Mod Organizer 2

Configuring Mod Organizer 2

Run ModOrganizer.exe
From the pop-up called Choose Instance, select Portable
From the pop-up called Please select the game to manage, select New Vegas

If the option New Vegas does not appear, select Browse..., then navigate to the root folder and select FalloutNV.exe

If there is a pop-up called INI file is read-only, select Yes
From the pop-up called Show Tutorial?, select No
From the pop-up called Register?, select Yes
If all of the plugins in the right pane are not checked, right-click and select Enable all
Change the order of the plugins in the left pane to match the order of the right pane

If you have a GOG copy of the game, there may be a FalloutNV_lang.esp in the load order
If so, navigate to the Data folder and delete it

Click the button on the top bar of MO2
Navigate to the Paths tab
If you are on an SSD or an HDD with little space, set the Downloads path to a location on a drive with plenty of space
In the Nexus tab, click the box that says Connect to Nexus
MO2 should open a Nexus page in your browser
Select Authorise
Exit out of chrome and out of the settings menu in MO2

MO2 will prompt you to restart, to which you should say yes

Optional: Configuring MO2's Looks

This section is optional only if you want to clean up MO2's interface a bit and change the theme. This is all up to personal preference, so feel free to configure it to your own liking

Click the button on the top bar of MO2
In the General tab, you can select what style you want for MO2 in the drop-down right below the language selector

I use vs15 Dark.qss

Once you have selected a style, exit the settings menu
Right-click in the header bar above the left pane where it says Mod Name
Here you can choose to add or remove certain information MO2 will show about your mods

I only leave Flags and Priority checked

You can hide the background information box on the bottom of the window by hovering your mouse over the top of the box, holding left-click, and dragging down

Creating New Profiles in Mod Organizer 2

Mod Organizer 2's "Profiles" feature allows for easy switching between different mod configurations. In this step, we will setup a vanilla profile, a testing profile, and a main profile. The vanilla 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. Profiles can be selected via the drop-down menu above the left pane

Click the button on the top bar of MO2
Click on the Default profile and select Rename
Input Vanilla for the new name
With the Vanilla profile selected, select Copy
Input Testing for the name and click OK
Select the Testing folder and check both Use profile-specific Game INI Files and Automatic Archive Invalidation
With the Testing profile selected, select Copy
Input Viva New Vegas - Core for the name, click OK then Close

Setting up Tools in Mod Organizer 2

In order for programs to recognize MO2's virtual file system, the programs need to be ran directly through MO2. Programs can be selected via the drop-down menu in the top right, but first we have to add them.

Switch to the Viva New Vegas profile
Click the button on the top bar of MO2
Input FNVEdit into the Title box
Click the three dots to the right of the Binary box, and from the pop-up navigate to where FNVEdit is installed and select FNVEdit.exe
Input -IKnowWhatImDoing in the Arguments box, select Add, then Close

Run FNVEdit through MO2
Right-click in the Module Selection pop-up and click Select None
Click OK
Wait for the message Background Loader: finished to appear in the right pane
Once the message appears, exit the program
Right-click the Overwrite folder in the left pane of MO2 and select Create Mod...
Input FNVEdit Cache into the pop-up and select OK
Check the box adjacent to the new mod, then right-click it and select Ignore missing data

FNVEdit cache files help speed up load times of cached files. These cache files will only be generated if you build references (which happens whenever you load files in FNVEdit normally). As more cache files appear in the Overwrite folder, add them to the FNVEdit Cache mod too

If you hold down the shift key while clicking OK in FNVEdit, it skips building references. This speeds up load times significantly, but does not generate cache files. This is how the guide will handle loading files in FNVEdit

Back in the executables menu, input FNVEdit Cleaner into the Title box
Click the three dots to the right of the Binary box, and from the pop-up navigate to where FNVEdit is installed and select FNVEditQuickAutoClean.exe
Back in the executables menu, input FNVLODGen into the Title box
Click the three dots to the right of the Binary box, and from the pop-up navigate to where FNVLODGen is installed and select xLODGenx64.exe
Input -FNV into the Arguments box and select Add
Add zEdit and the GECK with the same method, but do not input anything into the Arguments box (GECK may have already been automatically added)

Mod Installation/Tracking

How to properly install mods from Nexus and track them so you get notified when they are updated:

On the Nexus page, navigate to the Files tab
For whatever files are listed in the guide, click the Mod Manager Download button to have it automatically download in MO2
On the top of the mod page above the images and to the right of the statistics, click the Track button

You will get a notification every time a tracked mod is updated on the toolbar on the top of the Nexus website

Mod Installation Advice in Mod Organizer 2

This is general advice to follow when installing mods in Mod Organizer 2

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

For Main Files, Updates, and Hotfixes, select Merge. This will merge the mod files together into one mod in MO2

If a mod has multiple Main Files, select Rename. Naming it something different will cause MO2 to install it as its own mod.

For Optional Files, Miscellaneous Files, and Patches, select Rename. Naming it something different will cause MO2 to install it as its own mod.
When updating from a previous version of a mod, select Replace. This will delete all the files from the old version of the mod and just install the ones from the new version

If the guide says Install normally, just install the main file of the mod and use the Mod Manager Download button to install it through MO2
If the guide says Hide the following:, do the following:

Once the mod is installed, double-click it in the left pane of MO2
Navigate to the Filetree tab
Right-click on the listed file and select Hide

If MO2 gives you a No game data on top level message while installing a mod:

Expand the main folder
Find the Data folder, right-click on it, and select Set data directory

If there is no folder called Data, find the folder that contains the mod data (textures, meshes, and/or an .esp) and follow the same instructions as above

If there is no Mod Manager Download button for a file, do the following:

Click the Manual Download button
Click the button on the top bar of MO2
From the pop-up, navigate to where the file installed and double-click it
Finish the install as you would any other mod

Viva New Vegas