New to using mods - cell reset question

[Fuzzpuff]

So I'm not new to Fallout (played a literal butt-ton of Fallout 3 through multiple play-throughs). However, with the addition of settlements in Fallout 4, I've put off using mods for as long as I can. I'm at the point now where I need mods to be able to do all the things I would like with my settlements. I'm currently only looking at 3 specific mods to start off with: Scrap Everything, Settlements Expanded (to get rid of that pesky size limitation), and Place Everywhere. I finally got to the Molecular Level (yes I've spent that much time doing everything but looking for my bastard child) quest and was going to finally install these mods so I could have a nice, pretty platform for my teleporter, but all the cell bug messages made me hold off.

 

I have looked and looked and looked for the past 12 hours and cannot find a clear and concise explanation of what exactly this cell bug is and therefore cannot determine if it would affect my game after installing and using the above mods. All I've been able to gather is that it has something to do with non-player-created containers resetting or something similar.

 

Can someone please give me a quick overview of what this bug is doing and whether or not it will have any affect on me? To-date, the only containers I use in settlements are ones that I have created myself with the exception of the workshop storage in Sancutary where I keep all my extra weapons/armor/legendaries/aids/scrap etc. I have a small chest I created to store misc items and a bunch of magazine racks for all my comics.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Ethreon]

All containers inside an affected cells will reset to their initial content (infinite loot much?)

All PA inside an affected cell will reset to their initial status (any paints/mods you added will be gone).

[wax2k]

To be a bit more precise:

• The cell reset bug will be triggered in outdoor cells that were edited in "Worldspace" by a mod.
• Common examples are all mods that expand the buildable area of one or more settlement(s), mods that put new objects in Worldspace cells or replace existing ones (most XYZ-repaired mods for example) and most mods that expand scrapping of landscape and architecture objects (except Spring Cleaning which utilizes a workaround).
• The reset of a cell (which is a standard function in the game) generally is triggered by for example fast travelling far away or by letting enough time pass by while not being in the close vicinity of that cell.
• When an mod-edited cell is reset that way, the cell reset bug will also be triggered.
• It affects all vanilla pre-placed containers in these edited cells and most of the vanilla power armor frames (except the ones bought from a vendor), if they are placed in one of these edited cells.
• It will reset the contents of the affected containers / frames to either random new loot or to their original state when first being discovered, thus deleting all player-placed items from them.
• It will only be triggered as long as you run the mods that edit these cells. As soon as you remove the mods and don't have any other mods editing the same cells, the bug won't be triggered for these cells anymore.
• There are mods that act as a workaround by replacing the affected containers / frames.
• When knowing how it's triggered and how it might affect you and what the possible workarounds are, it's not a big hassle, but knowing about it is the important part.

Edited February 15, 2016 by wax2k

[PoliteRaider]

Scrap everything will trigger the cell reset bug, the author has acknowledged this in their description. I can't be as certain with the other two you mention as they're not mods which I use personally. You've already had a good explanation above about what causes the bug so I'll just add a little bit of advice to avoiding problems caused by it. There are two parts to the cell-reset bug that really cause damage to your playthrough. The contents of containers resetting and being suddenly unable to sprint in the area.

 

Re: Sprinting. There's an INI fix that removes this problem. Read the description page of Scrap Everything and the mod author explains how to implement it for their mod.

 

Re: Losing your Possessions. This is just a matter of making sure you never store items that you want to keep in a container that you didn't craft yourself. (This is probably good advice anyway, you never know what containers you just find might have the respawn flag set on them).

 

Anytime you find a Power Armor frame just sitting somewhere out in the world, it's vulnerable to being reset by this bug and having its contents randomized next time you go back to it. However any Power Armor frame that you purchase or construct is immune. There's a mod which makes a good workaround allowing you to scrap a Power Armor frame and then rebuild it in Workshop mode, which makes it immune to this bug. The mod is Buildable Power Armor Frame by Lapdragon.

 

So is it worth it? Well, only you can decide this. However personally I find that it's very easy to get around the consequences of this bug and the benefits offered by the mods that trigger it are amazing. For me that's always made it worthwhile and with a little bit of caution about where you're storing your possessions, you'll never even know that the cell reset bug is there.

[bill8872]

I use Settlements Expanded, and there is no issue with the reset bug, and I stopped using scrap everything for this reason.

I use Spring Cleaning, http://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/4640/?

It may not remove as much as Scrap everything, but it does not cause cell reset.

[wax2k]

I use Settlements Expanded, and there is no issue with the reset bug...

That's because it does not expand the buildable area, it increases the limit of buildable objects in a settlement. And it's not really a mod, it's a set of batch files with console commands in it. Edited February 16, 2016 by wax2k

[Zaldir]

The unnecessary argument between two people has been removed. Now, please keep this on-topic, thanks.

[raverbane]

I am thinking about making a mod that cleans up the Mechanist's Lair. Not going to move or add anything. Just delete alot of the clutter, dirt and rust objects.

 

"The cell reset bug will be triggered in outdoor cells that were edited in "Worldspace" by a mod."

 

Since it's an interior space. Will it be safe from the reset bug?

[GraVmaN]

I am thinking about making a mod that cleans up the Mechanist's Lair. Not going to move or add anything. Just delete a lot of the clutter, dirt and rust objects.

 

"The cell reset bug will be triggered in outdoor cells that were edited in "Worldspace" by a mod."

 

Since it's an interior space. Will it be safe from the reset bug?

I'd be interested in seeing a Mechanist's Lair mod. Even a total rebuild/overhaul would be nice just for the simplicity. I recently cleared out as much junk as I could there and it seems to be different as far as building goes.

 

Vault 88 has been a pain as well. With no in game information to speak of, things like power are problematic. The through wall conduits are too short and such. I just haven't figured out how it works yet is all. I saw a mod that massively extends the power emitter range (from 500 to 10k) and have been considering that as a solution. I'd rather not but its not looking like theres a whole lot of options. That said, the massive vault reactors are nice and wouldn't mind those for other places.

 

On that point of radiant power... Has anyone tried to make a power collector conduit part? I have seen many mods that make items wireless powered but even if you could just wire to a collector that gathers power from an emitter then anything could be wireless without a lot of singular mods. Is this even possible?

 

I'll repost this in requests as well.