How to use Vortex Mod Manager?

How To Use Vortex Mod Manager?

In the gaming world, modding holds great significance; that is why moddable games are always in demand irrespective of their release time. The gamers’ tendency towards modding their favorite games has no bounds because this is how they can utilize their creative skills to get a personalized gaming experience.

Understanding the modding process isn’t a big deal; in point of fact, most of the gamers are already familiar with it. As you probably know, the mod is a term extensively used in gaming communities that refers to changing the games either by integrating new objects or altering the entire game.
 So, to perform such game modding, you definitely need a mod manager; Mod manager is actually an assistive modifying app used to make changes to your games.

Nexus Mod Manager Vs. Vortex

If you are new to mods, you might undergo a confusing situation while choosing the most appropriate mod manager from available choices; Vortex Mod manager & Nexus mod manager are considered as the two most popular game Mod managers in this regard. Therefore here, we will explain the Vortex Vs. Nexus Mod manager quite concisely.

To go through the best modding experience, it is pretty necessary to opt for a powerful yet modern mod manager. A close analysis of NMM vs. Vortex depicts that Vortex gives a more convenient game modding experience than Nexus Mod Manager. Because NMM is relatively an old Mod manager with the least updates level, therefore, it isn’t available with many functionalities.

Mod Organizer 2 Vs. Vortex

Mod Organizer 2 is another popular Mod manager like NMM & Vortex. Do a comparative analysis between Vortex & MO2. You will find both mod managers with efficient functionalities, but it is also a fact that Mod organizer 2 is far better in performance than Vortex.

Contrarily, if we consider the user-experience aspect, we find Vortex more user-friendly due to its intuitive UI, so definitely, it is an excellent choice for beginners. However, Vortex is the primary subject of this entire discussion.

Vortex Mod Manager  

We can describe Vortex as a pretty handy utility or an open-source software released by Nexus mods that is absolutely safe to use. It was introduced to make the game modding process much easier, even for the new users too.

Vortex Mod manager enables its users to download & install variant mods for the target games; moreover, it also manages & organizes the already installed game mods. Being compatible with multiple games, it can be conveniently used for modding over 30 games, including The Witcher series, Fallout series, Skyrim special edition, XCOM 2, Dark Souls, and many others.

Let’s move ahead of introductory information; to get started with Vortex, you initially need to download the Vortex mod manager on your device.

Download & install the Vortex Mod Manager

install the Vortex Mod Manager

Downloading the Vortex mod manager application on a device is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Like other applications, it gives you two variant downloading choices; either you can download it via the online app store or get it from its website. Here, we will proceed with the Vortex downloading process via its website.

  • In the first place, navigate to the website www.nexusmods.com.
  • Here, you need to register yourself with the website, or you can directly login if you already have an account.
  • On signup attempt, you will get prompted to two choices of free & premium memberships so that you can select the one as per your need.
  • Now, you can easily access & download the Vortex mod manager once you successfully log in to your account.
  • After downloading the Vortex app, select & run the downloaded app file; this will automatically launch the application on your system.

Change Base Paths

As we have stated earlier, Vortex also manages the game mods, so it is essential to change the mod path because some mods come with a deployment condition: you should allocate the same drive to both game & mod.

Note that this step of changing the paths should be executed prior to installing the mods on games. Therefore, you need to follow the below-stated steps first to do so.

  • Navigate to the settings of the Vortex application.
  • Select the Vortex tab.
  • Now, you can see the Multi-user Mode option with sub-choices of “Shared” & “Per-user.” (Here, it is evident that on selecting the Per-user option, each user account on the device will get his preferences of mods while contrarily, in Shared mode option, all users will have the same choices.)
  • For illustrative purposes and given the Vortex Skyrim extreme compatibility factor, we are considering the game Skyrim Special Edition that we intend to mod, so you need to change its Base Path to the same drive where the Skyrim game resides.
  • After making changes to the Base Path, the Download Path & Install Path will use the same directory as a Base Path.
  • Afterward, make sure to select the “Hardlink Deployment” option once the base path is successfully altered.

Installation of Vortex Mods

Installation of Vortex Mods
  • Before installing the game mods via Vortex, it is necessary to configure the Vortex mod manager first so that it can run with the Nexus links. In this regard, you have two options, either you can do it directly by selecting the blue-colored button stating Handle Nexus links on its startup page, or you can do it manually by following way.
  • Navigate to the settings of the Vortex application.
  • Here, you need to select the Download tab from the top menu.
  • Then, activate the Handle option (located against Download with Manager option) by clicking on it.
  • We will now deal with a new map style called “Classic with All Roads” to the Skyrim Special Edition game.
  • Then, launch your browser and navigate to the link https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5804?tab=files. This step will take you to the Quality World Map page.
  • Here, instantly select the File tab, and to download the map mod, click on the “Mod Manager Download” option located below the File tab. (This will automatically launch the Vortex).
  • After the successful download process, you will get prompted to a Pop-up notification enquiring the confirmation to install the mod on your screen, so click on the Install button.
  • Once the installation finishes, you will again get a pop-up notification instantly to enable the mods here; you need to click on the enable button to activate the mods.
  • You can also enable the Mods directly by clicking on the grey-colored button until it gets green, or you can do additional steps in your Plugins page too.
  • Now launch the game to see the recently made changes.

Manual installation of Mods

Vortex also allows the users to download the mods manually. For this, you would have to navigate to the same link as we cited earlier in the direct mod installation method. This time, we will download a different map mod called Paper.

  • Then, you need to click on the manual download button.
  • After successfully downloading the map mod, launch the Vortex app on your device.
  • Select the MODS option available in the left section of the Vortex dashboard.
  • Then click on the “Install from file” tab located in the top menu.
  • Here you can simply add your file displayed as Never Installed. (You also have the choice to add files by direct drag & drop process, which is relatively a quick way.)
  • Firstly, make sure to disable all the previous mods by clicking on the green-colored buttons, then just click on the “Install” button to install the added file.

Can Vortex uninstall all mods?

Yes, because it is pretty evident that a user may need to uninstall a mod if he no longer requires that. In other cases, suppose the user gets bored with a particular game; in such a case, too, the mod can be removed. Surprisingly the mod removal method is as easy as pie.

  • Just go to the targeted mod and hit on the remove button.
  • Now, you will get prompted to a confirmation message, here you need to checkmark both options (Remove Mod & Remove Archive) that appeared on the prompted screen.
  • Then, click on the Remove button.

Vortex load order

Load order is another significant feature of Vortex; load order implies how mods get downloaded on the device. The Vortex has the capability to automatically sort out the load order to avoid the mods’ conflicts.

How to change load order in Vortex?

Although Vortex’s automatic sorting approach allows the user to change or readjust the Vortex load order manually as per specific requirements, still, most users, being less familiar with the app, enquire using Vortex how to change the load order.

This assistive tactic will instantly sort out your Vortex load order issue if you are in the same boat. For this:

  • At first, launch the Vortex Mod manager on your device.
  • Navigate to the “Plugins” positioned below the “Mods” option on the left section of the dashboard.
  • At the top of the Plugins page, locate & select the option “sort plugins.”
  • This will let you sort out the mod load order instantly.

Conclusion

The players always prefer the games that support modding because it seems fascinating to add new objects to a game just to have a more personalized & exciting gaming experience. Therefore, to meet the modding requirement, a mod manager serves as the primary entity.

In this article, we have taken the Vortex mod manager into consideration and explained its usage pattern comprehensively by highlighting all the related aspects & processes.

Vortex mod manager is a quite popular & efficient application that is fully compatible with many platforms and enables users to mod more than 30 different games. You can conveniently download, install & deal with the installed mods using Vortex that comes with a highly user-friendly interface.

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