[SOLVED] What are the exact files that AE update replaces?

[belegost]

Last night I had a brain fart and accidentally launched Skyrim SE from Steam thinking I was launching a different game and it started updating to AE. I had immediately cancelled the download and removed it from the queue, then went to steamapps/downloading and deleted all the downloads, restored appmanifest_489830.acf to a backup I made and set it to read-only. However the damage has been done and Steam won't relent. The game can still be launched directly by SKSE or via a mod manager, but now whenever I close it, Steam starts the update process automatically, simply deleting that appmanifest file and replacing with new one, despite it having a read-only flag. I can't make it ignore the update like it was conveniently doing since AE hit and I now have to cancel the update process every time and I know that one day I will forget about it and lose a stable load order it took me two years to build.

 

I am debating whether to not just let it update and then just copy over old files. From what I googled it should be possible to do as a way to "cheat" Steam into thinking that the game has been updated. I have backups of all the executables and main .BSA and .ESM files, but I am not sure if that is enough. My whole Skyrim SE folder is over 120GB so backing it up wholesale is not an option as I just don't have enough space.

 

Does anyone know which files specifically are being replaced by the new update, so I can back those up in case I missed something important? Are there any core .dll files that get replaced? I saw someone mentioning that but there were no specifics.

Edited January 28, 2022 by belegost

[Just Don't]

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimSE:Game_Files#Free_10th_Aniversary_Update

 

PS: You can update then copy back the 1.5.97 .exe and binkw64.dll file (AE replaces it with bink2w64.dll) and call it a day. You don't need to worry about updates, you can keep using all your 1.5.97 mods and use the free CC stuff if you're into that. People have been doing it for months now.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Just Don't

[belegost]

1 hour ago, Just Don't said:

https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimSE:Game_Files#Free_10th_Aniversary_Update

 

PS: You can update then copy back the 1.5.97 .exe and binkw64.dll file (AE replaces it with bink2w64.dll) and call it a day. You don't need to worry about updates, you can keep using all your 1.5.97 mods and use the free CC stuff if you're into that. People have been doing it for months now.

 

Thank you. That is helpful.