Trying a mage again. Out of boredom more than anything else. One issue I have, and have always had in the few times I've played a mage, is buying spell tomes for spells I already have.

Is there not some way to know before you buy the book whether or not you already know the spell? I can memorize the first 10 or so, but as the list gets longer I can't remember what I already know and having to leave the shop screens, to check spells, to go back to shop screens is getting old. I know I could write them all down on a sheet of paper or something, but I'm trying to avoid having to do that if there is already some way in-game to tell that I just wasn't aware of.

Thanks.

I'm on PC but spellbooks for spells I already know have a marker for them. Can't remember if it's an asterisk or something else since it's benn awhile since I played my necromancer. It might be related to SkyUI.

It's an eye, and I THINK that is in vanilla as well, could be wrong though, One thing though is that it is not always accurate. I have seen several times where that marker is not there, but i have the spell.

Really? I don't think I've seen anything like that. I don't have SkyUI as I can never figure out how to install that additional software it needs.

Do it the other way around. I figure you know what spells your character will want to use, so write that list up and check them off as you acquire them. Then you don't have to worry about what you have, just what you don't have.

All you need to do is click the SKSE installer once it is done, then use the SKSE launcher instead of the normal one, that is it.

SKSE is simple to install using the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGnQIiNVqA

I guess I'm just too old or something. I recall watching that video before the last time I tried, and my eyes glazed over and I passed out. I guess I'm ok with just not having the script extender.

Thanks for the link though.

FYI: there are a ton of great mods that require SKSE. Skyrim Redone comes to mind.

Here is a faster install vid if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvo8bhS6m8I

As others have said, I'm pretty sure the only way to tell in the game menus if you've read a spell tome or not is to have a mod installed that marks them somehow. SkyUI does this for spell tomes as well as the other books/notes/letters in the game. Prior to having a mod do it, I kept a list of all the tomes in the game and printed out a new copy every time I started a new character and crossed them off as I went. Because yes it was really annoying when I wanted to buy new ones and had to keep tabbing in and out of the merchant's inventory and my Magic menu to see what I knew and what I didn't. Especially true if you're like me and, when you play a mage, end up wanting to learn as many spells as possible even if you don't use most of them regularly, and so forget about half the spells you've got because you picked them up somewhere but don't ever cast them.

It really is worth getting SKSE and SkyUI. You'll be able to use so many more mods from the nexus and be able to customize their settings in-game with the MCM menu.

I'll try to list the steps here:

1) Download SKSE from http://skse.silverlock.org/

2) Extract the contents of the folder (assuming you chose to download the archive file). You can do this by right-clicking the folder and clicking 'Extract Here' if you have WinRAR. This will give you a usable folder.

3) Open the folder from (2), copy all items with names that start with 'skse_', and paste them in your Skyrim folder (i.e. the folder where you have your TESV.exe)

4) Go back to the folder in (2), copy the 'Data' folder, and paste it in your Skyrim folder as well. Click yes if asked to overwrite.

4a) You can do this instead with Nexus Mod Manager. With WinRAR installed, right-click the 'Data' folder and click 'Add to Archive' to get an archived folder (you might want to rename it to something like SKSE Scripts). Then open NMM, select 'Mods' tab, click 'Add mod from file' button, and select the archive folder you just created. Then activate this new SKSE scripts "mod" you just added. This does the same thing as dumping the contents into the data folder in your Skyrim folder, except removing the files is much easier. You can just deactivate the mod via NMM and they'll be removed.

5) Now open Steam as normal, but instead of launching Skyrim from the library, use 'skse_loader.exe' from your Skyrim folder instead. You might want create a shortcut on your desktop, rename it, and give it a new icon (like the Skyrim logo). You have to launch the game this way if you want SKSE to be running.