Help! People are Strangers being a spooky ghost mod (cant uninstall)

[Jormunrekkr]

Aight, there's an old mod called People are Strangers, that uses one-time script and makes all NPC's strangers (hides their name before talking to them).

The problem is that there are no uninstall tips, as the mod keeps working even after uninstalling the mod, purging the mods in Vortex and starting a new game.

After that stuff the mod perk is not added to player at game start, but mod is still working for some reason. How to get rid of the mod? I see no leftover scripts, no mod perks, nothing!

Mod page is full of people asking how to uninstall this mod. Help!

 

Edited January 18 by Jormunrekkr

[jjb54]

Okay, did you go into the Skyrim \ data < dir > and delete the files listed?

PeopleAreStrangers.bsa (900 B)
PeopleAreStrangers.esp (1.9 kB)
PeopleAreStrangers.esp (6.1 kB)

BTW - what mod manager are you using?

What I would do is standard UNINSTALL and would find files in the Data folder that did not go the way of the DoDo Bird and just manually delete and problem solved.

 

[Jormunrekkr]

I use Vortex.

There are none of the files you mentioned left (i've even done a full "Purge Mods" after uninstallation), and no leftover xxx0D64 script in "Scripts"

That's why it's a new thing to me, being unable to get rid of the mod, i've got a 3000 mod LO

Author said on the mod page that

• Only ONE script will run only ONCE then will never run again.

Maybe this script has somehow "infected" i.e. changed core files? I checked ESP in SSEEdit, and found nothing strange

 

Edited January 18 by Jormunrekkr

[jjb54]

Okay, then I've come across this a few times back "in the day" - 6+ years ago.

Sadly the answer was - Start over - or go back to a point in saved games where you did not have this mod.

But I have a feeling you * ?? * you started the game w/this mod, correct?

The script is now embedded in your saved games.

[Jormunrekkr]

I tried:

a) starting a new game with the mod to remove perk via console command - failed

b) uninstalled the whole thing and “purged mods” in vortex then redeployed all mods, checked for leftover files (all clear) - failed

Mod still exists somehow and continues to impact brand new game starts

I dont have any savedgames to cling to, but this thing gets irritating

Edited January 19 by Jormunrekkr

[jjb54]

Just so I understand:
 

a) starting a new game with the mod to remove perk via console command - failed

Does this mean - You started a FRESH CLEAN GAME where you start at the beginning, where you create your character and such?

> If you did not actually do the above ... then this what I know I had to do.

 

b) uninstalled the whole thing and “purged mods” in vortex then redeployed all mods, checked for leftover files (all clear) - failed

> By "uninstall" -> Means you removed Skyrim and did a fresh clean install of Skyrim?

 

I dont have any savedgames to cling to, but this thing gets irritating

> The irritation I totally understand as I have been there done that.

[Jormunrekkr]

16 hours ago, jjb54 said:

where you create your character and such?

Yes, a new clean gamestart, a new character etc.

16 hours ago, jjb54 said:

Means you removed Skyrim and did a fresh clean install of Skyrim?

nope, just uninstalled this mod - then used "purge mods" in Vortex to revert the game to unmodded state - then redeployed all other mods. No leftover esps etc. from People are Strangers were found. Everything should be clean

Edited January 19 by Jormunrekkr

[leadshotme]

I was considering using this mod but wanted to check for AE compatibility and found your issue, maybe this can help.
I am not sure exactly how Vortex works, but with MO2 I have a USER created mod that manages all myconfig type files like in SKSE\plugin\IED for example. So, even if I uninstall it, I still need to manually remove those generated files. If "Strangers mod" inject their own settings and you using MO2, your game files will be completely isolated from mods. I believe Vortex also isolates the game running in virtual environments. It appears that there may be residual files in your mod directory rather than the game files. This issue can also occur in MO2, unless you are running a portable instance that makes each instance unique. for example, in a non-portable all of my unique character creations would share all of the mods, settings, ini's, in portables, unless I particularly copy a profile over into a new profile, it will have all new things that i will need to rebuild.  Somewhere in your mod folder is some type of config file. That is the only way in which what you are describing can occur. Sadly no amount of game reinstalls will solve this as each time to add back your modlist, that folder with the config will be added back.  You will need to locate it, remove it, or your start your mod directory anew. PS sorry if this sucks making sense I am pretty sleepy

[Jormunrekkr]

I couldn't find any leftover scripts, files or folders, nothing.

[scorrp10]

The script in that mod is contained in .bsa   so it will have nothing in scripts.

The only thing that the script does is add a perk to the player.   When player has that perk, NPC labels get affected.   BTW, you should be able to turn it off with

set _SAG_StrangerModInstalled to 0 

console command.  (Set to 1 to re-enable)

And you definitelly must have messed something up with your mod management.  Or did not actually start a new game after uninstalling.  I just downloaded that mod, installed it into my SSE, started new game, people in Riverwood all have '?' labels.   Tried the above command - it works, people get their names back.   

Then, I removed the mod using the Remove button next to it in Vortex - it cleanly uninstalled, I started a new game, people are all back to having their names.