Last updated 27 Jan 2022
This guide has been created to clear up any confusion as to how to manually download this mod should the Steam version not work for you.

Before you start, you should first consider deleting your mod folder (Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/mod) (but only once you have created backups of all your locally downloaded mods!) and then re-launching EU4. All the mods you have subscribed to on Steam will automatically re-download. Then try subscribing to VN through Steam.
This can help resolve any issues with downloading through Steam. If this fails, follow the steps below to download the mod manually.

Please be aware that every time a new update is released for the mod, you will need to re-install the new version of the manual download to get the best experience.

1. Go to https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/mod-voltaires-nightmare.1110346/.
2. If you get the error message "You must be logged in to do that", sign in to the forums with your Paradox Account.
3. If you don't have a Paradox Account, create one.
4. If you needed to do steps 2 or 3, repeat step 1.
5. On the first post of the forum thread, click the mediafire link to download the newest version of the mod.
6. Download "FilesInsideDontUseThis.zip".
7. Once it has downloaded, navigate to your downloads folder.
8. Use a program like 7-Zip to extract the contents of the zip file.
9. You should have 2 folders, "_MACOSX" and "FilesInsideDontUseThis". Ignore the first folder, even if you are using a Mac, and open the "FilesInsideDontUseThis" folder.
10. Make sure you are NOT subscribed to the Steam workshop version of Voltaire's Nightmare.
11. Copy the folder "hreuniversalis" and file "hreuniversalis.mod" to the folder where all your EU4 mods are stored. On Windows, this should be in Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/mod.
12. Open hreuniversalis.mod in a text editor that can handle .mod files such as Notepad++, and do the following:
a) If you see a line remote_file_id="684459310", delete the line.
b) Search for a line starting with path = ...". Delete this line as well and replace it with path="mod/hreuniversalis". Alternatively, you can add the absolute path to your mod folder instead.
An example of a functioning path where the drive is C: and the user is User: path="C:/Users/User/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/mod/hreuniversalis". Make sure to use the correct drive and user name here.
13. Make sure you are running the current version of EU4 and open the launcher.
14. Go to "Playsets" in the launcher and click "Add More Mods". If you see a mod with the name "Voltaire's Nightmare" in the list, you have successfully downloaded the mod. Add it to your playset and then enable it, and launch the game.

If you are having trouble with any of these steps, please post your issue in the comments.