[WIPz] Fallout 4 Script Extender (F4SE)

[behippo]

Great news to report - we have the first underpinnings of F4SE up and running. And we have proof: http://f4se.silverlock.org/F4SE_Splash.jpg .

 

Next up comes a lot of work decoding classes and porting over internal functionality from previous games. We're off!

 

I'll try and catch up with previous requests and posts tomorrow.

[yunage]

Great news to report - we have the first underpinnings of F4SE up and running. And we have proof: http://f4se.silverlock.org/F4SE_Splash.jpg .

 

Next up comes a lot of work decoding classes and porting over internal functionality from previous games. We're off!

 

I'll try and catch up with previous requests and posts tomorrow.

:dance:

[RoyBatterian]

Awesome news! :)

[NonameFTW]

I wonder how much of SKSE can be implemented into F4SE. Would it be possible to recreate the SKSE API (where it makes sense) so that some Skyrim mods might even work in F4 ? That would have a snowball effect on the workload of other modders. I'm thinking things like MCM. Make things a lot easier.

 

Because recreating everything seems a lot of work und redundant. It's just a newer/modified version of the same engine I would guess.

 

Another Question: How deep do the Script extender actually go. Could it change basic things of the engine like the viewport or window size? Or do they just manipulate papyrus function?

 

(I have a little bit knowledge of programming but never actually looked into the whole thing.)

Edited November 12, 2015 by NonameFTW

[behippo]

I just really hope it's going to work with eastern European version of the game :smile: I'm not sure if I remember well, but I think that New Vegas extender had some problems and didn't work at once.

 

Really it is going to depend on how different the eastern European game is from the US version. F4SE depends upon knowing offsets into the executable, and if the executable isn't the same that becomes very hard to deal with. Probably if we got a look at the Fallout4.exe we could say whether or not it would work.

 

I wonder how much of SKSE can be implemented into F4SE. Would it be possible to recreate the SKSE API (where it makes sense) so that some Skyrim mods might even work in F4 ? That would have a snowball effect on the workload of other modders. I'm thinking things like MCM. Make things a lot easier.

 

Because recreating everything seems a lot of work und redundant. It's just a newer/modified version of the same engine I would guess.

 

Another Question: How deep do the Script extender actually go. Could it change basic things of the engine like the viewport or window size? Or do they just manipulate papyrus function?

 

(I have a little bit knowledge of programming but never actually looked into the whole thing.)

 

We'll have answers for that soon. Traditionally we've been able to leverage a lot of functionality from previous releases. The engines haven't changed that much (at least in the areas we've been working) over the last ten years. At least the core of the standard moddable class (Weapons, Armor, NPCs) have really only been tweaked or extended. So lots of our internal code comes right over - or at a minimum gives us a great head start with each new game. SKSE had a bunch of additional work to get Papyrus up and running, but we ought to be able to leverage that work as well. The UI looks quite similar at a first glance, though we've only just started investigating.

 

So lots of our internal implementations look like they can be easily updated. Once the CK is available we ought to be able to have most of our Papyrus extensions implemented again. So it in theory may be possible for folks with previous mods to update them. But we're really not going to know until the CK comes out.

 

Finally the Script Extender goes very deep. We reverse engineer whole portions of the game and can adjust, hook and patch most of it. We load our own DLLs into the process which includes our additional functionality. There is a lot we can do to the internal engine, in addition to manipulating papyrus functions.

[addemod]

I guess there's no way to compress it to ba2 again, I mean if you edit some files and wants to use it in the game?

 

If there's another way to use the modded files, please tell me! :)

[NonameFTW]

 

We'll have answers for that soon. Traditionally we've been able to leverage a lot of functionality from previous releases. The engines haven't changed that much (at least in the areas we've been working) over the last ten years. At least the core of the standard moddable class (Weapons, Armor, NPCs) have really only been tweaked or extended. So lots of our internal code comes right over - or at a minimum gives us a great head start with each new game. SKSE had a bunch of additional work to get Papyrus up and running, but we ought to be able to leverage that work as well. The UI looks quite similar at a first glance, though we've only just started investigating.

 

So lots of our internal implementations look like they can be easily updated. Once the CK is available we ought to be able to have most of our Papyrus extensions implemented again. So it in theory may be possible for folks with previous mods to update them. But we're really not going to know until the CK comes out.

 

Finally the Script Extender goes very deep. We reverse engineer whole portions of the game and can adjust, hook and patch most of it. We load our own DLLs into the process which includes our additional functionality. There is a lot we can do to the internal engine, in addition to manipulating papyrus functions.

 

 

Thx for the reply.

 

I think that ALOT of the development you guys will do after reverse engineering should go into the newest "feature" (It kinda was there before. In theory you could build you own stuff with console commands in skyrim) to the engine: The building zones. You covered most of the other stuff with the other script extenders I would assume. What the API now needs is functions to work with the building objects.

 

One important thing: importing, exporting and cleaning of building zones (Maybe simple xml files?). I know the objects have a certain marker (if you click on them in the console something like [PP] shows up)

 

Of course we will have to wait what bethesda does with their patches. An improvement to that system seems feasable and not unlikely. (For me this kinda on the level of implementing horse combat)

[Mofakin]

Would it be possible to somehow extract the ControlMap.txt information that is hardcoded inside the .exe? Or maybe tell the .exe not to obfuscate the ControlMap.txt inside MyGames folder, so we're able to edit it at will?

[behippo]

Would it be possible to somehow extract the ControlMap.txt information that is hardcoded inside the .exe? Or maybe tell the .exe not to obfuscate the ControlMap.txt inside MyGames folder, so we're able to edit it at will?

 

We're investigating these things. None of them have been completely successful. Extracting the hardcoded info and modding it has yielded mixed results and we don't have a solution we're happy with yet. If we come up with a consistent, workable solution, we'll release it even if that is the only piece of functionality in F4SE. But it will require a release of the tool - simple modifications of the encoded file on disk do not suffice.

[exploiteddna]

I guess there's no way to compress it to ba2 again, I mean if you edit some files and wants to use it in the game?

 

If there's another way to use the modded files, please tell me! :smile:

 

there is no need to recompress into a new ba2 archive. that would be pointless and sort of reckless in my opinion. In my opinion, you should always keep your vanilla archives untouched. The only reason you extract the contents is to see what is in there, the data folders structure, and/or use some of the files as a base for what you are trying to do. Once you have tweaked files or new files that are the same name and structure, you need to place them into your game's data folder, in the correct structure. The correct structure is determined based on the archive. You can think of your Data folder as being the root for each of the archives. So, if you have an archive that contains only one folder, Textures (which contains more subfolders), then that means the Textures folder (and all that is contained within) will reside directly in the Data folder.

 

If you don't quite understand this, then I would google for the answer, there are plenty of tutorials that explain this; it is the same for essentailly all of the bethesda games (elder scrolls, fallout series)

 

As a final example, you you edit a file that is packaged in the ba2 like this:

 

Sound\FX\WPN\Baton\WPN_Baton_EquipDown_01.wav

 

then you edit that sound file and want to use it in the game, you need to place all of that path, including the top Sound folder and all of the directories contained in it, into your game Data folder (located at <PATH>\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 4\Data