ReLinker

[Ganda]

ReLinker

Hishy had the idea of making a little tool to allow us to merge mods with scripts - it takes the merge maps that are produced when you merge something, grabs all the scripts and LODGen files from you active mod list (BSAs included) and replaces the old plugin name and formIDs with the new plugin name and formIDs.

We all know what a fantastic tool Merge Plugins is. However there are certain mods which cannot be merged due to the use of certain scripting functions which are called on the original plugin name. Functions including GetFormFromFile, GetModByName, checkModPresence, and IsPluginLoaded look for specific .esp names. When you create a merge the original .esp name(s) no longer exists (unless you rename the merged plugin back to one of the original plugin names but this in itself can cause problems including broken MCM menus and is therefore not ideal) and therefore any function call looking for them will no longer trigger. These functions can be called by one of the scripts included in the mod being merged, or by scripts from other mods outside the merge.

A prime example of this is how the 'self-patching' in Legacy of the Dragonborn works by looking for the existence of a whole host of plugin names and activating the various additional displays if the mods are loaded. ReLinker actually came about out of a conversation regarding merging the four BadGremlins treasure hunt mods and patching the LotD activator script to make sure all four displays were still activated.

ReLinker is run outside ModOrganizer and runs on whichever profile you last had open before closing out of MO. It scans your load order looking for merges, and for every merge it finds it reads the contents of plugins and map .txt files and creates a reference list of the original plugin names and the new merged plugin name, along with the original and renumbered FormIDs. It then scans every script in your load order looking for any of those functions mentioned above and editing the scripts to reflect the new plugin names and formIDs. So in the example above once we've merged all four treasure hunts into Treasure Hunts.esp and run ReLinker, the DBM script will now look for Treasure Hunts.esp four times and activate all four displays. Likewise if you were to merge a mod like Sneak Tools whose scripts contain numerous Sneak Tools.esp lookups, ReLinker would then edit all of the Sneak Tools scripts in the merge itself to ensure they now look for the new merged plugin name and renumbered formIDs instead.

ReLinker works on both loose files (if you unpack your BSAs) and on scripts within BSAs. It directly edits the .pex files, doing away with the need to decompile and recompile the scripts which has greatly sped up the process over in the release version.

Instructions:

1. Make sure you have the profile you want to ReLink active in Mod Organizer and that you have completed and activated all of your merges.
2. Exit Mod Organizer
3. Run ReLinker and follow the on screen instructions to specify the required paths.
4. Check on screen output to ensure ReLinker has completed successfully.
5. Close the ReLinker window and open Mod Organizer.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the left pane and locate the new ReLinker Output mod.
7. Activate ReLinker Output and leave it at the bottom of the left pane to ensure the new ReLinked scripts have priority over the originals.
8. That's it, there is no 8

If you add/remove/update any mods or create any new merges and want to ReLink again then simply remove the existing ReLinker Output mod completely, exit MO and repeat the process again.

Prerequisites:

• Mod Organizer - does not work with other managers;
• Do not remove the merge folder after completing a merge.

Download it here. The tool will ask you for some things and will try to guess them properly. If the values between square brackets are correct, simply press ENTER without inputting any value. The output scripts and LODGen files will be stored in a new mod folder named "ReLinker Output". To revert the changes from this tool simply disable or delete the folder.
 
Good Practices:

• ReLinker will run with the latest profile used in MO;
• Close MO before running it.

By default, the following BSA's are ignored to speed up the process and because they don't contain any scripts with the functions that are affected:

• Skyrim - Misc.bsa
• Skyrim - Shaders.bsa
• Skyrim - Textures.bsa
• Skyrim - Interface.bsa
• Skyrim - Animations.bsa
• Skyrim - Meshes.bsa
• Skyrim - Sounds.bsa
• Skyrim - Voices.bsa
• Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa
• Update.bsa
• Dawnguard.bsa
• HearthFires.bsa
• Dragonborn.bsa
• HighResTexturePack01.bsa
• HighResTexturePack02.bsa
• HighResTexturePack03.bsa
• Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.bsa
• Falskaar.bsa
• Wyrmstooth.bsa

If you have specific issues or suggestions post it directly to the this topic. I'm always happy to receive questions and feedback. Happy merging!

 

EDIT: Thanks dunc for the much better description!

Edited February 20, 2017 by hishutup

[Ganda]

For the last two, I think iNeed was the mod that used it.

Nope, filled with Game.GetFormFromFile though :/

[hishutup]

I could have swore that it was one of these.

_sndlcquestscript.pscis from iNeed

_arissa_compatibility.psc is from Arissa

hm_mod.psc is from Honed Metal

[Ganda]

Thanks, but I think that I found a solution where I don't need to know where the function name is :p Just matching up bytes now, fixing the delivery system and I'm good for a testing build

[Ganda]

Ok guys, just pushed a new build that no longer needs to decompile/recompile anything, it edits the pex files directly so should be a lot faster and produce less errors (if any do occur due to the scripts not working, send me the scripts).

 

Happy merging!

[Mator]

Cool that you don't need to decompile, that's clever.  PEX files always looked like psuedo-plaintext to me, nice to know you can interface with them directly.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Mator

[Ganda]

Cool that you don't need to decompile, that's clever.  PEX files always looked like psuedo-plaintext to me, nice to know you can interface with them directly.

Thank the ReStringer author and hishy, they pushed me to do this! Yh, there's a description of the format in uesp and I'm gonna make a tiny library to handle them because it's something way too complex to host in the relinker alone.

[hishutup]

Nexus page is up

[IsharaMeradin]

Ok guys, I need heeelp! I'd really appreciate it if someone could get me some scripts, both compiled and source files, that contain the following functions:

• GetModByName but without Game. before it;
• GetFormFromFile but without Game. before it;
• IsPluginLoaded;
• checkModPresence.

I need to check how these are stored. Thanks! :D 

 

Do you still need this?  Cause I can whip one up fairly quick.

[Ganda]

Do you still need this?  Cause I can whip one up fairly quick.

No, that was to test the pex format and I ended up doing fine without those, but big thanks! :D

[euphoricknave]

This is fantastic. Thank you so much for this.

 

With a modlist of 763 in MO, you've saved 31 scripts of mine. Though of those 6 were from mods I had to remove from my merges because they didn't work. 

Didn't think it would matter if I rebuilt them but it's easy enough to figure out which scripts I shouldn't keep.

 

Great stuff!!

 

Ok here's my suggestion for a feature. Could you output the source .psc scripts as well?

Edited August 21, 2016 by euphoricknave

[archer]

Only works wit MO? That's not good... ::

[hishutup]

Only works wit MO? That's not good... ::

Its because it would overwrite a manual installation and when you go to rebuild it, the scripts would be permanently broken until they are replaced by the originals.

For Skyrim, MO is superior.

 

Ok here's my suggestion for a feature. Could you output the source .psc scripts as well?

That kind of defeats one of the reasons to edit the pex decompiler.

I guess Ganda could make it an optional but that is up to him

 

However, you can download the one we used.

[dunc001]

Nexus page is up

I'll try and get round to writing some additional intro text for the OP so it can be understood by anyone who doesn't have a clue what you're talking about or the original problems this was designed to address...

[Ganda]

I'll try and get round to writing some additional intro text for the OP so it can be understood by anyone who doesn't have a clue what you're talking about or the original problems this was designed to address...

Thanks dunc :p I completely suck at descriptions

[kareemamr50]

can someone explain to me how to use it in detail i am a beginner at these type of thing and really want to merge the treasure mods so i can free some space