Wrye Bash or Mator Smash ?

[Rebel47]

For a while now I've been running a mod list which I know contains errors/unmerged leveled lists and the like but that has always been fine because my setup was specifically done to test for problems with highly incompatible mods, now I'm looking to enjoy at least 1 playthrough without problems.

 

 

Between Wrye Bash and Mator Smash, which would be more recommended for a user like me who's never touched bash tags and has no idea what they are or how they are used, I've used Mator's programs in the past and his UI is always fairly intuitive but my only limitation right now is my knowledge (or lack thereof) of the features and what they do.

 

With all the above information in mind, which program would you recommend I use and how best to use it, I appreciate any and all input.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Rebel47

[Kesta]

Basic Wrye Bash : Only take care of very few things, not enough to fix a "highly conflicting load order". But include custom algorithmes for handling LList, though some will just break part of your looting system because the routine never got updated for Skyrim.

 

Sharlikran's updated patchers for WB : Will patch way more things, but some will present issues and need manual corrections. No idea in the current state, but I remember seeing some inconsistent flags randomly sets on impacts and other oddities.

 

Mator Smash : Handle a shitload of things, but without the knowledge to assign what setting to which plugin, it'll be useless. In its current state, Smash is more about "automating the patching process" that we used to do manually, than providing a high-level (in the programming sense of the term, i.e. easy to read for neophytes) plug-and-play solution. Mator's is working on it though, along with the help of the community. 

 

 

To learn/understand more about conflict resolution, I think installing SR:LE and going through the manual patching instructions is a good start, as it walk you through the patching process of a whole load order. Once done, you'll just have to be able to figure out by yourself what need to be conflict resolved instead of just resolving what a guide tell you to.

[Rebel47]

My initial post may have been misleading, allow me to correct that.

 

I am no longer using the heavily conflicting load order, that was primarily a testing phase for breaking mods or to see if any mods would break or corrupt under extreme duress, none did so that's successful in my eyes.

Now I have a load order that aside from many mods adding their own leveled lists there is no confliction between mods, so my question remains, which would be better at handling the things I've outlined.

 

I know Mator showcased a video of adding in every single mod into a automatic smashed patch and basically it pretty much worked right out of the box all bar a few things at least, what I'm wondering is,

with a few hours spent tweaking that on the load order I'm going to use would that be better in terms of gameplay than running a bashed patch.

 

I would welcome opinions from anyone who has used either and/or both programs even the authors of said programs are free to weigh in on this discussion if they so choose, the more opinions gathered the more informed my choice can be.

[GrantSP]

Wrye Bash is the "grand-daddy" of the bunch. It's been around since the days of Morrowind and is stable and does the job asked of it. However its age is also its downfall. None of the original coders are working on it and all that are had to learn the oddities of its original Python code to try and bring it up to speed. If all we had is WB, then there is no problem but...

 

Mator's Smash is now on the track and is quickly passing it in its job of making "bashed" patches. Mator is actively involved in the development and there are a few notable "BASH experts", ie EssArrBee, Kelmych that are assisting with adding all the needed tags for it to use.

 

My intent is to completely remove the need for WB and use Smash in all my modded games. Based on your success with your own modlist I feel confident any wrinkles you find in using Smash will quickly be ironed out.

[Kelmych]

I'm waiting for a few small updates (a few data record prototypes that are incomplete) before using Mator Smash to replace Wrye Bash completely. I've created patches with it and it seems very capable.

[Rebel47]

That's good to know, I tried Wrye Bash before and gave up because the UI and instructions for it were simply obsolete and more confusing than reading latin through 3d glassess, I did get a couple of minutes to look around in Mator Smash and it already looks much more user friendly to me, I just need time to familiarize myself with everything, since I'm new to bash tags I'll probably end up either bugging the mod authors for bash tags on their mods or running the xEdit script for bash tags and go from there, unless there is a better way that I am not yet aware of.

 

Thanks for the input Grant, Kelmych and Kesta every bit of it is highly appreciated