Will this work? I'm out of options

[philchenevert]

I have enjoyed FS15 for many many hours. But. After dropping out for awhile (my house flooded), and then coming back to eagerly anticipate some relaxing planting and harvesting, I find that my FS15 is crippled. The mod maps I had been playing on don't work; only the two that come with the game are there. Only a few of the mods I used before are seen by the game. My saved games are there in the folder but the game does not 'see' them. Huh!

I play on a PC, Steam version by the way. I've tried uninstalling the game and reinstalling it, removing all mods from the mods folder, putting them back in one at a time (courseplay and the slurry tanker work, the rest simply do not show in the game. I have messed with everything so much I have probably screwed it up beyond repair and am frustrated and want to try a drastic solution and am asking if this will possibly work.

My plan is to simply uninstall the game and delete the entire FS folder in MyGames, then start fresh, install it again and put some mods in. Wash it clean and sparkly fresh so things will work they used to, darn it! Will this possibly screw up things more or are there hidden files that will still keep it from working properly.
NOTE: I am an old guy and not the swiftest at tech stuff, I just want to get my crops in before it is too late. My computer was thankfully not damaged in the flood; made sure to save it! I do know about the log file and will post that if you think it might help. I've deleted the mods that it said were not working but they still show up.
EDIT: Well, I did it, deleted the entire FS folder in MY GAMES, uninstalled FS from Steam and reinstalled it and IT STILL REFUSES TO CHANGE A THING! There is no Farming Simulator folder in MY GAMES yet the game seems to think that that some mods are installed! That's right, no folder and no mods folder. I am totally perplexed now.

[oakchip]

Hi! I was sorry to read of your problems - all of them! There are still one or two things you might try:
First, you say you have a Steam version of FS15. Have you tried "verify cache"? You go into Steam, using the icon on your desktop. At the top left of your screen, you should see an entry "Library". Click on this, and a list of options will appear below. Top of the list is "Games". Click on this, and a list of all your installed games will appear. Right click on FS15, and a list of options appear. At the bottom of the list is "properties". Click on this, and a new window appears. On the tabs along the top, one is "Local Files". Click on this, and in the window which appears, click on "Verify Integrity of Game Files". Click on this, and Steam will run a check on all your (Steam) files on your computer. It may say something like "75 files were missing and were re-acquired" once it has finished. Run this again, (and again!) until the response is "0 files were found missing".
Be aware you may need to uninstall ALL your mods from the game, and start again! After the above operation, some mods may no longer work if you leave them in the game.

As a last resort you may try "System Restore" (I am assuming you are running a Windows computer). In the search box at the bottom left of the main screen, type "System Restore". In the window which appears, choose a suitable date, and restore point. Run the program. Once started it cannot be stopped. It will NOT remove any files, but it will remove programs installed since that point. You may need to run Windows Update again afterwards.

Hope these ideas help!

[philchenevert]

Thanks oakchip. I did what you suggested, verifying my cache in Steam FS15. Found it right where you said it would be!: It is called "verify integrity of game files" There was a file missing and then it was restored and another check showed all files were verified and nothing missing. Ran the game again. Unfortunately it did seem to have any effect. The game did not see any of my save games or the missing mods. In other words, sadly, it was the same as before.

2. Unstalling the mods from my game. I will do this in addition to removing every mod from my mods folder.

3. I think that the game has a secret folder somewhere that it is using for saved games, and not the one I am seeing on my PC. In other words I can mess with my FS15 folder all I want, drop mods in, take mods out, paste saved games from my BAckupsaved games folder into current games, do anything I want but it is snickering and ignoroing all that, using another secret folder somewhere instead. Is there such a folder? Am I becoming a conspiracy nut? you Bet!
Thanks again for your advice. I will go delete those mods now and report back.

[philchenevert]

Oh yes, I had not thought of restoring my PC to an earlier time. That is a possible fix too.

[philchenevert]

I removed all mods from my mods folder, deleted the few mods that were showing in the game 'options' screen. Then I put the mods back into the folder and restarted the game. No mods at all were to be seen in the 'options' screen. The conclusion is that the mods folder I am messing with is irrelevant and the game is getting it's data from somewhere else, some other source. Is there a way to clear the cloud storage that Steam has? That could be the culprit.

[oakchip]

As a VERY last resort, you can start afresh by uninstalling FS15 and starting again. I can recommend a free program called "RevoUninstaller". It will not only uninstall the game, but give you the option of deleting all files in the Registry associated with it! USE WITH CARE! And set a "Restore Point" before you use it, in case you accidentally delete something you should not. You can then re-download the game from Steam and start with a clean sheet. Or abandon FS15, and buy FS17!?