SKYRIMLE Mod Organizer messes up load order when switching profiles

[Avastgard]

Recently, I've been building two profiles on MO and switching from one to the other quite frequently. I have noticed, however, that sometimes this makes a mess on the plugin load order. E.g.: I see plugins X, Y and Z from profile A on the load order of profile B, when that shouldn't be the case, since X, Y and Z are only selected to be shown on profile A. This has caused me a huge pain in the neck, since I have been forced to reconstruct the load orders several times. On the current version, at least for me switching profiles is unreliable.

 

 

 

 

This could be remedied if the backup load order was reliable, but it is not either. As far as I know, you can only back up 3 plugin lists and 3 mod lists, and none of them have names, only the dates and time when they were created. I don't even know if they are separated by profile.

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, I think that a tool as advanced as MO should have a more sofisticated back up system. You could at least have more than just 3 lists and be able to name them. This would make organization so much easier.

 

 

 

 

 

Another suggestion, perhaps a more advanced one, is the option to sort the left-hand pane removing mods only from one profile only. I had not used MO for a while and decided to clean some of the unused (unchecked) mods from one profile, only to find out that removing the mod from the left pane removes it from all of the profiles. If making one modlist for each profile is not feasible, you could at least right-click the unchecked mod and have an option to hide that mod from the current profile. I know you can filter the mods by checked and unchecked, but sometimes it is useful to have some unchecked mods visible, but without cluttering the list with hundreds of other ones that you only use on another profile.

 

[Greg]

Have you considered using multiple instances of Mod Organizer instead of multiple profiles? I do this by setting up say C:\Skyrim\MO_STEP with the STEP 2.2.9.2 guide. When finished, I copy MO_STEP to something like MO_STEP_Playground and I use the playground version to test new mods and such. An obvious disadvantage to this approach is that it takes up a lot of disk space because of the duplication of installed mods, but it allows me to keep everything completely segregated so I don't have to worry about updating mods or patches in one profile affecting another profile.

[Avastgard]

I guess that's a way around it, but it may be more hassle than what I am facing right now.

 

Are there any plans to address any of the issues I mentioned on MO 2.0?

[Greg]

I think that would be more of a question for Tannin so you might post a question to him on github:

 

https://github.com/TanninOne/modorganizer/issues

[Aeradom]

When you say "messes up load order" I'm assuming you mean on the left-hand side yes and not the plugin list right? Good to know, because I was going to be doing that. As far as doing the whole switching back and forth, I wouldn't want to do that on my SSD, but I suppose I could copy and past it on to my Data drive and then move it back when I want to try something else yes? 

[Avastgard]

  On 7/19/2016 at 4:49 AM, Aeradom said:

When you say "messes up load order" I'm assuming you mean on the left-hand side yes and not the plugin list right? Good to know, because I was going to be doing that. As far as doing the whole switching back and forth, I wouldn't want to do that on my SSD, but I suppose I could copy and past it on to my Data drive and then move it back when I want to try something else yes? 

I mean the left-hand side, but it consequently affects the plugin list by inserting plugins that were not supposed to be there. I don't recall exactly, but I thnik it also removed some of the plugins that were supposed to be there as well.

 

But I think that this may all be a matter of both lists failing to refresh correctly. I suspect that if you press the refresh button on the data tab enough times it may solve the problem, but I'm not trying that out.

[z929669]

Using multiple instances of MO is unnecessary. Use profiles. Start with your master package list of downloaded mods in the right pane (applicable to all profiles) and begin installing/prioritizing these for your default/base profile. Get that totally installed/verified/finalized, and then begin work on a second profile. If mod options differ between profiles, simply reinstall the applicable mod with different options under a different name ("WAF" becomes "WAF - Requiem", for example), and tick/untick the appropriate version in the left pane for the corresponding profile. This way, you have some redundancy at the mod level rather than nearly 100%. Also much simpler to manage.

 

I have many profile-specific versions of some mods installed, depending on the profile context, and it works as it should.

 

Backing up load order also seems unnecessary unless custom rules vary between profiles. Just run LOOT each time you load a different profile.

 

When done properly (i.e., no human error involved), then this method is reliable ... MO does its job correctly.

[GrantSP]

Actually Z there is a case to be made that multiple installs are beneficial. As the OP highlighted at times MO simply presents the left pane order in alphabetical order, usually when a backup is made but sometimes when you create a copy using the 'Profile Manager'. Reports have at times been made in the tracker but it still exists.

[Greg]

I find separate instances to be cleaner and easier to maintain than profiles. With separate instances I don't have mods from Profile B cluttering up Profile A and I don't have to keep track of which patches/generated output mods go with which profile. There's also the issue that Mod Organizer unchecks BSAs in the archive tab when switching profiles and it can be a bit of a pain to remember which BSAs should be checked in each profile (although I'm now extracting BSAs so I don't use BSA management these days).

[GSDFan]

  Quote

 

I see plugins X, Y and Z from profile A on the load order of profile B,

I am just wondering if the OP is confusing the purpose of the left pane. All mods show up in the left pane no matter what. So when switching profiles they will show up. If the state of mods changes between switches the that may be another problem.

[Avastgard]

  On 7/20/2016 at 11:23 AM, GSDFan said:

I am just wondering if the OP is confusing the purpose of the left pane. All mods show up in the left pane no matter what. So when switching profiles they will show up. If the state of mods changes between switches the that may be another problem.

That's the problem. What sometimes changes for me are the mods that are ticked on the left-hand pane, which in turn alter the plugin list.

[GSDFan]

OK, assuming MO 1.3.11. Do you see the info panel at the bottom of the window? If not hover the mouse in the lower area by filter until in changes and pull up. If you uncheck a mod does it update the messages like plugins.txt and modlist.txt has been saved?

 

Also where is the game, MO installed? If it is in the program files path there may be UAC issues going on.

[Avastgard]

  On 7/20/2016 at 1:00 PM, GSDFan said:

OK, assuming MO 1.3.11. Do you see the info panel at the bottom of the window? If not hover the mouse in the lower area by filter until in changes and pull up. If you uncheck a mod does it update the messages like plugins.txt and modlist.txt has been saved?

Yes.

 

 

  On 7/20/2016 at 1:00 PM, GSDFan said:

 

Also where is the game, MO installed? If it is in the program files path there may be UAC issues going on.

C:\Games\Mod Organizer

C:\Games\Steam

 

In the end I think it is only a matter of wating enough time until both lists update. Clicking the refresh button seems to solve the problem.

 

However, I still hold on to my points about a more fleshed out load order backup system with the ability to name them for better sorting.

[z929669]

Can't really say any of you is 'wrong', but I have never had any issue with MO ticking/unticking anything without me doing so explicitly when switching/creating profiles. I understand that it may be a bit noisy if you have many different profile-specific versions of mods installed, but when switching profiles, in left pane, all ticked mods appear first in the profile-specific order I have set, and unticked mods follow. I run LOOT after switching profiles each time (I "OCD" running LOOT, since it is so easy).

 

I would MUCH rather use profiles than multiple installs, personally :)

 

I also don't see any benefit in "backing up" load order ... isn't that info tied to and saved in the profile?? If not, isn't it simple to run LOOT each time profiles or plugin list changes? Am I missing something fundamental, or are we just dealing with personal preferences here?

[Greg]

I think profiles are absolutely fine for a few simple profiles -- say a default vanilla profile, a STEP Extended profile, and a STEP Extended Plus profile with a few mods and an ENB on top. Where it gets confusing for me is having a STEP Extended profile, an SR:LE profile, and an SR:LE LotD profile. Granted, this is mostly to keep *me* from becoming overly confused trying to remember what goes where and which version of a mod goes with which profile.

[z929669]

OK, got it ... to each his own then ;)