This is the directory structure of my NMM installation. You may notice that there is one Nexus Mod Manager folder in the root directory for drive E:\ and another in the Games folder. You may also notice that neither is in my main drive (C:\). My E:\ drive is a dedicated games container, with my Steam folder and most of my games. (All the games that require Steam in order to play are located here. There are others that are here for convenience.)
The NMM folder in the root directory is the actual NMM installation. Frankly, you can put this part of NMM anywhere on your storage except one of the program folders maintained by windows. It's not that NMM can't be made to run from a program folder, although it is ridiculously aggravating to keep it running from either of them. It's that it runs perfectly from anywhere else with almost none of the management problems imposed by windows if you put it in a program folder.
The other NMM folder in the games directory is produced and maintained by NMM without any substantive input from the user. This is the default location for this folder. It doesn't have to be there. It's just that you must take actions for it to work from another location. In any case, Moving these folders is beyond the scope of this illustration.
Don't worry about where your games are located. When you scan for installed games, NMM will find every instance of any game that it manages on your computer. It will create and manage it's secondary folder structure without input from the user. You should treat the contents of the secondary folder as read only. Don't edit them, even if you are a capable XML editor.
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The NMM folder in the root directory is the actual NMM installation. Frankly, you can put this part of NMM anywhere on your storage except one of the program folders maintained by windows. It's not that NMM can't be made to run from a program folder, although it is ridiculously aggravating to keep it running from either of them. It's that it runs perfectly from anywhere else with almost none of the management problems imposed by windows if you put it in a program folder.
The other NMM folder in the games directory is produced and maintained by NMM without any substantive input from the user. This is the default location for this folder. It doesn't have to be there. It's just that you must take actions for it to work from another location. In any case, Moving these folders is beyond the scope of this illustration.
Don't worry about where your games are located. When you scan for installed games, NMM will find every instance of any game that it manages on your computer. It will create and manage it's secondary folder structure without input from the user. You should treat the contents of the secondary folder as read only. Don't edit them, even if you are a capable XML editor.