Oblivion Modding BOSS vs. Vortex - Fight!

[Zanderat]

Recently reinstalled Oblivion. Had to do the repacking gymnastics to make some of the older mods manager friendly. My remaing issue is this: BOSS simply works better for Oblivion rather than LOOT. However, even with "auto sort" turned off, Vortex still enforces its own load order on the game. Shouldn't it simply accept BOSS's load order? What am I missing here?

[Pickysaurus]

Wasn't BOSS retired in favour of LOOT (which we both know Vortex uses)?

 

What makes you say BOSS works better?

[HadToRegister]

LOOT FAQS

Do I have to switch from BOSS to LOOT?

 

No. However, BOSS is no longer maintained for games other than Oblivion, and LOOT generally provides superior functionality.

[Zanderat]

But it is maintained for Oblivion (last masterlist update was four days ago)....... Also, it is more aware of the older mods and handles them correctly. LOOT basically just dumps them all into the default category. With BOSS, no need for custom rules (mostly). For everything else, yes, LOOT is better.

 

Anyway, this isn't about which is better. My question was why does Vortex enforce load order on a game with the auto-sort turned off?

 

Thanks.

[AugustaCalidia]

My experience mirrors Zanderat's. It's been several years now since I've played Oblivion, but LOOT sorting would make my game unworkable, whereas BOSS sorting never caused any problems. As I said, that was several years ago, and now it's a new day and many things have changed.

 

@HTR

 

You're the Vortex + Oblivion expert here. How well does LOOT sorting handle Oblivion for you?

 

@Zanderat

 

 

My question was why does Vortex enforce load order on a game with the auto-sort turned off?

 

Good question.

Edited February 19, 2020 by AugustaCalidia

[Pickysaurus]

I'm curious, is there a good reason why the community refused to adopt LOOT wholesale?

 

Could the BOSS data not simply be copied into LOOT?

 

(BOSS is before my time, I've always used LOOT).

 

The other suggestion would be for someone to make a BOSS extension for Vortex, which would probably have to be mutually exclusive to LOOT for the sake of sanity.

[Zanderat]

I would think the easiest way is for Vortex to actually do what the disable auto sort button says it will do? :dry:

[HadToRegister]

But it is maintained for Oblivion (last masterlist update was four days ago)....... Also, it is more aware of the older mods and handles them correctly. LOOT basically just dumps them all into the default category. With BOSS, no need for custom rules (mostly). For everything else, yes, LOOT is better.

 

Anyway, this isn't about which is better. My question was why does Vortex enforce load order on a game with the auto-sort turned off?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

I would think the easiest way is for Vortex to actually do what the disable auto sort button says it will do? :dry:

That's not the issue here, the issue is, that Boss is writing a Plugins.txt, or a sort order, however, it's not getting applied to Vortex's PLUGINS.TXT, so whether sorting in Vortex is turned on or off, the list just resorts back to the Vortex PLUGINS.TXT

 

BOSS is BEFORE Vortex, so I doubt it can communicate properly with Vortex like LOOT can.

Why not go on the LOOT Discord and ask them to incorporate the newest updates from BOSS for Oblivion?

 

[HadToRegister]

My experience mirrors Zanderat's. It's been several years now since I've played Oblivion, but LOOT sorting would make my game unworkable, whereas BOSS sorting never caused any problems. As I said, that was several years ago, and now it's a new day and many things have changed.

 

@HTR

 

You're the Vortex + Oblivion expert here. How well does LOOT sorting handle Oblivion for you?

 

 

 

I didn't have any problems just using built in LOOT with Vortex.

[Zanderat]

My load order was a disaster with LOOT (for Oblivion).

• My solution is to download a mod.
• Repack if necessary.
• Install with Vortex.
• Then close Vortex.
• Open Wrye (latest nightly version).
• Run BOSS from there and then rebuild BASH patch, if necessary.

Works perfectly, if slightly inconvenient.