[Conflict Resolution] Do I patch this?

[tjax323]

Afternoon,

 

This Screenshot shows a custom NPC mod that overwrites on CRF. Reviewing the sticky about which records not to patch had me a bit confused with this example. It's a condition with the winning mod blank and the previous mod CRF with "overwritten" records.

 

The citation by the sticky would suggest PNAM records would not need patching, but I'm not sure if this falls under that or not. I think this is under DNAM. For reference, Arthmoor wrote:

 

Dialogue Subrecords
DIAL - TIFC [info Count]: These will appear as conflicts whenever the counts don't match. So far as I have been able to determine, the game will keep track of the highest count and will run with that. It's also possible this subrecord doesn't matter in the end and is only for internal information purposes as this count value is never seen in the CK.
INFO - PNAM [Previous INFO]: These will be sorted at runtime based on the actual order of the final list of INFOs attached to a DIAL record.

 

 

 

Looking for help to understand so I do the right thing and hopefully learn why. It's not so much about this specific example as I've seen a few of these here and there. If I an understand I can help myself. Thanks for any responses or help in advance.

 

 

[TechAngel85]

What you're looking at is...

 

CRF is adding a condition to the dialogue topic or line of dialogue. Basically, this condition must be met before the line of dialogue will be spoken in-game. In this case, the user must be a part of the College of Winterhold faction before the dialogue will be used. If this is not combined at runtime and not forwarded, you would simply lose the requirement of having to be in the College of Winterhold faction before hearing the line spoken. It's nothing that will break the game, if not forwarded. Personally, I forward things like this because I know how it's specifically achieved using the CK. Whether or not it's combined at runtime...I can't answer since my knowledge of those things aren't what they ought to be.

[hishutup]

This is a good one to just test and quite frankly I have no idea

[tjax323]

Thanks guys. I see a lot these in my port of Guard Dialogue Overhaul with CRF and USSEP like these, so I think I'll take a look at reviewing for a "dialogue" patch towards the end of building my mod/load order. That way I can try some testing with it and without it for various scenarios.

 

I often see a lot of "blanks" like this related to XCLR - Regions. It looks to me like it might be another one of these that aggregates at run time, but I'm guessing, which I feel is part of my problem. I fixed this particular screenshot problem by moving RW down the load order with a LOOT meta rule. Regardless, I see XCLR show up in conflict in xEdit... a lot.

 

That Sticky was really helpful, but there's nothing like a real live example to help build comprehension. I really appreciate it. This community is really awesome. I just learned something!!

Tech, is there some place/link you know of that can help you... read... some of the stuff in xEdit. Most of the time I feel like I'm guessing at reading another language with just half the alphabet. Sometimes I can suss it out, but others... not so much.

Edited December 31, 2016 by tjax323

[TechAngel85]

Regions should be forwarded. Regions can be used for several things including weathers, lighting, etc. Water mod plugins should also be loaded close the the end of your load order. That will prevent a lot of unnecessary forwards.

 

@Information,

Beside the wiki, not really. We have our out wiki as well, but it covers mostly the same things.

 

Honestly, I learned what I know by doing what you are doing now...jumping in and getting some hands-on experience. I didn't understand a lot of the records until I started getting into actual mod development. Once you dive into mod dev, you start to see all these records in xEdit which correspond to things in the CK. From there you start to get a grasp of what all the records you see in xEdit actually are, what they do, and how they may relate to other mod which change the same records. Knowing how a mod works is very much of the process of conflict resolution. If you don't know how a mod works, it can be very difficult to know what to forward and what not to forward.

 

In a nutshell, xEdit is basically giving you a look "under the hood" on how the CK builds out a plugin file and allows you to manipulate the files directly without the need to open them up in the CK.

[tjax323]

Thanks, Tech. Appreciate the link. I've been through the CK kit some, but nowhere near the extent I have STEP. I actually started out there on some xEdit stuff so I could learn to patch. Looks like I'm going back. I think mod dev will eventually be where I go- assuming intimidation doesn't get the better of me. STEP has helped me get over that tremendously.

[Nozzer66]

I'm by no means an expert on CR. An enthusiastic amateur I think is the best description.

 

But I do it based on common sense. If you have a sound record, say, and that's edited by (for example) a meshes/texture mod, CACO and AOS, as well as USLEEP, then I forward it based on what makes most sense. In that case I'd probably use the AOS record, and transfer the USLEEP changes into the CR record.

 

Seems to make sense and work OK in my case. I probably should look more into what stuff is and isn't really a conflict per-se, though.

[tjax323]

Thanks, Nozzer. I've been so deep in the trees, it helps to get a look at the forest. That's essentially... I think the right way for a novice like myself to approach it. I'm just asking questions, because I'm curious and like to be more certain. Thanks for taking the time post. It's sincerely appreciated, and if anyone looks in this thread later on, it might help them too.

[Nozzer66]

Take your time and keep an eye on the prize: playing the game. :) Give you a goal. Otherwise you'll get lost in analyzing everything down to the nth degree and continue to never get any further than Whiterun. :)

 

And no harm asking questions. Adds to the knowledge base on here, and that is NEVER a bad thing.

 

And my other Credo: Not everything in xEdit NEEDS to be green.

[tjax323]

Oh absolutely correct! A mod is in fact an overwrite, so if it's all green, might as well just play vanilla. There just good conflict losers, bad conflict losers, and critical conflict losers. The last 2 are the ones I'm trying to avoid.