Is Vortex like MO2?

[folgore62]

I never used MO2, but I read that mods loaded through MO2 never actually altered game files but that they manipulated things virtually. Apologies if my description sounds odd, but hopefully people know what I mean. Theoretically, therefore, it would never be necessary to do a clean reinstall. Does Vortex do the same thing? Or do game files actually get overwritten?

 

Currently, I'm using Vortex to mod Skyrim SE following a mod list. Somewhere along the way, I screwed up and now multiple NPCs have Dark Face bug. If I were on NMM, I might be inclined to do a clean reinstall. Hopefully not necessary with Vortex....

[sopmac45]

No it is not. I've never used MO as well but it is not. Read everything here :

 

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/6827222-vortex-criticism/

 

…. you will find information about the difference between MO and Vortex ( and NMM ) ….

[folgore62]

No it is not. I've never used MO as well but it is not. Read everything here :

 

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/6827222-vortex-criticism/

 

…. you will find information about the difference between MO and Vortex ( and NMM ) ….

 

Thanks! How close is Vortex to being complete; beyond testing?

[Grestorn]

It's fully operational and the remaining bugs don't really affect it's basic functionality. I've been using it for month and I'm doing a lot of heavy modding.

 

And, even though it doesn't use a virtual file system like MO, it still can restore the game installation to a clean state with a single button click ("Purge Mods") and even return it to it's fully modded state with another click ("Deploy Mods"). So this is not a real disadvantage over MO.

 

MO still offers much more functionality but it's also much harder to use.

[Rattledagger]

 

And, even though it doesn't use a virtual file system like MO, it still can restore the game installation to a clean state with a single button click

No, Vortex can't currently do this, since if you uses tools like example FNIS that adds new files (and not just replacement for old files) you can be stuck with the dreaded T-pose.

 

Even if you re-run FNIS after switching profiles you can still be stuck with T-pose in case you're not using all the mods the animations is based on. It's the same if you uses purge except in this case you can't even run FNIS.

 

MO's /overwrite/-folder does have the advantage here, but granted even with MO unless you've remembered to create a new mod from the contents of /overwrite/ you can still get T-pose in MO after switching profiles and re-running FNIS.

[folgore62]

It's fully operational and the remaining bugs don't really affect it's basic functionality. I've been using it for month and I'm doing a lot of heavy modding.

 

And, even though it doesn't use a virtual file system like MO, it still can restore the game installation to a clean state with a single button click ("Purge Mods") and even return it to it's fully modded state with another click ("Deploy Mods"). So this is not a real disadvantage over MO.

 

MO still offers much more functionality but it's also much harder to use.

 

I saw your comments in the conversation posted above. Where would I find "deploy" or "purge" commands? I desperately need to review Vortex tutorials. So far, I know only of the four done by Gopher.

[rmm200]

 

It's fully operational and the remaining bugs don't really affect it's basic functionality. I've been using it for month and I'm doing a lot of heavy modding.

 

And, even though it doesn't use a virtual file system like MO, it still can restore the game installation to a clean state with a single button click ("Purge Mods") and even return it to it's fully modded state with another click ("Deploy Mods"). So this is not a real disadvantage over MO.

 

MO still offers much more functionality but it's also much harder to use.

 

I saw your comments in the conversation posted above. Where would I find "deploy" or "purge" commands? I desperately need to review Vortex tutorials. So far, I know only of the four done by Gopher.

 

 

Open Vortex, go to the Mods tab. "Purge" and "Deploy" are two of the big operation buttons at the top on that page.

[rmm200]

 

 

And, even though it doesn't use a virtual file system like MO, it still can restore the game installation to a clean state with a single button click

No, Vortex can't currently do this, since if you uses tools like example FNIS that adds new files (and not just replacement for old files) you can be stuck with the dreaded T-pose.

 

Even if you re-run FNIS after switching profiles you can still be stuck with T-pose in case you're not using all the mods the animations is based on. It's the same if you uses purge except in this case you can't even run FNIS.

 

MO's /overwrite/-folder does have the advantage here, but granted even with MO unless you've remembered to create a new mod from the contents of /overwrite/ you can still get T-pose in MO after switching profiles and re-running FNIS.

 

 

I would like some clarification on this. What you say does not match my observations of FNIS behavior. Any run of FNIS is based completely on the animations it can see, which are those hard linked at the time of the run. Run FNIS through Vortex of course, and have a FNIS mod... At the completion of a FNIS run and click Deploy, or when you change profiles, Vortex will detect the new / changed files and write them back to the FNIS mod. My expectation (not verified) is that all HKX files added by FNIS are gone after a purge.

[Rattledagger]

At least in my experience with 32-bit Skyrim is, by running FNIS and afterwards deploying 14 files under FNIS has been replaced and is detected by Vortex.

 

All the other files that has never been installed by Vortex is on the other hand not detected and Vortex don't know, and don't care, about these files. Since Vortex don't know about these files, Vortex does nothing if you purge these files and this means these files is permanently added to Skyrim's data-directory (unless you manually delete them).

 

An easy test:

 

Profile 1, FNIS + mod with new wolf-animation.

 

Profile 2, no FNIS.

 

Run FNIS on profile 1, deploy, Vortex detects 14 files and these are replaced. Switch to profile 2, walk past Riverwood and I meet a wolf that shows he's aggressive, but otherwise he appears as a stuffed animal where I can easily count how many teeth he's got. Meaning, I've got the classical T-pose.

 

If I purge, I've still got 38 hkx-files under meshes.

[HadToRegister]

I judge a mod manager by how many mod pages have someone asking how to get a mod to work with the mod manager.

Right now you can pretty much pick a random mod page in the SKyrim, or Fallout series, and there will be someone asking how to get it to work with MO2.