Should I switch to MO 2 instead of Vortex

[Guest]

Starting a new install of Skyrim LE, I have been using SE and Vortex since I began using a PC instead of X Box.

I just bought the LE version yesterday and would like to know your thoughts as to whether I should switch to Mod Organizer 2.

What would be the things to watch out for and any things I need to add to it?

Vortex is pretty good but doesn't always sort mods the best in my opinion.

Any tips and advice appreciated.  Thanks.

[flutie]

yes and yes, i switched 4 years ago and never looked back, the best thing is your install folder stays clean

https://www.modorganizer.org/

[travelmedic]

@Sir Bron I think you know that question will never be definitively settled here ever.  People debate that all the time.

 

Having said that, I'm a huge MO2 fan, and have never even tried Vortex - I've never felt a need to give it a try.

 

Things I like about MO2 include:

 

1 - feels very intuitive to me

2 - easy to see at a glance how your mods are interacting with each other - if mod B comes after mod A in the left window, then mod B will override mod A in case of conflict, there is no rulemaking like Vortex has that you might set and then forget about

3 - mods can be rearranged just by dragging them into place

 

There are probably other features that I'm just not thinking of right now that I like, but those come to mind first.

 

As far as things to add, I don't think MO2 itself needs anything.  Of course, you will want FNIS and probably TES5Edit, maybe Wrye Bash and Bodyslide too.  Whichever of those tools you want, make sure to set them up to run through MO2.  Gopher and Gamer Poets have good tutorials on Youtube for that.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, travelmedic said:

@Sir Bron I think you know that question will never be definitively settled here ever.  People debate that all the time.

 

Having said that, I'm a huge MO2 fan, and have never even tried Vortex - I've never felt a need to give it a try.

 

Things I like about MO2 include:

 

1 - feels very intuitive to me

2 - easy to see at a glance how your mods are interacting with each other - if mod B comes after mod A in the left window, then mod B will override mod A in case of conflict, there is no rulemaking like Vortex has that you might set and then forget about

3 - mods can be rearranged just by dragging them into place

 

There are probably other features that I'm just not thinking of right now that I like, but those come to mind first.

 

As far as things to add, I don't think MO2 itself needs anything.  Of course, you will want FNIS and probably TES5Edit, maybe Wrye Bash and Bodyslide too.  Whichever of those tools you want, make sure to set them up to run through MO2.  Gopher and Gamer Poets have good tutorials on Youtube for that.

I am not trying to start the "Age Old Debate" just that I have been told several times that I should switch. Not trying to get others to make up my mind either.

I am looking for opinions on the application itself, such as the ones you described, I'm setting up Skyrim LE, already have SE in Vortex, Just want information as I am not a computer whiz, at 69 things aren't as easy as they once were...

Also when I added LE to Vortex I was unsure if it was getting mixed up with SE because it wanted to "Fix" things and I haven't even started to mod it yet. Not even the script extender.

I am familiar with FNIS, BodySlide, don't know anything about Wyre Bash, I do have gophers tutorials saved in bookmarks but sometimes he looses me due to speed and terminology. I think he thinks whoever watches his vids are already well versed and skilled with PC's.

Thank You for your opinions.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Sir Bron

[kamoewarrior]

Yes. It is worth learning how to use. The versatility outweighs the complexity. I've been using MO2 for so long I no longer have an idea of how complex it is to use from a beginner's perspective but from my experience with vortex it has so much hand holding it made it difficult for me to customize my mod load.

 

Also the virtual file system alone is worth the switch. It ensures your game files are as untouched as possible because your mod files are stored in a completely separate directory.

[Just Don't]

2 hours ago, Sir Bron said:

Vortex is pretty good but doesn't always sort mods the best in my opinion.

MO2 isn't any better in this regard really. You can use LOOT, you can then use a mo2 plugin to mirror your loadorder and mod order (loadorder=esp/esm, mod order=all the other files contained in each mod folder). But LOOT isn't perfect and really not recommended for any serious big modlist. There is no easy way to automate that type of decision making, when in most cases it comes down to which mods you want to use over others, or the only way to solve a conflict is a patch. So manual sorting is recommended and MO2 fully support that.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Just Don't said:

MO2 isn't any better in this regard really. You can use LOOT, you can then use a mo2 plugin to mirror your loadorder and mod order (loadorder=esp/esm, mod order=all the other files contained in each mod folder). But LOOT isn't perfect and really not recommended for any serious big modlist. There is no easy way to automate that type of decision making, when in most cases it comes down to which mods you want to use over others, or the only way to solve a conflict is a patch. So manual sorting is recommended and MO2 fully support that.

@Psalam sent me a link to https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/entry/7521-conglomerate-01-skyrim-le-essentials-installing-skyrim-stability- which has a link to your article, I have not started to read any of it yet, first on my list of reading though. Just sorting out options, want to learn more about MO 2 which is why I asked for opinions.

Thanks.

 

[Sandatharius]

55 minutes ago, Just Don't said:

MO2 isn't any better in this regard really. You can use LOOT, you can then use a mo2 plugin to mirror your loadorder and mod order (loadorder=esp/esm, mod order=all the other files contained in each mod folder). But LOOT isn't perfect and really not recommended for any serious big modlist. There is no easy way to automate that type of decision making, when in most cases it comes down to which mods you want to use over others, or the only way to solve a conflict is a patch. So manual sorting is recommended and MO2 fully support that.

 

Vortex uses the LOOT software, which is also built in. And also supports manual sorting. I have never had to use it, though. Vortex always auto-sorts everything and allows overwrites when it detects conflicts. Never had to manually sort. I've tried to use MO2 on several occasions, but it totally confuses the hell out of me and I always go back to Vortex, which is just so easy to use and understand. However, each to his/her own.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Sandatharius

[Just Don't]

13 minutes ago, Sir Bron said:

@Psalam sent me a link to https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/entry/7521-conglomerate-01-skyrim-le-essentials-installing-skyrim-stability- which has a link to your article, I have not started to read any of it yet, first on my list of reading though. Just sorting out options, want to learn more about MO 2 which is why I asked for opinions.

Thanks.

 

My guide covers SE mods, although I guess you can get the equivalent LE mods for most stuff and take note of how to install and setup the core mods. I haven't modded LE in a few years now so I'm not sure I'll be able to help with specifics.

 

5 minutes ago, Sandatharius said:

Vortex uses the LOOT software, which is also built in. And also supports manual sorting. I have never had to use it, though. Vortex always auto-sorts everything and allows overwrites when it detects conflicts. I've tried to use MO2 on several occasions, but it totally confuses the hell out of me and I always go back to Vortex, which is just so easy to use and understand. However, each to his/her own.

I'm not sure what part of MO2 can confuse you, everything you need to interact with is presented in the main window when you first open the program (aka the left and right panels listing your installed mods and loadorder/downloads/etc). I guess it can be confusing if you don't understand the folder structure MO2 uses, but that's a 2 min read and after that you should be fine. The other thing is MO2 doesn't do things automatically for the most part. Instead it lets you handle the sorting of mods and such (so if you're not used to do these kind of things on your own, or you simply don't know how, then yeah... that's a skill you should've developed a long time ago, or else your game will only be as good as the automated tools can be, and that's not very much really).

[Sandatharius]

24 minutes ago, Just Don't said:

I'm not sure what part of MO2 can confuse you, everything you need to interact with is presented in the main window when you first open the program (aka the left and right panels listing your installed mods and loadorder/downloads/etc). I guess it can be confusing if you don't understand the folder structure MO2 uses, but that's a 2 min read and after that you should be fine. The other thing is MO2 doesn't do things automatically for the most part. Instead it lets you handle the sorting of mods and such (so if you're not used to do these kind of things on your own, or you simply don't know how, then yeah... that's a skill you should've developed a long time ago, or else your game will only be as good as the automated tools can be, and that's not very much really).

 

Well, everybody has their own opinion, and I'm not interested in getting into a heated debate about it. I was just pointing out a couple of things about Vortex. As I've said, each to his/her own. You do you, and so on.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Sandatharius

[Varithina]

Depending on how much time you have spare, my suggestion would be try mo2 for a bit, watch and read some guides on how to do things with it, set up your mod list with it and play around with things, if you like it great, if not you can then switch back to vortex.

 

I have seen people post who loved mo2 after switching from vortex, but I have also seen people posting they hated it and had gone back, pretty much the only way for you to find out is to try it yourself, maybe using a small mod list that does not take too long to set up and get working that way if you do not like it you have not spent too much time and effort on it, but spend enough time to be sure, I have never used vortex I used nmm and then switched to mo ages ago, and it drove me nuts as there were tricks and quirks that I knew and automatically did in nmm, that I did not need to do in mo, and by extension mo had it's own quirks and oddities that I then needed to learn, and had to remember not to do the stuff from nmm as it was no longer needed.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Varithina
Spelling

[Psalam]

7 hours ago, Sir Bron said:

@Psalam sent me a link to https://www.loverslab.com/blogs/entry/7521-conglomerate-01-skyrim-le-essentials-installing-skyrim-stability- which has a link to your article, I have not started to read any of it yet, first on my list of reading though. Just sorting out options, want to learn more about MO 2 which is why I asked for opinions.

Thanks.

 

I tried to stay out of this discussion because it normally gets heated. I will say, for the record, that I still use Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) and have had no problems with it over the years (and if it ain't broke don't fix it, I say).

 

(BTW, it can be found here: https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/Nexus-Mod-Manager/releases)

[Miauzi]

I tried switching from Vortex to MO2 2 years ago... I consider myself "not stupid" - but I couldn't overcome the learning curve I needed.

This was not because I don't have the necessary IQ for it - but because I can no longer afford the time of high mental concentration required for learning progress... unfortunately this is one of the negative after-effects of three recent burnouts 15 years.

I can still solve my problems with Vortex... even if these solutions are nowhere near as elegant as in MO2.

[davisev5225]

MO2 has an extremely intuitive override system - the visual order that mods are shown in the left-hand pane is the order that the flat files are loaded (lower overwrites higher), and the same goes for the ESP/ESM/etc. plugins in the right-hand pane.

 

Vortex, meanwhile, has about 3 different ways that files and plugins can overwrite or supersede each other, and you have to go digging to find the one that tends to mess people up: the per-file overrides.

 

Definitely learn MO2.  It's objectively better in every way other than integration with the Nexus, which should never be on anyone's list of considerations anyway.  ?

[dryuya]

Anything that touches your Data folder...will never be as good as the program that doesn't need to.

 

I've also heard about MO2s "complexity" as a draw back...but you know what's really complex? Trying to figure out what file that's affecting your game comes from what mod just by scouring your data folder.

 

Maybe that's not really how Vortex works...but whatever...doesn't matter MO2 is better.

[KeiHatsune95]

I have been using Vortex for 5-6 years, and people have always told me to switch to MO2. However, for some reason, every time I tried MO2, it simply didn't work for me, and I ended up going back to Vortex (I was a bit lazy to learn how to use MO).

But for the past 3 weeks, I really made an effort to use MO2, learning how it works and dealing with that seemingly complicated interface. It turns out that now that I've learned how things work, MO2 really seems like the better option. The mods are better organized and just seem to work better. Once you get used to the button-filled interface, it's much easier to navigate. Please try MO2.

[CaptainJ03]

With this new rig I actually gave MO2 a trial, but it simply wouldn't work. Tried installing one single mod, didn't show up anywhere, so I gave it a kick in the shins and stayed with Vortex.