lethielnyrond Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I feel I have to say this, to anyone who like me mainly wants simply to play the game. If you're just starting out on your SSE modding journey, or if you love nothing better than to get under the hood and have a good old tinker, then ignore this. But if you've been playing with NMM for a while, you've got your game more or less where you want it, and you're tempted by people telling you how much better Vortex is...then think about it very carefully. For one thing, the migration procedure described on the Vortex mod page is nowhere near as clear-cut as it seems from the text. There are definite errors of fact in there that I have found through bitter personal experience, and you will spend a good deal of time trying to sort out the problems that will arise, with (understandably, given the huge number of mods out there) little or no guidance. For another, I'm not at all convinced by Vortex's much-vaunted LOOT-based sorting function. I'm just starting a new playthrough, but I've already noticed that huge swathes of my Vortex-sorted load order are in fact alphabetical, which I know to be wrong. And manual sorting is of course not an option. I'll see how it plays out, but it's a worry. For another, Vortex seems unable to recognise the names or the categories of most of my mods. I have three in my list that are now just called "Main file," and one called "Plugin." I know what they are, of course, because I looked them up, but there is no way that I've found of correcting the misnomers, or of assigning categories to mods. So they're all lumped in together. NMM...just works. The sheer and simple bliss encompassed in those three words is hard to convey. Sure, it's old and no longer being updated, and it has trouble with ESP/ESL files so you really have to stick to the 255-esp limit, but really, how hard is that? Don't underestimate the joy of just being able to launch it, click on the button and play, or of being able to glance down your modlist and see what's where and what it does. That useful information line across the bottom of the screen...you won't find that in Vortex. I know, I know *holding up hands* Vortex is in beta still, it's not ready for full release, and by trying it out we can help participate in the process of making it the thing of beauty and the joy forever that it is surely destined to become. I have nothing but admiration for those who do so, and I will persevere with it and report any further snags in Vortex Feedback on these very forums. I just wish I hadn't leaped quite yet. Lethiel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanchan05 Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 You can still use LOOT with Vortex. You just have to run it from Vortex. And just to be sure, I ran LOOT without applying and just looked through the auto-sorted esps and the sorting is identical with what LOOT wants. Did you deploy the mods after installing? Do you have auto sort enabled? If you install the mod, it detects the proper name. You can also rename it from the right pane that comes up when you double click. You don't have to worry about them being installed and just disable them if you don't want to use it. To be honest it's just the manual sorting and the part where all unsorted mods go to the bottom that I miss with NMM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lethielnyrond Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 I did deploy and I do have auto-sort enabled. I'll definitely start running LOOT from Vortex though. I admit I hadn't discovered that right pane. One up for Vortex. Thank you! Lethiel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algabar Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 As much as I like Vortex, I have to admit you got a point here: The option to rename mods and to assign them to categories would be a very welcome addition. OFC, you can install from file and rename the archive you're about to install beforehand, but that's not very convenient... As for the categories: Vortex simply uses the same ones that NMM did. For mods downloaded from the Nexus, this works. At least for me it does. Mods from other sources are left out. YOu're right. Should be changed at some point. Regarding sorting: I'd turn autosorting off. I install my stuff, then hit "sort" after I'm done with everything. Works. If there are differences to what LOOT does, it might be because of custom rules. I had some custom rules established in LOOT. After I went to the trouble of rebuilding these rules in Vortex, results were identical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangela Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) Uhm.. I just stuck with NMM.. though I guess that's ok because it's been some 2 years since I last installed a mod anyway. But yeah, probably best to voice your concerns in the Vortex forums. It's new, and it should be expected that there will be issues. Edited October 11, 2018 by Rasikko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanchan05 Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 As much as I like Vortex, I have to admit you got a point here: The option to rename mods and to assign them to categories would be a very welcome addition. OFC, you can install from file and rename the archive you're about to install beforehand, but that's not very convenient... As for the categories: Vortex simply uses the same ones that NMM did. For mods downloaded from the Nexus, this works. At least for me it does. Mods from other sources are left out. YOu're right. Should be changed at some point. Regarding sorting: I'd turn autosorting off. I install my stuff, then hit "sort" after I'm done with everything. Works. If there are differences to what LOOT does, it might be because of custom rules. I had some custom rules established in LOOT. After I went to the trouble of rebuilding these rules in Vortex, results were identical.I see the point since some mod authors use abbreviations or different names for their archive files. However, there is something in Vortex that sort of makes this difficult since the installed mod and the archive points to different file locations, unlike how NMM used to do it. Double click the mod. You'll see a pane come out on the right where you can rename and assign the mod to categories and add notes to the mod. However as of now, you can only rename the mod after they've been installed. Which isn't really a problem since you can install multiple instances of a mod anyway. For exmaple I installed All Homes Remodeled and just chose Hearthfire homes only no General Stores, and put those details in the notes. I can right click on it, hit reinstall, select the option for second instance and rename it to All Homes Remodeled 2, then in the notes write that I installed it for all homes with General Stores. One mod archive download, 2 installation instances with different setups that I can disable or enable freely depending on the profile I want. Helps a lot when you're using two profiles with different mod loadouts hence needing different patch setups. Basically it works different, so it does things differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted3897072User Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I've installed Vortex but I'm not letting it manage anything yet, until I understand what it does. What I have discovered, is that if you double-click on a plugin, it brings up a pane on the right where you can change its name, assign it to a group and so on. You can make your own groups just by typing into the field - you don't have to select from the pull-down. This doesn't seem to be documented anywhere that I have found. I think the program probably functions as intended by the developer, but without decent documentation it's hard to tell what the developer's intentions are sometimes. (edit - Ninja'd :D ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lethielnyrond Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Exactly. I think the documentation is the main problem. if I had known about that right-hand pane, say from the migration page, I'd have been a lot less ticked off. So far in my new playthrough everything seems to be working okay... Lethiel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deleted3897072User Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 A lot of programmers find documentation difficult because they leave it until last, by which time they have lost interest in doing it I used to tell my Software Engineering students "Write the end-user documentation first, then design something to do whatever it says and code that". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercury71 Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I am really impressed by how easy it was to get used off Vortex when i started using it few months ago. Used MO for Skyrim and NMM for FO4 and SSE before. There are still some lack off documentation as stated above, i agree. But generally Vortex works very well . As they stated that if you have a stable and well running game.... dont switch tool/organizer! I think there is to many people switching mid game... for no reason. Just like som people updates working mods mid game just because there is an update. Some of the best things with Vortex in my opinion is the built in loot, the rule setting and the FNIS-integration. The one major problem is users not reading in on the program before installing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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