Skyrim is probably the most heavy-modded game that was ever published. There's thousands of several mods out there that alters the game's visual appearance, features, and content. We tend to get addicted into installing this and that and suddenly, one day. For some reason or another your PC won't boot and you had to resort to reinstalling your windows. You redownload Skyrim and everything won't be the same again. You just lost the mod you've gathered for months.

This guide will be a step-by-step tutorial on how to backup a modded skyrim. The guide was designed for Nexus Mod Manager users and incase you don't know what that is.. It's a mod manager that handles mod installation and uninstallation of various supported games. You can get it here.[www.nexusmods.com]

Before we go into the process we have to know which one is important and why its essential in creating a modded skyrim backup.

• TES V: Skyrim's game folder - The main game. I dont need to explain why you need to back this up now do I?
  
• TES V: Skyrim's ini files - If you installed appearance overhauls or ENB presets chances are you have a modified and slightly different from the vanilla ini files.
  
• NMN's downloaded mods - You want to back up a modded game.
  
• NMN's load order - Important for some mods to work and for patches.
  
• NMN's plugin list - So NMN would know which plugins are downloaded from Nexus.
  
• NMN's steam mod list - Optional but this handles the listing for mods downloaded through Skyrim workshop.

Game folder

Let's start with backing up the main game. I'm going to assume you already have an external drive or somewhere to put the backup files. For this guide we will refer to your backup folder as "backup disk".
Some people would only backup "Data" folder since its the one that holds mostly every skyrim content and just redownload the rest. But I'd recommend the entire Skyrim folder located in " D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim ". Copy (NOT cut NOT move) the folder and paste it to your backup disk. This applies especially if you have an ENB preset or a SweetFX config installed as they will not be located inside the Data folder.

Ini files

For those who doesn't know. This is a .txt that contains your local settings for skyrim. They are located in your " Documents\My Games\Skyrim " from there, you should see " Skyrim.ini " and "SkyrimPref.ini " If the game doesnt detect this files it will automatically create a new one with the vanilla settings. The vanilla ini files sometimes cause some mods to not work so having the configured version would give you a leeway.

Downloaded mods

This is the folder where everything you download from the Nexus are placed. The location varies you are asked to choose a folder when you first install Nexus Mod Manager for this guide's sake I installed mine on " D:\Nexus Mod Manager\ " in that folder contains the game that you used NMN for. There should be a Skyrim folder inside. Open it, and there should be " Install Info " which contains your mod settings and which replaces overlapping mods and " Mods " the mod files. Copy (NOT cut NOT move) both folder to your backup disk.

Load order, plugin list, and steam mod list

These are the files that will tell you the loading order of the mods (Very important, some mods are meant to be load first before the other and if you're using unofficial patches of the game) and the listing so NMN can detect which mod is installed. The files are located in " C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Skyrim " where XXX is the name of PC. Copy " plugins.txt " " loadorder.txt " and " SteamModList" for steam workshop contents to your backup folder.

If you want a quick guide to restoring your modded skyrim. Simply copy paste back the files you backup back to the folder where they were originally placed. This is to say that you have already did a clean install of vanilla Skyrim.

For the folder location and list of files to copy just refer to Part II of this same guide. If this guide wasn't followed and you instead copied the entire Skyrim folder as a backup chances are the game would still work + all the mod you have installed. But, they wont be configurable or appear in your Nexus Mod Manager. They will be counted as manually installed mods and you have to manually uninstall them too in case you want a certain mod removed. I recommend you follow this guide step by step.

Special thanks to the following...

• Jarrizard - Author of the guide. Created with the help of various sites such as nexus and skyrimwikia.-
  
• mersiless - Part I header image.
  
• Meliodas - Part II header image.
  
• Fortification545 - Part III header image.
  
• Blaster - Part IV header image.