[ Q & A ] Using FNIS with Mod Organizer

[GrantSP]

This topic is specifically for FNIS related issues when using Mod Organizer.

 

--

EDIT: 17^th April 2016.

Due to @fore's "issues" with MO he has pulled all support and directed it here.

 

Let it be stated that the "issues" he notes are due to user error and there is no inherent issue with FNIS running in MO.

 

Further his claim that FNIS WILL NOT run through MO on Windows 10 machines is just wrong! DO NOT follow the advice he offers regarding using FNIS and MO.

--

 

Setting up FNIS to run through MO

 

Install it like any other mod through MO and make sure it is active (checkmarked) in the left pane mod list.

 

Since you must launch FNIS through Mod Organizer in order for it to recognize your mods, add FNIS to the list of executables by doing the following:

1. Click the gears icon .
2. In the Title field, type FNIS.
3. For the Binary field, browse to your FNIS installation (should be located in <ModOrganizer>/mods/Fores New Idles in Skyrim - FNIS/tools/GenerateFNIS_for_Users) and select the GenerateFNISforUsers.exe application.
4. Click the Add button. This will add FNIS to your executables list.
5. Click OK.

Now each time you want to run FNIS, simply select it from the drop-down menu at top right and click Run.

 

Running through MO

1. Launch FNIS through MO
2. In the Available Patches at the bottom of the window, check the boxes for all necessary patches in your setup.
3. Click the [update FNIS Behavior] button and wait for a message to appear in the window stating "X animations for Y mods successfully included.".
4. Click [Exit].

After closing FNIS, there will be files in Overwrite (essentially a fake mod located at the bottom of the left pane if sorted by priority ascending) created by FNIS. Right-click Overwrite and select Create Mod, name it FNIS Output and click OK. This will create a new mod listing in the left pane for the FNIS generated files. You will then need to check it to enable it. Each subsequent time you update FNIS behavior, you must open Overwrite and drag the new files back to this mod.

 

Common Errors

Error 53 or 2012

"Could not find file <path to file>\1hm_behavior.hkx

 

Ensure the animation sets you have installed are correctly placed in priority in the left-hand pane and FNIS is using the one you want. Open the Data tab in the right-hand pane and examine the filetree to see which animation is being used in the VFS.

Navigate the filetree by expanding: data>meshes>actors>character>behaviors> and see which mod is providing the file.

If the file name is displayed in red, the mouse tooltip will show which other mods are also providing this file. Move the correct mod to the correct location.

 

Additional cause for Error 2012

 

A user(@patchling) had Spybot - Search & Destroy+AV 2.5 installed and was constantly getting JIT and 2012 errors, specifically the 0_master.xml was not found. The file was placed in the FNIS temporary_log folder ready for processing but before that could happen it was removed by said program. Opening the start menu > settings > live protection > mode > uncheck "Scan programs before they start" apparently stops that behaviour.

 

*****

Error dialogue

GenerateFNISForUsers.exe - This application could not be started.

This application could not be started.

Do you want to view information about this issue?

 

Simply close the dialogue by pressing "No" and enable FNIS in the Left-hand pane. Correct FNIS installation and use explains this in the wiki.

 

Why does the 6.2 Add-on not look correct in MO?

What you need to remember here is MO is designed to handle 'mods' and what we are installing with FNIS, and its add-ons, are 'tools'.

This means MO is looking for the correct folder structure for a 'mod' as seen by the game. The archive for the 6.2 add-on has as its top folder: "tools" and this is correct for FNIS, not the game.

Simply 'set the data folder' so that the "tools" folder is now at the top of the tree and ignore the next dialogue that asks if you are sure.

[GrantSP]

You have installed your mods, and/or your game, into a folder that has elevated access rights on it, not a good idea. Either move your MO install to a place that is free of UAC interference or grant access rights via Windows to that executable.

MO is merely reporting that the file used by FNIS is asking for access to a folder that Windows says it shouldn't have access to.

[wr1]

Now, this is curious, folks.  Just hoping for a miracle, I guess, I decided to try and run FNIS through MO again today.  I did not change anything at all from my previous setup when I got the results in my last screen capture.

 

For some reason, this time, I got the unhandled exception error:

 

I did not get this error last time I tried to run FNIS.  So, this is an apparent inconsistent behavior or outcome.

 

Hopefully, this is a clue or is otherwise helpful.

 

Thanks so much for your help and for thinking about my problem.

Well, I figured I should maybe just check in.  Does anyone have any further ideas of things I could try? Thanks to everyone for all the support thus far.

[GrantSP]

Sorry, the best I can think of is the unhandled exception is because FNIS is looking for something that isn't there, so maybe sort all you animation mods so they come after the FNIS mod in the left-hand pane.

 

There seem a few different errors that all come back to FNIS not finding the correct files. MO's order of mods is the only thing different in setup compared to a 'normally' modded game.

[wr1]

Sorry, the best I can think of is the unhandled exception is because FNIS is looking for something that isn't there, so maybe sort all you animation mods so they come after the FNIS mod in the left-hand pane.

 

There seem a few different errors that all come back to FNIS not finding the correct files. MO's order of mods is the only thing different in setup compared to a 'normally' modded game.

Thanks for your thoughts, Grant.

 

Do you mean like this?

 

[GrantSP]

It's a bit hard to tell what is shown in that screenshot, but yes, all the mods in the left-hand pane need to sorted correctly so that the correct files are available for use.

Just looking at that screenshot, aside from the FNIS stuff at the top, all the other mods appear to be pretty much in alphabetical order that matches the priority order. I can't imagine that is how you have them when they are active, if so that needs to fixed.

 

Lastly the vanilla game assets need to listed at the top with the lowest priority order number. Otherwise the mods you load won't be overwriting them.

[twilight159]

Hi... My FNIS Won't Opened All Of Sudden... Even my Nexus Mod Manager.. It Was Working Fine Until My Last Attempt To Mod My Skyrim... Help Me..

[DoubleYou]

This is the thread for Mod Organizer with FNIS, not Nexus Mod Manager.

 

Hi... My FNIS Won't Opened All Of Sudden... Even my Nexus Mod Manager.. It Was Working Fine Until My Last Attempt To Mod My Skyrim... Help Me..

[wr1]

It's a bit hard to tell what is shown in that screenshot, but yes, all the mods in the left-hand pane need to sorted correctly so that the correct files are available for use.

Just looking at that screenshot, aside from the FNIS stuff at the top, all the other mods appear to be pretty much in alphabetical order that matches the priority order. I can't imagine that is how you have them when they are active, if so that needs to fixed.

 

Lastly the vanilla game assets need to listed at the top with the lowest priority order number. Otherwise the mods you load won't be overwriting them.

In the past, I used to just have the left pane stuff in a pretty much random order, and I would just use the MO LOOT function so that the right hand stuff would be in the correct order.  Before the windows 10 upgrade that seemed to work.

 

I can try and organize the stuff on the left hand side better.  Would I just need to put the vanilla stuff on top, FNIS right after that, and then just try to mimic the order given by LOOT on the right hand list for my mods on the left side?

[GrantSP]

You have to think about installing mods with MO in a much more structured way. Since mods that are 'installed' don't actually get used by the game until runtime, the order you set in the 'left-hand' pane is similar to the order mod authors suggest mods should be installed in. That way the correct files are used.

 

Remember mods consist of plugins: *.esp/esm files, (the 'right-hand' pane and sorted by LOOT) and assets: textures, sounds, meshes, animations, menus, scripts, etc. (the 'left-hand' pane which must be sorted by you). This is probably the biggest cause of issue you are facing since the actual files you want aren't the ones used.

[DoubleYou]

Please watch this video by Gopher for a good discussion on managing your priorities in Mod Organizer:

 

The wiki has a short discussion about priorities here:

https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Mod_Organizer#Priorities

[n0mad23]

Hi Gang,

 

I'm trying to update my FNIS 5.2 to 5.5 (and fix) with MO but am having a tough time finding any guides about how to do this.  I thought it probably was a straight forward "replace" and then run FNIS to update, however FNIS hangs after giving me an error about not finding something in line 10 of a text file.  I didn't write it down but will try to redo the update later today and be sure to get the details if I don't find the solution in the meantime.

 

It should be a pretty straight forward update, yes?

 

EDIT: Somehow I'd overlooked the section on FNIS Nexus where updating with MO is posted.  I (face palm) hadn't considered the executable I was calling was the old one so the solution is clear.  I'll have it fixed momentarily!  Cheers.

Edited August 29, 2015 by n0mad23

[n0mad23]

Well I'm baffled.

 

According to the Nexus FNIS description, after setting the archive's data directory correctly,  "A dialog should appear if you already have a previous version asking to 'Merge, Replace, Rename or Cancel'. Select 'Rename' and rename it to something specific."

 

This doesn't happen for me.  Instead it installs as "FNIS Behavior V5.5 -ALWAYS necessary" so I have both V5.5 and V5.2 available.  I tried unchecking V5.2 and reconfiguring my executables so FNIS would be using the V5.5 executable instead of the V5.2, and then running FNIS to generate the active files.

 

This is what FNIS gives me:

"All Anim Lists scanned. Generating Behavior Files ...

ERROR(2008): Line 10: Bad Modifier (behavior element): templates\mt_behavior_TEMPLATE.txt"

 

FNIS then does nothing further.  No updates generated.

 

 

I'm guessing now that the problem is in "merging" V5.2 with 5.5.  Is this right?  How do I do this?  Do I simply drag the files from V5.5 and drop them into the folders of V5.2?

 

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT - Fore answered me on Nexus and all is well with me and V5.5.  I have no idea what I did to make it work other than uninstalling and reinstalling 3x's.  But all is well that ends well.

Edited August 29, 2015 by n0mad23

[GrantSP]

MO has some code that checks the name of the download against the Nexus Id and chooses an appropriate name for what you are installing. I guess it is possible that the first suggestion it offers isn't the correct one, but in that case you should be able to choose the one you want from the drop-down menu at the top of the install dialogue.

 

The thing to remember with FNIS is that it isn't strictly a mod, it is a tool, and for that reason installing it via MO requires a bit more understanding of what the end result will be compared to installing a mod with just a plugin (esp/esm).

 

In this case you saw 1st hand that having two executables in different places won't work. The 'fix' needed to replace the original.

It's all good learning though, so no hassle.

[tnu]

I'm getting an error whenever I try to update FNIS behavior via Mod Orginizer and I can't figure it out. I've tried running FNIS as admin but it didn't work

 

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The directory name is invalid
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
   at System.Diagnostics.Process.Start()
   at GenerateFNISforUsers.GenerateFNISUsers.Main()
   at GenerateFNISforUsers.GenerateFNISUsers.Button1_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1022 (RTMGDR.030319-1000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
GenerateFNISforUsers
    Assembly Version: 5.4.2.0
    Win32 Version: 5.4.2.0
    CodeBase: file:///C:/program%20files/steam/steamapps/common/Skyrim/data/tools/GenerateFNIS_for_Users/GenerateFNISforUsers.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
    Assembly Version: 10.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 10.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/v4.0_10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Core
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Core/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Core.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1002 built by: RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
    Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

 

 

any ideas?

 

[n0mad23]

@tnu - 

 

Obvious question - are you sure you have MO's "configure executables" FNIS binary is set to the directory where GenerateFNISforUsers.exe is located?

 

That first line "directory name is invalid" suggests something simple I'm guessing.