Overwrite

[Bluegunk]

I'm finding the latest MO2 very smooth and efficient for my Skyrim SE - almost back to the good old days. Thank you!

I have a two quick queries about Overwrite, and I could not easily see comments on these when I searched: 

• I can't get the drag and drop to work a lot of the time. So I have to do this manually in Windows Explorer. In itself no real problem but I'm wondering if I need to tweak my MO2 INI files or something? Or is the Overwrite a W.I.P.?

• SSEEdit is a bit of a mess for me. Say I clean an ESP, the results go into Overwrite and the esp vanishes from the Mod. I have to move the altered ESP back myself. I could tick the replace into the mod, I suppose, but the backed up ESPs don't seem to go where they would normally, which is an SSE backup folder.   I may be simply missing a trick here, like an INI setting, so this is a quick call for advice for best practice with SSEEdit.

I'm finding Loot, Wrye Bash and FNIS run great. BTW - it's all run on an SSD away from Program Files, etc.

 

Many thanks!

[GSDFan]

As far as I know the drag and drop was working in all versions of MO. I have the latest version from @LePresidente, V2.0.8.2 Beta4.2, and that works.

 

What happens when you do this? I outlined what should happen in MO.

 

Process:

Double click Overwrite to open the Overwrite mod in a window.

Select file and drag to the left pane.

Hover over an already created mod.

Good D and D: Get a black outline around mod. Cursor should be a pointer with a right pointing arrow underneath. ESP copied to mod. This follows Windows rules to file copying. If the file exists you will get the windows Move file confirmation. File is copied to mod.

 

Bad D and D: Between mods and anywhere not allowed, Cursor changed to red slashed circle. Nothing will happen if mouse button is released.

 

Problem two:

That is a MO expected behavior. A trick to get by this is to copy the ESP you want to work on to the overwrite folder before you make any edit in SSEEdit. Run the editor and make changes. The changes will be written to the file in the overwrite folder as it has the highest priority in MO. When you are finished doing edits to the file exit the editor to save changes. If you do not want to make more edits all you have to do is right click on the Overwrite folder and select Sync to mods to sync back to the original mod or create a mod to create a new mod from it. Name the new mod as the first mod with "Edited" or something and activate the new mod. This will give the added benefit of not having to reinstall the original mod if the edit messed up somehow.

[Bluegunk]

Thanks, GSDFan - kind of you to look into this.  What happens is this: the drag and drop functions all well and good even to the small arrow box, until I release my mouse and...well...nothing happens.  In case it was Windows File Explorer being stupid underneath, I left one drag and drop going while I went and made a coffee.  No joy.

I've since been using Windows File Explorer to move files from Overwrite, which is a bit plodding.

 

I'm used to using MO and MO2, and the drag and drop did work as expected for a couple of times, on starting my current game build with MO2. Now it refuses to work.

 

I'm using MO2 on admin, away from C drive (on a separate SSD), and all folders have access rights with Anti-Virus not allowed to live-scan anything there.  I also tried a fresh MO2 install over the software with no effect.

 

I'm stumped!  On a scale of things it's not important but if anyone can think of a reason for this, I'd be grateful.

[LePresidente]

What is your profile setup AppData, Portable or did you move to a custom location?

[Bluegunk]

Hi, thank you LePresidente for following up.

 

I used what Mod Organiser installed - all default and not portable, simply installed to my "G" SSD drive.

 

I would like to custom-place the downloads directory onto my large Terabyte drive to save space on my game drive - is that possible yet with MO2? I have it in mind development is not quite there yet for that.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Otherwise, it's all default as installation.  Everything is on my G drive which is SSD.

 

Here's a screenshot of the MO2 settings:  https://postimg.org/image/akfupi2j7/

 

And folders screenie: https://postimg.org/image/gao0sdth9/

I had created the Directory: Skyrim Special Edition/Mod Organizer,  so that the software would install into it. It did that, but the install also placed the folders as shown.

 

And AppData directories:  https://postimg.org/image/guxyacr0j/ if that is of any use.

 

If I have b*llsed up the process, I apologise!

 

Thank you!

[LePresidente]

Yea there are issues when you change the base directory it causes issues with pretty much everything, I know Zanoth recently did a few fixes for it. If you join our discord server I will be releasing a test version there in a day or two for people to test if there issues are fixed in a newer build.

 

also you should really seperate MO2 and SkyrimSE.

 

Eg. Install MO2 to G:/ModManagers/ModOrganizerSE or something, It makes troubleshooting easier.

 

For now use portable setup and you shouldn't have any issues.

 

install to the location above, Run MO2 from there and click the blue icon top left in the MO2 UI. Then Select Portable.

Edited January 18, 2017 by LePresidente

[tjax323]

I posted this on MO2 Nexus forum in case other users there can advise, but I know "official" support is . I think I have a custom install after moving my MO2 install into the game directory (SSE). I initially installed in appdata, and then changed the base directory as attached in this screenshot of my install paths. I did all of this before doing anything or installing mod#1. How can I best go about uninstalling this  current installation and correcting to a "portable" install without deleting all of my mod installation, which is almost up to mod#200? I don't' want to have to start from scratch again, if I can avoid it.

 

 

Copy of my post on Nexus-> here

[GrantSP]

Everything in your game install that matches this should be removed.

DLLs
license
loot
NCC
platforms
plugins
stylesheets
translations
tutorials
helper.exe
ModOrganizer.exe
nxmhandler.exe
nxmhandler.ini
python27.dll
python27.zip
uibase.dll
uninstall.exe
usvfs_proxy.exe
usvfs_x64.dll
usvfs_x86.dll

This is the base MO executable install.

All the user defined folders/files should be these:

downloads
logs
mods
overwrite
profiles
webcache
ModOrganizer.ini

The important files/folders to keep are: downloads, mods, profiles and ModOrganizer.ini.

 

After purging your game install, install MO2 into its own folder anywhere on your system and then either move the folders above back to that location (the best option), or define them in the ini.

As for your ini, use the previous one to edit the new one being sure to NOT make any unnecessary edits to paths but ensuring ALL paths are correct to your game and tools etc.

 

A "portable" install is different only in the location of the 'user-defined' folders I have listed. You can make your current "default" install portable by moving all the folders from %appdata% to your MO2 install folder. This will match a MO 1.3.11 install.

 

As advanced as most MO functionality appears, users should be aware that everything is defined by text files with NO registry settings whatsoever so changing things is relatively simple.

Almost all the so-called major issues users face can be attributed to:

1. installing in UAC folders
2. using admin rights when they don't need to
3. installing into the game folder
4. having an overly cautious AV package, or some other software, interfering in the "hooking" mechanism

Keep it simple and the issues begin to fade and the workings of MO become more and more clear.

[tjax323]

Grant-- As usual, your answers are awesome. Thank you so very much!! Very clear. I will do that. I'll post if I hit a snag, but the last part about no registries really helped assuage any fear, so moving it like you're saying should be pretty easy- even for me. Thanks, again. I'm going to make a direct link on the mod's page on Nexus to your post here for those that might have the same question. I don't know about others' opinions, but your response ought to be considered for a sticky on the mod page or made part of a sticky. A really good installation sticky might help some folks avoid making some of the mistakes you admonish against. Thanks again!!

[tjax323]

Sweet! Grant, it works. Just made a tiny test patch and sure enough, drag & drop straight from overwrite into the mod file just like good ole' MO 1.3.11 for oldrim. Thanks, bud! Did the "portable" version like you suggested and all is well so far. I'll look at some more stuff tomorrow. Time to hit the rack.

[Bluegunk]

Thank you Grant! all clear and easy.

 

I've accomplished most of this but just falling at the final step, which is Wrye Bash.  At the closure of buklding my Bashed Patch I'm getting a failure to move Docs.  It looks like in %AppData%, a temporary folder can't place its DOCS into the Bashed Patch. Sadly, I used the original Bashed Patch esp, (bad practice but I could not get MO2 to use its own from Overwrite).  Presumably the new locations of MO2 are hindering Bashed Patch creation.

 

I'll go and check a few things, but if anyone can just give me a kick in the right direction to help me resolve this, I'd be most grateful.

[Bluegunk]

This is weird. I reinstalled Wrye Bash a couple of times, cleared everything out. Kept getting the above crash. I finally discovered that the "Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch" Docs folder in MO2's Virtual Directory (I think) was the one Wrye Bash / Windows was selecting, and therefore failing. I managed to rename that and it cleared my "Failure to Move Docs".  So that fault is gone. However, despite reinstalls using WB's installer, it insists on putting the Bashed Patch straight into the game data directory, and leaving an empty Docs folder in Overwrite.

 

I'll try another reinstall. Any ideas most welcome.

[Bluegunk]

Anndd "Ding"! - got there.  Another clean install of Wrye Bash this time going through the uninstall routine.

 

And I realise I needed to create a template in MO2 for Bashed Patch.  Wrye Bash is now behaving itself.  I got there in the end.

 

It looks like Overwrite is doing what it should, now. I'm getting the "There are files in Overwrite" notification now and drag and drop works.

 

Many thanks for your time and help folks - very much appreciated! Sorry I plopped MO2 in the original 'bad location'. 

[GrantSP]

Thanks @Bluegunk

 

This had lead me on a bit of an investigation and I may have an easy workaround for those that have their MO2 install in the default, %appdata%, location.

 

There are 2 errors I get when I run WB and try to build a bashed patch. One is the failure to create a folder called "docs" and the other is the failure to create the *.html, at least this is the feedback from Windows I get.

However this is misleading as this is only happening when another mod is active that has a 'Docs' folder, such as USSEP.

MO2 sees that folder and tries to use it but can't see the Bashed Patch, 0.txt template so fails to create the Bashed Patch, 0.html. The logs show all the files are being created and stored in WB's temp folders but the actual copy operations fail.

So the easiest way around ALL contingencies, ie. whether or not an existing mod has a 'Docs' folder, is to create a blank bashed patch mod and populate it with blank files; Bashed Patch, 0.txt & Bashed Patch, 0.html, and ensure this mod is active before you call WB. This way MO2 instructs WB to use these files and folders and 'Overwrite' is never needed nor does MO2 need to look elsewhere for the templates.

 

To be fair MO 1.3.11 still has some oddities regarding WB on some systems. I always got an error when the report window was called or it would give me the report from the previous time instead so this is just because we're calling a tool from inside another tool that also makes calls on the OS to generate files and then call file operations on those files which in turn... You get the idea, we're only a few steps away from break the time-space continuum and all of us falling into an alternate reality.

 

As long as we can get the job done, as you have, that's all that matters.

[Bluegunk]

Thanks Grant.  I had noticed some slightly weird behaviour from the apparently-working Wrye Bash.  I'll reset it with your suggestions.  All the rest seems to work fine, now so thank you for your help. I've not noticed any weird fissures in reality....yet...

[Bluegunk]

I looked at my MO2 Bashed Patch entry and please could you have a look at the screenshot here: https://postimg.org/image/o7smkkzfz/  ?    As far as I can see it looks like it is operating. The HTML and TXT are updating and have content. Interestingly, when I run Wrye Bash it appears to operate correctly, but always wants to merge one mod (the same one) on each run. And it always wants me to Activate the Bashed Patch.  Is the ESP not updating?  If this is the case, should I scrub this MO2 mod and rebuild it as you suggest?  Sorry to be a bore but your help on this final step would be awesome. Thank you!