Deploying and undo
Deploy is the one REDdeck word worth learning. Turning mods on and off only changes your list. Deploy makes the game folder match it.
Turn on, then deploy
- Tick the mods you want, untick the ones you don’t.
- The Deploy button counts the changes waiting, for example Deploy (3 changes).
- Press Deploy. Progress shows in the status bar; a short message says what happened and how many conflicts there are.
Check before you deploy
Show pending changes lists every file the next deploy will touch, and why:
| Reason | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Added | A mod you turned on puts this file in the game |
| Replaced | A mod higher in the list wins this file |
| Put back | A file REDdeck moved aside earlier comes back |
| Relinked | The library copy was rebuilt (for example a REDcode project packed again) |
| Removed | A mod you turned off or removed takes this file out |
On the REDdeck page, a mod’s status links to the same list for that mod only.
What deploy does
- Places the files of every mod that’s on into the game folder.
- If your library is on the same drive as the game, REDdeck uses hardlinks: the file appears in the game folder without taking any extra space, because it’s the same file as the one in your library.
- If the library is on another drive, REDdeck copies the files instead.
- The REDdeck page’s footer says which one it’s using.
- Writes the archive load order to
modlist.txtinarchive/pc/mod, from the order of your list. - Prepares REDmod packages with the game’s own
redMod.exewhen any REDmod mods are on. You don’t have to run REDmod’s deploy step yourself. - Records everything in a manifest in the game folder: every file it placed, and the game version.
Changes made outside REDdeck
Other things touch the game folder too: a Steam Verify integrity of game files, a game update, a framework’s own updater, or you editing a file by hand. REDdeck notices when a file it deployed has changed, and the mod shows changed in game folder.
At the next deploy it asks one question per file:
| Answer | What happens |
|---|---|
| Keep the changed file | The changed file is copied into your library, so it becomes the mod’s version |
| Put the mod’s file back | The game gets the mod’s own file again |
If a deployed file has simply gone missing, deploy puts it back without asking.
Files in the way
If a file that REDdeck needs to place is already in the game folder and isn’t REDdeck’s, deploy moves it into the library’s backup folder first. Undo deploy puts it back.
Undo deploy
Undo deploy removes every file in the manifest, and nothing else. It then puts back any files deploy moved aside and removes folders it emptied. Your library isn’t touched: turn the mods on again and deploy to bring them back.
Use it to:
- go back to a clean game, for example to check whether a problem comes from a mod;
- hand the game back to another mod manager;
- prepare to uninstall REDdeck.
REDdeck never deletes a file it didn’t put there. Everything it removes is in its manifest, and hardlinks are checked to be the very same file before they’re removed.
Living with Vortex
While Vortex has files deployed in the game folder, REDdeck refuses to deploy. Purge in Vortex first (Mods, Purge). After that, both can be installed side by side, as long as only one of them has deployed. See Switch from Vortex.
Load order, in short
- Your list is the load order. Higher wins.
- For archives, REDdeck writes
modlist.txt, which tells the game which archives to load first. You don’t need to rename archives with#or00_prefixes to control order. - For REDmod packages, REDdeck passes the same order to
redMod.exe. - Scripts, CET mods and plugins have no load order: they all load together.
See Conflicts for choosing who wins.