Gotta reinstall FO4, what do I do with the Data folder?

[Sangson]

So, as I encountered (a) problem(s) with my game uninstalling/deactivating all mods, ENB, and resetting the inis didn't couldn't make vanish so I couldn't really pin down anymore where it came from, I decided to reinstall the game.

That problem (just in case someone has a solution for later as I'm quite sure it's gonna turn up again eventually) was the character shadows making me appear "floating", as the leg shadows were either gone when in a certain outfit/armor or at least the feet shadowsnot showing up at my feet. Looking for a solution for that I had encountered setting uiOrthoShadow (or something close to that) to =3, which once resolved that, but after further modding, it didn't anymore. I couldn't figure out what was the culprit.

 

So, as I said, after trying all else, I just uninstalled. Now I'm left with a 14GB Data folder still in the FO4 install folder. As I really reeeally wanna keep my mods and savegames (which I backed up, I mean the characters/playthroughs as they are), I am now wondering, can I safely delete that Data folder and reinstall my mods with all the stuff saved in my NMM mod profiles/my NMM FO4 folder? I mean that's 50 Gig of data in there, do I need to additionally backup the entire game's Data folder? I pretty much installed all my mods by either the NMM or at least the Bethesda thing, I think there ain't even anything in the Data foolder I put there by manually installing.

 

Please, someone, enlighten me.

 

 

[Arneercool]

If you have all your mods backed up i see no reason why the world would end if your purged the datafolder. It will take a bit of fiddeling to get everything working again, but i have purged the data folder a billion times and i'm still here, i think.

 

Sometimes it is a good idea to nuke everything and start over, even for no reason, only to keep the modding procedure fresh in your mind.

 

You should grab the golden opportunity, remove your fallout from the root drive to an alt steam install folder, and then use the beginners guide> loot>wrye,FOedit if you haven't already.

[Sangson]

If you have all your mods backed up i see no reason why the world would end if your purged the datafolder. It will take a bit of fiddeling to get everything working again, but i have purged the data folder a billion times and i'm still here, i think.

 

Sometimes it is a good idea to nuke everything and start over, even for no reason, only to keep the modding procedure fresh in your mind.

 

You should grab the golden opportunity, remove your fallout from the root drive to an alt steam install folder, and then use the beginners guide> loot>wrye,FOedit if you haven't already.

Thank you. I shall proceed to do so, then. I got Steam in a directory other than the basic C:/Programsx86-ish thing, is that what you mean with an alt Steam install folder? I pretty much did go for the beginner's guide (well I followed S.T.E.P.) back in Skyrim days, now with FO4 I was just happy everything worked quite well even with just the NMM and some LOOT here and there. Cleaned one mod with FO4Edit and even that wouldn't have been necessary also forgot what else it was for, let alone WryeBash. All in all, for the amount of mods I have, so far it just frickin' worked. I think the entire Beth modding community deserves a medal for what it's become since Oblivion days.