[ Q & A ] Using FNIS with Mod Organizer

[GrantSP]

This topic is specifically for FNIS related issues when using Mod Organizer.

 

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EDIT: 17^th April 2016.

Due to @fore's "issues" with MO he has pulled all support and directed it here.

 

Let it be stated that the "issues" he notes are due to user error and there is no inherent issue with FNIS running in MO.

 

Further his claim that FNIS WILL NOT run through MO on Windows 10 machines is just wrong! DO NOT follow the advice he offers regarding using FNIS and MO.

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Setting up FNIS to run through MO

 

Install it like any other mod through MO and make sure it is active (checkmarked) in the left pane mod list.

 

Since you must launch FNIS through Mod Organizer in order for it to recognize your mods, add FNIS to the list of executables by doing the following:

1. Click the gears icon .
2. In the Title field, type FNIS.
3. For the Binary field, browse to your FNIS installation (should be located in <ModOrganizer>/mods/Fores New Idles in Skyrim - FNIS/tools/GenerateFNIS_for_Users) and select the GenerateFNISforUsers.exe application.
4. Click the Add button. This will add FNIS to your executables list.
5. Click OK.

Now each time you want to run FNIS, simply select it from the drop-down menu at top right and click Run.

 

Running through MO

1. Launch FNIS through MO
2. In the Available Patches at the bottom of the window, check the boxes for all necessary patches in your setup.
3. Click the [update FNIS Behavior] button and wait for a message to appear in the window stating "X animations for Y mods successfully included.".
4. Click [Exit].

After closing FNIS, there will be files in Overwrite (essentially a fake mod located at the bottom of the left pane if sorted by priority ascending) created by FNIS. Right-click Overwrite and select Create Mod, name it FNIS Output and click OK. This will create a new mod listing in the left pane for the FNIS generated files. You will then need to check it to enable it. Each subsequent time you update FNIS behavior, you must open Overwrite and drag the new files back to this mod.

 

Common Errors

Error 53 or 2012

"Could not find file <path to file>\1hm_behavior.hkx

 

Ensure the animation sets you have installed are correctly placed in priority in the left-hand pane and FNIS is using the one you want. Open the Data tab in the right-hand pane and examine the filetree to see which animation is being used in the VFS.

Navigate the filetree by expanding: data>meshes>actors>character>behaviors> and see which mod is providing the file.

If the file name is displayed in red, the mouse tooltip will show which other mods are also providing this file. Move the correct mod to the correct location.

 

Additional cause for Error 2012

 

A user(@patchling) had Spybot - Search & Destroy+AV 2.5 installed and was constantly getting JIT and 2012 errors, specifically the 0_master.xml was not found. The file was placed in the FNIS temporary_log folder ready for processing but before that could happen it was removed by said program. Opening the start menu > settings > live protection > mode > uncheck "Scan programs before they start" apparently stops that behaviour.

 

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Error dialogue

GenerateFNISForUsers.exe - This application could not be started.

This application could not be started.

Do you want to view information about this issue?

 

Simply close the dialogue by pressing "No" and enable FNIS in the Left-hand pane. Correct FNIS installation and use explains this in the wiki.

 

Why does the 6.2 Add-on not look correct in MO?

What you need to remember here is MO is designed to handle 'mods' and what we are installing with FNIS, and its add-ons, are 'tools'.

This means MO is looking for the correct folder structure for a 'mod' as seen by the game. The archive for the 6.2 add-on has as its top folder: "tools" and this is correct for FNIS, not the game.

Simply 'set the data folder' so that the "tools" folder is now at the top of the tree and ignore the next dialogue that asks if you are sure.

[Greg]

Is FNIS enabled in both the left and right panes in Mod Organizer?

[Ostwindflak]

Is FNIS enabled in both the left and right panes in Mod Organizer?

Yes sir it is and has been from the start.

 

Edited December 17, 2015 by Ostwindflak

[charge]

I'm getting this error when trying to run FNIS.

ERROR(76): Kan een gedeelte van het pad F:\programma's\steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim\data\tools\GenerateFNIS_for_Users\temporary_logs\GenerateFNIS_LogFile.txt niet vinden.

It's in dutch but it basically means it can't find that path.

I've enabled FNIS in both the left and right pane and completely reinstalled it twice following the instructions. Still giving this error. Does anybody know what's wrong?

[Greg]

Are you running GenerateFNISForUsers.exe from within Mod Organizer? The easiest way to do this to open the Data pane on the right side of Mod Organizer. Scroll to the bottom, expand Tools, expand GenerateFNIS_for_Users, right click GenerateFNISForUsers.exe, and select "Add as Executable". After this is done, click the dropdown at the top right to select GenerateFNISForUsers and click Run.

 

One potential hiccup here is that if you have installed Skyrim into a UAC protected folder (like Program Files or Program Files (x86)) you may run into issues with permissions. If this is the case, you might consider moving Skyrim to a folder you own to avoid permissions issues.

[charge]

I think I've got a step further. I've been moving the Mod Organizer directories around a bit because I noticed many Youtubers had the Mod Organizer folder located in their Skyrim directory, I did not have this. While the files where copying I noticed that in my overwrite mod(which I had not updated yet) the file that was missing was located there waiting for me to be placed in location. I'm going to try that now and see where it brings me. BTW, thanks for the fast reply :)

 

EDIT: Alright I can confirm that has fixed the problem. However FNIS reported this error at the end. ERROR(2012): Could not generate: defaultfemale.hkx defaultmale.hkx mt_behavior.hkx 0_master.hkx 

I don't know if it's a serious problem.

Maybe you know more about this particular error?

Edited December 29, 2015 by charge

[Greg]

I don't recommend putting Mod Organizer or any other tools in the Skyrim folder. The general rule is that you want to keep the Skyrim folder as close to clean as possible. The exceptions are ENBoost, the SKSE binaries, and any ENB presets that must be in the Skyrim folder.

[charge]

What is happening right now is that it's giving the error I told about in my previous post. Then when I run it again it says it is missing dummystart.txt. So I copy that from overwrite to the folder. Then again it can't generate the 3 files it couldn't generate before. It's continuously repeating that cycle. It seems to be a problem with permissions as I need to give permission each time I move the files.

The mod organizer folder is located in the program files folder. Maybe that's the issue?

[Greg]

Putting it in the Program Files folder is most likely the cause of the problem. When the files are deleted and created again, they inherit the permissions from the parent folder and by default this is Administrators:Full Access, Users:Read+Execute so you don't have permission to move the file you just created.

 

Move Mod Organizer and all the tools (Loot, Wrye Bash, TES5Edit, etc.) to a folder that you create and that is owned by you. You can name the folder pretty much anything you want. The most important point is to avoid using folders that are limited to Administrator privileges.

 

It would also help to move Skyrim out of the Program Files or Program Files (x86) folder since you'll run into the same issue with permissions in the Skyrim folder structure. If you decide to move Skyrim to some other folder, Steam can do it for you but you'll need to run Skyrim Launcher after everything is moved to setup the registry entries again.

[GrantSP]

That "dummy" file you mention is only for FNIS to check upon install when the user is using NMM, not MO, so it should have no bearing on this matter.

 

As @Greg mentions placing your MO install where you have means you still have UAC issues, which is what the ERROR[2012] is telling you.

 

Remove all the generated files from FNIS, which should be in a separate mod in the left pane, and run the tool again.

[charge]

I've moved Mod Organizer to my external harddisk in a alternate folder. Skyrim was already there so that shouldn't give problems.

However the problem still exists and the files that aren't being generated are always the same, they are: defaultfemale.hkx defaultmale.hkx mt_behavior.hkx 0_master.hkx.

 

Also, when that error message has been given and I move the files from the overwrite the message regarding the dummy comes back. It seems that the files in the FNIS folder get replaces in some way or another when I run FNIS.

[GrantSP]

If you have MO installed to an external HDD then I would advise installing it to your computer's drive under its own folder. There will be a lot read/write activity when installing/activating/modifying mods with MO and Skyrim and you will be throttling your HDD via your USB connection (or similar).

 

It will be helpful if you can provide logs or screenshots of these errors, both the FNIS ones and MO's logs, so we can see where/how you are being bugged.

[charge]

So this is the first error that pops up: 

 

After that these files are in the overwrite: 

 

Then when I move the behaviour files to their own particular folder and the Tool files back to the tool, this error pops up:

 

And that leaves these files in the overwrite: 

As you can see it does have the missing file in there.

Edited December 30, 2015 by charge

[GrantSP]

Q. The directory called: programma's is that the way your Program Files is named in a Dutch OS or is this a folder you created? I'm thinking maybe the  ' is causing issues with either FNIS or MO or both of them.

[charge]

That's just a folder I created myself. It's not the Program Files folder. I'll try changing it and see what it does.

 

EDIT: I think its easier just to move the Mod Organizer folder somewhere else, than changing the whole folder name. There are a lot of folders inside that folder so I would need to change a lot of other names too.

 

EDIT 2: Moving Mod organizer to another folder didn't make a difference.

Edited December 30, 2015 by charge

[Greg]

Are you using either XP32 Maximum Skeleton or XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended?

 

In any case, time for a potentially stupid trick of the day...

 

Reinstall FNIS and remove any mods you created after running GenerateFNISForUsers so you're back to a clean FNIS install without any of the generated files. Also make sure the Overwrite folder is empty.

 

Run GenerateFNISForUsers.exe. Check Gender Specific Animations and Skeleton Arm Fix, click Update FNIS Behavior. Note the error that is generated and Exit.

 

Don't touch anything...

 

Run GenerateFNISForUsers.exe. Check Gender Specific Animations and Skeleton Arm Fix, click Update FNIS Behavior. Is it still showing an error? If so, is the error the same or is it different? If it's a different error, keep running GenerateFNISForUsers to see if it eventually completes without any errors. If you get the same error on the same files on the second run, post the FNIS log here in spoiler tags like this:

 

 

[spoiler]
paste the log text here
[/spoiler]

 

This may be a useless exercise, but I was just reading some threads in which an older version of FNIS was reporting this error because it thought it didn't generate some of the animation files, but re-running it allowed it progress further until it finally completed successfully.