Glitch/error when cloning a profile, making collection and then disabling mods

[bongodoctor]

I have found a glitch when creating/cloning a profile in Vortex, creating a collection based on the new profile and then disabling some mods and enabling new ones.

 

I haven't come across this before because previously when making a new profile and collection I was always adding new mods rather then disabling any. When I disable a mod in the new profile I get an error message saying the the original profile collection requires that mod - this happens whether I create a new collection before I disable mods or afterwards. As the error message refers to the collection the cloned profile was created from there is no way to resolve this, because the mods are still enabled in the original profile and included in its collection. When I switch back to the original mod the error message disappears - because obviously nothing is missing or changed. But when I switch back to the new profile/collection the error message reappears and even if I click on install dependencies - it then throws up an error because obviously there are no files to download or install to the original profile. I thought it might be because I switched to the new profile from the original, so I tried switching to the new profile from a completely different profile - but the same error occurs referring to the profile the new one was cloned with. I have tried disabling/enabling and removing/adding the mods listed to the original profile/collection but that doesn't fix it.

 

It seems Vortex is confused - it seems to think the changes made to the new profile/collection have been made to the profile/collection it was a clone of for some reason. I have tried restarting Vortex, but get the same result.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Here are the steps to reproduce this:

 

Original Profile A + corresponding Collection A

 

Clone Profile A to create Profile B

 

Switch to Profile B

 

Create Collection for Profile B

 

Disable mod X in Profile B = Error message saying Collection A & Collection B are missing mod X

 

Removing mod X from Collection B removes that error message - but not for Collection A

 

Removing mod X from Collection A does remove the error message, but I don't want to remove it from that Collection...

 

Switching to Profile A also removes the error message (as it should because they are not missing)

 

Switch back to Profile B - error message about Collection A missing mod X returns

 

Bang head on desk until you feel better...

[bongodoctor]

Ok I have found the cause of the issue. For some reason when you clone a profile that has a collection, that collection is automatically enabled in the new profile as a mod - this means that disabling mods in the clone throws up an error message because that collection requires those mods.

 

This is a very confusing default behaviour. If I create a new profile and then create a collection based on it I obviously don't want the collection from the original. The fact that collections are listed as mods (or meta-mods) is already very confusing - especially as they are added and are active in their own mod list. I am sure this is probably required by the way Vortex works and handles collections, but it is very confusing.

 

I think the issue is whether people use collections as a complete stand alone installation - or whether they are going to combine lots of small collections into one profile. Most collections listed on Vortex are full installations, although there are some that offer a small subset of mods. Maybe there could be a way to hide collections from their own profiles or at least pop up the option to disable profiles the cloned profile contains when you then create a new collection based on it.

 

I can understand the advantages of treating collections as meta(mods) but this can be confusing for users especially when they are listed in their own profiles etc...