Vortex dont remove mods of the DATA folder

[chrislor2882]

Hi. I recently moved to Vortex. What I did was first install Vortex, then import everything from NMM, and then uninstall the NNM mods (maybe this was a mistake) and also uninstall NMM. Then I realized that I had to reinstall all the mods again in Vortex, but at least I did not have to download them again.

My problem is the following:

-When you remove a mod in Vortex, it is only removed from the Vortex folder, but it is still in the DATA folder of FO4, even the plugins are still activated in Vortex. How do you really remove a mod? (and yes, the changes are "deployed")

-Practicaly all the files in the DATA folder of FO4 are duplicated by Vortex (".vortex_backup" files) and I have no idea why or how to delete them (no, I do not intend to delete them one by one). Any help will be very grateful!

[Grestorn]

Vortex can only remove mods from the game which were installed using Vortex in the first place. It will not remove any mods put there by any other means, i.e. manually or using another mod manager.

 

So I recommend deactivating all mods in Vortex (you don#t have to uninstall them, removiong is enough to remove them from the game) and then restart with a clean game installation (in Bethesda games that would mean delete all subdirectories in Data, deleteing all .esp files and all .esm files which are not part of the base installation - i.e. Skyrim.esm and the DLCs. Then do a "file verification" in Steam to ensure that all files are correct and any file you might have deleted is also restored).

 

Then you can just enable the mods you like to have.

 

If you want to restore all plugins you were using in the a save game, you can also ask Vortex to restore the list of plugins from a saved game.

[chrislor2882]

Hey, thanks for the reply. Before reading it I ended up solving it "the old way": install everything again (game, vortex and mods), now it seems to work properly.

[citizen181]

So, first an apology if I am treading into a sensitive area, however, having read several posts concerning the ubiquitous vortex_backup files I am still none the wiser as to whether they, or the files they duplicate can be deleted/purged (perhaps the wrong term given it means something specific in Vortex) and thus save considerable amounts of precious storage on my SSD. I have had to re-install my Fallout 4 game and mods several times while migrating to the new SSD, including a PURGE, and while I now have the game working and "stable" (except for some body texture issues), on each iteration the storage requirements grow and I have files from goodness knows when still on drives taking up bytes (Giga) and in some cases still active.

 

So a simple space saving question, which files can be deleted/purged and what is the official recommended method or do I just have to live with double the storage overhead?

[Guest deleted34304850]

there isnt a double storage overhead. they are links to files - conceptually similar to a shortcut on your desktop.

let's say you have a file in your documents folder that is 4GB in size, and then you make a shortcut on your desktop to that file. Do you now have two files, exactly the same, consuming 8GB, or do you have a pointer to the 4GB file in my documents?

[citizen181]

@1ae0bfb8 Thank you for your timely reply. I do understand the concept of shortcuts and that they aren't, nor do they posses the properties of, the file to which they point, most importantly the file size. However, and I'm open to being enlightened, the vortex_backup files, do indeed posses all the properties of the files they mimic, including their size. Not doubting your explanation, well perhaps I was, that there wasn't a double, or more accurately, and increased storage overhead, I copied a directory impacted by these files that included a mixture of vortex_backup files and the "originals" to another drive, on another device, and checked the directory size, 445Mb. I then proceeded to delete just the vortex_backup files, 245Mb remained. I then repeated the exercise and deleted the non vortex_backup files, 203Mb remained. So unless my machine is playing with me, has happened before, these files do take up space on my storage device, there is an increased storage overhead.

 

So in answer to your proposition, do I have two files consuming double the space, yes I do, unlike a shortcut.

 

So back to my question, can I reduce my storage overhead and maintain mods and Vortex functioning as intended by deleting either the Vortex_Backup files, the original files or am I stuck with increased storage overhead?

 

 

Edit: Just a quick addenda, I'm sure you will have noticed that there isn't a direct one to one duplication of all the files in the directory, some do not have Vortex_Backup files. The directory I used was the Meshes Directory for the BaseHumanFemale.

Edited December 10, 2018 by citizen181

[citizen181]

@1ae0bfb8 Thank you for your timely reply. I do understand the concept of shortcuts and that they aren't, nor do they posses the properties of, the file to which they point, most importantly the file size. However, and I'm open to being enlightened, the vortex_backup files, do indeed posses all the properties of the files they mimic, including their size. Not doubting your explanation, well perhaps I was, that there wasn't a double, or more accurately, and increased storage overhead, I copied a directory impacted by these files that included a mixture of vortex_backup files and the "originals" to another drive, on another device, and checked the directory size, 445Mb. I then proceeded to delete just the vortex_backup files, 245Mb remained. I then repeated the exercise and deleted the non vortex_backup files, 203Mb remained. So unless my machine is playing with me, has happened before, these files do take up space on my storage device, there is an increased storage overhead.

 

So in answer to your proposition, do I have two files consuming double the space, yes I do, unlike a shortcut.

 

So back to my question, can I reduce my storage overhead and maintain mods and Vortex functioning as intended by deleting either the Vortex_Backup files, the original files or am I stuck with increased storage overhead?

 

 

Edit: Just a quick addenda, I'm sure you will have noticed that there isn't a direct one to one duplication of all the files in the directory, some do not have Vortex_Backup files. The directory I used was the Meshes Directory for the BaseHumanFemale.

 

So a quick update for those who may face this problem in the future. After determining that the files where taking up real space on my SSD I looked for safe ways to delete them other than just deleting them. Through a lot of helpful advice on the net provided by Mr Google I ascertained that the double up had come about due to a faulty removal of NMM so I had the NMM set of files and the Vortex set and then some. Solution, disable all mods in Vortex, and, for want of a better term, reactivated NMM and undertook another removal process, not as straight forwards as it might once have been, lots of broken links and double entries. Removed any stragglers and then wiped the area NMM once occupied. Re-enabled mods in Vortex and wow, 50+Gb of extra space.

 

And by way of a shout out to @1ae0bfb8, through my search it became clear that his description is the way Vortex is designed to work which makes it easier to remove/disable mods from your game without actually deleting the archive from the disk. It keeps a physical copy of the mod download files in its directory and only provides a hardlink to it when activating/enabling it in game, exactly so as not to have multiple copies of the physical files and use excess space.

Edited December 17, 2018 by citizen181