Most likely because you've installed this ESL support mod[www.nexusmods.com] while using the patched SKSEVR build from a google drive. Replace it with the original Silverlock build[skse.silverlock.org] and your game should work fine, as long as your Proton version isn't too old.

You don't need to read the rest of the guide if you just came here for that bit of information.

-Fresh install of SkyrimVR
-Hopefully still latest official build of SKSEVR[skse.silverlock.org]
-Proton 9 or newer (I recommend egg[github.com] (proton 10 is untested at the time of writing))
-Mod Organizer 2[github.com], the version doesn't really matter but you should grab the installer so you dont have to manually install redists to get it running
-(not really optional is it) protontricks[github.com] to quickly install mo2 into the skrumvr wineprefix without having to juggle arguments and "non-steam applications"

I'd recommend not skipping any of the steps unless you're mental

1. Don't forget to set the "compatibility tool" for SkyrimVR to the latest Proton 9 or ProtonGE 9 before doing anything; if you already did, I recommend navigating to steamapps/compatdata/611670 and purging the entire folder to cleanse the prefix
   
2. Launch SkyrimVR, let it do the first time setup; you can run through the playroom tutorial to get rid of the annoying popups later on
   
3. Close the game, then either navigate to your MO2 installer in your terminal, or open a terminal in the same directory as the installer from your file manager
   
4. Install MO2 into the root of the drive inside the prefix (for pure convenience, install it elsewhere and just symlink it otherwise) by running
   protontricks-launch --appid 611670 Mod.Organizer-some.dumb.version.exe
   and going through the motions; if you installed it into the root of the drive it should look like steamapps/compatdata/611670/pfx/drive_c/MO2/
   
5. Open the Steam client, click Add a Game -> Add a Non-Steam Game -> Browse, then navigate to and select the freshly installed ModOrganizer.exe, click Add Selected Programs
   
6. Find ModOrganizer.exe in your library and edit its properties; you'll want to change the "compatibility tool" to use the same one you picked for SkyrimVR AND add an envvar into the Launch Options section that points to the SkyrimVR prefix so it looks like
   STEAM_COMPAT_DATA_PATH="steamapps/compatdata/611670" %command%
   • Make sure to include the full path to the wineprefix instead of just copy pasting this codeblock or nothing will work
     
   • If you use ALVR, add the following before your %command%:
     DRI_PRIME=1
   • If the game doesn't have any sound, add the following before your %command%:
     WINEDLLOVERRIDES="xaudio2_7=n,b"
7. Before you launch ModOrganizer.exe through Steam, I recommend launching SteamVR if you want to actually test your game. Go through the first time setup - it doesn't really matter whether you choose a global or portable instance, just know that all is well if MO automatically picks up the correct path to SkyrimVR. Once you're done, skip or click through the tutorials.
   
8. Try launching SKSE from within MO2. If you had SteamVR open before launching MO2, it should get to the playroom (you may have to connect your headset if it's wired). If you want to, you can try pressing tilde/grave on your keyboard and typing "skse" in to check if it properly loaded without having to find the log file.
   
9. Now, you can start modding the game. You can try installing the ESL plugin mod[www.nexusmods.com] first to check if it's still going to "corrupt" your saves (actually just the SKSE cosaves), just don't forget that it depends on Engine Fixes VR[www.nexusmods.com] (which is a 2 parter, the second archive must be unzipped into the root SkyrimVR folder) and VR Address Library[www.nexusmods.com]
   
10. Tip for downloading mods without NXM links: point your browser at the "downloads" folder in your MO2 instance, then you will be able to install mods using the "Downloads" pane inside MO2 instead of having to click through the wine filepicker, just like you "normally" would
    
11. Here's a quick way to check if your saves will still crash for no apparent reason:
    
    • Start the game and load into the playroom
      
    • Open the console with tilde, type in "coc whiterun"
      
    • Make a hard save, quit to main menu, load your last save
      
    • ???
12. To prevent possible further crashes and annoyances, I recommend disabling the playroom entirely after you confirm that everything works - look up bLoadVRPlayroom on AOL or Yahoo search to learn more

I got cranky and decided to set it up. It's not too obnoxious.

1. Open your MO2 and click Settings (top left wrench) -> Nexus -> Associate with download with manager links
   
2. Connect your nexus account
   
3. Create a new file in $HOME/.local/share/applications, name it something like skyrimvr-nxm.desktop
   
4. paste the following into it using a text editor:
   
   [Desktop Entry] Exec=protontricks-launch --no-bwrap --appid 611670 "full/path/to/your/mo2/nxmhandler.exe" %u MimeType=x-scheme-handler/nxm; Name=NXM Handler Terminal=false Type=Application
5. open mimeinfo.cache in the same folder with a text editor and add your desktop file to it; it should look like this
   [MIME Cache] x-scheme-handler/nxm=skyrimvr-nxm.desktop
6. make sure everything is saved, then go on nexus and try clicking on download with manager links