Bug Report - Other: Witcher3 all confused

[VortexFeedback]

Vortex Version: 1.2.12
Memory: 16.00 GB
System: win32 x64 (10.0.18363)
The latest testing has decided that I have no chosen deployment method for witcher3 , it was set to hardlink, it also tells me to move my staging folder to the d: drive where the game folder is; except the game folder is on the c: drive, where it has always been, as has the staging folder. This stops me from choosing a deplyment method.
The offer to install a new version of the scriptmerger failed, after installing it manually, Vortex still offers to install a new version, current installed version = 0.6.4.

Reported by: dizietemblesssma

[TanninOne]

Please could you double check the game is truly installed on c:? Do you maybe have multiple copies of Witcher 3 installed and Vortex discovered the wrong one? (On my system GOG installed Witcher 3 twice because after an update it "forgot" about the first install)

Your first problem definitively looks like Vortex discovered Witcher 3 on drive d: and if you go to the mods tab and click on the "Open Game Folder" button it should take you to where it thinks the game is, please take a look at what's there.

Regarding the install of script merger this is something @IDCs may look into but I'm pretty sure he will need the error message you got when it failed to install it.

[IDCs]

Hi dizietemblesssma, Witcher 3's discovery process relies primarily on a registry key which as far as I know is being set by all versions of the game regardless of the game store. "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CD Project Red\The Witcher 3\InstallFolder"

If you know how, can you please have a look inside your registry and ensure that key is set to your game's location in C:\ ?

Also as TanninOne said - for us to have a look at the script merger issue, we would need all your vortex.log files which can be found inside your "%appdata%/vortex" directory.

[IDCs]

I've improved the script merger version detection functionality to correctly identify manually installed versions Nexus-Mods/vortex-games@569a244

But I'm still curious why the update download failed in the first place..

[dizietsma]

I have no HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CD Project Red\ :)
Tried to launch w3 but I get script compilation errors - presumably due to the non-existent deployment method.
I do have Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CDProjektRED and also a Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\CD Projekt RED but they only have mod tools and gwent and thronebreaker entries.

I haven't touched the installation since I first installed it, since I always felt that W3 needed the ssd it is on, unlike Skyrim and others which work fine from the d drive which is a spinning disk.

However I have found:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Games{BF679CAD-FE6D-4CBE-9E99-D7193809207A} which has:
AppExePath D:\gog_games\The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt GOTY\bin\x64\witcher3.exe

and similar which I can't explain, unless it is related to my recent forced upgrade to gog galaxy2?
That does have the default setting for installs to be the d drive.

I've just done a verify using gog galaxy and the timestamps for W3 folders on the c drive have been updated.

The thing to note is that until now I have been using Vortex to manage w3 mods for a few versions now.

Are these the logs you need?

edit: forgot to mention, using the open game folder (which i never saw before!) opened the installation on the c drive.

[IDCs]

Hi @dizietsma, first of all thanks for helping us debug this. In 1.2.12 we've enhanced the W3 extension to support automatic installation of menu mods (mods like this one: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/2067) - which usually require users to manually edit ini and xml files which are located both inside the game directory and the "My Documents" folder.

This enhancement is to blame for your deployment method issue as your game is indeed located in "C:", BUT your documents folder is located in "D:" which renders the hardlink deployment method unusable. We had expected this to happen on some user environments, reason why we had released the new script merger version which had some fixes in to support symbolic links; unfortunately we had forgotten to re-enable the symlink deployment method for W3 when we released the new testing version...

Given this fact, there are now 2 possible solutions to your problem.

1. Wait for us to release 1.2.13 (probably sometime this week, we will try and aim for tomorrow) which re-enables the symlink deployment method for Witcher 3; you'll be able to switch over to symlink deployment and continue with your environment unaltered.

2. If you wish to continue using hardlink deployment and do not want to wait for the new release, you will have to move the game to your D:\ partition, alongside the Vortex mods staging folder (do this through the application).

We're really sorry for the inconvenience...

[dizietsma]

No, probs. In an effort to save space on my ssd c drive for games, I moved my documents folder to the d drive, unintended consequences! :) I'll hang on for the next version.

[IDCs]

Hi @dizietsma, were you able to test the new 1.12.13 testing build ? symlink deployment should now be available to you and wanted to make sure everything is working as intended now.

[dizietsma]

I tested it but Vortex did not load the witcher3 game at all, however 1.12.14 now loads the game, however despite all three folders in the 'Open...' option on the toolbar opening folders in the c drive, the only option available to me is symlink, when I always had hardlink before. I never before had to enter the admin password to mod w3. I tried purging, which told me all the files had changed? I said yes to keep the changes which I think deleted the exisiting hardlinks. Redeploying asked for the admin password, I have declined since I hope to get the hardlink method back. To this end I have used mklink to symlink the folder 'The Witcher 3' in the documents folder to a folder on the c drive. After restarting Vortex I was given the option to choose the hardlink option.
However Vortex told me that all the mods were redundant, and indeed all the folders were empty, but a reinstall fixed that - for the first few mods. Then I kept getting the error as shown in the screenshots I will attach. I'm wondering if it would have been better to symlink a folder on the c drive to the d drive, but I'm not sure if that woud make a difference to whatever method Vortex uses to determine hardlink compatibility?

Current logs:

Screenshots:

[IDCs]

Hi @dizietsma - argh - I was really hoping for a smooth transition.. The hardlink deployment method relies on all modding paths to be situated on the same partition and given that the new menu mod type is deployed to the documents folder partition, in your case, to use hardlinks you would have to move the game folder and Vortex's staging folder to D:\

I'm surprised that making a directory symlink reinstated hardlinks and I'm wondering if that would indeed be reliable and not cause issues in the future... Regardless, can you please send me your input.xml file which should be located inside your "../The Witcher 3\bin\config\r4game\user_config_matrix\pc" directory.

Additionally can you please go to your mods page, right click any mod and select create report and share the generated url with me - it will help me have a look at which mods you have installed and help me re-create your environment.

[dizietsma]

Ok, here is the url, isn't this just for the one mod though?
https://privatebin.nexusmods.com/?dfee1f396077569f#dkzmdzK5zT4kmyg367nxejutJ8qugAzFMJVBDFiuRFa

here is the input.xml

input.zip

unfortunately for me I have the game on the ssd c drive for performance reasons, and since the ssd drive is not very large, the documents on the d drive for space reasons. Until the recent changes this was never a problem for me with Vortex. If I can figure out the error in my last post I'll have to take my chances and see if the symlink method continues to work for me:)