Sticky for Creating Mods out of the MO Overwrite folder!

[SkinGradian]

Hi MO Devs! Can you please create a sticky for creating and moving / installing mods out of the Overwrite folder. Considering you guys have developed such a fantastic application, it would be peanuts for you to create a basic sticky.

 

Thanks in anticipation!

[GSDFan]

The only "dev" is Tannin. The rest of us are just "Subject Matter Experts".

 

There is a link to this topic on the WIKI. Check out the overwrite tab.

[DoubleYou]

It's not that hard. Simply right-click Overwrite and select "Create Mod."

[SkinGradian]

Hi Thanks for the advice, I'll try and read the wiki to get a handle on the process. As far as right clicking and creating a mod out of the Overwrite folder is concerned, what if the overwrite folder contains files for more than one mod? Then what!

[GSDFan]

Sorry pressed the wrong button

[SkinGradian]

Just went through the entire Overwrite topic on the Wiki and came out completely underwhelmed! It's just a little primer! Nowhere in the so called Wiki does it talk about how to create mods from the Overwrite folder. So its back to my original questions:

 

"Can you please advise on creating and moving / installing mods out of the Mod Organizer Overwrite folder"?

 

"And what mod creation strategy should be adopted if the overwrite folder contains files for more than one mod? Then what are the options"?

 

This question is humbly directed to the MO Dev Tannin and other Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on this forum. Please don't send me off on another wild goose chase. This question should be easy for all of you. And if you don't know the answer and then please say so. There is no shame in admitting ignorance!

[GSDFan]

While in theory it would be easy to write up something, the interaction of MO and other tools do not follow mod creation and moving of files. MO needs to see that operation to track the files. That is why I sent you there to read up on that while I put together an overview of how I use the overwrite folder. Remember I am just a volunteer here and I have a full time job that requires eleven hours of my day, sometimes more.

 

Please use the contents of the spoiler as a base to develop your own strategy. It is a rough outline of how I use the overwrite in Skyrim.

 

In Fallout New Vegas I use it a little differently as some mods that need to see the XXXmenuhud.xml need to be installed with FOMM. By using FOMM and the overwrite folder those mods will see that file and will overwrite when necessary. I wait to install these last and keep them there to facilitate easy upgrading until I am satisfied with my load order and will not be adding any more mods. I that create a mod out of the overwrite folder.

 

When I get more time I will put together a more well formed post. Thank you for your understating.

 

[spoiler=My take on using the overwrite folder. Not complete or all inclusive.]

I should note that if you constantly mod the game and run skyproc patchers and some other third party tools, keeping a clean overwrite folder is a challenge as they tend to write to the overwrite folder each time they are run.

 

If starting with a clean folder, a newly modded game, I would do the following:

 

Clean the game master files as identified by BOSS.

 

In TesEdit or FNVEdit when cleaning the masters you have an option to backup the original file or not. If you choose to not backup the original file the modified file will written back to the vanilla data folder. If for any reason you verify the game cache, the modified files will be overwritten by the ones downloaded by Steam. Manual back up of the modded files will therefore be necessary. It is easiest to just copy those files to a new mod that can be enabled. Do this by going to the mods directory and create a new folder called Cleaned Masters and copy the cleaned master files there. In MO enable the new mod. If you now verify the game cache Steam will see that the files are missing and download new ones, but now that they are a mod they will not get overwritten.

 

If you elect to backup the files then you will have a new folder in the overwrite folde called "TES5Edit Backups". In this case just do all the masters and when finished right click on the overwrite folder and create a mod from the filed. This will move all the files to a new mod where you can copy your cleaned masters for the same reason above.

 

 

Bashed and merged patches

 

Both Wrye bash and TesEdit will write these to the overwrite folder. In the case of Wrye Bash in my experience if you move the bashed patch to a mod and rebuild the patch again, a new patch will be written to the overwrite folder.

 

 

Skyproc Patchers.

 

If you use SUM then it is simple, just let it run and do its thing. When it is finished right click and crate a mod.

 

If running them individually you can create a mod after each one is run, giving it an appropriate name, or doing it after the last one is run.

 

FNIS.

FNIS files are written to the overwrite folder.

 

 

The above strategy, run one tool and backup, is complex and time consuming if you mod or change profiles a lot.

 

I keep the cleaned masters as a mod and let everything accumulate in the overwrite folder. I do not change profiles, but I do run a few Skyproc patchers on a regular basis. I also run multiple instances of MO to test different mods and use one main as my main game, adding mods I test from the others.

 

There is one other feature of the overwrite folder, the "sync to mod". It only works for mods that had data that MO can track.

 

 

[DoubleYou]

Okay, could you post a screenshot of your Overwrite, so I can distinguish what mods have caused it's condition. In normal usage, you should constantly be moving stuff out of Overwrite into their appropriate places, so when you have allowed several mods to fill up Overwrite, it can be much more difficult.

 

For example, say you ran Wrye Bash and created a Bashed Patch while your Overwrite was empty. The generated files for Wrye Bash shall have been placed in Overwrite. Then you would simply right-click Overwrite and select "Create Mod." Doing this over and over after each time a tool places files in Overwrite allows you to have a clean Overwrite and an organized system for all generated files. This is typical workflow.

 

Now in your case you have several mods, so it become much more difficult. You will have to manually recreate what the GUI would have done for you if you had paid close attention to Overwrite. I will attempt to guide you through that process to the best of my ability.

 

And yes, the wiki content covering Overwrite is in need of fixing. I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[SkinGradian]

OK! Thanks for some answers even if non-definitive. So here's the screenshot of my overwrite folder. There are only 3 "Mods" in it: (a) Bashed Patch, (b) SKSE.ini and © FNIS related.

[DoubleYou]

OK. Let's fix this.

1. Go to /mods and create three new folders, labeling them as Bashed Patch, SKSE ini, FNIS Patch or similar.

2. Now move the Bashed Patch, 0.esp to the Bashed Patch folder.

3. Move the tools and meshes folders to the FNIS Patch folder.

4. Move the skse.ini.txt to the SKSE ini folder.

5. Remove the .txt extension from the skse.ini

 

To remove the .txt extension from the skse.ini

a. Open the file in Notepad

b. Click File --> Save As

c. Under "Save as type" dialog, select All Files

d. In filename make sure it is skse.ini

e. Click save

f. Delete the text file

[SkinGradian]

Hi DoubleYou. I have followed your instructions and created 3 separate folders in the "Mod Organizer\Mods" directory. Namely:

1) Bashed Patch - I have moved the "bashed patch.esp" into the folder and activated successfully through MO

2) FNIS Patch - I have moved the two FNIS related folders (Tools and Meshes) into it and also activated successfully through MO

3) SKSE INI - I have moved the SKSE.ini into this folder but now I cannot activate it in MO as it's been Flagged with a Red X!

 

What now?

[DoubleYou]

Sorry, I forgot the skse.ini needs to be inside the skse folder. Simply create the skse folder and move it inside it.

[SkinGradian]

No go! Still the same issue, please see screenshot: Created the SKSE folder and moved said folder to "Mod Organizer\Mods" directory.

[GSDFan]

I am just curious, when you say you can't activate it does that mean that you can't put a check in the box or that it is still grayed out when you do put a check in the box?

 

If it is the latter then right click on it and select "Ignore missing data" that will make it not grayed out.

[DoubleYou]

No go! Still the same issue' date=' please see screenshot: Created the SKSE folder and moved said folder to "Mod Organizer\Mods" directory.[/quote']

You did it wrong. You need a SKSE folder inside the SKSE mod folder. Let me baby you:

1. Go to /mods

2. Create a new folder and name it "SKSE ini" without the quotes

3. Enter the folder you just created

4. Create a new folder and name it "SKSE" without the quotes

5. Copy the skse.ini file and only the skse.ini file into that folder

[SkinGradian]

Well your Baby Steps instructions seems to have worked this time. I have created the "Mod" as per the above post and activated it successfully in MO and this too without any Red X. Now I need to play through the game and report back the results.

 

So in short: Many Thanks for your time and patience!