Deadfire mod load priority

[SirGrimbold]

Hi.  Just trying to get some info on this before I start my playthrough.  I have about 75-80 total mods loaded up from Nexus.  Tried my best to organize things between gameplay, classes, abilities and item mods.

Aside from using mods that obviously change the same things and would therefore conflict, is there any type of guideline for how to set up the priority from top to bottom?  Or a list of specific mods (or types of mods) that need to be first, or last, etc?

Thanks.

[Chaospread]

80 mods? I think there is NO way they work without issues, whatever order you'll use 
It is up to mod developer assure the mod works with other mod, but it is valid for major mods and not always... with that huge number of mods you can only pray...

[SirGrimbold]

2 hours ago, Chaospread said:

80 mods? I think there is NO way they work without issues, whatever order you'll use 
It is up to mod developer assure the mod works with other mod, but it is valid for major mods and not always... with that huge number of mods you can only pray...

Well, I realize that's a large number.  There are over 600 mods over on Nexus, many of them really interesting.  And from my experience with using mods (which goes back a good amount...  I remember a 100+ modlist for Skyrim), as far as the different systems working in the engine, I think if you try to focus on only adding smaller mods that adjust minor and dissimilar aspects of a game's engine (while having a somewhat logical understanding how the engine works), you are usually OK.  At least that's what I'm trying to do.

There are many mods, but not many "Overhaul" types that change multiple aspects at once.  Think Witcher 3 combat overhaul mods.  I'm not using anything like that.

But regardless, and yes I will likely end up having to troubleshoot issues with that many..  I expect that...  but I'm just having trouble finding any resource online that breaks down what (if any) types of mods need to be given priorities over others in the in game load list, aside from the handful of mods that do specify it in their descriptions.

[Chaospread]

Oh, ok, I don't have many experience with mod since BG1 times (yes, about 1999 ) and I back in the mod "mood" just with PoE2  

I don't know how Skyrim or other game mods work, but I have taken a glance and tried some nexus and steam mods and I can say that it is all about the developer of the mod. You can find mod which really change a little bit of the game (i.e. one or two weapons or equip) and put only a little file for the mod with quite no "dispruption" for other mods, and the SAME mod can be done changing a big unique whole file which will conflicts with every other mod that touch weapons or equip.
So, I doubt you can find any guide or whatever about mod loading and priority because it should mean that a people before you have tried all the mods you wanna install and say "this one can be loaded first, this one after the first, this one instead is not compatible with mod A, B and C"... and so on for 80 or 90 or 100 mods... it is because of that I said "there's no way"... maybe someone did it and I don't know, but the best chances are: 

1. "major" (you can read "most popular/most used") mod can be loaded with each other and, in the case, in the guide there are list of compatibilities and load priorities;
2. mods from the same developer are compatible (at least, I hope!) and in the case he/she provides list, guide, priority etc...;
3. little mods can work with major, maybe dev have tested them, maybe it used to work a day but then there was a change in a major mod and dev of the "minor" mod didn't fix issues ... in few words: you can make any assumption until you don't install that mod with others 

Let us know if you find something, but for the reasons I'm saying I think you have little chances...

[SirGrimbold]

Yea, I think I'm in for quite a bit of trial and error with this.  Which as I said, is fine and I'm looking forward to because when it's 'your' game and your installation, it kind of forces you test things and understand the ins and outs, which gives you more insight on the way these game engines compile things and how the mods interact.  

Thanks for replying.

[SirGrimbold]

Just to move a conversation back to my own thread as I scan my modlist for conflicts...

As I group like mods together, I understand the either/or dynamic for mods that point to a specific gamefile.  You load the one you want last.  Most of these are obvious.  But if 2 mods are using the same 'conversationbundle' file, do they automatically fall into that either/or category?  Or is that file type a different kind of modding tool used to access scripting language so more than 1 mod can make changes?

[Kvellen]

Probably better if I reply in this thread, rather than the Any way to make companion idle poses available for player character.

On 7/25/2025 at 9:05 PM, SirGrimbold said:

Hey, Kvellen just noticed your post.  Sorry to intrude, just have a quick question.

I'm planning to use quite a few of your mods in my first PoE2 playthrough.  Haven't started yet.  Was wondering if there's any general rules or guidelines I need to be aware of in regards to the load priority in order to avoid conflicts and/or errors.  I started a thread on this forum, only because I couldn't find one on google.  Any reply would be greatly appreciated

Of my mods Deadfire Collected Fixes is probably the mod that's most likely to conflict, since it makes a lot of changes to .conversationbundle files that don't support partial edits. If you have any question about compatibility with specific mods let me know!

(Everything contained in this spoiler tag was written before I saw your recent posts so you are probably already aware of what I was trying to explain in it.)

Spoiler

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking, but in terms general theory of mod load order as I understand it.

The lower a mod is in the order, the later it will load. Which is to say in cases where 2 or more mods change the same property, the one lowest down will be the one that applies its change. Additionally if you have a mod that relies on another mod, place the mod it relies on before it in the load order.

Otherwise as long as mods don't touch on the same thing they can be anywhere in the load order. Maybe it's best practice to structure the load order so that bigger mods load before smaller mods? I might have read that somewhere... I don't remember where, whether it was related to performance, or even about Deadfire.
Either way, I am pretty terrible at sticking to that myself, and tend to just throw mods in where ever in the list haha!

If you need to rearrange mods and the in game mod manager is a little unwieldy with how long mod list has got, you can also use the "modconfig.json" file that is generated when loading the game to rearrange the load order of mods.
For windows this is located under:

%userprofile%\appdata\locallow\Obsidian Entertainment\Pillars of Eternity II\modconfig.json

It'll look something like this:

{
  "Entries": [
    {
      "FolderName": "Silent Corporate Logos",
      "IsLoadedFromSteamUGC": false,
      "Enabled": true,
      "AbsolutePath": "G:/GoG Games/Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/override/Silent Corporate Logos"
    },
    {
      "FolderName": "PoE2-EnhancedUserInterface",
      "IsLoadedFromSteamUGC": false,
      "Enabled": true,
      "AbsolutePath": "G:/GoG Games/Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire/PillarsOfEternityII_Data/override/PoE2-EnhancedUserInterface"
    }
  ]
}

Each entry is contained between a set of {curly braces}, and moving it up and down is as simple as cut & paste. Make sure you have a comma after closing curly brace} of each entry, with the exception of the last entry.

5 hours ago, SirGrimbold said:

As I group like mods together, I understand the either/or dynamic for mods that point to a specific gamefile.  You load the one you want last.  Most of these are obvious.  But if 2 mods are using the same 'conversationbundle' file, do they automatically fall into that either/or category?  Or is that file type a different kind of modding tool used to access scripting language so more than 1 mod can make changes?

So the majority of Deadfire mods on nexus are mods that change gamedata. The file format used for gamedata (.gamedatabundle) support partial edits.
What this means is if a modder wants to change specific things, like say making a Combat only ability available outside of combat, they only need to include the lines relevant to the change in a .gamedatabundle in their mod folder. When the game loads it will override just the changes made by this file, and for anything unmodded load the default values.
So as long as the gamedata mods aren't changing the same lines, and the modders have followed best practices and aren't including unnecessarily lines of default values, gamedata mods are less likely to conflict.

However this is not the case with mods that make changes to things like conversations as the files responsible (.conversationbundle) don't support partial edits. So even when making a very minor edit, like say adding a script to give the player money, the modder must include all unmodified contents of the file as well. Otherwise their changes won't function.
This means there will always be an override conflict if multiple mods make changes to the same .conversationbundle file, and whichever one is lower in load order will be the one that wins out.

Edited 51 minutes ago by Kvellen