Suspect Vortex is NOT Saving External Changes

[TedKuruk]

I'm using Vortex to mod Skyrim. I have some level of technical experience (software support decade+) and have been using Skyrim with mods for years.

Recently I have been trying to use the Unique Character mod, to select my own modded skin with tattoos that I used a lot when I was modding through NMM. I am able to install my files, but when I deploy, Vortex prompts me about those files, asking to Save Changes or Revert. I select "Save Changes", but the files seem to be reverting when I load SKSE. I have attempted using the "Revert" option, just for giggles, and it clearly also reverts the files to some backup Vortex has made.

 

I'm also starting to see a problem with the Lanterns mod (just trying it recently), claiming it doesn't have access to it's DLL, when I know user permissions are full control. Now I get the same thing (missing DLL) with SoS, which I reluctantly installed to try and get a better male character texture.

Is it possible I have some permissions error? Is there a bug in Vortex? I mentioned this trouble like a week ago in the Discord group, but it didn't get any real attention that I could see. The author of Unique Character isn't willing to troubleshoot with Vortex, and I don't think it's a conflict specifically with UC anymore anyway. As i work on my own mods, I often work with loose files and make external changes, either for a mod I am releasing or just personal tweaks to things. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

I have installed Vortex to D:\Games\Vortex Mods\, and Skyrim/Steam are also on D:\Games\...\common\Skyrim Special.....

My Windows account has full read/write access on D:\, as it isn't a protected directory and I manually set full control when I setup my computer several years ago.

 

[EDIT: Technical Info you may want]

Vortex Version: 0.16.8

Windows 10 x64

[TedKuruk]

Maybe I've found the problem, now that I stumbled onto the logs. Some part of Vortex is still looking in C:\Program Files (x86)\... which I don't install jack crap into. I'm going to dig through some settings, see if I can find that reference somewhere and set it to D:\....\common\Skyrim....

[Tannin42]

The external changes dialog always assumes that you changed the file in the game directory (since tools will usually work there) - saving changes means applying changes from the game directory to the mod directory.

If you edit the mod directory directly and you want to keep them you need to press "Revert".

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "The Lanterns mod", in general when reporting a problem with a mod, please be specific, ideally by providing a link. And when you get an error message, post the exact error message, when you write "claiming it doesn't have access to it's DLL" I have no idea what this is about. What mod is it? what dll? why does it contain a dll at all? where is the error reported - vortex, the game, startup?

 

What I can say is that Vortex has no known bug where it wouldn't install parts of mods or didn't allow access to files it installed.

[TedKuruk]

I have submitted a log through Vortex and referenced this thread. I've read through the logs myself and the errors I am seeing are not related to anything critical. I have several errors when Vortex tries to identify games I am not using it with; unable to read something in my registry, you can look at the log for the details. And the reference to my C:\ drive I was seeing was just some preference file or something you store in \%user%\AppData, so that makes sense, not an error, and not a Windows protected directory - nothing related to the save/revert setting, I assume.

 

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Problem Mod 1: Unique Character
No Error In-Game. The modified Textures/Meshes simply do not appear on my character. Reverts to default textures/meshes, even though modified textures are present in the correct directory.

 

Steps to Reproduce:

Install UC.

Install custom player texture in Data\Textures\Actors\Character\Unique\Male\Body (Also Data\Meshes\... if you're using a custom body mesh).

Deploy in Vortex, select "Save Changes" when prompted about modified external files.

Run SKSE/SSE

New Game > Male Nord > body texture is the installed, standard, male.

(Since testing SoS, I have discovered that the UC Male body, which is the SSE Vanilla male, is not present in-game either - my character, male, Nord, is using the SoS body installed to all males - which is not what I thought was happening initially, I thought it was defaulting to the standard UC mesh/texture. Perhaps UC is relying on a preference file to redirect the meshes and textures of the player character, and that file is not being written, or is being overwritten.)

 

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Problem Mod 2: Wearable Lanterns

Error In-Game: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SvGdhLeyhIaqdWbYMLZ-8HhS0_SQHTTi

I think I have figured out the lantern issue, which may be part of the larger issue. Whenever I "Deploy Mods" Vortex is reverting my Skyrim Special Edition directory to "Read Only" which causes the error with the lanterns mod. Vortex shouldn't be modifying read/write permissions on my directories.

 

I have tested this by manually disabling "Read Only" on the SSE folder, applying to all sub-folders and files. I then tried the game and the mod worked. I went into Vortex again, hit "Deploy" and the "Read Only" setting was re-enabled. I disabled it again, his "Deploy" again and it toggled back on.

 

Wearable Lanterns uses a preference file in the SKSE\Plugins directory to track user preferences. It cannot be marked "Read Only" or preferences can't be edited in-game. I'm sure its not the only SKSE mod to do this type of thing and I understand it is a fairly popular mod.

 

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Problem Mod 3: Schlongs of Skyrim (Not linking, it's on a forum site that has a lot of adult ads and crap)

 

I don't know why it has a DLL. It's some kinda nudy mod for male characters. I just used it because I wanted a better male body, Unique Character wasn't loading, and it gets mentioned a lot, seemed popular. The error states that it's DLL file isn't installed in the SKSE\Plugins directory, reinstall the mod, but the DLL is there. SoS reports this as a known bug, but 'officially' unknown cause. They have a replacement DLL to use, which works for most users, which I've tried, but Vortex must be reverting it back.

 

There's gotta be a better solution to getting a decent male body. I don't need dongs in Skyrim, but it did cause an error so I figured it was worth reporting.

[Zanderat]

Weird, because Wearable Lanterns works for me in SSE. Only thing I can think is that perhaps PapyrusUtil is storing the info needed incorrectly. Have you tried reinstalling that?

[HadToRegister]

Whenever I "Deploy Mods" Vortex is reverting my Skyrim Special Edition directory to "Read Only" which causes the error with the lanterns mod. Vortex shouldn't be modifying read/write permissions on my directories.

 

What's weird is you say Reverting the directory to "Read Only", which means that for whatever reason the directory was set to "Ready Only" some time before?

 

That shouldn't be the case, especially with Steam, or are you right clicking on the game folder and seeing the blue checkmark meaning some FILES are set to "read Only", but not the entire folder.

I big Blue Box would be the Folder being Read Only, , a smaller blue box means some files are read only.

 

Do you have other NPC mods/textures installed?

Also, is Vortex reporting any conflicts?

The reason I ask, is unless you've used MO or MO2 in the past, the MOD tab might be a new concept to you.

It took me a bit to "get" it at first.

[TedKuruk]

Some files in the directory were marked Read Only (small box). I cleared this manually in folder properties and applied to all objects inside. The small box returns every time I click Deploy.

 

I used NMM in the past. I have over 200 mods loaded. I understand how that works, but I agree the new UI in Vortex is kind of confusing to say the least.

 

Other texture and model replacements work fine, only Unique Character seems to completely fail to do anything, although it is definitely loaded in my load order and I see it listed in-game through a mod I use to browse ESP file contents in game instead of console searching.

 

And Wearable Lanterns works without errors, as long as I manually reset the SKSE directory from Read Only (the mod sorta works without, but no preferences are saved).

 

SoS seems to load everything but the actual dongs, which is sorta fine with me, I don't run around naked, so the gaping hole in my crotch isn't an issue and all the NPCs seem to be defaulting to briefs. However, it gives an error on loading any save, saying I should reinstall it because its DLL can't be found or is a wrong version, even though I can literally tab out and see it in the SKSE\Plugins folder, and I have verified it is the right version.

 

From what I can tell, Vortex seems to run some kind of virtual directory of mods, in order to have the rollback and save changes feature, but it may not be carrying some files into that virtual directory? And/or it seems to be clearly altering file I/O access or something.

[Zanderat]

It still sounds to me like either SKSE or PapyrusUtil needs to be reinstalled. I would do that, at least to minimize variables. My Vortex doesn't have read/write issues and I do use a few .dll type mods..

[TedKuruk]

It still sounds to me like either SKSE or PapyrusUtil needs to be reinstalled. I would do that, at least to minimize variables. My Vortex doesn't have read/write issues and I do use a few .dll type mods..

 

Thanks. I've updated SKSE which generally replaces all the files when it has been updated. It looks like I'm an update behind on PapyrusUtil, so I'm updating that.