Vortex

Vortex

• github Project Page
• Nexusmods Page

Vortex Mod Manager (Vortex) is a mod manager for multiple games on Nexus Mods.

side-note: steamtinkerlaunch also has built-in support for Mod-Organizer 2, which does not have support for as many games but may work more reliably on Linux.

The current minimum recommended Proton version for Vortex is GE-Proton8-2. Make sure you follow Vortex's instructions to install .NET 6, and once installation completes, restart Vortex. Do not attempt to install Vortex from Steam Deck Game Mode, ever.

Note for Flatpak users: If you're using Steam Flatpak, you may need to use the S drive when choosing the staging folder path. See #821 (comment) for more details.

Aside: The information on this wiki page is probably mostly up-to-date, but is due for a complete rewrite and reformat :-)

Features

Vortex is windows only, but steamtinkerlaunch tries to close this gap as good as possible by seamlessly integrating it using Wine/Proton without any configuration required.

Vortex 1.8.0 and above require .NET 6, however Vortex can install this itself. On first run, if missing, Vortex will prompt you to install .NET 6. This unfortunately cannot be automated by SteamTinkerLaunch currently, as there is not yet a way for SteamTinkerLaunch to run Winetricks inside of the Steam Linux Runtime. It is required to install various Winetricks while running inside of the Steam Linux Runtime at least on SteamOS (see #806 for background)

• download of the latest stable version - Can configure using latest Pre-Release (or "Beta") from the Global Menu
• option on Global Menu to disable automatic updates by setting release channel to "No automatic updates"
  • This checkbox is not enabled by default
  • By default, Vortex will use either "Stable" or "Beta" depending on whether you installed the Stable or Beta version
  • If this checkbox is enabled and then disabled, Vortex will be set to "Stable" by default or "Beta" if Vortex Pre-Release is enabled
• installation into an own Wineprefix/Compatdata
• automatically install required .NET 6 - Requires an up-to-date Winetricks - Make sure you update Winetricks!
• the Wineprefix/Compatdata path can be configured in Global Menu
• find all supported installed games from Steam
  • by autogenerating an own libraryfolders.vdf pointing to all real Steam Library Paths
  • by creating registry entries pointing to to game dirs (if required - most Bethesda games)
• create and update symlinks for all found game config directories of all found games in the SteamUser directory
• automatically add all found games into the Vortex settings and apply their download and staging folders
• create and update the nxm-protocol mime type for directly opening nxm with Vortex (renaming that from Mod-Organizer 2 when found)

Installation

Latest Stable

Vortex can be installed via Command Line by using

• steamtinkerlaunch vortex install or steamtinkerlaunch vortex i(to only install it)

Pre-Release

You can install the latest Vortex Pre-Release version by enabling the "Vortex Pre-Release" checkbox from the Global Menu. Be aware that, as always, compatibility is not guaranteed, but using Pre-Release versions may allow you to troubleshoot issues with upcoming Vortex versions under Wine. Feel free to open an issue with a warning/resolution steps if an upcoming Vortex version will not work under Wine and document the reason why (something along the lines of #792).

Disabling Automatic Updates

SteamTinkerLaunch has an option on the Global Menu to stop Vortex from automatically updating, by setting the release channel to "No Automatic Updates" on each startup. This means it will always override whatever version you select within Vortex; the SteamTinkerLaunch option will always take priority. When this option is disabled, SteamTinkerLaunch will fall back to using either the Stable or Beta channel, depending on whether you have the "Vortex Pre-Release" option enabled or not.

By default, Vortex will put you on a release channel for automatic updates. If you installed a stable release, it will default you to the "Stable" channel. If you installed a pre-release version, it will default you to the "Beta" channel. This means Vortex may, without warning, update you to the latest version. Vortex does this as older releases have an eventual cut-off from connecting to Vortex and may stop functioning. However, Vortex does offer the ability to opt out of automatic updates, by selecting the "No Automatic Updates", which is what the mentioned SteamTinkerLaunch checkbox enforces.

When this option is selected, Vortex still gives you the option to manually search for updates, and then gives you the choice of explicitly installing that update. You can choose to ignore new versions.

Note: This option is a good choice for preserving compatibility, but keep in mind that Vortex may cut this version off from support at any time. It is recommended to try and update as soon as compatibility with Wine is confirmed.

Custom Version

It is also possible to specify a Vortex version. You can do this by enabling the option on the Global Menu under Vortex Options, and then selecting/entering your desired version.

You can install a custom version from the commandline as well by passing a GitHub version tag after either download, install or start. Example usage would be steamtinkerlaunch vortex start v1.8.0. You can see a list of Vortex versions on the Vortex GitHub project page. This will allow you to install an older version of Vortex, such as v1.7.X, but beware that installing older versions of Vortex may mean you have to manage the dependencies for this version yourself.

Custom versions will still follow Vortex's default of choosing either Stable or Beta release channels, so if you don't want Vortex to update your current version, be sure to disable automatic Vortex updates.

Usage

When starting Vortex via either available option and it is not installed yet, it is installed automatically and all above automations and applied automatically before it is started.

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.

Vortex is installed into its own Wineprefix and required game directories are symlinked into it from the corresponding game Wineprefix

The the nxm-protocol mime type is automatically configured and updated for directly opening nxm with Vortex (renaming that from Mod-Organizer 2 when found)

Quick Start

• Drag a supported game into a (self created) "Vortex" Steam Collection & start the game (using steamtinkerlaunch of course)
• Command Line: steamtinkerlaunch vortex start or steamtinkerlaunch vortex s

Vortex Configuration Options

Most of the Vortex options can either be configured via the Vortex Extra Button from the Main Menu or from the Vortex Category Menu This category menu supports Gui-Columns!

Starting Vortex

Vortex can be used without any steamtinkerlaunch configuration and will work ootb without zero configuration. Should you encounter issues, it is recommended to check for Wine compatibility issues and to use the most recent version of GE-Proton that you can.

There are multiple different ways to start Vortex:

Start Vortex using Steam Collection

Just create a "Vortex" Steam Collection 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).

Start Vortex using commandline:

see Command Line

Enable Vortex in the config:

Enable USEVORTEX in the Game Menu or directly in the Game Config

Vortex Game Gui

A Vortex Gui, where one can en-/disable Vortex for all supported and installed Games can be opened using the steamtinkerlaunch vortex games Command Line.

It is not possible from here to disable Vortex for Games which have it enabled via Steam Collection. In that case simply remove it regularly from the Steam Collection using the Steam Client.

Vortex Extra Button

Vortex Tray-Icon

steamtinkerlaunch Vortex gif

Vortex Stages

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 steamtinkerlaunch, 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.

Automated (zeroconf) VORTEXSTAGELIST configuration

When you start a game steamtinkerlaunch 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:

Script Extender

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 steamtinkerlaunch 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 can actually run the exe!

(The "don't ask again" option SELAUNCH can't be set in the Main Menu and must be removed manually from the Game Config -f.e. via Editor Menu

Troubleshooting

Vortex doesn't start? This can always happen (see #Additional-Vortex-Notes below)

For troubleshooting/reporting a bug you might want to do the following clean test:

1. rename ~/.config/steamtinkerlaunch # to make sure no changed configuration conflict
2. delete /dev/shm/steamtinkerlaunch recursively # to make sure temp files do not conflict
3. steamtinkerlaunch vortex start
4. wait, many things happen under the hood, so be patient. The more modable games are installed, the longer it takes. Watch the status windows. You might also want to read the steamtinkerlaunch wiki for vortex meanwhile (again)

Additional Vortex Notes

• If you are having issues starting Vortex, it is likely an issue with Wine and not SteamTinkerLaunch. For example, Vortex 1.8.0 and above requires a build of Wine which includes DiscardVirtualMemory, such as a build of Proton-tkg (Vanilla Wine, not Valve Wine, which doesn't include this patch) based on Wine 8.4 and above. GE-Proton8-2 should also include this patch.
• An initial Vortex installation from scratch can takes some time, without download a full installation and start from zero steamtinkerlaunch configuration to the vortex gui showing up should be below 2 minutes
• steamtinkerlaunch (atm?) doesn't have a status requester, so be patient and take care of the notifier popping up!
• 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 steamtinkerlaunch bug. (Nehrim doesn't seem to work (yet))
• 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!) !
• Older versions of Vortex depend on dotnet48 see DotNet. Unlike Mod-Organizer 2, Vortex does not work with Mono instead, so Vortex is always used inside its own Wineprefix/Compatdata
• Vortex 1.8.0 and above use .NET6 (dotnetdesktop6), but this dependency may change at any time. SteamTinkerLaunch does not automatically install this, as this will cause installation to hang on SteamOS/other distros which rely on the Steam Linux Runtime. Vortex will prompt you when you open it to install .NET 6.
• To simplify finding installed Vortex compatible, steamtinkerlaunch ships a gamelist (/usr/share/steamtinkerlaunch/misc/vortexgames.txt on most systems). This list needs to be updated of course for all games added in the future. Feel free to open a PR to add new games.