Feature request: Dependencies

[idthetarget]

Hello!

 

I'm a Linux admin for several versions of Linux. One thing that all of the package managers have is automatic dependency resolution. If I use apt or yum or whatever to install a package, the management tool will check the repository and install the dependencies, all at one fell swoop. This means that I no longer have to spend days downloading source code and compiling dependencies to get a package to work.

 

With Vortex, there are certain mods that I'd like to try. But I check the "Requires", and there are several dependencies. Then as I check each dependency, THAT package has dependencies. It's like I'm twenty years ago in the bad old days of Linux again, doing everything manually for days to get one package to work, and then NEVER updating because it was such a pain to get everything to work the first time.

 

I just want to play the game, hopefully with what look like some very cool mods. The mods have their dependencies identified in NexusMod. Isn't there some way to have an option for Vortex to (1) backup a config as it stands, (2) download the mod and all dependencies, (3) install and enable the mod and all dependencies, and if that breaks stuff (4) return to the save state?

 

Thank you!

[Pickysaurus]

This is something we definitely want to make easier in future. We already have some ideas about how to make it work but will probably be talking to a focus group about it when the time comes.

[Tannin42]

The dependencies the site shows you are just link to another mod site. That other mod could exist in many different versions and variations (e.g. skyrim armor mods supporting different base bodies). These dependencies do not specify which of those variations to get or which version is compatible. There isn't even a robust way tell which version is the newest because the version field could say "1.0" and "1.1" or it could say "the last one" and "the lastest one".

 

The comparison with Linux isn't valid because with Linux you have distributions that enforce proper versioning and packaging of applications whereas on Nexus Mods every mod is individually maintained by the author.

 

The problem here isn't a technical one - Vortex already has the functionality to identify and install dependencies - it's a problem of responsibilities. The only way for Nexus Mods to actually offer this functionality in a way that can be automated is to either enforce much stricter rules when uploading mods or by taking that responsibility away from the mod author entirely. Neither would go over well with the people who create the actual contents. Besides: both these solutions have their own challenges (e.g. just enforcing stricter rules doesn't fix all the mods already uploaded).

[MikeInWare]

This is a good feature request

 

[agc93]

Just to expand further on Tannin's comments, Vortex's dependency management features are actually very capable already, especially when combined with a couple of its other internal features. There's at least one (I think only the one) case that's using them now and they work exactly how you'd expect them to: prompts for automatic installations, warnings on missing dependencies, version range matching, the works.

 

As Tannin said, the issue is in the source of the mods: Nexus Mods listings are author-maintained not curated or enforced.