GrantSP

Be sure to press <Shift> while pressing <OK>. This will load ONLY the plugins that are needed for the two you selected, otherwise the entire pligin list will load and be used.

... and just like that... he's back. Posted today on both the standard and Special Edition pages: So maybe the last niggling issues with meshes etc. will finally be looked into.

Please post your logs.

Create a new profile based the existing one and enable that then delete the previous profile. Run the game and let me know if the error still persists. This is assuming you have cleaned Update.esm and it is in a mod of its own as per the cleaning instructions.

Welcome to STEP. Update.esm will never, by its self, show up in the left-hand pane. I'm assuming you've cleaned it so it will most likely be in the 'Overwrite' folder from where you can invoke the context menu and create a mod. This will then be active in the left-hand pane and thus you will see it. However since you have already verified your game it now also exists in the game's Data folder so the game will function as though you had never touched it.

The exact reasons why some users get the different results are NOT known, we've surmised that drive speeds are an issue but to be honest we haven't a definitive answer.

You have to hand it to Microsoft, when they stuff up... they REALLY stuff up.

One more helpful hint. Try to avoid really long names for the mods. Although the path length limit for Windows is 256 characters, if you go and throw a whole bunch of long modnames into MO there is a possibility that you may exceed it. Just a possibility, but if you shorten things to an acceptable name you should be fine. Remember MO parses these modnames to the "hooked" executable and depending on where the game, MO and the mods are stored, that limit may get close.

Considering the concept of separate mods in the left-hand pane is a MO feature, any choice you make will be fine, SO LONG AS you ensure the correct files win in a conflict. Using your example let's look at the options. Install the main file, v1.57 as "Improved closefaced helmets", and then the update into a differently named mod which you mistakenly enable above the main file. The corrected mesh isn't used in the game and it is as though you didn't install it. Next any optional files you choose, e.g. the Chitin helmet. Again since the contents of this file are replacing meshes in the main file you will need to ensure this too is below the main mod in the left-hand pane. The way to view the left-hand pane is as though it is a timeline of the mods you installed if you didn't use a manager. The top files are installed first and subsequent mods replace any files that the previous mods provided.

Windows Creator update broke the functionality of MO and as far as I can tell it is due the game bar Windows adds. Follow the 'tricky software' link in my signature and disable it and let us know.

Follow the steps in the 'tricky software' link in my signature about disabling the game bar in your Windows install and let us know if that is the culprit. From all the reports so far this seems to be the reason for the issue. I do not have this option in my heavily modified Windows install so I cannot see the problem firsthand.

Regarding the Creator update that breaks things (thanks Microsoft ;{), please follow the link in my signature about tricky software and follow the steps to disable the Game Bar and let us know if that was/is the culprit.

To be fair the guide and FAQ and this forum have already noted that AV software, regardless of company, will interfere with MO. Check the link in my signature about tricky software.

Just to clarify, I think you are using the term 'mod' to also speak of the file you sourced from a mod site such as Nexus. MO refers to those files as downloads and they are archived files of all the files that particular mod needs to function. You can safely delete the download once it is 'installed'. "SuperAwesomeSpecialMod.7z" == the download Once it is extracted or installed by MO you will have: "SuperAwesomeSpecialMod.bsa, SuperAwesomeSpecialMod.esp" == the mod MO is not as dificult to use as some make it out to be, just setup some mods and create profile and you'll get the hang of it.

Check the link in my signature about tricky software and take special note of the instructions about the game bar in Win 10. Let us know if this is the issue in your case, there have been a few reports about the Creator update of Win 10 breaking MO's functionality but since I don't have that update, and I have otherwise fixed MS from spying on me, I can't test this.

Have a look at the contents of a profile and you will see that there are a set of text files that define what is installed and active in that profile, the actual mods themselves remain where they are. All you are doing is automating the deactivation/activation of the set of installed mods in your system. Along with this are a set of profile specific INI files for that specific run through.

The Github repo for @Tannin is still on 2.0.7 because he is no longer working on this tool, he was employed by Nexus many months ago to develop their new manager, Vortex. The release you need is on the fork of this repo maintained by @LePresidente, the links to it are shown on the Nexus page and it is clearly stated that all further progress will done on that fork.

The 'mods' folder doesn't support sub-folders, the MO UI has a column called "Category" that you use to differentiate your installed mods and you can also install empty mods (just create empty folders) that are named as category headers. e.g. The "webcache" is just a temp folder MO uses when accessing the pages on the Nexus, it houses some of the content and mechanics to display information about your installed mods. It is not vital to functionality if you don't install mods from Nexus using the "Download with Manager" button or use MO to show the mod's page in the "Information" tab.

Disclaimer: Any jiggery-pokery you do with NMM will void any 'clean' Data folder that MO affords you, so you will have to make a choice - use NMM or just MO, not both. When you grab a mod from Nexus, or where ever, MO will store that archive in the 'downloads' folder. You can also delete the archives after installation if you want, most people keep them to avoid loss if they are removed from Nexus. Installing that mod places it in MO's left-hand pane, which represents a view of sub-folders in the 'mods' folder in the MO install. If you activate that mod and then use MO to start the game, MO tricks the game to 'see' the files in those sub-folders instead of in Data. All of this is done one in memory to the game executable. As the game progresses it reads the files from there, not Data. The entire process is very similar to that used by viruses or malware. MO is in fact the result of a thesis project @Tannin was doing into that subject. As for your system, I'd place the 'downloads' folder in the 3Tb HDD and install MO in either of those SSDs. It doesn't matter where Skyrim is located. MO could be on the smaller SSD and you might use the larger one for the 'mods' folder if you think the 200Gb is getting full, or simply install it on the larger one. I do however suggest using a SSD for it, it makes a noticeable difference on my system. So launching Skyrim from the 200Gb SSD with MO will look to the 1Tb SSD to find the mods that you have installed. As far as Skyrim is concerned everything is on the same drive. Windows on the other SSD makes no difference to the process. 3 drives are used but the game doesn't know or care.

I think I understand your question so let me just lay it out as clearly as possible: MO does not use any 'junctions' or 'links' (hard or symbolic). All the fancy redirecting of the mods' locations is done in memory once you press "Run". This being the case it doesn't matter where on your system you install MO, or the various user changeable locations of certain folders like 'mods', 'profiles' or 'downloads'. So if your SSD with your OS is too small just install MO anywhere else. it also doesn't need to be anywhere near the game you are modding, ie. Skyrim. So let's assume you have MO installed to your smallish OS SSD. Open MO's settings and change the settings to point to another drive ofyour choice, either another SSD or even an HDD. e.g. I have a 240Gb SSD for my OS and other essential utilities, another 240Gb for all my games and my MO installs and the a slower 2Tb HDD for all the downloads. MO makes no more calls to a drive, SSD or HDD, than any other manager does. So SSDs are not going to be taxed by constant "thrashing" nor are they needing to be the same as the drive where the game resides. The only disk activity, other than that of the game loading, might be by your OS that is accessing a pagefile, which is a sign that you need more memory.

Don't see how the registry key for Skyrim would affect this, from what you said you can start the game but the mods don't seem to work. If the registry key was wrong MO wouldn't be able to start the game. MO is very tricky to use if there are a number of processes all vying for control of the game. Check the link in signature about "tricky" software. In-game overlays, AV, Firewalls or NAS disks can all interfere. Make sure to disable all of them, you can also set exclusions in the AV software if disabling them is not what you want.

Yeah, that extra . is the culprit which is why I thought maybe your 'profiles' folder was borked. Try copying that profile to a new one. You could also re-install MO, after ensuring to backup 'mods, profiles & downloads' folders, though I wouldn't try this until you first try the new profile. I've never seen that error before so I'm not really sure where it comes from or the exact fix.

Line 747 reads: DEBUG (18:31:41.0112): createfile w: C:\Users\Aaron\AppData\Local\Skyrim\.\Plugins.txt -> C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\Mod Organizer\profiles\Normal\Plugins.txt (80000000 - 3) = 00000718 (0) MO is looking for your plugins.txt in a non-existent folder, it should reside in: C:\Users\Aaron\AppData\Local\Skyrim\Plugins.txt Examine your 'profiles' sub-folder in your MO installation and check that there are no rogue folders in there.

Welcome to STEP @lued123 Delete all the existing logs and then post all the new ones here, preferably via PasteBin.