Is this possible?

[Vahdin]

I'm looking to start a second character (the opposite gender of my main), and I was wondering if I could successfully mod for both genders without overwriting anything for each of them? I use Nexus Mod Manager and I have been trying to search the internet for an answer but nothing is clear enough. Other solutions I've come across haven't worked! I'm fairly new so I'd very much appreciate details. Cheers!

TLDR; My main character is female, and I want to start a male. How can I actively mod for both using NMM?

Edited October 7, 2018 by Vahdin

[WastelandAssassin]

NMM does have a profile feature , that should allow you to run different mods on different profiles

never used that feature of NMM , but I know it works in MO2

so it should work in NMM , but you'll have to verify how it works

 

however , you may not even need such a feature

I mean , female and male characters don't use the same paths (when it comes to meshes) , so female mods shouldn't conflict with male mods

this is more about using something like different combat mods of perk overhauls , these will require you to set up different profiles , or switch between mods every time you want to play (which is not recommended)

 

so if you could be a bit more specific about what you wish to change between characters , it would help give you a better answer

[Vahdin]

Thanks for replying. I know about the different profiles feature on NMM but no one really explains how it works. I made another profile, and my female mods all carried over to it (unless it does that?) so I didn't understand it. I've also never used MO2, so I will probably need more details if that's okay! I just want to start another character entirely and mod everything in just as I am with my female. I'm also aware that they use different paths but I've had instances where I was asked to overwrite something that shouldn't have affected my fem and I couldn't go with it since I wanted it for my female. Just confusing, that's all.

[CharrGazgre]

First backup your save game file. If you can use console command, use showracemenu to change your character gender. Use slider options to fine tune the facial features of your male character. There you go.

 

If you want to start a new game, just pick male character and tweak the facial features of male character. There you go. Save your gamefile and careful not to replace your old game files unless you don't need them.

[chanchan05]

Do you want different mod loadouts for both characters? I mean I currently I have 3 characters with varying mod loadouts done via Vortex. You want to achieve something like that?

[Vahdin]

Do you want different mod loadouts for both characters? I mean I currently I have 3 characters with varying mod loadouts done via Vortex. You want to achieve something like that?

Yessssss, exactly! I want to have both characters accessible at any time. I would really love to know how to do this if you can fill me in. Many thanks!

[WastelandAssassin]

as far as I'm aware , in order to create a black profile , you need to create it from a blank profile

if you create a new profile from a modded one , those mods should carry over to the new profile

one way to test this is to create a new profile , uninstall one mod from the old profile (preferably a small one you can easily reinstall without issues) , switching over to the new profile and checking if the mod is still installed there or not

 

not sure what kind of overwrites you're getting , though I'm not sure how the virtual installation works on NMM (I'm assuming you're using an updated version of NMM with the virtual installation)

but it could be something as simple as readme files , or it could be actual mod files

[chanchan05]

 

Do you want different mod loadouts for both characters? I mean I currently I have 3 characters with varying mod loadouts done via Vortex. You want to achieve something like that?

Yessssss, exactly! I want to have both characters accessible at any time. I would really love to know how to do this if you can fill me in. Many thanks!

 

 

You can do it using Vortex, MO, or MO2. Theoretically you can do it with NMM, but that feature of NMM was clunky and it sometimes crashed on me. I have since migrated to Vortex. I just know it's possible with MO and MO2, but I don't have extensive experience with either.

 

Basically just make a profile, then mod it. Choose in the settings to keep separate savegames and game settings for each profile, this is great so you don't load stuff by mistake. Let's say you did the male character first. When you've done it, simply create a new profile then enable it then mod it. Depending on what profile you have enabled, that's the mod loadout that's going to be active when you open up Skyrim.They say it's okay if you open Skyrim via SKSE outside of Vortex, but I tend not to do that and go from inside Vortex.

 

One caveat though is depending on the mod loadout, you would install multiple instances of the same mod, but just set it as a different version, so basically it will take up 3x the size of the mod download (archive, version1, version 2). This occurs most often in the case of patches. For example if in your male playthrough you have ELFX with the Hardcore option, but for the female you want to use the ELFX Enhancer version. That means you'll install ELFX twice. This can be done simply in Vortex. Just hit "reinstall", then the mod manager will ask you if you want to install a second instance or replace the previous installation.

 

What I did to streamline the process was basically made a "base" profile. Essentially your "ideal vanilla", a mod profile which contains all the mods set up in the way you want to happen across all your play throughs. Like maybe you set it up as the survivor type. You want all playthroughs to have Frostfall and Campfire. Then I just clone that base profile, rename it, then put on the additional mods I want.

 

Also, to make things easier, Vortex has a "migrate from NMM" button for you.

 

You can start from Gopher's videos on how to use Vortex.

 

One thing I would mention is installation is "slower" than NMM. After you install a mod, it still has to deploy your load out. You can just install continuously. Install, wait for deploy, then install. You can set it in the settings to turn off autodeploy though. And just manually deploy at the end of your installation.

 

PS: I forgot to mention, when I say mod the profile, I mean toggle the mods enabled and disabled. Enable the ones you want, disable the ones you don't. DO NOT UNINSTALL.

Edited October 8, 2018 by chanchan05