Managing Fallout 4 GOG/Fallout London and Fallout 4 Steam in Vortex simultaneously?

[DominateEye]

Hi folks,

I bought a copy of Fallout 4 GOTY on GOG so I could install Fallout London from GOG in the most straightforward way possible. It does work, but I've now realized there are a number of interesting-looking mods for Fallout London that are best managed using Vortex. Problem is, I have an existing, extensively-modded Steam copy of Fallout 4, and I really don't want to kick it out of Vortex and lose all of my existing mods for the sake of my GOG copy. I know Vortex doesn't support multiple installs of the same game. But there is a method of creating new extensions for Vortex to allow it to manage new games. So here's what I'm thinking.

Theoretically, if someone creates a Vortex extension that specifically supports the GOG version of Fallout 4 GOTY and no other versions, users who download that extension could point Vortex to their GOG installs of Fallout 4 GOTY and manage it separately from their Steam version. Since the Fallout London installation process changes those files, Fallout London won't need an entry in the Vortex mod list. Then those users could browse the Fallout London Nexus and use the Vortex download buttons to manage mods from the Nexus in Vortex like normal.

Now, the last Computer Science class I took made my head hurt, so I'm not really in a position to create that Vortex extension. I'm also not entirely sure how Vortex figures out what game should be managed when the user wants to download a mod, so I don't know if this Fallout 4 GOG extension would have to be linked to the Fallout London Nexus somehow, and if so whether that might mess things up for people who installed Fallout London via Steam, who presumably are able to download Fallout London mods straight to their Steam installation through Vortex just fine right now. By that same token, I don't know if mods from the standard Fallout 4 Nexus would be supported under a Fallout 4 GOG extension, and if mods from both the vanilla Fallout 4 Nexus and the Fallout London Nexus could be installed under a Fallout 4 GOG extension at the same time. So I have no idea if this might work, and folks who know Vortex and the Nexus better than I do are very welcome to comment. But if some magnanimous soul would like to give this a shot and potentially save me and probably at least one other person who did what I did some grief, I'd really appreciate it.

[fraquar]

Best managed with Vortex?    What does that even mean?

Explain.

[DominateEye]

As in, the most straightforward way to download and install mods for Fallout London looks to be through Vortex (as it is for most games that Vortex supports). I would like to be able to do that without having to give up my existing Vortex configuration for Fallout 4 and without having to allow FOLON to make changes to my Steam copy of the game. Hence, I'm hoping there might be a way to allow Vortex to install and manage mods to my GOG copy of the game, which has already been converted into FOLON.

[fraquar]

So you mean by using the download with manager button - instead of download manual?

Yeah, MO2 doesn't support the FO:L page yet but TBH I've always used the Manual button anyway.

[showler]

So, this is already planned for the upcoming Nexus Mods App, so it's unlikely to get any sort of official support for Vortex.

You can achieve this by creating a second Windows account, switching Vortex to "per-user" format and then using one account to manage the Steam version and the other to manage the GOG version.  There's even a command line argument to select which user to load with Vortex which will allow you to make shortcuts for each and not have to switch back and forth.

[DominateEye]

Would that mean I'd have to be in the other Windows account to play modded Fallout London?

[showler]

No.  That's what the command line parameter does.  It tells Vortex to start up using the settings from the other Windows account instead of the current Windows account.  So you make one shortcut that launches Vortex normally and one that launches Vortex with the alternative settings.

[fraquar]

Windows account? - so for Vortex to provide this function it requires your OS to logoff and login?

Edited October 4 by fraquar

[DominateEye]

24 minutes ago, fraquar said:

Windows account? - so for Vortex to provide this function it requires your OS to logoff and login?

Just the first time, to set it up, it looks like.

 

41 minutes ago, showler said:

No.  That's what the command line parameter does.  It tells Vortex to start up using the settings from the other Windows account instead of the current Windows account.  So you make one shortcut that launches Vortex normally and one that launches Vortex with the alternative settings.

Okay, that sounds really useful then. I presume that if I launch the second Vortex version shortcut while on my main Windows user account, and then hit Download with Mod Manager on a Nexus mod link, it would then download in that second Vortex version and thus apply the mod to the GOG version of the game, meaning I wouldn't have to be in that second user account to download new mods for Fallout London? Would there happen to be instructions on how to do this somewhere, or failing that, the documentation of the parameter so I can know exactly what to type in?

Edited October 5 by DominateEye

[showler]

https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/Vortex/wiki/MODDINGWIKI-Users-Troubleshooting-Command-Line-Parameters

I think it's just the "user data" command that's needed.  Tannin42 made some posts about it a while back.  I can try to find them for you after work tomorrow.  Currently Sleepytime.