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How do I make sure that Vortex doesn't extract the BA2 files into my Data folder as loose files?


blackstarling

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I want to install the Unofficial Fallout 4 Patch.

 

The description page says: "DO NOT extract the contents of the BA2 files into your Data folder as loose files, or let your mod manager perform an equivalent function on the contents of the file. Doing so will cause things to load in the wrong order and break the game. Fallout 4 is intended to load BA2 files alongside their ESM/ESP files. Circumventing this causes issues which we will not provide support for. If you insist on going against this advice, you will receive no support for the problems you generate as a result of this."

 

How do I make sure that Vortex doesn't extract the BA2 files into my Data folder as loose files? I don't know what that means.

I went to the posts on the mod to see if the stickies explained. Nothing there. There was a post from a user with the same issue but the only answer was that it wasn't a mod question, it was a Vortex question and the post was locked.

Sounds like this is a no-brainer for folks who spend more time fine tuning their modding experience. I just have a ton of cosmetic mods with no conflicts and Vortex has done all of the work for me.

 

Fallout 4 version 1.10.163

PC game via Steam
Vortex version 1.1.15
150 mods total, 15 disabled, 6 uninstalled
Windows 10 64-bit

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Vortex neither extracts BA2 files nor has a built-in option to do so. In fact, no mod manager that I know of automatically extracts BA2 files. If you want to extract a BA2 file you either need to do it with a special program or use a mod manager with this as a built-in and manually exercised option.

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MO 2 provides an unpack function, but even there you have to specifically request it.

Conflict resolution between BA2 and loose files will always be a bit problematic; Vortex does not look inside ba2 archives.

It goes with the Bethesda rule: loose files take precedence.

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Vortex neither extracts BA2 files nor has a built-in option to do so. In fact, no mod manager that I know of automatically extracts BA2 files. If you want to extract a BA2 file you either need to do it with a special program or use a mod manager with this as a built-in and manually exercised option.

 

Okay so it sounds like I'm safe to just let Vortex do it's thing then?

 

MO 2 provides an unpack function, but even there you have to specifically request it.

Conflict resolution between BA2 and loose files will always be a bit problematic; Vortex does not look inside ba2 archives.

It goes with the Bethesda rule: loose files take precedence.

 

I'm not sure about the conflict resolution statements, though. Is that something I need to worry about? Sorry, I'm really fresh to this part of things.

Thank you guys for your answers. I've never been in the deep end like this before :D

Edited by blackstarling
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File conflicts are normal for a modded game, especially if there are a lot of mods. These conflicts arise from overlapping files such as meshes, textures, scripts, etc. You need to resolve these conflicts for your modded game to work the way you want it to. Vortex alerts you to these conflicts and provides you with the tools to resolve them. In the Vortex Knowledge Base, see the following article: https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Managing_File_Conflicts

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Are you just saying in general, or that I'm going to see conflicts with this installation? I have worked through basic conflicts on Vortex before. Like sometimes a mod update file just needs to be sorted after the main file. That's simple stuff. You want the most up to date info to come last so it's what shows up in game.

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Are you just saying in general, or that I'm going to see conflicts with this installation? I have worked through basic conflicts on Vortex before. Like sometimes a mod update file just needs to be sorted after the main file. That's simple stuff. You want the most up to date info to come last so it's what shows up in game.

 

Since I don't know what mods you're installing for Fallout 4, I have no idea whether or not you will have file conflicts. But yes, when file conflicts do occur, the general principle is that the file loading last is the winner in the conflict situation. To ensure that a given file loads last, you create a "load after" rule for that file. (Just so there's no confusion, I'm talking here about the " load before" and the "load after" rules that apply to file overwrites. I'm not talking at all about plugin load order, which is a different issue.)

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Vortex neither extracts BA2 files nor has a built-in option to do so. In fact, no mod manager that I know of automatically extracts BA2 files. If you want to extract a BA2 file you either need to do it with a special program or use a mod manager with this as a built-in and manually exercised option.

 

Okay so it sounds like I'm safe to just let Vortex do it's thing then?

 

MO 2 provides an unpack function, but even there you have to specifically request it.

Conflict resolution between BA2 and loose files will always be a bit problematic; Vortex does not look inside ba2 archives.

It goes with the Bethesda rule: loose files take precedence.

 

I'm not sure about the conflict resolution statements, though. Is that something I need to worry about? Sorry, I'm really fresh to this part of things.

Thank you guys for your answers. I've never been in the deep end like this before :D

 

 

What he said about "Loose Files" vs "BA2" or "BSA" only meant, that a LOOSE FILE, in the data folder will always OVERWRITE, ANY File contained in a BA2, BSA.

 

There's nothing to worry about, it's how the game engine works.

 

There is nothing to do on your end.

The explanation should've been geared towards more 'layman's terms' as far as "what overwrites what"

 

That's why people who make textures etc, will package their mod as a "loose file", aka *.dds etc, because they know that their texture will overwrite any and all files with that same name that are archived in the BA2 and BSA files by Bethesda.

 

 

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Since I don't know what mods you're installing for Fallout 4, I have no idea whether or not you will have file conflicts. But yes, when file conflicts do occur, the general principle is that the file loading last is the winner in the conflict situation. To ensure that a given file loads last, you create a "load after" rule for that file. (Just so there's no confusion, I'm talking here about the " load before" and the "load after" rules that apply to file overwrites. I'm not talking at all about plugin load order, which is a different issue.)

 

 

 

What he said about "Loose Files" vs "BA2" or "BSA" only meant, that a LOOSE FILE, in the data folder will always OVERWRITE, ANY File contained in a BA2, BSA.

There's nothing to worry about, it's how the game engine works.

 

There is nothing to do on your end.

The explanation should've been geared towards more 'layman's terms' as far as "what overwrites what"

 

That's why people who make textures etc, will package their mod as a "loose file", aka *.dds etc, because they know that their texture will overwrite any and all files with that same name that are archived in the BA2 and BSA files by Bethesda.

 

Thanks HTR. Needed someone to break it down barney style!

 

This is all good info. Thanks for taking a sec to teach me a thing or two. I've had the mod installed for 2 days now and haven't had any issues. Appreciate the help folks!

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