“SkyUI is certainly essential for Skyrim.” That was the first line of our December 2012 review, and the reason was Skyrim’s own interface: two lists side by side and a lot of wasted screen space on a PC. SkyUI rebuilds the inventory, barter, container, magic and favorites menus, and it adds the Mod Configuration Menu that hundreds of other mods use for their settings.
SkyUI is still maintained. For years the Special Edition file was 5.2SE from October 2017. SkyUI 6 arrived on Nexus Mods in March 2026, and the current main file, 6.11, went up on May 5, 2026. The Nexus summary now reads: “Upgraded with full support for all modern game versions.” The SE page counts more than 26 million downloads.
This is a refresh of our old SkyUI review. Nobody here has played Skyrim with SkyUI 6 for this update. Every fact below comes from the official SkyUI and SKSE pages and from Bethesda’s patch notes, checked on October 16, 2026.
What SkyUI changes
The SkyUI Team says the goal “never was to re-create the complete interface from scratch”. Instead it fixes the menus that need it and keeps the look of the original, so the new parts do not stand out.
Inventory, barter and container menus
- One large item panel replaces the two-list layout, with icons instead of a text category list.
- Extra columns such as weight, value, damage and armor rating. Click a column to sort by it.
- Status icons for stolen, enchanted and poisoned items.
- Full-text search through your items.
- Barter and container screens use the same panel, with a tab for each side. Barter shows your carry weight, and the container controls are changed so you no longer hit Take All when you meant Store.
Magic and favorites
The magic menu sorts spells by skill level, cost, duration or magnitude, and shouts by level and recovery time. The favorites menu gets three extra filters (gear, aid and magic) and eight item groups. A “Group Use” puts on the armor, drinks the potions and equips the weapons and spells in a group at once, and you can bind each group to a hotkey.
Map search and active effects
The map menu gets a search box that filters your discovered locations and centers the map on the one you pick. Active magic effects can show as icons in the HUD, with a timer bar for effects that run out, so you do not have to open the magic menu to check them. The effects HUD is optional.
Mod Configuration Menu
The Mod Configuration Menu, MCM for short, is the part other mods depend on. It is a settings screen inside the pause menu, under System, where each mod can add its own pages with sliders, checkboxes and color pickers. Each mod gets up to 128 pages of up to 128 options.
Why it needs SKSE
SkyUI runs on the Skyrim Script Extender, SKSE64. The FAQ explains why: without it there is “no text input, no MCM, no extended item data, no active effects icons, no new favorites menu”. A version without SKSE would have “almost no features left”.
Versions and game support
| Game | SkyUI | Released | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skyrim Special Edition and Anniversary Edition | 6.11 | May 5, 2026 | SKSE64 for your game version |
| Skyrim Special Edition (old file) | 5.2SE | October 3, 2017 | SKSE64 |
| Skyrim, the 2011 original | 5.1 | August 18, 2015 | SKSE 1.7.3 or newer |
The SkyUI 6 file notes list three game versions: 1.5.97, 1.6.1170, and 1.6.1179 for GOG. The page promises “full support for all game versions from Steam and GOG”.
On August 20, 2026, Bethesda released Skyrim update 1.7.99 on Steam, the first game update in more than two years. SKSE’s current Steam build, 2.3.1, is for game version 1.7.104. The SkyUI 6.11 file notes were written before that update and do not name a 1.7 version. Before you update the game, check the SkyUI files tab for a newer note. Our Special Edition vs Anniversary Edition guide explains the version numbers.
SKSE does not support the Game Pass (Windows Store) or Epic Games Store releases of Skyrim, and consoles cannot run it. No SKSE means no SkyUI, so it is a mod for Steam and GOG only.
How to install SkyUI
The SkyUI page recommends a mod manager over the in-game Creations menu. These are its steps for Vortex. If you use Mod Organizer 2 instead, our Mod Organizer 2 guide covers it.
- Find your game version. The SKSE page lists one build per version.
- On the SKSE64 Nexus page, download the build for your game version with Mod manager download, and let Vortex install it.
- On the SkyUI page, click the Vortex button to install the main file.
- Start the game from the Vortex dashboard, so that it runs through SKSE.
- Open the pause menu and look under System for Mod Configuration.
The manual way
Extract everything inside the top folder of the SKSE archive into your game folder, the one that holds the game’s exe file. Extract the SkyUI main file into the game’s Data folder. Start the game with skse64_loader.exe, open the Creations menu and make sure SkyUI_SE.esp is enabled.
Upgrades and common errors
- From an older SkyUI: install the new version over the old one. The FAQ says you do not need a new game.
- “Error Code 1”: SKSE64 is not installed correctly, or the game did not start through
skse64_loader.exewith Steam open. - A mod is missing from the MCM: open the console and type
setstage SKI_ConfigManagerInstance 1. If the mod needs MCM Helper, install the MCM Helper build for your game version.
Pros
- Sortable, searchable item panels with extra columns
- The MCM, which hundreds of other mods use
- Favorites groups with hotkeys, map search and an effects HUD
- Updated in 2026 for current Steam and GOG versions
Cons
- Needs SKSE64, so it is PC only, on Steam and GOG
- The file notes do not list the August 2026 game version yet
- A game update can break it until SKSE is updated