Getting a Clean Re-install of Fallout 4. What do I need to delete?

[GenkiM]

I uninstalled all of my mods and used steam to uninstall and re-install Fallout 4 so that I could start the process fresh.

 

But I can't get my PipBoy to display colour since the re-install, the text is just white, and now I've got letters and symbols ahead of some of my menu items.

 

I've just used windows to uninstall Fallout 4 again but I've still got files over.

 

Do I need to manually delete more of those files to get the clean install I'm looking for?

 

I want to start survival mode but I want to get stuff like DEF UI & Gold Kit for Color Pipboy working before I start a new game.

 

I know very little about modding and I thought a clean install would be a good idea, but I've just had these issues since the re-installation.

[WastelandAssassin]

there are two folders that contain data for the game

there is the installation directory , where you have the game's files and where mods are manually installed (though if you use a virtual directory for mods , they would be placed in the virtual folder)

and there is the folder in Documents , which contains the ini files and the saves folder

so for a full fresh installation you should delete the contents of both directories

 

do note that the UI text is something configurable within the game , and it consists of 3 sliders for color . so having a white UI means that all of these sliders are set to 0

the letters and symbols sound like you still have some UI changes from some mods , but I could be wrong on this

hopefully just cleaning the two folders should work , though it also depends on how you install mods and run your game , as well as how you've cleaned that part

[GenkiM]

there are two folders that contain data for the game

there is the installation directory , where you have the game's files and where mods are manually installed (though if you use a virtual directory for mods , they would be placed in the virtual folder)

and there is the folder in Documents , which contains the ini files and the saves folder

so for a full fresh installation you should delete the contents of both directories

 

do note that the UI text is something configurable within the game , and it consists of 3 sliders for color . so having a white UI means that all of these sliders are set to 0

the letters and symbols sound like you still have some UI changes from some mods , but I could be wrong on this

hopefully just cleaning the two folders should work , though it also depends on how you install mods and run your game , as well as how you've cleaned that part

 

Brilliant, thanks.

 

Do you know if I can keep the save file I've been using, to test the install, or will that cause problems? Do I need to start fresh?

 

EDIT: I just found a whole list of saves in my backup save folder so I'm pretty sure most of them are uncorrupted, and usable to test the install.

 

Thanks again.

Edited August 21, 2018 by GenkiM

[WastelandAssassin]

you should be able to use your existing save files , though if they were made while your game had specific mods active , and you are not going to use these mods , that could potentially cause issues with these save files

which is why it's generally best to start new games to test these things

 

I highly recommend the alternate start mod , to skip the long and unnecessary opening sequences . it should help speed up your testing by a lot . also if you create your character and make a save there , before leaving the bathroom , that would be a great save for testing as long as whatever you are testing doesn't actually require starting a new game (some mods do require it , and won't work with the alternate start mod unless you choose to awake in the cryo chamber , or going through the whole sequence which somewhat defeats the point of having the alternate start mod , at least to some extent)

[gromulos]

best way to do a full reinstall of any game

 

1) download the game, when it's done rename the folder its in for example FALLOUT4BAK

2) make a new folder of the game name like FALLOUT4 - yes this will be empty

3) copy the files from the BAK folder to the new folder

 

done

 

You now have a backup that's 100% vanilla and can "restore" any time you want with out having to wait for a massive download over the internet

 

I do this with DayZ and have 3 folders, all of which I can play just by renaming each folder

 

DayZSTRESS

DayZEXP

DayZ - this is the stable branch which if i want to play one of the other i just rename it to DayZSTABLE and then take the caps off the other folders

Edited August 21, 2018 by gromulos

[GenkiM]

you should be able to use your existing save files , though if they were made while your game had specific mods active , and you are not going to use these mods , that could potentially cause issues with these save files

which is why it's generally best to start new games to test these things

 

I highly recommend the alternate start mod , to skip the long and unnecessary opening sequences . it should help speed up your testing by a lot . also if you create your character and make a save there , before leaving the bathroom , that would be a great save for testing as long as whatever you are testing doesn't actually require starting a new game (some mods do require it , and won't work with the alternate start mod unless you choose to awake in the cryo chamber , or going through the whole sequence which somewhat defeats the point of having the alternate start mod , at least to some extent)

 

Thanks, I've got quite a few saves dating back a few days to before the point that I started playing around with the mods so I'm guessing they should be okay?

 

best way to do a full reinstall of any game

 

1) download the game, when it's done rename the folder its in for example FALLOUT4BAK

2) make a new folder of the game name like FALLOUT4 - yes this will be empty

3) copy the files from the BAK folder to the new folder

 

done

 

You now have a backup that's 100% vanilla and can "restore" any time you want with out having to wait for a massive download over the internet

 

I do this with DayZ and have 3 folders, all of which I can play just by renaming each folder

 

DayZSTRESS

DayZEXP

DayZ - this is the stable branch which if i want to play one of the other i just rename it to DayZSTABLE and then take the caps off the other folders

 

Thanks, that's actually a really good idea; I guess I can't keep downloading from steam every time one of my game files gets screwed up. :mellow:

 

I'm going to re-install NMM also and download the mods to a separate folder; try and keep everything organised.

Edited August 21, 2018 by GenkiM

[gromulos]

with Bethesda games you'll still have to delete the folders in Documents, but those are re-created the first time you start the game, if you do any INI edits just use the same method :)

[GenkiM]

with Bethesda games you'll still have to delete the folders in Documents, but those are re-created the first time you start the game, if you do any INI edits just use the same method :smile:

 

Awesome lol Thanks :)

 

Just getting NMM installed again. I downloaded one from here and it's out of date. :huh:

[WastelandAssassin]

yeah , NMM isn't officially supported on the Nexus anymore , but there is still a development team working on it , just on a different site

so in the page where you've downloaded NMM there is a link to a GitHUB page . this is where the NMM team is working , and that is where you can download the latest version of NMM

[GenkiM]

yeah , NMM isn't officially supported on the Nexus anymore , but there is still a development team working on it , just on a different site

so in the page where you've downloaded NMM there is a link to a GitHUB page . this is where the NMM team is working , and that is where you can download the latest version of NMM

 

Cool, thanks, I missed that link. I actually googled the error message and found it via a thread.

 

Also, do you know if the DEF_UI here is the latest version: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/10654

 

NMM is telling me there's a newer version and the version in NMM's version info field reads "1.4.3 / 1.5.1" as a hyperlink. I'm clicking on it but it's just taking me to back to the description tab on the DEF_UI page.

 

Do you know if there's actually another version, or is should I just use this one?

Edited August 21, 2018 by GenkiM