Skip
To understand how customization works with the auto installer and what are the limitations, it's important to know how Mod Organizer 2 handles mod lists and profiles.
On each Mod Organizer 2 instances, you have 5 important directories
For the auto installer, we will focus on 2 of them.
The mods directory is the directory where all mods will be installed.
The profiles directory is the directory where all created profiles within the same instance of MO2 will be stored.
When creating a new profile, a new directory will be added inside the profiles directory with as name, the name of the profile
Let's say that we have 2 profiles created Profile A and Profile B in Mod Organizer 2
We will have then 2 new directories created under profiles, the first one is Profile A and the second is Profile B
Each of these profiles will contain files
2 importants files are
modlist.txt contains all the installed mods ordered as install order in the MO2 left panel.
The modlist.txt file will contain this (Note that the order is reversed in the file)
loadorder.txt contains all the related plugin files (esp,esm) ordered as load order in the MO2 right panel
The loadorder.txt file will contain this
Note these two profiles will share the same mods directory.
Let's say we install a new mod in Profile A and move it under Skyrim Special Edition Patch.
The modlist.txt file (in Profile A directory) will be modified by MO2 and will now look like this
The MO2 right panel (load order) will look like this (after ordered manually or with LOOT).
The loadorder.txt file (in Profile A directory) will be modified by MO2 and will now look like this
Now if we select Profile B in MO2 this is what we will get.
Note that added mod is not ordered, not activated and placed at the end of the list.
This is simply because the mod has been installed in Profile A so it has been ordered in the file modlist.txt from Profile A and not Profile B
As both profiles share the same mods directory, when Profile B is selected it knows a new mod is there but it has no order for it (because its modlist.txt and loadorder.txt have not been modified)
If you activate the mod, you will see that the plugin tab in the MO2 right panel will not be sorted either
This is obviously for the same reason, plugins have been ordred in file loadorder.txt from Profile A and not Profile B
The Nolvus Dashboard Auto Installer will work with these two files, so keep that in mind when customizing your mod list.
Customizing mods with the auto installer is possible but with some limitations. We will see what kind of customizations are possible and how to do it.
First of all, the auto installer will install Mod Organizer 2 (Portable instance) and create a profile with the same name than the mod list installed (e.g. Nolvus Regular if you selected Nolvus Regular) for each Nolvus mod lists you install using it.
It will do this the same way than the guide for the manual installation.
This means :
Never rename, delete or move a mod installed by the installer!!!
If you don't want to use a mod from the installer, DON'T DELETE IT and DON'T MOVE IT, just deactivate it in Mod Organizer 2 Left panel.
If the installer needs to install a new mod and needs to install it after a given mod, if you delete that given mod, it will be deleted from the modlist.txt file as well and the installer will give error saying it does not find the mod it needs to install the new mod after.
Same if the installer needs to update the mod you have deleted, it will not find the mod it needs to update and will give an error.
For this, the rule 2 still applies, first deactivate the mod and reinstall it giving it a different name and place it just before the original mod.
I recommend to give it the same with (Customized) at the end.
Here is a example
An other way could be this, but in my opinion it's not that clear.
Note that the installer will update the original deactivated mod in case it needs to be updated. This means that for your modified mod you will have to update it yourself.
Why the modified mod needs to be placed just before the original one?
Let's say that a new mod needs to be installed just after the mod you modified because it needs to override it (for some files).
If you moved your modified mod under the original one, the installer will install the new mod under the original one (to override it) and you will get this result.
The new mod will override the original one but not the modified one.
This is the result you should get by placing your modified mod before the original one.
Here rule 3 applies as well, deactivate the original mod, install the 4K version (rename it adding 4K at the end for instance) and put it before the 2K one.
Of course the installer will only update the 2K one and you will need to update your 4K version yourself
Let's say that you want to install an other weather mod, the installer has installed Obsidian Weathers and you want to install Cathedral Weathers.
Deactivate Obsidian Weathers, install Cathedral and place it before Obsidian
You will also need to deactivate all patches related to Obsidian Weathers
Problem
As Cathedral has its own new esp and as the installer does not know anything about Cathedral Weathers, when the installer will update mods, it will load its own load order and the Cathedral Esp will be placed at the end of your load order (as described in the Anatomy of Mod Organizer 2 directories and profiles we see earlier)
In this case you will have to install loot (recreate all rules from the guide) or manually change your load order each time the installer got an update to install. Also you will have to take care of updates related to Cathedral Weather yourself.
This rule also applies if you want to add a new mod with an esp file that does not replace a mod installed by the installer.
For this, the rule 3 still applies, first deactivate the mod (lods,...) and regen it giving it a different name and place it just before the original mod.
Note that you will have to do this in case you install new mods by yourself that need to regen lods.
You can do it, the original profile created by the installer will be always updated and ordred
You will have to handle mods install order and load order in your new profile yourself each time the installer got an update (as described in the Anatomy of Mod Organizer 2 directories and profiles we see earlier)
As both profiles wil share the same mods directory, you will stil lhave to rename the mods you want to modify
In this case just use the installer to install the mod list and never use it again to update mods.
In this case do what you want ( move, delete,...) every mods you want
But if you click on the update button you will get 100% chance of error. So don't use the update mode of the auto installer.
