How to update mods from Nexus Mod Manager?

[Vermithraxxx]

Simple...

 

Deactivate the outdated on NMM.

Download the new version.

Activate it on NMM.

Delete old version...

 

Ket

That’s the basics but it seems just from this thread there are a lot of ways to get in trouble. NMM, in trying to be ‘simpler’, seems to hide things the user needs to know. I still consider myself a newb so please correct me if the following is in error in any way.

 

Probably one can download the updated version first and then deactivate the current installed version without messing things up (ie, the first two steps can be done in any order). As pointed out we need to know if the update replaces the original or is a patch to the original. Hopefully the mod author is clear on that. If the later I don’t think we do anything with the original mod just download and activate the update like any other ‘patch’, run Loot, and rebuild our Bashed Patch if the leveled lists are affected (again the mod author should really tell us but from experience we will start to know what kind of mods affect leveled lists).

 

Note I leaned early _not_ to accept Wrye Bash’s suggested merging of plug-ins and just let WB bash the leveled lists. Merge plugins in a more thoughtful way with Merge Plugins or something (Mod Organizer really shines here as a lot of adjustments to a large mod can be merged together right from the start).

 

Updating with NMM is just one segment of a process.

 

Now all of this assumes a mod with .esp files (or plugins) and mainly is about the plugin. With meshes and textures involved NMM will ask if we want to overwrite if the meshes and textures with the same file names are in the game already. And this is where it gets complicated because the mesh and texture part is best done in chronological order ending with the mesh / texture you want (start with large M/T mods and overwrite with the smaller M/T mods for more specific items as you build your mod list).

 

Now we want to update a mod in the middle of our nice and neat chronologically installed mod list. Well to keep and overwrite everything how we figured it out before means we have to remember or keep some record of how we did it before and that may mean the reinstallation of several mods to get the overwrite sequence correct.

 

More complication: mods are dynamic with some authors continuing their support (kudos to them) and others having dropped out years ago but leaving still some very good mods behind. The patches that bridge all of these versions of different mods is going to get screwed up. For an intermediate mod ‘user’ like myself it starts to get problematic depending on patches being available for every combination of even the most popular mods. So I think we really need to ask ourselves _do we really want to update_? We need to read the description page, the change logs, the forums, and take a look at the file types to make an informed decision. At a certain point I may have learn how to make my own patches.

 

And then Bethesda just had to make SSE which divided the efforts of the modding community.

 

Updating is not isolated to the single affected mod. Just take a look at something like AOS2 and see how many patches are involved. My eyeballs go in all sorts of directions trying to keep track of what intertwines with what sometimes. Just installing mods (not making mods) becomes a full time hobby independent of the game itself.

 

I wrote this long semi-rant in the hopes of getting feedback that I understand things for the most part.