Downloading Steam hosted mods w/o Steam?

[m3dicat3d]

hello all... I'm posting in a few boards across the web, but I wanted to post this here first as the STEP community has hands down been the absolute BEST at answering any questions I've had prior about hardware, etc. Thanks so much for being so awesome yet again, ahead of time :) ...

 

 

Is there any way to DL Skyrim mods from Steam Workshop so that you can have those mod files on your hard disk and then install them with the mod software of your choice (Wrye, Mod Organizer, TES5Edit, etc.) versus Steam? I'd like to use the Mod Oragnizer software mentioned on STEP (in conjunction with BOSS), but looking at the "proprietary-esque" nature of how some mod types (like quest mods) are hosted more favorably on one site (like "HOT" quest mods being more represented on Steam vs Nexus) instead of another, I haven't been able to come across a method yet that would allow me to DL those mods from Steam so that I could use the mod manager software of choice to install/manage them. When I modded Oblivion I used OBMM, Wrye, and BOSS and though the learning curve was steeper, I loved not being tethered to NMM(or doing manual installs) for modding purposes and the freedom was awesome.

 

I DON'T want to use Steam or NMM in the case of Skyrim either these days. so like Nexus offers a manual DL of the files hosted on their site, does anyone know of a way to do the same for Steam hosted files so I can use them off my HDD instead?

 

Thanks

[Farlo]

It's not perfect and requires manually checking the mod pages for updates (unless Steam has some other notifications I'm not aware of), but it can (and should IMO) be done. I should probably throw this up on the Wiki, but here's the steps:

• Subscribe to the mod in Steam.
• Make sure your INIs are set as read-only (otherwise the launcher with overwrite some of STEP's INI tweak suggestions).
• Launch the Skyrim launcher through Steam so that it will download the mod's files. As one might expect, it places the mods in the "Skyrim\Data" directory in the form of an ESP and BSA file of the same name.
• Find that ESP/BSA pair and copy them to another folder (it doesn't matter where).
• Unsubscribe from the mod.
• Install the copied files as you would any other mod.

[m3dicat3d]

Thank you, and as far as the read only ini (I know this sounds stupid, trust me) but you simply mean to right click the ini and set to read only in properties right? just to be sure there's nothing else I'm missing here

[Farlo]

Thank you' date=' and as far as the read only ini (I know this sounds stupid, trust me) but you simply mean to right click the ini and set to read only in properties right? just to be sure there's nothing else I'm missing here[/quote']

Yup, that's all you need to do.

[rootsrat]

Just bear in mind that if you're using Mod Organizer, you will need to get appropriate folders from Skyrim Data folder (textures, scripts, meshes etc. - but with contents ONLY for the mod in question) for each mod you download, as MO is using virtual Data folder - it creates a separate folder for each mod in it's own MODS folder and then virtually "merges" them together, kind of simulating Data folder.

 

I think in order to work properly (overwrites etc.) you would need the textures, meshes etc. as well as ESPs/BSAs.

 

Maybe Neo could confirm that, he's our MO expert afaik :)

[julsnice]

It's not perfect and requires manually checking the mod pages for updates (unless Steam has some other notifications I'm not aware of), but it can (and should IMO) be done. I should probably throw this up on the Wiki, but here's the steps:

• Subscribe to the mod in Steam.
• Make sure your INIs are set as read-only (otherwise the launcher with overwrite some of STEP's INI tweak suggestions).
• Launch the Skyrim launcher through Steam so that it will download the mod's files. As one might expect, it places the mods in the "Skyrim\Data" directory in the form of an ESP and BSA file of the same name.
• Find that ESP/BSA pair and copy them to another folder (it doesn't matter where).
• Unsubscribe from the mod.
• Install the copied files as you would any other mod.

MY GOD MAN YES!!! ADD THIS TO STEP ASAP!!

I WAS WONDERING THE SAME THING FROM DAY 1 BUT I DIDN'T ASK BECAUSE I FIGURED IT WASN'T DOABLE.

SHOULD'VE BEEN PART OF STEP FROM THE BEGINNING!!

[rootsrat]

Please kindly refrain from shouting with CAPS...

[Farlo]

You don't need to worry about loose files, an ESP/BSA pair is required on Steam. I'll try to add it to the Wiki tonight.

[rootsrat]

Ha! I've never ever used Steam Workshop for downloading mods... :D

[MontyMM]

Steam is a pain in the arse for power users like STEPers. I think we have a policy of not including mods if they're only available on Steam.

[Farlo]

Steam is a pain in the arse for power users like STEPers. I think we have a policy of not including mods if they're only available on Steam.

I actually think Terrain Bump was the first instance of a STEP-approved mod only being available on Steam.  I'm still going to put the instructions on the Wiki just for reference.

[Farlo]

Added a tab to the Troubleshooting Guide.