Mod development while using vortex

[gorshkov]

I'm thinking about switching to vortex full time, but I have a question first.

 

I have mod A - one that I developed - in my load order, in my gaming profile.

I have another profile that I use to mod development.

 

If I work in dev profile, make changes/recompile etc, and switch to game profile, will the game use the newer files? If I then switch back to the dev profile, will I have lost my work in progress?

 

Same question for various ini files - in some circumstances, I have different settings (logging options, memory usage, etc). Some in system ini files, some belonging to various mods.

[rmm200]

If you have a production version and a development version, I would suggest giving them different version numbers.

Then set your profiles to the appropriate version. Each version is it's own self-contained mod.

Mods with the same name and version share game directory changes across profiles - if committed at deploy time.

A significant exception to this is FNIS (thank goodness) which gets a profile specific mod with FNIS changes.

Others may give different opinions.

[gorshkov]

well that's the thing - while it's in development, it doesn't *have* a version number - that's the whole point. If I add, for example, a new script and compile it it's not in an "installed" mod - it's new. New .psc, new .pex, and new (modified) esp or esm. I don't want it to disappear if I switch, nor do I want it to affect my game profile.

[Tannin42]

When you add new files, vortex has no way of knowing which mod they belong to so it won't touch them at all, thus the files will affect your game profile as well and they won't get removed.

You'd have to create a new mod (simply add a directory to the vortex mods directory and restart Vortex) then move/copy your files to that mod and enable it only in your dev profile.

 

When you do develop on a mod you have enabled through vortex you will, next time vortex deploys, get a dialog telling you you have made changes with an external tool to files vortex manages. It then allows you to import those changes or revert them. Please be very careful you understand what Vortex is telling you before applying because at that point you may loose your work if you get it wrong. Maybe make a backup of your changes on the first time.

Basically when vortex says "File content modified" it means "the files in the game directory are different from the files in the mod directory" and it assumes the ones in the game directory are the "modified" ones so "applying" means "copy the files from the game directory to the mod directory overwriting the existing ones". If you're editing files with the CK or something, working in the game directory, that's what you want.