[WIP] zEdit

[matortheeternal]

http://puu.sh/xzOWb.png

zEdit
Current Release: Alpha v0.3.0

What is zEdit
zEdit is a new GUI/frontend for the xEdit framework built with Electron. The goal is to do everything xEdit does and more through the power and flexibility of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

I posted a survey to get ideas for zEdit here (and elsewhere) a few weeks ago. GamerPoets made a video going over the survey results, which you can view here.

 

v0.3.0 Release Notes
This release includes a new application mode for cleaning plugins (zClean), advanced record search/filtering functionality, a referenced by view, tab icons and dynamic labels, and more.

 

v0.2.0 Release Notes
This release brings documentation, record copying functionality, extension management, and more.

 

v0.1.1 Release Notes
This is a hotfix release which fixes several bugs and UX issues that were reported to me shortly after v0.1.0 was released. This release should finally fix all of the issues with FO4/SSE load order handling.

 

v0.1.0 Release Notes

This release includes a bunch of fixes and new features. The release is pretty solid and includes really some exciting new systems.

This release adds support for zEdit Modules. Modules are packages of JavaScript code and HTML templates which are loaded by zEdit on startup. zEdit modules are like mods for zEdit. Developers can create new context menu items, new modal views, respond to application events, and more.

The release also adds support for custom application and syntax themes. I included a dark theme which I put together myself as well as a bunch of syntax themes which were included with CodeMirror.

Finally, this release includes a core module - the zEdit Unified Patching Framework (or UPF for short). UPF is similar SkyProc/SUM, but better. You can find an example UPF patcher here. UPF offers:

• Generic progress modal display while patchers execute
• The ability to build multiple patchers into a single patch plugin file
• A single Manage Patchers modal where a user can adjust the settings of their patchers, disable patchers, and build patch plugins. Patchers can register tabs here with an HTML template and an angular controller.
• The ability to use all features of ES6 JavaScript in your code, including functional programming, classes, file system access through NodeJS, and more.
• Full access to xelib, a javascript wrapper around XEditLib which provides a high performance API to the XEdit framework. That means faster execution than xEdit scripts, no jvInterpreter weirdness, a simplified API with no redundant functions, and many totally new functions which make many tasks much easier.
• A highly structured patcher format which makes creating patchers faster and less repetitive.

Here are a few screenshots of UPF in action:

• Settings Modal Tab
• Manage Patchers Modal
• Example Patcher Tab
• Running a patcher
• Resulting patch

jdsmith2816 is currently working on porting the ReProccer to use UPF. He has Armors, Alchemy, and Projectile patching done and mostly tested, and is currently working on the last part of the patcher, patching Weapons.


v0.0.1 Release Notes

Today I released an alpha of zEdit to start getting direct feedback and ideas from the community. This release is nowhere near feature complete, and will have its fair share of bugs. You have been warned!

I have written some very extensive release notes on the release page on GitHub. I don't expect anyone to actually read all of it, but they're there so you can check to make sure whether or not I know something is broken before letting me know.

This alpha release already has a few things xEdit doesn't:

• You can choose the game mode from the start screen (no need to rename the executable)
• You can have multiple record view tabs
• You can reorder your load order from within the application when you start a new session
• You can search for records by name
• You can create user scripts using the full functionality of ES6 (functional and object-oriented programming, yay!)
• Special forms for editing certain fields such as colors, enumerations, and multi-line text.

More functionality is on its way.

EDIT: Builds updated to fix a problem with a missing dependency, causing the XEditLib.dll missing error. If you downloaded in the first 30 minutes this was posted redownload the application or download and install the dependency into its folder.

Plans
I started working full time a few weeks ago, so I have less time to work on zEdit. This caused the v0.2.0 release to take considerably longer than initially planned (from 1-2 weeks to 1 month). New releases will likely be monthly/biweekly going forward. zEdit development will continue, but it will be slower. This would be a good time for any developers who are interested in the project to make a commitment to contribute to zEdit more often!


Conclusion
You can report issues here or on the GitHub repository and you can track my progress on zEdit's public Trello board. You can get updates on zEdit and chat with me or other developers on the Modding Tools Discord Server. If you're a developer and interested in contributing, send me a message and we can find something for you to work on.


Thanks, and enjoy zEdit!
- Mator

[Richardo11]

Very, very excited about this, just watched GP video about the survey, Thumps-Up

[matortheeternal]

v0.1 released, see the updated OP for details!

[matortheeternal]

v0.2 released, see the updated OP for details!

[MyHouseatl]

I can't get it to work. Popped up once out side of Mod Organizer. Tried adding to Mod Organizer like I have xEdit and it installs.....Then nothing. No it won't even work outside of Mod Organizer. What gives? (Obviously I am doing something wrong...)

[matortheeternal]

This is most likely a bug with the version you're using which I fixed recently. You can wait for the next update or join the discord server linked in the OP and download a developer build from the pinned messages in the #zedit channel.

[matortheeternal]

v0.3 released. See the OP.

[smr1957]

Fantastic work you are doing! I have spent more time using TES5Edit than I have spent playing Skyrim (and I am about to break the 2K hour mark on playtime), and can't begin to tell you how excited I was when I discovered this - and that was only by chance when I saw a mod on Nexus that required this (SORT by EQLIBRIIM - Skyrim/mods/87820). With my mod load of over 750 mods and 534 plugins merged down to 254, you can imagine that I am following this very closely, and if I have any useful feedback, will post. Once again, thanks for all your hard work, it is very much appreciated.

[Nightman0]

So with the conversion of Reproccer to UPF, will it be able to read already made xml files? I'm think of patchus maximus and asis. Would it be able to read those and put out the same output as reproccer or would you need to change the xml?

 

Thank you, mator!

[matortheeternal]

So with the conversion of Reproccer to UPF, will it be able to read already made xml files? I'm think of patchus maximus and asis. Would it be able to read those and put out the same output as reproccer or would you need to change the xml?

 

Thank you, mator!

 

If you wrote the patcher to take in XML files as input using the same format conventions there's no reason you couldn't continue to use the same XML files. If I recall, jdsmith was doing a direct port of the reproccer so this would be the case.