Settings window
The Settings window allows for changing settings related to Mod Organizer or the current instance. Most of the settings are saved per-instance in ModOrganizer.ini, but some are global and are saved in the Windows Credential Manager (such as the Nexus API key and the Steam password). The only setting saved in the Windows Registry is the last used instance name in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tannin\Mod Organizer.
The General tab has options for the user interface and updates.
Changes the language displayed by Mod Organizer and some tools such as the LOOT reports.
Changes the visual theme. The Explore... button opens the folder that contains the style files in Windows Explorer.
Mod Organizer will remember the size and position of most dialog windows it opens, such as the mod information window. However, when moving the main window to a different monitor, dialog windows will stay on the previous monitor because they remember their last position. Checking this option makes sure the dialog windows are always centered on top of the main window.
Unchecking this option will remove the confirmation window when changing instances. Mod Organizer will immediately restart and show the instance selection window.
Items can be double-clicked in various lists: in the Data tab as well as the Conflicts and Filetree tabs of the mod information window. If the file is an executable, it will be launched. If not, Mod Organizer can either open a Preview window if it's available (such as for .txt files) or open the file with the associated program.
- If this option is checked, the file will be previewed if available or opened with the associated program if not.
- If this option is unchecked, the file will always be opened with the associated program.
Right-clicking the file opens a menu where the Preview option can always be selected if previewing is available for that file.
Many dialog windows have a "Remember my choice" checkbox, such as when launching a program that requires Steam. Clicking this button will forget all the choices for all the dialog windows, allowing these windows to be shown again.
Opens the list of available categories where their names or IDs can be changed. Changing IDs is not recommended. This window can also be opened by clicking on the Edit... button in the Filters list on the main window.
The "Name" column in the download list normally shows the filename on disk of the download. Enabling this option will show the name of the mod instead if it can be found on Nexus.
Reduces the height of the items in the list so that more are visible.
When enabled, Mod Organizer will check on the Github releases page for updates on startup.
When enabled, Mod Organizer will update to pre-release versions when available. Pre-release versions (also known as "release candidates") are typically released a few weeks before the official version to get feedback and bug reports from users.
This controls the various colors used in the mod list on the main window. For example, if mod A is being overwritten by mod B, selecting mod A will change the color of mod B in the list to red whereas selecting mod B will change the color of mod A to green. These colors can be changed here by double-clicking on the various entries.
The columns next to the color name contain useful visual cues as to how the color interacts with text or icons in the mod list.
When enabled, the scrollbar in the mod list (if available) will draw marks at the same position as colored items. This makes it easier to navigate to conflicting mods, for example.
This button will reset all the colors to their default values.
The Paths tab configures the various paths for the current instance.
The first entry is the Base Directory, which is a folder that can be used in the entries below by using the name %BASE_DIR%. This allows for easily changing the folder where most of the files are stored for a particular instance.
Note that regardless of the base directory, an instance will always have a folder in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\ModOrganizer. This folder contains ModOrganizer.ini as well as some folders like crashDumps and logs. These files and folders are critical to Mod Organizer and cannot be moved. For a portable instance, these critical files and folders are always inside Mod Organizer's installation folder and cannot be moved. The base directory is only a convenient "variable" that can be used in the entries below it and is not used otherwise by Mod Organizer.
The next entries Downloads, Mods, Caches, Profiles and Overwrite define where the corresponding files are stored. Any mention of %BASE_DIR% in their text will be replaced by the text in the Base Directory. These folders are independent and can reside on different drives.
Changing any of the folders will not move the files. This has to be done manually. It is recommended to first change the paths, close Mod Organizer, move the files manually to the new locations and then start Mod Organizer again once the transfer has completed.
The last entry Managed Game can be changed if the game has been reinstalled to a different folder, for example.
This tab configures the credentials for Nexus as well as some general network settings.
Any operation within Mod Organizer that queries the Nexus website, including downloading files, requires an API key. This is a long string of random characters that is generated per account and is visible on the account page on Nexus. Mod Organizer must have this key to be able to talk to Nexus.
There are two ways to enter this key into Mod Organizer:
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Clicking the Connect to Nexus button will open a web page in the system's default browser. Clicking the yellow Authorise button will automatically send the key back to Mod Organizer, which will then display "Linked with Nexus Successfully."
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Clicking the Enter API Key Manually button will open a new window where the key can be entered manually. The Open Browser button will open the web page https://www.nexusmods.com/users/myaccount?tab=api in the system's default browser. On the web page, the API key will be visible next to Mod Organizer 2. If there is no key available, clicking Request an API key will create one. The key can then be copied and pasted into the box in Mod Organizer.
The easiest way to link Mod Organizer with Nexus is the first method. However, the server used to communicate with Nexus is sometimes unavailable. The manual method will usually work at all times.
Regardless of the method used, the API key will be stored in the Windows Credential Manager and can be seen by opening the Windows Start Menu, typing "credential" and selecting "Manage Windows Credentials". The key is stored under "Generic Credentials" with the name ModOrganizer2_APIKEY.
Clicking Disconnect from Nexus will make Mod Organizer forget about the API key entirely.
Mod Organizer needs to be restarted after it is linked. Once linked with an account, it will display the user ID, username and account type on top, as well as some statistics about the remaining number of requests.
Prevents Mod Organizer from connecting to the internet at all.
Shows whether mods have been endorsed or not in the mod list.
Whether Mod Organizer should use the system proxy settings to connect to the internet.
Whether to hide the API informations in the status bar.
Sets Mod Organizer to run when clicking Mod Manager Download on Nexus.
Mod Organizer has an internal cache when it accesses web pages, much like a regular browser. This clears it. It shouldn't be necessary.
This is mostly useful for premium users. Anytime a file is downloaded, a list of servers where files can be downloaded from is provided from Nexus. These servers will appear in the list of Known Servers and can be moved to the Preferred Servers list in any order. When downloading files, the preferred servers will be used first.
Mod Organizer can start Steam automatically when it detects that the game requires it. It will use the username and password provided here when starting Steam. The username is stored in the instance's ModOrganizer.ini, but the password is in the Windows Credential Manager and can be seen by opening the Windows Start Menu, typing "credential" and selecting "Manage Windows Credentials". The key is stored under "Generic Credentials" with the name ModOrganizer2_steam_password.
A few things to note:
- Steam itself has a way of remembering credentials, which should probably be used instead by leaving these entries blank.
- Entering the credentials in Mod Organizer can interfere with 2FA (two-factor authentication).
- The username and password are passed in plaintext in the command line when starting Steam and so will be visible in Task Manager or other tools.
In general, this feature shouldn't be used at all.
Mod Organizer comes with a variety of plugins installed in the plugins/ folder. Every game that can be managed has its own plugin, but there are also various tools provided by plugins.
Plugins can have settings that can be configured in this tab. Clicking on a plugin in the list on the left will display information on the right, as well as all the options it supports. Some plugins have no options. Double-clicking on a setting will show a box where the value can be changed.
The Blacklisted Plugins list at the bottom shows plugins that have been disabled by Mod Organizer. This happens when a plugin fails to load on startup. Blacklisted plugins can be enabled again by selecting them in this list and pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.
This tab contains mostly advanced options and a few tools to fix problems.
Contains the Steam ID of the currently managed game. It can be changed if incorrect.
Mod Organizer used to have several mechanisms to inject its virtual filesystem into games and programs. These mechanisms have all been removed except for "Mod Organizer", which makes this box useless because there's only one choice. It's there because of inertia and bureaucratic resistance.
This setting is obsolete and doesn't do anything. It shouldn't be there, really.
Unchecking this option will never show the lock overlay when launching programs.
When a program is launched through Mod Organizer, the user interface is locked until the program terminates. Changing mods or files in general while a program is running can create problematic situations like a game seeing a mix of the old and new files. Locking the user interface prevents accidental changes and acts as a visual cue that a program is still running.
Mod Organizer can be unlocked at any time by clicking the Unlock button on the overlay.
There is one exception to this option: if a plugin launches a program, the user interface will still be locked until the program is closed even if this option is unchecked. The rationale is that plugins will typically require the output of the program they launch before they can continue. In this case, the lock overlay will display a different message:
Pressing Unlock will allow the plugin to continue execution immediately, which might make it fail. A typical example is the "FNIS Checker" plugin, which starts FNIS if it detects that it should be run again. Since it requires FNIS to run to completion to determine if it was successful, unlocking the user interface will make the plugin fail.
Note that archive parsing is experimental: it can slow down Mod Organizer considerably and the files are not always handled correctly in some parts of the user interface, such as in conflict management.
Archives are much like zip files and are stored in .bsa files. Mod Organizer will normally treat .bsa files like any other file, but enabling this option will make it behave as if all the files in the .bsa were extracted. In this case, both the .bsa file and the files it contains will be displayed in the user interface, such as in the Data tab.
The SkyUI mod, for example, contains the file SkyUI_SE.bsa. If archive parsing is enabled, the files contained in the .bsa are also visible:
Files that live in archives are in italic and show the name of the archive as part of the mod name. Some options are not available when right-clicking files from archives, such as Open or Hide, because these files are not actually on the filesystem.
This setting is mostly broken and shouldn't be used.
Mods that are installed directly in the game's folder, including official DLCs, are usually shown in the mod list as being either Unmanaged or DLC. Their presence is merely informational since they cannot be controlled from Mod Organizer. Unchecking this option will hide them.
Some games will never load loose files if they are older than the game's .bsa files. This changes the last modified date of the .bsa files to a date far in the past, typically 1 January 2000.
Mod Organizer will sometimes stay locked while waiting for unexpected programs to terminate, like Chrome.exe or Spotify.exe. Until this problem is fixed, programs that are unlikely to be started from Mod Organizer but are sometimes wrongly picked up by the lock overlay can be specified in this list.
Mod Organizer remembers the state of many different parts of the user interface, such as the position of splitters, the order of columns in lists or the size and position of dialog windows. These settings sometimes become corrupted, causing problems on the user interface, such as columns that cannot be resized or windows that appear off-screen. Clicking this button will clear all the customization done on the user interface and restart Mod Organizer in its default state.
Sets the verbosity of the messages in the Log list at the bottom of the main window, but also in the various log files generated by Mod Organizer and the virtual filesystem. This should normally be set to Info, but changing it to Debug can help with diagnosing problems. When sending log files to developers, the level should be set to Debug first. Note that Debug logs can slow down Mod Organizer or programs launched from it considerably.
When Mod Organizer crashes, it typically writes a .dmp file in the crashDumps folder of the current instance. These dump files contain valuable information that developers can use to diagnose problems. This should always be Mini unless a developer requests the setting to be changed. Changing it to Data or Full can create files weighing gigabytes.
Mod Organizer will delete old crash dumps so there's never more than the number of files specified here.
This sets the log level of LOOT that's started when clicking the "Sort" button. It can be useful to diagnose problems.