No More Settlement Worldspace Conflicts - The Ultimate Solution!

[09jlardinois]

I have an idea for a mod that should finally eliminate conflicts between mods that alter settlements and cause settlements to reset from time to time.

 

The reason I want to make this is because I like to use several mods to cleanup all the junk around Sanctuary while also restoring some of the old houses, bridges, furniture, walls, etc. The problem is that every time I add a new one of these mods or change the load order, or even sort my mods' load order using LOOT, the cell resets for (well-documented) reasons. The hedges and trash I deleted suddenly reappear, furniture suddenly appears, houses and lots reset, and all manner of things. These mods don't play nicely.

 

So I think I found a solution. And I need the community's help in learning a bit about modding before I can attempt to create this mod.

 

So I am asking you guys, my friends, for any thorough, accurate, and current information that the community you can recommend for learning how to mod Fallout 4, specifically with a focus on creating F4SE scripts.

 

So here's my idea --

 

I want to create something odd, sort of an auto-patcher for settlement cell mods. It will use a masterlist like LOOT, and auto-gen a patch like bash.

 

The way it works is by scanning for modifications to settlement cells, and converting the changes to an F4SE script, such that they are applied in an order matching load order. Then, the original ESP's are disabled. Then, any duplicate commands generated are merged into a single line for efficiency and cleanliness' sake, and any conflicting or operationally opposite commands are removed, giving priority to the command lowest in the load order. Finally, the program automatically generates FOMOD files for installing and uninstalling easily in mod installers and registers them with whichever mod installer you use. It does this by initially scanning for mod managers upon setup and then by matching directories to individual installation sources with a simple table. This is so that you may have multiple instances of Mod Manager or Mod Organizer or even Fallout 4 installed and the program will not accidentally place your generated FOMOD installer into the wrong folder for the wrong mod manager instance.

 

How to go about all this, I'm really not sure. I don't know the inner workings of Mod Manager or Mod Organizer, and I honestly don't even know of any of the other mod managers out there, or how they work. I have no experience with F4SE of SKSE, so that aspect is new to me, and I have never modded Fallout 4 before.

 

So I would appreciate all of the help that the community can give me on embarking on this journey to create this mod, so that fellow Fallout fans can hack their settlements to their liking without white knuckles and hair loss.

 

That is all, folks. Post script below.

 

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Side Note: Now, before you say, "learning to mod is a complicated process that takes years of practice and..." that whole speech, just keep in mind that I've modded Skyrim, and I also have a lot of experience in both programming and game experience. Like... 16 years, seven programming languages, and several engine's worth. So don't worry about me, I can handle the challenge. :cool: But I appreciate the concern :happy: I only say this because I have gotten that answer previously on other modding forums for both Skyrim and other video games. So, yes, I've modded other games as well, and I'll be fine, I promise.

[Mavkiel]

Wouldn't the current merge plugin tool pretty much solve most of the issues? Not really tried it for settlement issues, but lord knows I use it for all sorts of various npc mods.

[montky]

interesting ideas!

it's a real challenge, that's for sure.

"at what point does a good idea or kludge, become 'bloatware/bloat" to other stuff?"

something to keep in mind.

I can't support more though, an ambitious mod of this scope and complexity -

if you could do it, that'd be an insanely popular mod and very handy utility!

 

I recommend also looking at Damanding's excellent thread here;

https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/5522717-fallout-4-optimization-and-performance-systems-explained/

a lot of folks from those extant Sim Transfer projects are there,

or, at ThisWeekInTech, and various AGI boards such as at KNOWM's Reddit or OpenCog etc.

 

I also encourage you to look at GameModul's tentative part-mod load order framework,

as v3 of that was supposed to also look at partial mod load orders to troubleshoot those conflicts from that side too.

your idea in the subsystem Settlement Build, might also translate well to that project.

while using mod-transfer stuff, like sim settlement,

you also have to have the mod load order the same and all parts present, prior to attempting a merge.

it should also filter for regionalization, to prevent "region-itis" where mods made on different region-copies of the game

cause meta-conflicts, such as unintentional language creep in the naming system, or dependency on fonts not on the region copy of the game.

 

 

 

indeed...

each cell has a hashing hexadecimal ref string. that can be how you discern for "combinatorial/permutation conflict".

if you could part-merge the hashingstring, and find the lowest-common-multiple,

per cell... then merge the cell using something like Transfer Settlement or Sim Settlement and Settlement Blueprint...

you could eliminate the 'hyper-definition conflict' from some mod conflicts.

 

often though, it's like 2 things that are in the way...

usually, a dang'd hyperdefined doorportal or door instance, or stuff inside itself etc. (wall in a wall)

if you could load each cell prior to merge, delete the offending crud (which could be color-coded from the hashing-ref to show you where the conflict crud is)

and then merge it

that would save so much guesswork and heartache hehe.

if it could check for collision, and with the Visual Similarity Reference Index, merge them or replace with a same VSRI rated piece...

that would also be phluppin awesome when merging!

 

to be able to load only a part merge from a cell would be sweet too,

sometimes I only want the "bar" area, or the scaffolding, or a sculpture location,

I don't want the rest of the scrap-city or institute themed at that settlement hehe.

at present, this is a nightmare where people have made huge settlements.

 

----

elevator tangent time;

That's where the 'priority override' system would be interesting,

as used in the auto-loot/auto-scrap mod,

and in the "better overriden hidden elevators' mod.

which allows you to place your elevator through an otherwise solid mesh, without needing to alter the precombine.

basically, the game is told "the Elevator here is anchored, and was here first, so, build the rest around that!"

another way is to place an any-door-to-any-where and have your elevator through a new-lands, and out to the other side...

 

perfect for placing those hidden entrances, and secret holographic disguised elevators,

thanks for those Greek-Rage, dang you come up with some awesome ideas hehe.

 

 

 

hopefully we'll see collabs form.

I hope you'll ask this at github, code-stack-exchange and ThisWeekInTech also,

as we'll probably need some folks who can handle hashingstring hexaref issues and rapid-testing pros

in addition to FO4 ModFu pros hehe.