Vortex
Vortex can be used without any stl configuration and will work ootb without zero configuration.
There are 3 different ways to start Vortex:
Just create a "Vortex" Steam Category and add your (Vortex compatible) game to it and start the game regularly. Vortex will start, with the selected game preconfigured and ready to mod. When you exit Vortex the selected game will start normally (with your mods).
see Command Line
The VORTEXMODE option in the Game Config (f.e. via Game Menu) has the following modes:
- "disabled": Vortex won't be used
- "normal": Vortex will be started regularly
- "editormode": Vortex will be started, but the selected game won't start after Vortex is closed
A Vortex Gui, where one can en-/disable Vortex for all supported and installed Games can be opened
using the stl vortex games Command Line.
It is not possible from here to disable Vortex for Games which have it enabled via Steam Category. In that case simply remove it regularly from the Steam Category using the Steam Client.
Installation An initial Vortex installation from scratch can take a very long time, depending on the current wine/dotnet situation - see Additional Vortex Notes and/or Winetricks It is also not unlikely, that it will fail to properly exit the dotnet installation, although it is functional. In that case it might help to simply start the vortex install process (or the first game launch with vortex) again, to get a functional Vortex installation.
If Vortex is not yet installed yet, it will be installed on the first launch of a game configured to use it.
Alternatively you can also install it via Command Line (see below).
If using proton-wine for VORTEXWINE (which is default if it is not configured) the WINEPREFIX user is "steamuser" (as always with proton wine).
When you switch to a wine version which doesn't patch the username to "steamuser" your user-settings are empty of course (not recommended)
stl will not symlink in between those two users!
Currently it is recommended to use an older wine/proton version with Vortex. When the default wine for Vortex is unconfigured stl tries to autodetect an old Proton4 wine and use that (when found)
The Vortex Version to be installed is the latest stable by default, but alternatively the USEVORTEXPRERELEASE flag
can be set in the Global Config to use the latest pre-release instead.
Functionality: Some settings are preconfigured, to make this working without any user configuration, but of course all of the settings can be as well configured if you want.
stl uses an extra vortex directory inside STLCFGDIR defined under STLVORTEXDIR
Vortex is one of the stl Categories so it has an own Vortex Menu available in the Category Menu
Most available options are stored in the Global Config
Vortex uses 2 main Deployment_Methods to enable Mods for the managed games. "Hardlink Deployment" and "Symlink Deployment". Symlink Deployment doesn't work under wine, so Hardlink is required (and automatically set for every game from stl, although it is default anyway) Those "Hardlinks" only work if the "Staging directory" is on the same partition as the game (yes the same physical partition, not the same "windows drive in wine). As Steam Library directories can be on multiple partitions a "Staging directory" is required for every one of them.
When you start a game stl will parse on which mount point it actually lies. Then it tests if it can create/write a "Vortex" directory in the root directory of the partition. If it fails to create a directory in the previous step, it tests next if it can create/write a "Vortex" directory directly in the "Steam Library" directory of the started game besides the "steamapps" directory.
The first succeeding directory will be added automatically to the VORTEXSTAGELIST list
and will be used from now on as "Staging directory" automatically for all games lying on the same partition.
So after you have started one "Vortex" game from each of your "Steam Library" partitions the VORTEXSTAGELIST variable is ready for all of your games.
The only exception is the partition where your steam is installed ("/" or "/home" if you have an extra /home/partition).
Here the default "Vortex Staging directory" is STLVORTEXDIR/staging instead.
Other additional paths can be added easily, just make suggestions.
If you don't want that automation just set DISABLE_AUTOSTAGES to 1 and set them manually instead:
Several games (Skyrim, Fallout flavours) have many mods which depends on a special "Script Extender" program ("SE"). Unfortunately those "SE" programs don't work with default proton since some time. When stl detects one of those "SE exe" files in the game dir, a requester will pop up with the following options:
- start the regular game exe
- start the regular game exe and save the decision (so don't ask again)
- start the found "SE exe"
- start the found "SE exe" and save the decision (so don't ask again)
When choosing "SE exe" make sure the selected Proton Version is can actually run the exe!
(The "don't ask again" option SELAUNCH can't be set in the Settings Menu
and must be removed manually from the Game Config -f.e. via Editor Dialog
- On the first start Vortex warns that it is started with admin privileges. Very likely wine related, just click it away, it won't pop up again
- I tested ~25 games and they worked ootb, feel free to open an issue for a not (automatically) working game if you think this is a stl bug. (Nehrim doesn't seem to work (yet))
- It was pretty much work to get this into the current state, but although I tested a lot there still might be glitches and problems. Also Vortex can stop working under linux/wine anytime after an update (as it already did before). Don't complain and rant when it doesn't work as expected (anymore) (as it happened already before with other Vortex-linux solutions), but try to help fixing the issue instead then (no offense, but imho linux already had better times regarding this!) !
- Vortex depends on dotnet48. See Winetricks for initial installation & check your winetricks.log (Vortex installs and works fine with wine from Proton 4.11)