Can I delete my downloaded mods after dropping them into Vortex?

[fredricmourath]

So, when I download mods, I first manually download them into a folder on my drive, and then drop them into Vortex, at which point Vortex creates instances of those same mods in its own downloads folders. Can I delete the downloaded mods in my first folder without it affecting Vortex's operations?

Thanks!

[anjenthedog]

Yes, if you have no desire to archive them (for times when authors leave and remove their mods)

 

As long as vortex has it's local archive (user/AppData/Local/whatever-game-name/whichever-mod-name/) folder and the installed components, you should be good to go for *playing.

 

Again, IFF you don't want to locally archive the source (as "computer owner") the .7z/zip/whatever files from which they come.

 

be aware that if you uninstall a mod and choose remove source, the local archive will be "irretrievably" deleted.

 

Why am I bothering to say more than the first sentence? Because some authors leave and some of those leave and take their basketball too. I use one mod that falls into that category which I like very much (provides cherry trees in the rift area of skyrim) , and I'm glad I had the foresight to archive it. (actually I have about a dozen that fall into that category of "it don't exist no more", but whatever) , and because goshdernitall I'm a nice guy (sometimes) and don't want to see anyone else realize *after the fact* that they just lost some cool mod they simply love, because they figured it'd still be around to download later, only to discover to their horror it's gone and there's no getting in touch with the author to beg a last ditch personal file transfer, since they're gone too..

 

So my advise on that front is simple: At least consider archiving (separate from the vortex "working" archive) any that you "can't live without". A reasonably large memory stick can be bought for under ten bucks if your HD space is that tight.

 

And if you have no intention of archiving and use Vortex as your mod manager, just use the Vortex button next time, instead of manually downloading and then installing... In fact, that's how I do it. I initially install via the vortex button, then if I play, enjoy it enough that I decide it'll be a "permanent" component of my game, I'll download again manually and archive it, the description (in a txt file), and photos where applicable then zip the whole shebang up for safe-keeping on my secondary drive. ps> photos I usually download are for follower types or armor, since they give me a quick view of what "that" mod is after not seeing it for a while...

[fredricmourath]

Thanks for the answer, that clears it up! Smart, I'll keep all that in mind. Someone who had archived Solid Project for Fallout: New Vegas saved my ass when I was looking for it, haha!

 

The reason I manually download is because I've heard of Vortex borking dowloads on rare occasions. I experienced it personally when I tried a quest mod called Barrenwood for Fallout 4, and the quests were all bugged out. That might just have been the Nexus servers, but I decided to not take any chances from then on.

 

Thanks again!

[rmm200]

Mods are packed in an archive, like .rar or .zip. Each one has an associated checksum.

Mods downloaded by Vortex can not get "borked". Maybe the download will fail, but Vortex will not be able to unpack a mod with a bad checksum.