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Your First Commit

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WrinklyNinja edited this page Apr 5, 2014 · 2 revisions

Note: This page is currently outdated.

This is but one method to edit and commit a masterlist. It is not the only or even the best way. But by using this method for your first few commits, you'll gain experience without making common mistakes.

Tools

While these tools are not stictly necessary to make commits, you will need them if you want to be thorough.

First Time Preparation

Note: if you're a committer for another game, substitute your game name for "Skyrim".

  1. Create desktop shortcuts for Wrye Bash, Tes5Edit, and BOSS GUI.exe.
  • If Tes5Edit was installed to the Skyrim directory, you can skip creating that shorcut.
  1. Create a desktop shortcut to the BOSS SVN directory you created when installing your SVN client.
  • On my system it is the default BOSS installation folder - C:\BOSS\Skyrim.
  • If your BOSS SVN directory is different, create a desktop shortcut to your BOSS\Skyrim folder also.
  1. Open Notepad (not Notepad++) and save a new txt file to your desktop with a name such as BOSS Notes.
  2. Open your browser and navigate to the Skyrim Bugzilla and add it to your favorites or create a desktop shortcut.
  3. Clean Dawnguard.esm, Hearthfires.esm, and Update.esm if you haven't already done so.
  • If you do not have the DLC or Update.esm, you will not be able to do a thorough job of adding any mods that have them as masters.
  1. Navigate to the C:\BOSS directory. Open the BOSS.ini and edit the following entries to match:
  • bDoStartupUpdateCheck = false
  • bUpdateMasterlist = false
  • bDisplayCRCs = true
  1. Save and close BOSS.ini.

On With The Show

Now I'm going to switch gears a bit and get a bit more basic, step by step. I apologize in advance if you think this is too simple.

  • These instructions are specific to the applications listed in Tools above and TortoiseSVN.
  1. Open BOSS GUI.exe.
  2. Open Wrye Bash.
  3. Open BOSS SVN WORKING Directory. Right click on masterlist.txt and select "SVN Update".
  4. Once the masterlist has completed its update, right click on it again and select "Edit with Notepad++". In the open Notepad++ window, open a Search box (Cntrl + F).
  5. Open the your browser and click on the Bugzilla link or open it with the desktop shortcut if you created one.
  6. After a few moments, a list of the current open bugs is displayed.
  • Clicking on a column header will sort the list to your preference.
  • If you're checking a mod from a forum post or from a PM, check the buglist for a matching entry. With the buglist active in your browser, press Cntrl + F and copy the mod name to the search field.
  • If there is a match, open that bug in a new tab and go to step 8.
  • If there is no match, skip any step below that pertains to bugzilla.
  1. Right click on a bug number and select "Open in a new tab". Make that tab the active window.
  • The details for that particular bug is displayed. You only need to pay close attention to "Bug XXXX - Some.esp", "Status", and "Comments". Everything else is pretty much fluff as far as masterlist entry is concerned.
  1. Copy the mod name, paste it into the Notepad++ search box, and click the "Find next" button. If the mod is in the masterlist, go to step 27.
  • Quite a few entries in the masterlist are REGEX. If the mod name is not found, also search with just the main part of the mods name.
  • For example, a search for "Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One 2x brighter.esm" fails, but a search for "Lanterns of Skyrim" is succesful. You would find "REGEX: Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One( 2x brighter)?.esm".
  1. Most of the time, you will find a link to the mod in the comments. But occasionally, there is nothing but the submitters comment, or a bogus URL, or even multiple different URLs. If one of these is the case, a quick search at skyrim.nexus.com may turn up the mod. If not, use the Status box and mark it pending. Add a comment such as "bogus link, nexus search failed". Or you can add it to the masterlist based on it's name. Whatever your choice, when you "Save Changes", Bugzilla will update the bug in the database give you another bug to work on.
  2. If the link sends you to a description page, read the description and note any load order specifics that might be mentioned. If the link sends you directly to the download, don't be concerned about the description. Just download and save the mod.
  • Downloading and saving to the Bash Installers directory created with Wrye Bash will save you a lot of time.
  • I suggest downloading every mod version available - including old. The reason for this is to see if the mod name has changed from version to version or to see if there are several versions with no name change.
  • Also, look at the date of the last upload if it's there (it is always displayed at skyrim.nexus). Any mod with a date prior to the CK release (07-FEB-12) should be flagged as such in the masterlist.
  1. When the mod(s) have finished downloading, click on the Wrye Bash window and then click on the "Installers" tab. If there are a lot of assets, use Bash's "unpack to project" function, otherwise install the mod.
  • If you didn't save the archive to the Bash Installers directory, copy / cut and paste the archive to it now.
  • If you've unpacked the mod, double click the project and delete everything but the esms and or esps. Close the project window and then install the project, not the archive. This is a huge time saver. Assets are not needed to edit the masterlist.
  1. Click on the "Mods" tab. Right click on the newly installed esm / esp and select "Create BOSS report". This provides you with the CRC of the mod and the number of deleted records if there are any. Don't click OK or close the BOSS report box. Instead, click on the Tes5Edit icon at the bottom of the Bash window.
  • If Tes5Edit is not in the Skyrim game directory, the icon will not be present in Bash. Either use your desktop shortcut or copy the shortcut to the Mopy\Applications directory. (See Wrye Bash documentation for details.)
  1. Once Tes5Edit loads, right click in the Mod selection dialog and choose "Select None". Tick the newly installed esm / esp and click OK.
  • Only the mod and its masters should be loading.
  • After Tes5Edit finishes loading, look at the message pane. If the mod contains unexpected or out of order records, close Tes5Edit and go to step 19.
  1. Right click in the mods pane and select "Apply filter for cleaning...".
  2. After the filter finishes, right click on the mod directly and select "Undelete and Disable References". Make a note, mental or otherwise, of the number of UDRs and deleted NavMeshes reported.
  3. Right click on the mod again and select "Remove 'Iidentical to Master' records". Make a note, mental or otherwise, of the number of ITMs reported.
  4. Expand the mod records and look at what the mod adds or changes. This, mostly, is how you determine where in the masterlist the mod should be placed.
  • If the mod contains a Leveled List, it is especially important to review it. Look at each indivual list to determine whether the mod overrides vanilla records (will need Relev tag), adds new items (will not need any tag), or removes vanilla records (will need a Delev tag).
  1. If the mod is clean (0 ITM, 0 UDR, and 0 deleted NavMesh), close Tes5Edit and skip steps 21, 22, and 23.
  2. Click on the Notepad++ window. Scroll to the particular mod group where you think the mod should be placed and copy the esp name into its own line.
  • Tip: Use the Search function for group keywords.
  1. If the mod has unexpected or out of order records and / or was released prior to the CK, enter the appropriate warning message.
  2. If the mod was dirty, enter a DIRTY message. There are a great many occurances of the message in the masterlist. Simply copy and paste a message line and change the appropriate information.
  • Tip: Remember the BOSS report box you didn't close from step 12? Copy and paste the CRC value.
  1. If the mod has deleted NavMeshes, copy and paste a deleted Navmesh warning message to the new mod and change the appropriate information. Close Tes5Edit and save the cleaned mod.
  2. Right click on the mod again in Wrye Bash and get the CRC for the cleaned mod. Copy that to the NavMesh warning.
  3. Add any other appropriate messages such as required files, mod conflicts, special instructions, etc.
  • Tip: Copying common messages to your BOSS Notes file will speed things up later as you build the file up. Use these "BOSS notes" as a template if the particular message you want to add isn't already existing a few lines away from the new mod placement.
  1. Save the changes made to the masterlist. Click on the BOSS SVN WORKING directory window and copy the masterlist to the normal BOSS directory. Choose to overwrite the existing masterlist.
  • Tip: If you made your SVN directory the BOSS directory, you can skip this step.
  1. Click on the BOSS GUI and click run. The mod you just added should now be recognized. Look the log report over and make sure any messages for the new mod are displayed as you expect them to be displayed. If you ran BOSS with the cleaned mod from step 22, uninstall the clean mod and reinstall the unclean mod. Run BOSS GUI again. Verify the Dirty message is displayed. If it isn't, you most likely made an error with the condition check. Keep changing it as necessary until the mod is displayed as you expect.
  2. Open the bugzilla window. In the comments box, type "added" or some such. Click on drop-down list by Status and select RESOLVED and FIXED. Click "Save Changes". The next bug in the list appears and you get to start over again at step 9.
  • If the mod was already in the masterlist from step 8, type "found in rXXXX" or "already in masterlist" or something along those lines in the comment box instead of "added".
  1. Once you've done all that you're going to do for the session and the masterlist has been saved, right click on the masterlist.txt in the BOSS SVN directory and select "SVN Commit". A new dialog box will popup. Enter a comment about the changes you made and click OK. Close the dialog box after the commit finishes. Close everything and you're finished until the next time.

Masterlist Tips

In no particular order of importance:

  • Generally speaking, REGEX should only be used when there are multiple variations of the same file name and only one of them should be used. This:

MyMod.esp MyModEasy.esp IF ACTIVE("MyMod.esp") SAY: Use only one MyMod esp. MyModHard.esp IF ACTIVE("MyMod.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModEasy.esp") SAY: Use only one MyMod esp. MyModDGEasy.esp IF ACTIVE("MyMod.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModEasy.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModHard.esp") SAY: Use only one MyMod esp. MyModDGHard.esp IF ACTIVE("MyMod.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModEasy.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModHard.esp") || IF ACTIVE("MyModDGEasy.esp") SAY: Use only one MyMod esp. Can be reduced to this: REGEX: MyMod(Easy|Hard|DGEasy|DGHard)?.esp SAY: Use only one MyMod esp ```

  • Always run BOSS with your edited masterlist.txt before making a commit. A missing " or a typo on a conditional will cause the parser to abort. There isn't anything more annoying than seeing 5 or 6 posts about BOSS not working because of a typo and then trying to find the error.
  • In BOSS v2.1.1, conditional statements are processed from left to right. OR (||) typically needs to be placed before AND (&&) if there are multiple checks on the same line.
  • The IF FILE conditional is not limited to just esms or esps. If a particular file is located in the Skyrim\Data directory, its presence can be detected by the parser.
  • Don't worry about translating your non-standard messages.
  • Try to stay within standard parameters with ERROR and WARN.
    • ERROR is typically used when a condition will cause Skyrim to crash or is known to cause corruption in saves.
    • WARN is typically used when a condition either is known or suspected to cause problems with game play.
      • Examples: memory leaks, stuttering, duplicated items, land tears, etc.
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