Idenitfying A BA2 Loader Plugin

[brazenvoid]

After trying to find a utility to explore an ESP (xedit, xdump), I found that the current such can't be purposed for my use. So after studying ESP structure a little, I have a theory that I would like someone to verify.

 

I have taken the tags ESP data uses for identification from xedit source: https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit/blob/dev-4.1.4/Core/wbDefinitionsFO4.pas

 

Using them I am thinking of making an identification script with the following constraints:

1. CNAM, HEDR, INTV tags are no more than 1.
2. All other tags except MAST are not present.

Will this be able to reliably identify "most" BA2 loader plugins?

Edited August 4, 2021 by fpga123

[DieFeM]

What do you mean by BA2 loader plugins?

If you mean plugins that are flagged to load ba2 archives, I'm pretty sure that any plugin will load ba2 archives by the file name ("pluginFileName - Data.ba2" and "pluginFileName - Textures.ba2") if they simply exist.

[brazenvoid]

What do you mean by BA2 loader plugins?

If you mean plugins that are flagged to load ba2 archives, I'm pretty sure that any plugin will load ba2 archives by the file name ("pluginFileName - Data.ba2" and "pluginFileName - Textures.ba2") if they simply exist.

My mod merges mods into source BA2s. Source Merge Scripts at Fallout 4 Nexus - Mods and community

 

If a mod contains a BA2, it is extracted for merger. Plugin files get separated and archived for loading through a mod manager.

 

So in this way, an empty BA2 loader plugin will only serve to hold space in the load order after the merge for nothing.

 

By identifying such files I can auto remove them while merging. Right now, this process is being handled manually by the users.

[brazenvoid]

An empty BA2 loader plugin is an ESP/ESL which only serves to load BA2s and does nothing else much. Some have master(s) set and some have some description, nothing else.

 

For example, the following is a simple loader plugin content:

TES4*               ƒ   HEDR   €?       CNAM DEFAULT INTV   

Edited August 4, 2021 by fpga123

[DieFeM]

So you are trying to figure out a way to identify plugins with no records, which its only purpose is loading ba2 archives.

 

In xEdit, in the header of the plugin, there's a "Number of records" entry, what I ignore is if that info is actually stored in the plugin or calculated at runtime by xEdit.

[brazenvoid]

So you are trying to figure out a way to identify plugins with no records, which its only purpose is loading ba2 archives.

 

In xEdit, in the header of the plugin, there's a "Number of records" entry, what I ignore is if that info is actually stored in the plugin or calculated at runtime by xEdit.

 

This all happens in scripts, meaning there is no user to click on menus. xEdit or xDump, load masters as well which slows down my scripts tremendously.

 

The game may not be on the computer as well, my scripts make a cache out of the source BA2s for reuse so its not needed.

 

There can be from 50s to 100s of mods users would like to merge. I merge nearly 80. At least 50% of them will carry a plugin as BA2s are common.

 

That's what I referred to in the first post. The tools exist but do not provide options to tailor their behaviour for my use.

Edited August 4, 2021 by fpga123

[brazenvoid]

That's why I am inclined to make my own solution. It may not be able to perfectly identify at first but at least it must not have false positives.

[DieFeM]

I guess you'll need to load a populated plugin and find out a pattern in the records that you can match using regex and thus know if it contains records.

[brazenvoid]

I guess you'll need to load a populated plugin and find out a pattern in the records that you can match using regex and thus know if it contains records.

Done that homework. There are tags for each record type. The above theory is about counting the tags to get number/presence of records.

 

I just wanted to have some confirmation from someone who knows plugin structure to move forward with it.

[DeathMotif]

So you are trying to figure out a way to identify plugins with no records, which its only purpose is loading ba2 archives.

 

In xEdit, in the header of the plugin, there's a "Number of records" entry, what I ignore is if that info is actually stored in the plugin or calculated at runtime by xEdit.

Going by that won't work. It is possible for a mod to exist that only modifies pre-existing records of other mods. It would have a count that shows no edits. Of course, that wouldn't be true. A better method still needs to be found.