Mator

Awesome, sounds good. *crosses fingers*

I needed to sanity check myself, so made a random test case with my test plugins, made a smash setting for the NPC_ items and factions arrays, and ran it. The results were totally green, no issues. Images: Next steps: 1. Make sure you're running the most up-to-date version, v0.2.2.2. You can see the version in the bottom right corner. 2. Test with Skyrim NPCs. I can't test Fallout 3, sorry. 3. Send me your smash settings again so I can verify them. 4. If the problem persists, create some test plugins with 1-3 examples of records that don't resolve properly, then send those plugins to me. I'll then figure out a way to test with Fallout 3 on my end and fix it. If this is too much work I can do test plugin creation myself. However, if you can make and send me test plugins it will help me get the problem fixed faster. Right now the only way this can be happening is if subrecord arrays are fundamentally different in Fallout 3 record definitions from Skyrim record definitions for subrecords that are identical in both games. This is highly unlikely, it would be the first time I have ever seen such a thing. It's not impossible... but seems a bit improbable. Regards, -Mator

I don't know when I'll have time to make the next version. Lots of stuff to work on right now. You could manually edit the json files to make a setting which includes the elements that are missing. You'd only have to do it once for each record, then you could use smash's merge settings/clone settings functionality to build other settings. You didn't enable any debug booleans so the logs weren't very useful (you'd want to enable debug arrays for this particular issue, maybe debug treat as single too). It looks to me like you flagged the 'SNAM - Faction' and 'Item' elements to be treated as single entities. I don't think you should do this. Just let Smash do the array handling. I'll do some tests on my end to make sure everything is ok.

EssArrBee, I'd like to see some logs and your smash settings. Bugs with handling of sorted/unsorted arrays were worked out a long time ago, and the smashing of those elements has been working 100% for awhile now. Right now I am fairly confident that its user error.

Glad it's fixed! Yeah, I wouldn't know how it got like that. Just Windows things.

For all of you game and mod folders, and the merge plugins folder, do the following: 1. Take ownership of the folder and all files in it. 2. Unset read only on the folder and all files in it. Other things you can try: 1. If you have an antivirus or firewall active (you do, trust me) try disabling it/making exceptions for Merge Plugins. Avast and Windows Defender have both been known to interfere with Merge Plugins functionality. 2. Try running Merge Plugins outside MO as an administrator. 3. Verify you have ALL of the files from the Merge Plugins archive in its installation folder. Missing the hardcoded dat file would be bad.

The smash settings for bash tags currently in smash are only built for Skyrim. Other games will need different smash settings for the same tags. As for lists of subrecords, xEdit is your best bet.

I think this is also due to known bugs with record prototyping.

No, that appears to be a bug in the record prototyping code. It happens for Skyrim too (I just tested). I'll be looking into it. There are a few bugs with record prototyping of this sort that I need to fix for the next version. It depends on the smash setting, but if the condition subrecord is missing from the setting then that would be why these wouldn't be getting resolved properly. Again, something that should hopefully be fixed soon. Very cool. Yeah, I should be able to get things fixed up here soon. Just have way too many projects I'm working on right now. :/

No, what you should have done is read the documentation, because it's in there. :P

Graphical mods, that is, ones that change textures, lighting, or meshes, generally do not cause CTDs or instability. They will hit your framerate, however. with an R9 390 with 8GB VRAM you should be able to effectively double your framerate compared to my setup, an R9 380 with 4GB of VRAM (because you have a 512-bit bus and all specs are close to 2x). In reality, Skyrim doesn't scale quite that well, but let's just entertain the notion until we see otherwise. STEP attempts to enhance multiple aspects of Skyrim, including Gameplay. If all you want is a game that looks like real life, you should construct your own load order. Some people replying here have already made some great suggestions. I think you don't actually need much by way of mods to get what you're looking for (assuming your rig can handle it). I'm just going to link you a bunch of different guides I've found about graphically overhauling Skyrim. Please note that I only gave these a cursory overview, so I'm relying on you/other posters to evaluate their quality. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55921 https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50244 https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50214 https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/39742 https://www.gamersnexus.net/gg/2025-skyrim-graphics-mod-overhaul-and-benchmarks-2015 https://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide And there's plenty of YouTube videos about making Skyrim look good that post mod lists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSY52G8ggYM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpyKrDqJRt0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tktMryae6R0 https://www.youtube.com/user/hodilton etc. Note that RealVision is really popular, but it's performance/quality tradeoff is sucky. There are a lot of much better ENBs you can use. What I recommend for you is looking around and learning. From your OP I can see you have a lot of misconceptions about CTDs. Again, graphical mods generally don't cause CTDs, unless we're talking about stuff that alters uGrids. I think you definitely can get the graphical fidelity you see in that 9gag post, and you can do so without running into CTDs, and without having everything spoon fed to you. Do your research. Search Nexus Mods, Google, and YouTube to find resources. Take everything with a grain of salt. Not all resources are correct or complete, so consider all of your knowledge to be a work in progress. Tinker with the game, try different ENBs, learn to optimize textures. Know that having > 2k textures doesn't deliver ANY additional visual quality unless we're talking about texturing objects that are really large, like trees or mountains. Scale texture resolution to the size of what you're texturing. A lot of the time the really high resolution textures deliver no additional quality unless you look at them from a foot away. If this is the case, downgrade the resolution using a texture optimization tool. Learn to use DynDOLOD, Mod Organizer, TES5Edit, texture optimizers, and to easily edit your INI files. Become familiar with an ENB manager, and try out lots of different ENBs to find your favorite. Regards, -Mator

To my understanding it's just the CREA records that do it. As for why it does... that's a more complex question. In order to figure out I'm going to have to step through the code. It must be some interaction between the Fallout 3 definitions and my code which is different from any other record definition.

Added both of those to GitHub issues and will have them handled by the next build.

-profile e.g. -profile SkyrimProfile

You can copy your username, registered, and auth key from the other install's settings.ini file associated with your profile. Ideally Merge Plugins should be writing that stuff to the registry though. If it isn't then something's wrong.

The UI is similar because it's easy to reuse code. Why reinvent the wheel? :P The internal code also has a lot of similarities. I'd say there's about 50% crossover between the applications, maybe more.

That's what I just said. Yes. As of v0.2.2 there's a new feature which allows Smash to do the same thing. Read the changelog.

No, absolutely not. Merge Plugins does not do conflict resolution, it combines records in plugin files following the rule of one. Mator Smash generates a compatibility patch which selectively combines edits on conflicting records based on user settings. They are entirely different programs, and should be used together, not separately. E.g. make a smashed patch for some plugins you plan on merging, and include it in the merge. Make a smashed patch over your entire load order, including any merges plugins. It's important not to get confused between the different options available. xEdit Merged Patch: Generates a compatibility patch for specific plugins, processing all conflicts in a fixed set of records/subrecords. Always generates the same patch given the same records. Generally unreliable, unable to handle a large number of conflicts. Wrye Bash - Bashed Patch: Generates a compatibility patch for all plugins in the user's load order based on Bash Tags present in plugin descriptions. The bash tags on plugins can be changed, but what the tags do cannot be changed (and new tags cannot be added without modifying the source code and recompiling the application). Incomplete for Skyrim for many years now, support for some new tags was added just recently. Mator Smash - Smashed Patch: Generates a compatibility patch for specific plugins, processing conflicts based on user specified "Smash Settings". "Smash Settings" can be applied to plugins, combined, and can be automatically applied to plugins based on the existence of tags. New smash settings can be created by the user, and existing smash settings can be freely modified. Resolves whatever conflicts you want on whatever plugins you want - there's no limitation to what conflicts it can resolve or how it resolves them. Merge Plugins: Combines the records in multiple plugin files following the rule of one. That means the winning override record is what ends up in the merged plugin, with no exceptions. This effectively creates a single plugin that operates identical to how the separate plugins operated in your load order without any other plugins present. If you don't include compatibility patches in this merge, there will be subrecords that are lost and will not be retrievable by generating a compatibility patch using any tool (the conflicting data is gone - it no longer exists). This is problematic for records that are overridden in multiple plugins that the game actually merges at runtime, like NAVI records. Merging can also handle file-specific asset files such as FaceGenData, Voice Data, MCM Translations, SEQ Files, BSA Files, and Papyrus Script Fragments.

Updated to v0.2.2. Mator Smash now allows you to modify tags on plugins from within the program. See the full changelog in the OP!

Luckily, Merge Plugins doesn't operate by the same BSA code that the xEdit API does, so I don't think this is an issue with it. I'll verify in the code... Yep. Merge Plugins will arbitrarily load BSAs associated with ESP files. It (obviously) won't do anything with BSAs not associated with ESP files UNLESS copy general assets is enabled (in which case they're treated as general assets). This is fine for the purposes of Merge Plugins so long as users don't try to merge merges which have multiple BSAs, something which is strongly discouraged and not directly allowed through the application.

This.

It is working correctly in throwing the initial error with RRB - SR Merge.esp. I don't really care what happens after that error is thrown because the program locks down after the error anyways. So long as the program locks down, I consider it to be performing correctly.

I really couldn't care less. I have so much on my plate right now. Just make your load order correct and use the tool correctly. Weird stuff happening when you cause an error isn't something I'm concerned about. Regards, -Mator

After several weeks of collaboration, GamerPoets brings you this fantastic video tutorial covering Merge Plugins Standalone. The video is extremely thorough, well presented, and accurate. I went over it myself with a fine-tooth comb to make certain everything is correct. For those of you who were holding out on using Merge Plugins for a video tutorial, this is it! Make sure you drop a like and a thank you for Michael's tireless work to make this video. It was a lot of work (200 hours)!

Yeah, some subrecords are missing for certain very specific reasons. You can add them manually to the json for a setting (a PITA, but it'll work), but a long-term solution would be me updating the record prototyping code.