Ok time to Reinstall

[Majorshepard]

....damn I was hoping to avoid this.

 

Ok let me explain. Recently I tried my hand at installing an enb and it worked for the first part, but when I tried to add a preset to the main enb file it went wrong. I then decided not to use ENB as I felt the vanilla look was ok as it was, since the enb seemed to make everything very bright. After taking it out the game still seemed much brighter than before so I uninstalled and then reinstalled Climates of Tamriel and Enhanced Lighting and Effects. The game was then almost back to what I had it at previously, so I saved and left the game. A day later I try to load the save and get the message "The save file is corrupt and cannot be loaded". I thought 'ok so I guess the ENB did that' and made a new save and loaded that one, same message again. So I loaded an autosave and it worked fine, so I left the building I was in and headed to Breezehome and saved there. Today I loaded the save and the message came up once again, so I Tried the autosave that happened when I entered the house and that also had the message. So now I think I have royally f***ed up my game and cannot continue from where I left off.

 

And thats whats happened up to this point in time. I now want/need to reinstall the game, which someone on here had once told me to do before, and start a new game. I really hoped to avoid that at all costs due to how far I got into the game, even after installing and uninstalling various mods throughout my playthrough on one character. But it has come to the point where I cannot even continue my game anymore, so maybe a nice fresh installation will help solve all the problems I had been having with the game to date anyway.

 

So onto the main points of this topic, how do I go about it. Here a few questions that I would like to ask before I uninstall:

 

1. When I uninstall the game will the mods I used also be uninstalled? Or just the Main files that Steam has?

2. If it does uninstall the mods will it also get rid of the mods files? Which will then make me find them all again on Nexus and download them again? Or will they be saved on the Mod Manager?

3. If the mods do not get uninstalled do I personally have to uninstall each mod that was put in by NMM? And what about other things like Wrye Bash?

4. Are there any other precautions/tasks I need to do during/after/before uninstallation I should know about?

5. After I have reinstalled would anyone be able to give me a hand installing mods I have and installing the important ones first? I always miss ones that require another mod, as I install just from top to bottom rather than what requires what. If you want a full list of what mods I have I can make a list and add it to the first post as a spoiler.

 

I know this is a lot to ask but I don't want to end up making the same mistakes again, or even making new ones, and have to do this all again later on. Obviously the last one can be dealt with once the re-installation has happened and any other steps have been taken. Thank you for any help that you can give.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Majorshepard

[KanesGhost]

I have just finished a re-install myself....you want to completely clean out your system, I learned the hard way scripts/corruptions can still be present after a re-install....so don't forget to delete all your old 'saves' too...found under 'Documents' under 'My Games'....I also make sure Skyrim no longer exists in my Program Files/Steam/Steam Apps, delete the Skyrim file if it's still there....Double check all these despite un-installing through Steam, I find Skyrim a little insidious when it comes to leaving a trail on the Computer.

 

Untick all the Mods in your NMM and save the Mods in a back up folder....though the Mods should remain safe in the NMM folder, but always back up to be on the safe side.

 

Sorry, I don't know anything about WyreBash personally, never used it. Though I am pretty solid at knowing Mod dependcies, what needs to be installed in what order, etc...am happy to help if I can.

[Majorshepard]

When you say "Untick" do you mean from the List of Plugins or actually uninstalling them through NMM? And when you say to save the mods in a backup folder do you mean you can use NMM to back them up or create a separate folder for them?

[Hyacathusarullistad]

You're going to want to properly uninstall everything (this includes unsubscribing from any Steam mods), uninstall the game itself, and then manually delete your Steam > SteamApps > Common > Skyrim folder to make sure everything mod related is well and truly gone. Then go into your Documents folder and delete your saves and .ini files as well. Then you'll want to redownload the game and clean Update.esm and all the DLC .esm files in TES5Edit - but do not clean Skyrim.esm. Ever. You'll break it.

 

Personally, I then manually install two simple mods that really, subjectively, no PC player should ever be without - Better Dialogue Controls and Better MessageBox Controls. They'll likely never need updating, so I'm not worried about needing newer versions in the future - though I keep them in NMM as well to track them, just in case. I consider them part of the core game now, right up there with the DLCs. Then pack your shiny new Skyrim folder into an archive and stash it away somewhere safe, so that if you ever need to do a vanilla "reset" again you can just delete the existing one again and extract your fresh and clean install in a fraction of the time.

 

As for your mods, you shouldn't need to move them anywhere before doing this unless you're storing NMM's archive in your Common > Skyrim folder. Which you shouldn't be, IMO - because if you do then that's one more thing you have to move around when you do a clean install of the game. I keep mine on my HD in my Documents folder next to Saves, while Steam and the game itself is on my SSD. I suggest you back up your installed mods (move them temporarily to your desktop or something) then uninstall and reinstall NMM, pointing NMM's own archive somewhere other than the Skyrim folder during installation. Then move all your mods into said archive and restart NMM. You're laughing. But none of that has to be done it you allowed NMM to use its default locations when you installed it.

 

As far as Wrye Bash is concerned, I myself only use it to generate a bash patch, which merges things like levelled lists, etc. which can't be handled by installing things in a certain order or rearranging your load order in BOSS. If you have two mods that distribute a new armor to bandits, for example, then whichever of them loads last will "win", and you won't see the first on bandits - only in crafting menus, if the mod author made it craftable; if it's not you won't see it at all. With a bash patch, both mods will appear in leveled lists on the appropriate NPCs, regardless of load or install order. It does this for several lists that otherwise wouldn't be entirely compatible with each other. I never thought I needed it before, but about a year ago I gave in and don't care to properly admit how wrong I was about the matter before.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Hyacathusarullistad

[KanesGhost]

When you say "Untick" do you mean from the List of Plugins or actually uninstalling them through NMM? And when you say to save the mods in a backup folder do you mean you can use NMM to back them up or create a separate folder for them?

Yes, just untick from list of Plug-Ins...no need to remove them from NMM. Yes, create a separate folder to back them up, your NMM files are under Local Disc (C:) (default)/Games/Nexus Mod Manager/Skyrim/Mods...copy/paste the Mods into a new Folder on your DeskTop.

[Majorshepard]

Ah Sorry Kanes I ended up following Hyacat advice and am uninstalling everything, guess thats what I get for not refreshing this page sooner. Sorry bout that.

[Hyacathusarullistad]

If you're deleting your Skyrim folder then it really doesn't matter if the plugins are unchecked first, be it in the game's launcher or in NMM. The plugins are deleted with the Skyrim folder, so they're automatically "unticked" when they're removed.

 

And you really don't need to back up your NMM files if you allowed it to use the default location on install. You'd only need to back up your downloaded mods if you told NMM to keep them in the Skyrim folder, and then delete said folder. Otherwise it doesn't matter. It'd like backing up your Pictures folder when you uninstall iTunes, "just to be safe".

Edited April 24, 2014 by Hyacathusarullistad

[Majorshepard]

Yeah I told the mods to install to the skyrim folder instead of the default, I thought it was asking me where the original file of Skyrim was at the time. I've moved the 'Mods' and 'Install Info' folder to my Downloads file on my hard drive. I guess I'll just uninstall Skyrim then, I was going through each of my mods and uninstalling them :P Thought it was going to take ages.

[KanesGhost]

Ah Sorry Kanes I ended up following Hyacat advice and am uninstalling everything, guess thats what I get for not refreshing this page sooner. Sorry bout that.

Is cool... :happy: ...best of luck Majorshepard... :happy: ...the more thorough the better anyway I say, as I mentioned Skyrim is insidious, always better safe than sorry with it. Hoping your back up and running real soon without issues, will help in any way I can... :smile:

[Majorshepard]

Thanks a lot :D I hope we can get it working 100% with everything :P