If you like the work please leave a thumbs up, favorite, and rate this guide so it stays near the top and won't get buried, thus making it so others can easily find it as well.

“What we find in books is like the fire in our hearths. We fetch it from our neighbors, we kindle it at home, we communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.” ~Voltaire

Thank you and enjoy!


Now let's setup Vortex specifically for modding Starfield

Before we set up Vortex let's take a few important steps

Make sure Starfield is installed outside of Program Files or Program Files (x86)
When Starfield is installed in either of the programs files folders Windows sometimes interferes due to UAC[docs.microsoft.com] permissions. Microsoft wants to control these folders which never bothers us until we try to mod a game installed in these folders. While not everyone will incur problems with their game installed in Program files right away the best thing is to avoid any potential problems by simply installing your game & Steam in a different location.

UNRESTRICTED ACCESS (Moving Your Game Out of Program Files)
IF your game is currently installed in either of the Program Files folders Please uninstall Starfield then re-install it to either another drive (eg, D:) or if that is not an option keep it in C: but NOT in Program Files or Program Files (x86) which is where Steam tries to install it. (Note: installing on an external drive you MAY encounter slower load times. Key word here is "may". But regardless of where you install it you must install Starfield on SSD.

To Move to a separate drive (example: D)
Navigate to your Steam client 'Settings' menu. Select 'Steam Library Folders' from the 'Downloads' tab. From here, you can view your default installation path, as well as creating a new path by selecting 'Add Library Folder'. Once you have created the new path, all future installations can be installed there. (see link below for more on this)
Here's the link:
Steam's full instructions

But I only have a C: drive:
Again, if this is absolutely not an option for you because you only have 1 drive, simply move Steam but NOT in either of the "Program Files".
How to Move Steam Games & Libraries (2025)
This is the link to the tool he uses in the above video Steam Library Setup Tool v3.2[github.com]

Another thing we have been preaching and you'll find in all my Skyrim SE modding guides is to GET RID OF CLOUD SAVES and this game is no different in that respect. So make sure they are both turned off and if you are not sure how then follow the link

Ideally install Vortex on the same drive as your Starfield installation but do not install Vortex in the same folder as your game. You can let it install where it wants to so I'm not saying it can't be on your "C" drive because what's important is your Mod Staging Folder needs to be on the same drive as your game (more on that later). So if you have no choice but your "C" drive that's ok, just make sure it doesn't install to one of the Program Files or Program Files (x86).

Make sure you followed the steps in the previous section before proceeding

Setting up Vortex properly is critical to your ability to successfully mod your game!
This guide will go a long ways towards assuring your mods work as intended.

Most of the following will already be installed and/or setup properly in Vortex but because we sometimes change our settings for whatever reason or we can inadvertently change them we need to check and make sure that everything is in place in order to mod Starfield properly.

When you finish setting it up the process of properly building your load order begins. The good news is that it's not an overly complicated process and you only need to set it up once.

Log into Nexusmods directly from Vortex:
Simply click on the profile icon on the top right hand corner of Vortex.
Allow Vortex to authenticate your Nexus account by clicking "Authorize".
(if you have issues with this the first time you may have to copy the link from the pop up window)

Going Forward
Always make sure Vortex is logged into Nexus mods.

Make sure you have the "Starfield Vortex Extension" installed. Go to the left side of Vortex and select the "Extensions" section and make sure it's installed. See image below.

---

IF you do not have the Starfield Vortex Extension installed
If the "Starfield Vortex Extension" is not installed you can install it from that section of Vortex by looking down near the bottom of the extension section and selecting the "Find more" button.


Then: (1) top left type Starfield Vortex, (2) select Starfield Vortex Extension, then install

Let's setup the Vortex "Settings" section which is accessed via the left hand side of Vortex.

From the Settings section in Vortex we'll be working in some of the various tabs across the top.

(Note: the V2077 section is blank. This is for REDMod which has nothing to do with this game)

Let's Get Started

Let's start with the Interface section which should look like this:

The Mods settings section in Vortex should look like this section.:

First lets talk about the Mod Staging folder. 2 Important notes:

1. Your staging folder must be on the same drive as your game installation
   
2. Your staging folder must not be your game install directory

How do I know where my game install directory is?
Your game directory is the folder your game is installed in. We we talked about this in the "First Things First" section of this guide. To see where you installed Starfield simply find it in your Steam Library, right click on "Starfield", then select "manage" then select "Browse local files". DO NOT make that folder your mod staging folder.

In this EXAMPLE I have a D: drive so I made a folder called "Vortex Mods" in my D: drive.


Next: Must choose "Hardlink deployment" (do not use symlink)



Use Folder Junction. This is an important feature with the way Starfield handles your Data folder.

Leave the "Workarounds" settings as is. No need to change anything.

------------ No need to touch this section ------------

Starfield breaks away from the Bethesda-game trend by having a secondary data folder at Documents\My Games\Starfield\Data which, in most case, overrides the regular Data folder in the game installation. To get around this, Vortex can create a specific type of shortcut (called a folder junction) between the regular Data folder and the one in the My Games folder. This makes the game engine use the same Data folder and simplifies mod installation.

Upper right hand corner of Vortex you'll see the Bell 🔔 showing you have game related or Vortex messages. These messages will appear briefly then disappear, simply click on the bell and they will reappear.
In this case we are going to start with the "folder recommendation" message.

Then select the "Folder Junction Recommendation" message and select "More" (as seen above).

The Script Extender is an optional mod but if we are going to be using it in our load order, which most if not all of my guides do include it, we may as well install it now. So all you need to do is follow the popup prompt you received in Vortex which is up in the right hand corner of Vortex where you see the Bell 🔔 icon.

Now from the Vortex Dashboard simply go to the Tools section and you will see a box already for the Starfield Script Extender as seen below or if not then use the + sign to Creation one. And you may have to type in Starfield Script Extender. Let's continue in order to clarify.



Once you done that use the 3 vertical dots (ellipsis) to open that section for editing (as shown above)

Now let's find and set the file path to SFSE
To do this use the folder icon on the far right to find your sfse_loader.exe and select it and the file path will then show correctly (as shown below). Don't forget to save before you exit.


The above image shows my file path although yours very well may not be the same so make sure you select the folder icon and then navigate to your game directory folder, find sfse_loader.exe, and select it. Once you do so it should auto-fill in the correct file path text.
Reminder to save before you exit that section.

Set as Primary
Now all that's left is setting SFSE as Primary so regardless of where you launch Starfield in Vortex (still has to be in Vortex) your game will launch using SFSE (see image below)


When you are done with the above step it will read "Unset as Primary" (see image below).



Now you can always launch Starfield from the upper left hand corner of Vortex with any of the 3 options (see images below)

Or from the Tools section as seen below


This is because we set SFSE as Primary.

Before you install your first mod.

Double Check
We just covered Folder Junction and SFSE in the previous section but let's make sure.

1. Make sure you enabled folder Junction earlier in this guide. Vortex should give you a notification if you do not and if it does enable it now.

Script Extender (SFSE)
2. You'll also see a notification regarding installing SFSE so do install it via that notification and if you do not want to install SFSE then disable the message from appearing. We'll cover this in the next section of this guide.

ALSO
From the "Mods" section in Vortex look to the far right hand side and select the gear icon

Then make sure the following are checked as seen in the image to the right.
I listed all the categories I check and those in bold are important (in time you'll see why)
*Version
Author
Mod Size
*Installation Time
*Enabled Time
Source
*Category
Endorsed
*Content
*Deploy Order
*Dependencies

Anymore than these will clutter up the menu

But these can and will all be useful as you mod your game.

Important Nexus Mods Downloading Info
We spend a lot of time installing Nexus mods so let's make sure we are installing them by selecting the proper download tabs and NOT simply clicking on the "Vortex" button. Because many time there are more than one main file on a mod page we need to develop good habits in order to not install an incorrect file and not find out you did so until potential damage has been done.

We should always go to the "Files" tab and install our mods from there. This is a habit we need to develop even though sometimes when there's only one mod file to choose from the Vortex button would work fine there are times were we are not using the first main file listed which is which what using the generic Vortex button will give you.

So select the "Files" tab then use the corresponding "Mod manager download" button next to the file you want to install (see images below).

1. Select files tab


2. Select Mod Manager Download

Vortex will Create your StarfieldCustom.ini for you.

Whenever you want to add entries to your Custom.ini you should open it from Vortex as follows.

From the "Mods" section of Vortex and up at the top you'll see a folder icon with a dropdown.
Use the Dropdown and from the list select "Open Game Settings Folder" as seen below.


By selecting "Open Game Settings Folder" Vortex will open the folder and Highlight the ini

---

Starfield load order and plugins text files

Starfield load order and plugins text files

1


2

I wouldn't get too crazy with Profiles unless you have experience with them.

Profiles are disabled by default but can be enabled in the "Settings / Interface” section of Vortex.

Want multiple characters each with their own load order?
Profiles are a useful way to keep mod lists, game settings and save files separate for different characters on the same game. Once enabled, Profiles can be selected from the left side of Vortex.

Opening the profiles section will show your current games default profile. This will contain the current mod list you have enabled.

To start a new profile, click the button below the profile tiles. This will open the form with the following options:
Name: This is what the profile will be called.
Below "Name" you can enable either or both of the next 2 options:
This profile has its own save games: Keep the save games for this profile separate.
This profile has its own game settings: Keep game INIs specific to this profile.

More info on Profiles can be found in the Vortex Wiki[github.com]

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3200826503

Do NOT Remove Mods which contain esm plugins Mid-game or you are asking for trouble.

This has been covered so many times across all of the BGS modded games yet here we are. This very well may be the result of so many new mod users getting involved in modding Starfield.So it's worth repeating once data is baked into your save file and you then remove a mod containing an esm your future saves will look for that data and when it does not find it a crash will very likely occur.

So if you must remove a mod make sure you then revert to a previous save file that was made before that mod was installed. This is also why we test our load order as we add mods when originally building our initial load order. So every 1-3 mods installed we stop, launch, and test. This way if there's an issue it is much easier to track down the culprit.

This has been covered ad nauseam so the information is out there for all to see. Research.

Vortex Nexus Forums[forums.nexusmods.com]
My Vortex Mod Manager Guide
Steam Starfield Discussions
Vortex Update History[github.com]

STARFIELD
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3200826503 https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3213331733 https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3199872428 https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3404834557

Mod Manager
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1977191236

MODDING Skyrim SE
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2820697176