Uninstalling Mods

[Braeden]

Well my computer is running low on space, and I decided to uninstall all my oblivion mods, as my data folder is 14 gb. Ok the problem is that I dont know what to keep in the meshes folder, textures folder, sound folder, DistantLOD folder, etc. Ive been looking through the folders and I deleted most of it, but some folders I don't know what to do with, such as all the DistantLOD folders, it has no distinctive names that would lead to it being a mod, also the shaders folder, music folder, LSData folder, menus folder, Height Field folder, sound folder, and the video folder. So if anybody knows what I should keep and delete, I would appreciate it if you would inform me.

[DM8954]

I'll have to get back to you on that in a few more (6) hours when I can look at the files on my own computer. My first thought is that you can probably safely remove almost anything in the Data folder but I'm not sure about that. I know you can get rid of the models and textures folders completely because the game uses the .bsa files to get this information. If there's anything in these folders, it only takes precedence over any file of the same name in the BSA. No files means it simply uses the default information.

Deleting the DistantLOD is questionable. If you install Oblivion without any mods, this folder still exists, if I remember correctly. On the other hand, some mods overwrite these files if they change the height maps at all. They can only be named generically, so it would be hard to tell if you need to keep them or not. I think the game should be able to reconstruct the files it needs from whatever is hidden in the base files elsewhere.

I'll see what I can find out when I get home. If anyone else knows, feel free to step in.


If you're removing ALL of your mods... it might be faster and definitely will be cleaner to simply uninstall and reinstall the game. The only downside I can think of is if you're on a slow internet connection and would need to re-download any official updates or patches.

[Braeden]

I got rid of everything not questionable, but there is 13 distant LOD folders, i dont know which to keep, I know to keep DistantLOD, some of the others are DistantLOD_AEVWD and DistantLOD_AEVWD_ULDF_ULII, with many more. I downloaded a mod to make cloud ruler temple to be visible from far away, but i cant establish what files are for the mod. The other folders i have left are HeightField, LSData, Menus, and Videos. I dont recall downloading anything to do with videos so i didnt touch that folder, and i dont really know what the others are. Im down to about 5gb now.

EDIT - Uh oh...i think i deleted something important... http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/6749/everythinggonezq9.jpg

[Young Dragon]

By the gods the put out the sun...

[Braeden]

Well i reinstalled and it works now, it didnt delete anything somehow (i still have saves and everything i had in the data folder), but im not going to mess with it anymore.

[DM8954]

I only just started using a lot of mods I hadn't made myself and now my folder is too cluttered to help you figure it out either. I even installed a few of them wrong so there's stuff everywhere.

Were you able to fix that fog problem after you reinstalled everything?

[Braeden]

Yeah, but people have no eyes. It cant be a deleted file as the eye mesha nd texture are in the .bsa. So either something got screwed up in an installation, or its a remain of a old mod that didnt get deleted. But i dont really care, i just glad its playable.