I'm setting up my Skyrim game and installing my mods, when I installed Bodyslide I went to open it and noticed it's in a folder called "Vortex Mods" in a completely different area in my directory than where my steam games are being held. The manager says it's connected to my steam game properly through the directory but the mods aren't going inside the game's folder. How do I change the mods installation location to inside the game so Bodyslide works?
#Mods in vortex mods folder instead of inside Skyrim via Vortex
upper hamlet
verbal turret
Make sure bodyslide, as a mod, has been marked "Enabled" in Vortex, and you have deployed since doing that. At that point, it will actually co-exist in both locations. "Vortex Mods" is the staging place where Vortex initially installs the mods, then should be using "hardlinks" to link it to the game folder under Data/CalienteTools/BodySlide/.
Additionally, I'd suggest that you click on Advanced under that path and add and Output Path to a subfolder in the staging folder. That way when you output Bodyslide data, it isn't written directly to your game folder, but instead shows up as a mod (named whatever folder you call it) in the Mods view. You will need to create this folder manually in Windows Explorer before BodySlide will output to it, but it will make your life easier in managing your content. Create the folder while Vortex is not running, or restart it if you do so while it is running, as Vortex won't "see it" just yet. You'll get a warning that it found the folder and ask if you want to accept the changes or quit Vortex. Just accept and the folder will appear in your Mods view as Disabled. Leave it disabled until after you've used BodySlide to create or batch build whatever you're doing with BodySlide, then Enable and hit Deploy so it will commit all those files to the game folder. Disable this folder when you want to make changes/additions in BodySlide, then re-enable and deploy when finished. Let this new folder/mod win any file conflicts.
This is a similar process to how Vortex creates the FNIS_Data "mod" when using FNIS Integration, just that Vortex does it for you.