Advanced Usage¶

For the advanced users and everyone who knows their way around a FOMOD installer. In this section you’ll find descriptions of the tags and nodes themselves - what they are, how to use them and examples when needed.

There are no restrictions when using the Advanced View, we trust that you know what you’re doing. This is recommended for people who already know how to create/modify XML installers and are interested in speeding up their work or for users who want more customization options than the Basic View offers.

Advanced View¶

The Advanced View can be divided in 4 parts: Node Tree, Previews, Property Editor and Children Box. All of these, with the exception of the Previews, can be moved around by the user.

The Node Tree, by default situated on the left, contains all the nodes in the installer’s two trees: the Info and the Config tree. You can right-click the tree to see all the actions available - some of these, like Delete, are not available for the root nodes. You can also traverse the tree with the arrow keys and use the Enter key or left-click to select the node, this will update the Property Editor and the Children Box (and the Previews in case that is enabled).

The Previews, situated on the center, has two tabs: GUI Preview and XML Preview. The GUI Preview has a Mod Organizer-like interface that simulates the current Install Step - you can choose the options and the bottom half reflects the flags that would be set and/or the files that would be installed. The XML Preview has a preview of the XML code that that node and its children would output.

The Property Editor, by default situated on the top right, contains all the editable properties for the currently selected node. You can find more information for each node’s properties in the FOMOD Bible.

The Children Box, by default situated on the bottom right, contains all the available children to add to the currently selected node. Click on a child button here to add the corresponding node.

Learn you a FOMOD For Great Good¶

This section contains the FOMOD Bible - a description of all the tags/nodes with examples. This is not meant to be read from top to bottom but rather as a dictionary or a glossary - search for the tag/node you need more info on with the search box on the left sidebar.

Tag vs Node¶

A Tag is any item within an xml document. Within the FOMOD schema (the document that defines the rules for installer documents) all the allowed tags for FOMOD are defined. A tag has the format <tag/> or <tag>text goes here<tag/> if it contains text.

Similarly, any item in the FOMOD Designer‘s Node Tree is a Node. Every node has a direct correspondence to a xml tag. These two terms are use interchangeably in the FOMOD Bible.

Attribute vs Property¶

An Attribute is a way to customize a tag. These are also defined in the FOMOD schema and have the format: <tag attribute="value"/>.

A Property is the attribute equivalent for nodes. They can be edited via the Property Editor. In the Bible the properties are always followed by the corresponding attribute in square brackets (p.e. Name [name]).

Attention

While a tag’s text (p.e. <tag>text goes here<tag/>) is not an attribute, in a node it is bundled together with its properties for convenience. In order to distinguish text from other properties, it is marked with [...] as its attribute.

So for a node that can have text its properties will have the line: Text [...]

Tag Order¶

Some tags are enforced a specific order by the FOMOD schema. When applicable, the possible/required children listed in each node are ordered.

This enforced order is reflected in the node tree. The user is able to modify the order of repeatable nodes through drag and drop.

FOMOD Bible¶

Please take note this isn’t a fully comprehensive document (at least so far). If you want something more complete, feel free to look at the revised *FOMOD* schema.

Info¶

Tag

fomod

Description

The root node for the document containing all the information relative to the installer.

Children

Node	Repeatable
Name	No
Author	No
Description	No
ID	No
Categories Group	No
Version	No
Website	No

Properties

None

Name¶

Tag

Name

Description

The node that holds the mod’s name.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	The name of the mod.

Author¶

Tag

Author

Description

The node that holds the mod’s author(s).

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	The author(s) of the mod.

Description¶

Tag

Description

Description

The node that holds the mod’s description.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	The description of the mod.

ID¶

Tag

Id

Description

The node that holds the mod’s ID. The ID is the last part of the nexus’ link. Example:

Nexus mod link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/548961 -> ID’s text is 548961

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	The ID of the mod.

Categories Group¶

Tag

Groups

Description

This node’s purpose is solely to group the categories this mod belongs to together.

Children

Node	Repeatable
Category	Yes

Properties

None

Category¶

Tag

element

Description

The node that holds one of the mod’s category.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	A category this mod belongs to.

Version¶

Tag

Version

Description

The node that holds the mod’s version.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	This mod’s version.

Website¶

Tag

Website

Description

The node that holds the mod’s home website.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Text	[...]	The mod’s home website.

Config¶

Tag

config

Description

The main element containing the module configuration info.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Name	No
Image	No
Mod Dependencies	No	At least one of the following is required for the installer to have any effect: Mod Dependencies, Installation Steps, Mod Requirements, Conditional Installation
Installation Steps	No	At least one of the following is required for the installer to have any effect: Mod Dependencies, Installation Steps, Mod Requirements, Conditional Installation
Mod Requirements	No	At least one of the following is required for the installer to have any effect: Mod Dependencies, Installation Steps, Mod Requirements, Conditional Installation
Conditional Installation	No	At least one of the following is required for the installer to have any effect: Mod Dependencies, Installation Steps, Mod Requirements, Conditional Installation

Properties

Property Attribute Description

N/A

{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance}noNamespaceSchemaLocation

This attribute contains the namespace for this file.

This property is not editable.

The value should always be: "http://qconsulting.ca/fo3/ModConfig5.0.xsd"

Name¶

Tag

moduleName

Description

The name of the module. Used to describe the display properties of the module title.

Children

None

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Text [...] The name of the mod.

Position

position

The position of the mod’s name in the header.

Accepts the values: "Left", "Right" or "RightOfImage"

Colour

colour

The colour of the mod’s name in the header.

Accepts RGB hex values.

Image¶

Tag

moduleImage

Description

The module logo/banner.

[Ignored in Mod Organizer]

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Path	path	The path to the image file.
Show Image	showImage	Whether the image is visible. Accepts `true` or `false`
Show Fade	showFade	Whether the image’s opacity is fixed. Accepts `true` or `false`
Height	height	The maximum height of the image. Accepts any integer larger than `-1`

Mod Dependencies¶

Tag

moduleDependencies

Description

Items upon which the module depends. The installation process will only start after these conditions have been met.

While flag dependencies are allowed they should not be used since no flag will have been set at the time these conditions are checked.

Children

Node	Repeatable
File Dependency	Yes
Flag Dependency	Yes
Game Dependency	No
Dependencies	Yes

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Type

operator

The type of the dependency: And or Or

If the type is And, all conditions under this node must be met.

If the type is Or, only one condition must be met.

File Dependency¶

Tag

fileDependency

Description

Specifies that a mod must be in a specified state.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
File	file	The path to the file to be checked.
State	state	The supposed state of the file.

Flag Dependency¶

Tag

flagDependency

Description

Specifies that a condition flag must have a specific value.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Flag	flag	The flag where this condition falls upon.
Value	value	The value of the flag to be checked.

Game Dependency¶

Tag

gameDependency

Description

Specifies a minimum required version of the installed game.

[Ignored in Mod Organizer]

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Version	version	The minimum version of the game.

Installation Steps¶

Tag

installSteps

Description

The list of install steps that determine which files (or plugins) that may optionally be installed for this module.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Install Step	Yes	At least one of Install Step is required.

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Order

order

The order of the install steps beneath this node. "Explicit" follows document order while the others order alphabetically.

Accepts "Ascending", "Descending" or "Explicit"

Install Step¶

Tag

installStep

Description

A step in the install process containing groups of optional plugins.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Visibility	No
Option Group	No	At least one of Option Group is required.

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Name	name	The name of this install step.

Visibility¶

Tag

visible

Description

The pattern against which to match the conditional flags and installed files. If the pattern is matched, then the install step will be visible.

Children

Node	Repeatable
File Dependency	Yes
Flag Dependency	Yes
Game Dependency	No
Dependencies	Yes

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Type

operator

The type of the dependency: And or Or

If the type is And, all conditions under this node must be met.

If the type is Or, only one condition must be met.

Dependencies¶

Tag

dependencies

Description

A dependency that is made up of one or more dependencies.

Children

Node	Repeatable
File Dependency	Yes
Flag Dependency	Yes
Game Dependency	No
Dependencies	Yes

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Type

operator

The type of the dependency: And or Or

If the type is And, all conditions under this node must be met.

If the type is Or, only one condition must be met.

Option Group¶

Tag

optionalFileGroups

Description

The list of optional files (or plugins) that may optionally be installed for this module.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Group	Yes	At least one of Group is required.

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Order

order

The order of the install steps beneath this node. "Explicit" follows document order while the others order alphabetically.

Accepts "Ascending", "Descending" or "Explicit"

Group¶

Tag

group

Description

A group of plugins for the mod.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Plugins	No	At least one of Plugins is required.

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Name name The name of this group.

Type

type

The selection type for this group.

Accepts "SelectAny", "SelectAtMostOne", "SelectExactlyOne", "SelectAll" or "SelectAtLeastOne"

Plugins¶

Tag

plugins

Description

The list of plugins in the group.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Plugin	Yes	At least one of Plugin is required.

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Order

order

The order of the plugins beneath this node. "Explicit" follows document order while the others order alphabetically.

Accepts "Ascending", "Descending" or "Explicit"

Plugin¶

Tag

plugin

Description

A mod plugin belonging to a group.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Description	No	At least one of Description is required.
Image	No
Files	No
Flags	No
Type Descriptor	No	At least one of Type Descriptor is required.

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Name	name	The name of this plugin.

Description¶

Tag

description

Description

A description of the plugin.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Description	[...]	The plugin’s description.

Image¶

Tag

image

Description

The optional image associated with a plugin.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Path	path	The path to the image.

Files¶

Tag

files

Description

A list of files and folders to be installed.

Children

Node	Repeatable
File	Yes
Folder	Yes

Properties

None

File¶

Tag

file

Description

A file belonging to the plugin or module.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Source	source	The path to the file.
Destination	destination	The path from the game’s mod folder to the destination of this file.
Priority	priority	The priority of the file. Higher priority means the file will overwrite other files with lower priority.
Always Install	alwaysInstall	If `true`, this file will be always installed, regardless of the user’s choice. Accepts `true` or `false`
Install If Usable	installIfUsable	If `true`, this file will be installed unless the plugin’s type is `NotUsable`, regardless of the user’s choice. Accepts `true` or `false`

Folder¶

Tag

folder

Description

A folder belonging to the plugin or module.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Source	source	The path to the folder.
Destination	destination	The path from the game’s mod folder to the destination of this folder.
Priority	priority	The priority of the folder. Higher priority means the folder will overwrite other files with lower priority.
Always Install	alwaysInstall	If `true`, this folder will be always installed, regardless of the user’s choice. Accepts `true` or `false`
Install If Usable	installIfUsable	If `true`, this folder will be installed unless the plugin’s type is `NotUsable`, regardless of the user’s choice. Accepts `true` or `false`

Flags¶

Tag

conditionFlags

Description

The list of condition flags to set if the plugin is in the appropriate state.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Flag	Yes	At least one of Flag is required.

Properties

None

Flag¶

Tag

flag

Description

A condition flag to set if the plugin is selected.

Children

None

Properties

Property	Attribute	Description
Label	name	The flag’s identifying label.
Value	[...]	The flag’s new value.

Type Descriptor¶

Tag

typeDescriptor

Description

Describes the type of a plugin.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Dependency Type	No	Either Dependency Type or Type must be used.
Type	No	Either Dependency Type or Type must be used.

Properties

None

Dependency Type¶

Tag

dependencyType

Description

Used when the plugin type is dependent upon the state of other mods.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Patterns	No	At least one of Patterns is required.
Default Type	No	At least one of Default Type is required.

Properties

None

Patterns¶

Tag

patterns

Description

The list of dependency patterns against which to match the user’s installation. The first pattern that matches the user’s installation determines the type of the plugin.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Pattern	Yes	At least one of Pattern is required.

Properties

None

Pattern¶

Tag

pattern

Description

A specific pattern of mod files and condition flags against which to match the user’s installation.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Dependencies	No	At least one of Dependencies is required.
Type	No	At least one of Type is required.

Properties

None

Type¶

Tag

type

Description

The type of the plugin.

Children

None

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Type

name

Describes the plugin’s type.

Accepts Required, Recommended, Optional, CouldBeUsable or NotUsable

Default Type¶

Tag

defaultType

Description

The default type of the plugin used if none of the specified dependency states are satisfied.

Children

None

Properties

Property Attribute Description

Type

name

Describes the plugin’s type.

Accepts Required, Recommended, Optional, CouldBeUsable or NotUsable

Mod Requirements¶

Tag

requiredInstallFiles

Description

The list of files and folders that must be installed for this module.

Children

Node	Repeatable
File	Yes
Folder	Yes

Properties

None

Conditional Installation¶

Tag

conditionalFileInstalls

Description

The list of optional files that may optionally be installed for this module, based on condition flags.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Patterns	No	At least one of Patterns is required.

Properties

None

Patterns¶

Tag

patterns

Description

The list of patterns against which to match the conditional flags and installed files. All matching patterns will have their files installed.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Pattern	Yes	At least one of Pattern is required.

Properties

None

Pattern¶

Tag

pattern

Description

A specific pattern of mod files and condition flags against which to match the user’s installation.

Children

Node	Repeatable	Notes
Files	No	At least one of Files is required.
Dependencies	No	At least one of Dependencies is required.

Properties

None