What is the quickest way to get rid of all mods?

Post » Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:26 pm

Okay, I recently got the game, installed a lot of mods but after a while, I became a mod [censored]. Installed too much mods that didn't blend well, and now my game is constantly crashing. How do I get rid of all the mods? would reinstalling skyrim do the job?

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Rebecca Clare Smith
 
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Post » Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:08 pm

The launcher has a Data Files option, you can uncheck mods there so they won't load. If you know for sure you want to be rid of the mod for good and don't want it taking up space on your hard drive, you can delete it from the Skyrim/Data directory on your system (on Steam it's buried under the Steam/steamapps/common folders by default, in this case, you may need to unsubscribe from the mod in the Steam Workshop so Steam doesn't try to reinstall the mods).

In any event, when the mods you want to be rid of are disabled or deleted, when you try to load an existing save, the game will pop up a warning that your save relies on files that are no longer present. You can try to load anyway and hope that the save file isn't corrupt/unstable, or you can start a new game.

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Farrah Lee
 
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Post » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:35 pm

That still leaves the mod files behind in the data folder, and if those mods had scripts running, they'll still be in the save games, and may mess stuff up. To get a completely clean game:

Delete everything from Data folder but Skyrim.esm, Skyrim - (something).bsa, Update.esm and .bsa, (and DLC esm and bsa files if you have them). In My Documents\My Games\, delete Skyrim folder. Go to Steam library, right-click on Skyrim and select properties, and in the Local Files click "verify Integrity of Local Game cache" (IIRC). That way you'll have fresh install with minimal downloading.

If you can't download a lot of stuff, uninstall, delete Skyrim folders from steamapps\common and My Documents\My games\ and reinstall.

You'll of course lose saves doing that, but as said scripts are still left in save game from mods that are no longer in use, and may cause stability and bloat issues. As far as i know, there's no way of cleaning save games from them. There is a command in SKSE, ClearInvalidRegistrations, but that doesn't clean all of them. (Disclaimer: this info from some months ago, new deveploments may have happened since).
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Dorian Cozens
 
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Post » Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:41 pm

Yep, depends on how you installed the mods in the first place.

Also depends on how messed up you think you made things with your installation of those mods!

If you installed via the Nexus Mod Manager, deactivate and uninstall via the NMM.

If you installed SKSE, ENB, Wrye Bash or any other mods not in the data directory, then it's best to check their readmes and either use their supplied uninstall programs or remove manually if they don't have an uninstall- or for a completely clean sweep uninstall Skyrim via Windows (or "delete local content" from Steam). That may be the safest bet - clear up absolutely everything so you're starting from scratch - then reinstall Skyrim either via your CD or via Steam download.

Either way, make sure you delete your skyrim inis and other related files - effectively everything under documents/my games/Skyrim - and also under users/yourusername/AppData/Local/Skyrim.

It really isn't worth the risk of trying to load anyway - if you had any mods that use scripts, add new objects or mess with the lists in other ways - you WILL have problems, even if you don't realise it at first.

When you play with mods, data from those mods get embedded in your save game - which means when you uninstall a mod it is not safe to continue playing with that save - it might seem as though it's ok for a while, but as soon as your save game references something from a deleted mod, you'll have all sorts of issues - including crashes.

Bethesda do not support and do not recommend uninstalling any mod and continuing to play a savegame that has been played with the mod present.

If you want to uninstall a mod, you need to go back to a save from before you first installed that mod, or start a new game.

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Kayleigh Williams
 
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