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Please explain the ".installing" files


CloBear33

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Hello.

 

I am relatively new to Vortex and it has been pretty good so far but I cannot figure out the need or reason a lot of my mods are being duplicated with ".installing" file extension.

 

Example:

 

Armor mod

Armor mod.installing

 

See the attached picture for more. Not all my files do this, but many of them do and some of them say "no associated archive" when you hover over them. I've searched all over for about a week now trying to explain this but I am at a loss now.

 

Thank you.

 

 

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It would really help to know some details about your mod installation process. Before installing the mods, did you create and/or ensure that you had a clean game data folder? How did you go about installing your mods? By importing? By downloading? By dragging and dropping?

 

What have you done to resolve the problem? What happens if you remove a mod with the ".installing" extension?

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The first time I started Vortex I followed the exact steps for importing mods from NMM. This is when I saw these files first and thought I could delete them as a byproduct of transferring files from NMM. When I did that, I got A LOT of “some mods could not be searched” errors. From there I did a clean install of the game, vortex, and deleted NMM. After that, all mods came directly from the Nexus to Vortex. I have been trying to follow the STEP guide since then and today I noticed I had about double/triple the mods I should. I download, install, enable, and deploy every mod (in that order). I have removed them via Vortex several times to have them come back when I start Vortex again. It appears that old mods and the .installing copies are not being deleted properly from the mod staging folder causing them to pile up in there. I am currently cutting them from the mod staging folder, and they are not coming back when Vortex is re-started. I am about to load the game to see if it still playable. I'll let you know if this fixes the issue. More of a nuisance than an issue really, my game was playable before I started trying to remove them but seeing over 700 mods bothered me too much as I should only have around 200...

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

***Update: the error I got was not ".esp is not valid", but a "some mods could not be searched" error. I remember because it popped up in red a minute ago when I accidentally removed a mod that was active.

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My guess is that the bothersome mods were leftovers still in your game data folder when you began the process of installing mods for Vortex.

 

If you haven't already, run deploy to set your hardlinks. Then use Vortex purge to clean your game data folder. (You will not lose your Vortex mods by purging. You're simply removing hardlinks which will be restored through Vortex deploy.) After purging, inspect your game data folder and delete anything that is not part of the vanilla game. Once that's done, then go to Steam and verify the integrity of the game files, just to ensure that you didn't throw out any babies with the bathwater. Use Vortex deploy. If my guess is correct, then your game should be scrubbed clean of leftover stuff.

 

Please let me know what happens.

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I wasn't aware of the purge option in Vortex. That cleaned up my files a lot, thanks! However, no files in the mod staging folder were touched. Anything in there from old files or .installing files was still there. I did install two other mods as an experiment and sure enough after I installed them, they each had a deactivated .installing file showing in vortex. The only way to get ride of these was cutting them or deleting them from mod staging folder.

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By design, purging does not touch the mod staging folder. Rather it purges the hardlinks in the game data folder. Re-deploying resets the hardlinks in the game data folder.

 

After you purged, did you see any mod files in the game data folder that were listed on your mods page before the purge? If so, did you delete them, because they do need to be deleted.

 

The .installing files that you mentioned, did you see them in the download folder, or in the mod staging folder, or in both folders?

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After purging I did exactly as you said and removed anything that was non vanilla. After purging, there were a few tools like Bodyslide, Wrye Bash, and Dual Sheath Redux but I deleted those before re-deployment. At no point have the .installing files been in the data folder, only the mod staging folder. Ill try to duplicate it tonight and attach pictures. It would seem that when I right click a mod, select re-install and click the replace button on the pop-up window within Vortex a disabled .installing file appears into my load order the next time I start Vortex. Again I'll verify tonight with pictures.

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As far as the import process, I followed the video guides on you tube STEP by STEP. It made my data folder look like a bomb went off in there. The game would not load until I played around with Vortex for a while and basically had to unistall everything and start from scratch to get the game loadable. I imported around 200 mods. No real error, just CTDs when the same mods were running fine w/NMM. I have since deleted Vortex. I can't get on board with it yet, too many quirks still. The orginal file duplication .installing files was still happening sporadically and when you REMOVE mods, they are never really removed because they sit in the staging folder even if you click delete archive. I have had them come back into my load order so many times it is maddening. Best of luck on future progress with Vortex but I'm going back to NMM until Vortex has been sorted out.

 

Cheers,

 

Brian

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Importing 200 mods from a NMM install is likely to cause problems, due to the way NMM handles mod installs. I suppose that is the root of your problems.

 

Any errors during the import? You just stated that you followed a tutorial, and that it make the "data folder look like a bomb went off in there". What exactly do you mean by that? What exactly happened during the import? Did you get any feedback as to things going wrong etc.

 

Having more information would go a long way in helping us improve the experience for everyone.

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