Thanks for providing the solution. Please be aware that uninstalling the game doesn't have any effect on save games, mods and settings, by design. Reinstalling the game is almost never needed for that reason. The flags should work in steam, but sometimes capitalization can be an issue, the flags have to be exactly correct.I solved this in the end by deleting all the outdate files pre my re-install - including mods that Steam apparently didn't remove when I uninstalled the game and it seems the nods flag either don't work or have changed via steam, no does disabling code mods from the launcher apparently work. Bit grim really