Why does the download with manager button only show up when it feels like it?

[HoboHunter28]

Title. I'm bad at installing mods and the mod manager is fantastic, but sometimes it just flat out doesn't appear.

[DrakeTheDragon]

The authors have the option to 'disable' this feature, in those 90% of cases where an Oblivion mod is packaged in a way the NMM can't understand and install properly.

Sadly all too many of those mods haven't seen their authors back ever since the NMM was introduced and this button being enabled was made the default.

Technically there's a huge number of file pages in existance now which 'wrongly' present the option to install with manager, while every such attempt just miserably fails with errors or worse.

 

So when there's no download with manager button on a file page, this means the file cannot possibly ever be installed with the NMM the way it is currently structured.

Not saying it can't be "made" installable by adding some XML install instructions for the NMM and the like, just emphasizing it isn't "right now".

 

Or are you saying you found file pages where there's a download with manager button visible sometimes but not always? That'd be a serious bug and needs to be reported.

[bben46]

I suggest actually reading the readme for each mod to see what the mod author recommends for installing. NMM has only been around for 2 years, while most Oblivion mods are 5 or more years old and were never intended to work with NMM. Many will work if their file structure is compatible. Prior to NMM, the 2 most popular managers were Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) and Wrye Bash. Both require a little more computer file structure knowledge than NMM. They each have some features that NMM doesn't, but are limited to Oblivion for OBMM, and Oblivion & Skyrim for Wrye Bash. While NMM works with 17 different games. Wrye does have a slightly different manager that can be used with Fallout3 and Fallout NV. There is also another manager, Mod Organizer that works with Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout3 and Fallout NV.

 

Each manager will have different features and will work differently to accomplish the same thing.