LOOT versus BOSS

[DanielDuncan]

I recently downloaded and installed the dragon stalking fix. In the comments section the uploader said to use LOOT for load order sorting. I have been lurking in the forums here for quite a while now and have searched through every mod made for this game and this is the first time I ever heard a single mention of LOOT. The LOOT(load order optimization) is not even hosted here or on steam and I am not even sure if it is to be trusted as this is the very first time I have ever heard mention of it.

 

What are the benefits of LOOT over BOSS? Can LOOT be trusted? Is LOOT updated frequently? Do all modders partake in LOOT? Should I replace BOSS with LOOT?

 

I have 129 mods installed and for the most part BOSS has treated my mods list very well and BOSS is updated regularly, to my knowledge it is updated regularly anyway. What is my incentive to get this application, LOOT, and replace BOSS with it?

 

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Edit: This is a double post due to site lag, delete one please, was not my fault.

Edited May 29, 2014 by DanielDuncan

[bben46]

LOOT is essentially BOSS rewritten by the same people - Currently, LOOT is still in beta testing. It is stable and so far works very well. Eventually it will replace BOSS. But right now, the BOSS team are supporting both.

[IceDolphin]

BOSS and Loot are made by the same people. There's no difference except I think They only update Loot now.

[lofgren]

I was under the impression that the BOSS masterlist is no longer being updated.

 

LOOT's advantage is that it examines the content of mods and makes a guess where they belong even if they are not in the masterlist. That means that mods you create yourself, or patches for mods, will (probably/hopefully) be sorted correctly, and the same for new mods that haven't been added to the masterlist by the LOOT team, as well as mods from independent sites/modders that the LOOT team does not monitor.

 

I switched to LOOT about a week ago and so far has only needed some slight tweaking to my load order, whereas for BOSS I had a pretty lengthy userlist to override and sort mods that BOSS did not have entries for.

 

Truth is either works fine if you know what you are doing. If you are less familiar with mods and their structures then I would recommend LOOT.

[DanielDuncan]

Thank you for the heads up.

[Noppius]

Does LOOT also tells you what mods need cleaning with TESVEDIT? I know BOSS did this but as it seems that BOSS masterlist is no longer updated, i was wondering if LOOT gives me the same information.

[AlexZander40]

I experimented using LOOT mid-game last week, and it created problems for me. Realistic Needs and Diseases was not working 100% after trying LOOT. LOOT's load order was severely different than the BOSS load order. So I set my load order back to BOSS. I will keep using BOSS and its Edit User Rules for Skyrim, Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion. When TESVI and Fallout 4 get released, I will try LOOT for those. Or if I start a new character and game for Skyrim, I might experiment with LOOT again.

 

@ Noppius, Yes, LOOT did give information about cleaning plugins. And it also had an Edit Metadata function to sort mods manually.

[Noppius]

Thanks for the info AlexZander.

I'm gonna give LOOT a try when i finish my list of mods for a new playthrough.