Which to patch with first? - Wyre Bash // Xedit

[sump0]

Hey all.

Sorry for any mistakes I make I'm very new to modding things the right way and even newer still to posting on forums.

I've been slamming my stupid head on the desk trying to fully mod the game and for once do it the right way, so I've been following the U.L.T.I.M.A.T.E guide and through trial and error I've managed to cobble together a working game. More or less. In the guide he tells me to use Wyre Bash to make a leveled patch, followed by a Xedit patch. Now here's what confuses me: The step in the guide where he tells us to make the Xedit patch he links us to

and in that video he tells us to immediately Wyre Bash patch.

tl;dr
So my question is this:
In what order should I patch?
1: Wyre Bash patch first, Xedit patch second?
2: Xedit patch first and Wyre Bash patch second?
3: Wyre Bash patch first, Xedit patch second, followed by another Wyre Bash patch?

I don't think it's the latter as it feels a little redundant. In all honesty it feels like it doesn't matter so long as I make sure to delete the right "Leveled x" entries in both patches but I'm on my 10th attempt at this so I clearly don't know anything!

(P.S, He also does his LOD mods after both patches, which I don't quite understand why if anyone could enlighten me?)

Cheers in advance.

[dubiousintent]

While both WB and xEdit are creating essentially the same thing, the big difference is that WB automates the "record level conflict" resolution in load order sequence. This works fine for most such conflicts. But the xEdit process lends itself to deciding those exceptions where you want an earlier loading record to "win" the conflict instead. By running WB first, and then creating an xEdit patch with just the different winners, you are reducing the number of manual changes needed. This becomes important if you tend to modify your load order with updates to plugins frequently, as you should rebuild your "merged patch(s)" whenever you do so.

 

Note that xEdit can "automate" the creation process in a similar manner to WB, but it doesn't (last I knew but things are constantly evolving) make use of "Bash Tags". WB also has built-in "tweaks" to game settings that it incorporates into the patch. You can also use it to give "unique" results that none of the plugins provide (in effect creating a "new patch plugin" result within the overall patch.)

 

As to the LOD entries: they are not involved in the "record level conflict" resolution process used by patches. "Art assets" are individual files, and only the last installed file will be used. If you combine multiple VWD/LOD mods, they can co-exist where they have unique file names. Otherwise the last one installed (overwriting) gets used where the filenames are the same.

 

-Dubious-

Edited September 9, 2020 by dubiousintent

[sump0]

Thanks for the reply, Dubious, and I appreciate the help!

Answered my question fully.

A followup question regarding LODs if I can? Why is it that ENBs seem to get blocky when LODs aren't generated properly? It feels like a filter really shouldn't have anything to do with how distant objects load in. Or is my understanding of LODs still lacking?

[dubiousintent]

VWD/LODs are "low resolution" images with less detail and lower polygon counts because they are only seen at a distance and the details at higher resolutions are not visible anyway. They actually contain multiples of the image at different scales. Which image is displayed is determined as you close the distance "in-game". If the LOD files are changed but the "quads" (see the link) are not regenerated, then the results are somewhat unpredictable and can be "interpolated".

 

ENB is a "post processor" which applies "shader effects" and filters to the image as rendered by the video card but before it makes it to the display. As such it can only work with the detail it is provided. "Garbage In, Garbage Out".

 

-Dubious-

[sump0]

Ah that makes a lot of sense! Thanks again for taking the time to run me though it. :)