For some reason I cant get it to work. Whenever I replace the file, my categories go all messed up. Thankfully, deleting the mod restores categories to what it was before, even without a backup.
To anyone that might be concerned if this 'messes' with MO too much the answer is: absolutely not.
This mod, and the others for the other games, is a customised version of categories.dat that anyone can change using the MO UI. @jeclxohko has simply done all the hard work for you and for that should be thanked. (Thanks)
The categories used by MO are hard-coded and don't always match the games, customising them is the best alternative. If you don't like the changes, simply removing the file will revert MO to the default state and nothing 'bad' will happen. The *.meta files that accompany each of your installed mods may/will have the incorrect category attached to them but that is after all the whole point isn't it!
can MO also load mods from steam? If not it woul be nice if we could get it to also load mods donwloaded through steam. Just to add a lot more variety to what can be used as not everything that is on steam is uploaded here and vice versa. And picking between the much more diverse steam as opposed to the more specialized Nexus mods isn't much of an option.
Ok..I'm trying to follow this interesting conversation....BUT
What would happen if I was to go ahead and rename my current categories.dat to categories.old and install this new categories.dat file? Would M.O read the new categories.dat and correctly show all my currently installed Nexus mod categories correctly? Any potential collateral damage I should be aware of?
Mod does what it is supposed to great, this is about Explaining it to people.
Renaming would work fine but if it's a default MO version you dont need to bother as the categories.dat is now only used for customised Categories. I've just tried with both MO v1.2.8 and MO v1.3.4 Beta and both work fine without a categories.dat giving you the Normal MO cats anyway.
having renamed my Custon version to categories.dat.old
and back all my custom categories are restored
Be aware though that restores only Category names, if you Change what Category the MO ID points to as this mod does and reassigm your Mods in MO you will not recover the old mod Assignments, to do that you would also have to .old all the mod Meta.ini's, whuch is as much work as manual reassignment, unless you change categories often, which isnt likely.
But if you have a custom Cat list renaming or Archiving to save for reverting later is fine.
Wording it another way, assigning custom cats to the mods isn't Automatic, you have to reassign each mod manually though you can do multiple mods to the same cats at once.
One difference between MO cats and Nexus is MO has the ability to assign Multiple cats to each mod with one being designated primary.
EG Faalskaar could have cats Quests as Primary plus New Lands, Locations, Cities
You can also assign these Nexus cats like that but the Nexus doesn't.
Actually MO should adjust just fine to your categories.Dat files. Telling people to mess with the profiles Text files is a mistake and is not a good idea as they can (which means some will) completely lose the profiles settings.
How categories are assigned is by using the mods Meta.ini file. Mod Folder not Downloads meta.ini that means.
The category ID is the number(s) recorded in the meta.ini and though MO will change the name to whatever Category Name the ID matches when changing from MO's Categories to the Nexus ones they are unlikely to be the correct Category.
So the only way to set the correct category for each Mod is in the Mods Window, though you can select multiple mods and assign the same category to them all.
Nothing wrong with the actual listing, you've used the logical method of assigning ID's Alphabetically and recording the Nexus Category Number in the assigned place. Which is likely what most would want, the other main alternate of Matching MO ID to Nexus ID is the less likely choice.
I did expect Fallout and Oblivion variants from your description but I guess they are coming soon, as separate downloads.
So mod fine, description needs changing though before you get trashed profile posts.
[Edit] having reread yor description I now See you were talking about the MO Mod list which is confusing, so ignore my profiles TXT comment.
To change the Categogies.dat file in this way, rather than in MO manually, then MO should not be running at all.
Starting MO after the change is all that's needed if you replace the categories.dat file.
You appear not to thinking about the type of change this is, compared to how you created the file in the first place, so I was thinking you were talking about file changes in Windows Explorer rather than inside MO changes.
Generally you need to work on the descrition and unless somethings changed I''m not aware of (I use my own cuom categories), only if the mod Archive has a meta.ini file included will MO automatically set the Category, mostly that meta.ini will match MO's default Categories.
"The category ID is the number(s) recorded in the meta.ini and though MO will change the name to whatever Category Name the ID matches when changing from MO's Categories to the Nexus ones they are unlikely to be the correct Category."
^--> they will be in the same proper category that matches the packages you download from the nexus in the "downloads pane"
Just to correct you; the metadata from each mod installed in the virtual mod directory does not contain the category ID tracker in the individual .ini files, (these are for the latest versions of MO the beta one and stable ver as of the time of writing) what they contain are the rudimentary "ID"s = aka ordering of the categories from ascending to descending order.
Yes, best use would be for default/non-configured category profiles. (Detrimental harm to their profiles in using this? No.) Oblivion and Fallout specific category set ones are indeed a bit more viable use. Agree with you on description, going to highlight some text in my "Notes" section.
The way someone would want their categories sorted? Well that's subjective, this one is just based/referenced off the Nexus sites and are of the proper category ID calls that they will be recognized by MO.
Well I've not made a good job of that post, but suspected you might be/have read it so kept my mistakes visible.
First MO ID in Meta.ini not Nexus ID is what we both said so that's not an issue and it always has been that way.
The Last point I added was posted after your reply was added, it's tagged onto the last paragraph. I'll rephrase it
Has MO found some way to get the Nexus ID without author including a Meta.ini in the Archive. I wouldn't see it, as my cats are personal and match neither of them.
If not then reinstalling the Mod list woudn't actually change much and the easiest way to set the Category for an existing mod, if you don't know what it is; Click Visit on Nexus and Change Manually to the shown Category.
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Thankfully, deleting the mod restores categories to what it was before, even without a backup.
absolutely not.
This mod, and the others for the other games, is a customised version of categories.dat that anyone can change using the MO UI.
@jeclxohko has simply done all the hard work for you and for that should be thanked. (Thanks)
The categories used by MO are hard-coded and don't always match the games, customising them is the best alternative.
If you don't like the changes, simply removing the file will revert MO to the default state and nothing 'bad' will happen. The *.meta files that accompany each of your installed mods may/will have the incorrect category attached to them but that is after all the whole point isn't it!
What would happen if I was to go ahead and rename my current categories.dat to categories.old and install this new categories.dat file? Would M.O read the new categories.dat and correctly show all my currently installed Nexus mod categories correctly?
Any potential collateral damage I should be aware of?
Renaming would work fine but if it's a default MO version you dont need to bother as the categories.dat is now only used for customised Categories.
I've just tried with both MO v1.2.8 and MO v1.3.4 Beta and both work fine without a categories.dat giving you the Normal MO cats anyway.
having renamed my Custon version to
categories.dat.old
and back all my custom categories are restored
Be aware though that restores only Category names, if you Change what Category the MO ID points to as this mod does and reassigm your Mods in MO you will not recover the old mod Assignments, to do that you would also have to .old all the mod Meta.ini's, whuch is as much work as manual reassignment, unless you change categories often, which isnt likely.
But if you have a custom Cat list renaming or Archiving to save for reverting later is fine.
Wording it another way, assigning custom cats to the mods isn't Automatic, you have to reassign each mod manually though you can do multiple mods to the same cats at once.
One difference between MO cats and Nexus is MO has the ability to assign Multiple cats to each mod with one being designated primary.
EG Faalskaar could have cats
Quests as Primary plus New Lands, Locations, Cities
You can also assign these Nexus cats like that but the Nexus doesn't.
How categories are assigned is by using the mods Meta.ini file.
Mod Folder not Downloads meta.ini that means.
The category ID is the number(s) recorded in the meta.ini and though MO will change the name to whatever Category Name the ID matches when changing from MO's Categories to the Nexus ones they are unlikely to be the correct Category.
So the only way to set the correct category for each Mod is in the Mods Window, though you can select multiple mods and assign the same category to them all.
Nothing wrong with the actual listing, you've used the logical method of assigning ID's Alphabetically and recording the Nexus Category Number in the assigned place. Which is likely what most would want, the other main alternate of Matching MO ID to Nexus ID is the less likely choice.
I did expect Fallout and Oblivion variants from your description but I guess they are coming soon, as separate downloads.
So mod fine, description needs changing though before you get trashed profile posts.
[Edit] having reread yor description I now See you were talking about the MO Mod list which is confusing, so ignore my profiles TXT comment.
To change the Categogies.dat file in this way, rather than in MO manually, then MO should not be running at all.
Starting MO after the change is all that's needed if you replace the categories.dat file.
You appear not to thinking about the type of change this is, compared to how you created the file in the first place, so I was thinking you were talking about file changes in Windows Explorer rather than inside MO changes.
Generally you need to work on the descrition and unless somethings changed I''m not aware of (I use my own cuom categories), only if the mod Archive has a meta.ini file included will MO automatically set the Category, mostly that meta.ini will match MO's default Categories.
^--> they will be in the same proper category that matches the packages you download from the nexus in the "downloads pane"
Just to correct you; the metadata from each mod installed in the virtual mod directory does not contain the category ID tracker in the individual .ini files, (these are for the latest versions of MO the beta one and stable ver as of the time of writing) what they contain are the rudimentary "ID"s = aka ordering of the categories from ascending to descending order.
Yes, best use would be for default/non-configured category profiles. (Detrimental harm to their profiles in using this? No.) Oblivion and Fallout specific category set ones are indeed a bit more viable use. Agree with you on description, going to highlight some text in my "Notes" section.
The way someone would want their categories sorted? Well that's subjective, this one is just based/referenced off the Nexus sites and are of the proper category ID calls that they will be recognized by MO.
First MO ID in Meta.ini not Nexus ID is what we both said so that's not an issue and it always has been that way.
The Last point I added was posted after your reply was added, it's tagged onto the last paragraph. I'll rephrase it
Has MO found some way to get the Nexus ID without author including a Meta.ini in the Archive.
I wouldn't see it, as my cats are personal and match neither of them.
If not then reinstalling the Mod list woudn't actually change much and the easiest way to set the Category for an existing mod, if you don't know what it is;
Click Visit on Nexus and Change Manually to the shown Category.