Using Folders for DAIMM Load Order, General Mod Folders, and DA2MM

[UhuruNUru]

Numbered Folders System
You an name the numbered folders, anything after the numbers. I recommend a short path to the Folders location, and if you use an SSD for games, and HDD for Data, the DAIMod files should be on the HDD.
Making it much easier to know which mod the DAIMod file actually belongs to, while keeping the DAIMod file names unchanged.
This is better than direct file renaming, as some mods have multiple DAIMod files, like "LL Crafting Material".

One caveat, you must have leading zeroes, to maintain the chosen LO.
This is the sort order DAIMM will produce without the zeroes.
Example (guessed, not confirmed as exact order, as far as the ones starting with a 1, but 2 will definately come after all the 1's);
1, 10, 100, 2
With leading zeroes, you get the desired order:
001, 002, 010, 100.

General Mod Management
Games, and Mod Managers. for games I'm currently playing, go on my 512 GB SSD (was very large 3 years ago, but much bigger are now available).
I use Symbolic link cloning, by using an exellent utility Link Shell Extension by Hermann Schinagl, to store the active game on multiple drives, while still using them as if on my games SSD, so desktop shortcuts and mod tools still work wherever they are, without changing setups each move.
This allows casual play, and modding of all my hundreds of games, instantly, While deleting the links, and moving the games files, to the same place, gives me SSD speeds, when desired, for serious game time.
I have 7TB of storage. and I'm now running out of space, with 400 or so installed games, and many more GB of mods, than GB of games.

DAI location is two fold, the usable one (Sym Link Clone), remains consistntand the Store Client enforced one (Original), much easier with GOG games, my goto store, their store client (Galaxy), is as bad as all the rest, but I don't have to use the damn thing,
I use GOG for their offline installers, more than being DRM free. Both is best, but given a choice between having DRM, or a store client, I'd choose the DRM, and don't even get me started on Multi-player, if a games online, it should have online functionality, in the game, not the store client.
D:\Dragon Age Series\3 Dragon Age - Inquisition\Dragon Age Inquisition (Origin)
D:\Origin\Games\Dragon Age Inquisition

Here's Dragon Age as an example of my games folder system

Dragon Age Series

0 Dragon Age - CharGen Morph Compiler
1 Dragon Age - Origins

Dragon Age - Origins - Ultimate Edition (GOG)
Utilities

Change Your Hero Hair and Face
CharGenMorph Compiler
DAOTlkEdit
DirConflict
Dragon Age - Origins - Character Creator
Dragon Age Face Replacer
Duplicate Search Tool
Savegame-Profile-Story Viewer

2 Dragon Age II

Dragon Age Inquisition (Origin)

3 Dragon Age - Inquisition

Dragon Age Inquisition (Origin)
Utilities

Cinematic Tools for Dragon Age - Inquisition
DAI CLI Save Editor
DAI Hair Recolour Utility
DAI Save Chunk Editor
DAIMod Config Script Editor

 

Note:
I used to use Folder Symbolic links, which work like an invisible shortcut, and that works great with Windows 7, but when I installed a Dual Boot of Windows 10, I found Folder links were not working.
Symbolic Link Cloning, copies the folder structure, and links to the files instead, not as good, for adding files, as they now need manual moves, and new links creating, while folder linking, added the files in the right place.
Cloning, does work with Windows 10, and 7 though, so allows playing without OS switching, but due to W10's hard coded 4GB limit, for DX9, heavily modded DX9 games, like Skyrim, are best played on W7.

Game specific utilities are kept with the games, in a "Utilities" folder, games are organised into series folders
All my Mod Managers, and most multi-game utilities go in the same folder, with short paths the main point.
D:\Managers
Full Contents are

BethINI
BSAOpt
Champollion
DA2MM
DAIToolsSuite
DAModder
DAOMM
DDSOpt
ENB FXAA SweetFX Manager
ENB Organizer
FoMM
LOOT
MatorSmash
ME2CMM
ME3CMM
MergePlugins
MO

Enderal
Fo3
FoNV
Morrowind
Nehrim
Oblivion
Skyrim

MO2
Mod Organizer Profiles Manager
Mod Priority Organizer
MOO
NMM

Games

Fallout4
StateOfDecay
Witcher3
X Rebirth
XCOM2

OpenMW
Wrye Bash
Wrye Mash
XCOM2 Mod Launcher
XCOM-LWMM
xEdit

Notes:
Most games have no mod manager, few mods, and are modded manually.

On a 3TB HDD, dedicated to mod, I have many mods, for most games
Folder | Description
Mod Archives | Archives for all gaming mods, that are installed using a Mod Manager, go here
DAIMM | Dragon Age Inquisition Mod Manager Mods

Inside DAIMM I have 4 folders
DAIMod | The DAIMMM files, where the numbered folders, listed below are placed
Docs | Any mods documents go here in Mod Named Folders, asd to many are called just "ReadMe.Txt".
EXB | This is the entire set of Vanilla Extracted EBX files, for use with Mod Maker.
Pics | Same structure as Docs folder, for similar reasons

Inside DAIMod, are the numbered mod folders, the full path:
G:\Mod Archives\DAIMM\DAIMod

My current DAIMM mod list folders, is used as an example.

00 LL Crafting Material
02 Misc Crafting Material Recolours
03 Makeup Mod
04 Eyes of the Inquisitor
05 Settrah's Alternate Brow Mod
06 Eyebrows 4 Women - Shaved Dark
07 Elongated Lashes
08 Anjali Complexion
10 SK Hair Retexture 4k
11 SK Hair Pack
12 Side Swept Hair for Elf Female
13 Katniss Braid for Elf Female
14 Mystical Inspired Hair for Elf Female
15 Ponytail Lose Front for Elf Female
16 Long Undercut Ponytail for Elf Female - Replaces Long Undercut
17 Long Wavy Hair for Elf Female - Replaces The Bob
21 Elf Female - Curvy Body
24 Staff Head Part Changes
25 Trespasser Staff Model Changes
30 More Banter
31 No Skill Requirements
32 No Perk Requirements
33 No More Focus Except Mark of the Rift
34 More Inquisition Levels
35 Search Radius Increased - 100
36 Sigils Reworked - No Penalties
37 The Tactician's Renewal - Unlimited
38 Amulet of Power - Unlimited
39 Inquisitor Tree Overhauled - Mage
40 Potions - Tonics - Grenades - Oh My
41 Abilities Revamped - Warrior - Weapon and Shield
42 Abilities Revamped - Rogue - Double Daggers
43 Abilities Revamped - Mage
44 Abilities Revamped - Missile Barrage - 2x and 50
45 Abilities Revamped - Mage - Spirit
50 Redcliffe Crafting Supply - Normal Prices
51 Redcliffe Supply - DLC - Normal Prices
52 Crestwood Village Requisitions Store
53 Crossroads Crafting Supply - Everything - Free
54 More Loot - Remade - Extreme
60 SFX Removed - Aura of Pain and Blessed Blades
61 SFX Removed - Exalted Plains Ambience
62 SFX Removed - Stealth
63 Enhanced Camera - Default Angle - Less Zoom - No Combat
64 Descent Crafted Armour Fix
72 Outerwear Retexture for Elf Female - - Black
73 Libelula Black for Elf Female - Skintone 10
74 Lady G's Armour for Elf Female - Black Gold Sapphire - Skintone 10
75 Dalish Outerwear
76 Formal Wear Replacer Light Keeper
80 Trespasser Schematics
81 Isabela MP Armours Crafting
82 Keeper MP Armors Crafting
90 Misc Crafting Material Recolours - Black Nugskin
91 Misc Crafting Material Recolours - Dark Gold Dragon Bone
92 Misc Crafting Material Recolours - Darker Purple Nevarrite
93 Misc Crafting Material Recolours - Royal Purple Dragon Scales
94 Misc Crafting Material Recolours - Royal Purple Dragon Webbing

Notes:
Gaps in the numbers, are used to make renumbering easier, when adding, or moving mods. Rerranging the entire order to add this directly after "LL Crafting Material" would be very annoying. It's also useful to group similar mods, in a section.

02 Misc Crafting Material Recolours, is the potential final position, for all that mods files, but currently an empty folder, because for initial testing, I always position new mods last, and separated.
Once it's working as intended, if moving it changes something, it's just the LO that needs adjusting, to get all mods playing nice.
I wouldn''t normally put an empty folder in position, that's just to show it, as an example for new mod testing, versus playing.
First confirm the mod works, as intended, then get all your other mods working with it, but as with all general rules, their will always be the exceptions

DA2MM
DA2MM, is actually, just a renamed DAOMM. The only thing you need to do, is set the paths to point to DA2, instead of DAO.
Here's my DA2MM's Ini file, note the name of the files unchanged, and this is a new install of DAOMM, with just the Folder renamed to DA2MM, and not the contents.

Keep it separated from the DAOMM used for DAO.
DAO-Modmanager.ini

 

[Program path]

DAO_exe=D:\Dragon Age Series\2 Dragon Age II\Dragon Age II (Origin)\bin_ship\DragonAge2.exe
DAO_Toolset_exe=D:\Dragon Age Series\1 Dragon Age - Origins\Dragon Age - Origins - Ultimate Edition (GOG)\tools\DragonAgeToolset.exe
DAO_Config_exe=D:\Dragon Age Series\2 Dragon Age II\Dragon Age II (Origin)\bin_ship\DragonAge2Config.exe
[DAO-Modmanager Folder path]
Override Packages Folder=G:\Mod Archives\DA2MM\Override
DAZip Packages Folder=G:\Mod Archives\DA2MM\DAZip
Temporary Folder=G:\Mod Archives\DA2MM\Temp
[DAO-Modmanager Options]
automatic compatibility check=Yes
[Dragon Age: Origins]
Dragon Age Folder=G:\Users\Uhuru N'Uru\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age 2
Screenshots Folder=G:\Mod Archives\DA2MM\Pics
Settings Folder=G:\Users\Uhuru N'Uru\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age 2\Settings
AddIns Folder=G:\Users\Uhuru N'Uru\Documents\BioWare\Dragon Age 2\AddIns

 

 

Note:

DA2 has no Toolset, so I leave it pointing to my DAO Toolset, but everything else points to the DA2 Folders I use.

Using DA2MM created DAZip, and Override Packages for DA2
You can even create *.DAZip, or *.Override mods, as well, which are both simply renamed *.Zip files.
BioWare, and mod author created, DAZip's need no alteration, this only applies to packages you create, using DA2MM.

If you extract the *.DAZip file, or *.Override file, you must set 7-Zip (or another tool),to repack the file as a standard *.Zip file, but keep the extension named *.DAZip file, or *.Override, or rename it afer repacking.
You must use 7-Zip (or another tool), to open the *.DAZip file, or *.Override file, you've created, and change the "Dragon Age" Folders name to "Dragon Age 2".
That's all, takes longer to explain, than to do it. Now the mods will install in the correct game, without this step the mods would be installed in DAO.