Running Nemesis & FNIS Together (MO2)
This guide was made on June 30, 2024. I used MO2 in this guide, but it will work using other mod organizers with slight adjustments. I am running Skyrim AE 1.6.1170 with all DLCs and CC content enabled, with around 40,000 animations and 474 mods (181 esps).
Download FNIS/Nemesis and any related components you need and set them up to run in MO2, then create output folders for both Nemesis and FNIS; this is where your generated files will be stored once complete.
To do this, right click any empty space in your left pane and select "Create empty mod," name it "'Nemesis' or 'FNIS' Output", respectively - you're making two, you need both. Click the gear icon at the top of your screen. Select the plus icon, then "Add empty." Name it FNIS, then select the 3 dots next to the binary entry and navigate-to/select your FNIS Behavior executable (GenerateFNISForUsers.exe). Select the 3 dots next to the "Start in" entry and select the folder that executable is in. Tick the box that says "Create files in mod instead..." and select your FNIS Output mod. Repeat this process for Nemesis.
Enable everything and organize the files in your left pane as seen below. Plugin order is unimportant (for now).
1. Disable all Nemesis files in your left pane (engine, creatures, output, etc.).
2. Run FNIS through MO2.
3. Tick the appropriate boxes for your setup and select "Update FNIS Behavior." Close when complete.
4. Right click on your "FNIS Output" mod in your left pane, and select "Open in Explorer." Copy the meshes folder and paste it somewhere safe.
5. In MO2, enable all Nemesis files in your left pane (engine, creatures, output, etc.) and disable all FNIS plugins (right pane). For me, this is FNIS.esp and FNIS Spells.esp.
6. Right click on your "Nemesis Output" mod (inside MO2) and select "Open in Explorer," then navigate to Nemesis_Engine > cache and delete everything. If you've never run Nemesis before, there will be nothing there so disregard.
7. Run Nemesis through MO2.
8. Click "Ok" for both pop-ups, and before ticking any boxes hit "Update Engine." Once finished, tick the appropriate boxes for your setup and select "Launch Nemesis Behavior Engine." Nemesis usually crashes the first time I launch the engine, but runs fine after relaunching it. When it crashes just run Nemesis from MO2 again, then launch the engine again.
- If Nemesis continues to crash, you likely have too many animations:
Right click on your Nemesis engine inside MO2 (Project New Reign) and select "Open in Explorer." Then, navigate to Nemesis_Engine and open "nemesis.ini." Change the value of MaxAnimation to a value higher than your animation count; for me it's 40,000 (don't judge me). Save and exit. You then need to re-enable everything and restart from step 1 (yes I'm serious).
10. Enable your FNIS plugins (right pane) and sort with LOOT. Now all of your FNIS/Nemesis files and plugins should be enabled, and you're good to launch SKSE.
- Note: To clarify, Nemesis does not and should not have any plugins - I'm referring to FNIS.
I am not an expert in this area by any means, as you might be able to guess. This is a guide I made that works specifically for my setup because I couldn't find any guides online that actually worked. While this may not work for everyone, I hope it at least saves a few hours for the people it does help. Feel free to point out new techniques and I'll give them a try/update this guide if they prove to be more efficient.
If Nemesis continues to crash after raising the animation limit you may have problems with your load order, or incompatibilities between your mods. Like I said, I am not an expert and probably cannot help you; here's a link to the Nemesis Discord, somebody there can help you.
4 comments
”no valid game data found”
seriously these people making these apps need to get their s#*! together this is ridiculous
Edit:
No news on the update, it was easy to get FNIS to output to another directory but Nemesis has been a complete PITA, and I had to run the command line to finally get it's output redirected.
In short, the update is either going to take some time or it's not gonna happen due to this. I suggest switching to MO2 as it's better in every way but if you're reading this and insisting on staying with Vortex, I found this guide that might work for y'all that I have never tested. Let me know if it works and I will link it in the description.