Need explanation on how the NMM and CK work together

[tesGamin]

Hi all,

 

We have been working on private Mods for a couple of years now and we have never used Nexus Mod Manager. We are wanting to add SMIM to but it strongly suggest using NMM. So My questions are:

 

Can you install NMM on a heavily modded install or do you really need a clean system?

 

Does NMM handle Mods from Steam as well as from Nexus?

 

Does it have to be all mods - or can the NMM be restricted to the mods we aren't actively developing while we add in the ones we are working on manually for testing purposes?

 

Does it play nice with the CK? We seem to be actively working on 2-3 mods. We sync our Data folders to get any changes we each make, how will that effect NMM? How will NMM change the way we use the CK?

 

I have an image in my head that NMM can handle Mods from Nexus and any local archive (.rar .7 . zip) but I am worried about actively developing in the CK. IF I throw a new .nif in or a new texture or anything into the Data folders, what will NMM do? Wipe them out if I change/reorder mods?

 

Any Modders willing to let us know how you work with the NMM and the CK?

 

Thanks :smile:

[KunoMochi]

NMM does not touch or handle any mods or mod files that are not added and installed through NMM. That mean will not handle the following:

• mods installed through manual means (directly extracted to Data)
• mods installed through MO
• Steam Workshop mods
• mods managed by second/multiple install(s) of NMM with different folder paths
• plugin files not part of any mods installed through NMM
• loose files thrown into the Data folder
• loose files created by self-extractors and installers (i.e., ENB installers, script extenders)
• loose files outside of the Data folder

If you have mods installed through NMM that overwrites files not installed through NMM, those files will be affected up as well.

 

Let me know if I missed anything.

[tesGamin]

@KunoMochi

Thank you for the reply.

So, lets see if I have this right. NMM "knows" all the files in Data folder and below when it is installed. (So that it knows how to put things back to original if needed) It also knows all files added through it but not any manually drop files.

So we do a "clean" install.
Load on NMM.
Install 20ish Mods with NMM
Load Steam/Manual Mods.
Load our "works in progress" Mods.

We should be able to do everything manually as we do now, as long as none of the manual manipulation touches files that NMM is managing, yes?

With this mixed mode, who controls the load order? Just the Skyrim launcher?

Edited February 6, 2017 by tesGamin

[Graybark]

That's how it works. You can modify the load order of the esps via NMM itself. The bsa archives load according to the esp load order. Loose files override everything.

[tesGamin]

That's how it works. You can modify the load order of the esps via NMM itself. The bsa archives load according to the esp load order. Loose files override everything.

@ArtaiosGreybark - Thank you for the confirmation. This gives us the confidence to move forward with adding NMM to our systems.