Load order for .omwaddon files?

[clocknova]

Just a quick question about load order. I've recently installed my first native OpenMW mod, Greywander's Natural Character Growth and Decay, and I was wondering where the .omwaddon file is supposed to go in the load order. I'm used to dealing with .esm and .esp files, which have to load in a particular order (.esm files before .esp files) but I don't know about .omwaddon files. To complicate things, the OpenMW launcher does not force users to keep .esm files at the top of the load order, so I have no way of knowing exactly where everything is supposed to go.

At the moment, I've got it loading just after the Morrowind Rebirth .esp files.

[Capostrophic]

omwaddon files are functionally the same as esp files. omwgame files are kind of functionally the same as esm files.

So drop omwaddons wherever you want as long as they're loaded later than the files they depend on.

[kuyondo]

You can arrange your mods through the launcher. Esm files should always be on top in most cases, with few exceptions like tamriel rebuilt. And then .esp files should come after. Treat .omwaddon files like .esp files. They are quite the same.

[Chris]

omwaddon files are functionally the same as esp files. omwgame files are kind of functionally the same as esm files.

Not quite. omwgame files are essentially esm files that have no dependencies (it's the "root" of the game data). omwaddon files are the same as esps and depend on the game its an addon for.

Functionally, most esm files from mods for vanilla are just esps made to get loaded early (before the other "real" esps). I don't believe vanilla treats esms any differently except that they always load before esps. OpenMW makes on no such distinction, and omwaddons, esps, and dependent esms can load in any order (maybe the launcher auto-sorts esms before esps to be consistent with vanilla, but the engine itself doesn't care). The only requirements are that an omwgame or non-dependent esm must load first, and all subsequent addons must have their dependencies satisfied.

As for the mod in question, I'd recommend looking at other similar mods to see where they go in the load order, and follow suit. OpenMW could certainly do with an updated version of mlox or LOOT or whatever mod sorter is used these days, something that understands OpenMW's separate directories and can include OpenMW-specific mods.

[clocknova]

OpenMW could certainly do with an updated version of mlox or LOOT or whatever mod sorter is used these days, something that understands OpenMW's separate directories and can include OpenMW-specific mods.

Amen to that. I'm really hoping that OpenMW gets a lot of that kind of functionality built into its launcher by the time 1.0 is released, or soon thereafter. A full-fledged mod manager, load order sorter, leveled list merger, etc. would be fantastic.

It's actually hard to find much direction on load order for Morrowind mods. It rarely gets mentioned on most mod pages, unlike mods for Oblivion and Skyrim. I'm having to make some serious educated guesses, and sometimes not so educated.

[AnyOldName3]

The difference between esp and esm files is only relevant to the construction set. That will only let you make esps and esms that are dependent on esms. However, if you use another tool to make something dependent on an esp, it'll just work as the engine handles them the same. The OpenMW CS doesn't have this restriction.