Will copying a directory completely break the game?

[RngrHawk]

Eyy, so I've been wondering about one thing for a while now. I have had so many troubles with modding Fallout games, it is like torture going back again and again to mod the same game for another 10 days until it decides to come up with millions of compatibility issues and whatnot. So I was thinking, after my game is ready, working, and modded the way I wanted it to be modded, can I simply backup the entire directory and then simply paste it on top of a freshly installed game directory later on without having to use mod managers and without any issues? This question obviously doesn't apply to games that receive updates, mostly I am asking about Fallout NV. This might seem like a stupid question for some I would guess, but going back to Fallout games for me is like traveling through hell before I can actually play the game. Thanks!

[rmm200]

Be careful about what your copy tool does with hard links. If it does a "Deep copy", that should work because the actual mod will be copied. Your backup will be a lot bigger than the source directory.
If it just copies the links - that will never work. Your mods won't be part of the backup.

Bottom line - what you propose is not recommended.

[RngrHawk]

So even if I have my entire directory, with all the mods, installed manually, backing it up into an archive and then extracting it into an empty game's directory won't work? Now this is some bad news.

Edited January 18, 2019 by marekto98

[rmm200]

Hard links are not used with manually installed mods. I was talking about mods installed by Vortex.

Install all your mods manually and the backup you make will be a complete copy.

Not the way I would do it - but whatever works for you.

[RngrHawk]

Ah, I see. What are the main pros and cons of modding manually compared to modding with a manager? I mean, I've modded my games both ways and as far as I can tell, modding manually is simply a little harder to organize and slightly more time consuming, but ultimately, in my opinion, it's a more solid installation.

[rmm200]

There are a lot of reasons...

When you mod manually and two mods replace the same file, one mod actually overwrites the other. There is no way to go back,

You can't decide the order has to be different.

When you install mods manually, you have no tools to even help you with those conflicts.

When you install mods manually, you have no idea where all the pieces are, and if you want to remove the mod - good luck finding them.

That will do for a start.

[M48A5]

I would like to give you my experience in moving my Fallout 3 from the original drive to a new drive that I installed.

I first installed the game and DLCs on the new drive. I then installed my mod manager. I started the game from the launcher so that the graphics would be set and to create the .ini files.

I opened the game folder that was on the new drive and then opened the game folder on the old drive. I then dragged and dropped the entire game folder from the old drive to the new drive, using the "copy here" command and allowing for overwrite. I then opened the game folder in "My Documents" and again dragged and dropped the entire folder from the old drive to the new drive. Again using the command "copy here".

 

I opened my mod manager and insured that the load order was correct and started the game. I used the "Load" command to load my last save and continued where I left off.

 

Everything ran without a problem.

[HadToRegister]

Ah, I see. What are the main pros and cons of modding manually compared to modding with a manager? I mean, I've modded my games both ways and as far as I can tell, modding manually is simply a little harder to organize and slightly more time consuming, but ultimately, in my opinion, it's a more solid installation.

 

 

I dare you to manually install "Sands of Time" mod for Skyrim SE

It has over 6500 loose files.

 

Manually installing mods is for people who think it makes them look 'elite'

[RngrHawk]

I would like to give you my experience in moving my Fallout 3 from the original drive to a new drive that I installed.

I first installed the game and DLCs on the new drive. I then installed my mod manager. I started the game from the launcher so that the graphics would be set and to create the .ini files.

I opened the game folder that was on the new drive and then opened the game folder on the old drive. I then dragged and dropped the entire game folder from the old drive to the new drive, using the "copy here" command and allowing for overwrite. I then opened the game folder in "My Documents" and again dragged and dropped the entire folder from the old drive to the new drive. Again using the command "copy here".

 

I opened my mod manager and insured that the load order was correct and started the game. I used the "Load" command to load my last save and continued where I left off.

 

Everything ran without a problem.

Ah this was a very helpful comment! And, in fact, exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! ^^

[RngrHawk]

There are a lot of reasons...

When you mod manually and two mods replace the same file, one mod actually overwrites the other. There is no way to go back,

You can't decide the order has to be different.

When you install mods manually, you have no tools to even help you with those conflicts.

When you install mods manually, you have no idea where all the pieces are, and if you want to remove the mod - good luck finding them.

That will do for a start.

Most of this I know already. Also, when it comes to the order, you can simply sort it in a manager such as NMM since all the plugins will appear regardless. Thanks for the reply! ^^

Edited January 18, 2019 by marekto98