[GUIDE] How to use multiple instances of ModOrganizer with junctions (and why)

[Sassahuaranga]

First things, first what is achieved by that and what the hell are junctions anyway?

 

Well, I am glad you asked.

 

The reason I came up with this solution is that I am running multiple profiles in my ModOrganizer one for playing and one for Sex Mods. Most of the time I dont want to be using Sex Mods anyway so I dont see a need to drag the scripst along, plus let's be real for sex mods game progress/character level etc don't matter as much. So just using them und a seperate profile makes perfect sense. After all for this kinda thing its mostly about appearance and that's what they gave us RaceMenu presets for.

 

I gotten pretty annoyed having to generate FNIS behavior files anew everytime I would be switching between the profiles.

 

The solution to this: run multiple instances of ModOrganizer

 

normally this would mean youd end up with a lot of wasted space due to redundant files in the seperate MO directories.

 

Fear not my friends this is where junctions come into play.

 

 

Junctions are a special kind of hardlink/symlink used for folders. This stuff has been around forever too (to the best of my knowledge at least since Windows XP) but users dont have access to them. (Read on, that is very easy to fix)

 

If you create a junction for a folder, every program dealing with it, treat it as the actual folder. As opposed to shortcuts! It is actually pretty much the same method ModOrganizer is using to inject the contents of it's mods folder into Skyrim's data folder

 

 

So we are going to create junctions of our core mods (or rather every mod we want/need in both profiles) to save space mostly.

 

 

If you're still with me here, its time to get started:

 

 

1 -  Downbload Link Shell Extensions from here http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html and install

 

 

2 -  Download ModOrganizer 7z version

 

 

3 -  extract MO in a directory of your choice

 

 

4 -  go to your original MO folder and copy your profiles folder into the new MO folder

 

 

5 - Go inside the mods directory of your original MO install, select any mod you wanna bring along, right click on them select "Pick Link Source" It is imperative you don't bring Fores New idels - FNIS mod along for the ride. you may copy that folder into the new mods folder however (saves time) For me I also didnt grab a junction of Wearable Lanterns cuz they screw up sex mods, you may find similar incompatibilities

 

 

6) go to your new MO folder and create a mods directory, switch to that folder and right click inside it. Go to Drop as... and select Junction

 

 

 

7 - start your new ModOrganizer, select your profile. There is a chance some esp were disabled just reneable them and run LOOT as usual

 

8 - add Sex Mods as you see fit, don't forget to run FNIS

 

And with that you have 2 copies ModOrganizer that barely take any more space than just one but with the benfit of each having its own FNIS behavior files which means just switching between the 2 no longer means you have to generate them again.

 

 

Here's one thing you need to keep in mind tho. The 2 installs of ModOrganizer are completly unaware of eachother. Your new install is totally able to affect mods. If you hit remove mod on any of them in the junctions they will be gone for your main profile too (just disable them/get rid of the junctions if theres any you dont want in that setup no more). To clarify MO sees the original files and affects them. If you just wanna get rid of the junction you gotta remove it via your filemanager of choice (just hit delete, your filemanager knows the difference). Addtionally if you install more mods on your main install and want to use them on the other install as well you will have to create additional junctions for these too, as MO is only reading its own mods folder not the one of the other install.

 

The most important part tho: your mods directory is still a regular old directory. You can insatkl as many more mods as you want (your game can take) and they will pf course install into the new mods directory and likewise invisible to the original install. Therefor it is highly reommended to install things you want in both on your main install and create addtional junctions for them if need be and only install the mods you only want for that particular install throgh your new MO. Yes I am replacing one discomfort by another, but honestly with my file managment tools trackins stuff is way more acceptable than having to generate FNIS files several times a day when I technically havent installed or removed any animation packs)

 

 

PS In case you are wondering. The context menu entry will be exactly the same even if youre using windows explorer or whatever for your file management. Obviously I wouldnt bear with such a shitty filemanager just to get screenshots that would line up 100% with your stuff when I got Direcotry Opus which is worth every cent of its $89 AUS asking price. If you follow my guide you can do the same thing regardless of what you use to view folders

 

Hope that is useful to you and a hell of a practical example of how sweet junctions are

 

 

PS technically you dont need to copy your profile it just speeds up the sorting of your modlist

[aim4it]

You do know you can create separate mods for FNIS generated files? Then just enable/disable them between the different profiles i.e FNIS-Perkus vs FNIS-Requiem.  I don't see how all those steps get you anymore mileage.

[Sassahuaranga]

Hmmm I actually havent even thought of that, I tend to toss the files from the overwrite mod straight into fnis. but hey thanks for letting me know my method is more convuluted than it would have to be

 

In fact that makes my method inferior lol