Reinstall, without reinstalling.

[AgentCarolina]

I think i messed up somewhere during my quest to get all the mods I could, I'd like to basically sweep my skyrim of all its mods, and sweep my nexus and restart.


Would the way to do this be to delete my Skyrim folder, and the Skyrim mod folder and then verify cache?


I'd like to not sit and reinstall the game 

[davisev5225]

What you describe ("delete my Skyrim folder") will require you to re-download the entire game... and to be honest, there really isn't any other way to be 100% sure you've completely scrubbed your install.

[RitualClarity]

Below is a basic clean Data folder

 

The above is a clean Skyrim game folder with the esm and bsa.. I'd delete any folders and let those update when you verify cache to be sure.

 

The main folder.. you should be able to delete everything if needed (to get rid of script extenders bat files etc) and they should be very large. That is if you are concerned with the tools and bat files that would be there if not then let those be. You can always delete those and verify cache later if needed.

 

Doing this should be a quick verify cache. Keep in mind that if you cleaned the masters you will have to re-clean them. I'd back those up before verify cache and actually keep a copy of those for any future cleaning needs.

 

I'd be selling you short if I didn't mention that MO keeps the Data folder clean.. the reason I can capture the folder for you today

 

If you use NMM use the "remove all mods" (not delete) then do the cleaning of the data folder. (if there are any chance of loose files) then go back and install the mods properly and you should have a very clean environment. Only once in the past has NMM ever really left any files in the main data folder. It was quick and easy to clean and verify cache and get back to gaming. In fact it took me more time to remove all mods and reinstall the current mods I wanted than it took to clean the data folder

 

Oh if you use MO un selecting all the mods should yield a clean system as well. If not simply clean up like i mention above... and verify cache .. move any cleaned masters back and you should be fine and dandy.

[AgentCarolina]

Below is a basic clean Data folder

Capture.PNG

 

The above is a clean Skyrim game folder with the esm and bsa.. I'd delete any folders and let those update when you verify cache to be sure.

 

The main folder.. you should be able to delete everything if needed (to get rid of script extenders bat files etc) and they should be very large. That is if you are concerned with the tools and bat files that would be there if not then let those be. You can always delete those and verify cache later if needed.

 

Doing this should be a quick verify cache. Keep in mind that if you cleaned the masters you will have to re-clean them. I'd back those up before verify cache and actually keep a copy of those for any future cleaning needs.

 

I'd be selling you short if I didn't mention that MO keeps the Data folder clean.. the reason I can capture the folder for you today

 

If you use NMM use the "remove all mods" (not delete) then do the cleaning of the data folder. (if there are any chance of loose files) then go back and install the mods properly and you should have a very clean environment. Only once in the past has NMM ever really left any files in the main data folder. It was quick and easy to clean and verify cache and get back to gaming. In fact it took me more time to remove all mods and reinstall the current mods I wanted than it took to clean the data folder

 

Oh if you use MO un selecting all the mods should yield a clean system as well. If not simply clean up like i mention above... and verify cache .. move any cleaned masters back and you should be fine and dandy.

Making me rethink my stance on NMM > MO

 

 

 

[RitualClarity]

Don't if you like NMM and it works for you keep it. Now when you feel the Need to clean your folder or think it can be some random file or such.. just uninstall all the mods in NMM check the folder and they should be gone. Then remove the folder reference my photo of the empty Skyrim data folder and if you want remove the files from the main folder (where the exe is) verify cache, return the backup of the clean masters and just go back and reinstall the mods in NMM in the proper order.

 

The only real difference is with MO you don't have to worry about the order as much as you can move the files up and down if you see any conflicts. with NMM you have to reinstall the mods in proper order and watch for the conflicts as you install them and make sure you overwrite what is needed to be overwritten and not overwrite the files that you don't want to overwrite. Both work fine and depends on your comfort and approach to modding.

 

I am using NMM for Fallout 4 and had something accidentally overwritten with a mod and caused some glitches. I just reinstalled them in the different order.. watched for the file that i needed and made sure that wasn't overwritten and all was fine. Not as easy as MO as with it I can see the conflicts right out in the open and either choose to hide it or move the mod up or down to resolve conflicts but the end result is the same.

 

If you do think of using MO for Skyrim .. then you really need to watch all the gophers videos and really get a good grasp on the way the manager works.. I believe that is the reason most can't get it to work and have a hard time. Once you understand everything has to run through MO (because it runs "live" with virtualization that is the files are added to the game "on the fly" so many of the tools and such need to be worked around so that MO can see and control them to work properly. (unless you want to manually install some for permanence. Then if you decide to "clean your folder" (I do that sometimes even when I don't need to) you will  have to work those again.. not cool and a pain in the ass. It is better to let MO do all of the work. There is a MO thread for support as well as other sites and such for support. Many use it for Skyrim so you should be able to get any support you desire to do the main tools and such. I don't mod my game as heavily as many (for example I have never used Body slide or outfit studio for example) so I won't be as good help with those things.

 

Anyway when you feel the need to clean the game folders. just do what I said above by uninstalling (for NMM) or unclicking (for MO) the mods installed you should see a clean game folder (data) when you do. If not just clean out the files verify cache and restore your backup for the masters and reinstall/reclick the mods and be gaming in about an hour mostly depending on the amounts of mods and complexity of mods you use.

 

If you are curious.. I did the same with Fallout using FOMM back in the days when I used that for my manager. . Same principle. Uninstall all and then clean the folder, verify cache and restore any cleaned masters or whatnot (Script extenders bat files and such for the main file if you decided to clean that as well) and reinstall fresh all the mods. Since they are already there in the manager ready.. it takes very little time.

 

Just make sure you have a backup of the proper folders that hold all your downloaded / uninstalled mods and you should get back up and running very quickly.. and have a nice fresh clean install and fresh game / mod files and tools as well. Not hard once you understand the files you have and how things work.

 

I think I have been doing this "STuff" too long now.. lol