Manage Fallout 4 mods via Vortex Mod Manager in Linux

fallout-4-and-vortex-mod-manager-on-linux.md

Manage Fallout 4 mods via Vortex Mod Manager in Linux

The below walkthrough is for those who are running Fallout 4 via Steam Proton, and want to be able to manage mods via Vortex Mod Manager in Linux.

1. If you have previously added mods through the Fallout game menu, I recommend removing them all since all mods will now be managed through Vortex. Mods => Load Order (T) => Options (V) => Delete All Mods. Also, consider taking a backup up your (vanilla) Fallout game directory.

# archive vanilla game (update archive path to suit your needs)
cd /mnt/gameData/archive
cp -a /mnt/gameData/Steam/steamapps/common/Fallout\ 4/. fallout-4

2. Install Lutris (in my case via the Pop!_Shop, since I'm running Pop_OS)

3. Install Vortex Mod Manager via Lutris. Be patient... there are many Windows dependencies, including .NET, that are being installed. I chose to install Vortex in the same partition as Steam, not sure if that is important or not. When prompted by the Lutris installer, disable your internet connection. Start Vortex Mod Manager and go to Settings => Vortex and set Update to "No automatic update". Shut down Vortex, and enable your internet connection again.

4. Add your Steam game folder(s). Start up Vortex, and go to Settings => Games => Add Search Directory. Select the Steam folder that contains your games, in my case "Z:\mnt\gameData\Steam\steamapps\common". Click Dashboard => Scan for Missing Games

5. Add mods. When adding mods from nexusmods.com, do not use the "Vortex" button... Instead, do a manual download of the zipped archive. Then, drag and drop the file from your File Manager to the games' mods area in Vortex, and install/enable the mod from there.

6. Set the load order, and apply output fix. The mod load order is calculated in the Vortex plugins area... Select Plugins => Sort Now. Note that Vortex outputs the load order in a file location that is not expected by Fallout. To fix this, create a symbolic link from the Vortex load order output "plugins.txt" to Fallout's "Plugins.txt". Note that the symlink needs to be placed in the Vortex location, so you'll need to do a rename/copy to the Fallout location first.

// Note: update paths and <user> below to suit your system setup 
cd "/mnt/gameData/vortex-mod-manager/drive_c/users/<user>/Local Settings/Application Data/Fallout4"
mv plugins.txt "/mnt/gameData/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/377160/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local Settings/Application Data/Fallout4/Plugins.txt"
ln -s "/mnt/gameData/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/377160/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Local Settings/Application Data/Fallout4/Plugins.txt" plugins.txt

7. Fallout 4 Script Extender. Many mods require F4SE to work. Download, and extract all files to the Fallout 4 game folder; in my case "/mnt/gameData/Steam/steamapps/common/Fallout 4". Rename Fallout4Launcher.exe => Fallout4Launcher.orig.exe, rename f4se_loader.exe => Fallout4Launcher.exe. Make sure Fallout starts when clicking on it in your Steam library. Note that a window displaying the F4SE runtime log will show. This is normal. You should see the F4SE version on the in-game Settings screen (Tab => Settings).

8. Happy modding!

No longer works, courtesy of the vortex installer being broken it seems.

No longer works, courtesy of the vortex installer being broken it seems.

Use the one from here https://github.com/rockerbacon/lutris-skyrimse-installers and not the one on the Lutris library itself; This version sets up download in Vortex for you as well, to get load order sorting and such use the script in vortex-mod-manager/config_scripts/