This guide assumes you have already installed and started Vortex. If not, download Vortex from Nexus Mods and install it.
There's also a ton of extra documentation available on the extension site at wingman.vortex.support
Make sure you have installed Vortex as well as installed Project Wingman through Steam or GOG. For best results, I'd also recommend running Project Wingman at least once to ensure all the game directories are set up right.
Open Vortex and navigate to the Games tab from the left menu. Scroll down to the Unmanaged section and find the tile for Project Wingman and click it. If it's your first time managing Project Wingman with Vortex, it will download the WingVortex extension and you'll get a prompt to restart Vortex.
In general, Vortex will automatically locate your game installation from Steam or GOG, but if that fails you'll be prompted to manually choose the location of your copy of Project Wingman. Just choose the "root" install directory where ProjectWingman.exe is located and Vortex will take care of the rest.
Note that as covered in the Game Pass guide, the Microsoft Store version of Project Wingman is not officially supported, but could work. We recommend the Steam/GOG version if you want to fully mod your game.
At this point, Vortex should be managing your Project Wingman installation and you will have the Mods tab and you're ready to install some mods. Simply install your favourite mods like you would any other Vortex-managed game: either using the Vortex download buttons from the Nexus Mods site, or downloading the archives and installing with the Install from File button in Vortex.
Your mods will then appear in the Mods list where you can enable them to deploy the mod files to your game's mods folder.
You can use the Load Order tab to quickly adjust the load order of your enabled mods at any time. Just drag-and-drop your mods into the order you want, then click Deploy Mods from the toolbar at the top.
Click the cog at the top-right of the Mods table to turn on the Skin(s) attribute and you can quickly check what skins a mod includes (both aircraft and slot)
Vortex will attempt to automatically detect when you have multiple conflicting mods installed. Mods are conflicting if they change/replace the same files from the base game, and Vortex should show you a warning after deployment if you have conflicting mods.
If you're also using Project Sicario Merger to merge compatible mods in your load order, just install and enable it like any other mod then you should enable the PSM Integration in the Settings > Interface menu or on your Vortex Dashboard.
More info on PSM and using it with Vortex is available on the mod page.
Since Vortex deploys files directly into the game folder, you can run Project Wingman directly from Vortex or from Steam/GOG. If you run the game directly from the store/launcher, I'd recommend clicking Deploy Mods in the Mods tab to ensure that your mods files are correctly deployed when the game runs.