Referenced mod was not present on the load order being sorted against

[Noggog]

A Synthesis patcher fails, with a message somewhat like:
Referenced mod was not present on the load order being sorted against: [Mod name]. This mod was referenced by MajorRecord: [Some FormKey]

What does this mean?

[Noggog]

Problem

This means that your patcher either created or forwarded a record which points to a mod that does not exist.

For example, an Npc might have a sword equipped from a mod that you don't have installed.

The reason this blocks Synthesis from patching is that it needs to add that mod to the patch's masters. This isn't necessarily a problem on its own, except it looks to your load order to know how to order them. Since the mod in question isn't installed and not present on the load order, Synthesis cannot sort the masters, and fails to export a patch.

Fix

Generally, having a mod that is referenced by records in game, but isn't present on your load order is an issue that needs to be resolved by you.

Either:

• Install the missing mod
• Remove the mods that reference the missing mod from your game
• Sometimes verifying Steam files and/or running Skyrim once without Mo2 can help.
• It doesn't generally happen, but in theory a patcher might be the culprit that causes a record to point to a missing mod. Contact the developer of the patcher in question if this is the case.

You can help narrow down the problem by inspecting the error message. It shows the missing mod's name, as well as the record that pointed to it.

One other cause might be that Synthesis does not consider mods that come after itself. In this case, make sure your patcher output mod is after all other mods you want it to consider while patching.

Creation Club

Sometimes users report Creation Club mods having this error. Often, starting the game once (outside Mo2) helps initialize files in a way that gets them back on track