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FAQ

Short answers to the questions that come up most. Each links to the deep-dive page that backs the claim, so you can verify anything that matters to you. For the conservative, test-coupled accounting of what is Done vs Partial, see the MO2 parity & capability audit.

What is modde, and who is it for?

modde is a cross-platform game mod manager written in Rust, running natively on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It deploys mods through a virtual-filesystem symlink farm, resolves conflicts, manages Bethesda plugin order, installs FOMOD and Wabbajack lists, talks to Nexus, and keeps git-backed save vaults — with both a CLI and a GUI.

It is for players who want a real Mod Organizer 2 / Vortex workflow on their own OS, scriptable from the command line, with git-backed save history. If you use Nix, you also get an optional declarative, reproducible path via the home-manager module.

How is it different from Mod Organizer 2 / Vortex?

modde is not a clone. It runs natively on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and ships things MO2/Vortex never had: git-backed save vaults with history, declarative FOMOD, native Wabbajack on Linux, and — for Nix users — declarative home-manager profiles. MO2 is still ahead on a few fronts (the rich mod-information dialog, a fully interactive download queue, a complete merged-VFS browser). The full, intentionally conservative side-by-side — including what is Done, Partial, and not yet shipped — lives in the MO2 parity & capability audit.

Do I need NixOS to run modde?

No. modde runs natively on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Install it through your platform’s native package manager (AUR, COPR, apt, Flatpak, Homebrew, winget, Scoop, Chocolatey), a direct download, or cargo install modde-cli. If you use Nix, modde is also a flake — a reproducible install that, through the home-manager module, additionally lets you declare your mod profiles as code. That is one option among many, not a requirement. See Installation for every channel and its commands.

Does it run on Windows or macOS?

Yes — both are first-class native targets. Every release ships native builds for Linux (x86_64 / aarch64), macOS (x86_64 / aarch64), and Windows (x86_64), each with the modde CLI and the modde-ui desktop app. Install them via Homebrew, winget, Scoop, or Chocolatey, or grab a direct download. Two platform-native steps to know: on macOS, clear the quarantine attribute once after extracting a tarball (xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine modde modde-ui); on Windows, the .exe artifacts are Authenticode-signed, so you can verify them with Get-AuthenticodeSignature. Full per-platform instructions are under the macOS and Windows sections of the install page.

Do I need Nexus Premium?

Only for automated CDN downloads. A free Nexus account and API key give you browse, search, update checks, metadata, endorsements, and nxm:// handling. Premium adds the ability to fetch files directly from the Nexus CDN without the manual browser step — which is what makes hands-off Wabbajack and Collection installs possible. Without Premium you can still install, you just confirm some downloads in the browser. See the Nexus integration guide.

Can I install Wabbajack lists on Linux without a Windows VM?

Yes. modde installs .wabbajack lists natively on Linux — no Windows VM, no Wine-hosted Wabbajack client. It parses the manifest, runs the directives, and deploys through the same VFS engine as everything else, using its own download backends (Nexus, GitHub, Direct, Google Drive, MEGA, MediaFire) for the archives. See the Wabbajack guide.

How do I move my saves and profiles to another machine?

modde has no cloud sync, but its on-disk layout is built for it. The reliable pattern is two parts:

  • Saves: each game’s save vault under saves/<game_id>/ is already a git repository — add a remote and push it, then clone or pull on the other machine. Your save snapshots and their mod fingerprints ride along.
  • Profiles: declare them in home-manager (programs.modde.profiles) and rebuild on the second machine, so the profile is reproduced from pinned inputs rather than copied. If you work imperatively, export profiles as TOML and modde import them.

Do not rsync modde.db or the large derivable caches. The full procedure, including what not to sync, is in Data, instances & backups.

What games are supported?

15 games ship with built-in support. Depth varies by title — some are Done end-to-end, others are Partial. The canonical per-game table, with IDs and links to each game’s guide, is on the Supported games page.

Is executable management supported now?

Yes — this is Done. You can save named launch targets (xEdit, BodySlide, Nemesis, the Creation Kit, LOOT, …) with arguments, a working directory, environment variables, and Wine DLL overrides, then run them with overwrite capture so anything the tool writes lands in a mod you control. It works from both the CLI (modde exec ... / modde tool add-executable ...) and a GUI Executables view. See Executables & external tools.

Can I add a game that is not built in?

Yes, with caveats — this is Partial. The generic-game path lets you register an arbitrary title with a small GameSpec TOML via modde game add. You get the engine-agnostic parts (VFS deployment, conflict detection, launcher integration, executable management), but not a bespoke filesystem scanner or save tracker. Treat it as “modde can deploy and launch mods for this game”, not “modde fully understands this game”. See Generic & user-defined games.

Where does modde store its data?

In a single data directory plus a small config file, following XDG on Linux — by default ~/.local/share/modde/ (database, mod store, profiles, downloads, stock snapshots, save vaults). You can relocate it wholesale with --data-dir / MODDE_DATA_DIR, or run several isolated named instances. The full on-disk layout is documented in Data, instances & backups.

Is there any telemetry?

Opt-in, and currently a no-op stub — nothing is sent. Telemetry is gated behind a non-default remote-telemetry build feature; default builds (including the Nix flake and cargo install modde-cli) do not include it at all. Even in a build that does, no data is collected or transmitted unless you explicitly configure a telemetry endpoint and token via environment variables. With no endpoint configured, the code path is inert. There is no analytics in a normal modde install.

See also