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

[hishutup]

Do NOT run it through MO, always run it outside of MO. 

[Nozzer66]

The github page seems to be down,,,

[hishutup]

It was deleted.

[Nozzer66]

Ah Ok. So where can someone get Relinker now?

 

Ignore me, I'm undercoffeed. Found it. I have delivered an uppercut to myself.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Nozzer66

[Pickysaurus]

So, somehow I'm getting CTD at the main menu with relinker's output enabled.

 

I've been running the x64 application outside MO, but when I enable it Skyrim loads to the title screen and crashes before the NEW/LOAD/etc menu appears.

 

Am now trying the x86 version to see if it still happens....

 

Edit: Same problem with 32 bit version. Am now retrying with version 40 instead of v44

 

Edit2: I worked fine with v40 32-bit, not really sure if this is helpful unless anyone else has the problem.

Edited March 2, 2017 by Pickysaurus

[nicktheduke]

So, somehow I'm getting CTD at the main menu with relinker's output enabled.

 

I've been running the x64 application outside MO, but when I enable it Skyrim loads to the title screen and crashes before the NEW/LOAD/etc menu appears.

 

Am now trying the x86 version to see if it still happens....

 

Edit: Same problem with 32 bit version. Am now retrying with version 40 instead of v44

 

Edit2: I worked fine with v40 32-bit, not really sure if this is helpful unless anyone else has the problem.

I had same issue. Reverting back to v40 resolved the problem.

[hishutup]

This is a ganda problem.

The last 20 version numbers have basically been fighting encodings.

 

The tool is complete and support will likely degrade as time goes on.

If an when the tool is required in SSE(arbitrarily by the individual) dev will likely restart.

[Ganda]

I won't have internet for a few months so support will be limited to hishy. I only have internet during classes :/

 

Try running relinker on the command line like this: path_to_relinker.exe --debug

And paste the output into pastebin and paste the link here (uhhhh the output should be in the same folder as the relinker executable. Or in your home folder. It's been a long time alright?)

[Pickysaurus]

Can't put it on pastebin cos it's too big... here's a link to the file on Onedrive.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmeaNo5g8mp2ga8QQZyb04y-9stR3Q

[DarkladyLexy]

i am having issue can't even get relinker to run to spits out a permission denied I have version 40 it not on the C drive I have set to run as administrator and still it won't run.

[hishutup]

Don't run anything as admin, mo tends to lock itself out of files.

I never had any of these issues that you all are having, try one of the older ones, the last 10 or so have been gandag screwing with encodings.

The tool and page are staying up but I can't really provide support for things I don't use anymore. Its time to move to sse.

[DarkladyLexy]

I have been back all the way to version 20 and not a single one is working so instead i i decided to dumped the collectables and treasure merge altogether from my game.

[Darth_mathias]

sorry to bug you with this Hishy but I need to get it working and just can't figure it out tried everything I could think off and same result with all versions:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/goyotfu1enczz34/Screenshot%202017-03-11%2020.03.02.png?dl=0

[hishutup]

You probably ran it as admin, don't do that, don't run any application as that, **** breaks.

Delete the log file manually.

 

Sorry for the bad mood but I've just been exceedingly and unexpectedly busy.

[Darth_mathias]

i understand dude and thanks that did yes i am an idiot. I'll stop bugging you now