Stability question regarding clearing a wilderness tile.

[MaeroTheMaestro73]

Hey guys. I'm looking for information on how clearing the deco, debris, and flavor of a given cell will affect the game's stability. I know I can "generate precombines" after clearing everything, and navmesh can be added as needed.

But before I do anything modifying the world in this way, I want to know I'm not potentially breaking it in the process.

I want to make sure all of my mods are done cleanly, in a way that is compatible without needing patches or load order modifications.

So to that end: Am I breaking the game by clearing out, say, the rubble, the cliffsides, the leveled spawn markers, the barrels, and the clouds of a specific wilderness tile?

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

It depends ...

If another mod changes the same thing that you deleted. Let me explain:

 

MOD1: (your mod) deletes a rock in a certain cell

MOD2: (some other mod) changes the position of that rock (for whatever reason ... )

 

If MOD1 loads before MOD2, then MOD2 tries to do something to an object that isn't there (your mod deleted it).

That will cause the game to crash (It's called a "null pointer exception", if I remember correctly ...)

 

That's why you don't "delete" objects of the vanilla game. Either disable them or move them under the ground, so that they are there but not visible.

 

If you make a mod and then "clean" that mod file with FO4Edit, there is an option to "undelete and disable" deleted objects. (So it will automatically disable the stuff that you deleted in the Creation Kit).

 

I highly recommend the manual for xEdit (the tool is the same for lots of games, FO4Edit, FO3Edit, ...). There is a nice section about mod conflicts in there that makes things like this understandable.

 

Hope this helps and didn't scare you :laugh:

[MaeroTheMaestro73]

It depends ...

If another mod changes the same thing that you deleted. Let me explain:

 

MOD1: (your mod) deletes a rock in a certain cell

MOD2: (some other mod) changes the position of that rock (for whatever reason ... )

 

If MOD1 loads before MOD2, then MOD2 tries to do something to an object that isn't there (your mod deleted it).

That will cause the game to crash (It's called a "null pointer exception", if I remember correctly ...)

 

That's why you don't "delete" objects of the vanilla game. Either disable them or move them under the ground, so that they are there but not visible.

 

If you make a mod and then "clean" that mod file with FO4Edit, there is an option to "undelete and disable" deleted objects. (So it will automatically disable the stuff that you deleted in the Creation Kit).

 

I highly recommend the manual for xEdit (the tool is the same for lots of games, FO4Edit, FO3Edit, ...). There is a nice section about mod conflicts in there that makes things like this understandable.

 

Hope this helps and didn't scare you :laugh:

Thank you, that's all helpful to keep in mind. Reading the bug reports of numerous mods that allow for deleting things such as rubble piles and flat trash [either by the player, or as part of an automated "cleaner location" mod] has made me wary of deleting anything even if it's way out in the wilderness where no one is likely to touch. Apparently breaking precombines completely devastates the framerate, if not crashing the computer. Of course I've only seen this be a major issue in the downtown areas where there's a lot of clutter, but still. Back of mind, constant anxiety, you know?

 

So now I know the best way to cleanly edit a cell. By the way, where do I find the "disable/enable" option at in CK? I haven't seen anything like that so far after about two weeks of tinkering.

[pepperman35]

Select everything you want to disable, then hit the minus key on the keyboard, it should bring up a window with lots of options. Scroll down until you find the disable one, check the box and hit do in the lower left corner.

[markusm1000]

 

if it's way out in the wilderness where no one is likely to touch.

 

Pure, empty wilderness cells (not part of a location nor part of a quest, no random encounters) are very rare, so you can count on it when you've found one that umpteen others have too :wink:

[MaeroTheMaestro73]

Select everything you want to disable, then hit the minus key on the keyboard, it should bring up a window with lots of options. Scroll down until you find the disable one, check the box and hit do in the lower left corner.

Hey thank you for that protip. I'll look into it.

[MaeroTheMaestro73]

 

 

if it's way out in the wilderness where no one is likely to touch.

 

Pure, empty wilderness cells (not part of a location nor part of a quest, no random encounters) are very rare, so you can count on it when you've found one that umpteen others have too :wink:

Can't say I've seen too many mods that delve into glowing sea wilderness cells. Many of those cells are nothing more than blasted forests, collapsed highways, and giant puddles with leveled enemy spawns. Regardless, any mod I publish involving cell edits will be followed by a request for bug hunters and conflict reports so I can optimize them to play nice with other mods.