I am lost with dealing with mods - Vortex vs MO2

[kcallis]

I have dabbled with playing Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim SE using Vortex. I play on my laptop that has a Nvidia 1060 card and for the most part, I have not had that many issues. I think I became somewhat ambitious with my mods and started having issues with some of the mods (for instance, in Fallout 4, Preston Garvey has a normal face, but his body is translucent after I changed out the minutemen uniforms) but the game was still playable.

 

Recently, I decided I was going to start of with Elder Scrolls III (Morrowind) because I thought since it would be nice to get immersed in the historical world, I would start from the beginning. I was looking at a thread that warned that the universe would explode if I tried to install mods through Vortex. I also started reading over threads (both here and other forums) that was the never-ending debate on Vortex vs MO2. It is bad enough that I tend to fall down the rabbit hole trying to make my environment as enjoyable as possible with the hardware that I have, but I don't want to get sucked into another pit on managing my mods.

 

I have watched many hours on trying to master Vortex on YouTube (but I will admit that I have also did time watching MO2 videos), but at some point I would like to put some mods in play and actually play the games. So the question of the day is: Considering the various games (Fallout Series and the Elder Scrolls series), should I get rid of all of my mods and start anew using Vortex (and hopefully not running dll issues, etc) or move to MO2 (since it seems to work with some of the older titles like Morrowind, etc)?

 

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[Deleted120957248User]

Vortex if you don't want headaches as a start and active support for a first experience.

 

It really takes time to understand each aspect of the Game and possibilities as well as knowing what you are looking for.

Preparing one Load Order and say ''Ok i am done'' never applies long term until you pretty much discovered the most important mods in regards to what you are looking for. This happens only by experiencing them and testing. In time you decide on the Essentials and Foundations for your Load Order.

 

There are micro tweaks you might do even to mods in the future or using Modding tools like DynDOLOD or merged patches etc. and Mod Organizer 2 allows the best control/ sorting and usage of executables. So once you are going more advanced and you get the hang of it, its both fast and highly versatile and you will never regret it.

 

Of course its a matter of taste too. I wont consider MO2 preferable if you wont go to the more advanced stuff and that might take a while till you have a full Image of what Mods are around and how they function. Then you will love MO2.

 

In regards to Morrowind no idea. I can't remember what i was using to Mod it. Was like 10 Years ago. I remember running the Morrowind Code Patch and something else. Could be Wrye Bash.

Edited October 23, 2021 by Guest

[kcallis]

Vortex if you don't want headaches as a start and active support for a first experience.

 

It really takes time to understand each aspect of the Game and possibilities as well as knowing what you are looking for.

Preparing one Load Order and say ''Ok i am done'' never applies long term until you pretty much discovered the most important mods in regards to what you are looking for. This happens only by experiencing them and testing. In time you decide on the Essentials and Foundations for your Load Order.

 

There are micro tweaks you might do even to mods in the future or using Modding tools like DynDOLOD or merged patches etc. and Mod Organizer 2 allows the best control/ sorting and usage of executables. So once you are going more advanced and you get the hang of it, its both fast and highly versatile and you will never regret it.

 

Of course its a matter of taste too. I wont consider MO2 preferable if you wont go to the more advanced stuff and that might take a while till you have a full Image of what Mods are around and how they function. Then you will love MO2.

 

In regards to Morrowind no idea. I can't remember what i was using to Mod it. Was like 10 Years ago. I remember running the Morrowind Code Patch and something else. Could be Wrye Bash.

Thanks for the rapid response. If I am reading this correctly, there is no need to really move away from Vortex. Again, when reading, it seemed like using MO2 was the only way to go with Morrowind. Later on today I will try my hand with adding a couple of mods to Morrowind and see how it play out!

[gnarly1]

Recently, I decided I was going to start of with Elder Scrolls III (Morrowind) because I thought since it would be nice to get immersed in the historical world, I would start from the beginning. I was looking at a thread that warned that the universe would explode if I tried to install mods through Vortex. I also started reading over threads (both here and other forums) that was the never-ending debate on Vortex vs MO2.

For Morrowind, I recommend using OpenMW which means you won't have to worry about installing the engine fixes, graphical extenders and most of the bug fixing mods. Most mods will work with OpenMW, just be sure to read up on how to install mods using OpenMW. It's not complicated.

 

There isn't a never-ending debate on Vortex vs MO2. Both are very good tools that do more or less the same job in different ways. Some people prefer MO2 but often it's because that's what they learned to use first. I found Vortex slightly easier to pick up and use without needing to do a tutorial first but you don't need to invest much time into learning how to use each to mod a game.

 

Resolving mod conflicts will require a bit more dedication, however, in particular how to resolve mod conflicts using each mod manager and also the other community-developed tools like xEdit, etc.

[Guest deleted34304850]

here's some things to consider

 

1. vortex is supported by nexusmods - they are fundamentally altering their mod delivery method, making use of collections. vortex will be front and centre of that

2. mod managers - there are many options. do NOT listen to manager x is better than manager y arguments - thats personal bias that may not be correct for you. choose a mod manager that YOU like that fits well with how you mod your games, and stick with it.

3. to aid in your choice of mod managers - look at the support quality. if the support quality results in problems being resolved in a timely manner thats good. if the support is either scattered across discord/twitch/twitter/websites/reddit whatever then thats going to be problematic. for my own decison making, i saw that vortex was actively supported here on nexusmods with links to github where i could track my own issues and those of others. this was a big tick in the box when it comes to troubleshooting problems.

4. vortex-related horror stories. there are many. they are posted by idiots. ignore them. or, come here, ask a question, get an honest answer. but mostly ignore them and ignore the idiots who post them. they are idiots. do not listen to the premise of idiots. You can read these forums and see where idiots have come in, blamed vortex for everything (because its never their fault) and the repllies they get, where the problems are dissected, and solutions provided and the end result is the idiot goes away (happy? who knows).

 

these are general thoughts rather than an advert as to why vortex is better. to finish, here's my advert - vortex is by any measurable quantity you care to mention - better than any other mod manager available for bethesda games currently.

i wait patiently for someone to prove that statement wrong.

[Zanderat]

Re: Vortex vs. Mo2. I have found Vortex to be easier to use for casual/new modders. Yet, it still has all the power and features of MO2 if needed.

[rmm200]

Point to note: Vortex and MO 2 were written by the same author - Tannin.

I like to think he learned from MO 2 and did not repeat those mistakes in Vortex.

[HadToRegister]

For Morrowind, because some of the mods were made before Mod Managers existed, many of them will not install properly because they were packaged with Manual Installation in Mind.

Personally I would stick with Morrowind instead of OpenMW, due to the fact that a plethora of MWSE mods have come out that are the equivalent of SKSE, NVSE mods for Skyrim, and New Vegas, and are able to do a whole lot more than just regular mods.

I would also suggest to use MLOX (Basically LOOT for Morrowind), and WryeMash (Mod manager for Morrowind), installation goes aa lot better, and WryeMash also has a feasture where you can specify where the root of the zip file is, which makes installation for Morrowind a breeze.