Finalising my build - query about Bash Tags

[drav666]

Hi all,

 

Well it's been a long road but I think I finally have my playthough almost ready - 99% based on the brilliant C&PD guide (thanks Kelmych :) ) and 1% my additions (eg Point Lookout Reborn, etc).

 

I had recurring crashes during testing at specific areas which I believe I finally tracked down to my active mod sweet spot being around the 203 mod mark - anything above that and weird things happened.

 

Of course I haven't fully playtested (that would require a playthrough, which I plan to do next) but it seems I have a stable (or as stable as it can be in a Bethesda world) game nearly ready to go, and on Windows 10 as well :)

 

Hopefully one of my final questions is around Bash Tags - I know there is no definitive answer, but I am curious about everyone's recommendations - I have set or removed specific Bash Tags where mentioned in the guide, and have also set Bash Tags where indicated by LOOT, but if I run Generate Tags for Wrye Bash (no examples at the moment, I'm writing this at work) I have found in many instances that many more extra tags are listed over and above what LOOT suggests. Is it worth adding these extra tags against mods in my list, or does it really come down to knowing what the tags do and what I would prefer overwritten? I'm relatively happy with how everything looks and works so far, so am I better off just leaving things how they are with the LOOT and guide recommendations and actually just playing the damn game? :)

 

Cheers,

 

drav666

[MalekBrood]

Hey Drav,

 

Funny you should mention this as I was about to post something similar.  My rule so far has been been to follow the practices set out in the F&LNV Guide.  Like you I have added tags via Wrya Flash as advised by the guide or LOOT, but I have also run the Bash Tags script through xEdit and added those tags where neccessary, also via Wrye Flash and not by adding them directly into the headers.  As advised in the F&LNV guide, Relev seems to be a problem tag and where a mod as this tag already and the script advised that it is a bad tag I have left it in place.  This way I can see how things go and report back if I notice anything weird happening and advise others on what tags should or shouldn't be added

 

Hopefully my game won't be broken by this once I have created my Bashed Patch, but I will let you know how I get on.

 

Regards.

[Kelmych]

The Generate Bash Tags script does an excellent job of identifying potential bash tags. The biggest problem is with some of the small mods. If all the bash tags from the script are used with these small mods you might lose the much larger and more important changes from some of the major mods like FWE. For the most part (mainly non-weapon related mods) the mods in the guide don't have significant compatibility issues. However, in FO3 many mods change characteristics of the weapons, and deciding which mods should have bash tags that affect weapons is very difficult. This isn't as big a problem with Fallout NV since the game engine evolved after FO3 and it has more capabilities for weapons.

 

The easiest way to determine which bash tags to use is with xEdit, but this requires a fair amount of familiarity with this tool. I haven't seen a good video or guide for a new user on how to create patches or how to determine what should be patched. The STEP xEdit guide is good and quite complete; it might be useful to start there.  It does lack a quick start section that provides a few simple examples that show the basic concept of using xEdit to look at how mods change object properties.

[drav666]

Thanks for the responses Kelmych and MalekBrood :)

 

I think for now I'm keen to just play the game finally (had it for years and 99% of my time in game has been installing and testing mods in countless builds and rebuilds) so unless I notice any major issues I'm happy to leave it in it's current state (might tinker with ENB over the weekend) and begin my first real playthrough next week :)

 

cheers,

 

drav666

 

P.S. then of course it's onto Fallout NV, then I'll start with Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, then when Fallout 4 finally matures............. :) :)

Edited August 19, 2016 by drav666