Analysis of BOSS Log - A Few Questions

[Killianmcc]

Hey,

 

I'm new to using the BOSS and was wondering about the log file that is returned to me. I've fixed quite a number of things it suggested (e.g. getting patches for certain mods). There's a couple of Warnings that I was hoping to find out a bit on. I've done a bit of research but thought I'd condense my questions here and also get a bit of analysis on my Log file to boot. Details of my system below.

 

1. Dirty Edits - Should I be worried/Should I report?

 

So I have a whole bunch of dirty edits throughout my log. As far as I can tell my only option would be to get the TES5Editor but cleaning is generally intended for the mod author, is this correct? So should I do something about them or are they ok to leave? Here's an example of two;

 

Update.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 52 ITM, 1 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

 

Dawnguard.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 602 ITM, 82 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

 

2. Bash Tag Suggestions - Em wah?

 

Couldn't find any info about these. Have a few of them in my log. Anything I need to do? Example of two;

 

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}

 

Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}

 

3. Notes - Always there?

 

Are Notes always there? As in, they aren't prompting an issue? Same goes with 'Requires:' actually. Examples;

 

Fantasy Music Overhaul Redone.esp Active

Note: Obsolete. Update to the latest renamed version, Fantasy Music Full Replace.esp or Fantasy Music Non-Replace.esp

 

Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - 2x Brighter.esp Active

Note: Use only one Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One esp.

 

4. Warning: Unexpected Records - ??

 

Couldn't find much info on these either. Only appear with a couple of the entries of Headbomb's Better Sorting mod (not all). Should I correct them? If so, how would I go about it?

 

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Books.esp Active

Warning: This file contains unexpected (or out of order) records and should be removed.

 

Headbomb's Better Sorting - Potions (Normal Weight).esp Active

Warning: This file contains unexpected (or out of order) records and should be removed.

 

 

System Details;

 

Windows 8 64X

NMM .34

BOSS 2.1.1

Skyrim 1.8.1

The Wilds ENB

Also using Digger's Texture Pack Combiner - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20801/#

 

 

Any thoughts and help would be really appreciated!

Cheers,

Killian

[Jeir]

1. Cleaning mods is quite easy, and some mods were released before TES5Edit, so wouldn't have been cleaned. A lot of mod authors have updated with clean files, but some haven't, so it's better to clean them yourself rather than wait for a mod author to return after a 6 month absence. Just follow the instructions given about TES5Edit cleaning, and it'll be fine. Just note that you shouldn't 'clean' .ESMs.

2. Bash tags are for Wrye Bash, and are used for making merged patches. Don't worry about it. =)

3. Notes are things you should pay attention to; treat them like 'warnings'. They often tell you when mods are conflicting or the best way to avoid conflicts, or if you need to update.

4. 'Unexpected Records' tend to come from mods made with TESVSnip; BOSS is basically telling you of a corrupt plugin. Best to remove them to avoid game instability/save corruption.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Jeir

[Killianmcc]

1. Cleaning mods is quite easy, and some mods were released before TES5Edit, so wouldn't have been cleaned. A lot of mod authors have updated with clean files, but some haven't, so it's better to clean them yourself rather than wait for a mod author to return after a 6 month absence. Just follow the instructions given about TES5Edit cleaning, and it'll be fine. Just note that you shouldn't 'clean' .ESMs.

2. Bash tags are for Wrye Bash, and are used for making merged patches. Don't worry about it. =)

3. Notes are things you should pay attention to; treat them like 'warnings'. They often tell you when mods are conflicting or the best way to avoid conflicts, or if you need to update.

4. 'Unexpected Records' tend to come from mods made with TESVSnip; BOSS is basically telling you of a corrupt plugin. Best to remove them to avoid game instability/save corruption.

 

Hey Jeir,

Thanks for the reply. Followed your suggestions about 4! Regards 1, I'm surprised a mod as well known and as recent as Climates Of Tamriel would have Dirty Edits. I mean I'm hardly the first person to run over it with BOSS right? :/ Don't mind doing the cleaning but I'm just worried I've missed something that I should have done beforehand. E.g. After reading your post I got the CoT Dawnguard Patch expecting that was the problem, but no difference.

[Jeir]

Sometimes they're necessary in mods (there were various mods in Oblivion and Fallout3/NV that you were never meant to clean, for instance), and some times they're not but don't really seem to do any damage. I use CoT as well, and have left the 4 ITM alone.

Maybe it does need cleaning; I'm not too sure. Generally I've always left .ESMs alone

[stars2heaven]

1. Cleaning mods is quite easy, and some mods were released before TES5Edit, so wouldn't have been cleaned. A lot of mod authors have updated with clean files, but some haven't, so it's better to clean them yourself rather than wait for a mod author to return after a 6 month absence. Just follow the instructions given about TES5Edit cleaning, and it'll be fine. Just note that you shouldn't 'clean' .ESMs.

 

This is not necessarily true. Mods made before TES5Edit can certainly be very dirty and need cleaning. A mods creation date has no relevance to whether it needs cleaning or not. ESMs can also be cleaned. An ITM (Identical to master) in an ESM is usually harmless. That's because ESMs load before the .esp files. So any ITMs in a ESM file will be overwritten by anything after it. That said, those can potentially cause trouble too if you have an ESM file that changes one thing and then load an ESM after it that has an ITM in it. What can be harmful inside an ESM, as well as any other file though, are deleted references. Those can definitely cause instability and should be cleaned.

 

However, it is true that sometimes an ITM can be necessary. Don't clean these if the mod author says not to.

[Jeir]

This is not necessarily true. Mods made before TES5Edit can certainly be very dirty and need cleaning. A mods creation date has no relevance to whether it needs cleaning or not.

 

What's not true? You pretty much just said what I said. =P

 

ESMs can also be cleaned

Thanks for the info. =) I stand corrected on that front.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Jeir

[stars2heaven]

This is not necessarily true. Mods made before TES5Edit can certainly be very dirty and need cleaning. A mods creation date has no relevance to whether it needs cleaning or not.

 

What's not true? You pretty much just said what I said. =P

 

ESMs can also be cleaned

Thanks for the info. =) I stand corrected on that front.

 

 

woops. I misread your post lol. I thought you said that a mod made before TES5Edit WOULDN'T need to be cleaned. My bad. I don't know how that happened, lol. sorry

[Killianmcc]

Sometimes they're necessary in mods (there were various mods in Oblivion and Fallout3/NV that you were never meant to clean, for instance), and some times they're not but don't really seem to do any damage. I use CoT as well, and have left the 4 ITM alone.

Maybe it does need cleaning; I'm not too sure. Generally I've always left .ESMs alone

 

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding. All of the returns from the BOSS Log are for ESM files, so what else could be needing cleaning? :P Below are all the Dirty Edit Warnings I received, is there a particular way I know which I should clean and which I should leave?

 

Immersive Weapons.esp Active

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev}}

Contains dirty edits: 2 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

 

Update.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 52 ITM, 1 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

 

Dawnguard.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 602 ITM, 82 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

Bash Tag suggestion(s): {{BASH: Delev, Relev}}

 

HearthFires.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 171 ITM, 11 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

 

ClimatesOfTamriel.esm Active

Contains dirty edits: 4 ITM, 0 UDR records. Needs TES5Edit cleaning. (Cleaning guide)

[stars2heaven]

The ITMs are mostly harmless in those files. By cleaning them you will gain yourself some smaller files and will be that much more memory efficient. :P

 

However, those UDRs are bad, bad. Those should be gotten rid of. Since you will be getting rid of those when you clean your files, you might as well get rid of the ITMs too. It won't hurt to be rid of them. They serve no good purpose by being there and offer a small risk of causing trouble.

 

If BOSS says it should be cleaned it's pretty safe to assume that you can clean it.

[Killianmcc]

The ITMs are mostly harmless in those files. By cleaning them you will gain yourself some smaller files and will be that much more memory efficient. :P

 

However, those UDRs are bad, bad. Those should be gotten rid of. Since you will be getting rid of those when you clean your files, you might as well get rid of the ITMs too. It won't hurt to be rid of them. They serve no good purpose by being there and offer a small risk of causing trouble.

 

If BOSS says it should be cleaned it's pretty safe to assume that you can clean it.

 

Ok so bearing in mind I've never used TESEdit, how hard is it to clean? Watching Gopher's youtube tutorial atm (/watch?v=UOQO2S6HDBw). Thanks for the advice incidentally!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Killianmcc