Mod information window - ModOrganizer2/modorganizer GitHub Wiki

The mod information window is opened by double-clicking a mod in the list. It has several tabs that display information about the currently selected mod and its relationship with other mods. At the bottom left of the window are two buttons Next and Previous that can be used to navigate the mods in the list without having to reopen the window. The information entered in the window is typically saved automatically, except for the editors for text files and INI files, which have their own dedicated save button.

Table of contents

• Tabs
• Text and INI files
• Images
  • DDS files
• Optional ESPs
• Conflicts
  • General
  • Advanced
• Categories
• Nexus Info
• Notes
• Filetree

Tabs

Some tabs are displayed with grey text. This is to signal that these tabs are empty of information. In this example, the mod has no INI files, images, conflicts or notes. These tabs can be selected regardless, but will not contain useful information.

Text and INI Files

Both the Text and INI Files tabs are similar: they show text files in a list on the left and clicking them shows their content in the editor on the right. Text files are any files ending with .txt, while INI files end in .ini or .cfg.

Once a file is loaded in the editor, it can be modified. Click the save button above the editor or press Ctrl+S to save the modifications. Attempting to close the window without saving the file will show a confirmation.

Next to the save button is a toggle for word wrap. When on, lines that extend past the width of the editor will be wrapped to the next line. When off, a horizontal scrollbar will be shown instead. There is also an Open in Explorer button, which will open Windows Explorer and navigate to the file. The text next to this button shows the path to the file.

Below the file list is a filter. It can be used to filter items in the list by name.

Images

This tab shows all the images present in the mod in a list on the left. Clicking an image in the list will display it on the right. The intent of this tab is to show images like screenshots or documentation, although it will display any kind of image file.

The list can be resized by moving the handle just to the right of it. Resizing the list will also resize the thumbnails so they are always square. At the bottom of this section is a filter, which can be used to filter the images by name.

A larger version of the selected image is displayed on the right. Above the image is a simple toolbar with these controls:

• Open with Preview Plugin, which opens the preview window for the currently selected file;
• Open in Explorer, which opens Windows Explorer and navigates to the file;
• The path to the file, followed by its dimensions in pixels.

DDS files

Below the list is a checkbox to show .dds files. These are typically textures provided by the mod. This checkbox is unchecked by default because some mods can have thousands of those textures, which would flood the list. Note that not all DDS formats are currently supported.

Optional ESPs

Mods can have a variety of plugins, usually with the extension .esp, .esm or .esl. The game will only recognize these plugins if they are in the root folder of the mod. If they are in a subfolder, they will not be used by the game. Therefore, Mod Organizer can move these files in and out of the root as a way of enabling and disabling these plugins.

The list on the right captioned Available ESPs shows all the plugins that are in the root folder of the mod. These plugins can be disabled by selecting them and clicking the arrow pointing to the left. Once disabled, the plugin will appear in the list to the left, captioned Optional ESPs. These plugins will not be used by the game.

When a plugin is disabled, the file is moved to a new folder named optional in the mod's root folder. If the plugin is then enabled again, the file will be moved back to the root folder. Therefore, after moving plugins back and forth, an empty optional folder may be left in the mod's root folder. This is normal and the folder can be deleted.

If a plugin is already in a subfolder when the mod information window is opened, Mod Organizer will remember that folder as long as the window stays open. If the plugin is activated, it will be moved to the root folder. If it is then disabled again, it will be moved back to its original folder, not optional. However, if the plugin is activated and the mod information window is closed, that information is lost. Reopening the window and disabling the plugin will move it to the optional folder.

Conflicts

The Conflicts tab has two sub-tabs: General and Advanced. Both are used to display conflicting files between the selected mod and other mods. Conflicts are not necessarily a problem, but they may indicate an incompatibility between two mods. When the same file is present in two or more mods, the priority column of these mods in the main list determines which mod wins.

All the conflict lists will show a menu when right-clicking files, see the filetree for most of the options available. In addition to those, Goto will open a submenu with all the mods involved with the current items: mods that are being replaced, and mods that replace the current one. Clicking a mod in this menu will switch to it.

General

The General tab shows three lists:

• The top list shows files from this mod that also exist in other mods that have a lower priority. When the game looks for these files, it will use those provided by this mod. The second column, Overwritten Mods, shows all the other mods that contain the same file, but were ignored because their priority is lower.

• The middle list shows the opposite: it shows the files from this mod that also exist in other mods with a higher priority. When the game looks for these files, it will not use the files from this mod. Instead, the game will use the file provided by the mod mentioned in the second column, Providing Mod.

• The bottom list shows files in this mod that do not conflict at all. When the game looks for these files, this mod will provide them.

The number of files in each of these lists is displayed in a box to the right. These lists can also be collapsed by clicking their caption. The arrow icon will change depending on whether the list is collapsed or not.

Advanced

The Advanced tab shows only one list with three columns. The list contains all the files that exist in this mod, regardless of whether they are used by the game or not. The first column lists all the mods that provide the same file, but are lower in priority. The last column lists all the mods that provide the same file, but are higher in priority. The middle column shows the file name.

At the bottom are a few options. If Show files that have no conflicts is unchecked, files that only exist in this mod will not be visible, since they do not conflict with anything. The other options determine whether all the mods involved in the conflict should be displayed, or only the nearest mods. For example, if two other mods provide the same file, but both are lower in priority, the nearest mod is the one that has the highest priority. If the option is checked, only the nearest mod is displayed in the first or third columns.

There is also a filter at the bottom right which filters files on all three columns.

Categories

Mods can be assigned categories which can be displayed in a column as well as used by filters in the main mod list. A mod can have multiple categories, but can only have one primary category. The primary category can be selected in a list at the bottom of the mod information window that contains all the selected categories. It is shown in the main mod list under the Category column.

If all the categories for a mod are unchecked, the mod cannot have a primary category, the list at the bottom will be disabled and the column for that mod in the main list will be empty.

Nexus Info

The Nexus Info tab shows information related to the mod on the Nexus website. If the mod has a valid ID, its description page from Nexus will be displayed, along with other information.

The ID associated with this mod is shown in the top-left. It can be changed at any time. This is normally unnecessary, as Mod Organizer is able to retrieve or infer the ID from the downloaded archive. However, if the ID is missing or Mod Organizer is unable to correctly guess the ID, it can be entered manually here. If the ID is 0, then the mod is assumed to not exist on Nexus. This is the case for mods created manually from Mod Organizer, for example.

Next to the ID is the Source Game. It should normally be the same game as the one being currently managed by Mod Organizer. The source game is purely for display purposes: if it does not match the currently managed game, a green icon will be shown in the mod list. This usually indicates that a mod for a different game was installed, such as installing a Skyrim mod in a Skyrim Special Edition instance. If Mod Organizer did not detect the source game properly, it can be changed manually here.

The mod's version is displayed last on that row. Mod Organizer tries its best to figure out the version of a mod based on the filename of the downloaded archive. It is mostly used to check for updates, by comparing the current version with what is available on Nexus. If the version was detected incorrectly, it can be changed manually here.

There is a row of buttons just below these values. Refresh will refresh the webpage currently loaded in the integrated browser, if any. This webpage is cached by Mod Organizer, but will update automatically once the cache expires. Pressing this button will force a refresh of the page. Open in Browser will open that webpage in the default browser.

Endorse and Track will either endorse or track the mod on Nexus. Endorsing can be done once per mod and tracking will enable notifications when the mod changes on Nexus. Both these actions can also be done from the Nexus website instead.

The webpage that is displayed is based on the mod ID. If the ID is 0, no webpage is displayed. If the ID is incorrect, a webpage for a different mod may be displayed. Clicking links in the webpage will open them in the default browser.

At the bottom of the tab is an option for a custom URL. Checking the checkbox and entering the address of a webpage will enable it. This will add an option when right-clicking the mod in the main list to visit this page in the default browser. This address can be for any webpage. The button Open in Browser next to the custom URL will open that URL in the default browser.

Notes

The Notes tab allows for entering arbitrary notes for mods. The first field is for a short note on the mod. It is displayed in the Notes column of the main mod list. The second field is for comments and will only be displayed here. HTML content can be pasted in the comments from a webpage.

Filetree

The file tree shows all the files that are inside the mod's folder in the form of a tree. Folders can be expanded to show the files they contain. The Open Mod in Explorer button at the top will open Windows Explorer and navigate to the root folder for this mod.

Right-clicking an item will open a menu with several self-explanatory items, but also with a few that may not be:

Execute and Execute with VFS

These menu items are only available for executable files. Execute will launch the program normally, as if it had been double-clicked in Windows Explorer, and so will not have access to mods. Execute with VFS will launch the program "hooked", as if it had been launched with the Run button on the main window, and will see any installed mods.

Double-clicking an executable is equivalent to selecting Execute.

Open and Open with VFS

These menu items are only available for non-executable files. Open will open the file normally, as if it had been double-clicked in Windows Explorer. The program associated with the file will not run through Mod Organizer and so will not have access to mods.

Open with VFS will launch the program associated with the file "hooked", as if it had been launched with the Run button on the main window, and will see any installed mods. This operation is more complicated for Mod Organizer, since it has to ask Windows for the associated program and its command line. If the file does not open correctly, the program should be added to the Executables window normally, launched with the Run button and the file should be opened manually from within the program.

Double-clicking a file is equivalent to selecting Open or Preview, depending on whether previewing is available for this file and the Open previews on double-click option is selected.

Preview

The Preview menu item will be enabled for files that are supported, such as images and text files. It will open a window with the content of that file.

Hide and Unhide

Hiding a file simply means adding a .mohidden suffix to the filename and unhiding removes that suffix. For example, hiding a file named bucket01.dds would rename it to bucket01.dds.mohidden. Unhiding that file would rename it back to bucket01.dds. This relies on the fact that games will look for files with very specific names and adding .mohidden makes it unlikely they will be found. That file would then be "hidden" from the game.