Now that you have Mad God’s Overhaul downloaded and installed, you can manage the installed list and launch the game via Mod Organizer 2 (MO2).
If you’ve created a shortcut, use that to launch MO2. If not, find ModOrganizer.exe in your MGO installation folder, and launch it from there.
MO2 takes a little while to start. Even the splash screen may not appear right away. Resist the temptation to launch it again. Just wait.
Quick Start
When MO2 has finished loading, you can launch the game with the Run button near the upper-right, with Launch MGO - Do Not Unlock selected in the nearby dropdown. You should always launch MGO this way. Don’t just run Skyrim VR from Steam. That will launch the vanilla (unmodded) game. To play MGO, you need to run it from MO2.
Skip to the game
Before jumping into Tamriel, you might want to take a quick look around MO2.
Mods & Plugins
Mod Organizer 2’s interface is basically split in two: mods on the left, plugins on the right.
The left pane is the mod list. In MGO, mods are collected in folders. You can expand each folder by clicking the arrow to the left of each one.
Within the folders are the actual mods. Most of them are packaged mods that you can download from Nexusmods or somewhere similar. Others are specific to MGO. If the box is checked, that mod is enabled. If it’s unchecked, the mod is disabled, and will not be included when you run the game.
Many, but not all, of the mods listed in the left pane have corresponding plugins on the right. We’ll get into what makes plugins special in a later section. MGO is pre-configured so that you never need to worry about it unless you want to start fiddling with the list yourself.
Before you play…
You don’t need to know everything there is to know about MO2 before playing for the first time. MGO is pre-configured with sensible default, but it’s worth taking a moment to do some initial configuration. Synergy Team has made it pretty straightforward.
Scroll down the mod list until you see a folder labeled START HERE - Expand for Setup . As the label suggests, there is where you should start.
If you open the START HERE folder, you’ll see subfolders labeled STEP 1, STEP 2, etc.
Startup Notes
STEP 1 doesn’t include any actual mods, but rather reminds you of some of MGO’s requirements along with some important notes for using MO2 and running the game.
- DO NOT Click Unlock - When you run the game, MO2’s interface will lock to keep you from accidentally messing with it while the game is running. The dialog box that opens will include an Unlock button. This entry in the list is to remind you not to click that button.
- DO NOT Use Auto Save or Quick Save - Auto Save and Quick Save are handy features in Skyrim (flat and VR alike), but the save files they produce are not as complete as those created by full saves, and some players have reported issues loading them. A bad save can result in hours of progress lost. For safety, use full saves. As we’ll discuss later, you can add a save shortcut to Spell Wheel VR to make this more convenient.
- DO NOT Use Loot Sort on Plugins - LOOT is a tool that automatically sorts plugins (the files listed on the right side of MO2) to be loaded in an order that’s better optimized than if you just added them without much thought. The plugins in Mad God’s Overhaul have already been carefully sorted by hand. You shouldn’t mess with that order.
Open Composite (Unleashed)
STEP 2 includes two mods to choose from if you want to use Open Composite. Choose one or the other—not both—or disable both mods in this section to use the Steam VR runtime.
If you have a headset designed specifically for Steam VR—e.g. Valve Index, Bigscreen Beyond, HTC Vive Pro, Varjo VR-3—you don’t need Open Composite.
If you have a headset that doesn’t use Steam base stations (aka lighthouse tracking)—e.g. Meta Quest series, PICO series, Vive XR Elite—then you may benefit from Open Composite. Read more about Open Composite and Open Composite Unleashed.
Controller Bindings
STEP 3 provides three alternate control schemes. Skyrim VR’s default controls are, frankly, kind of bad—especially with the mods included in Mad God’s Overhaul. MGO comes with three optional control schemes to choose from. Choose only one of these. If they’re all disabled (and you’re not using OC Unleashed), Skyrim VR’s default controls will apply.
OC Unleashed compatibility
Performance Options
STEP 4 includes a variety of performance-related presets.
There are Performance and Quality presets for Community Shaders and Grass Density. Switching to the Quality presets will have a fairly significant impact to your outdoor framerate. Whether that’s worth it is up to you, but you’ll need a pretty serious PC to maintain a comfortable framerate if you set both to Quality.
MGO includes presets for VR Performance Toolkit and VR FPS Stabilizer. These can help you reach a nice balance between performance and image quality.
Open Composite compatibility
Optional Mods
MGO includes a number of optional mods in several categories. They’re all tested and known to work with the list, but you’ll need to enable them yourself.
AI and Speech
This section includes mods for incorporating AI NPCs into the game, as well as the option to use your own voice in conversations (even without enabling the AI features).
Be sure to check out the Nexus article for setup instructions.
Dragonborn Speaks Naturally adds speech recognition to the game. In dialogue/ceonversation menus, you can speak your dialogue from the available options, rather than selecting it with your controller. (This is unrelated to the AI features described below.)
MGO includes several options for supplementing or replacing Jeremy Soule’s original music for Skyrim.
LORKHAN - Soundtrack Replacer by young scrolls contains around 3 hours of original music, completely replacing Jeremy Soule’s OST (with one late-game exception). The style is an intentional departure from Soule’s but is very high quality and lore-friendly.
Chapter II - Jeremy Soule Inspired Music by Dutch composer Scott Rozemeijer supplements Soule’s OST with around 3 hours of additional ambient music that attempts to match Soule’s style and instrumentation.
Unique Battle Music, curated by Clofas, adds 54 licensed tracks by various artists, replacing the eight Jeremy Soule compositions used in battles in the OST.