Wasteland Survival Guide

In this step, we will install and configure Mod Organizer 2, the best mod manager for any Bethesda game.

Installing Mod Organizer 2

1. Download Main File - Mod Organizer 2 using the Manual Download link and run the installer
• Even if you already have MO2 installed, run the installer again or the option to make a portable instance may be greyed out
2. Choose any unoccupied install location outside of any default Window folders and outside of the game's Root folder (e.g. C:/Modding/Mod Organizer 2/)
3. Although it doesn't technically have to be installed on the same drive as the game, it is still recommended to install on an SSD if possible
4. Click Next until the installer finishes

Initial Setup

1. Run ModOrganizer.exe
2. You will be prompted with a pop-up called Creating an instance, in which you should just select Next
3. On the next page, select Create a portable instance

4. On the next page, select TTW

5. On the next page, keep the Location file path default

If you have MO2 installed on a drive with little space, you can check the Show advanced options box and change the Downloads file path to a different drive with more space. This will not affect download/game performance, and the downloads can be deleted after the mods have been installed.

6. On the last page, select Finish
7. MO2 will launch and prompt you with a pop-up called Show tutorial?, in which you should select No
8. From the pop-up called Register?, select Yes
• This pop-up will not show up if you have already registered a different instance of MO2

If at any point you get a pop-up called INI file is read-only, select Remember my choice from the drop-down at the bottom then click Clear the read-only flag

Root Builder Setup

If you would like to learn how Root Builder works, read here. The following are just the basic steps for installation:

1. Download Root Builder - Main File using the Manual Download option
2. Click the button at the top of MO2 and select Open MO2 Plugins Folder
3. Place the rootbuilder folder from the extracted archive into the opened folder

4. Close MO2 then open it again and you should now see Root Builder in the menu at the top of MO2

Configuring Settings

1. If there is a plugin called FalloutNV_lang.esp in the right pane of Mod Organizer 2, navigate to the game's Data folder and delete it
• If you do not know what the game's Data folder is, read the Key Terminology section from the Initial Setup page

The translation plugin must be deleted because it directly edits 1000s of records to change the language, which will cause many incompatibilities with most mods.

2. Click the button at the top of MO2 to open the settings
3. In the General tab, enable Compact list and disable Show menubar when pressing Alt
4. In the Theme tab, you can select a different style from the drop-down menu at the top
• The Many: I use the dracula theme
• Audixas: I use vs15 Dark-Green for TTW
• VishVadeva50: I use 1809 Dark Mode
• karut: For Linux users, the Fusion theme works best
5. In the Plugins tab, select RootBuilder in the left pane, then set "autobuild" to false in the dropdown on the right

6. In the Nexus tab, select Connect to Nexus

• This option will not show up if you have already connected your Nexus account on a different MO2 instance
7. MO2 will open your browser and prompt you to authorize the connection
8. Once you authorize it, you can close out of your browser and of the MO2 settings
9. Allow MO2 to restart if it asks
10. Select the button at the top of MO2 to open the profiles menu
11. Select the Default profile and make sure both Use profile-specific Game INI Files and Automatic Archive Invalidation are checked at the bottom

Tweaking FalloutCustom.ini

In this step, we will configure the game's INI files to increase performance/stability. We will take advantage of JIP LN NVSE's FalloutCustom.ini feature to make our changes, which allows for INI changes to be made safely without editing the default INIs. Because of this, these changes will not take affect until you install JIP LN NVSE in the Utilities step. It is highly recommended to avoid changing any other INI settings not in the guide, and to avoid using INI "optimization" tools like BethINI. The changes these will make are placebo at best and dangerous at worst. You will realistically not need any other tweaks than the ones already in the guide.

1. Click the button at the top of MO2 and select INI Editor
2. Select the FalloutCustom.ini tab, which should be blank
• Make sure you are in the FalloutCustom.ini tab and NOT the Custom.ini tab
3. Paste in the following:
[Audio] bMultiThreadAudio=1 bUseAudioDebugInformation=0 iAudioCacheSize=8192 iMaxSizeForCachedSound=1024 [BackgroundLoad] bBackgroundCellLoads=1 bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=1 [Controls] fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0 fXenonVertLookSpeed=1200.0000 fXenonHorizLookSpeed=1500.0000 [Display] bFull Screen=1 [General] bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=1 bUseThreadedAI=1 iNumHWThreads=2 SCharGenQuest=001FFFF8 SIntroMovie= [Grass] fGrassStartFadeDistance=11200 [Loading] fMainMenuBkgdUpdateInterval=60.0000 [Menu] iConsoleFont=3 [SpeedTree] bForceFullLOD=1 [TerrainManager] fBlockLoadDistance=300000.0000 fBlockLoadDistanceLow=125000.0000

Mod Installation Advice

If you are completely unfamiliar with Mod Organizer 2, I recommended watching GamerPoet's video about mod installation in MO2. As it was made for Skyrim, it has some information that does not apply to New Vegas, such as the Steam Workshop part which you can just ignore. However, the rest of the information about downloading/installing mods from Nexus still applies.

When the guide says to install a mod, it will be formatted as follows: Main File - Example Mod 1.5. This is referring to the mod's category on Nexus, the file name, and the file version.



Unless instructed otherwise, simply download the listed file using the Mod Manager Download button and install it normally through MO2. If you do not know how to install mods through MO2, please watch the video linked above. Sometimes, a mod will not have a Mod Manager Download, or will be hosted on a site other than Nexus. If that is the case, do the following:

1. Click the Manual Download button (or whatever the download button is for the respective site)
2. Once the download has finished, click the button at the top of MO2 or use the CTRL + M shortcut.
3. From the new window, navigate to where the file was downloaded to and double-click it
4. Finish the install normally

When downloading multiple files from the same page, you will be prompted with a box in Mod Organizer 2 with the options Merge, Replace, and Rename. You should select the Rename option and rename the mod to its respective file name. This will make MO2 install them as separate files for easier management. If you are updating from an old version of a mod, you should select Replace. This will delete all the files from the old version of the mod and replace them,with the ones from the new version. This is the only time you should use the Replace option, otherwise always use Rename.

If at any point during mod installation you get a message called Extract BSA, select No