Hi! Like Lexy said, either of those followers can be safely ignored in game and never recruited. At which point they're not a problem. If you're still having crash before launch after sorting that mess out, I'll point out something that stymied me. Go back to the modding portion of the guide and CTRL+F for BSA EXTRACTED. Then go through, one by one, and for each one go to the 'Archives' tab of your MO2 window and find the mod in there. Right-click, and hit 'extract' and extract the BSA to the Mod's folder. If you don't do this, then any one of the mods can and will cause a similar crash before launch. Enhanced Skyrim Factions: The Companions, for example, will definitely cause a pre-launch crash if its BSA isn't extracted. After this, you'll need to repack any merges that are involved with the mods whose BSA's you extracted. While I'm here: I'm having an issue, I think. Maybe. I'm like level 12, Adept difficulty. I'm wearing Exquisite Ranger armor, and exquisite weapon and shield. I'm just getting wrecked. I just had a bandit chief one shot me with a dagger. If I block him, he two-shots me. Did I screw something up in the modding process? Is Light Armor just worthless because of Know Your Enemy? Or do I just need to "get good?"