This mod lets you treat Skyrim Anniversary Edition like a pick-and-choose buffet
The 'content picker' does what the name suggests.
Skyrim Anniversary Edition is Bethesda's most recent re-packaging of its all-conquering fantasy RPG, and a pretty good one at that: it includes the Skyrim Special Edition and bundles in all of the previously released premium Creation Club additions (here's a full explainer). And there's fishing.
Creation Club mods? What if I don't want them? Such ran the thoughts of Darkfox 127, who has created the Skyrim Anniversary Edition Content Picker. This mod will help keep your Data folder organised and pick-and-choose the content you want to install from the Anniversary Edition.
"If you purchased the Anniversary upgrade for Skyrim or maybe even purchased the game for the first time, you may have noticed that upon loading the game, the Creation Club proceeds to download all 74 pieces of CC content and place it in your Skyrim Data folder in the form of ESL and BSA files, rather than collating everything one or multiple bundles of content," writes Darkfox. Yes, I certainly did notice that.
"As frustrating as that may be to deal with, it was probably the best choice for compatibility with potential mods making changes to CC content and it also allows this FOMOD Installer to exist. AECP allows the player to choose which pieces of content you install whilst also allowing your mod manager to manage the files, rather than leaving them making a mess in your otherwise neat and tidy Data folder."
Some people want to watch the world burn: Some people just can't stand a messy Data folder. I quite like the cut of Darkfox's jib actually: The mod comes with the above video explaining how to use it in such simple terms that even I could manage it, accompanied by this text: "For the love of Talos, read this and pay attention otherwise this FOMOD isn't going to work for you and I won't be replying to comments stating that it doesn't work because you failed to read both the mod page, installer info or even watch the video." Yeah!
My favourite trivia by far about Skyrim Anniversary Edition is in the context of Bethesda's somewhat deserved reputation for buggy game launches—Whereas when this came out, it was causing crashes by running too efficiently. Give the fans all the content and they mod it out, optimise so well the game won't run... some days, a giant gaming publisher just can't win.
You can download the Skyrim Anniversary Edition Content Picker here.