Vortex: mod manager

Pros

• Organized game and mod management.
• Modern User Interface (UI).
• Great features for the Free and Premium versions.

Cons

• Aggressive Collections System.
• Mod Authors Cannot Delete Mods.

What Is Vortex Mod Manager?

Vortex mod manager is an app that works with Nexus Mods to manage mod packages for games.

With Vortex, you're able to click a mod on the website not only download it, but send it to the right place. There is a free, basic version and a Premium version that adds quality of life changes.

As Nexus is one of the most popular mod platforms for general gaming, it's often a one-stop shop for gamers who want community modifications for their games.

While there are exceptions, most mod managers follow basic standards to add mods to the same places, or if they do things slightly differently, to add their own folders that won't affect other mods.

This is not always the case and there are always exceptions, so be sure to do some research if you're mixing mod managers.

About Nexus Mods

Nexus Mods is a platform that hosts mods or modifications for games.

Mods are basically packages of code that change things about a program. You can use mods to change things like how much health an enemy has, how much money you have in the game, or even add custom designs from graphic designers.

For gameplay, it's everything from cheating to making the game harder. Gone are the days when people simply play the same Mario stages repeatedly for faster clear times; people want to have fun their way, not just speed run or accept some random person's challenge.

If the game is too easy, smart people can edit how much damage specific enemies or actions may cause, or increase the rate of enemies or a specific effect.

If the game is too hard, the reverse can happen. Maybe you don't want all of the enemies to die in one hit like old school cheats; some players want to get a specific "feel" to get a bit of therapy out of how they play the game.

Playing games is about having fun, and everyone's opinion is a little different. With modding, players can escape other people's definition of what they're "supposed to do."

Not interested in improving gameplay? Make things easier with a mod. Is the game not punishing enough? Same answer.

These days, more people have basic coding skills and can make systems to give less tech-savvy people a bit more control. You can enter numbers for difficulties, or use a slider, or enter specific text for the intensity of the mods.

Not everything game is violent, and not all mods are about damaging things. What if you hate the design of the game, or wish you could bring in a specific look?

If you've ever played The Sims, you know how important customization can be. Having not just custom hair and clothes, but drastically changing colors, textures, or adding in completely different items is possible with modding.

When you go deep enough, some of these modders are making completely different games while just using the core framework. In some cases, modders go on to do exactly that; games such as DOTA (which lead to the Massively Online Battle Arena or MOBA genre), Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, The Forgotten City, and DayZ all started out as mods.

Why don't these modders just make their own games? Because it's a hobby for some people. You don't need to spend thousands or millions of dollars because you want to make a change and have the talent to do so. Small changes can become bigger after time, and if it's too much for some people, they can simply not use the mods.

It's all about choice, options, and player agency. In addition to making mods available for players, Nexus Mods also makes it easier for you, the potential mod maker, to upload and manage your mod project.

They even have tutorials about how to properly make mods that fit standards for most users, or can direct you to the original game developer to see if they have an easy way to include mods.

Many companies are open to modders, because modders are some of the most passionate members of the community--and because modders sometimes fix the company's problems at a faster rate.

That point, however, is a debate best left for the internet at large.

Are All Games Available on Nexus?

As of a major Nexus Mods survey in June 2022, the Nexus network's mod supports a library of 1733 games.

Most of these mods are for personal computer (PC in this case includes MacOS. PC is not a brand) games, but some projects offer links to increasingly popular Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, Xbox, and PlayStation games at an unofficial capacity.

The number of games supported is dependent entirely on the community. If community developers want to make mods for a game not on Nexus Mods, they can petition to have the game added.

There have been over 4.5 billion downloads on Nexus Mods since its 2021 release, with the Vortex Mod Manager (formerly Nexus Mod Manager) covering the Microsoft Windows releases.

While Vortex Mod Manager and many games are not officially available on MacOS, you can use systems such as BootCamp, Parallels Desktop for Mac, or CrossOver. The official Nexus Mods team does not offer support for these systems, but the MacOS modding community actively discusses their techniques.

Organization and Features Insight

There is always a different way to organize things, and Vortex Mod Manager does it well. When you launch Vortex for the first time, you'll be prompted to manage your games and/or log in.

This is important because there's two major ways to look at mods. Vortex can either search for mods if they match Vortex's way of scanning, or you can log in with your Nexus account and sync up what you have available.

By default, Vortex shows you a category of games you have, a category of popular games, and your previous downloads if you've already downloaded a few addons via Vortex. From there, the mods are categorized, by game, and then their function.

Details About the User Interface

The interface keeps specific, helpful categories on the left, and a large management pane for the rest of the screen. When you understand how the Vortex team thinks, there aren't many clicks to get to where you want to go.

With a new Nexus Mod account, you have to click each mod you want, go to the download page, wait for the download to start, and send it to Vortex.

As a Premium user, you simply click the download and it automatically goes to Vortex.

Premium users also have faster downloads due to a speed cap on the free user experience.

Collections Aren't for Everyone

If you use a collection, it had better be for a fresh install with no other mods.

Collections add multiple mods that have been confirmed to work together. Some of those mods require fresh, new games because they may break saved games. You're warned about this, but lots of people click the next button with no worries until a problem happens.

If you're that kind of person, make this one of the few times you read instructions fully. There is no going back, and there aren't enough prompts to stop people who don't pay attention.

In defense of Vortex, such warnings will just annoy another set of users.

Disagreements Within the Nexus Community

This is a pro for some users, but a con for some mod authors.

Because Nexus and the Vortex manager often offer collections of mods that work together, an author who deletes their content may break some people's installs directly.

However, this takes away an author's freedom to delete their own content, be forgotten, or in general control their creation. Another debate for a longer discussion, but it affects the available mods to an extent.

Final Thoughts

Nexus Mod Manager is a great platform and community, although a few policy changes have upset some mod authors.

Its Vortex Mod Manager, however, is a great tool that even works with games that weren't initially managed with Vortex. If you need a better way to track your games and mods, Vortex can do the job.

Check out the Vortex Mod Manager project today, and organize your modded gaming.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Organized game and mod management.
• Modern User Interface (UI).
• Great features for the Free and Premium versions.

Cons

• Aggressive Collections System.
• Mod Authors Cannot Delete Mods.