 'Start In' field blank

Great experience, had no issues related to the Steam deck or Linux, only good old Skyrim bugs (mostly crashing in odd places every few hrs)
Changed L4 to quicksave
Sometimes for like 5 seconds when starting the game audio starts to crackle a bit during the Bethesda logo part, but it doesn't impact gameplay at all as it mostly stops when the buttons appear
Very rarely some crashes, but it is Skyrim so what do you expect

Lower the cpu watt to 12
Needs mouse input, use touchscreen
When running in high settings recommended by the launcher the fps jumps between 20-50 fps. Setting settings to medium gives a smooth 60fps
Bethesta
Just lower the settings to medium and the game will run very smooth on the deck

The launcher requires touch screen usage. Doesn't work with gamepad.
It's a pity that the launcher doesn't work with the gamepad controls. Otherwise this game feels like it was made for the Steam Deck.

Отсутствие звука решается выбором совместимости Proton-6.21-GE-2

I turned it to 40 HZ in handheld mode to save battery life, but is definitely playable without it. Constantly runs 60 FPS if you do medium settings in-game.
Sometimes mouse and keyboard input is not recognized when playing through Desktop mode. Fixed this by using the "Keyboard and Mouse" preset in the Steam input settings for the game.
Slight performance problems on the Steam Deck when pushed up to Ultra settings, was a little laggy and stuttery.
You're probably going to want to mod this game. It takes a few extra steps compared to Windows but it's not too bad. I recommend starting with modorganizer2-linux-installer by rockerbacon on github. https://github.com/rockerbacon/modorganizer2-linux-installer
Performance is pretty good on the steamdeck even with a couple dozen graphical improvement mods. Don't be expecting 60fps but it's not a slideshow either.
Steam Tinker Launch & Mod Organizer 2
L4 to running, L5 to crouch, R4 to jump and R5 to primary weapon
Graphics set to high and refresh rate set to 50Hz
Game sounds would start crackling after I resumed the device. Pause Games plugin for Decky Loader solved this issue.
Apart from Skyrim being a Bethesda game? Not really, no.
Modding the game is a bit of work since you can't use workshop but once you set it up, it's a smooth experience. I may even finish the main story this time.
Enable Right Trackpad as mouse to manage the launcher everytime you launch the game. Also mapped L4/R4 back grip buttons to L3/R3 for stealth and camera perspective, L5 to Keyboard F5 for quick-saves and R5 to mouse left click.
40 FPS & refresh rate cap, for 10W, very good battery life.
Protontricks is only being used to enable use of Mod organizer 2.
On Steam Deck the resolution on books is piss poor for some reason...they're legible but barely.
Minor Pixelation and resolution issues.
Had to turn graphics down from ultra to high because the game would experience frame rate drops outside.
I only had to do minor tinkering to install MO2 and SKSE, and now I can enjoy the same modded experience I enjoy on my desktop PC on the go.
Uses ModOrganizer2 - details listed in https://goondeckwiki.com/goondeckwiki/index.php/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim
Modded Skyrim runs smoothly even with 150+ mods. This is after running the Downgrade Patcher to bring Skyrim down to 1.5.97. I can confirm also that Nemesis and Mator Smash both work when run through ModOrganizer2.
I've really enjoyed it, runs as if it were designed for the console and I've had a lot of fun with it. Haven't had any issues.
There's a delay in the sound and crackling
Works great out of the box. Medium settings are 60fps indoors and 45-60 outdoors. 3 hours average battery life.
I'm really impressed with how well Skyrim SE can run on deck. Out of the box it's a bit choppy, but a little configuration goes a long way.
I've been playing the game on High Preset with the screen refreshrate set to 40 Hz. This provides very consistent frametimes throughout and nets around three hours of playtime on battery.
Use of the touchscreen is needed to interact with the games launcher. The launcher is used for graphics configuration as well as launching the game.
Made right trackpad mouse input
40hz 40fps
100% worked perfectly out of the box, the tinkering I did was more about personalization than anything. I only changed to GE Proton because I was having a crash issue but it turned out to be a mod related issue not proton. I then just never bothered to change back to the default which had prior to that worked perfectly as well. I run now with closer to about 50 or 60 mods (previously spent a lot of time with ~30) and have not noticed any bugs beyond what they also cause on my windows desktop. The performance is smooth and reliable.
Use right trackpad as a mouse
40hz and 40fps is perfectly sufficient and gets way better battery life
Flawless experience out of the box except for battery life. But 40fps 40hz is still smooth as butter and drastically improves battery life. I even ran it with about 30 mods and it ran beautifully. The only reason I made the right trackpad a mouse is because a few times, after using a console command, it had switched into keyboard and mouse mode and I had to go into the settings to turn the controller back on, which was obviously easier with a mouse input ready to go. Otherwise, no issues at all.

Touch screen or touchpad shortcuts needed to press play
Setting graphics to medium in the launcher yields consistent 60 fps. Renaming the game executable to SkyrimSELauncher.exe also removes the need to interact with the launcher. Functions with mods once I added them.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition runs like a smoother console game on the Steam Deck
i added in commands so pressing the back grips would pull up the console in game (possible by making a ` command combined with a shift sub command)
Running the game is as easy as installing it.

Game crashed with a strange error when I went into the Creation Club the first time, however this did not happen again and I was able to add my content with no problems.
Various different launch options
After almost 5 hours in game, and countless hours out of the game trying to fix it, nothing works.
Bethini.
Bethini preset set to medium with recommended tweaks enables. Important as default Skyrim medium presets causes framedrops into the 40's. Increased view distance to around two thirds.
With these settings, game runs at a near locked 60fps. Without them, game tends to dip into 50's frequently and occasionally 40's.
Game runs fine, although, would recommend installing the unofficial patch to play the game considering how this game can be pretty broken as is.

The launcher can be controlled by touch controls.