How do i unmod?

[Xyteno Sane]

i most likely asked something like that in an other discussion months ago but never actually got around to it becau it seemed really complicated so i am asking it again now. i want to mod my skyrim. i may not be great at it but i more or less understand how to mod my skyrim. i also know what bods i want and pretty much how to add them. the problem is i added a bunch of mods i shouldn't have a long time ago and them mixed with new updates and stuff like that means my game no longer works and i have no idea what to remove or how so the easiest solution would be to just start from scratch. so to do that i need to know 2 things. first how to remove all my mods and second how to prepare my game for modding because it would be usefull if i could juse make a copy of my skyrim, mod one and keep the other unmodded so if i screw up again or if there is an other update i can just erase the modded one and copy the basic one again. i mentionned the update part mostly because i know that every update has a chance to break every mod i have so if i can have a version of the game that i can keep playing without having to update it all the time and break it that is what i want. just in case it is important i use vortex for my mods.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by xavier2005:

first how to remove all my mods and second how to prepare my game for modding

Removing mods is easy... Hop into your Steam client, check the games properties and then in specific open the "Local files" tab. Here you'll have an option called "Verify local files"; click it and then just wait.

This will compare your current installation against the version provided by Steam and any differences will be downloaded and overwritten; thus fully resetting your game back to vanilla.

To set up new mods again you'd first have to install SKSE, then just set up your mod manager and let it handle the rest of your mods. Vortex is quite good at that.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Originally posted by xavier2005:

first how to remove all my mods and second how to prepare my game for modding

Removing mods is easy... Hop into your Steam client, check the games properties and then in specific open the "Local files" tab. Here you'll have an option called "Verify local files"; click it and then just wait.

This will compare your current installation against the version provided by Steam and any differences will be downloaded and overwritten; thus fully resetting your game back to vanilla.

To set up new mods again you'd first have to install SKSE, then just set up your mod manager and let it handle the rest of your mods. Vortex is quite good at that.

That is completely wrong.

If you are using a mod manager you can uninstall mods quite easily, you just need to start a new game.
If you aren't using a mod manager, or are using the built in mod system, then you need to delete the data folder
Documents>games>skyrim SE

[Fear2288]

Honestly, if you want a sure fire way to revert to vanilla just uninstall the game, then delete the Skyrim folders in MyDocuments and the Steam folder - then reinstall.

If you’re using Vortex - hit the “Purge Mods” button on the top of the window that shows all your enabled/disabled mods.

This won’t physically delete those mods, it’ll just prevent Vortex from deploying all of them and it’ll be like they don’t even exist in your game anymore (until you manually deploy again).

This only applies to mods in Vortex though, if you’ve done any manual installations (like SKSE or an ENB) or made any changes to files yourself - those will still be there.

[Luminary]

Not sure why you want to remove mods, but you can always remove some but not all... If you think a mod is causing trouble, disable it first. this isn't always the perfect solution but it helps a lot.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Removing mods is easy... Hop into your Steam client, check the games properties and then in specific open the "Local files" tab. Here you'll have an option called "Verify local files"; click it and then just wait.

This will compare your current installation against the version provided by Steam and any differences will be downloaded and overwritten; thus fully resetting your game back to vanilla.

To set up new mods again you'd first have to install SKSE, then just set up your mod manager and let it handle the rest of your mods. Vortex is quite good at that.

That is completely wrong.

If you are using a mod manager you can uninstall mods quite easily, you just need to start a new game.

Maybe you prefer this method, fair enough, but it doesn't mean my method is wrong. It works perfectly, and better yet: depending on the size of your mod collection it's likely to be more reliable as well.

Some mods can mess with configuration files, thus uninstalling the mod still leaves some changes behind. Vortex can do a lot, but it doesn't always catch everything. This method does.

Also... I could easily accuse you of being wrong as well. A mod manager like Vortex allows you to disable mods as well, which would be much quicker and also mimics the impression of having removed everything.

Just because you prefer another method doesn't render others wrong.

[smr1957]

The most important thing if you want to start off with a clean slate, is to do a clean reinstall. To do a clean reinstall, just validating the files or uninstalling and reinstalling the game is not enough - files can get left over and they will continue to effect your game. Follow this guide EXACTLY and do everything it says to the letter:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2743619856

And DO NOT clean or edit the Master files or any Creation Club content.

Link is from the following section of the PINNED TOPIC Helpful Links and References
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882871440
Good luck!

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

That is completely wrong.

If you are using a mod manager you can uninstall mods quite easily, you just need to start a new game.

Maybe you prefer this method, fair enough, but it doesn't mean my method is wrong.

Sorry but you method is wrong, verifying the files restores the master files back to what they should be, but does not remove mods, it doesn't affect mods at all.

Given the OP is asking how to remove mods, and your method doesn't touch mods, I ask you for a better term than wrong???

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Sorry but you method is wrong, verifying the files restores the master files back to what they should be, but does not remove mods, it doesn't affect mods at all.

Well, it's obvious that you never bothered to use this method yourself and are only basing your opinion on theory right now.

Fun fact: with the introduction of 'Creations' Skyrim is actively using the 'Data' folder as well for its own expansions, it even provides in-game load order optimization.. Basically everything is affected and mods are supported 'out of the box'.

Thing is... just removing mods doesn't cut it. For example... what do you think is going to happen if you remove, say, "ccfsvsse001-backpacks.bsa" (and it's .esl counterpart) from the Data folder, then restart your game? I'll tell you: your game is going to crash. Why? Simple: because the loading (or using) of mods isn't merely defined by its presence, there are also config files involved.

(edit) => Forgot to mention: my point is easily proven: just use Vortex to disable a mod, then go look at your Data folder. You'll notice that nothing has changed there, the disabled mods are still present, yet won't be loaded.

Speaking of which.... there's a reason why the general rule exists that you should never edit / modify the ini files in your program folder.

But bottom line: those config files are affected when you reset your game back to its default.

And the reason I know that I'm right is because last week I used this method for myself. I started playing again after I took a break for almost a year, and to make matters worse I also accidentally upgraded Skyrim somewhere in between but couldn't be bothered with grabbing any backups at that time, also because I figured that the mods would eventually catch up anyway.

So my installation was a complete mess. Almost instant CTD's, even without SKSE. But after I had reset my game as mentioned above, then used the Steam client to fire it up again the whole thing behaved as expected: no more mods, no more crashes; things just worked as expected again.

From there on I got Vortex to reset my mods, then upgraded the whole lot and sorted out version conflicts and what not. Eventually resulting with my game being fully back on track again.

There's a big difference between reciting theory, or sharing hands on experiences.

[smr1957]

Xavier, just follow Vlad's guide that I linked - that will get you where you need to be.

Good luck, once again!

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Sorry but you method is wrong, verifying the files restores the master files back to what they should be, but does not remove mods, it doesn't affect mods at all.

Well, it's obvious that you never bothered to use this method yourself and are only basing your opinion on theory right now.
<snip>

Never used it because it can not work.
The rest is waffle, apart from pointing out that creations work slightly differently, not the way you say, but differently...

As for the OP, listen to smr and use the links he provided.

[Sep]

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Well, it's obvious that you never bothered to use this method yourself and are only basing your opinion on theory right now.

Fun fact: with the introduction of 'Creations' Skyrim is actively using the 'Data' folder as well for its own expansions, it even provides in-game load order optimization.. Basically everything is affected and mods are supported 'out of the box'.

Thing is... just removing mods doesn't cut it. For example... what do you think is going to happen if you remove, say, "ccfsvsse001-backpacks.bsa" (and it's .esl counterpart) from the Data folder, then restart your game? I'll tell you: your game is going to crash. Why? Simple: because the loading (or using) of mods isn't merely defined by its presence, there are also config files involved.

(edit) => Forgot to mention: my point is easily proven: just use Vortex to disable a mod, then go look at your Data folder. You'll notice that nothing has changed there, the disabled mods are still present, yet won't be loaded.

Speaking of which.... there's a reason why the general rule exists that you should never edit / modify the ini files in your program folder.

But bottom line: those config files are affected when you reset your game back to its default.

And the reason I know that I'm right is because last week I used this method for myself. I started playing again after I took a break for almost a year, and to make matters worse I also accidentally upgraded Skyrim somewhere in between but couldn't be bothered with grabbing any backups at that time, also because I figured that the mods would eventually catch up anyway.

So my installation was a complete mess. Almost instant CTD's, even without SKSE. But after I had reset my game as mentioned above, then used the Steam client to fire it up again the whole thing behaved as expected: no more mods, no more crashes; things just worked as expected again.

From there on I got Vortex to reset my mods, then upgraded the whole lot and sorted out version conflicts and what not. Eventually resulting with my game being fully back on track again.

There's a big difference between reciting theory, or sharing hands on experiences.

That's because the mod configuration was still baked into it.
What you are merely doing is that you reset the entire setting back to default stats and manually remove/delete mod via Vortex.

This work fine if you are using mod manager, but it doesn't work if you manually install mod. That's because mod manager such as Vortex is hardlink, any mod you installed via Vortex would be deposit to the game main data folder. The same applies when you removing the mod via Vortex, it would delete it from the game main data folder where it is stored.

But if you are doing manual installation without using mod manager. Verify files integrity only detect the origin files for corruption and reset it back to default stage, it doesn't remove the mod that are manually placed inside the data folder.

[-={LG}=-]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

Honestly, if you want a sure fire way to revert to vanilla just uninstall the game, then delete the Skyrim folders in MyDocuments and the Steam folder - then reinstall.

You should also delete the Skyrim folder in "c:\users\<username>\appdata\local" and to be totally pristine also delete the "<Steam install path>\userdata\<bignumber>\489830"

[Velber]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by ShelLuser:

Removing mods is easy... Hop into your Steam client, check the games properties and then in specific open the "Local files" tab. Here you'll have an option called "Verify local files"; click it and then just wait.

This will compare your current installation against the version provided by Steam and any differences will be downloaded and overwritten; thus fully resetting your game back to vanilla.

To set up new mods again you'd first have to install SKSE, then just set up your mod manager and let it handle the rest of your mods. Vortex is quite good at that.

That is completely wrong.

If you are using a mod manager you can uninstall mods quite easily, you just need to start a new game.
If you aren't using a mod manager, or are using the built in mod system, then you need to delete the data folder
Documents>games>skyrim SE

^ this

[Xyteno Sane]

Okay that's a lot for me to read and understand considering how stupid I am and also the fact that English is not my native language but anyway I have need for a few clarifications. the reason I need to uninstall all of my mods is because I installed mods I shouldn't have and now I don't know which ones are causing my issues so I need to remove everything and start adding them slowly while making sure everything works and without adding mods I shouldn't add. I should also try and figure out how to make a copy of the game that way I can play as much as I want with my modded version and I can just have another vanilla version on the side in case there are any updates or issues happening. But anyway currently my issue is that I don't know which ones of the answers above are the same just worded differently and which ones are true or false so here's what I need clarification for one of the simpler explanations above that doesn't seem too difficult to understand is start a new game. Seems simple enough however I seriously doubt that it means I need to open the game and click new game because I did that like 80 times when I first started modding it so can someone clarify what he means by start a new game.

[Altbert]

Just follow the guide from Vlad 254 presented by smr1957.

In the simplest words I can think of:

• Uninstall the game through Steam
  
• Completely delete your /Games/steamapps/common/Skyrim Special Edition/ folder and all its subfolders
  
• Completely delete your C:/Users/<username>/AppData/Local/Skyrim Special Edition/ folder and all its subfolders
  
• Completely delete your Documents/My Games/Skyrim Special Edition folder and all its subfolders
  
• Once done, re-install the game again, but be sure not to install it in the Windows Program Files folder.

Why not do it any other way? Mods may contain Papyrus scripts. Scripts may contain Properties. Those properties are stored in your save file and when those mods are removed, the data are still in the save file and may cause issues in the long run.