I messed up my Skyrim installation and hope for some advice on how best to proceed before I make even more mistakes.

I was playing Skyrim with the SkyUI mod on Windows 8 last night when I saw the special deal on Steam for the Legendary Edition. Quickly adding up the cost of the individual add-ons (Dawnguard, Hearthfire, Dragonborn), it was cheap to buy the Legendary Edition, so on a whim I did.

I crossed my fingers that my saved games would remain intact, clicked Install in the Steam window and went to bed.

This morning I discovered that the Steam download window was still open but had hung after downloading, and my only option was to cancel.

Not surprisingly, Skyrim won't start any more.

Is the following procedure the right way to fix the problem?

1. De-install Skyrim via Windows Control Panel

2. Go to Steam library and re-install the game (I assume all the DLCs will be installed at once)

3. Re-visit the instructions on how to install SKSE (I can't remember the procedure)

4. Re-install the SkyUI mod with the Nexus Mod Manager

I hope I won't have to start playing from scratch with a new character!

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

Option #2, Steam should install the lost/missing files for You.

You will need to update any Mods You use to reflect the DLC's being added to Your Game, like the Unofficial Patches for each DLC. Some mods You used may require a different esp file to work with the DLC.

Thank you, bradleyh. If I understand you correctly, I can skip step 1 (de-installation of the original installation).

The only mod I previously installed is the SkyUI one. I like it very much, so I hope I will still be able to use it. I will take a look at the mod instructions to see if there are any references to using it with the Bethesda Skyrim DLCs.

You will be able to use it, don't worry.

If it's partially downloaded, on Skyrim in your Steam games list:

Right-click -> properties -> local files -> verify integrity of game cache

No need for that, heheh...
Your savegames are stored separately, in My Documents\My Games\Skyrim.
If completely deleting and reinstalling, it's possible they would not be 'safe'.

Always back up your Savegame folder - hard disks do fail, etc.
But (with Steam) everything else is easily replaceable, not to worry!