Do not put mods/downloads into your Vortex install directory!

[GlassDeviant]

 

Because that's the default setting of Vortex. You can change it (and you should in my opinion). But why they chose "AppData\Roamin" as the default, is beyond me.

While I can't speak for Tannin, I assume it's because that's where that data is actually supposed to go according to Microsoft (source: https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2016/05/03/getting-started-with-roaming-app-data/).

 

 

That's where Roaming data goes, according to the very article you linked. Here is a more relevant, though slightly older, article that goes into greater detail about the prescribed locations for user data and which of them to use, depending on what type of data is being stored: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/apps/hh464917(v=win.10)

 

 

I don't know about you, or really anyone else but myself, but I don't have multiple devices that can run any of the games Vortex manages (or really any game that I have, on any device). Putting mods into a roaming profile only makes sense for someone who has a use for mods being synchronized across multiple devices, AND can afford the massive amount of bandwidth that would be chewed up by transferring what may well be gigabytes of data, depending on how large a users mod collection is.

 

Perhaps on installation of Vortex, a choice of whether to store the files in Local or Roaming would be the best most flexible alternative, with a brief explanation of why one would choose Roaming, and I would suggest Local be the default. Or it could be done in a slightly more complex way by having a choice of Local or Roaming on a per-game basis.

[Tannin42]

That's where Roaming data goes, according to the very article you linked. Here is a more relevant, though slightly older, article that goes into greater detail about the prescribed locations for user data and which of them to use, depending on what type of data is being stored: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/apps/hh464917(v=win.10)

 

I don't know about you, or really anyone else but myself, but I don't have multiple devices that can run any of the games Vortex manages (or really any game that I have, on any device). Putting mods into a roaming profile only makes sense for someone who has a use for mods being synchronized across multiple devices, AND can afford the massive amount of bandwidth that would be chewed up by transferring what may well be gigabytes of data, depending on how large a users mod collection is.

 

Perhaps on installation of Vortex, a choice of whether to store the files in Local or Roaming would be the best most flexible alternative, with a brief explanation of why one would choose Roaming, and I would suggest Local be the default. Or it could be done in a slightly more complex way by having a choice of Local or Roaming on a per-game basis.

How many people here do you think actually use roaming profiles on their gaming pc? Because for everyone else it doesn't matter in the slightest. Asking a question during installation that isn't going to matter for at least 99.9% of users would be soooo stupid.

And those that do have roaming profiles can still disable it for vortex so they already have all the customization necessary without annoying everyone during installation.

[GlassDeviant]

That's my basic point, Vortex should use the Local folder rather than the Roaming folder by default. I was just trying to be "inclusive" by suggesting the possibility of an option. As you said, 99.9% of users have absolutely no use whatsoever for roaming profiles. My preference would have been to just set Vortex to use Local by default and then let people ask or figure out for themselves how to switch it to Roaming if they wanted to, but I wasn't going to suggest that my personal preference be "the way Vortex does it".

[Tannin42]

What would be the point of that option? Please explain to me a scenario where use of the roaming directory is a problem?

[Grestorn]

Well, if you'd actually HAVE a roaming profile, it could become a problem. But this discussion is moot, we've had it already, and I understand that you don't want to change this - which probably wouldn't to be easy anyway, since you'd have to add code to move existing installations, which is not worth the hassle.

 

I can imagine that electron/node.js even uses Roaming as a default location (for tools with a small footprint and which are usually used on mini-clients, which seems to be a proper use-case for node.js apps, this might even be a good idea) and that you just went along with that. I still think it's a suboptimal decision, but one most people can certainly live with.

[Tannin42]

If you actually have a roaming profile you can configure what to synchronize with the tools you already know so It would still not make sense to have an option inside Vortex.

And if someone does want their mod setup to roam with their user account you can do it.

The point is: With the current setup you have all options. A change would either introduce redundant settings or disable options.

[geoangle]

I don't install anything to C, let alone Program Files. As a general rule of thumb, last time I knew, that was the first thing to avoid when modding (ie avoid putting games and mods and modding tools to protected directories).

You on the Nexus team forget that so many other programs default to the C: drive that C: drives fill up faster than a glass of water from a tanker truck! That sucks!

Sorry this comment went to the wrong place. I'm not used to complaining about Nexus. I'll try to put it where it belongs, also.

[geoangle]

 

I don't install anything to C, let alone Program Files. As a general rule of thumb, last time I knew, that was the first thing to avoid when modding (ie avoid putting games and mods and modding tools to protected directories).

 

This is a bad rule.

It's probably advice given for Morrowind, 15 years ago by people who didn't know better at the time and since then people follow it like it's been brought down from a mountain on a stone tablet.

But it's not a good idea today, this problem is testament to that.

 

Vortex is a standard conformant windows application, using a standard installer with default settings. It behaves like 95% of Windows applications out there, yet people manage to screw up their install and delete their data by using non-default install locations and manually changing their settings.

At that point you should ask yourself if maybe your "house rules" are standing in your way more than they help you.

 

The reason people may have advised you to avoid putting modding tools into "program files" is because those modding tools tried to write files (logs, mods, ...) to their installation directory. Vortex doesn't do that, so the advise doesn't apply.

The reason people may have advised you to avoid putting games into "program files" is because otherwise the write protection would prevent you from putting mods in there. But you could just as well disable the write protection punctually for the data directory. This is less work and more secure.

And most of the time you don't even have to do that because Steam (by default afaik) already allows writing to all game directories. So again, this advise doesn't apply for most games today.

 

I don't put new programs into my C: drive because it fills up so fast with other programs that demand that drive. My C: drive fills up faster than a glass of water from a tanker truck, so screw that rule for THAT reason. I'm being PRACTICAL, not "old rules stupid."

[Tannin42]

 

I don't install anything to C, let alone Program Files. As a general rule of thumb, last time I knew, that was the first thing to avoid when modding (ie avoid putting games and mods and modding tools to protected directories).

You on the Nexus team forget that so many other programs default to the C: drive that C: drives fill up faster than a glass of water from a tanker truck! That sucks!

Sorry this comment went to the wrong place. I'm not used to complaining about Nexus. I'll try to put it where it belongs, also.

 

 

You can change the directory where Vortex stores data files from settings - if you absolutely need to you can install the Vortex application itself to a different drive by using the "custom install location" installer.

The only thing that then remains on C is the settings/metadata database, a couple of MB.

Considering other applications are storing gigabytes worth of data on C: and people aren't complaining about that makes me think people are overreacting a bit.

[bhsup]

I am so glad I read this thread! I guess it's finally time to break myself of the habit of manually installing a lot of things to C:\BIN that I've done since the 80s. (along with C:\DAT,. C:\UTL, etc). I did a dry run with the custom installer and manually moving the download directory, but it didn't work like I planned, so went searching and found this thread.

 

To Tannin and everyone else here, thank you for educating me on why things are now done the way they're done. It'll be hard to adjust, but I'll get used to it.