Deployment Methods Documentation Possibly incorrect.

[GhostButter01]

Hey,

   Having reviewed this document:
https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Deployment_Methods

The behavior described in this document doesn't match my experience with Vortex.

Hard-links are listed as the default deployment method. Based on my recent experience with this software, I'm not sure that hard-links are actually the default method. In my opinion, this would classify as a doc bug. So far, Vortex appears to be working just fine for me.

Scenario:

• Steamed installed to Z:\Steam
• Vortex is installed to Z:\Vortex
• Vortex Mod folder is Z:\'Vortex Mod Staging'\{GAME}
• Vortex Mod Download Folder is Z:\'Vortex Mod Staging'\Downloads

• Added Baldur's Gate 3 to managed Games
• Added Factorio to managed Games
• Added Cyberpunk to managed Games
• Added Dragon Age Origins to managed Games

 

My Expectations based on the documentation:

• All four Games would display the deployment method as Hard-links since the documentation refers to hard-links as the default.

What actually Happened:

• Baldur's Gate 3 listed the deployment method as symlinks
• Factorio listed the deployment method as hard-links.
• Cyberpunk listed the deployment method as hard-links.
• Dragon Age Origins listed the deployment method as symlinks

Conclusions:

   The main point that I'm making with this is that I found the documentation to be confusing. I think the only games that will actually use the hard-link deployment method are the few games mentioned in the doc that require it.

However, Cyberpunk is not in that list, but the fact that it requires REDmod may necessitate the usage of hard-links?  

   It appears that the software is working correctly, but I'm finding it difficult to predict Vortex's behavior based on the documentation provided. I was expecting hard-links for all the games because the documentation referred to hard-links as the default.

   This led to me spending about 2 hours trying to figure out why Baldur's Gate didn't have a hard-link option. In reality, Balder's Gate doesn't require hard-links so it does seem reasonable that Vortex would use Symlinks instead. My wish here is that I would have been able to predict this behavior based on the Deployment Method documentation. If I missed something in the documentation, please feel free to point it out.

 I would like to add that I enjoy using Vortex and I do appreciate the effort that has been put into this product.

Edited December 30, 2023 by GhostButter01
Corrected Spelling/Grammer

[Tannin42]

Depending on the Game it can be complex, the documentation isn’t wrong but over-simplified (the wiki tends to prioritize simplicity over correctness).

Hard-link is the default because it has best game compatibility but it requires staging to be on the same drive as where the mods need to be put for the game to find them.

This is the often mis-described. Not every game reads its mods from the game installation directory, some require them to be in the windows „documents“ directory for example, then staging needs to be on the same drive as your documents directory.

And then there are games (e.g. Witcher 3) that require some mods in documents and others in the game directory so unless those are on the same drive, hard-link deployment is not an option no matter where you put staging.