How to access the Data folder as the game sees it

[axonis]

To support users of my UI mod for Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I often ask them to provide me a screenshot of their problem and a link to an archive of their Data\Menus folder. Mod Organizer users can’t do the latter because that folder is empty on their game. That’s because MO works by enabling the installed mod file structure for the running game only.

 

I’ve tested, with success, the following idea to provide them with the option to access their Data folder as the game sees it. I’m posting this here because I think it can be a useful tool in some troubleshooting scenarios.

 

7-zip must be installed and we’ll pretend that 7zip is our game’s executable. To do this, click on the executable menu, select <edit...>, set a Title, set the Binary to C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7zFM.exe (or wherever you've installed 7zip), leave Start In empty, and set Arguments to your game's Data path.

 

Now all you need to do is run the command you’ve created and you can now see your Data folder as the game sees it. 7-zip allows all normal file operations, including the useful function of compressing folders for support, troubleshooting etc.

[axonis]

OK, I've just realized that the STEP Wiki for the Mod Organizer *is* the manual.

 

However search engines will never point a web search like "see the contents of the game's Data folder in MO" to this section I think. It would be better if the phrase "see the virtual filing system of MO in action, for example to test if MO is working correctly" would lead the section.

[Kelmych]

Thanks for the tip. I didn't realize that 7-zip could do this.

[GrantSP]

The manual has a tip for using FreeCommander which will also provides exactly the same thing.

In addition you can also call cmd.exe, AKA a console session, and browse the folder structure that way.

 

In fact any 32bit file manager or command console will provide this information if called from within MO.

[axonis]

Is there a manual for Mod Organizer ? Where can I find it ?

 

I did this using 64bit 7zip with MO 2.1

[GrantSP]

The manual is also linked from inside MO's UI by clicking the link to the help manual: Question mark icon -- Documentation wiki.

[Hackerpcs]

With 64 bit only games like Fallout 4, FreeCommander free 32bit version isn't compatible (64bit version is available only to donors) but any 64bit file manager like 7zip or Total Commander works instead

Edited July 11, 2018 by Hackerpcs

[jasonsmr]

Cant get this to work, not seeing my Virtual Filing System Layout like MO does. 

 

I tried it with 7-zip first, then FreeCommanderXE, then Total Commander.

None saw the layout of my Virtual Filesystem as Mo does.

 

I did notice some inconsistencies between some instructions for this and what is available for my version of (MO v2.16), that is my version of MO does not have the close on application start checkbox available.

 

I tried several different variation of the instructions after the initial instructional settings didnt work, tried editing the Start in directory to the data directory, also of note if I edit the Arguments directory for Total Commander It will crash, but it shows me the file system layout before it does and it looks like all the others, just the normal data directory no overlay virtual filesystem detected...

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated, aside from rewriting the entire thing myself with junctions and totally screw the pooch I really dont know the MO code or scripts involved in creating the VFS.

 

BTW I am using different profiles with also..

 

Thanks in advance  ~ JAY

Edited February 24, 2019 by jasonsmr

[Greg]

Using Free Commander XE D:\Program Files\FreeCommanderXE\FreeCommander.exe, add a new exeuctable to Mod Organizer 2 like this:

 

Title: Free Commander

Binary: D:\Utilities\FreeCommanderXE\FreeCommander.exe

Start in:

Arguments:

 

I just leave Start in and Arguments blank. Run the application by dropping down the application list on the right, select Free Commander, and click Run. You probably already know all this so feel free to ignore my rambling here...

 

Once you're in Free Commander, browse into the game's data folder (e.g. C:\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Skyrim\Data) and you should see all the mods. I'm just using Skyrim LE as an example here, but it should work for Skyrim SE and the Fallout series as well. The one caveat is you can only browse the virtual folder of the game currently being managed. This means if Mod Organizer is currently managing Skyrim SE, you won't see anything in any of the Fallout or Skyrim LE data folders

[Zarggg]

As of version 2.2, MO2 includes an installation of Explorer++ and has preliminary (read: slightly buggy, leaves directory entries in Overwrite even after closing) support to view the virtual merged directory through it's program list. Choose the option for "Explore Virtual Folder" and click Run.

Edited May 13, 2019 by Zarggg