GUIDE General Feedback

[hamgelu]

As far as I'm concerned, cleaning the vanilla ESM's only lead to less conflicting and less CTD. It's almost a mandatory practice for any Beth game.

 

I use loot since it was released, it never let me down.

 

Also, I'm working on some merging of plugins, if you guys want I can post a sort of guide to it later, when I'm done with it.

Edited August 27, 2014 by hamgelu

[AcesofDeath7]

Maybe a line like this instead:

 

CURRENT USERS: The updates made during the latest revision  can be found here: August 26, 2014

 

With the link leading to your changelog page.  Just change the date when you update.

[EssArrBee]

Maybe a line like this instead:CURRENT USERS: The updates made during the latest revision can be found here: August 26, 2014With the link leading to your changelog page. Just change the date when you update.

I think Kelmych will follow the thing I do and put a few changes at the top so people know the latest happenings and move the rest to a separate page if users need to see further back.

[hamgelu]

Well, after some hours of testing, try-and-error, FO3Edit open/close madness, I think I was successful in merging the .esp's from FWE. I didn't test it in game yet, didn't had the time to, but I think they are nice and dandy. I got to merge 8 plugins into one single .esp, pretty neat huh? If anyone is interested, heres the guide to DIY:

 

[spoiler=GUIDE FOR MERGING "FO3 - WANDERERS EDITION" .ESP'S ]If you, like me, are concerned with your growing Load Order after you installed all the mods from "Clear and Present Danger"
fear not, for I, your humble Presiden...*cough* (whoops, too much Tropico).

I'll post here some guides on how to merge some of those pesky .esp's into a big, sexy and single one.

 

FIRST OF ALL: You NEED to clean all plugins that you're merging beforehand, EVEN if LOOT says they don't have any ITM or UDR. Just to be safe, clean them anyway, if they don't have any dirty edit, the file won't be altered anyway.

 

To clean a plugin you must do the following:

Open FO3Edit in Mod Organizer.When FO3Edit loads, right click the mod list and choose "Select None".Check the boxes next to the mods you're going to merge and click OK.After FO3Edit finishes loading, right click anywhere on the left pane and select "Apply Filter for Cleaning".Wait untill it finishes the filter, it could take a while and you'll notice that some plugins are red or yellow after it's done.Right click on the plugin and select "Remove "Identical to Master" records.Wait until it finishes deleting those records.Right click on the plugin again and select "Undelete and Disable References".Wait until it finishes deleting those records too.Do it for ALL the plugins you're going to merge.Close FO3Edit and be sure that all the plugins that were cleaned are selected and click OK.

On with it then:

Grab the "Merge Plugins xEdit Script" utility from the CAPD main page and install it as suggested.

For this first guide we'll be merging all (yes I said all, ALL) of the .esp's from FO3 Wanderers Edition (FWE to the most intimate)
because, really, 8 plugins (depending on your installation, of course) are just too much for any Load Order. So be sure you have it
installed (duh).

All righty then! Go into MO, select FO3Edit from the executables drop down list and click on run. When FO3Edit opens, you'll be presented
with another window listing all your installed plugins, right-click on it and select "Select None", then check the boxes next to the following
plugins:

FO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Anchorage.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC The Pitt.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Broken Steel.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Point Lookout.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Mothership Zeta.esp
FO3 Wanderers Edition - Followers Enhanced (BrokenSteel).esp (if you installed it of course)
FO3 Wanderers Edition - Optional Restore Tracers.esp (or the automatic variant if you choose so)

Any other optional FWE plugin you may have installed.

Now be sure all those are checked and click on the OK button on the bottom.
Wait until it loads all plugins, you'll see a message on the bottom of the window saying:

"Background Loader: finished"

On the left pane select all the above plugins again (by means of CTRL+Click or dragging a box over them, right-click on your selection and select "Check for Errors".
It'll check all of FWE plugins for errors or conflicts, it shouldn't encounter any, if it does find an error, close FO3Edit and reinstall FWE, it must be a corrupted
file. Do the process all over again until this part. When it finishes searching for errors it'll say "All Done!"

Now right-click again on the selected plugins and select "Apply Script", it'll open a new window.

On this window select "Merge Plugins v1.65" on the Scripts box (you may have to scroll down a bit), then click OK. It'll open a new window where you'll
see all the pugins you have loaded, even the ones you didn't select.

IMPORTANT: DON'T SELECT ANY OTHER PLUGINS ON THIS WINDOW.

On "Merge Method" be sure that "Copy Intelligently" is selected.

on "Advanced Merge Settings" be sure that "Renumber FormIDs" and "Two-pass Copying" are selected and "Skip Navdata" is UNCHECKED.

IMPORTANT: You HAVE to check "Renumber FormIDs" otherwise the merging will have two errors, one with Ashur's armor and other in a NPC from Anchorage.
I know most people tell to uncheck "Renumber FormIDs" but for FWE it'll HAVE to be checked.

Now click OK and yet another windows will appear asking you to select the destination file, select "-- CREATE NEW FILE --" and click OK. Now ANOTHER (geez) window
will appear, on this one you should put the output file name, let's call it "FO3 Wanderers Edition - Merged" (original huh? You can call it whatever you want tough,
even Big Booty *******) then you can click OK again.

It'll begin merging the plugins, that will take a while, so go to the bathroom, grab some coffee, or just sit there, all pretty and dandy waiting for it to finish.

When it finishes merging it'll say "[Apply Script done] Processed Records: yadda, yadda, yadda" (really it shouldn't say yadda yadda yadda).

Now click that big, fancy X button on the corner to close FO3Edit and guess what will happen? YEAH, you'll be presented to ANOTHER window (OMG)! On this window
check ONLY the plugin you just created, you should UNCHECK any other plugin that appears in it. and click OK. It'll save your plugin on the "Overwrite" folder in MO,
open it and drag the Merged plugin to the FWE folder (or to any other folder, whatever floats your boat).

Now, on the right panel of MO you'll at the bottom of your load order the plugin you just created, check it and run FO3Edit again.

That's it, now you'll have 7 free plugin slots on your game (and nightmares about windows popping up from nowhere).

Run FO3Edit again (yeah, I'm a saddist), on FO3Edit unselect all plugins and select only the merged plugin (it should be the last one on the list). Wait for it to load until it says "Background Loader: finished",
right click on the plugin in the left pane and select "Check for errors", it shouldn't encounter any errors.

If it DOES encounter any errors, close FO3Edit, delete the merged plugin you created and do the proccess all over (sometimes it doesn't merge right, life is unfair).

Do it all over again and check it doesn't encounter any errors on the end.

 

If it doesn't encounter any errors, close FO3Edit, go into MO and double click on the FWE mod, it'll open the information
window, select "Optional ESP" and move all the plugins you merged to the upper box, leaving only the ESM's and the "FO3 Wanderers Edition - Merged.esp" on the bottom box.

Now you're good to go buddy!

 

 

I must stress that it wasn't tested ingame yet, I only checked for errors on FO3Edit and it didn't find any.

 

IMPORTANT: As I HAD to Renumber the FormIDs, this method isn't advised to anyone who's on a current playthrough, you may end up with missing items, armors, weapons and all kind of nasty oddities.

 

So, that's it, I tried to make it as n00b friendly as possible, let me know if you guys find anything out of place as I'm not really a modder and some things must be screwed up (I hope not).

Edited August 27, 2014 by hamgelu

[Brainfever]

FO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esm: 13 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esp: 15 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Anchorage.esp: 3 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC The Pitt.esp: 1 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Broken Steel.esp: 14 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Point Lookout.esp: 23 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - Alternate Travel.esp: 14 ITM, 1 UDRFO3 Wanderers Edition - Optional VATS Halftime.esp: 1 ITM

 

Did you clean all these plugins before merging them? Or it doesn't matter at all?

[EssArrBee]

FO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esm: 13 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - Main File.esp: 15 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Anchorage.esp: 3 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC The Pitt.esp: 1 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Broken Steel.esp: 14 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - DLC Point Lookout.esp: 23 ITMFO3 Wanderers Edition - Alternate Travel.esp: 14 ITM, 1 UDRFO3 Wanderers Edition - Optional VATS Halftime.esp: 1 ITM

 

Did you clean all these plugins before merging them? Or it doesn't matter at all?

If you don't clean them first, then you'll just merge the ITMs and UDRs. No bueno.

[hamgelu]

They didn't need cleaning. But if you wish you can, just to be sure, Aplly Filter for Cleaning, then Remove Identical to Master Records and Undelete and Disable References.

 

But then again, LOOT doesn't warn of any ITM or UDR on them.

 

A safe practice is to ALWAYS Check for Errors before and after merging.

 

EDIT:

 

Hehe, funny thing ain't it? Even tough LOOT doesn't show any ITM or UDR on them, they still have some...

 

I didn't considered that while doing my merges... Well, I guess I'll have to do it again and then update the guide.

 

But yeah, you HAVE to clean them before merging, otherwise, as EssArrBee said, no bueno.

Edited August 27, 2014 by hamgelu

[Kelmych]

Did you have time to look at other mods with multiple plugins to see if they are more amenable to merging without having to change the FormIDs? I haven't as I'm still looking at mod compatibility (including bash tags) and cleaning mods to provide this in the guide and to the LOOT team.

[hamgelu]

Did you have time to look at other mods with multiple plugins to see if they are more amenable to merging without having to change the FormIDs? I haven't as I'm still looking at mod compatibility (including bash tags) and cleaning mods.

Yep, I'll do that in due time. I can't promisse I'll be quick about it, but I'll do it. 

 

Updated the guide with instructions to clean the plugins before merging. Thanks Brainfever for the tip on that.

Edited August 27, 2014 by hamgelu

[EssArrBee]

Did you have time to look at other mods with multiple plugins to see if they are more amenable to merging without having to change the FormIDs? I haven't as I'm still looking at mod compatibility (including bash tags) and cleaning mods to provide this in the guide and to the LOOT team.

Freso is pretty on top of everything for Fallout, so just report it to him and forget about putting it in the guide. One problem that you might have though is if you actually clean a mod before it ends up in the masterlist. You have to reinstall the mod to check if they added the cleaning rules because it uses the CRC check to see if it needs cleaning.

[Kelmych]

SRB: We seem to have issues with black rectangles on male NPCs. The FO3 Roberts doesn't have a BSA. Any ideas on what might cause these rectangles?

[hamgelu]

SRB: We seem to have issues with black rectangles on male NPCs. The FO3 Roberts doesn't have a BSA. Any ideas on what might cause these rectangles?

Maybe it's a mesh conflict with other mods from the guide? I saw something similar happen in FNV when I used NVR3 and Roberts...

 

Anyway, I was toying around, trying to merge the plugins from Delay DLC and when I checked the errors, it found this error on "delaypl.esp"

 

[00:00] Checking for Errors in [08] delaypl.esp

[00:00] DLC04MQ01 "The Local Flavor" [QUST:04005846]

[00:00]     QUST Conditions CTDA - Condition Parameter #1 -> Found a NULL reference, expected: VTYP

[00:00] All Done!

 

I went and checked what the error was about and it turns out it existed even in "PointLookout.esm":

 

 

Well, I tried to merge it and in the end it still gave me this same error. So my question is: is it safe to leave it at that, considering that this same error was in vanilla PL?

 

EDIT:

 

Oh well, here we go... I just noticed that some of the bigger mods like FWE and MMM can't be merged, even if the merging is successful.

 

The reason is: Compatibility Patches, such as Blackened... They'll all have missing masters. =/

There is a way to redirect them to the new plugin but that just falls out of my xEdit skillz...

 

Sorry to drop the ball on that one.

Edited August 27, 2014 by hamgelu

[Kelmych]

I also wonder whether black bars are related to Fallout Redesigned and Roberts; I haven't had time to check. I know some MMM NPCs have similar problems due to some errors in MMM and maybe some differences in the body meshes that MMM assumes vs. Roberts.

 

 

It would be better to look at other instances of this record type and enter a legal value in delaypl before merging.

[Brainfever]

May I suggest that Robert's Male Body or Breeze's are not even required especially since they seem to cause a heck of troubles?

 

I mean the vanilla male bodies are not even that bad in Fallout 3 and there isn't any mod that actually requires male body replacers (let's say something like Spice of Life eg. for FNV).

[EssArrBee]

I would need to look at in FNVEdit and MO, but haven't had time to finish downloading/installing/tweaking FO3 mods yet. Stupid real life... 

 

Best guess is the way all mods overwrite each other and merge into bashed patch. Does Robert's have a plugin for FO3 like it does for FNV?