Comparison of File Management Systems

There are three primary methods for file management in mod managers. This is an overview of these systems.

Called out in this doc are the ways in which the mod managers do destructive edits to the game folders.

These destructive edits are troublesome when they require the user to recover from them by going to their game launcher and “Verifying Local Files”.

Editing the game files themselves, however is fairly rare. Most “destructive edits” exist in the form of additional files, that interact with the game via their presence in game folders. This includes both mod files in mod folders supported by the game, and proxy DLLs that override certain methods in the game engine (such as ENBs).

	Nexus Mod Manager	Vortex	Mod Organizer 2	Nexus Mods App
Deployment Method	Hard/Sym Links	Hard/Sym Links	UVFS	File Copy / Hashing
File Deleted / Created	Changes are left in Game Folder	Changes are left in Game Folder	File exists after create, original is replaced	Detected, new modlist with changes is created
File Modified	Changes Staged File	Changes staged file	Changes staged file	Detected, new modlist with changes is created
Conflict Resolution	Last Activated Wins	Rule-based	Order based (individual files can be hidden)	Flexible, delegated to a replacable component
Changing Conflicts	Requires re-activating mods	Requires re-deployment	Requires re-launching the game	Requires copying in the changed files
Generated Files	Left in the game folder	Left in the game folder	Added to an Overrides mod	Added to a overrides mod, existing mods, or pre-tagged mod
Extracted Mod Files	Stored in Staging Folder	Stored in staging folder	Stored in staging folder	Left in original downloads until required
External Apps	See files in game folders	See files in game folders	Do not see files in game folders	See Files in game folders
SKSE/ENB/CET	Treated like a normal mod	Treated like a normal mod	Requires manual installation	Treated like a normal mod