When I launch Skyrim the "normal" way via Steam (either in the Library page, or by right-clicking the Steam tray icon then clicking on Skyrim), it runs the default Skyrim Launcher by default.

Can it be somehow modified so it runs the SKSE Launcher instead?

I don't think so, but I guess you could make the SKSE launcher a shortcut in steam. That's kind of the same thing, I guess:P

Okay, thanks anyway.

If you use Nexus Mod Manager, you can choose between the regular launcher and SKSE when launching from that.

This is what I did: I made skse_loader.exe a non-Steam game shortcut and named it "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - SKSE"; I use this shortcut to play the game (I've even got it pinned to Steam's jumplist in Windows 7 to be able to access it even easier), and use the original Skyrim listing to quickly access the launcher if I need it.

I just pinned the SKSE Loader to my task bar.

With fallout 3 on steam you can rename fose_loader.exe to Fallout.exe and it works, but with this being a steamworks game, the only way would be to just add as a non steam game shortcut as the poster 2Cold above said

SKSE pinned to the start menu with the icon updated and it's been renamed 'Skyrim SKSE'

Just a small nitpick... I like how default Skyrim in Steam has the detailed page in the Library (the screen with the news, achievments, amount of hours played etc)... which the "non Steam game" solution lacks.

That's because it's not a Steam game and not actually on the Steam network. Steam cannot bring up a page for something it doesn't have.

This does make me wonder how the Steamworks mod db is going to handle SKSE mods. If NMM can integrate launching via SKSE loader, Steam could probably build it into the Skyrim launcher somehow, or even automatically download and install SKSE as soon as you install a SKSE dependent mod (assuming the SKSE guys make it available to them.)

Well, Valve helped get OBSE working with Steam via hooking it into the overlay. Maybe they'll help out again once the SKSE is farther along?

Maybe. Then again, from what I remember, the OBSE situation was a little different in that when Steam first started selling Oblivion, OBSE didn't work *at all* with the Steam version of Oblivion due to the Steam version of Oblivion.exe being encrypted (as are all games bought on Steam; part of how Steam's DRM works). For most other games, encrypted executables won't matter too much because most games don't have something like OBSE that hooks directly to the EXE. But Valve was nice enough (after a bit of an outcry from the Oblivion modding community) were nice enough to work out a fix in conjunction with an updated build of OBSE at the time (I forget the specifics on how they did it). But I'm not sure how far Valve and Bethesda will go into supporting SKSE more than it already is, considering SKSE is a third-party tool (it works fine as is as long as you're willing to download it, install it, and run it yourself...which is just like how Oblivion, FO3, and FO:NV are).

I suppose they can somehow add in native SKSE-awareness to Steam like NMM has (possible, but unlikely IMO), host SKSE mods with a disclaimer on them about requiring a third-party download, or not allow SKSE mods on the Workshop at all. I hadn't thought about it before, but now I'm rather interested in exactly they'll handle this.

They simply removed the encryption from the exe.