Just borked over an hour spent on my Skyrim INI files.

[JnthnRBttchr]

This is more of a rant because when it happened and I realized it I got pretty pissed off that it reverted my entire INI edits that I spent over an hour tweaking for Skyrim without any notifications about this about to happen. So pissed off right now, oh my god...

 

Like I understand WHY they have this as I assume it's required in some fashion but my god atleast TELL ME FIRST.

 

I had it all Categorized and tweaked with S.T.E.P and everything... beyond frustrated and pissed off right now. FFS.

 

/Rant

[Tannin42]

Vortex doesn't revert ini changes, at least not intentionally so what's there to inform about?

If what you saw actually happened and wasn't user error it's a bug and we'd need a proper write up of what transpired to be able to investigate it.

[HadToRegister]

This is more of a rant because when it happened and I realized it I got pretty pissed off that it reverted my entire INI edits that I spent over an hour tweaking for Skyrim without any notifications about this about to happen. So pissed off right now, oh my god...

 

Like I understand WHY they have this as I assume it's required in some fashion but my god atleast TELL ME FIRST.

 

I had it all Categorized and tweaked with S.T.E.P and everything... beyond frustrated and pissed off right now. FFS.

 

/Rant

 

 

So....is this about Vortex?

 

Also, why are you spending an HOUR tweaking your skyrim.ini?

 

Also, after spending an hour editing your skyrim.ini, what folder did you make a backup of it in case something went wrong?

[Rattledagger]

Vortex doesn't revert ini changes, at least not intentionally so what's there to inform about?

If what you saw actually happened and wasn't user error it's a bug and we'd need a proper write up of what transpired to be able to investigate it.

 

 

This is "good" old bug 4956, that accordng to my latest report from 8. September 2019,

https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/Vortex/issues/4956#issuecomment-529204139

does include log-files showing Vortex broken logic. This logic can easily be summed-up in this quote from the same message:

 

As an added bonus, the files that does not include the latest edits are copied to the profile-independent part by Vortex, while some profile-specific files are copied in the other direction.

 

Now, since it seems Vortex don't want to include the save-game path in the ini-files, the correct logic for switching from profile 1 to profile 2 should be:

1: Take the contents of *.ini files, remove save-game path and put the rest of the contents in *.ini.base

2: Copy *.ini.base to profile1\*.ini

3: Copy profile2\*.ini to *.ini.base

4: Add contents of *.ini.base + save-game path to *.ini

 

Unfortunate, that Vortex actually does is:

Skip step 1

Copy *.ini.base to profile-independent\*.ini

Do step 3

Do step 4

Meaning, Vortex only does 50% of the steps correctly ==> changes made by you or the game to games ini-files don't survive switching between profiles in Vortex.

[Tannin42]

Just because you reported it doesn't make it a fact.

The .ini.base file already contains your ini customizations (after deployment) and none of the ini edits vortex made, that's why step 1 is unnecessary and copying .ini.base does exactly what you'd expect: backup your ini edits.

 

And whether the ini.base is copied to the profile ini or to the profile-independent ini depends on whether you even have the profile-local ini settings enabled.

 

None of that explains how ini customizations would get lost

[StormWolf01]

 

Also, after spending an hour editing your skyrim.ini, what folder did you make a backup of it in case something went wrong?

 

*Reads this*

*Reads first two lines in own signature*

*nodding head up and down repeatedly*

 

So I just want to add a bit to what HTR was saying, about making backups of major changes. You cannot do this with some types of files, but with .ini files, you can change the filename or the extension of the filename, if you want to keep your backup copies of the file, right there in the same folder.

For example, in Fallout4 we have a file called Fallout4.ini

We can change that to BackupFallout4.ini or Fallout4.saveini pretty much changing the name to anything that the game or the installers aren't going to look for and use, will make the backups safe from external changes.

HOWEVER..... as HTR was saying... I DON'T recommend making the permanent backup as being placed in the same folder as the file. IF the FOLDER they're in, gets removed or deleted, then both your source, and your backup are both borked in one fell swoop.

 

[Edit] Also in some games, some mods can make changes to your ini files too. In cases like that, it depends on whether or not the mod includes a pre-written .ini file, or whether they use a script to inject the required lines into the ini file. Which is part of why you want to rename your backups.

[AugustaCalidia]

For me Windows copy-paste is a fast and easy way to back up INI files. I make the backup in its original folder and then backup the entire folder itself to an external drive. Having made too many mistakes in the past, I now err on the side of extreme caution.

[Rattledagger]

The .ini.base file already contains your ini customizations (after deployment) and none of the ini edits vortex made, that's why step 1 is unnecessary and copying .ini.base does exactly what you'd expect: backup your ini edits.

Doing two quick tests with Vortex v1.1.7:

 

Test 1:

Use Skyrim launcher to edit SkyrimPrefs.ini, verify the file is changed

Switch profiles in Vortex

==> None of the changes is present in any of the SkyrimPrefs.ini files, not even the profile-independent one.

 

Test 2:

Use Skyrim launcher to edit SkyrimPrefs.ini, verify the file is changed

Deploy

Switch profiles in Vortex

==> The profile-independent SkyrimPrefs.ini now includes the changes.

 

Since you don't need to run Vortex for playing modded games, I would guess a fairly common Vortex usage is:

Add all mods you want to profile 1, fix conflicts etc. --> exit Vortex --> play game for hours/days/weeks, this can include multiple edits of ini-files --> re-start Vortex and immediately switch to profile 2.

 

This type of usage will follow test 1, meaning possibly all edits done to ini-files are lost, unless Vortex includes step 1.

[Tannin42]

I've already explained on github what the bug is with switching profiles, there is no logical error in the existing process.

 

But you need to stop jumping to conclusions. You made two large posts now full with misleading information that is bound to confuse people - all relating to your own issue (which yes, is a bug).

But the OP didn't say that he was switching games. For all we know he has a different problem, potentially a completely separate bug, and you're hindering every chance we have to get to the bottom of it by hijacking this post.

To investigate we need an unbiased description of the problem from the person affected which is really difficult when you try to convince everyone that every issue remotely connected to ini files is the same issue as yours.

 

Let the OP describe his problem in detail and if it turns out that yes the ini entries got lost after switching to a different game then yes, we can conclude that it's probably the same issue. not before.