I'm gonna purchase Elder Scroll series(Skyrim & Oblivion) and am wondering if you can play it with the mods.

Yes you can use mods with both games.

To get more information and help go over to the dedicated Elder Scroll forum (you posted on the main general forum) which can be found at - https://www.gog.com/forum/elder_scrolls_series

inb4 insert rant about the version number...

Please enlighten me. I haven't been on this site for some time, so I'm wondering what this means. Is there some sort of controversy over the version number of gog games in general or is there some controversy with the Elder Scrolls series or is this just some sort of recurring meme now that has grown into it's own "thing."

Someone here (AncientRedDragon? Sorry if it wasn't you!) makes noise in every thread about Skyrim about how it's a horrible release because the version number is different than on steam and therefore mods don't work.

I believe they are misguided, but I don't actually care about Skyrim enough to prove them wrong.

I would suggest that the problem is not the version number as such but the fact that the different builds with different version numbers are in fact different. Changing the number would not help if it is a different build anyway.

However, if the only problem really were the number, that should be really easy to work around.

I've hardly ever used any mods for Bethesda games, beyond the Unofficial patch, so I can't say for sure, but if some modders have implemented a version checker of sorts for mods, then they should really add a "Don't care, load anyway" button. I highly doubt that every measly patch makes massive changes that would ACTUALLY break mods.

I also wonder if this is in anyway related to that stupid Steam workshop. I don't remember game versions ever playing a major role in games in the past, when everyone just used Nexus or whatever.

I did some googling and I think it has something to do with "Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE64)", but it claims that it is compatible both Skyrim Special Edition 1.6.640 from Steam and Skyrim Special Edition 1.6.659 from GOG.com, so no clue what else may be the problem.

I play GoG version of Skyrim with 10-20 mods (graphics mods mainly) and have no issue. Faced only one crash at all and it was due to wrongly installed one mod. So GoG version is (super)stable.

You can play those with most mods. However, at least Skyrim from gog needed a special F4SE, a mod which provides new scripts for other mods. F4SE has been built for the gog version of Skyrim.

Fores New Idles in Skyrim (FNIS) might or might not work, I've seen complaints but then FNIS is difficult to install correctly even in the steam version.

That depends on what you mean by "with the mods."

With Skyrim you can play some mods with the GOG version, but many mods, you cannot play with the GOG version, because the GOG version uses a different version number than the Steam version does, and 99%+ of mods are made for the Steam version and not the GOG version, and mods which use unique scripts would need a GOG-specific version of those mods to be made before they would work with the GOG version, which is something that most of the mod makers are never going to do, and therefore those mods are never going to work with the GOG version...unless GOG and Bethesda finally do the right thing and make the GOG version number identical to the Steam version number, which they probably won't ever do. Indeed I do say that, because it's true. And it's not a "rant," but rather, it's a 100% valid and completely factual point.

But I don't quite say "mods don't work," rather, I say many, possibly most, mods don't work. I concede that some mods work, but that's not good enough, and it's still a very sub-par GOG release with only some mods working. Indeed it wouldn't, but that's never been what I meant when I said to give them identical version numbers. Rather, when I say the GOG version and Steam version of Skyrim need to be given identical version numbers, what I mean by that, and the connotation of that statement, is that the builds must be made identical, which is why their version numbers would be made identical, and therefore, the GOG version would finally stop being a gimpy second-class one which is missing massive amounts of mod compatibility.

The Steam version has DRM. They can't be the same version, though they could include the necessary files were they so inclined for those who care that much... But I could only imagine the shitstorm that would invoke.

I guess I thought it was self evident that different version numbers meant different versions, but I guess I wasn't clear in saying that. My bad.

But Steam often has unique versions (numbers too) for games. Their market power gives them the ability to get developers to make version specifically for them. Also, too, when the Steam version includes the built in Steam DRM they must, by default, be different shouldn't they? Anyway, according to the forums there, version (numbers) matters greatly regarding mods, and there is much anxiety amongst Fallout 4 players about whether the planned 2023 Fallout 4 update will break everybody's mods (it likely will).

But I, like you, don't care enough about Skyrim to learn more, and I, like you, agree that the criticisms are likely misguided. I mean I don't doubt that different versions results in different mods working and not working, but I just don't buy the statement that "most" mods that work on the Steam version won't work on the gog version without seeing some evidence. It's likely the case that gog owners might have to search for older or different versions of some mods, and that it's also likely that many mods will work on the Steam version but not the GOG version, but I doubt that it's most.

And there really isn't anything GOG can do about the fact that Steam has the market power to get developers to make special versions just for them And GOG can't do anything about the fact that mod makers likely don't want to do a lot of extra work to make their mods work with anything than the most popular version (Steam). The fact is the game, as made by Bethesda, and sold by GOG, works. Period. No game or store front, that I know of, can make promises about mods working with what they sell. Skyrim, as developed by Bethesda and sold by GOG, works 100%.

Yeah, sorry. I'm a technical person, I need precise language. Just last week at work I had to deal with stuff involving different builds but same version number(s), different versions but same version number(s), same versions but different version numbers, and more... it all makes a huge difference.

Ok, please use more precise language next time.

Now it is fair to ask, why are the builds different? If it is indeed the case that the Steam build has DRM as paladin181 claims, then it is only natural that the builds are different.

I don't know about 100%. Sounds very black and white, and non-factual when you pull numbers like 99% out of your arse.

The only accurate part is that not every mod ever will support the GOG release, but I suspect it is also very much the case that not every mod ever will support whatever is the latest build on Steam. Some mods just are forgotten like that. So while factual, it's also a rather pointless statement. "Mods that aren't going to be updated aren't going to be updated" affects Steam as much as it affects GOG.

Also with statements like "mod makers are never going to do, and therefore those mods are never going to work with the GOG version" is probably false. You don't need one of those mod makers to make a GOG-specific version; I'm pretty sure somebody else could patch the mod.

Also the idea that you need a GOG-specific version looks to be false.

I looked into a little and one of the main challenges with different builds seems to be that addresses in the binaries differ. Not only can that be patched, but there are mods that use address library and thus will work regardless of which store you bought the game from, as long as the address library is updated to cover your version.

I assume you mean the games made after Oblivion, because before it doesn't really matter; they weren't tied to specific platforms or made on the basis of an extant modification system. Besides that, they all have working source ports* which makes modding a whole lot easier.

*Save Arena, Battlespire, and Redguard, but people are working on porting them.