GUIDE Fear and Loathing in New Vegas - Feedback

[redirishlord]

Got it, knew it would be something simple, per the guide:

 

"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride." - Raoul Duke. By now fatigue to modding this wacky game is probably setting in, but the end is very near. Just a few post installation errands before killing raiders, running way around Cazadors, and emptying the caps of caravans will be all that awaits."

 

Added BOSS data to my previous post (in case you want to compare the two for any reason).

 

Alright, time to Flash a patch, then merge.

Yup, just needed to use the debugger instead of trying to shoehorn the python app in ... and there go 22 plugins into the Flash patch, sweet.

[EssArrBee]

I'm testing Advanced Recon Stealth Armor and Thermal Nightvision. There are three BSAs and they should be extracted to stay under the 255 char limit.

[redirishlord]

Re- extraction: would that include the Advanced Recon Gear.bsa & the Advanced Recon Tech.bsa?

[EssArrBee]

Depends on the total number of mods with BSAs you add. You'll know if you need to extract another BSA by following some really simple steps:

• Launch the game through MO. If it launches then you are done.
• If it doesn't launch then then extract another BSA.
• Repeat.

EDIT: Skip Willow and FlashlightNVSE BSA's, they can't be extracted.

[redirishlord]

Looks like Ultimate FNV + FlashlightNVSE & Willow take us to 23 bsa files, leaving about a dozen more before it gets problematic?

 

I went ahead and cracked Bison Steve, and I'm doing the Advanced Recon trio now, that will put me at 32 bsa files.

[EssArrBee]

Actually, the 32 number was just what I was thinking when I was troubleshooting. It's not a 32 BSA problem, it's a 255 character limit of all the names of the BSAs. The way the engine takes them in is through a string and it can't handle more than 254 characters. Nitpick has fixed this for Skyrim and MO integrated it to solve the issue, but it is not backwards compatible.

[redirishlord]

Gotcha, shame there's no FNV-pick or integrated MO functionality for same.

 

Any reason I shouldn't consider cracking the bsa for Nevada Skies, NV Interiors, Better Burned Man, A Better Cass, Spice of Life, or CaliberX? Or is it trial and error, troubleshoot and report kinda thing?

[EssArrBee]

Better Burned Man, I'm going to add that to guide. It is really tiny and just a couple of files. A Better Cass is probably another one that could be opened.

 

I think it's trial and error, but so far the errors from extracting seem to be meshes. Spice of Life and NV Interiors probably should be the last ones you extract if it comes down to it since they probably have the most meshes and models inside them.

[redirishlord]

Good advice, I'll leave Spice of Life and NV Interiors intact, no sense "fixing" something that isn't broke. I should probably reign in my desire to throw a bunch more mods on the pile as well. I'm purging my FNV mod archive as we speak, just retaining a few interesting items; Dragonskin Tactical (no bonus pack), For the Enclave, the remaining Cut Content mods (no Open Freeside).

[oqhansoloqo]

Damn - this is the first time I tried making a bashed patch for MO 1.2.5.  Wrye Flash is behaving oddly now and I can't figure out what is going on - why it is different now.  For the record, I have a "Bashed Patch" file directory in my MO "mods" folder.  Inside of that I have "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" and a "Docs" file directory.  Inside of that I have "Bashed Patch, 0.html" and "Bashed Patch, 0.txt".  So I first enable all plugins in MO, along with the outdated "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" plugin.  Then I load up Wrye Flash (and it doesn't matter if I follow your instructions in the guide or the instructions I gave in this forum).  Then I right-click the bashed patch and select "rebuild patch".  Deactivate suggested mods.  Select all mods in every category, except FalloutNV.esm in "Import Names".  Build Patch.  Wait...  Then it finishes, but upon finishing it gives me a popup warning I didn't previously get:

 

Missing files have been removed from load list:

* Bashed Patch, 0.esp

 

I click OK and notice that the bashed patch is no longer listed in the list of plugins in Wrye Flash.  I close WF and look at MO.  The bashed patch plugin is disabled.

 

Why does Wrye Flash do this now?  It didn't before.  It would keep the bashed patch enabled.  This bothers me, because I'm not getting any weird error flags or anything in MO.  When I keep the bashed patch disabled, the game loads up like it doesn't need it (not sure if it was able to do that before).  I can also choose to enable the bashed patch and the game loads with that way also.  I thought the bashed patch was needed to have multiple plugins disabled by WF to be merged together into the single bashed patch.  Anyone have a clue why WF is thinking the bashed patch plugin is missing and then disabling it?

EDIT: And whatever happened to NV Bounties II and Dracomies Improved Textures?  You had said that you were testing those before and thinking about adding them soon.

Edited June 25, 2014 by oqhansoloqo

[redirishlord]

I just launched Wrye Flash (using the debug exe mentioned above) and it operated as expected, I see the patch in the "right pane" and mousing over it shows me the patched files (all 22 of them). The bashed patch,0 in the "left pane" is the default from the FNV Data directory (outside of MO), right?

[oqhansoloqo]

No, my bashed patch is not the default one.  I lost that one a while back.  I accidentally deleted it.  Then I read somewhere that I could find a replacement for it by looking in the Mopy/templates file directory.  So I grabbed that and put it into a file directory I called "Bashed Patch" in the mods directory in MO.  Then I ran WF and rebuilt it.  That was a while back when I did that, and it had worked before with MO 1.2.1.  I've been using that all along...  All of the sudden (with MO 1.2.5) it's doing what I described above.

Edited June 25, 2014 by oqhansoloqo

[EssArrBee]

Damn - this is the first time I tried making a bashed patch for MO 1.2.5.  Wrye Flash is behaving oddly now and I can't figure out what is going on - why it is different now.  For the record, I have a "Bashed Patch" file directory in my MO "mods" folder.  Inside of that I have "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" and a "Docs" file directory.  Inside of that I have "Bashed Patch, 0.html" and "Bashed Patch, 0.txt".  So I first enable all plugins in MO, along with the outdated "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" plugin.  Then I load up Wrye Flash (and it doesn't matter if I follow your instructions in the guide or the instructions I gave in this forum).  Then I right-click the bashed patch and select "rebuild patch".  Deactivate suggested mods.  Select all mods in every category, except FalloutNV.esm in "Import Names".  Build Patch.  Wait...  Then it finishes, but upon finishing it gives me a popup warning I didn't previously get:

 

Missing files have been removed from load list:

* Bashed Patch, 0.esp

 

I click OK and notice that the bashed patch is no longer listed in the list of plugins in Wrye Flash.  I close WF and look at MO.  The bashed patch plugin is disabled.

 

Why does Wrye Flash do this now?  It didn't before.  It would keep the bashed patch enabled.  This bothers me, because I'm not getting any weird error flags or anything in MO.  When I keep the bashed patch disabled, the game loads up like it doesn't need it (not sure if it was able to do that before).  I can also choose to enable the bashed patch and the game loads with that way also.  I thought the bashed patch was needed to have multiple plugins disabled by WF to be merged together into the single bashed patch.  Anyone have a clue why WF is thinking the bashed patch plugin is missing and then disabling it?

EDIT: And whatever happened to NV Bounties II and Dracomies Improved Textures?  You had said that you were testing those before and thinking about adding them soon.

Yeah, I was testing NV Bounties 1 and 2 at the same time, but I only got through NVB 1 and two bounties of pat 2 before my saves went haywire. I have a testing save that Someguy put up, so I'll use that soon. As for Dracomies textures, I'm planning on it, but I was doing all the BOSS/LOOT stuff, and getting ready to add cleaning instructions and MO v1.2.5 instructions. When that is done I'll be back to proper mod testing. Well, maybe, my regular STEP duties are also calling now that MO updated. STEP 2.2.8 is pretty much outdated and we have to probably move up our timetable for 2.2.9 release.

 

It's just a stupid bug with the way the bashed patch is handled by the virtual filing system adjustments now that the DATA folder is included. Same weird issues happen with TES5Edit if you mess with plugins and then save them. Just make sure that Bashed patch is ticked and last in the load order.

I just launched Wrye Flash (using the debug exe mentioned above) and it operated as expected, I see the patch in the "right pane" and mousing over it shows me the patched files (all 22 of them). The bashed patch,0 in the "left pane" is the default from the FNV Data directory (outside of MO), right?

You can now have it in the data directory and it will be a mod listed without a check box. The drawback is that if you make a new profile you have to make a new Bashed Patch. The other way to handle this besides making it a mod in MO, is to copy the Bahsed Patch, 0.esp and rename it Bashed Patch, 1.esp or 2.esp, 3.esp.... That is how multiple patches are handled by Wrye Bash.

No, my bashed patch is not the default one.  I lost that one a while back.  I accidentally deleted it.  Then I read somewhere that I could find a replacement for it by looking in the Mopy/templates file directory.  So I grabbed that and put it into a file directory I called "Bashed Patch" in the mods directory in MO.  Then I ran WF and rebuilt it.  That was a while back when I did that, and it had worked before with MO 1.2.1.  I've been using that all along...  All of the sudden (with MO 1.2.5) it's doing what I described above.

That is the same as the one you deleted. It's just a dummy plugin with nothing in it called Bashed patch, 0.esp and the version in the header is for Oblivion, but rebuilding the patch changes that.

[oqhansoloqo]

I don't know exactly which part fixed it, but I grabbed a new copy of the bashed patch from the templates folder and put it directly into the data directory, sorted it into correct order in MO and enabled the plugin.  Then I ran WF and everything works like it used to again - no weird messages in WF and the bashed patch files get updated properly.  So I don't know if it was because I now have it in the data directory or because I grabbed a "fresh" copy.

 

EDIT: I just played with it a bit.  It wasn't the fresh copy.  It's just that now I can't keep the bashed patch in it's own directory in the mods directory.  I can either do what you said with putting it directly into the game's data directory or keep it in the overwrite directory of MO (that's what I'm going to do).

Edited June 25, 2014 by oqhansoloqo

[redirishlord]

The other way to handle this besides making it a mod in MO, is to copy the Bahsed Patch, 0.esp and rename it Bashed Patch, 1.esp or 2.esp, 3.esp.... That is how multiple patches are handled by Wrye Bash.

How do I created a mod from my bashed patch?

I've right-clicked on bashed patch,0 but it doesn't offer me the option to "create mod".

Having one for each profile would be great, I have an "overwrite mod" for each Skyrim character this would be a logical extension and preferable to re-bashing constantly.