Manual VS Vortex

[OodlesOModds]

New to the game and new to modding, so I installed Vortex, as it seemed to be the most trustworthy and noob-proof option. I'm beginning to regret it.

I understand that the recent 2.0 wrecked havoc on everyone's mods, and that Vortex seems to have its own way of doing things, but certain mods install and run themselves just fine on my machine, while others got dumped and lost in places they shouldn't be. At least according to the folks who made them. Questions and confusion. And if I even manage to figure out how to do manual, and ditch Vortex, will Vortex break the gorgeous apartment I just made with my AMM installation?

I am flummoxed and ashamed. Please take pity. And no, I won't be deleting System32. So don't even suggest it.

[LupinaAlba]

If you have more than 10 mods, then I'd definitely recommend using Vortex. You will probably need to re-package some of the older mods to make their folder structure compatible with Vortex, and then manually add them to the mod manager (drag them to the rectangular area at the bottom). However, it is worth the effort, because a modded Cyberpunk 2077 is known to have quirks (freezes, lockups) that can only be fixed by removing all mods, finishing the glitchy part without mods, and then reinstalling them - and this process is sooooo much easier if you use a mod manager that can uninstall/reinstall mods with a single click.

[OodlesOModds]

Thanks for the reply! Much appreciated!

Yeah, it's the folder structure thing that's giving me problems. The 'r6' folder, specifically. I can't figure out if it's redundant or not. Then overthinking it all just puts me in paralysis. Also, my general cluelessness didn't even notice the actual drag/drop feature on Vortex. I'll give it a try. That might be a saving grace.

Do all the various framework resources (CET/Codeware, etc) count as mods? So many other things rely on them all to work. I've got five of them installed just to get the AMM and the rideable Metro operational. I haven't even gotten anything for V's looks yet. I'm still researching item compatibilities, and some artists have yet to update their work since the 2.0. I've accepted that I'll totally need to exhibit some restraint here, but I'm generally prone to overkill.

So far the only significant glitches I've hit are two of the fights in 'Beat On The Brat". Can't accept the fight. Pressing F is ignored.

Again, thanks muchly for the advice!

[LupinaAlba]

The 'r6' folder, specifically. I can't figure out if it's redundant or not.

 

...

 

Do all the various framework resources (CET/Codeware, etc) count as mods?

 

r6 is definitely not redundant. It contains databases (tweakdb, etc.) and if those get corrupted, you'll get lockups. One of them is the infamous "cannot drive more than 30 seconds before the game locks up" glitch, which I fixed by deleting r6/cache and re-verifying the game. Quite a few mods install components in the r6/scripts folder.

 

And yes, frameworks do count as mods. Vortex handles most of them correctly.

[EpiceneBlue]

On 11/11/2023 at 7:39 PM, OodlesOModds said:

New to the game and new to modding, so I installed Vortex, as it seemed to be the most trustworthy and noob-proof option. I'm beginning to regret it.

I understand that the recent 2.0 wrecked havoc on everyone's mods, and that Vortex seems to have its own way of doing things, but certain mods install and run themselves just fine on my machine, while others got dumped and lost in places they shouldn't be. At least according to the folks who made them. Questions and confusion. And if I even manage to figure out how to do manual, and ditch Vortex, will Vortex break the gorgeous apartment I just made with my AMM installation?

I am flummoxed and ashamed. Please take pity. And no, I won't be deleting System32. So don't even suggest it.

Well. You are going to get different people telling you different things. One of the biggest issues with Vortex is that many mod authors do not package their mods to be properly handled by Vortex installation. So things end up in the wrong folders and just will not work. And in some cases, Vortex just does not get along with certain kinds of mods. I have probably 300? mods for CP2077 and I mod entirely by hand. I download a mod manually, then I check to make sure it is packages in the correct file paths, and if not, I repackage it so that it is. Then I unzip the mod to my CP2077 main directory and store the zipped file separately so I always know what files to delete if I want to uninstall it for any reason. Considering how many times I've ended up with serious problems via Vortex and had to muck about for hours to fix them, I'd rather take the other time to mod manually. But it's really a personal choice.

Whether you mod manually or using Vortex, there are two very, very important things that are the base of all modding.

1. Make sure you download the REQUIREMENTS for all mods. These are specified on the description page of the mods and usually when you download as well.

2. Make sure you know WHERE the mod files are supposed to go, and that the files are packaged properly to actually GO there, whether you are using Vortex or unzipping them manually to add to your game.

It may seem complicated and annoying for a while, but whichever way you choose, once you get the hang of it, it will be easy enough. And it will change the way you play PC games forever. Especially in improving mediocre games to make them good, make good games great, and making great games so awesome you will just keep remodding and playing them for years and years.

[OodlesOModds]

Just saw this, thanks for the reply!

I finally managed to get it all operational. Despite REDmod always failing to deploy itself, it all worked fine anyway.

UNTIL the latest "updates and improvements" which have bricked my game entirely.

Now I need to figure out how to completely remove any and all mods and residual vortex clutter and this extraneous REDmod uselessness from my machine completely, so I can then attempt to figure out how to do this without all the anal retentive redundancies, all while wondering if it's even worth the aggravation.
 

On 11/25/2023 at 2:47 PM, EpiceneBlue said:

One of the biggest issues with Vortex is that many mod authors do not package their mods to be properly handled by Vortex installation. So things end up in the wrong folders and just will not work. And in some cases, Vortex just does not get along with certain kinds of mods.

Speaking as a complete noob and absolute outsider, there seems to me to be a widespread general issue of both snobbery and solipsism with all of this stuff, further complicating things for those of us who are neither lifestyle gamers nor actual coders.

I may finally just toss my desktop in a dumpster, and go for a walk in the park.

[EpiceneBlue]

I totally understand. It can be daunting dealing with modding at the beginning and yes, there is some snobbery from long term modders. I hope it won't push you off though. It can be such a fun and rewarding thing, refreshing old games and making them new again, or improving on newer games in ways that should have been in the game to begin with. Just FYI there is a mod that actually will actually remove all mods for you - very useful! https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/8597

[OodlesOModds]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:17 AM, EpiceneBlue said:

in ways that should have been in the game to begin with.

Srsly tho. Custom hideout design is so basic. Which brings me to -

On 12/18/2023 at 11:17 AM, EpiceneBlue said:

Just FYI there is a mod that actually will actually remove all mods for you - very useful! https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/8597

Hooray! But if I go that route (or any route) I'm assuming that I will nuke the gorgeous apartment I've already done. I miss it already.

Starting from scratch seems like the way to go. I think I'd rather just uninstall everything Vortex, entirely, and throw REDmod overboard, as well. Too many cooks in the kitchen. They only seem to cause unnecessary problems. But I want to try and salvage the apartment, if at all possible. The AMM and Proxima's props are required mods for me. Is my customized apartment preset something I can just copy/paste for safe keeping until I've deloused myself?

Thanks for the pep talk!

[EpiceneBlue]

On 12/20/2023 at 12:09 PM, OodlesOModds said:

Srsly tho. Custom hideout design is so basic. Which brings me to -

Hooray! But if I go that route (or any route) I'm assuming that I will nuke the gorgeous apartment I've already done. I miss it already.

Starting from scratch seems like the way to go. I think I'd rather just uninstall everything Vortex, entirely, and throw REDmod overboard, as well. Too many cooks in the kitchen. They only seem to cause unnecessary problems. But I want to try and salvage the apartment, if at all possible. The AMM and Proxima's props are required mods for me. Is my customized apartment preset something I can just copy/paste for safe keeping until I've deloused myself?

Thanks for the pep talk!

Oh so sorry been out of town. You can save your apartment preset! I hope you didn't delete it already. You just need to save the apartment as a preset in game through AMM and then save the preset file it makes somewhere ourside the game folder and then pop it back in after you redo your mods. I'm on my phone so I can't type out how to do those things but I will tomorrow when I get online just in case you can still save it. And yeah, I dumped Redmod and any mods that require it. Too much messiness.

[EpiceneBlue]

On 12/23/2023 at 7:24 PM, EpiceneBlue said:

Oh so sorry been out of town. You can save your apartment preset! I hope you didn't delete it already. You just need to save the apartment as a preset in game through AMM and then save the preset file it makes somewhere ourside the game folder and then pop it back in after you redo your mods. I'm on my phone so I can't type out how to do those things but I will tomorrow when I get online just in case you can still save it. And yeah, I dumped Redmod and any mods that require it. Too much messiness.

Actually, this video shows all the things including where apartment preset saves go -