Profiles

A profile is a list of mods for one game: which mods, which versions, and in what order they load. Every game starts with one profile, called default.

You can make more. A common reason is to keep a “vanilla plus” setup next to a heavily modded one, or a co-op setup that matches your friends’ mods next to your solo game, and swap between them without reinstalling anything.

The active profile

The game folder can only hold one set of mods at a time, so one profile per game is active: it’s the one actually in the game. The others are saved lists, ready to switch to.

Switching takes the old profile’s mods out of the game and puts the new profile’s mods in. Mods that both profiles use stay where they are, and nothing is downloaded again if lmm already has it.

In the browser

  • The profile picker at the top of the page chooses which profile you’re looking at. That alone doesn’t change your game.
  • Switch and deploy… next to it makes that profile the active one. As with everything else, lmm shows you what will change before it does it.
  • The Profiles window, opened from the picker, is where you create, rename, duplicate, delete, export and import profiles.

In the terminal 

lmm profile list
lmm profile create coop
lmm profile switch coop

lmm profile list shows every profile for the game and which one is active. Commands like lmm install and lmm list work on the active profile unless you say otherwise.

Duplicating a profile

To start a new profile from one you already have, duplicate it. The copy has the same mods in the same load order, at the same versions, with the same locks, the same disabled mods, and the same settings (link method, hooks and config overrides). It is not made the active profile: its mods count as installed straight away, and they go into the game when you switch to it.

lmm profile duplicate coop coop-test

In the browser, use Duplicate in the Profiles window.

Copying a mod to another profile

A mod you already have in one profile can be copied into another without installing it again. Nothing is downloaded: lmm already has the files. The copy keeps the same version, and the lock if the mod is locked.

lmm mod copy 12345 --to coop
lmm mod copy --all --to coop

--all copies every mod of the profile you’re in. Add --dry-run to see what would happen first. If the other profile already has the mod, lmm stops and tells you; add --replace to overwrite it. Steam Workshop items are never copied: every profile already has them.

If the other profile is the active one, the mod goes into the game right away, linked the way that profile links its mods. Otherwise it’s only added to the profile, and goes into the game when you switch to it.

In the browser, choose Copy to profile… from a mod’s menu in the library, or on the mod’s panel, and pick the profile to copy it to. If that profile already has the mod, the confirm button reads Replace.

Sharing a profile

Exporting a profile saves it as a small text file. Send it to a friend, or keep it as a backup, and importing it on another computer downloads and installs the same mods at the same versions.

lmm profile export coop > coop.yaml
lmm profile import coop.yaml

In the browser, Export and Import are in the Profiles window.

To make sure a friend gets exactly the version you have, lock the mod first (see Locking a mod). Locks are saved in the exported file.

A Steam Workshop collection can be imported as a profile too, by pasting its link into the Profiles window, or with lmm profile import --workshop-collection <link>.

“Your profile and the game don’t match”

A profile is the list of what should be installed. If the two drift apart, for example after you edit a profile file by hand, lmm’s main screen shows a Profile card with two ways to fix it:

  • Apply profile… changes the game to match the profile, installing, removing, upgrading or downgrading mods as needed.
  • Sync… does the opposite and updates the profile to match what’s installed.

The terminal versions are lmm profile apply and lmm profile sync.