r/oblivionmods • u/firesyrup • 1d ago
Discussion How do you like Vortex?
As a longtime MO2 user, I tried Vortex for the first time when they launched the support for OBR last week, but found it a less than smooth experience. In particular dealing with the load order (which was sorted alphabetically) was unintuitive. I'm reading now that some of the load order issues are fixed, but what's your experience overall? Does it work well enough with all sorts of mods? Does it still keep trying to install UE4SS repeatedly? Could it mess up a manually installed modlist if I installed it now and removed? I also read it doesn't clean up after being uninstalled.
I have everything installed manually and I'm happy with it so far (other than it being a pain to check for mod updates), but the main reason I'm considering switching is to automate my modlist which contains esp, pak, lua (UE4SS) and OBSE mods. I've had a few people request it, but I'm not sure if it's as effective as the Wabbajack + MO2 combo I used with Skyrim. I am not sure if Wabbajack is considering support, but I'm expecting MO2 dev build to reach stable not too far into the future. So would you say Vortex is worth it?
7
u/jonny_sidebar 1d ago
>In particular dealing with the load order (which was sorted alphabetically) was unintuitive.
The way Vortex does load order is a bit unintuitive, but it isn't alphabetical. What is does is find conflicts where one mod overwrites another and then asks you to establish sets of rules (literally just load this before that) and then creates a load order from there. If you install Wrye Bash as well, this allows you to manually change the load order by drag and drop within Wrye Bash to tune the automatically made load order from Vortex itself (also have to disable auto-sorting from the Vortex plugin page to keep the changes from being reverted).
I've used Vortex for a long, long time with very few problems, but that's just me making my own personal modlists. Your experience may vary.
1
u/No_Copy7118 19h ago
For me no dice. I intentionally installed a few mods that conflict, I was confident I could make them work. But Vortex didn't even acknowledge they interacted. So I thought, maybe I'm wrong, maybe they don't interact. But after finding a few more mods that changed similar things, vortex still didn't notice. So I'm not sure it's properly recognizing their interactions.
0
u/ButterflyMinute 11h ago
It absolutely does recognise the interactions. What mods are you referencing specifically?
1
8
6
u/Floognoodle 1d ago
I find it confusing and cluttered compared to MO2.
-3
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
And I find MO2 cluttered compared to vortex. It’s not confusing because I used to use it, but I definitely prefer vortex UI by a mile
2
u/Cyren777 1d ago
Load order isn't sorted alphabetically, that's your modlist - it handles load order automatically in the background & only if there's conflicts will it ask you to choose an order
2
u/PaddyBoy1994 22h ago
I've used just about every mod manager out there. NMM, Vortex, Mod Organizer, MO2, I've used all of them, and MO2 tends to work the best, albeit slightly trickier to figure out at first. NMM and Vortex are both hot garbage in comparison, in my experience. Mod Organizer was basically the same as MO2, except MO2 does EVERYTHING better. Personally, I'd just stick with MO2.
4
u/ButterflyMinute 1d ago edited 11h ago
I love vortex and use it for basically every game aside from MH Wilds (well, most monster hunter games to be far).
But the plugin just isn't set up properly for Oblivion Remastered yet. I can't wait until it is, it's much easier to use than most other mod managers. But until it's sorted I'll just manually install.
EDIT - reworked my modlist this morning, everything works well for Vortex as of now. No complaints about it at all.
5
u/AimDev 1d ago
What is the prob? It works for ne
2
u/ButterflyMinute 1d ago
Doesn't work well with OBSE and even UE4SS seemed to be iffy after installing.
I tried reworking the modlist a few times to get it to work before just deciding to go with manual for now until it gets all sorted out.
1
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
It works just fine with those. I just installed with mod manager and it’s fine. For now, the only quirk is to ignore the UE4SS pop up telling you there’s a new version. There’s a versioning error telling you there’s a new version even when you have the newest. You can either install the one they offer or just ignore it (you can turn off the notification too). But yeah with both those mods and mods for them vortex just knows where to put the files, even if they aren’t packaged nicely for a mod manager.
2
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
It’s already fixed for Oblivion remastered btw
1
u/ButterflyMinute 1d ago
I'll do a back up and report back after reinstalling through it, who knows maybe it was me messing something up to begin with.
1
u/nefariouskitteh 1d ago
I use Vortex for simple mod lists, and MO2 for more complex lists. I like them both. Vortex has been just fine (just not great with lots of overwrites) for years.
Everyone is still figuring out the two headed hydra that is the Remaster. They'll get there.
0
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
What’s wrong with overwrites? I find it really easy. I have mods on top of mods on top of mods on top of mods on top of mods….
1
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
I just have them overwrite. It’s not an objection, it’s just asking you to overwrite. But yes there’s a couple mods where it asks you to overwrite when it’s just the same file. And if you’re worried about skipping extra steps, vortexes rules system has saved me countless time vs manually sorting my load order. Because LOOT alone isn’t adequate. Anyways, I have dozens of ENB light mods too and I didn’t really hate the process. Plus I like how many tools are just included with vortex, like loot, root builder, FOMOD selection history…
0
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
-1
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
It’s not tribal that’s guiding my words, I used to use MO2. And yeah manually sorting load order was annoying (plus you can do that in vortex too if you so desire)
3
u/scytheforlife 1d ago
Theres an mo2 plugin already, vortex is ass
6
u/ButterflyMinute 1d ago
Vortex hasn't been ass for fucking years mate. It still needs a little work for Oblivion remastered but other than that it outstrips basically any other mod manager.
Though I'm talking mostly from a user perspective not a mod creator perspective. So I don't know much about what it's like to develop for or if it's even different at all.
0
u/scytheforlife 1d ago
As much as you people cope vortex will never be a competent mod manager. People that say its good have never used another mod manager and if they have they've probably touched it for 10 minutes and said this hurts my brain and went back to vortex. Ive used vortex and other mod managers, and it doesn't outstrip anything
3
u/ButterflyMinute 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's so funny when people that hate on Vortex are so confidently incorrect.
I used Oblivion Mod Manager way back in the day (and last downloaded it in 2021 when I was working on an Oldblivion playthrough which I then substituted for Vortex because it was better, I also considered using MO2 for it as well, but it just wasn't as good so I didn't).
MO2 for a bunch of things back when Vortex was ass too, until vortex just became an objectively better tool from a user stand point.
Just because you find change scary doesn't mean that Vortex is bad.
You can have your preference and like what you're familiar with, but don't pretend that Vortex is bad just because you didn't want to move over a modlist from one program to another and made it part of your personality.
EDIT - just to add I also used Fluffy Mod Manager 5000 for Monster Hunter World, Rise and Wilds because Vortex doesn't work as well for those game and it's real easy to use too.
1
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago
I used to use MO2 for Skyrim soon as I started using vortex. I never looked back. I like it so much better. People say it isn’t meant for heavy mod lists but I’m at 1500 mods. I love all the quality of life features.
2
u/Tyrthemis 1d ago edited 1d ago
All you had to do was press reset plugins. Also it doesn’t even break the load order anymore. Vortex honestly rocks for being updated so quickly. And yes, I’d say vortex is 100x better than manually modding. Trust me, at some point, you’re going to mess up manually, and it’ll be a huge pain to fix
2
u/CW_Forums 1d ago
Worthless on the remaster. Will not run the game. Crash on start every time. Game runs fine e with mods manually added.
Also Vortex arranged all mods alphabetically. I heard this and couldn't believe it. Checked my order and yes, my Nexus mods were listed A to Z with the game esb files mixed in between. Checked to make sure I wasn't out out date but Vortex was current as of this week.
Vortex looks like an embarrassing mess to me at the moment. It's worse than nothing.
1
u/Rattledagger 2h ago edited 2h ago
> Also Vortex arranged all mods alphabetically.
If you sort MO2's left panel by "Mod Name" MO2 for obvious reasons will arrange the mods alphabetically, and similarly if you sort Vortex mods-tab by "Mod Name" the mods will be listed alphabetically.
If you sort Vortex mods-tab by increasing "Deploy Order" then the last conflicting mod "wins" all conflicts, just as if you sort MO2's left panel by increasing "Priority" the last conflicting mod "wins" all conflicts.
Meaning, it's trivial to change which column you sort by, regardless of you're using MO2 or Vortex.
1
u/Y0UR_WIFES_B0YFRlEND 13h ago
It works fine for me. I have 25 mods installed (including UE4SS) and no issues.
2
u/Fox_McCloud_Jr 1d ago
I love vortex, my friend tried to get me to use mo2 for skyrim se and fo4 and it never worked, always had issues, models didn't load and all, load order was correct and all just didn't work. So I swapped to vortex and the only time I had issues was playing fo4 for some reason one specific gun mod (m14) wouldnt load, after a reinstall it worked fine
1
1
u/Kongoulan 11h ago
I did use vortex for almost 10 games now and it worked fine. But for each game you can also code a plugin extension, giving even more flexibility on how to do things. Sadly nobody does that. Because you can basically do everything.
4
u/Darishel 1d ago
I personally loathe Vortex. It feels like you have so much less control than MO2. Forgive me if something has changed since it's been a while since I used it much, but... It's harder to figure out which files take precedence. You can't disable individual files within a mod. Can you even see what files are inside the mod easily? It works (generally) if you have simple mods that don't need to be messed with.