Profiles

A profile is one set of mods. Switching profiles never touches the game folder's own Mods folder.

  • Create: New profile… (Profiles page or title-bar switcher), then Start from: Empty profile, Copy of <the open profile> (mods, their settings and what they wrote) or a template from Save as template… (Manage templates… renames or deletes them).
  • Nested groups: name a group with a slash, such as Looks/Hats, to put it inside Looks. With the list grouped by Group, each level has a header that collapses its contents, and the switch on a header enables or disables everything inside. Renaming or deleting a group does the same to the groups inside it.
  • Why each mod is there: a mod you add is Explicit; one added because another needs it is Implicit. Group the Mods list by Install reason, and right-click a mod to mark it either way.
  • Delete: a deleted profile waits in Recently deleted (Restore, Delete permanently). Play always starts the open profile.
  • Freeze: Freeze this profile holds its mods on their versions and offers no updates until Unfreeze.
  • A game that is not listed: the game list's Add a game… takes a name, the game's program and how it is modded (BepInEx 5, BepInEx 6, MelonLoader, Shimloader or a Mods folder). It stays on this computer and has no mod site, so add its mods from archives. A Shimloader game (an Unreal Engine game such as Voices of the Void, whose program is the one in Binaries/Win64) also names its Thunderstore community, where its mods come from. Remove in the same dialog forgets the game and leaves its folder and profiles on disk.
  • Profile folder: Open profile folder opens it in your file manager; Move profile folder… moves a profile to a folder of your choice, such as one on another drive, and back. On another drive its mods are copies instead of links into the shared store.
  • Share: Share profile, then Copy link (names the mods and their Nexus or GitHub files, with pins, groups and install reasons) or save a .mortar file (also carries settings and notes; suits large profiles). Share › Mod list can also write a Thunderstore dependency string list. For a Thunderstore game, Save .r2z… writes an r2modman or Gale profile file without posting a public code, and Export as Thunderstore modpack… opens a form for the pack's details; the next export suggests the next patch version and writes a changelog of what changed since the last. Mods from other sources are named in the README.
  • Separate saves: Edit profile, enable Keep this profile's saves separate and confirm. Leave Start with a copy of my current saves ticked to start from your saves, or untick it to start empty. On each Play Mortar swaps in the profile's own saves folder and restores the shared one when the game closes (or at the next start). Nothing is deleted. Only games with a save folder have it. In Cities: Skylines II only cities saved to Local are kept per profile; Steam Cloud and Xbox cloud cities are shared by every profile.

Import

Import… (Profiles page, a profile's menu and the first-run steps) opens one dialog with four sources. Each ends in a preview of what the profile holds; Mortar then installs or queues what is missing. The preview offers a new profile, or adds to or replaces the open one. Restore from a file… reads a Back up to a file… backup.

  • A link or code: a Mortar link, a Nexus collection, an r2modman code, a Gale sync code (the short form such as E5RG8F and the older 22-character form), or a Patreon or itch.io post (Mortar opens the page and offers the file you save from it).
  • A file: a .mortar file, an r2modman or Gale .r2z, a Thunderstore modpack zip or a local profile folder.
  • Local mods: mods the other manager added from disk (from a Gale profile on this computer, or a code or .r2z that carries their files) come along as Local mods, disabled if they were. The preview marks them before anything installs, because a code's files come from whoever made it.
  • The game's Mods folder: copies the mods the game reads into a new profile and leaves the folder as is. Tick Move them out of the game's Mods folder to take the originals out; left there, the game keeps loading them even when a profile disables them, and Mortar refills that folder on each Play. For The Sims 4 it is Mods in the Documents folder.
  • Another mod manager: lists profiles found for the game from r2modman, Gale, Vortex, Mod Organizer 2 and Stardrop, and can read every r2modman or Gale profile in a data folder you choose. Copied mods may have no page to update from: group the Mods list by Source and choose Find sources, or right-click a mod › Set Nexus Mods page…. Mods with an unknown file still update, but a share leaves them out.

Multiplayer

  • Multiplayer mod list (Stardew Valley, Thunderstore games such as Lethal Company, REPO, PEAK, Content Warning and Valheim, and Vintage Story): profile menu › Multiplayer mod list… copies the host's enabled mods with versions and sources. A friend pastes it under The host's list and chooses Check: missing mods show Install, other versions Update (to the host's version, even when yours is newer), and Fix all queues every one; a mod with no download source is named to install by hand. On Stardew, Check also reads Share › Mod list text and Load the host's list from a file…; those carry no ids, so mods match by name and may come out newer than the host's. Many mods refuse a player on another version, so match before joining.
  • Dedicated servers (Valheim and Risk of Rain 2): each server is its own game in Game select, with profiles of its own. Edit profile › Server sets its name, port and password, and Use mods from… queues a client profile's mods for install, so the server and the clients share one list. Valheim refuses to start without a password of five or more characters.