Guide:XEdit

Template:TOC right The xEdit guide -- by Kesta and the S.T.E.P. Team

GUIDE FORUM THREAD
SUPPORT FORUM

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About xEdit

xEdit is an advanced tool for analyzing and editing Bethesda's game plugins. It works by loading one or multiple plugins (.esp or .esm files) along with their explicit masters, and then displaying their contents in a specific user interface.

xEdit allows a clear layout and provides useful navigation controls to visualize the data of the game's plugins, as well as powerful editing functions to clean, edit, or even create mods and patches.

It was originally developed by ElminsterAU as TES4Edit, for Oblivion. It then was updated by its author to handle Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Finally, support for Skyrim was added by Hlp, Sharlikran and Zilav. Those different versions of the tools led to what is currently known as xEdit. xEdit is a standard name convention to refer to the whole set: TES4Edit, FO3Edit, FNVEdit, TES5Edit. It is important to mention that whichever version have been downloaded, these are all the same executable. It is possible to switch from one to another by simply renaming the executable or by the use of game specific switches.

The official release of the tool is currently the 11^th (on 18/06/2015), namely v3.1.1

Installing xEdit

Related Video(s):

• TES5Edit : Installation (by GamerPoet)
  Gopher Explains Mod Organizer

Prerequisites

None, but only the latest official version of the game you are editing. For Skyrim this is: Version 1.9.32.0.8.

Installation

1. Download either the official release on GitHub or the Nexus mod page, or the developer release on the afkmods thread.
2. Extract the archive, then put this folder somewhere smart. Using a "Modding Tools" folders is a good practice.
3. For Mod Organizer user, it's critical to add xEdit in your executable list. If not, installation is already over, but it's recommended to create a shortcut for easy access.

Post-Installation : Language setup

If using a non-English game installation, there is an additional step required to complete the setup of xEdit. This step require to launch xEdit and launch a session. Check the following "Launch and Basic Features" section.

To set the language, once the session is loaded : right click anywhere in the left pane to bring up a contextual menu and navigate to "Other" -> "Localization" -> "Language" -> Choose your language. Only available options should be English and the current language installation. Template:Notice Small

Launch and Basic Features

xEdit is launched by simply double-clicking the icon for standard users, or launching it through Mod Organizer for MO users. It will automatically detect the game folder as well as the current Load Order.

Launch Arguments

-<game> Valid entries are TES3, TES4, TES5, F03, FNV, FO4.
The name of the xEdit exe is ignored when using one of the acronyms above

-o:<path>
Sets the output path for files created in xEdit.

-<script>
Forces xEdit to run a certain script on startup. One useful example is "-LODGen".

-moprofile:<profilename>
This will load the plugin selection from the MO profile named in the switch.

-IKnowWhatImDoing
This parameter unlocks advanced features in the editing of plugins and is therefore not recommended for everybody. If all the user is doing is cleaning plugins, avoid this switch.

Multiple arguments

If adding multiple arguments to the commandline, or MO's arguments, these should be separated by a "space".

Loading Plugins

Loading Menu

The first menu is the Master/Plugin Selection Menu. Closing this menu instead of pressing OK will close the program. This menu is used to determine which plugins will be loaded and analyzed in xEdit. By default, plugins already checked are those plugins active in the load order. Plugins are sorted according to your load order. To select which plugin to load, it's possible to:

• Check/Uncheck plugins manually.
• Use "Select All" from the contextual menu to select every plugins.
• Use "Select None" from the contextual menu to deselect every plugin.
• Use "Invert Selection" to select currently unchecked plugins and vice-versa.

On top of the selection, a "Search" field allow to highlight plugins name that contain the typed text (non case-sensitive), and set the view to the highest highlighted plugin.

This allows the user to quickly choose which set of mods (or which single mod) to load.

Most common uses for end-users are:

• Use the default selection to check the current load order (in order to spot/resolve conflicts)
• Use "Select None" first, then select a specific plugin to load, or double-click on it for instant-load.

It's important to note that even unselected, explicit masters of loaded plugins will be loaded as well. This imply that the main game file (Skyrim.esm for Skyrim) should always be loaded. Template:Notice Small

Once the selection is done, clicking the OK button or pressing Enter will load the selected list.

xEdit will display messages both in the "Messages" tab and in the footer of the application, while running the Background Loader. Depending on the user system, the number of plugins and their content, this operation can take up to several minutes.

Once completed, this message will appear in the "Messages" tab and in the footer: [01:03] Background Loader: finished. If not, it simply means that the Background Loader is still running, even if it doesn't actually add new lines to the "Messages" tab.

The user interface and available functionalities will be explained in the next sections of this guide.

First Edit Warning

At the 1^st try to edit one of the loaded plugins, xEdit will display an explicit warning, asking if yes or no the program should actually start editing modules. Once clicked "Yes I'm absolutely sure", this warning won't appear again until you quit the current session and re-open a new one.
If this warning appears unexpectedly, clicking "Hmm.. let me think about it some more" will cancel the unexpected editing operation. The warning will then be displayed again the next time xEdit try to edit something, until the user select "Yes I'm absolutely sure". Template:Notice Small

Save and Exit

Related Video(s):

• TES5Edit : Plugin Backups (by GamerPoet)
  GamersPoets explain TES5Edit plugins backup

If nothing have been modified, exiting the program by using the red cross or the Alt-F4 shortcut will simply close the application. If there is anything which have been modified, xEdit will bring up a Saving Menu before closing.

Saving Menu

The Saving Menu layout is similar to the "Master/Plugin Selection Menu", except it only display mods which have been modified during the session, and contains a "Backup Plugins" Checkbox.

To save changes made to a plugin, this plugin need to be checked in the save menu. If the "Backup Plugins" Checkbox is checked, original plugins will be saved under the "Data\xEdit Backup" folder. (MO users : The "xEdit Backup" folder will be created in the overwrite.) Plugins backup see their name modified from PluginName.esp to PluginName.esp.backup.YYYY_MM_DD_HH_NN_SS where the last part represent the instant the backup got created. Unchecked plugins won't be saved. It allows to cancel manipulations mistakes during the session (unwanted edits on a mod).

Using Ctrl  + S   will save the work done during a session without exiting xEdit. This is useful for long sessions. Saving won't actually save the plugin with it's modification, but create a "backup" of the plugin with the changes, following the same convention as the backups created when exiting with the "create backup" checkbox ticked.

To exit without saving any of your changes, right click on the list in the save menu and choose "Select None" to untick every plugins, then press OK.

Pressing OK will exit the program and save/backup plugins according to your selection.

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Options

The options menu is available once the session is open.

To open it, bring up the contextual menu by right-clicking anywhere in the Left Panel, and Navigate to "Other" -> "Options"

The Options menu contains 4 tab :

• General
• Cleaning
• References building
• UI Settings

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  Options : General


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  Options : Cleaning


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  Options : References building


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  Options : UI Settings

General

• Hide unused: Default: Checked.
• Hide ignored: Default: Unchecked.
• Hide "never shown": Default: Checked.
• Hide templated fields on actors: Default: Checked.
• Load BSAs: Default: Checked.
• [FO3/FNV] Sort FLST: Default: Checked.
• Sort INFOs: Default: Unchecked.
• Remove OFST offset data: Default: Checked.
• Simple records LAND, NAVI, NAVM, CELL, WRLD (requires restart): Default: Checked. Require to restart xEdit for the changes to take effect.
• Show values of flags and enumerations (requires restart): Default: Unchecked. Require to restart xEdit for the changes to take effect.
• Clamp FormIDs: Default: Checked.
• Column width: Set the standard column width for the view tab. Default: 200. see View Tab section
• Auto save: Enable auto save. Will prompt you after a certain amount of time spent in xEdit if you want to save your changes Default: Unchecked. see also Exit and Save section
• Track all EditorID: Default: Unchecked.

Cleaning

This tab allow to set preference regarding the "Undelete and Disable Reference" functionality. see Undelete and Disable Reference functionality section

• Set enabled state opposite of player (deactivate at your own risk, this is a critical setting) :
• Set scale to : If enabled, UDR will be scaled to the specified size.
• Set Z position to : If enabled, UDR will be repositioned at the speficied Z position.
• [FO3/FNV] Replace MSTT FormID with :

References building

This tab allow to prevent auto-build of references at the session start for specific plugins. see Build Reference Info functionality

Use Add to select plugins to exclude from the list of loaded plugins, and Delete to re-enable autobuild references for selected plugins.

UI Settings

Conflict Color Font and Conflict Color Background : These settings change the color used to identify conflicting states in xEdit. As the default color is the standard used in related discussions and guides, including this one, it is highly discouraged to modify it. see Color Code in xEdit section

Records Font, Messages Font and Viewer Font : These settings change the font used in the related parts of the UI in xEdit. Default for all of them are font: "Segoe UI", style: normal, size: 9.

Interface

Navigation bar

The Navigation Bar display the location of your current selection. Note that it will only appear once something have been selected in the Tree View. The two buttons on the right of the bar allow you to move to previous/next element. Template:Notice Small

The location displayed in the text field is formated as follow :

[XX]PluginName.esp\GRUP\..\FormID <EditorID>

Where :

• XX is the index of the plugin currently being looked at in the session's load order
• PluginName.esp is the name of the plugin currently being looked at
• GRUP is the GRUP of records being looked at
• .. can contains additionnal sub-GRUP when relevant
• FormID is the formID of the record being looked at
• EditorID is the Editor ID of the record being looked at

What is "being looked at" is what is currently being selected in the Tree View, and displayed in the View tab of the right panel if it's a record.

Tree Panel

The Tree Panel, on the left, display plugins loaded in the session. There is an additional <game>.exe, which is at the same load order position as the main game plugin, e.g. Skyrim.esm (should always be [00]). Skyrim.exe represent the game executable, which contain hard-coded data which cannot be edited by mod authors, and are essential for the game to function properly.

Two search-fields "FormID" and "EditorID" are available above the tree, which allows to search a specific record, knowing either it's FormID or EditorID.

The Tree Itself contains 3 columns : "FormID", "EditorID" and "Name". While it's impossible for a record to have no FormID, bad manipulation in the CK can lead to Blank EditorID. "Name" is optional, thus some records don't have any.

Plugins loaded in the session appears with an [XX] prefix, which represent their position in the session's load order as an hexadecimal number.

Tree Panel

Sorting

When looking for a specific record, it can be usefull to sort the Tree Panel table by FormID, EditorID or Name, depending on the information known about the record(s) to find. To do so, a simple click on the desired column header will sort the table. When sorting the table as such, it's recommended to right click on the column header to bring up the contextual menu, and select "Files" -> "Always by Load Order". This way, sorting the table won't affect the order in which plugins are displayed in the tree, but instead sort the records in each of them according to the chosen sorting column. Other options for this contextual menu are "As Selected" (default), which will sort everything, plugins and records alike, and "Always by Name", which will maintain plugins sorted in the tree by alphabetical order instead of their load order position. This last option can be usefull to quickly find a plugin in the tree when only knowing its name but not its position in the load order.

Navigation and Selection

It's possible to expand/collapse each plugin to see it's content. This can be down by clicking on the + icon on the left of the plugin's name, by double clicking on the plugin's name, or by pressing →   when the plugin is selected. To quickly browse elements in the Tree Panel, it's possible to use ↑   and ↓   keyboard controls to select elements, as well as →   and ←   to expand or collapse clusters.

When expanding a plugin, it display a list of "records category" called GRUPs. GRUPs can usually be expanded as well. When expanding a GRUP, depending of it's type, it will either display a list of records, or a list of sub-GRUP. Records can't be expanded on the Tree Panel, instead their data are displayed in the Right Pane when they are selected.

Interractions and Available Informations

The line of a plugin indicate its load order position in the current session, and its name and extension (.esp or .esm).

When a plugin is expanded, it shows that its content, always including a "File Header" line, plus the list of GRUPs this plugin have record associated in. If a plugin only has the File Header and no GRUP, this is what is called a dummy plugin. Dummy plugins are usually intended to force the game to load an associated .bsa file.

The line of a GRUP only display its name. Once expanded, a GRUP display every records in the plugin belonging to this GRUP.

The line of a plugin match the tree's table columns : | FormID | EditorID | Name (if any) |

Additional information are available with the color, background-color and font-style of each line. see Color Code in xEdit section

Right-clicking in the Tree Panel will bring up a contextual menu. Depending on what have been cliked on, and the version of xEdit used, available functionalities in this menu will vary. Some are specific to a game, and others are only available for plugin or record. see Simple Functionalities section, see Advanced xEdit Functionalities section

Right Pane

The right pane is divided in two parts : One for the actual content, and one to choose a tab, to choose which content to display. Available tabs are :

• View : Will be blank if a GRUP is selected in the Tree View. Will display record's data of the selected Record if one is selected in the Tree View.
• Referenced By : Only available if a pertinent record is selected in the Tree View. Display a 2 columns table listing every records referencing the one selected, and the plugin they belong to.
• Message : This is the console output for TES5Edit. This is where informations related to what is processed are displayed, and serve as log as well. see Errors and Log : The Messages Tab
• Information : This is a static page with some basic informations on how to use the application.
• Spreadsheets : There is 3 spreadsheets available : Weapons, Armor and Ammunition. They're used to list every available item from its associated category present in a selection of mod. see Spreadsheet Panels section

View Tab

When a record is selected in the tree panel, its data are displayed in the View tab of the right pane. If not already in this tab or the Reference tab, xEdit will automatically bring it up. With the tree pane, the View tab is the main area of work in xEdit for most users.

File:TES5Edit ViewTab With Examples.png

Annotated View Tab, once clicked, zoom in to read text. Recommanded zoom : 150%

The xEdit View tab is a table. The 1^st column on the left provide informations about the label of each row displayed:

• The 1^st set of rows constitute the Record Header of the selected record.
  
• Each row named this way : XXXX - Some Wording represent a subrecord, i.e. a piece of information defining the record.
  XXXX is the signature of this subrecord. It represent its type. The signature of the currently selected record is displayed as part of his Record Header.
  Some Wording is a name associated with this signature by the xEdit interface, for easier understanding. It isn't part of the game data structure. Depending on cases, it is possible to see the same name associated with differents signature.
• The 1^st subrecord of the table, no matter for which type of record is selected, is always EDID - Editor ID. This subrecord define the EditorID of the record (which is also used and displayed in the Tree Panel).
  
• Non-indented row without a signature in their label are irrelevant of the actual file structure. They doesn't represent a subrecord. They are generated by the xEdit interface to allow easier reading and editing. They either represent a list of similar subrecords, or a pack of subrecords that are usually edited together. While subrecords associated by the xEdit interface to such list or pack are indented in the View tab, they represent a whole subrecord as much as any others.
  Example : Armor Addon Records contains a pack of subrecords named "Male world model" which contain both "MOD2 - Model Filename" and "MO2S - Alternate Textures" records, and a list of subrecords named "Additional Races" which contain a list of "MODL - Race" records.
  
• Indented Rows without a signature in their label are simple elements belonging to a subrecord. They doesn't represent a whole subrecord either. The indentation allow to see which subrecord such element belong to. They're displayed on their own line for reading convenience, but are actually stored in their parent subrecord.
  Example : Armor Addon Records contain a "DNAM - Data" subrecord which is displayed as a list of elements : "Male priority ; Female priority ; Weight slider - Male ; ..."'
  

A block of row following a hierarchical parent-child structure is what is called a node. A node with no childs is a pit-node, but a node none the less. A node can either be a subrecord, a list/pack of subrecords, or a list/pack of elements belonging to a subrecord. A node differ from a row as it refer to both the parent row and all of it's child nodes. It is an important concept, as in xEdit it is possible to copy/delete/edit node as a whole.

Other columns are "plugin columns", they represent the record as it is saved in a plugin. There is as much plugin columns as there is mod in the load order session editing the selected record. (minus mod which have seen their record hidden by the user. see "Hidden" Functionality section). The title of a mod column is the same as the plugin's line in the Tree Panel : [XX] ModName.esp

Mod columns width can be resized manually, of by clicking anywhere in the View tab and right-clicking to bring up the contextual menu and using options from the "Column Widths" sub-menu. Options for column widths are :

• Standard : Each column width is set to the same standard. The standard is defined in the options' General tab. (default : 200) see Options section
• Fit all : Each column width (excepted the title column) is adjusted to be the same, modified in order to see every columns in the tab without the need to use the horizontal scroll bar.
• Fit text : Each column width is set independently, in order to have data fully displayed in each field without being truncated.

The entry at the intersection of a row and a column will usually be refered to as a "subrecord data" or "field data" in the following guide. Subrecord data can be :

• A numerical value (integer or float)
• A string
• An other record
• A flag

Subrecord datas may vary from a plugin to another and are what xEdit is mainly designed to analyse and edit. When two distincts and independants plugins try to set a different subrecord data for the same subrecord, this create what is called a conflict. The plugin loaded last in the load order is referred to as the "winner", with a green font color in xEdit, and the other one as the "looser", with a red font color. Template:Notice Small In a similar situation, except that the winner plugin refer the looser as an explicit Master, this isn't considered a conflict, since the winner is actually expected to modify some of its master's record. The master is then displayed with a purple font color. More information on this subject are available under the Record Structure in Bethesda Game and Color Code in xEdit sections of this guide. see Record Structure in Bethesda's Game, see Color Code in xEdit

Hide no conflicts row Functionality

When browsing through records to detect and analyse/resolve conflicts, it's interesting to use the Hide no conflicts row feature by right-clicking anywhere in the View tab and checking this option. To re-enable every rows, re-do the same operation, "Hide no conflicts row" behave as an ON/OFF toggle.

"Hidden" Functionality

In specific cases, it can also be interesting to hide some mod columns to analyze conflicts and override between specifics mods only. To hide a column from the current View, right on its header and select Hidden. This functionality can also be used in a record on the Tree Panel for the very same result. Hidden records will be displayed in a light-grey font color in the Tree Panel. To re-enable a column's visibility, re-do the same operation. "Hidden" behave as an ON/OFF toggle. Template:Notice Small

Navigation

To navigate from one plugin to another in the same record, the "Jump To" feature from the contextual menu (right-click on the column's header of the plugin you want to jump to) can be used. It's useful as it will quickly re-focus the Tree Panel on the record in the plugin jumped to, allowing to check which other records from this plugin and GRUP could need the same attention. The currently focused plugin containing the visualized record can be checked by looking at the Navigation bar.

To vizualize the content of a record referenced as a record data, use Ctrl  +Left Click. This will refresh the View tab to display this record's data, and focus the Tree View on this record. To quickly come back to the previous record view, use the previous button from the Navigation Bar.

Footer

On the left of the footer is displayed the last line of Information you can find under the "Information" tab in the right pane. On the right is a quick link to access TES4Edit's flattr page, which allow donation to ElminsterAU.

Cleaning plugins with xEdit

Plugins often required cleaning in xEdit to remove unnecessary and erroneous edits from them. This can be done by doing the following.

1. Run xEdit through Mod Organizer (if you are not using Mod Organizer, simply run it manually).
2. Right-click the list of plugins and choose Select None.
3. Double-click the plugin to be cleaned.
4. Wait for the Background Loader: finished message in the right panel, and then right-click the plugin to be cleaned and select Apply Filter For Cleaning.
5. Wait for the [Filtering done] message in the right panel, and then right-click the plugin to be cleaned and select Remove "Identical to Master" records. If the Warning! prompt pops up, click Yes, I'm absolutely sure.
6. Wait for the [Removing "Identical to Master" records done] message, and then right-click the plugin being cleaned and select Undelete and Disable References.
7. Wait for the [Undeleting and Disabling References done] message, and then click the [X] to exit the program
8. At the prompt, make sure the cleaned plugin is checked as well as Backup Plugins and click OK.
9. If using Mod Organizer, there will be an empty xEdit Backups folder in Overwrite (essentially a fake mod located at the bottom of the left pane if sorted by priority ascending) created by xEdit after cleaning. Double-click Overwrite and delete the empty folder.

Related Video(s):

• TES5Edit : Cleaning Mods + (by GamerPoets)
  GamersPoets explain how to clean mods with TES5Edit

Reading, Analysis and Manipulation

Color Code in xEdit

The color code in xEdit is designed to make it easy to spot overrides and conflicts in the session.

There is two different colorations for each element : the background color, and the text color.

Background Color

The background color of a given element is the same across all plugins. The background color represent the state of this element in the session.

White : Single	This element is only present in a single plugin
Green : Multiple but no conflicts	This element is present in at least two plugins, but there is no conflicts. For records, this usually means that there is an ITM, or the record have a sub-group which contain different records while its own fields aren't overriden, or that multiple mods use the same injected record.
Yellow : Override without conflicts	This element is present in at least two plugins, but only master's data have elements overriden. This means that a plugin make changes to the game by editing some of its master records.
Red : Conflict	This element is present in at least three plugins, changes from lower-priority plugins aren't applied in game. The plugin which override changes don't refer overriden plugins as master. This is what most patches such as STEP Patches are solving.
Fushia : Critical Conflict	This element is present in at least two plugins, the formID in its master doesn't belong to the plugin's range (it's an injected record, the first two digits of the formID are different than the plugin's position in the load order)., and they're different. A fushia background mean that multiple plugins are trying to inject different records with the same formID.

Text Color

The text color of an element depend on the plugin it is saved in. It represent how the data from a plugin is affected by others in the session.

Black : Single	This element is only present in a single plugin. It is usually is associated with white background. Can also be seen on fields with a yellow beckground, which indicate a benign conflict, meaning the record will actually be merged at runtime and don't need conflict resolution.
Purple : Master	The element is in its master.
Gray : Identical to master	This element in this plugin is identical to the one in its master. For records, it means that this record is somewhat useless, and is known as ITM. ITMs are what's cleaned by the automatic cleaning procedure.
Green : Override without conflict	This element is overriding data from its masters.
Olive : Identical to master but conflict winner	This element is identical to its master, but override changes from other plugins not reffered to as master. This usually means that an ITM is preventing some changes from another plugin to be applied.
Orange : Conflict Winner	This elements is in conflict in multiple plugins, and the change from this plugin is the winner (i.e. it is the one seen by the game). This means that this plugin have the higher priority of all others plugins editing the same element.
Red : Conflict Looser	This element is in conflict in multiple plugins, and the change from this plugin is the looser (i.e. its changes aren't applied in game). This means that this plugin have a lower priority than an other one editing the same element.

Ohter formating

Some more informations can be taken from the text formating in xEdit :

• Elements with italic font belongs to injected records.
• Elements in bold are elements which have been edited in the current session.
• Elements underlined are elements referencing an injected records not injected by the same plugin

References

Official Links

• TES5Edit Nexus Page : Nexus Page, include official release download link.
• TES5Edit Github repository : Official repository for the project. Include download for official release, developer release, documentation, scripts, ...

Documentation

• TES5Edit CreationKit Wiki Page : Original wikipage on the CreationKit wiki. While mostly exact, the page isn't up to date.
• FO3Edit Training Manual : Nexus Page hosting Miax's guide to xEdit. While not up to date, and originally intented for the Fallout 3 version of xEdit, this is still one of the most comprehensive guide available on xEdit.

Related Forums and Threads

• STEP xEdit support forum : STEP's forum for support regarding TES5Edit.
• TES5Edit AFKMods forum Thread : Development and support thread for TES5Edit, include developer version download link.
• TES5Edit Beteshda forum Thread : Support thread for TES5Edit. Link up to date on 18-06-2015.