Merged, bashed, smashed patches

[BrotherShamus]

I've meticulously put together my LO and have wound up with 324 plugins (150 active and 174 light) and am ready to create... one or two patches but in reading several posts in various places, I'm getting conflicting information about the importance of patches. My original intent was to create a merged patch in xEdit and then a bashed patch with Wryebash but I just now read something where someone suggested that the xEdit patch is no longer needed and that a single patch with the new Mator Smash would be all that I need. I'm a bit confused as to how xEdit handles light plugins so if I can skip that step, I'm more than happy to.

 

Also, should I'm guessing it would be best to generate whatever patch I'm making before I run TexGen and Dyndolod... or does it matter? I know I can just disable the outputs and then make a patch but is it better to make the patch first?

 

edit: just to confuse the issue a little more... Synthesis. What's up with that? I think Synthesis + Vortex = no.

[radiusrsatti]

ooh boy, first :tongue:

Ok, I can't speak for everyone, but I'm having a blast with this whole modding thing... I still have not played past gathering the fragments of Wuthgrad (4 years I've been collecting mods, but only going hard and heavy on editing like the last 6 months), what with me making changes and corrections all the time, fixing blackfaces, texture mismatches, or simply deciding a mod isn't worth the hassle.

Longer story short, I use Mod Organizer for file overwrites and load order management, then build a single Smash Patch... which is extensively verified and edited by me afterward. it handles what Merge Patching and Wryebash patching does, and more... everything I find that Mator doesn't catch, I add an overwrite if needed. No, Mator Smash does not catch everything, and sometimes seems to not follow any pattern in patching similar records, such as NPC records.

Patches are only required if you have 2 or more mods editing the same record. IE, take 0002C3CA, MUSTownTest Music Type. I have 5 music mods adding tracks to this record, and ofc Dawnguard expansion. A patch can integrate all the tracks from all mods into that single record. Another example would be 00013283, NPC Greta. I have Kalilies NPCs and AI Overhaul both editing this NPC, but each editing different aspects of it, so a patch would be required to allow both mods to work.

Normal plugins and light plugins are loaded by the system into 2 separate virtual spaces, but records are still overwritten based on load order. Hence, the smash patch will overwrite both normal and lite plugin records.

Some, not all, records in normal plugins can be loaded into a lite plugin as an overwrite, based solely on its addressing. This is due to the limited addressing available in lite plugins, but which allows for more than 255 plugins... I'm currently running 838 plugins (190 normal esps including Skyrim and expansions, rest are lite plugins), counting the smash patch and DynDOLOD, and I've been able to maintain 60 fps (dips to 30 still occur in key areas surrounding whiterun and riverwood, but still manageable).

TexGen and DynDOLOD generation, in my experience, should be run with a smash patch enabled (unless you're also running a very select few mods, like Open Cities, which require certain actions taken to complete this setup). Keep in mind, though, that DynDOLOD generation functions similarly to a Smash Patch, meaning you may still need to verify a few records (for example, Unique Region Names entries will often not be present in DynDOLOD records despite being active in the smash patch).

 

 

edit 1: There are also individually written patches to make 2 or more mods work together. While in theory only this patch would be required, it is also just as possible that another mod or more in your setup may also overwrite the same record, cancelling out this patch or otherwise making the other mods' records be invalidated. Having multiple patches is fine, just keep in mind that manual verification is recommended.

Edited October 24, 2021 by radiusrsatti

[BrotherShamus]

I actually read this last night and did a little more investigating... it definitely seems like Mator Smash is the way to go for many reasons. The verification process is something I'm going to have to work on as xEdit is nightmarishly difficult for me. I've literally been trying to learn how to use it for months... but it just makes my head spin. But as far as generating a patch for my LO goes... Mator Smash is the clear choice! Unfortunately I can't run Dyndolod with it enabled though (TexGen was not a problem).

 

I did actually run into a couple of issues where I tried to generate a patch between two mods with xEdit and had no success (see above paragraph) so I'm wondering if giving it a shot with Mator Smash would give me a better result. I created a restore point on my PC before I started any of this so I'm basically at liberty to try a few things without fear of messing things up too badly.

 

Thanks for your in depth response! There is surprisingly not a lot of information about this. I think I probably did a good three hours of Google searching before I posted here so... I'm glad someone was able to clarify and point me in the right direction.