Yesterday, July 1st, they announced the Alpha release of this next-generation mod manager and their new Product Manager got in touch to mention they “would be really keen to get feedback from Linux users”. So this is your chance to ensure Linux (and Steam Deck) finally become a first-class citizen for game modding.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/17546163
Modding is one of those few gaming things that still remains a massive pain on Linux compared to doing it on Windows, if they actually commit to supporting Linux and making sure it works on Wine/Proton games as well this would be massive! I’ve been modding my games manually ever since switching but having a mod manager is just so so so much nicer.
I wish more devs would just use Steam Workshop. It’s incredibly painless on Linux.
Edit: the word “just” seems to be triggering some people. Rest assured I meant it as in “just do it already”, and not “just do this and nothing else”
Porn and nudity mods are ones of the most numerous\popular categories for decades. Steam can’t allow that.
Not to mention there could easily be a court case where Valve gets told they can’t host mods that infringe on copyright and are told to remove it all and not accept anything like it.
Kiss goodbye to your Skyrim mods that add Thomas the tank engine characters as dragons, Spiderman as a playable character, LOTR characters and weapons, etc.
As much as I think steam workshop is great and convenient, it shouldn’t be the only accessible option.
Sure, but please after a general solution. I don’t want to be forced to use Steam to mod my games. Many of my games aren’t even on Steam!
Also I want it optional, so can control if Steam gets to see my Playtime.
I very much welcome the Nexusmods solution in comparision
Yeah, I have a friend who was very interested in switching to Linux on his gaming computer.
His game of choice is Arma 3, which I play and runs great on Linux. But then he asked me, “what about mods?” He plays Arma with a massive amount of mods, and not just Steam workshop ones, all kinds.
I tried to replicate all his mods on my installation as a proof of concept, but after over 2 hours, it still didn’t work.
Having really solid and easy modding would be awesome.
I’ve been fortunate that the main games I want mods for, support it rather seamlessly on linux. R2modman for Lethal Company and other unity games, and Mod.io for Deep Rock Galactic.
I have used both and can confirm they worked great. There is also REFramework for recent Capcom games like Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil entries and Monster Hunter Rise. Steam workshop compatible games like Rust and Don’t Starve Together also work great. My observation is it depends on if the mod framework the community chooses is compatible, or if the mod/framework author care enough for Linux support.
Vortex is going to be linux compatible? This is amazing, I can delete my windows image now.
Just last month I was wondering how I would get Vortex working in Linux and decided my backlog is long enough to not bother. Guess it’s time to start another playthrough of New Vegas.
Vortex seems to work fine using Lutris now. I’m not sure when it changed, but at some point recently I figured I’d give it a shot again and just downloaded and ran their installer exe and it worked.
Feedback: allow me to register an account with an email on my self-hosted domains. The validation on the form sucks, either by design or accident.
First time I am hearing of this, I hope it’s a lot better than shitty Vortex!
No-one has ever told me what’s actually wrong with Vortex.
UX is pretty painful. I’m never sure if its bugging or if I’m doing it wrong or working and now needs me to do some other step.
I’ve modded to hell and back with Minecraft, Skyrim, and every Paradox game. So it was kind of shocking just how hard modding in Linux was with Vortex.
The same reputation extends to Windows too so I don’t think it’s a Linux specific issue.
I like the UX as it’s pretty powerful but I’m mindful of being ancient and having spent nearly a decade working with arcane telco applications. I have the opposite of your complaint - I like that it does periodic checks and will notify you of detected problems and usually give you a button to press to solve it.
My biggest pain usually comes in load order management. Usually this is because this is mentioned nowhere but in a note at the bottom of the mod description that might say something like “near the top” or “after mod x”. I don’t know how Steam just handles this mostly but I have a feeling it might be strong categorisation of mods.
It seems alright, until you use almost any other mod manager, then you wonder why Vortex is so clunky. It works fine for simple modding, but once you want to adjust load orders its annoying af. The UI is pretty atrocious in places and it takes more clicks than it should to do things. Admittedly I havent used it for a few years, so it might have been updated a lot.
It hasn’t been. It’s just as clunky as it’s ever been.
Then here’s hoping they don’t make the same mistakes with the Nexus app!
I’ve been eagerly waiting for this. With the announcement of official modding tools for Baldurs Gate 3, I’ll be happy jumping back in since switching to Linux on my gaming pc.
I wrote an ESO addon manager for the steam deck. They don’t use nexus modes but I could probably figure that out.
The current build only supports Stardew Valley on Steam or GOG.com
Which is exactly what I’d use this for, were it not for the fact that I switched to the windows version of SV anyways. It wants an old system OpenSSL lib that’s insecure and I don’t have it. So wine with Windows version it is.
If I played Stardew I’d be all over this. Alas, I am not a farmer.
