Changes in one game persist in completely new game?

[Darklustre]

I have MO2 and I use Loot. I would like to understand how it is possible that when I play one game and make changes to a mod in the MCM, or make changes to the game, it can persist into a brand new game. For instance, when I set the tweaks in Hunterborn or Frostfall, a new game may have those same altered settings when I go in to configure the mods in the MCM for the first time in a brand new game. Sometimes this doesn't happen at all. When I use Jaxonz Positioner to change the location of objects in the game, those changed positions can persist in a completely brand new game. Sometimes this doesn't happen. I did Wylandriah's quest in one game. Now, in ALL my brand new games, the satchels with Wylandriah's items are always found in Winterhold, Windhelm and Ivarstead without ever starting the quest, or even going to Riften. 

I'm really curious to know how this is possible? 

[ButchDiavolo]

6 minutes ago, Darklustre said:

I have MO2 and I use Loot. I would like to understand how it is possible that when I play one game and make changes to a mod in the MCM, or make changes to the game, it can persist into a brand new game. For instance, when I set the tweaks in Hunterborn or Frostfall, a new game may have those same altered settings when I go in to configure the mods in the MCM for the first time in a brand new game. Sometimes this doesn't happen at all. When I use Jaxonz Positioner to change the location of objects in the game, those changed positions can persist in a completely brand new game. Sometimes this doesn't happen. I did Wylandriah's quest in one game. Now, in ALL my brand new games, the satchels with Wylandriah's items are always found in Winterhold, Windhelm and Ivarstead without ever starting the quest, or even going to Riften. 

I'm really curious to know how this is possible? 

Some mods with MCM save the changed settings in a .json or an .ini file. These are files that appear in the "overwrite" folder in MO2 after you start the game the first time. I have never used the mods you mention, so I am not sure if that is the case for these mods as well. If you want to start a completely new game, makes sure to delete those settings files from where you stored them. (i.e. the mod folder or a SKSE Output folder). The same is likely true for Jaxonz Postitioner, though I also have never used that.

As far as Wylandriah's quest goes: those items are ALWAYS in the same locations, whether you started her quest or not. So that is normal.

Hope this helps.

 

[Darklustre]

Are you sure? I was pretty sure the satchels only appeared after you start Wylandriah's request. That would solve that part then.

I'm not sure about what you are saying with the Overwrite business. I haven't saved anything from Overwrite or files or any of that and still, some times the changes persist and some times they don't. 

[GSDFan]

1 hour ago, ButchDiavolo said:

Some mods with MCM save the changed settings in a .json or an .ini file. These are files that appear in the "overwrite" folder in MO2 after you start the game the first time.

Sometimes these can be included in the mod. If that is the case then you would need to sort those out and either delete the files or reinstall the mod and choose to replace instead of merge. Or install the mod a second time with a slightly different name and disable the first one to see if the changes persist.

[Darklustre]

3 hours ago, GSDFan said:

Sometimes these can be included in the mod. If that is the case then you would need to sort those out and either delete the files or reinstall the mod and choose to replace instead of merge. Or install the mod a second time with a slightly different name and disable the first one to see if the changes persist.

 How could that be included in the mod if it only happens sometimes? Did you miss the part about how these changes "I've made myself" (in game or when tweaking the mod settings with the MCM) are 'sometimes' there and 'sometimes' not? I'm thinking that if the mod makes these changes to the game, it would be a constant, wouldn't it? 

[ButchDiavolo]

On 6/28/2023 at 9:32 PM, Darklustre said:

Are you sure? I was pretty sure the satchels only appeared after you start Wylandriah's request. That would solve that part then.

I'm not sure about what you are saying with the Overwrite business. I haven't saved anything from Overwrite or files or any of that and still, some times the changes persist and some times they don't. 

Yep, I am sure about Wylandriah's quest. Took me about 11 years to notice, but her satchels are always there, no matter if you met her or not.You can even pick the items up and eventually talk to her in Riften to start the quest and hands them over.

As for the changes sometimes persisting across save games and sometimes not: as I said before some (not all) mods with MCM automatically save changed settings through the MCM into a .jason/.ini file. These files are generally saved/ stored in the "Overwrite" folder of MO2. Other times, they are saved in the mod's folder itself, as CSDFan stated. It all depends on how those mods are set up by the mod author. At first start of a new game, some mods also create .ini/.jason files (i.e. Fuz Roh Duh.ini).

Most, but again not all, of those files are in your overwrite folder in a folder called "SKSE". If you expand the SKSE folder, you will see which settings files are present. If there are settings that persist between new games, check to be sure that there are no settings files there OR in the Mod folder of the affected mod. And as a general modding tip: always keep your Overwrite folder clean. For settings files, you can create and empty mod in MO2 and call it something like "SKSE Output" and drag& drop the files into that.

[Mousetick]

Wikis are a pretty good reference to determine if something "unexpected" exists in vanilla or not. Such as Wylandriah's satchels.

From Fandom:

Quote

The satchels are present before the quest is started. If the Dragonborn happens to find one, take the contents and then speak to Wylandriah, the game will behave as if the quest has already been started and will give the option to ask "where exactly am I meant to be going?" However, the quest will not appear in the list and subsequently there will be no markers to show where the remaining satchels are.

[...]

If you get any of the items before talking to Wylandriah, the quest will not show up in the quest log until after you have retrieved all three items, at which point the quest log will update with the objective "Return to Wylandriah."

From UESP:

Quote

If you pick up one of the items before engaging in the quest, Wylandriah may not ask this favor. Finding all three should trigger an update and allow them to be turned in though. This bug is fixed by version 2.0.4 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch.

[GSDFan]

On 6/28/2023 at 2:17 PM, Darklustre said:

I would like to understand how it is possible that when I play one game and make changes to a mod in the MCM, or make changes to the game, it can persist into a brand new game.

I have not modded Skyrim in a while. To my understanding if a mod has a SkyUI/MCM support, then those settings can be in the mods folder structure, InstalledModName/ MCM/config/ModName_MCM folder.

On 6/28/2023 at 2:17 PM, Darklustre said:

For instance, when I set the tweaks in Hunterborn or Frostfall, a new game may have those same altered settings when I go in to configure the mods in the MCM for the first time in a brand new game

As stated above this would lend those settings to persist in a new game as they are stored there and starting a new game will not reset them unless you do that manually.

On 6/28/2023 at 2:17 PM, Darklustre said:

Sometimes this doesn't happen at all.

I believe that on a new game you could get a set of default values.

I know that one mod I have installed in Fallout 4 persists on setting the time of day every time I load from one session to another and have seen a few other mods do this as well. I am able to see this with the MCM settings manager for Fallout4.