Help with modding

I got my hands on skyrim from a friend who downloaded the game for free(shock horror) and now don't know if i'll be able to run any mod's because of this. Everything i've seen (tutorial's for installing mod's) has to be run through steam which i do not have in my skyrim files as it is downloaded rather than bought. I have a "data" folder but when i extract mod's there it does not appear to have any effect in game. Any idea's?? Please and thank you

You have to enable them through the launcher for one thing. Once you have them in the data folder you have to click "Data Files" and check mark them. If your "Data Files" is greyed out then you add "bEnableFileSelection=1" to your Skyrimprefs.ini (the one located in your my documents/skyrim folder) file under "Launcher". It's the same way you would do it with steam, I would guess.

My Data Files Are greyed out and In my Skyrimprefs.ini has that "bEnableFileSelection=1" in it. Is there somthing i can do so i can mod my Skyrim?

I think you might have the same issue I did. I found 2 skyrim prefs. The first one (the one you likely found) is in your installation directory I bet. The one you need to find and fix to mod is in User/MyDocuments/MyGames/Skyrim/skyrimprefs. The line you'll need to edit is about half way down rather than at the bottom, and it will be accompanied with some other lines. It's still under Launcher though. I hope this will help.

I did what you suggested and got the data files option to become available but for some reason i can't find the mod i put in the data file on the list. Any help? Midas Magic mod

So you un-rared it, then put the bsa and esp files into the Data folder? If not make sure you use winrar (or something similar) to unrar it, then go into the data file and put the bsa and esp (the only 2 files in it) into the data folder. If you did that and it's not working, then I have no idea what went wrong. Maybe you just have a corrupted version of the file. What I would ultimately suggest is going to the Skyrim Nexus, downloading their mod manager, and then getting Midas Magic from their site. The Nexus mod manager makes using mods a lot easier.

I'm in similar situation. Had Skyrim in Xbox, and just git new quad PC. I have some mods from steam and curse. I haven't been able to use mod manager.U haven't been able to find skyrim data files. Need help installing mod manager correctly.

The benefits of buying a real copy

I did buy a copy. I need sine help with mod manager . I'm liking the game even more on PC!

My Skyrim isn't on steam, but I've got oblivion on steam. My oblivion files are saved at "C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\oblivion". Just go into Skyrim instead and you should find the data file. Also, when the Nexus manager is active, you can rescan for the location of the correct location of your data file. Click the arrow to the side of the circular arrow titled "Change game mode", choose rescan installed games, and it will automatically attempt to find the location of your saved games. It should have also done this during initial installation. Alternatively, you can go into the manager's settings, click the Skyrim tab, and manually select the location of your game's saved location.

I am also having this problem but i found the skyrimprefs and looked in it but the line is already there.... and i looked around in my whole folder and i cant find another one or anything even close. =(

can someone make a tutorial for mac how to put mod