[WIP] Mator Smash

[Mator]

 

Mator Smash

VIDEO TUTORIAL - For v0.0.7

GamerPoets Video - For v0.4.1

 

 

Mator Smash is now available on Nexus Mods. 

Nexus Mods Mod Page

 

 

As of v1.0.0, Mator Smash has a "Quick Patch" button

As of v0.5.1, Mator Smash will copy records with "errors" in them (such as unresolved/unexpected references)

As of v0.5.0, Mator Smash has new algorithm features and is more stable.

As of v0.4.1, Mator Smash merges redundant plugins properly.

As of v0.4, Mator Smash now produces complete record prototypes

As of v0.3, Mator Smash supports Fallout 4 and Skyrim SE

As of v0.2.2, Mator Smash allows you to modify tags on plugins from within the program.

As of v0.2.1, Mator Smash has Smash Settings for Skyrim for every Bash Tag Wrye Bash offered for Oblivion.

 

Changelog:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

v1.0.0

- No longer cleaning masters (the smashed patch will require all patched plugins as masters)
- Increased saturation of profile panel colors
- Removed unimplemented buttons from the QuickBar
- Removed MO Integration - it's unnecessary
- Added easter egg
- Added "quick patch" button
- Fixed FO3/FNV load order issue
- Added Fallout3 and FalloutNV Smash.All settings  
- Updated FO4 and TES4 Smash.All settings
- Fixed switch smash profile button

 

v0.5.1

- Fixed inactive plugins being enabled for SSE/FO4
- Updated Smash.All so Perk Effect Conditions are treat as single entity
- Fixed case sensitivity when determining if patch destination directory is the game's data path
- Fixed bug with not creating directories when building a patch when user is not using MO
- Now allowing copying of records with "errors" in them
- Improved handling of out of order subrecords

 

v0.5.0
- Added override deletions algorithm feature

- Added force value algorithm feature

- Fixed some SSE/FO4 load order issues

- Added and updated smash settings

- Fixed issue with CTDs due to counter elements being set to 0 when their associated array is not present.

- Fixed issue with cells being deleted incorrectly due to bad ITM/ITPO cleanup code.

 

v0.4.1
- Adjusted the description of the Smash.All setting.
- Fixed merging of redundant plugins.
- Fixed recognition of sorted subrecord arrays.

v0.4

- Added Smash.All setting, a new version of the old "Automatic" setting.
- Dramatically improved record prototyping.  Record prototypes should now be complete and include unions such as BOD2 and BODT.
- Fixed loading the Skyrim load order file for SSE when not using MO.
- Fixed SSE load order DLC positions.
- Added Mod Organizer instancing support.

 

v0.3.1

- Fixed bug with initialization exceptions not being handled properly
- Fixed Fallout 4 BA2 file loading

 

v0.3
- Fixed bug with enabling automatic updating causing catastrophic failure.
- Added some language strings for "Enable", "Disable", and "Autoscroll"
- Fixed bug with setting corruption when combining settings (wasn't cloning the objects properly)
- Fixed bug with being unable to delete patches with unloaded plugins
- Fixed a bug with deleting patches
- Added "Remove unloaded plugins" context menu option to Smashed patches
- Now loading BSAs on initialization so localization strings are available to the program.
- Fixed cancelling plugin selection not closing the program
- Fixed floating point division by zero error when smashing records
- Added search functionality to the records tree
- Added SSE game mode support
- Added FO4 game mode support
- Adjusted how the profile form works.  Now it will always create default profiles for games that don't have profiles.
- Disabled the registration controls on the options form because they aren't working yet (we don't have a backend yet, after all)

 

v0.2.2.2

- Fixed bug with application being unable to create the profiles folder.
- Fixed index out of bounds when trying to set a plugin's smash setting.

 

v0.2.2
- Refactored project to use decoupled architecture similar to Merge Plugins
- Added a Plugin Selection Window
- Cleaned up the Tree Popup Menu, similar items have been grouped
- Added Tag Manager Form, which allows you to manually clear tags from the plugin, remove specific tags from the plugin, add tags to the plugin, or edit the plugin's description manually.
- If the "Create combined setting" checkbox is ticked when you close the Tag Manager, it will create and apply a virtual combined setting to the plugin for the tags you selected.
- Added a tags submenu for plugins, you can now clear tags on plugins, apply tags to a plugin based on your smash setting, or manage tags from the Tag Manager.
- Fixed various access violations that could sometimes occur when closing the program or when smashing certain records
- Added a feature that tells smash to merge mods that are comprised entirely of override records.  You can enable it from the Patching tab of the Options Window.  You will be notified in the smashing log of any redundant plugins that can be disabled after building your smashed patch.
- Fixed a bug with parsing ungrouped tags on plugins
- Fixed a bug with renaming a setting not updating its name in the Smash Settings List View in the Settings Manager.
- No longer creating duplicate virtual combined settings.
- Fixed bug where resizing the window didn't always update the contents of the form.
- Added a setting which can be manually added to the settings.ini file if the for simple splash display.  This will disable the glow on text in the Splash Form.  If the text on the Splash form looks distorted you should enable this setting.
- Now trimming leading and trailing whitespace when parsing tags.  So the following: `{{BASH: Delev, Relev   }}` will be parsed the same as `{{BASH:Delev,Relev}}`
- Added submenus for smash setting groups in the Plugins Popup Menu -> Add Smash Setting submenu
- Now verifying patch name and filename don't have illegal characters that aren't allowed by Windows.

 

v0.2.1

- Fixed access violation due to a flaw in the for loop when removing ITPOs
- No longer allowing building of patches which have one plugin.  This was causing a floating point division by zero error when performing preliminary calculations for the progress bar.
- Now disables the name, color, description, and tree controls when the msSettingManager is first created
- Now using a release build configuration
- Plugin selection form OK button now enables after Select All or other popup menu actions
- Refactored old log groups from MERGE to PATCH
- Added Bash Tag settings for Skyrim for every Bash tag that exists for Oblivion.
- No longer creating subfolders for smashed patches when the patch destination directory is the data folder
- Changing the smash setting now marks the patch as needing to be rebuilt
- Added groups to the Smash Settings manager.  If a setting's name has a dot in it, the text before the dot will be used as the setting group.  Groups are collapsible, and are reflected in filenames.
- Added special tag group parsing, if a tag starts with some text and then a colon, that text plus a period is prepended to each sub-tag.  E.g. {{Bash:Relev,Delev}} searches for the settings Bash.Relev and Bash.Delev.
- Added more hint information to the Settings Manager Tree view node hints for the Treat as Single and Preserve Deletions flags.

 

v0.1.1

- Added Select Similar Nodes
- Autoset attributes now disables IDLE records because smashing them commonly leads to failure
- Now updates count elements automatically, so no more CTDs from nasty NPC_ records with invalid COCT - Count elements.
- Fixed sorted array index issue for destination element when there were additions at earlier indexes
- Fixed VMAD treat as single not working properly
- Added smash setting hashes
- Added tag recognition for normal tags, extended tags, special extended tags, and multiple tags
- Fixed the combine setting option
- Fixed ITM removal removing non-ITMs
- Smash settings are now stored in game-specific directories.  You'll want to move your smash settings to a directory for your game.  So `.\settings\\`, game being Skyrim, Fallout3, FalloutNV, or Oblivion.
- Fixed a bug that caused the program to freeze while saving plugin errors
- Now conflict resolving with the winning master record
- Fixed loaded ESPs excluded from patch creation still influencing patch contents
- Improved the Edit Patch form to be more like the Edit Merge form from Merge Plugins
- Now saving logs in subfolders as it is done in Merge Plugins
- Changed DetailsListEditor to a virtual StringGrid, as it is in Merge Plugins
- Now offers an option to merge conflicting settings from the msConflictForm
- Fixed issue with autoset attributes not removing flags when disabling a child

 

v0.0.7

- Now copies winning override of overrides in files being smashed, which fixes a bug which caused partial load order smashed patches to often fail
- Fixed record prototype construction, now assigns to empty arrays so the record tree should always be complete now
- Build tree from plugins now targets records instead of top level groups.  You can now access and smash any record type.
- There are no more hardcoded record type exclusions.  You can now smash whatever you want.  Officially distributed settings will skip records that shouldn't be smashed, of course.
- Fixed exception when right clicking not on a node in tvRecords
- Fixed flag drawing bug that would draw flags in the upper left hand corner of tvRecords when expanding a node
- Splash screen now has glow on the loading text so it is always readable
- Now doing a better job of skipping records that don't need to be conflict resolved
- Progress bar is now more accurate when smashing patches.
- Now removing ITM groups when removing ITPOs
- Created Autoset Attributes option
- Created an "Automatic" smash setting which is built using Autoset attributes on a setting built from a full load order of plugins.

 

v0.0.6

- Preserve deletions in top-level elements (subrecords) now works

- Some improvements to logging

- Linking elements fixed

- Single entity element copying fixed

- Array identification conditions fixed

- Did away with the old building trees methodology. You can now right-click on the records node of a setting and use the Add submenu to create definitions for records.

- Added a new build tree option, which can be used from the right click popup menu.

 

 

v0.0.5

- Added code so you can now toggle multiple nodes in the tree using the space bar.

- Fixed Treat As Single Entity never being triggered because children nodes were always disabled and couldn't be toggle without removing the flag.

- Fixed chain nodes linking nodes at different levels, which also led to access violations when trying to remove the links.

- Failed smashed patch status now retains after smashing completes.

- Smashing is now cancelable.

- Now storing element definition type information in setting trees.  NOTE: Elements in old setting trees will have the "Unknown" type.  You'll need to rebuild your settings to get type information.

- Made prune nodes option more user friendly and added an auto-prune option to the popup menu for fast and simple pruning.
- Fixed bug with deleting a smash setting not removing it from disk.  They now get sent to the recycle bin when deleted.

- Fixed issue with processing records when they were set to not be processed in the setting (which created ITPOs).

- Distinguishes between arrays better.  Unsorted dtArray elements will now be treated as arrays, as intended.

- Removes ITPOs after smashing.

 

v0.0.4

- Added -profile param handling
- Algorithm now supports multi-linking (chaining) elements
- Added option to chain nodes in the Settings Manager
- Hardcoded excluded groups are now only RACE, NAVI, and NAVM
- Cloning settings will no longer create an infinite loop
- Plugin selection form now has a popup menu with Select all, Select none, and Invert selection options
- Plugin selection form now has extra options for targetting/skipping records
- Fixed issue with building tree not assigned TElementData for the rootNode, causing an access violation when checking anything in the tree

 

v0.0.3.14

- Core functionality is complete

- The UX for smashing and the algorithm are both more-or-less complete, may be updated

- Most of what needs to be done now is the creation of smash settings, which can be done by anyone with some knowledge of patching

- I'll try to make some documentation/tutorial resources for creating smash settings so you guys can get started on them

 

 

 

 

Purpose
Mator Smash is an application built on the xEdit framework developed to replace the primary functionality of Wyre Bash - the creation of patch files to combine (or merge) conflicting overrides to overcome Bethesda's "Rule of One". Wyre Bash used to provide this functionality in the days of Oblivion through the usage of bash tags, keywords that would be put in the description of the mod that would then tell Wyre Bash what types of records it should try patching. However, the current status is that Wyre Bash only provides this for a handful of record types for Skyrim, and this has been the case for quite a while now. There are several users (most notably Sharlikran) who have been working to update Wyre Bash's codebase to work with Skyrim, but it's been an uphill battle. As of now, it's not certain whether Wyre Bash will ever offer the same functionality it did in the days of Oblivion for Skyrim mods. That's where Mator Smash comes in.

 

Why is this necessary?
As per Skyrim's "Rule of One", any two mods that modify the same record but in different ways will conflict with each other in a way that can't be resolved asides from the creation of a compatibility patch. Because the number of Skyrim mods exceeds 40,000, there is no conceivable way to manually build enough compatibility patches to make every possible load order (or even a small fraction of them) work with each mod operating as intended. Mator Smash automates the most important part of the task of compatibility patch creation - the combining of conflicting edits. This is something that we've been needing for a very, very long time.

 

How does it work?
Warning: technical jargon ahead. Where Wyre Bash has separate procedures for the patching of individual record types, Mator Smash has a few generic procedures for the patching of ALL record types. This means that Mator Smash has, with very little development effort, achieved the capacity to patch more records than Wyre Bash has ever been capable of patching. This is achieved through a recursive traversal method which traverses override record structure, comparing subrecords between a master record, a source override record, and a destination override record. Upon the basis of this comparison, certain subrecords are written to the destination record while others are skipped and others are deleted from it.

 

Development Status
I began development of Mator Smash as a standalone application built on top of the xEdit API 10/18/2015. Here's the GitHub repository. Check out the design folder in the repository for various files relating to my design process. I'll be live streaming most of my development on livecoding.tv. I'll be streaming mainly on weekends 9:00AM-9:00PM PST. Because of major code reuse from merge plugins standalone, smash will be entering public beta very soon.

Mator Smash is currently available as a proof of concept script (which is slow and lacking in features/a clean user experience). You can download v0.9.4 of that script here. This script can currently correctly patch a massive number of different types of records. FAR MORE than Wyre Bash or any other currently available solution, and more than any solution that has ever existed for Skyrim or any other game.

 

Implemented Features

• Dynamic, flexible settings: Smash settings are comprised of a tree which has information on how records/subrecords should be handled. This will allow users to control how a patch is created on a per-subrecord basis. This will make smash relevant regardless of the nature of the mods being patched, or the game the mods come from. Each node (record/subrecord) will have the following data associated with it-
  • Process: Whether or not smash should process this node and perform conflict resolution for it if a conflict is found.
  • Preserve Deletions: If a mod deletes an element inside of this node, that deletion will be preserved in the generated patch.
  • Treat as single entity: If a mod overrides any subrecord in this node, the entire node will be replaced with that mod's version of it.
  • Chaining: Linking allows you to copy multiple side-by-side elements when any one of those elements changes.
  • Override Deletions: Allows a plugin to restore deleted elements.
  • Force Value: Forces values from a particular plugin to be used, and only allows plugins which require this plugin to perform further conflict resolution on affected records.
• Tags: As of v0.2.1, all Bash tags that were offered with Wrye Bash for Oblivion are now available for Skyrim.  Smash will automatically detect tags and apply smash settings to the plugins that have them, assuming you have smash settings that correspond to the tags.
• Managed smashed patches: Patches you build will be tracked in the program, so you can quickly and easily rebuild them when your load order changes. You can also have multiple patches for your load order, if you feel that is desirable.
• Multi-language support: I built a really clean, extensible, and easy to use language system when I developed Merge Plugins Standalone. Smash will use the same language system to support multiple languages out-of-the-box. As a translator, all you have to do is make a text file to create a translation and have users install it in their lang folder. The rest is handled by the program.
• Fast and easy setting creation: Select some plugins to build a setting to specifically handle the conflicts they are capable of creating in a load order.  Toggle or set flags for multiple nodes at once.  Select similar nodes in a setting tree.  Conflict resolution has never been quite so powerful, flexible, and easy.

 

Planned Features

Smash is now pretty much feature complete.  Further development energy will be spent on porting it to a zEdit application mode, zSmash, which will include a new, streamlined workflow.

[Mator]

  On 9/19/2015 at 5:06 AM, GrantSP said:

As rough estimates go, they're pretty specific. 

 

I'm always looking forward to what you bring to the gaming table, some of the best tools around are because of your work.

Well, I initially listed them as ranges in weeks (e.g. 2-3 weeks from now), but I decided that was too confusing to read.  I was adding dates, and then I removed the week ranges, and then it seemed all specific.

 

Certainly take all these dates with a grain of salt.  I can barely predict what I'm going to be doing tomorrow, let alone next week.  :P

[DoubleYou]

Where's my salt shaker...

[kranazoli]

  On 9/19/2015 at 3:18 AM, Mator said:

No question is stupid!  :)

I'm nowhere near as good as people make me out to be.  I just work really hard and pretty much never play the game itself.  (which seems fairly common in modding) :P

 

Yeah, it's not really there yet for "one-click and done" to be a valid procedure to follow.  You could do it, but it might not resolve things the way you want it to.  It's a beta project for a reason.  ;)

 

I'd recommend experimenting with it, but not using it on a full large load order with a single button click like Wrye Bash.  It's not quite polished enough for that yet.

 

Sounds fine by me.  Again, results may vary, it's beta.  ;)

 

In terms of merging plugins, I'd recommend using my Merge Plugins script (or Merge Plugins Standalone, which is in alpha) for that.  Smash may eliminate unnecessary plugins at some point in time in the near future, but it doesn't do that yet.

 

If stability and reliability are your top priorities, I wouldn't recommend using smash in its current state.  Just be a bit patient, it'll be in standalone application form before you know it!  :)

You are a Sir! Or Two! :)

Thanks again for your replies. At this time I keep using Wrye Bash and follow Mator Smash topic.

 

Edited September 19, 2015 by kranazoli

[Octopuss]

Wait, it was not irony?

[Mator]

  On 9/19/2015 at 9:27 AM, Octopuss said:

Wait, it was not irony?

The timeline I gave?  No, not irony.  That schedule is moderately realistic, albeit probably optimistic.  Sticking dates on things tends to be a bad idea, especially with me.  But... I'm going to do my best to get things done in about that speed.  It might not turn out quite like that.  I hope if anything, I get ahead of schedule.  :)

[Guest]

The name of this makes you sound like the Incredible Hulk! Mator SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

[Mator]

  On 9/19/2015 at 3:55 PM, SparrowPrince said:

The name of this makes you sound like the Incredible Hulk! Mator SMAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!

This is, in fact, the intent.  :)

 

[Mator]

Going to have to push a few dates back.  Everything that was going to be coming out today has been pushed back to next week Tuesday.

[mikegray]

  On 10/10/2015 at 3:32 AM, Mator said:

Going to have to push a few dates back.  Everything that was going to be coming out today has been pushed back to next week Tuesday.

Can't wait!

 

I've been away from Skyrim for quite a while, and Mator Smash seems to be one of the new and intriguing things that have cropped up since then. Hence, a question:

 

Is this something that we mod USERS will be able to use right out of the box, or is it something that won't work without input from mod authors about aspects of their mods that can and cannot be messed with by other mods? 

[Mator]

  On 10/10/2015 at 6:49 AM, mikegray said:

Can't wait!

 

I've been away from Skyrim for quite a while, and Mator Smash seems to be one of the new and intriguing things that have cropped up since then. Hence, a question:

 

Is this something that we mod USERS will be able to use right out of the box, or is it something that won't work without input from mod authors about aspects of their mods that can and cannot be messed with by other mods? 

Mod users will be able to use smash right out of the box, but the effectiveness of smash will increase over time as a dictionary (similar to that with merge plugins) grows through user-submitted smash settings.

 

Ultimately, smash will be able to support a large variety of approaches, which will vary in their effectiveness.  {Bash tags} will be supported.  So a mod could be tagged by a mod author to make it easier for users to generate a patch of it.  There will also be user-submitted/recommended smash settings.  And of course, an individual user can always make their own smash setting for use with a particular mod (or edit the ones generated by tags or user recommendations).  Ultimately, it will be a very flexible tool.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Mator

[hishutup]

  On 10/10/2015 at 7:10 PM, Mator said:

Mod users will be able to use smash right out of the box, but the effectiveness of smash will increase over time as a dictionary (similar to that with merge plugins) grows through user-submitted smash settings.

 

Ultimately, smash will be able to support a large variety of approaches, which will vary in their effectiveness.  {Bash tags} will be supported.  So a mod could be tagged by a mod author to make it easier for users to generate a patch of it.  There will also be user-submitted/recommended smash settings.  And of course, an individual user can always make their own smash setting for use with a particular mod (or edit the ones generated by tags or user recommendations).  Ultimately, it will be a very flexible tool.

Now that is something I am interested in. How is the dictionary going to decide what is required and what is optional?

[Mator]

  On 10/10/2015 at 9:35 PM, hishutup said:

Now that is something I am interested in. How is the dictionary going to decide what is required and what is optional?

Unlike merge plugins, the smash dictionary will be far more selective.  That means that every submitted setting will be reviewed carefully.  The way it'll work is per each plugin there will be setting recommendations from 1 or more users.  Users can then opt to use any of these recommended settings. 

 

The general idea will be that recommendations should come from advanced users/mod authors who have put in the research to determine what should be used for a plugin.  A setting submission would have a description of why that setting is recommended, and what was taken into account in developing it.  Generally, most plugins won't have more than one setting choice unless all choices are equally valid.  Input from multiple users will never be "combined".

Edited October 11, 2015 by Mator

[Mator]

Hi guys,

 

I've started work on Mator Smash Standalone.  I'm going to be live streaming most of the development.  Check out my livecoding.tv channel on weekends and evenings (PST).

 

(streaming now, 10/18/2015 6:33PM PST)

[GrantSP]

Live streaming of a coding exercise, well I never...

 

Just started watching, do you mind turning the music down? Can barely hear your comments.

[Mator]

  On 10/19/2015 at 1:41 AM, GrantSP said:

Live streaming of a coding exercise, well I never...

 

Just started watching, do you mind turning the music down? Can barely hear your comments.

Haha, sorry about that man.  >_