User:GSDFan/MO Overwrite Folder

Disclaimer

I am in no way involved in the development of Mod Organizer (MO) and do not know the internal workings of the program. Only Tannin42, the creator / developer of this program knows for sure. The information presented here is accurate as I interpret it and may be prone to error in my interpretation of it. Any information provided by Tannin later on should be considered as accurate and should supersede mine. Any future updated to MO may well break this workaround.

The version of Mod Organizer being used is v1.0.12 and is run on Windows 8.1 64bit. Steam and MO are installed out of the default location to a second SSD to avoid Windows UAC problems. You have been warned, your results may differ if you version of Windows is different or Steam is installed in its default location.

Overview

Mod Organizers “Overwrite” folder should be thought of as a temporary storage folder. Every mod and tool that changes data must use the overwrite folder. This is accomplished by using the Windows Move Folder function, “Move From” and “Move To” and should be transparent to the user. It all breaks down when a mod that changes data uses Copy and Delete folder instead. MO cannot track changes that way.

Testing

Mods used in the testing

FNIS, WRYE Smash, TES5Edit, ASIS, Dual Sheath Redux and NPC enchant Fix. Skyproc patcher SUM was tested later on and will be included.

Mods not used in testing

Any mod that writes to the data folder after the game is run. In the past I have seen some SKSE mods do this.
Automatic Variants. I have always had trouble with this mod and the way it moves files around without much success with MO, so I don’t use it.

Preparation

Make note on the load order of the ESPs starting with bashed patch, 0.esp. This should be the way BOSS sorts them. Write this down for future reference and as a guide to running the tools. If you use FNIS this can be run at any time. When I mod Skyrim I install all my FNIS files first so that when I test mod interaction I will not have the frozen NPC problem.

Populated Overwrite folder

Right click the Overwrite folder and select "Create Mod" from the flyout menu. Give the new mod a name and click OK to complete the operation.

   When that finishes you will have a new mod in the left pane. Let’s call it the "overwrite mod" mod. Right click on the new mod and select "Open In explorer". A new window will open up with the mod contents available for viewing.
   Close Mod Organizer at this time.
   Open another Windows File explorer window and navigate to where your mods are stored. If you have not changed this location it will be in the mods folder in the Mod Organizer directory. Double click on it until you see your installed mods.
   Arrange both file explorer windows side by side with the window you opened in step two.
   With the window that has the Mods showing create the following directories. If you have other ESPs from the "overwrite mod" create a directory for them also. The ones below reflect my mods I have installed.
       WRYE Smash Bashed ESP Output
       TES5Edit Merged patch Output
       ASIS Output
       Dual Sheath Redux Output
       NPC Enchant Fix output
   Copy each ESP in the "overwrite mod" to their respective folder. Bashed Patch,0.esp to  WRYE Smash Bashed ESP Output mod and so on.
   When that is done close the Windows file explorer windows and restart MO.