A Lot Of Potential

[TheSlothyBR]

Wanted to give it a try for at least a day before concluding anything, and i can definitly say:

 

I see a LOT of potential in Vortex

 

Lets start with the Positive Points:

• The ability to manage different games with one install is a step up from MO
• The style of the UI is gorgeous
• The integration between Nexus and the dashboard in Vortex was a very good idea (didnt know i needed it, but now that i have, id like for it to stay)
• Profiles are a feature. YAY! :D
• Quick access links to the mod page, or the general Nexus of that game
• Useful information like the mod version and its category is positioned better than it was in MO
• The dependencies list is going to be SO useful (less cumbersome than going into LOOT and changing it there)
• All the filters you can apply to find things make managing stuff way less of a nightmare
• Opening a mods files is pretty easy

Now the Negative Points:

• While pretty, the UI lacks a little in usefulness and intuitivety. It took me a while to find simple stuff like where to manage the dependencies, or where to access external .exe's like patches and skse
• I have been unable to modify the name of the mods . Probably me just being dumb, but in case it isnt, serves as another example of UI being unintuitive
• Inability to look at what each mod is ovewriting and being ovewritten by. Huge drawback from one of the most useful features of MO
• Inability to alter the default launch option
• Acessibility to some things seems akward, as an example, why cant i access a mods files by double clicking?
• Lack of .ini editor (if there is one, again, UI not intuitive)
• Cant manually place plugins in the load order.
• Download bars need to have a more evident color
• The active profile needs to be more evident when it is selected

Overall, id like to say im pleased with what i got. It was pretty much what i expected, an immediate improvement over NMM in just about every aspect i can think of, yet lacking the control and usefulness of MO. Completely understandable, since the focus here was probably to develop more core features, while making a successor to NMM. One thing i was not expecting was this twist into a "link" to or "extention" of the Nexus vibe that im getting from this manager. I like it, another thing with potential. that being said, i hope some things present in MO that were left out in this build eventually make their way to this, effectively making it obsolete.

 

Id like to end with a couple of Sugestions:

• Make a thread here in the forums showing the features that are planned to be introduced in Vortex, and features that are being considered for implementation. I personally didnt get disapointed by this new manager because i knew what to expect, yet im seeing a lot of people confused over a lack of MO features. Might save you guys some headaches.
• Make a quick access from the dashboard of Vortex to these forums, so users can easily find a place with correct information on this manager, as ive been seeing a lot of misunderstandings over how it works, specially people mad that it seems to place mods in the data folder, or why the dev isnt planning on adding bsa pliority handling.
• One of the best things about MO was how accessible everything was. You had your profles, mods list, load order, 3^rd party .exe's, editors and file visualizer all in a pintch, if you needed, and considering this is a mod manager, id say the "mods" tab should contain quick access of all of these, with exeption maybe of the profies. This would also solve the "unintuitivety" of the UI i pointed out earlier.
• Blue is perheaps a good color to contrast with the background for the loading bar and the active profile.

Huge kudos to Tannin, the Nexus staff and anyone else involved with this project. Its damn impressive what you guys managed to acomplish, dont stop now :wink:

 

[simsrw73]

 

• I have been unable to modify the name of the mods . Probably me just being dumb, but in case it isnt, serves as another example of UI being unintuitive

 

On the MODS page, double click the mod and the detail panel opens up on the side. Change the name at the top of the detail panel. That panel stays open so you can click on other mods and continue renaming, editing, etc. I wish instead that that panel was pinnable so it didn't cover part of the screen.

 

 

• Inability to look at what each mod is ovewriting and being ovewritten by. Huge drawback from one of the most useful features of MO

 

On the MODS page, make sure you have the Dependencies column shown. Click on the Lightning bolt and it will show which mods are in conflict and under each mod how many files are in conflict. If you click on the line showing the number of files in conflict it will show a popup list of which files are in conflict. I hope to see much improvement here. Tannin has already stated that there will be file level overrides in the future. Hopefully, we'll also be able to VIEW the files in conflict, textures, diffs, etc. If not in the app then as an extension.

 

 

• Inability to alter the default launch option

 

If you're talking about launching from the launcher at the top left, you can change that. On the DASHBOARDS page, create a tool with options you want or use one of the preset ones. Click the kabob menu on the tool (the vertical ellipsis) and choose Make Primary.

 

 

• Acessibility to some things seems akward, as an example, why cant i access a mods files by double clicking?

 

On the MODS page, in the Actions column on the far right if you click the down arrow, you can Open in File Manger to get to the mod directory. I have two requests in regarding accessing the download directory or file. 1) adding an Open in File Manager or Open in Archive Tool to the action menu on the DOWNLOADS page, and 2) creating a Tool in DASHBOARD to launch windows explorer.exe: currently it doesn't take a path to open in correctly.

 

 

• The active profile needs to be more evident when it is selected

 

Agree. I wish it showed the active profile along the top of the screen with the active game.

 

 

• Make a quick access from the dashboard of Vortex to these forums, so users can easily find a place with correct information on this manager, as ive been seeing a lot of misunderstandings over how it works, specially people mad that it seems to place mods in the data folder, or why the dev isnt planning on adding bsa pliority handling.

 

Agreed. A link to the forum in the application Kabob menu next to Send Feedback is a great idea.

[ipman98]

Gophers has released a video for getting started with Vortex. I think you should watch it.

[kamikatze13]

 

• Inability to look at what each mod is ovewriting and being ovewritten by. Huge drawback from one of the most useful features of MO

 

On the MODS page, make sure you have the Dependencies column shown. Click on the Lightning bolt and it will show which mods are in conflict and under each mod how many files are in conflict. If you click on the line showing the number of files in conflict it will show a popup list of which files are in conflict. I hope to see much improvement here. Tannin has already stated that there will be file level overrides in the future. Hopefully, we'll also be able to VIEW the files in conflict, textures, diffs, etc. If not in the app then as an extension.

 

Which doesn't show up any file conflicts between loose files and BSAs, which is a major drawback IMHO

[TheSlothyBR]

 

 

• Inability to look at what each mod is ovewriting and being ovewritten by. Huge drawback from one of the most useful features of MO

 

On the MODS page, make sure you have the Dependencies column shown. Click on the Lightning bolt and it will show which mods are in conflict and under each mod how many files are in conflict. If you click on the line showing the number of files in conflict it will show a popup list of which files are in conflict. I hope to see much improvement here. Tannin has already stated that there will be file level overrides in the future. Hopefully, we'll also be able to VIEW the files in conflict, textures, diffs, etc. If not in the app then as an extension.

 

Which doesn't show up any file conflicts between loose files and BSAs, which is a major drawback IMHO

 

Yes, i was refering to this feature of MO

[TheSlothyBR]

Gophers has released a video for getting started with Vortex. I think you should watch it.

Because i couldnt find some features in Vortex? Lets face it, if a guy thats modding since 2013 cant find simple things in the interface, it goes a long way to show that my only true complaint about it is very true: the UI is not intuitive. They should take more inspiration from MO on were to place things for better accessibility, because despite the fact that i like this twist from a simple mod manager into an extention of nexus, the focus should still be on a mod managing tool. That means placing things useful for this in very obvious and reachable places.

[TheSlothyBR]

 

 

• I have been unable to modify the name of the mods . Probably me just being dumb, but in case it isnt, serves as another example of UI being unintuitive

 

On the MODS page, double click the mod and the detail panel opens up on the side. Change the name at the top of the detail panel. That panel stays open so you can click on other mods and continue renaming, editing, etc. I wish instead that that panel was pinnable so it didn't cover part of the screen.

 

 

• Inability to look at what each mod is ovewriting and being ovewritten by. Huge drawback from one of the most useful features of MO

 

On the MODS page, make sure you have the Dependencies column shown. Click on the Lightning bolt and it will show which mods are in conflict and under each mod how many files are in conflict. If you click on the line showing the number of files in conflict it will show a popup list of which files are in conflict. I hope to see much improvement here. Tannin has already stated that there will be file level overrides in the future. Hopefully, we'll also be able to VIEW the files in conflict, textures, diffs, etc. If not in the app then as an extension.

 

 

• Inability to alter the default launch option

 

If you're talking about launching from the launcher at the top left, you can change that. On the DASHBOARDS page, create a tool with options you want or use one of the preset ones. Click the kabob menu on the tool (the vertical ellipsis) and choose Make Primary.

 

 

• Acessibility to some things seems akward, as an example, why cant i access a mods files by double clicking?

 

On the MODS page, in the Actions column on the far right if you click the down arrow, you can Open in File Manger to get to the mod directory. I have two requests in regarding accessing the download directory or file. 1) adding an Open in File Manager or Open in Archive Tool to the action menu on the DOWNLOADS page, and 2) creating a Tool in DASHBOARD to launch windows explorer.exe: currently it doesn't take a path to open in correctly.

 

 

• The active profile needs to be more evident when it is selected

 

Agree. I wish it showed the active profile along the top of the screen with the active game.

 

 

• Make a quick access from the dashboard of Vortex to these forums, so users can easily find a place with correct information on this manager, as ive been seeing a lot of misunderstandings over how it works, specially people mad that it seems to place mods in the data folder, or why the dev isnt planning on adding bsa pliority handling.

 

Agreed. A link to the forum in the application Kabob menu next to Send Feedback is a great idea.

 

Ty for the heads up on where to find things, also agree with what you said about the file manager.