I am having trouble getting the .esp files from mods to show up in Skyrim Launcher under Data Files. I know the .esp files exist because when I first bought the game, I had the same issue. There was a post either in this forum or in the steam forum that basically said to move the Steam folder out of program files and to uncheck the "read only' box. I did both, unfortuately the "read only" box constantly resets back to "read only" as soon as you uncheck it and click apply. However the .esps would sometimes randomly show up and the mods would be available to play. The .esp's would pretty much randomly show up or not show up depending on the time of the lunar cycle or whether or not the planets were aligned correctly.

Ever since I downloaded the high res pack from steam though, all the other esp's pretty much never show up. To make matters worse pretty much all my save files crash to desktop on load because they require the esps to play. So is there any way to fix this or to play the game without steam or am I outta luck?

b

bump, really need help.

No need to bump every 30 minutes, just to let you know.

Anyways, verify your files.

Uninstall everything. Steam included. Then reinstall Steam in a folder like C:\Games. It could be some of the permissions were inherited and while you can clean this up, it's better in the long run to just fix it for good now. Then reinstall your mods one at a time through your desired method. Then run BOSS and Bash patch them together and Voila. Just make a list of all your mods ahead of time.

I'm assuming you don't use Windows XP. If you do, they were perfectly fine in the Program Files folder.

You could try to use an external mod manager like the Nexus Mod Manager or Wry Bash and see if they can activate the .esp files

BTW not being able to remove the "read only" attribute is windows "working as intended", microsoft officially states that "the Read-only attribute for a folder is typically ignored by Windows, Windows components and accessories, and other programs", but if you still want to try to get rid of it you can read this article http://itexpertvoice.com/home/fixing-the-windows-7-read-only-folder-blues/