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Deployment Config

When you actually want to use your merged mods, they will need to be deployed. This is the most critical step to actually using mods when you play the game.

Note that you have the option to deploy automatically or not. If you do not deploy automatically, you can make whatever changes to your load order, and even apply them, but still not export the final merged mod to its destination until you’re ready. This is most useful for console players, who, for example, might want to manage mods on the PC at any time but wait until they’re ready to insert their SD card before deploying the final pack. For emulator users, it is generally more useful to use automatic deployment.

Deployment Locations

Where should you deploy your mods and what layout should you use? It depends mostly on where you play your game.

Cemu

Cemu users will generally want to deploy their mods as a graphic pack. In that case, the best idea is to set your deployment location to Cemu’s graphicPacks folder and turn on the With Name option for Deploy Layout. So, for example, the full path might be something like: C:\Cemu\graphicPacks\. For that example, and with the With Name option, UKMM will actually deploy to C:\Cemu\graphicPacks\BreathOfTheWild_UKMM.

Additional note for Cemu users: You almost certainly want the “Deploy rules.txt” option selected for Cemu integration.

Wii U

Wii U users have a few options, but the most widely used and supported method to load mods is via SDCafiine for the Wii U Plugin System. In that case, you would generally want your mods to end up on your SD card under something like /sdcafiine/<title ID>/ukmm. To achieve that, you could set the folder directly and choose the Without Name option for Deploy Layout.

You could also set the deployment location to /sdcafiine/<title ID> and choose the With Name option, and UKMM will add the final folder on its own.

If you use UKMM while your SD card is not in, however, you might want to set a temporary directory for deploying mods, or you can merge without the SD card but wait and deploy when the SD card is mounted.

Switch

With the Switch, you generally want your mods to end up on your SD card under /atmosphere/contents, and you will always want to use Without Name for the Deploy Layout. If you use UKMM while your SD card is not in, however, you might want to set a temporary directory for deploying mods, or you can merge without the SD card but wait and deploy when the SD card is mounted.

Yuzu or Ryujinx

Yuzu and Ryujinx both allow you to install mods in two different locations, one specific to their own files and the other for emulating Atmosphere’s LayeredFS setup on SD card. You may use either arrangement, but you must choose the correct Deploy Layout, or the emulator will not read the merged mod correctly.

So, for example, if you want to use Yuzu with the Atmosphere implementation, then the Yuzu user storage folder is C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\yuzu on Windows or ~/.local/share/yuzu on Linux. In this case, you want your deployment folder at [USER-FOLDER]/sdmc/atmosphere/contents and you want your Deploy Layout set to Without Name.

If you want to use Yuzu’s specific mod loader implementation, then that will read from [YUZU-DIRECTORY]/load, so you will set that as your deployment location and set your Deploy Layout to With Name.

Deployment Methods

UKMM offers three methods to deploy mods. Which one is best depends heavily on your system, so I recommend taking careful note of these options and how they work.

Copy

The simplest option. It just copies everything from UKMM’s internal merging folder into the deployment folder.

Advantages

  • Easy
  • Pretty much always works

Disadvantages

  • Can be very slow
  • Wastes disk space

Best for: SD cards

A safe option to save space when everything is on the same volume/partition. It creates a hard link of every file from UKMM’s internal merging folder into the deployment folder, which uses no additional disk space. Both copies are literally the same file.

“Two” hard linked files are just one file with two paths

Advantages

  • Pretty fast
  • No wasted disk space

Disadvantages

  • Only works if everything is on the same volume/partition
  • Slower than symlinks

Best for: Windows systems where everything is on one volume

Turns the deployment folder into a mere link to the UKMM’s internal merged folder. This means deployment isn’t even needed; all changes to your load order are automatically present wherever you have your mods deployed.

Unfortunately, this is also the weirdest option on Windows. (On Linux it should pretty much Just Work™.) Windows is weird about symbolic links. Because of this, UKMM will first attempt to use a “directory junction,” a dumb alternative to a symbolic link which only works on internal drives. Removeable drives and networked drives are not supported. If that fails, it will try to use a regular directory symbolic link. These have fewer restrictions, but usually (for some dumb reason) require administrator permissions to create.1

So, in sum:

Advantages

  • Instant, transparent deployment
  • No wasted disk space

Disadvantages

  • Windows support is complicated
  • No chance to change your mind before deploying mods after applying load order changes

Best for: Linux systems, or advanced users on Windows

Deployment Layouts

Without Name

UKMM will not add any folders called BreathOfTheWild_UKMM without you telling it. On WiiU, this means that content files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/content and dlc files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/aoc. On Switch, this means that content files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/01007EF00011E000/romfs and dlc files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/01007EF00011F001/romfs.

This is useful for if you’re following an old setup tutorial that tells you to put a specific folder for your mod manager in the output path, if you’re on a Switch console, or if you’re on a Switch emulator and using the atmosphere mod directory for it.

This is how BCML and previous beta builds of UKMM always handled deployment. If you are upgrading from BCML or an old build of UKMM and your paths already work for you, then you can leave this as your deployment layout and it will just work.

With Name

UKMM will add folders called BreathOfTheWild_UKMM to the appropriate places when deploying. On WiiU, this means that content files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/BreathOfTheWild_UKMM/content and dlc fils will be deployed to [Output Folder]/BreathOfTheWild_UKMM/aoc. On Switch, this means that content files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/01007EF00011E000/BreathOfTheWild_UKMM/romfs and dlc files will be deployed to [Output Folder]/01007EF00011F001/BreathOfTheWild_UKMM/romfs.

This is useful if you just want to point UKMM at your Cemu graphic pack folder or WiiU SD Card and call it a day, or if you’re using a Switch emulator and deploying to the regular mods directory so that you can activate/deactivate mods in the in-emulator menu.

  1. Starting back in Windows 10, build 14972, it has been possible to create symbolic links on Windows without administrator permissions, but it’s not automatic. Check the Windows blog announcement for more information. ↩