Skip to main content
Version: 2026.2

Vortex

PCA needs no Vortex-specific setup. Configure it the usual way and compile.

The reason is that Vortex, unlike MO2, does not virtualize anything: deploying a mod puts its files in the game's real Data folder, as hardlinks. Everything is where the compiler expects it, so PCA — and the Creation Kit, and the game — see a mod's source scripts like any other file.

There are only two things to know.

Deploy before you compile​

A mod that has been installed but not deployed is not in Data yet. Its .psc do not exist as far as the compiler is concerned, and any script importing them fails with unable to locate script.

Vortex deploys on its own most of the time, and otherwise asks. Take the prompt before compiling, or hit Deploy Mods in Vortex.

The same goes the other way: after a Purge, the deployed files are gone until you deploy again.

Send the compiled scripts to your mod​

By default PCA writes the .pex into the game's Data\Scripts, next to the deployed files but not part of any mod. Two consequences:

  • Vortex sees them as external changes and asks what to do with them on its next deployment;
  • your compiled scripts are not in the mod you are building, so they are not packaged with it.

Point the output folder setting at the folder of your mod in the Vortex staging folder instead — Vortex shows where it is under Settings, in the Mods tab, and gives every mod its own subfolder in there — <staging>\<your mod>\Scripts, plus the namespace subfolder if your script declares one, which PCA appends for you.

The .pex then lands in the mod itself, gets deployed like the rest of it, and is picked up when you package the mod.

Refer to Configuration for the setting.

Several games​

Vortex switches between games. PCA has one game selected at a time, in its settings.

If you go back and forth, give each game its own shortcut with the configuration on the command line, rather than changing the settings every time. Refer to Application Parameters.