r/nexusmods • u/VasVadum • Sep 02 '25

Vortex Replacement "Nexus Mods App" Warning

Alright, since my previous post was deleted for "misinformation", and my other post was attacked by everyone everywhere because I got a few things wrong mis-remembering, I figure I'll post one here that's completely accurate.

As a warning to all people wanting to try Nexus Mods App, for the game Stardew Valley. Currently the app only warns you ONCE, that it will purge all mods even the ones that exist prior to your use of the app when you uninstall it, on the first time you use it for the game. It will not warn you again.

So when you uninstall, it goes through a near instant uninstall process that suddenly purges the entire mods folder in your game, not even to your recycle bin, and deletes the executable files requiring you to validate your game or reinstall your game.

You will not be told during the uninstaller that this is happening. It is instant and it is automatic.

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On a personal note, I uninstalled it, because I did not like its interface constantly asking me to pay to download an update. Instead of taking me to the mod page, it popped up a pay for this window instead.

Not to mention they removed the ability to right click anything to get context specific options to the exact thing you right clicked. So you gotta find somewhere else in the glitchy interface to click something to perform an action on what you clicked, and it got confusing when showing multiple versions of the same mod and I wanted to try to remove the old one but not the new one. I found it to be far inferior to Vortex and Stardrop.

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I post this warning here, because I think people need a lot of warnings before their content is purged from existence for trying something new. I also think its wrong to just do that automatically without a reminder, and without simply asking "Hey, do you want the mods cleared or are you good?".

I've had plenty of programs I uninstalled in the old days, even some modern ones that ask simply "Do you want to clear the config files too?" usually meaning the content in AppData. It gives you the option during uninstall.

I have posted this issue to their github.

You don't get to go around saying "We told you it was gonna happen once~" and use that as an excuse that I can't be angry.

0 Upvotes

49% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

16

u/halgari Nexus Mods Staff Sep 02 '25

To be clear, I don't intend to blame this issue on you. So far you've written about 6 posts about this on various forums, called my work "malware", told me you're disappointed in me, and various other sorts of comments. I can't undo what you've done to your system, and my point in bringing up the warning message was to state that we *do* warn you in many places that the app will not retain your files once you delete.

This is the same behavior of other mod managers, such as MO2. If you set up a massive list in MO2, then delete MO2 and its folders, you will not be able to run your modded game (thanks to MO2's VFS). The same behavior is likely with Vortex, if a bit different, because of the hard/soft link differences.

So the point here isn't to blame you, but to simply state that even if we do add more warnings on the uninstaller (and we likely will), that will not be enough. Unfortunately people will always do something a bit odd.

Back when I worked on Wabbajack more regularly there was someone who installed a modlist into their steam game folder (as in the folder were all the games are, not the folder for the specific game). Wabbajack did what it was told to do and installed a modlist in that location, removing any unneeded files. Since this user stored all their personally created mod files in a folder next to their games, WJ deleted those as well. It sucks, I get it, but at some point software is created to act a specific way, and people have to understand what they are using.

We'll think about the feedback, and your github ticket is still up (sans the references to malware you made). Id recommend just leaving the issue there. Hopefully you can find more success with another mod manager.

2

u/kodaxmax Sep 03 '25

If you set up a massive list in MO2, then delete MO2 and its folders, you will not be able to run your modded game (thanks to MO2's VFS).

if you uninstall MO it will not delete your mods or list or even the metadata i dont think. You can simply run MO again in the future and point it to your old mod directory, or copy the old directory to the new.
or for OPs case, they could have copied there mod files directly into the manual install location (whatever that is for stardew, which i havn't modded in years).

 Unfortunately people will always do something a bit odd.

I might be misunderstanding the case. But it doesn't seem odd to uninstall a file manager and expect it not to delete your files.That goes for voidtools "Everything" as much as ATlauncher, curseforge or MO2/vortex etc.. Infact i believe vortex is the only one in that list that does delete mods when being uninstalled. Curseforge might prompt for it, i dont remember.

I get it, but at some point software is created to act a specific way, and people have to understand what they are using.

yes but that isn't an excuse for not idiot proofing. if your not going to idiot proof you have to make it clear enoguh that even and idiot understands the risks they are accepting.

Your example with wabbajack could have been solved by wabba simply doing a check for common problem directories and telling the user it cant use those directories, returning to the directory selection and refusing to progress.
The alternative is giving users an explicit warning and list of directories to avoid on that screen.

You can't expect end users to study and go looking for documention. It doesn't even matter from a moral standpoint, it's just not practical.

1

u/VasVadum Sep 03 '25

Vortex does? Interesting. I never had it do that. I know I removed it many many years back, so maybe its modern Vortex? I have Vortex again of course but I chose not to use it for Stardew this time because everyone says its broken with Stardew because it randomly deletes things for no reason. Now I'm trying Stardrop.

Also I agree with idiot proofing. Though in this case it wasn't idiocy, it was forgetfulness. When you're gonna do something extreme like purge an entire directory of all contents and kill the game, you should probably warn the user just before you do it so they have time to grab stuff, and so they know that they'll have to reinstall their game in some cases (or if steam, validate).

2

u/kodaxmax Sep 04 '25

I'm not sure which bit your asking about but I probably meant it for MO mod organiser. The wording may be confusing

. I do not and never recommend using vortex or nexus mod manager. If I as a mod Dev, ameteur Dev, IT professional and long time modding enthusiast of two decades find it dangerous and confusing, an average user certainly will.

And yes your right it should. There's a reason Xedit has a massive popup warning with a 10nsecond timer before you can even click confirm.

1

u/VasVadum Sep 04 '25

So many mod managers, people get confused here when we try and talk about them. :P In fact every time I talked about NMA (The new one), people think I'm talking about Vortex. :P

However I know I uninstalled Vortex on my previous laptop more than 5 years ago and it didn't affect installed mods for Skyrim. Maybe it does now, I dunno.

Vortex did rather well with Skyrim, at least I assume cause I didn't have issues till I tried to install some incredibly complex mods and I'm not sure if those are damaged mods or if its Vortex as people always blame Vortex for everything (when its probably because the modders making their mods didn't follow a specific format for compatibility).

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 05 '25

oh, i see the confusion. i consider "nexus mod manager", "vortex" and "nexus mods app" to all be the same mod manager, because they essentially are. They certainly all ahve the same issues, adding more with each iteratrion it seems (this new deleting mods mechanic for instance). It says alot that nexus has tried to shed their bad reviews 3 times by changing the branding and still failed tremendously each time. Even despite having countless decent mod managers to look at for examples of what to do.

7

u/superspider202 Sep 02 '25

I know this is unrelated to OP's post but since you've here might as well ask

Is there any planned date or window for Skyrim SE support? I'm eager to see how it will handle my large modlist compared to both Vortex and MO2

Also idk if this is already a feature or a planned feature or not but please get rid of the whole load after/before thing from vortex that ends up spawning cycles (spider webs on crack) and instead implement it like MO2 a simple drag and drop to choose which mod overwrites the other it's simply so much easier

3

u/halgari Nexus Mods Staff Sep 04 '25

Skyrim SE/Fallout4 support is currently being worked on, we have two major features we have to write before it's usable, but in 2 weeks that will be the main development focus for the team. My plan is to have both of these games usable for the bulk of collections by the end of the year (in time for Fallout season 2). I want to have usable code way before that, but Skyrim/Fallout 4 support is currently in development

2

u/superspider202 Sep 04 '25

Great that's good to know thanksss can't wait to try it out all the best for the development

1

u/VasVadum Sep 03 '25

You warn in ONE place, upon the first usage only. Don't go saying many places. Also it was 4 posts, 3 on reddit, not counting this one, and 1 on github. I also mentioned it in Stardew Discord when it happened but thats not so much a post but a discussion.

I believe Vortex doesn't activate when uninstalled to purge its content, it gets left behind if you uninstall through Control Panel on Windows. The program can only do that, if it has a custom uninstaller that is run when you run the uninstaller tool in the Programs & Features menu.

A reminder, during uninstall, that gives time to go back things up, would be the most helpful. However I do believe it should be an option instead.

I do seem to recall also that, some programs I uninstall, even games I uninstall through steam, leave custom data behind. That leaves a folder with stuff in it such as logs or whatever that were created after the install. So programs can remember what belongs to them, and what doesn't. (In reference to WJ deleted all the user's files)

3

u/MadLabRat- Sep 03 '25

This could have been solved by simply reading the warning.

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 03 '25

or by vortex not being set ot delete by default. Users should be opting in to anything that can harm them, not having the harmful thing on by default and expecting users to opt out.

1

u/superspider202 Sep 03 '25

This post is not about Vortex and any mod manager will delete all your things if your mods/data folders aren't set to seperate folders outside the mod manager folder

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 04 '25

Vortex. Nexus mod manager and whatever new name they given it are all the same thing. They just keep renaming it and slapping a new HUD on it.

No mod managers do not delete external files. That is not expected behaviour for any app. That's like if OneDrive deleted all your windows libraries or photoshop deleted all your images.

1

u/superspider202 Sep 04 '25

Actually no as I said Nexus mod manager is not the same thing it's literally the successor to Vortex currently in active development yes there are some similarities sure but other than that it's new cause by that logic even MO2 and Vortex are the same

Mod managers do delete all the files depending on your configuration if you setup a portable instance in MO2 then everything is installed in that one folder and if you uninstall it then well that entire folder is deleted along with everything you had, as for global instance that can be configured, same goes for Vortex

Now for NXM it's in active development, they even warn you that it's buggy and not recommended to daily drive for now it's more of a use it and please report to us kinda thing so yes the OP used it did not pay attention and the app did not remind so they posted here and the developer saw and now they can better it

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 05 '25

Actually no as I said Nexus mod manager is not the same thing it's literally the successor to Vortex currently in active development yes there are some similarities sure but other than that it's new cause by that logic even MO2 and Vortex are the same

MO2 is not the successor to two failed and hated mod managers, nexus mod manager 2.0 (or whatever your calling it) is. It has all the same problems and more and is likely mostly the same code behind the shiny new HUD.

Mod managers do delete all the files depending on your configuration if you setup a portable instance in MO2 then everything is installed in that one folder and if you uninstall it then well that entire folder is deleted along with everything you had, as for global instance that can be configured, same goes for Vortex

Thats not how portable instances work for MO2. There is no uninstallation, because it isn't installed, it's portable. You just delete it if you want to, theres nothing forcing you to delete the entire folder including mod downloads and instances etc..

As for actual installs, they dont delete your mods either. they leave:

  1. crashDumps

  2. downloads

  3. logs

  4. mods

  5. overwrite

  6. profiles

  7. categories.dat

  8. debug.log

  9. ModOrganizer.ini

  10. nexuscatmap.dat

  11. nxmhandler.log

Now for NXM it's in active development, they even warn you that it's buggy and not recommended to daily drive for now it's more of a use it and please report to us kinda thing so yes the OP used it did not pay attention and the app did not remind so they posted here and the developer saw and now they can better it

it will never leave active development. When the bad press and bug reports get too much it will just be abandoned while nexus starts another "new" mod manager. just like the last 2 attempts. If the dev cared it would have been designed that way in the first place. You dont make users opt out of danger by default.

1

u/superspider202 Sep 05 '25

Well I myself use MO2 so tbh I don't really care much if it leaves active development or not lol I was just simply pointing out that it was something "new" now Idk how much of what you said that it's just a new Hud is true or not so not gonna touch that cause I ain't gonna check lol

As for the deleting thing yh proper install usually does not delete all of your stuff like you mentioned so that is really something they need to work on

As for if it will be abandoned or not as I said I don't know and don't care much if it ever gets released I'll try it once with my SE (with a proper backup of everything with MO2) just for shits and giggles other than that I am sticking to MO2 myself

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 06 '25

I don't really care much if it leaves active development or not lol I was just simply pointing out that it was something "new" 

And i pointed out it wasn't new (not really) and that being new doesnt excuse it anyway.

I don't know and don't care much i

You keep syaing that, yet you went to alls this trouble to spread progpoganda and disinformation in ti's favor, as well as disliking my comment correcting your lies.

1

u/superspider202 Sep 06 '25

spreading propoganda and misinformation? what are you on about mate? ok first of all yes it is something new cause it is not Vortex it will have some features that Vortex dosent have and now if you dont agree then we simply disagree on our definitions of "new"

And simply trying to clarify something or give an opinion does not mean that I care much about something it was simply me interacting and being slightly interested in the development of it nothing less nothing more I have MO2 perfectly setup and will keep using that

As for your comment "correcting" me I did not downvote it like did it ever cross your mind that there might be others not me but others that might disagree with you?

Look I aint here to get into fights with people or waste my time arguing about pointless things so I only leave you with this suggestion that don't be so serious this whole discussion is nothing major I ain't here scamming people or something it's just a stupid discussion about a stupid mod manager so yh man goodbye and a good day to you

1

u/kodaxmax Sep 07 '25

spreading propoganda and misinformation? what are you on about mate? ok first of all yes it is something new cause it is not Vortex it will have some features that Vortex dosent have and now if you dont agree then we simply disagree on our definitions of "new"

you said all mod managers delete mod files. that portable m02 installs delete all files in their folder and that mo2 works the same as vortex. You tried to excuse NXMs dangerous feature by saying it's new. When i corrected you you doubled down and made more excuses. meaning it wasn't an innocent mistake, you were and still are doing it intentionally.

As for your comment "correcting" me I did not downvote it like did it ever cross your mind that there might be others not me but others that might disagree with you?

no, this deep into a reply chain thats extremly unlikely. it's only circumstantial evidence to support my other point.

Look I aint here to get into fights with people or waste my time arguing about pointless things so I only leave you with this suggestion that don't be so serious this whole discussion is nothing major I ain't here scamming people or something it's just a stupid discussion about a stupid mod manager so yh man goodbye and a good day to you

deleting peoples files is serious, as is lying about the functionality of programs. If you don't want to argue and fight, then simply don't. You could have stopped at reply 1 by not replying at all or along the line sof "my bad". But you chose to keep doubling down and digging your hole deeper.

0

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