VIVA NEW VEGAS

Mod Organizer 2

In this step, we will install and configure Mod Organizer 2, the best mod manager for any Bethesda game.

Installing Mod Organizer 2

1. Download the Mod Organizer 2 main file from here
2. Once the download has finished, run the installer
3. When prompted to choose an install location, pick any location outside of any default Window folders and outside of the game's Root folder
• Although it doesn't technically have to be installed on the same drive as the game, it is still recommended to install on an SSD if possible

If you do know what is meant by "default Windows folders", read the Installation Location section from the Initial Setup page.

4. Click Next until the installer finishes
5. When the installer has finished, navigate to where Mod Organizer 2 is installed, right-click on ModOrganizer.exe and select Properties
6. In the Compatibility tab, check the box next to Run this program as an administrator

Configuring Mod Organizer 2

Initial Setup

1. Run ModOrganizer.exe
2. You will be prompted with a pop-up called Creating an instance, in which you should just select Next
3. On the next page, select Create a portable instance

• You can use a Global instance if you plan on using multiple instances of MO2 for different games, but for simplicity's sake the guide will use a Portable instance
4. On the next page, select New Vegas
5. On the next page, keep the Location file path default

If you have MO2 installed on an SSD or a HDD with little space, you can check the Show advanced options box and change the Downloads file path to a different drive with more space. This will not effect download/game performance, and the downloads can be deleted after the mods have been installed.

6. On the last page, select Finish
7. MO2 will launch and prompt you with a pop-up called Show tutorial?, in which you should select No
8. From the pop-up called Register?, select Yes
• This pop-up will not show up if you have already registered a different instance of MO2

If at any point you get a pop-up called INI file is read-only, select Remember my choice from the drop-down at the bottom then click Clear the read-only flag

Ordering Plugins

1. Once Mod Organizer 2 has loaded, right-click in the right pane and select Enable all
2. Order the plugins in the right pane as follows:

3. If there is a plugin called FalloutNV_lang.esp in the right pane, navigate to the game's Data folder and delete it
• If you do not know what the game's Data folder is, read the Key Terminology section from the Initial Setup page

The translation plugin must be deleted because it directly edits 1000s of records to change the language, which will cause many incompatibilities with most mods.

Configuring Settings

1. Select the button at the top of MO2 to open the settings
2. In the Theme tab, you can select a different style from the drop-down menu at the top
• I use the vs15 Dark theme
3. In the Nexus tab, select Connect to Nexus

• This option will not show up if you have already connected your Nexus account on a different MO2 instance
4. MO2 will open your browser and prompt you to authorize the connection
5. Once you authorize it, you can close out of your browser and of the MO2 settings
6. Allow MO2 to restart if it asks

Creating Profiles

Mod Organizer 2's "Profiles" feature allows for easy switching between different mod configurations. In this step, we will setup a testing profile and a main profile. The default profile will stay completely untouched and act as a backup. The testing profile will be configured the same as the main profile for the guide, but will have all mods unchecked, allowing you to only activate certain mods for easy testing/troubleshooting. And finally, the main profile is where we will install and enable all of our mods. Profiles can be selected via the drop-down menu above the left pane

1. Select the button at the top of MO2 to open the profiles menu
2. Select the Default profile, then select Copy
3. Name the new profile Testing
4. Select the Testing profile and make sure both Use profile-specific Game INI Files and Automatic Archive Invalidation are checked at the bottom
5. With the Testing profile selected, select Copy
6. Name the new profile Viva New Vegas
7. Exit out of the profiles menu and select the Viva New Vegas profile from the drop-down above the left pane

INI Tweaks

Tweaking FalloutCustom.ini

In this step, we will configure the game's INI files to increase performance/stability. We will take advantage of JIP LN NVSE's FalloutCustom.ini feature to make our changes, which allows for INI changes to be made safely without editing the default INIs. Because of this, these changes will not take affect until you install JIP LN NVSE in the Utilities step.

1. Make sure the Viva New Vegas profile is active
2. Click the button at the top of MO2 and select INI Editor
3. Select the FalloutCustom.ini tab, which should be blank
• Make sure you are in the FalloutCustom.ini tab and NOT the Custom.ini tab
4. Paste in the following:

[General]
bUseThreadedAI=1
iNumHWThreads=4
bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=1

[BackgroundLoad]
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=1

[Water]
bAutoWaterSilhouetteReflections=1
bForceHighDetailReflections=0

[Controls]
fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0
fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0
fForegroundMouseBase=0
fForegroundMouseMult=0

[Audio]
iAudioCacheSize=8192
iMaxSizeForCachedSound=1024


5. Change iNumHWThreads to the number of threads (including hyper-threads) your CPU has
• If you do not know how many threads your CPU has, use CPU-Z to find out
6. Repeat the INI changes on the Testing profile

Notes

It is highly recommended to avoid changing any other INI settings not in the guide, and to avoid using INI "optimization" tools like BethINI. The changes these will make are placebo at best and dangerous at worst. You will realistically not need any other tweaks than the ones already in the guide.

Mod Installation Advice

If you are completely unfamiliar with Mod Organizer 2, I recommended watching GamerPoet's video about mod installation in MO2. As it was made for Skyrim, it has some information that does not apply to New Vegas, such as the Steam Workshop part which you can just ignore. However, the rest of the information about downloading/installing mods from Nexus still applies.

When the guide says to install a mod, it will be formatted as follows: Main File - Example Mod 1.5. This is referring to the mod's category on Nexus, the file name, and the file version.



Unless instructed otherwise, simply download the listed file using the Mod Manager Download button and install it normally through MO2. If you do not know how to install mods through MO2, please watch the video linked above. Sometimes, a mod will not have a Mod Manager Download, or will be hosted on a site other than Nexus. If that is the case, do the following:

1. Click the Manual Download button (or whatever the download button is for the respective site)
2. Once the download has finished, click the button at the top of MO2
3. From the new window, navigate to where the file was downloaded to and double-click it
4. Finish the install normally

When downloading multiple files from the same page, you will be prompted with a box in Mod Organizer 2 with the options Merge, Replace, and Rename. You should select the Rename option and rename the mod to its respective file name. This will make MO2 install them as separate files for easier management. If you are updating from an old version of a mod, you should select Replace. This will delete all the files from the old version of the mod and replace them,with the ones from the new version. This is the only time you should use the Replace option, otherwise always use Rename.

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