Version Control Tips

[ashtonlp101]

Hello all,

 

I want to start off this post by thanking MadMongo, he helped me through my issues every step of the way on a subject that is scarcely covered or talked about. So firstly, what is Version Control? Version Control is a Dev tool that allows you to create an ESM and then edit your esm with an esp and safely and easily merge all your work into the ESM. Why would you do this? Well, for most mod authors working on smaller projects you don't have to worry about this. But for people crafting large, open world spaces like I am an issue arises as your esp's memory increases. esps have a mod-breaking bug (potentially many, but one glaring one) which is the 16 MB bug. Once your esp hit the 16 mb threshold it locks your mod and crashes when opening the GECK or when loading the mod in game. This error occurs solely on ESP files, I'm guessing what happened is that Bethesda never noticed this bug since they likely merge daily/weekly when working on their games, so they don't get enough time to hit that 16 MB threshold therefor they likely never noticed it. That or they simple didn't think they would ever hit that threshold so they ignored the bug altogether.

 

So, when do you need to use version control?

 

-Large quest mods

-Large worldspaces

-Mods that take up enough records to surpass 16MB

 

To put this into perspective, Dead Money (New Vegas' smallest story DLC) is 6 MB, Lonesome Road (Largest) is 25 MB, and Old World Blues (in the middle) is right on the border at 15.8 MB. But you have to understand, that Old World blues has much less world space Data than Lonesome Road, OWB is one medium sized hub, whereas Lonesome Road has multiple sub-worldspaces with a lot of distant LOD. To put this into even further perspective, from a mod POV, Salt Lake Stories is 30.1 MB, Beyond Boulder Dome is 12.4 MB. NVB III is 7.6 MB, and the Frontier is larger than base NV which is about 240 MB. So it's not impossible by any stretch to make a large scale mod without using Version Control, but if you're doing a hub-based worldspace like Salt Lake Stories, that takes up an incredible amount of data.

 

I won't get into the steps on how to set up version control because I'll be making a video on it to make it easier for mod authors to physically see what to do. But I will give some tips to help mod authors when they finally get version control working:

 

-Version Control does make backups before merging, but just incase always host a separate folder of your backup ESM AND ESP before EVERY MERGE.

 

-I STRONGLY suggest using the GECK Extender with Version control. The Extender isn't initially packaged to work with Version Control because of it's function that allows editing ESM files. So you'll have to edit the line in the GECK Extender INI called "bVersionControlMode=0" change this to "1" and you're good to go. If you use GECK Extender without making this change, Version Control will CTD during merge and likely corrupt your ESM. The reason why I recommend the GECK Extender so much is because working on large projects causes insane instability in the Vanilla GECK, like 10 FPS in free camera mode, GECK Extender fixes tons of issues with memory leaks and instability, making the GECK much more stable and smooth to use. THANK YOU GECK Extender team.

 

-This relates to tip #1, if you experience any errors/CTD while merging it is likely that your ESM has been corrupted. If this happens, replace your backup ESM with the ESM in both Fallout New Vegas\Data AND Fallout New Vegas\Merging\Data. If you do not replace the Merging folder ESM you will be prompted by the GECK to replace your data folder ESM with the corrupted one. If you decline the prompt to replace the ESM, Version Control will not allow you to merge.

 

-If you are not seeing any changes after merging, you're likely making the same stupid mistake I made. When using version control click select all, check out, then you must SELECT ALL AGAIN, then check in. If you don't select all for the second time, it will merge nothing into your new ESM.

 

-If you still cannot see any changes being made to your ESM, you are likely using the old ESM. When you merge using Version Control it does not replace the Data folder ESM with the newly merged ESM. The newly merged esm is in your Fallout New Vegas\Merging\Data Folder. When you boot up the GECK after merging, the GECK will prompt you to replace your Data folder ESM with the newly merged one. Click YES and your changes will be put into your Data folder. Alternatively, you can just copy the ESM from you Fallout New Vegas\Merging\Data folder into you Fallout New Vegas\Data folder.

 

This is all I can think of at the moment, if anyone notices something that is incorrect, correct me and I'll edit/remove it and if you have anything to add, be my guest.