How To Clean Install Skyrim With Mods

Guide:Skyrim Installation

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GUIDE FORUM THREAD

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Notation

This is an ancillary guide to the official Step Guide created to reduce the length of that guide. Most of the following is full general modding information or information for those non interested in using Mod organizer (MO) as Stride recommends.

Suggested beginning reading: The installation department below!

Installation and configuration [edit]

Step recommends installing Skyrim to an SSD, if bachelor, and preferably on a carve up drive/partition than the Operating System is installed on (i.e. instead of installing to the C: drive, install information technology to D:, E:, etc). If a separate drive/partition is unavailable, avoid installing Steam and Skyrim in "C:/Program Files" or "C:/Program Files (x86)" folders since Windows User Account Control [UAC] volition cause bug with a modded Skyrim.

Skyrim is installed through Steam, and this can be done on 1 of two ways:

1. Purchase the concrete Skyrim DVD from a retailer - Run "Setup.exe," and follow the on-screen instructions to install Steam and Skyrim (see second video link above).
2. Install Steam and purchase the digital media from the Steam store - Navigate to the Steam website, download the installer, and launch "SteamSetup.exe" (run into starting time video link above). Once Steam is installed, use the Steam search bar to search for "Skyrim" to purchase and install the game (run across 2nd video link to a higher place).

Annotation:

If Steam/Skyrim are installed according to these instructions and Mod Organizer (MO) is used according to recommendations in the STEP Guide, then backup procedures and security changes are optional and not necessary. Nonetheless, these procedures are mentioned in the video guides above.

Security settings [edit]

Since User Business relationship Control tin can preclude some tools from working correctly, it is recommended to edit the security settings of the Skyrim directory to permit full control:

1. Navigate to <Steam>/SteamApps/mutual/.
2. Right-click the Skyrim folder and select Properties.
3. Go to the Security tab and click Edit...
4. Highlight Users (<figurer name>/Users) in the top panel.
5. In the bottom panel, under the Allow cavalcade for Total Control, tick the checkbox and click Apply.
6. Click OK and OK again.

Backup [edit]

Before anything else is done, information technology is good practice to create a "Vanilla backup" of this baseline installation. Steam'southward backup tool is non the most efficient way to backup the clean Skyrim installation. Instead, utilize 7-Zip or other compression software to compress the following directories, which may be rapidly extracted to the same or analogous locations in the event that a fresh installation is desired:

• <Steam>/SteamApps/common/skyrim
• %USERPROFILE%/My Documents/My Games/Skyrim
• %LOCALAPPDATA%/Skyrim

Reverting to the Vanilla Baseline [edit]

MO2

If using Mod Organizer (MO) according to the recommendations in the Pace Guide, at that place is nothing gained by following this procedure, as MO inherently preserves a pristine vanilla Skyrim game directory, since information technology uses a virtualization technique.

During the modding experience it is handy to know how to re-establish a make clean Skyrim installation to avoid having to use Steam to un-install and re-install from scratch, equally this is very inefficient and takes an unnecessarily long time. If an archived backup was not created (see previous section) there is still a much simpler way to attain the same effect without waiting for Steam. This process is discussed in Reverting Skyrim to a Pristine (Vanilla) Installation.

Configuration [edit]

MO2

SkyrimLE:Mod Organizer uses profiles, which store the user configuration under <Mod Organizer>/profiles. This 'protects' the config files by isolating them under each unique profile and serves to back up profile-specific INI and other configuration files. These are the INI files that are really edited from within MO > Tools, and the default configuration files still exist in their original locations for reference when Skyrim is launched from outside MO

The Skyrim configuration files (INIs) are stored under %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Skyrim/. Modifying these files can profoundly improve the Skyrim experience and represents an important section of the STEP guide. %USERPROFILE%/Documents/My Games/Skyrim/Saves holds all of Skyrim'south savegame files. A more than avant-garde tutorial on INI settings for both AMD and Nvidia users can exist found in the Elderberry Scrolls Five: Skyrim Tweak Guide.

Boosted Skyrim-profile resources are located in %LOCALAPPDATA%/Skyrim and include "DLCList.txt", "plugins.txt", and "SteamModList.txt" as well as "loadorder.txt" if using a mod manager. These files proceed track of all mod plugins (i.due east. ESPs), whether they are active or not and the order they are to exist loaded in when Skyrim is launched.

Mods [edit]

Annotation:

The following instructions pertain to general mod handling when Non using Mod Organizer (MO) as the primary modernistic management tool.

Installation [edit]

Skyrim mods must all be installed to the Skyrim data directory. If you have followed recommendations it will be somewhere like this D:/Games/Steam/SteamApps/common/skyrim/Data. All .bsa and plugin files (.esp and .esm) reside here. Directories corresponding to each .bsa name tin can be created and files within them will override files inside of the .bsa, so any texture files in <skyrim>/Data/textures will overwrite textures of the aforementioned proper name in textures.bsa for example. Always salvage your game before installing a mod, yous volition need to revert to it if you lot want to uninstall the mod at a later engagement. Quote from Skyrim All-time Practices on BethBlog

"When you play Skyrim with a modernistic, in most cases, the new data for the modern will be written into whatsoever new saved games y'all create. For example, if y'all play Skyrim with Mod X and create a save, the next time you load that save, the game volition wait Mod Ten to also be loaded. If you no longer want to play Skyrim with Modernistic X, it is best to unload Mod X (by unchecking the plugin nether Data Files in your Skyrim launcher) and loading a save that does non require Mod 10, normally an older save or a backed up save."

Uninstallation [edit]

First disable a mod in the launcher (if it has an esp) and so delete all files associated with the modern. Fairly piece of cake to uninstall mods that include only a bsa and/or esp just delete them, mods that contain media or graphics are hard to go on track of manually and can be very hard to uninstall without the aid of a modernistic managing director. Now, load the savegame you made before installing the mod.

If many mods have been installed it is frequently easier to delete the Skyrim directory and restore from your vanilla backup. If yous have no vanilla fill-in just delete all the non *.bsa files and directories from Skyrim/data and then run verify integrity from Steam. This will download any corrupt or missing files and reinstall them for yous although there is no guarantee that you removed all the offending files.

Savegame compatibility [edit]

Annotation that optimally mods should only be installed earlier you start playing Skyrim and non removed or upgraded until y'all take completed the game. Savegames will become corrupt if mods are removed or updated, this abuse volition build upwards over time and can exist viewed/logged by running Skyrim with debugging turned on. In that location are several methods of creating savegames that mitigate the danger but none to remove it. To brand a more reliable (only not clean) savegame, go inside an unoccupied house, open the console (type ~) and type pcb and enter, exit the console (~), and save from the menu (non a quicksave).

The Troubleshooting Guide includes a comprehensive method for Installing and Uninstalling mods while mitigating the danger of creating corrupted savegames. This is a lot of work for a fiddling benefit and then its all-time to do very few big upgrades instead of many pocket-size ones.

Backup [edit]

Afterwards completing a full installation of Footstep is a perfect time to create a fully configured and modded backup of your installation: Information technology is not recommended to apply Steam to backup Skyrim as it will often fail to properly restore equally well as oftentimes autoupdating to the latest version of skyrim. Use 7zip or other archiver and compress the Skyrim directory and save to a storage disk (not your ssd). Additionally, you lot should use 7zip and save into %USERPROFILE%/My Documents/My Games/Skyrim.

Mod file types and directories [edit]

File types [edit]

BSA stands for Bethesda Softworks Archive, this is a custom archive format (like a ZIP file) that contains other files and directories. Skyrim BSA files are different from previous versions and require new tools in order to pack and unpack them without introducing corruption, BSAopt works very well. The default Skyrim BSA's are: Animations, Interface, Meshes, Misc, Shaders, Sounds, Textures, Voices, VoicesExtra, and Update. DLC's and mods fabricated with the official creation kit likewise frequently include BSA'due south, these files will override the default bsa's.

ESM and ESP are mod files and are acronyms for Elder Scrolls Master and Plugin. Tthey are used to straight modify the Skyrim world and gameplay. ESMs are primary files and are used to create completely new areas of the globe or other things within these areas. ESP files are always dependent on an ESM (usually Skyrim.esm) and change items, creatures, or places already present.

INI files contain configuration information and the ones in your Skyrim directory are just the defaults used to rebuild missing or corrupted files into %USERPROFILE%/My Documents/My Games/Skyrim.

File Extension	File Type	Skyrim Directory	Clarification
bsa	Bethesda Softworks Archive	data	This holds all of the main files used in the game and DLC, as well be used by mods on Steam Workshop
esm	Elderberry Scrolls Master	information	This contains the master gamesettings, used when creating completely new objects or areas
esp	Elder Scrolls Plugin	data	This contains modified gamesettings, based on a master usually merely Skyrim.esm
ess	Elder Scrolls Savegame	mygames-saves	The savegame file contains all gameworld and character data
txt	text	meshes-animationdata,interface,mygames-skyrim	Contains technical data that controls animations, interface, and graphics support
ini	text	mygames-skyrim,skyrim	contains configuration settings for the game engine
dds	texture	textures	Texture maps (graphics) for 3D models in the game
nif	3D model	meshes	The wire mesh model for all objects in the game
hkx	Havock Blitheness	meshes-animations	all motility in the game is controlled by these files
png	graphics	textures-books	used exclusively for graphics inside books
swf	wink	interface	the Graphic User Interface is created using these files
pex	compiled papyrus	scripts	These command all object and grapheme behavior in the game
psc	source papyrus	scripts	Uncompiled source scripts unused by the game until they are compiled into .pex files
wav	audio	sound	All ambience sounds and audio effects
fuz	audio	sound-voices	All vocalisation dialogue
xwm	sound	music	All songs and music
lod	texture	lodsettings	Graphics used for very afar objects
strings	unknown	strings	localization of text
dlstrings	unknown	strings	localization of text
ilstrings	unknown	strings	localization of text
bto	unknown	meshes	unknown
btr	unknown	meshes	unknown
btt	unknown	meshes	unknown
lst	unknown	meshes	unknown
tri	unknown	meshes	unknown
fxp	unknown	shadersfx	controls all graphics shaders
gfx	unknown	interface	unknown
gid	unknown	grass	used to dynamically generate grass
seq	sequence	seq	used for quests

Directories [edit]

There are several special directories in <skyrim>/Information. These directories may non be created by default; however, when they are, they function in a special way. These include: Grass, Interface, Lodsettings, Meshes, Music, Scripts, Shadersfx, Sound, Strings, and Textures. Correctly named and formatted files placed in these directories (termed "Loose files") will override files inside the default Skyrim BSA's likewise as DLC's and other mods distributed with bsa'south.

A Docs directory is useful for storing all documentation, if you are using Wrye Bash to install it will automatically rename all readme'south to "modname" readme.txt and place them there. Boosted directories named SKSE and ASI agree Script Extender plugins and Script Dragon Plugins respectively.

Source: https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/Guide:Skyrim_Installation

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