File Conflicts: Nexus Mod Manager vs Vortex

I am getting a lot of mod conflicts with Vortex that were not there in Nexus Mod Manager. What’s wrong?

Nexus Mod Manager and Vortex have different ways of making you aware of file conflicts and enabling you to solve them. In most cases your NMM installation will have several file conflicts which you simply are not aware of, whereas Vortex will inform you about the conflicts, and offer the option to resolve them (in different ways) without having to reinstall the mods in question.

File Conflicts in Nexus Mod Manager

In Nexus Mod Manager, whenever you install a mod which is editing the same files as another mod, you will be presented with an override prompt upon installation.

While you get to decide at this point whether you want to override the other mod’s files, or not, this is the only time Nexus Mod Manager allows you to make that decision. To reverse it, you will have to reinstall the two mods and choose differently.

Once you have made your decision, Nexus Mod Manager will not inform you about the file conflict existing in your load order. In other words, the conflict is still there, but Nexus Mod Manager does not make you aware of it nor allow you to address it without reinstalling the mods. In the picture below, all that we are being made aware of is that both mods are installed. We have no indication as to which mod was set to override the other, and no indication that both mods are in conflict with one another.

File Conflicts in Vortex

With Vortex on the other hand, you have the ability to change your mind about which mod should win the conflict by going last - without needing to reinstall - and the UI informs you of the existence of a file conflict in your load order. Vortex will display a red lightning bolt for file conflicts which have not been addressed, which will change into a green lightning bolt once you have set a rule for the conflicting mods.

Example:

Both mods “Rustic Daedra SSE - 2K” as well as “Atronach and Spriggan retexture” make changes to the same files. Therefore the two mods are in conflict with one another. Clicking on the red lightning bolt, we are able to set a rule and decide which mod should “win” the conflict by going after the other. For example, to have “Rustic Daedra SSE - 2K” load after “Atronach and Spriggan retexture” we would set up a rule like this:

After addressing the conflict, the UI informs us that these two mods have conflicting files, but that the conflict has been resolved - indicated by the green lightning bolt:

If we were to change our mind, and decided that, after all, we want “Atronach and Spriggan retexture” to win the conflict by going last, we could simply change the rule we have set up, and - unlike Nexus Mod Manager - we do not have to reinstall the mods for that to take effect.

Swapping the “Load after” to a “Load before” rule will accomplish just that for our example. To adjust the rule, click on the dependency icon (the icon next to the lightning bolt) in the row for “Rustic Daedra SSE - 2K” and change the rule in the dropdown: