[LE] Papyrus trace logging not working - solved

[Sirgallyhave]

Nothing was being logged by my scripts or any other scripts, and while I found the usual solution by searching, I didn't find this issue, so I'm passing it along.

All I was getting in the Papyrus log were the usual error messages. I googled around and of course the obvious thing is that Papyrus logging had somehow been shut off in Skyrim.ini. But I checked that and bEnableLogging=1 was there with bEnableTrace=1 just below it.

The usual with that is forgetting that Mod Organizer (MO) stores INI files in their own profile folders, but I covered that because I'd already googled around and someone else pointed it out.

I used the INI Editor in MO2 and it showed me bEnableLogging=1 and bEnableTrace=1 in Skyrim.ini, so everything should have been working. I double-checked by looking in the folder of my profile just to make sure, and everything was fine, so I couldn't figure out why Debug.Trace() wasn't working.

Debug.Notification() was working fine, so I was stuck trying to use that for weeks, as I couldn't figure this out.

I eventually created a new MO2 profile, copying my usual working profile, hit Ctrl+A to select everything in the left pane, then right-clicked and selected "Disable selected".

I started a new project in the CK just dropping some floor pieces into a newly-created cell, putting an activator in the middle, and a little test script connected to the activator that just did a Debug.Notification() followed by a Debug.Trace().

I then started Skyrim from MO2 without using the SKSE loader. I'd wanted to run it from outside MO2, but I couldn't figure out how to get the test mod selected. I haven't done that, maybe ever, without using a mod manager, so I have no idea how it's done without one and nothing Google showed me said anything about it. Everyone tells you how to enable mods in Vortex, not without using a mod manager, so I have no idea if it's even doable.

No matter, I started Skyrim via MO2 with nothing loaded other than my little test mod with two floor pieces and an activator. No SKSE, no nothing, and when I activated the object, I got the Debug.Notification() message I'd added, so I knew the Debug.Trace() just below it had been called. I exited, looked at the log, and the Trace() message was nowhere to be found.

That was a relief. I then knew it was nothing to do with my project, SKSE64 or anything else, so I went back to the INI Editor.

It showed three files, Skyrim.ini, SkyrimPrefs.ini, SkyrimCustom.ini. Custom? What was that doing there? I didn't create a SkyrimCustom.ini for this profile or any profile. I looked and whaddya know, bEnableTrace=0.

I set bEnableTrace=1 in SkyrimCustom.ini, crossed my fingers, started Skyrim from MO2 without SKSE again, COC'd to my little test cell, activated my test activator, exited and the message was in the Papyrus log, and everything was right with the world again.

I switched back to my usual working profile, opened SkyrimCustom.ini and, of course, saw bEnableTrace=0. I set it to 1, started Skyrim with SKSE and all the usual stuff I load during development, and my glorious debugging system was back, custom ("User") debug log and all. What a mess over one little flag.

I have no idea where that SkyrimCustom.ini came from. I use BethINI, as recommended by the Step Guide (I always link to stepmodifications.com since the link to the guide itself is version-specific. Just look to the right side and click on the Skyrim Special Edition graphic to get to the guide). Maybe BethINI created a SkyrimCustom.ini, but I'd told it to enable debug tracing, so it should have done it.

BethINI is using the proper folder where my working profile is, something set bEnableTrace=0 inside SkyrimCustom.ini and it wasn't me. Make sure you check that if you run into the same issue. I'm not blaming BethINI, I just still don't know what created that SkyrimCustom.ini and can't think of what else it could be. Maybe I created it months ago, forgot about it, and have been copying it from one profile to the next without knowing it by using Copy Profle. Beware.

 

Edit: Thinking about this a little more, I couldn't have created SkyrimCustom.ini months ago and forgotten about it. Everything was working fine until about a month ago and I didn't change my MO2 profile. I didn't add the SkyrimCustom.ini and I still can't figure out where it came from.