My thoughts and feedback on Vortex

[sevquis]

1. The interface is not an intuitive interface

2. The whole program runs incredibly slow

3. Random dependency issues pop up and given that for all Bethesda games people would be using LOOT, these messages are annoying.

4. While Nexus Mod Manager had some issues, it actually did what it was supposed to and I find myself struggling with Vortex not knowing if what I am doing will actually work.

 

So, going back to NMM until such time as Vortex becomes useful.

[DoctorKaizeld]

 

1. The interface is not an intuitive interface

eh needs tool tips and to be rearranged a little but I mostly agree it is annoyingly laid out

 

 

2. The whole program runs incredibly slow

runs rather fast on my end.

 

 

3. Random dependency issues pop up and given that for all Bethesda games people would be using LOOT, these messages are annoying.

I don't use LOOT as no one needs it. if you don't know a mods dependency that's on you, not the manager. the only issues I have here are interface related and a lack of tooltips explaining what things do/mean.

 

 

4. While Nexus Mod Manager had some issues, it actually did what it was supposed to and I find myself struggling with Vortex not knowing if what I am doing will actually work.

this all sounds like your getting frustrated with learning a new program more than the program having issues. not a bad thing honestly... vortex is new and has bugs which will lead to easy frustrations.

[sopmac45]

 

 

1. The interface is not an intuitive interface

eh needs tool tips and to be rearranged a little but I mostly agree it is annoyingly laid out

 

 

2. The whole program runs incredibly slow

runs rather fast on my end.

 

 

3. Random dependency issues pop up and given that for all Bethesda games people would be using LOOT, these messages are annoying.

I don't use LOOT as no one needs it. if you don't know a mods dependency that's on you, not the manager. the only issues I have here are interface related and a lack of tooltips explaining what things do/mean.

 

 

4. While Nexus Mod Manager had some issues, it actually did what it was supposed to and I find myself struggling with Vortex not knowing if what I am doing will actually work.

this all sounds like your getting frustrated with learning a new program more than the program having issues. not a bad thing honestly... vortex is new and has bugs which will lead to easy frustrations.

 

 

 

- Except for a couple of times, Vortex runs fast in my PC.

- I also do not use LOOT ... I did in the beginning and I was also letting Vortex auto-sort my PLUGINS and that was a big mistake. After too many questions and answers from even Tannin, I started to trust Vortex more than before and now I am not using LOOT. You do not need it. Set your rules in the MOD tab and let Vortex to automatically sort your PLUGINS ... and trust it .... or turn off auto-sort and use LOOT .. BUT forget about how the plugin order looks in Vortex and do not compare that order with LOOT, otherwise, you will get crazy and frustrated. My recommendation is to forget about LOOT. For this, you have to divorce from it and marry Vortex auto-sort. It does require some auto-therapy on your side tough ... lol ...

- ... that is why I mentioned to "divorce" from NMM and other previous mod managers if you want to use Vortex because it is completely different. I made the mistake to compare it against NMM and it took me more time to accept Vortex .. try not to make my mistake and you will avoid frustrations. I do recommend to read all posts in My Load Order thread located in this forum ( 54 entries I do believe and it is marked as HOT ). There you will find a lot of information from even Tannin provided to myself and you will be able to understand Vortex much better.

 

Here is the link to that thread :

 

Simple manual load ordering plz

 

... hope that help you !

[Grestorn]

It seems that the OT confuses conflicts caused by overwritten files, i.e. the mod's load order, which LOOT doesn't fix (and which, in NMM, can only be changed by reinstalling all afftected mods in a different order) with the plugin's load order, which is managed by LOOT.

 

And for the latter, LOOT is no longer required, since it's already integrated in Vortex.

 

As for the other points:

 

The UI has still some areas where it could be improved. Still, it's already MUCH better than NMM, there's no doubt about that. The challenge is to combine ease of use with functionality - especially in a complex area like modding. That's always a compromise.

 

The speed is an issue, I agree. Even on my 8 core CPU (5960x) the app lags horribly if it's actively busy doing something - on the other hand, NMM would just block the whole UI in those cases. Still, the parallel operation is something that should be improved - or disabled. As it is right now, you get the impression of extreme sluggishness, just because one is clicking multiple operations in short succession before Vortex could even handle the first one.

 

Vortex is, in many areas, so much better than NMM, and I really can't understand why so many people are sticking to NMM so much. It was the same with MO. I could understand that someone prefers MO, since it's just much more mature and powerful at this time. But not NMM.

[SkunkMonkey]

Speed is an issue because this is alpha software and hasn't been optimized. This is something usually done in the latter stages of development. Get it working first, then make it go fast. A fast bug is still a bug.

[kamikatze13]

Speed is an issue because this is alpha software and hasn't been optimized. This is something usually done in the latter stages of development. Get it working first, then make it go fast. A fast bug is still a bug.

 

while i agree about the development stage, i'd wager this security-dumpster-fire of web develolment would still have a disadvantage to a native desktop application.

 

Addendum: i have currently ~60 mods installed. It lags while scrolling. I had tried to import my >600 LE load order from MO: Vortex basically commited suicide.

Edited May 14, 2018 by kamikatze13

[Tannin42]

I'm not sure what a security issue has to do with performance, just a few things

a) Next version of Vortex will use electron 2.0

b) This issue shouldn't affect Vortex because it doesn't interpret any html from foreign sources unless you click on the drop-zone on the download page and put in the url of a website

c) Any software and framework has bugs and security issues, I'm not at all convinced that electron faces more security problems (https://www.cvedetails.com/product/44696/Electronjs-Electron.html?vendor_id=17824) than, say, the .net framework (https://www.cvedetails.com/product/2002/Microsoft-.net-Framework.html?vendor_id=26) used in NMM or python (https://www.cvedetails.com/product/18230/Python-Python.html?vendor_id=10210) used in wrye bash but they do get fixed much faster.

If you actually care about security, is it really the most acute concern what some webpage could maybe do if it somehow got run inside vortex? You're installing fomods that contain arbitrary c# code that gets run during mod installation. Have you ever concerned yourself with how secure that is?

d) As SkunkMonkey said: This is an alpha, performance optimisation isn't at the top of the priority list yet.

[kamikatze13]

Just wanted to throw the news in, since it's platform-related, just as performance is. Glad to hear performance is at least on the priority list, though.

 

I have to say though that dealing with security concerns previously only related to web applications on desktop is .. well, unsettling to say the least. While I respect your choice of platform - you surely have your reasons - I find it ... let's call it "unfortunate".

Edited May 14, 2018 by kamikatze13