unclear how to run 2 profiles without ending up in a mess

[Statick]

as the title says. it's unclear how to run 2 MO2 profiles with different root mods, without the base folder ending up in chaos after switching between them

here's what I've got set up
Skyrim AE 1.6
MO2 / rootbuilder / default settings (copy, autobuild)

profile 1:
SKSE for 1.6 root mod
everything else disabled

profile 2:
downgrade to Skyrim v1.5 root mod (replaces main game exes and most of the contents of the data folder)
SKSE for 1.5 root mod
everything else disabled

profile 1 works as expected
switch to profile 2 and it works as expected

but then if I switch back to profile 1 I still have the v1.5 files in the base folder i.e still there from profile 2. so now I'm looking at profile 1 but with the profile 2 files in the folder. I thought running "clear" should return it all back to its original state? yet it doesn't seem to

at some point I've ended up on profile 2 with the 1.5 files already in the base folder, then the "downgrade 1.5" mod has losing conflicts because the original 1.6 files are now in the overwrite folder! if I were to try and launch the game I'd be launching 1.6 from my 1.5 profile and 1.5 from my 1.6 profile hahaha

it's a bit confusing. this was working well for me on a single profile with various root mods, but since trying to run 2 profiles with 2 sets of root mods it's turned to chaos (I'm trying to temporarily downgrade to 1.5 using the same, as far as possible, mod list, I could do this with a separate installation but that requires downloading and installing many mods a second time, which is boring). I know it's just because I don't know how to do this, but it's not clear what I'm doing wrong? nothing is obvious here

[Kezyma]

Are you doing manual builds? If so, that'd explain how it got confused. Either that or it crashed somewhere or the game updated while MO2 was open at some point.

1. Delete the backup and cache through the RB menu.
2. Delete the contents of MO2s overwrite folder.
3. Check the game folder is vanilla, restore it to vanilla if it isn't.

You can have multiple profiles with different root files, and as long as autobuild is enabled, it should clear up whenever apps run through MO2 close. Or you can manually clear before switching profiles.

[Statick]

I've def done some manual builds as sometimes you need the base folder to be setup when installing another mod with FOMOD, or when configuring skse launcher or some other tools, so that probably hasn't helped. e.g LOOT complains that things are missing if you haven't done a build. so if I always clear after doing that stuff it should be okay?

also I set up my profile2 by duplicating profile1 with the full mod list, could this have caused some problems?

[Statick]

hmm well I'm back to running 1 profile and I'm just enabling/disabling stuff as needed
it still turns to chaos

the problem is that if I change which root mods are enabled after a backup and cache have been created, then it ends up in a mess, and the only fix is to delete backup/cache/clear, reset the folder to vanilla on steam, and start again - first select which mods I want to use, and then do a build (creating backup and cache in the process). it then works fine as long as I don't touch anything, but if I change which root mods are enabled at any point then it instantly goes wrong and the only fix is to delete everything, reset the folder, and start again. it's on autobuild so in my mind I feel that when the game exits and a "clear" is done, it should be fine to enable or disable root mods, but this isn't the case. every time I try to change something, I will see some of my root files go straight into overwrite (so if I enable "1.5 downgrade" overwriting the base exes AFTER the backup/cache has been created, the original 1.6 exes will go into overwrite so the game remains in 1.6 until I clear overwrite), if I open the base folder I will see files from disabled root mods sitting there even though it should "clear" every time, it's just chaos, and the only fix is to delete backup and cache and reset the folder from steam, and then choose which root mods need to be used. and if they need to be changed again, then I must delete everything and start again, again

I'd love to know what exactly I'm doing wrong

[Statick]

it's been on autobuild, so it will "clear" every time the game exits. I do do manual builds sometimes though because otherwise LOOT complains. while the game has crashed many times (of course!), MO2 never has, and steam never has. I just deleted backup and cache and readied myself to reset the folder from steam. the base folder is full of stuff from root mods. how can this happen? surely every time it does a "clear" the base folder should return to vanilla status? I don't believe that has ever happened, not once. I can see files from both 1.5 and 1.6 versions of SKSE in there, both of which are in root mods so neither of these should be present after a clear, surely. unless I'm completely misunderstanding what the process is

[Statick]

confirmed, if I start from a vanilla folder, and do a build, all the files appear as expected and the output/logs show "build complete!"
if I then do a clear, nothing appears in the output, and the files do not change - the files put in the base folder by rootbuillder are still there

is this correct behaviour? is it because I did a manual build?
the problem seems to be that if I then change which mods are enabled or disabled, the files from the previous configuration remain in the folder because "clear" doesn't remove them, and if any of those leftover files are to be overwritten by the new configuration then they go into overwrite and so they end up overwriting the new files, so you end up with old and new files mixed up together