Keyword Limit Questions

[KnightBlade2]

It's my understanding that the keyword limit has been raised from an 8 bit to a 16 bit system. So, now that the limit is very large, can someone explain to me why we are still missing categories? I thought the keyword limit was the problem before.

[RustyXXL]

Usually it's a mattter of mods overwriting each others changes. Either find an existing patch for these mods or make your own with xEdit.

[PoliteRaider]

I'll explain.

 

Originally the game ran out of keywords, so it wasn't able to correctly process all the categories at once with a lot of mods.

The Settlement Keyword framework was developed to solve this problem, however it does so by introducing a couple of new keywords and using it to completely redesign the menu system.

 

Unfortunately Settlement Keywords, trying to cut down on the number of keywords being used, removed several vanilla keywords that hadn't been used yet. Wasteland Workshop DLC uses those keywords however and so without patching it is incompatible with Settlement Keyword. The (old) new categories WW uses, were removed by SK, so they can't show up on the menu.

 

Since SK is such a popular mod, that's the main thing that's hit most people but any mods that alter the Workshop keywords may conflict with one another, so it could also have been other mods.

 

Mods that use vanilla menus are safe though. As are mods that use an alternative like SK, so long as every single mod you have uses either the same alternative or the vanilla menus.

[Gruffydd]

The other possibility is custom menus overwriting each other.

 

For example, say you have Mod X, Mod Y, and Mod Z, all of which modify the Decorations menu with a new menu item specifically for their mods. Optimally, you'd have all three icons along with the vanilla icons.

However, when each of those mods load, the menu provided for that mod ​overrides all previous versions of that menu. So, if your load order is Mod X, then Mod Y, then Mod Z, Mod X will override the vanilla menu, then Mod Y overrides Mod X, then Mod Z overrides Mod Y, and when you get into your game, the only menu you're seeing is from Mod Z. This has nothing to do with keywords or the old keyword limit problem, it's just how the custom menus work.

To get them to work, you have to patch. You need to create a custom menu that adds in the specialized parts of any mod that modifies the same menu, and you need to load it after those mods, so that it's the last change to that menu that happens.

So, for example, assume that someone makes a patch to allow X, Y, and Z to work together. They do this by creating a menu that starts with the vanilla menu, then adds in the menu item from X, then the menu item from Y, then the menu item from Z, so that the overall menu is vanilla-X-Y-Z. When your game loads, you'll have all of the menu items showing, because your patch is the last version of that menu to load, and it includes everything.

 

Some modders may do the same thing with specialized versions of their mods rather than patches, because a patch generally uses another .esp slot, and there's a limited number of those you can use, so it helps people who run a lot of mods. That's basically just incorporating the patch into the mod itself, though, and functionally works the same way, as long as that version is the last to load.

[ParasiteX]

It's my understanding that the keyword limit has been raised from an 8 bit to a 16 bit system. So, now that the limit is very large, can someone explain to me why we are still missing categories? I thought the keyword limit was the problem before.

 

Can anyone confirm if the limit has been raised or not? As i can't find any official mention of this.

[thrax7545]

the limit was definitely raised, I don't have a citation handy, but my load order is a testament.

I suggest using SKE, as it separates big mods like homemaker and alt settlments away from the vanilla menus and frankly makes it easier to go through the materials (once you learn where everything is again).

 

It's the best solution I've found, and it's helped me save all the things I've made with those mods.