7531Leonidas

Well, xEdit is how I confirm that LOOT inside Vortex does the right things, that is how I found that I needed to make changes in those handful of mods.  Unfortunately, it was quite awhile ago, and dragging to another mod was the way it was done.  I wish that there was a way to right-click on an individual mod in the dependencies column, and select 'Set Rule', and then be able to pick the other mod from a dropdown, at least.
You can use the 'Manage Rules' menu item at the top of the 'Mods' tab to change rules already established, but I don't know of a way to create a rule using it.  Maybe someone else has seen something obviously simple that I have missed.  If that is the case, then I hope that they happen by and chime in!

Just to make sure - from the FNIS mod page "NOTE: It is GENERALLY and STRONGLY recommended, that you DO NOT INSTALL any of Steam, Skyrim, FNIS in folders that are protected by Windows UAC (User Account Control). These are "C:/Program Files (x86)" or "C:/Program Files" (or their localized correspondents, e.g. "C:/Programme (x86)"). Use root folders like "D:\Games". This way you can avoid serious protection issues, especially when using Mod Managers."  I think that you might need to go back and double-check the installation instructions on the mod page.  Maybe the reactivating did not address some fine point.  Once you get every thing ironed out, I suggest that you check out Pandora instead.  Much easier and quicker to use, and installs a dummy plugin for FNIS so that those animations play correctly.

The latest version is 1.13.5, AFAIK.  Did you try to search the Vortex Support forum (search window - upper right hand of the page) for 'Vortex won't start'?
One reason it may not be starting, is that it is trying to update to the latest version, and something on your computer (antivirus, firewall, folder permissions, etc.) is not allowing the connection to the update files (on github, I think).
So, also search for 'Vortex hangs while updating', and look at those results, too.

You can enforce custom rules for load order, even mix conflict winners in the conflict bolt dialogs.  It will never work like in NMM or MO/MO2.

I am pretty sure that external drives must be in NTFS format when using Vortex.  Has something to do with Windows file security, as you have found out.  There have been several threads in the past few months on this very issue.  I believe that it starts once the drive is disconnected for any reason, then is reconnected.
Try searching for 'external drive' on this forum, and the Fallout 4 forum, found in 'Game Communities' at the top of the page (scroll down/search for the FO4 forums).  You will have to join it to post there, however.

If 'The program' is Vortex, then use the Settings tab in the sidebar and locate the Download menu:

I am a little confused - I don't run BG3, but I was under the impression that vortex was designed to handle mods w/o the game being launched through it, as opposed to MO2.  Did BG3 introduce a system that required it to be launched through Vortex?

Probably look in the 'Documentation' sub forum at the top of this page.  Otherwise, go to the FO4 Game Community (look in 'Game Communities' at the top of the page), and search/ask there.  Join each community you wish to post in.

IF .esl files work as in Skyrim SE, then they are automatically treated as masters, you may need to find a patch for a mod that overwrites it, or build one by using xEdit to force an overwrite.

The settings section contains 'switches' for deployment behavior.  I only use 'deploy when enabled' because I d/l a lot of mods for future use, especially updates for newer Skyrim versions.  The other two choices immediately below that one might be of interest to you, however.

The current version is 1.11.6.  Unless you absolutely need your older version for some type of workaround (older OS versions come to mind), you should probably d/l and install the newest version.  Yours may be too old to auto-update.

1.  Check each of the mods listed for any special LO considerations.  Note any found, and make sure that the interaction menu reflects them.
2.  Click (maybe double-click?) on one of the small arrows, and 'flip' the one you need to change.  If you don't see any right away, then try just to flip (or remove) the rule for either the first or last interaction.  I don't know why the playercomments has to load before a lighting mod, so that would be the one I would be tempted to change, but check them out first!

@compare123 - When I was running Windows 98, and later, Win 7, the ability to manually change window colors and other attributes allowed me to have a medium intensity and brightness cream/buff background, with a black or dark brick red font color, even in many programs (apps).  That was much easier on my eyes, and I curse the day that Win 10 took away those options.  My eyes are always crying when reading pages of text in my mail program, Notepad, and WordPerfect.  Here is an example from my current Firefox scheme:

Even the url background is a small bit off-white...
 

AFAIK, when you use Vortex, its built-in LOOT routines will take into account the conflict resolution (lightning bolts) and any dependencies you personally edit using the drag-and-drop method with the interconnect symbols under the dependencies.  I once, long ago, used a standalone LOOT with Vortex, and it kept messing things up badly.  The standalone doesn't see everything in the Vortex installations, and vice versa.
I would just depend on the built-in LOOT, and force any needed changes under the 'Dependencies' column in the mods tab, or under the plugins tab in Vortex.  Drop the standalone LOOT set-up, it doesn't play well with Vortex.

That is the "Common Solutions Megathread" at the top of this Vortex Support forum. ( https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/12891273-common-solutions-megathread/ )

Are you sure that you are downloading the proper version? If you have a 32-bit processor, d/l the x86 version. A 64-bit cpu needs the x64 version, NOT the ARM 64.