Anyone familiar with Mod Organizer and overwriting?

[Stahe]

So I just started using MO, and I've watched many videos today on it, none of which addresses this issue. The only blimp I could partially understand was on the wiki saying:

"Overwrite should be kept empty. This may require you to move files out of Overwrite. Every time you run the game or a tool through Mod Organizer, check Overwrite. If there are files present, right-click Overwrite and select Create Mod. Name it according to whatever tool or mod generated the file and activate it for your profile. Upon successive generations of the tool, move the files back to this mod, replacing all. This is accomplished by double-clicking Overwrite, highlighting the files to be moved, and dragging and dropping them onto their mod. "

This is still very confusing to me though. I have no mods installed, other than the default ones. After using Loot and TES5Edit, I got overwrite files in MO for Update.esm, HearthFires.esm, Dragonborn.esm, and Dawnguard.esm. I went to create a mod like mentioned above, but does that just place random mods in a seperate folder (if I understand it correctly) The second part really loses me: "Upon successive generations of the tool, move the files back to this mod, replacing all.". What in the world does this mean? What files am I moving back to what mod, and where are they located?

Does MO get easier as you go, or will it be just as confusing the entire time? MO Seems highly advanced, and geared more towards people who mod on a daily basis. I apprecaite any help with this discussion question.

[Bomb Bloke]

The idea with Overwrite is that files your tools / mods have generated go in there instead of where the tools really wanted to place them, that being directly into your game's data folder. You can then either move those files into the mod that "owns" them, or assign them to a new mod, in order to keep them "organised".

In this case, you'd be naming the new mod "Cleaned Masters" or similar, and then sticking it at the top of your load order. Or at least, I assume you were using TES5Edit for cleaning?

[Stahe]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Or at least, I assume you were using TES5Edit for cleaning?

I was, yes. I didn't notice the overwrite issue until I was about to run skse to test it out. I also see a backup folder in that override list as well.

From now on, should I be cleaning one mod at a time, and then creating a seperate mod for each overrite down the road, or should I just install all the mods first, clean all at once, and make one folder for all the overrites?

Essentially, could I just create a mod for any overwrites that come up? For Example, if one file said "Better Vampires", I just create a mod for "Better Vampires", stick to the top of the load order, etc.?

[Bomb Bloke]

Personally I'd be inclined to drag the individual cleaned files from Overwrite into the individual mod folders that contained the originals, replacing them. Clean one mod at a time and test - if things go wrong, re-install that mod.

That's if I were to clean mods, though. My general rule of thumb is "don't" - doing your masters is essential, but dirty edits within certain mods are required. If research (that is, actually checking author notes and mod discussion pages) indicates that a given mod really needs to be cleaned, then I'm rather more inclined to avoid using that mod in the first place. "Necessary" cleaning should be handled by their authors, and if they've failed to do that, then odds are their files will have further problems beyond those which a simple clean can fix.

[Stahe]

Ah ok. In the case of these master .esm files, do I drag and replace the bsa files in the data folder? That's the only place I can find these master overwrite files.

[Bomb Bloke]

You can do, but I again recommend setting them to a new mod. The idea is to leave all the files in your original Data folder in their original states: those initial master files aren't considered to be mods.