I Hate This Experience

[Kifyi]

I have been trying to use Vortex since I found out about it months ago, but at this point, it is the worst part of the modding experience for me. Contending with this piece of software has lead to more problems than MO or NMM combined.

 

I did a fresh installation of FO4 recently and it has taken me 3 days so far to get Vortex to cooperate. Every time I restart the client it wants to reset my base folder, downloads folder and install folder to empty directories. Trying to update the client has made it just sit here for eternity after forcing me to change my downloads folder a fourth time, and the client lacks what I consider basic features, or is so unintuitive that I cannot find them, like a way to just go to the selected mods nexus page, or edit the name of a mod from within the client. A progress bar when it's loading or moving my downloads folder for four hours. It's slow. It seizes up. It displays the wrong files it's supposedly downloading and the download progress gets stuck and never, ever, updates. Why does it constantly make me change directories when updating? Why can't I just keep my old file path? It's not in the vortex installation, it's in a custom directory entirely separate from the client, but needs to change. Why?

 

I had hoped to see improvements to this over the last many months but if anything it has gotten worse. I am uninstalling this and going back to programs that people consider broken, but aren't nearly as unusable as this. I hate being so negative but honestly this is dreadful.

 

Maybe I'm just too used to NMM and MO, I don't know, but for me, this is a massive put off to the entire experience.

[capella6707]

I'm really sorry you're having such a difficult time with Vortex. I've used both MO/MO2 and NMM and, personally, I find modding games with Vortex very easy - although it does require some adjustments in thought processes while working with modding a game, as compared to MO/NMM. I'm currently running Skyrim Special Edition with over 260 mods and it's been crash- and bug-free (including no visual or gameplay oddities) for about 50 hours of playing time on one character.

 

I'd like to respond to a couple of things you mentioned.

 

"a way to just go to the selected mods nexus page" On the Mods tab, double-click any mod and an information window about that mod will slide out from the right. In there, scroll down and you'll see a link that says "Visit on www.nexusmods.com". Click on that and that mod's page will open in a browser window.

 

"edit the name of a mod from within the client." I do this a lot, as some mods' names are quite odd/unhelpful ("Update 1.1", or (Part 1), etc). You can only rename a mod that is in Disabled or Enabled status. To do so, again, in that slide-out window, near the top, below the mod's picture you'll see its name in a text box. Just type in what you want to name it there.

 

"A progress bar when it's loading or moving my downloads folder for four hours" - I agree on this one, and actually. I put in a feature request for this, so hopefully, that'll be seen in a future release.

 

"download progress gets stuck and never, ever, updates" - While I agree that the current download progress feature is clunky, at best, in my experience it does update - even for 1GB+ files. However, Vortex does freeze up for a short time for me, too, on very large files.

 

I'd just recommend asking why it seems you can't do something or why something is happening, or how to do something.

[Kifyi]

Thanks for replying and explaining how to get to web pages/rename files! That will definitely be helpful the next time I use Vortex. However, it doesn't get me past my main issues of constantly telling me to change my directories, or even better, doing it without telling me. That has happened a few times when restarting, even if Vortex doesn't crash. :)

 

I don't think it is the intent of Vortex to make my modding experience worse than doing it manually, but it has managed to do that. My favorite parts are not telling me why something doesn't work or why it needs to change directories again, and again.

[HadToRegister]

If you're using Vortex 0.16.0+ then it has it's own method of setting up Folders etc for each Game (From what I've read of the release)

 

From the 0.16.0 release announcement -

 

The new version 0.16.0 (currently only in testing) is a major update. This doesn't really mean that it's super large or anything. The changes aren't pure additions but may force you to change how you use Vortex.

 

The reason I'm mentioning this for the 0.16.0 is this: This version changes the directory structure where downloads are stored. (*)

Vortex will automatically move your downloads to match the new structure so ideally you shouldn't have to do much except for selecting the download dir and wait for all moves to be complete.

 

However there is no "inverse" migration if you go from 0.16.0 to an older version. This means once you're updated to 0.16.0 you can't go back. Or rather: If you go back Vortex won't find your downloads anymore.

 

This version also contains updates to hundreds of third-party libraries used by Vortex. This may fix issues we didn't cause directly, improve security and performance and all the other good stuff updates bring with them, but there is a good chance that they will also introduce new bugs. (hopefully fewer new bugs than got fixed)

 

(*) This is primarily to make configuration easier and to address issues related to cases where multiple games that are individual games in vortex but are one section on Nexus Mods (e.g. Skyrim VR and Fallout VR sharing the Nexus section with SSE and Fallout 4 respectively).

 

Maybe you're running into something that is in the new Vortex version, that you are unknowingly fighting with?

[Kifyi]

Well if it won't let me set up my own folders then it isn't worth using. I have my games installed on one drive, and all my downloaded mods on another.

[HadToRegister]

Well if it won't let me set up my own folders then it isn't worth using. I have my games installed on one drive, and all my downloaded mods on another.

 

That could be your problem

[capella6707]

Well if it won't let me set up my own folders then it isn't worth using. I have my games installed on one drive, and all my downloaded mods on another.

 

And you can do just that. As I said in my answer, I have a downloads folder on a network drive, which is where, when I click Download with NMM on a mod page at Nexusmods.com, Vortex downloads the mod archive file to.

 

Now, as far as the installation folder, that must be on the same drive as the drive that the game is installed on. But, don't forget, "installing" a mod is not the same as Vortext "deploying" it. The install folder is separate from the game's data folder. Deploying a mod is what puts the hardlink in the data folder. Perhaps this process is what you're referring to as far as not being able to specify folders?

 

As I mentioned earlier, Vortex works a little differently than NMM and MO, but for very good reasons - and the result is a deceptively powerful mod manager in an easy-to-use package. You just have to take a bit of time to learn how Vortex works.

 

Keep in mind that it may not be working the way you think it should, but that's different than it working a certain way for a good reason that you might not understand.

[Kifyi]

Okay, so, I let Vortex sit forever as it updated to the latest version, but now it just tells me there's no deployment method available. I've tried a number of different folders, none of them in the vortex main folder, but none of them work it just keeps saying the same thing and I don't know what it's looking for.

 

I'm trying to get it working as intended because it doesn't seem like most people hate it the way I do. I want to work with it and understand it, I'm just having trouble.

[UrizenDe]

For some games, the modspath needs to be on the same drive as the game. In my example, I have Skyrim SE on E: and thats where my mods have to be installed onto. If you don´t do that, Vortex cannot deploy them for Gamebryo games. ( Trust me, Symlinks don´t work. Worse than snipmods that lot. )

[HadToRegister]

Okay, so, I let Vortex sit forever as it updated to the latest version, but now it just tells me there's no deployment method available. I've tried a number of different folders, none of them in the vortex main folder, but none of them work it just keeps saying the same thing and I don't know what it's looking for.

 

I'm trying to get it working as intended because it doesn't seem like most people hate it the way I do. I want to work with it and understand it, I'm just having trouble.

 

There's no deployment method available because you have the mods on one drive and the games on the other.

You've been told this in this thread.

Are you not reading any of the responses?