bInvalidateOlderFile will disable/enable mods

[Joker40001]

I have my files moved to the direcory: E:\Games\steamapps\Common\Starfield, I use a mod that removes them from my personal profile directory on the System dirve.

This is what has happened:

At first this worked because of this statement:

[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=

In the file called  StarfieldCustom.ini

When Starfiled is updated this statement and a few others in other ini's and batch files fail.

I spent two days (in time over a week) trying to find out why:

The settings page Gameply Options ws bleank.

Why the options set there would not work.

Why all the statements in the file StarfieldCustom.ini failed to operate, in addition to a couple of batch files called from this ini.

My method of troubleshooting this problem was to download a clean version of Starfield with the newest update and the Shattered Space DLC.

Before I did this I archived my Starfield (only) folder and profile saves and then deleted them. This gives me a clean game.

Instead of copying my old ini's from the save folder and game folder I left the new ini's in place with the keybind text file  "ControlMap_Custom.txt".

To find out what was locking out the Gameplay Options and other added mods I used the generic ini's un modded.

I had to have clean saves so no mods loaded for first play through. once past the intro and on to the first objective at the planet Kreet did I load up a couple of personal mods I made for weapons.

At this time the ini's were fairly clean, no modifications yet and the Gameplay Options page displays.

At first when I loaded up a mod (most were simple .esm mods) I manually added them to the Plugins.txt file.

I had seven lines in the Plugins.txt file before I decided to use the Nexus Client (NMM) for the more complicated mod installs.

That is when the problem with the ini's started again. After looking through the files I figured I would use one ini, I copied the data from the StarfieldCustion.ini into the Starfield.ini. I renamed the custom ini so the program wouldn't run it.

I started the game, loaded a save, went to settings then the Gameplay Options page: It was blank!

Why? This will take me some time to reslove becuse I worked through each section of the ini, I started with the first seciton, I would copy a section from the orginal ini into a new test ini, then start the game to see what changed.

One thing that was happening that caught my eye was: there was a new StarfieldCustom.ini and it only containded the [Archive] statements. At first I  deleted the new file, then run my tests.

That process will take some time.. each time I tested my results were:

The Gameplay page was there, I did a change then looked at my mods, all there, looked at my two batch files, every thing works.

Until: When I loaded some more mods into the Nexus Client and ran my test the Gameplay page was blank!

Now I knew what was causing my problem, however this problem will not resolve itsef, that is if this statement is in the custom ini then any changes you make to the Gameplay Options page will not run when it is active. Also some mods are tied to the [Archive] statement in the custom.ini.

I figured this out with three mods I would like to use:

The Trackers Alliance Delayed Start and Tracker's Alliance No Auto-Start

With Ship Power Control Tweaks

The tracker mods use the Gameplay Options page where as the power control uses an ini.

With that statement active the power controls ini and other ini's work. However when the statement is not active or removed the Gameplay page is active and usable, the custom.ini and the power ini do not activate, I know this because I use a sStartingConsoleCommand= statement in the custom ini to run batch files. If the [Archive] statement is active the batch files do not run automatically.

Why does it matter?

Well if all the moders used an INI or convesly used the Gameplay Options page it wouldn't. However we have a mix of how the mod is controled and a statement that started when the game was released.

How to fix it?

For me it is unknown, hardware I fix, progrmas I use... (Hint- IT Tech)...

I am throwing this out for all the modders to see and maybe we can get a fix or work around, I can live with setting my power settings each time I go out bound to another world however Bethesda's girl is getting on my nerves...

[HeyYou]

For some reason, I had issues with settings in the various ini files in the My Games directory, didn't work, I had to edit the files actually in the Starfield install folder for mods to work..... No idea why....

[yuppa396]

Beta update might had messed up stuff I bet. Bethesda and bugs amirite?

[Joker40001]

7 hours ago, yuppa396 said:

Beta update might had messed up stuff I bet. Bethesda and bugs amirite?

I don't use a beta, I hold off on updates for awhile and when the smoke clears download the whole mess again, that takes over three hours...

At 1.14.70 I noticed that some of the batch files wouldn't run  when in the StarfiledCustom.ini, when ran from the command line after loading a save they worked.

I use this command in the custom ini: sStartingConsoleCommand=

I have two files I run.

It wasn't until I needed to use the CamePlay Options page [ver 1.14.74] in game did I notice that it was not displaying as advertised, I would like the tracker thing turned off and would like to customize the vehicle options, however when the [Archive] and the two lines are active the page will not dispaly on my system(s). I have a desktop and a laptop that this is loaded on same on both.