Yeah, apparently not. Not even if you reinstall the game, or perhaps even your computer. You can't delete it manually either, because it will redownload from Steam automatically which you can't stop.
The only "solution" it seems is to contact steam support and ask them to remove it from your steam account, but yeah... you'll probably have to wait 30 days or so to get an answer from them, if you get an answer from them at all.

This Steam stuff has brought nothing but trouble.

If we flood Steam support with requests to disable it they might think it's a better idea to ask users FIRST if they want to re-install an optional package instead of making it mandatory.

Well for example lets say you have a desktop that can run the HRTP and a gaming laptop that struggles with it that you use while traveling --- Since your account has the DLC active you have to install the HD DLC on your laptop even though you do not plan to use it since if STEAM connects and finds it is not there it will start to download it and keep you from playing until it finishes installing it or if you have to reinstall it to your laptop STEAM will automatically add the DLC when installing even if you do not want it on that system - which makes no sense (As others have said there needs to be an option to say whether you want to download it each time you install the game so separate systems can have it installed or not !)

Erm, Guyz

Its easier than you think.

hlvr had the solution but not the confidence to do it ..

Launcher, Data files,

Left click on one of them to highlight it, then hit the delete button

Do it for both DLC Hi res packs

It then not only deletes the esp, but also the associated bsa

And does not come back on the same machine.


I have done this successfully on three machines now ...

Explanation for the rare user who may be trying the same - If you setup steam using the same account name and password on a different machine, any DLC you select will auto-download for both machines, even if you have done the above deletion routine on the first one ... But after the download on the second machine, the above routine also works again.

Family desktop (now win 7x64 (previously on win XP so had to re-install everything)), and my laptop (Win 7x32) - Not exactly three machines but they might aswell have been


Nope, they dont unless you are on a different machine using the same steam account ^^

Screeny for any un-believers http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=8955369Untitled.png

and here I left clicked to Highlight the Bashed Patch as an example ( I cant select DLCs anymore because they are gone )
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=1335539Untitled.png

Just click "Delete selected" with the DLC highlighted instead.

Close, but not quite - at least for me, in my position. I may think (rightly, wrongly, doesn't matter.) that my install of Skyrim is corrupt. So I want to re-install it. But I don't think that the DLC is corrupt, nor any of the mods that I have downloaded... So I just want to re-install the base game. I can't.

And if I wanted to install Skyrim to my laptop, I'd get the DLC whether or not I wanted it there. So there goes my monthly data allotment, as well as the precious drive space on my wee laptop.

THAT is what I want fixed, and indeed that is what I have asked Steam to do for my account. (Wish me luck, all.)

I had this problem. Steam support removed it for me. Just be patient, they took a week with me.

So just to clarify, by unchecking them in the data files, they will no longer load right? I'm not too concerned with installing and reinstalling the game since I don't mod myself much. Just can't handle the hd pack.

I wonder if you could put empty, fake file names in place of the texture packs and then Steam shouldn't download them. it could save you space.

Nope no go, Steam verifys them via MD5 or something because it knows the difference after reverifying. I think were stuck with the 3GB Pack

Thanks for investigating!
But I still wonder: what will happen when the next official game update comes (1.5)?
Deaths_soul said it will redownload then, but I can't know for sure because obviously 1.5 patch isn't here yet. Is there anyone who knows about this for sure, for instance from another game that has had this problem?

Actually I am not so sure now (again), after seeing your post and looking at Daemon before you mentioning verifying files ..

I just tried a re-verify of game files with the steam client (something I have not done for a while, relying on my BAINs in Wrye Smash to re-install any corrupted files on the rare occasion I will need to do that)..

It downloaded the damned BSAs again on the machine I tried it on.

I am starting to feel like we cannot rely on any logical ideas about maintaining an install order with this game. Steam client once again proving to be a royal pain in the proverbial.

I am very reluctant to use anything but Wrye Smash at the moment too, from what we have seen with the old ideas of archive invalidation going out of the window along with loose files no longer guaranteed to trump BSAs, being limited to how many BSAs can be used if you add them to the ini....

Steam Workshop is going to create multiple problems too for people who want to mix mods from other sources, managing them in the near future is going to be a problem.

And I hate every time we get an update to the steam client itself, it initiates a re-detect of your hardware so any ini edits have to be re-done.

And yesterday fortunately I had the Synchronize with Steam Cloud un-selected - Otherwise no doubt all users in this household would have been auto-uploading 200 save files each and killing the bandwidth ... Brilliant idea from the marketing bright ideas club, not, for countries with slower average internet connections lets turn on billions of file uploads to gather more data about our users. It stinks.

Apologies, but I am getting very disenchanted with the whole Skyrim setup. Brilliant game, crap implementation. Frustrating.

Totally agree -- seems the only safe method is to have Steam set to offline mode and your Firewall set to block all communication with the steam servers so that you can backup everything each time you decide to connect to steam and see if there are updates just in case it decides to change everything again -- they really need to change a few things to get Bethesda games and steam to work with each other -- I mean it should not be resetting the ini files every time it makes a small update as with Beth games users tend to make tweaks to the ini files to get the game running well on their individual system and having those changes wiped out at random is really a Pain !!

I've actually now made a second copy of the entire installation in a separate folder that I keep updated as needed just to have a working game with the edits I want so each time Steam decides to change things I can get things back if needed.

I just wish they would give you a message that new updates are available and give you a chance to make a backup before proceeding to update things before launching the update.

I have raised a steam ticket about this problem, not only to remove the DLC for me personally but also

I went into a bunch of use cases where un-installing this is becoming a necessity ..


machine even though within the spec's proves unworthy / stuttering after installing

creating problems with other mods

faults within the bsa's making them un-desireable

DLC re-installing when the user believes they should now be disabled via the Skyrim Launcher Data Files delete option

DLC re-installing on other machine with same steam account which is not capable of using them

DLC re-installing upon updates to the game and re-verifying of files.


... With no way to turn them off without requesting a support ticket via Steam Support.

I dont know if it should be gamesas addressing this or Valve, but you never know it may help.

Personally, I don't really want to uninstall the DLC's, I just want to re-install the game without having to re-download 3.x GB of data that isn't corrupted, and that never changes...

To that end I did another (fruitless, in the end) experiment today, I copied the 4 dlc files and the two update files out to a safe location, uninstalled my game, then copied those 6 files back before re-installing my game. As I parenthetically mentioned, fruitless... I am staring at a 3+GB transfer, gobbling up more of my monthly allotment.

So, for me the ultimate fix is to go into the registry as soon as this download finishes, copy out the necessary bits, make a safe directory elsewhere and make a complete copy of all associated game files / folders, plus the registry files, then go off-line of Steam, never to return unless I hear of a DLC that is so compelling that I am willing to give up some three hours of my life to get it.

If anyone sees any missing bits / flaws in this plan, please let me know.

The solution has already been posted: contact Steam support to have the DLC removed from your account.

Also, there are alternatives to re-downloading game content should you need to reinstall and you don't have physical media. When the game is still installed, local game files can be archived into a self-extracting executable for storage. Right-click on the title and choose "Backup Game Files." You could easily create an archive without the DLC by simply moving or deleting the HRTP files from the data folder prior to archiving.

You weren't replying to me, right?

To you, and to anyone else that might want to accomplish what the thread title asks. You had better find something that works, because the HRTP isn't going to be the last piece of http://kotaku.com/5885983/bethesda-skyrim-dlc-will-feel-more-like-expansion-packs that Bethesda releases for Skyrim.

Ahem... I think that this thread has gone in a few other directions, perhaps directions that have passed you by... As in my post, to which you said that you were replying, in which I said

"Personally, I don't really want to uninstall the DLC's, I just want to re-install the game without having to re-download 3.x GB of data that isn't corrupted, and that never changes..."

And we ARE trying to find something that works, from trying out do-it-yourself ideas (like the one that I posted about) to opening tickets with Steam (as I for one have already done) to posting comments on Bethesda's own blog / forum in hopes that Bethesda might take notice and provide some help...

So what have you got to offer for a fix? Duhh.... "The solution has already been posted: contact Steam support to have the DLC removed from your account."


Thanks for trying, please come again.

I understand that you own the DLC and you want to keep it associated with your account - you just don't want to have to download it every time you reinstall the game via Steam. I can understand that. However, I believe I offered you a solution that works and is presently available and that is to backup the local game files.

If you don't own physical media for the game and you currently have the HRTP downloaded and wish to reinstall Skyrim, you can do the following:

1. Copy the following files associated with the HRTP to a safe location:
HighResTexturePack01.bsa
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.bsa
HighResTexturePack02.esp

2. Uninstall Skyrim and delete the \steam\steamapps\common\skyrim directory
3. Start the installation of Skyrim via Steam - once it starts, pause the download and close Steam
4. Copy the files associated with the HRTP to \steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data
5. Launch Steam and resume the installation - these four files already exist, so they won't be downloaded.

This is currently the only method of accomplishing what you're after. Obviously, if you expect to reinstall the game at some point and don't own physical media, then the best option is to backup your local game files once the game is installed. If you do this, then all you'll ever have to download from Steam are updates.

From what I've been able to gather from this thread (which I've been following for reasons that now escape me), yours is the only request of this type. Others have expressed a desire to remove the DLC from their account and have expressed an unwillingness to contact Steam support for this. I am quite certain that if this functionality were added to the Steam client, someone would accidentally remove content from their account (and not just free DLC). I believe this would occur far too often to make the option viable from Valve's point of view. In any event, Steam is not a Bethesda service. If you want to ask for this functionality to be added to the Steam client, you need to contact Steam support.

Nah, keep the DLC there -let it tease you again, again and again, until it drives you crazy enough, to head to the nearest PC hardware shop

That's been done, by me, and Steam will still download the DLC. I can only think that Steam has the DLC tied to your game / account, you re-installed your game, therefore you need new DLC.

You are a yank, yes? And so don't have a monthly limit from your ISP to worry about, so try it, refine the process, then come up with a solution that DOES work. I've already used up about 1/3 of this month's DL limit, and the month is only 3 days old...

And I am patiently waiting for Steam to reply to my ticket, but I have learned that, with Steam, you don't hold your breath. I have an outstanding ticket on another issue that is now in its third month...

Yes, that's how Steam works. If they're installed when you create your archive, however, they will already be installed when you reinstall from that archive, so you won't have to download them again. If placing them in the appropriate location in the middle of the install doesn't work, you can just include them in your archive after you reinstall the game. Are you saying that you've tried this and it doesn't recognize that the HRTP files are present and starts downloading them? Did you verify the local game cache before resuming the download?


I do in fact have a monthly downstream limit imposed by my ISP, so I understand the need to avoid unnecessary downloads of 3GB chunks of data that I already have. If you don't own physical media for a game you own on Steam (particularly large games like Skyrim), backing up the local files should be the first thing you do. Even if you didn't have a monthly data limit imposed by your ISP, it would still be a waste of time compared to simply installing from an archived file.

Guess that you also missed this wee bit...

"So, for me the ultimate fix is to go into the registry as soon as this download finishes, copy out the necessary bits, make a safe directory elsewhere and make a complete copy of all associated game files / folders, plus the registry files, then go off-line of Steam, never to return unless I hear of a DLC that is so compelling that I am willing to give up some three hours of my life to get it.

If anyone sees any missing bits / flaws in this plan, please let me know."

That's now been done, so next time I feel the need to re-install I can just copy over from my saved archive, plus making the needed registry changes...

Even with your own media, you still need steam to decrypt the files. That's why I've done this wee bit. Makes me regard the issues with Oblivion and Morrowwind with fondness. Try something that buggers your install? No problemo Jose... Just whip out the DVD, and twenty minutes later - Presto! - clean install. But the average user, the one that pays money and expects things to work, shouldn't have to put up with this BS, and if Bethesda cops a bit of legal stick over it, well and good. It is not nice to pee on the hand that feeds you, you know.

Had a response from steam ..


No mention of implementing an easy removal method for everyone without having to raise a steam support ticket though.