Description

FO4Edit Main View

FO4Edit is an advanced tool for manipulating Skyrim plugins. It is especially useful for comparing multiple plugins at the same time and resolving differences between them. It includes powerful functions for creating de-isolated plugins using simple drag-and-drop editing. It also supports batch editing of selected records, which is extremely useful if you want to do something like add or remove an inventory item, faction, or AI package on a bunch of NPCs. It also lets you easily compare two or more similar records and drag-and-drop changes among them.

TES5View is an advanced graphical esp viewer and conflict detector. (Rename FO4Edit to TES5View)

TES5Trans Translate Mode Description needs to be updated. (Rename FO4Edit to TES5Trans)

File:FO4EditPluginList.jpg

FO4Edit Plugin List

When started, FO4Edit/TES5View will automatically find your Skyrim Data directory. You then get a dialog to select which masters/plugins you want to load with the current selection from your plugins.txt as default value. The selected plugins will start loading in the background. Depending on your system it will take a while for all plugins to load. You can follow the progress in the message window. (Don't panic if it seems to freeze, it just takes time). The tree view on the left side now shows all active masters and plugins in their correct load order. By navigating that tree view you can look at every single record in any of your masters or plugins.

Once a record has been selected the detailed contents of that record is shown on the right side. The detail view shows all versions of the selected record from all plugins which contain it. The left most column is the master. The right most column is the plugin that "wins". This is the version of the record that Skyrim sees.

Both the detail view and the record list use the same color coding to signal the conflict state of individual fields (in the detail view) and the record overall (in the record list).

Background colors

White - Single Record:

Green - Multiple but no conflict:

Yellow - Override without conflict:

Red - Conflict:

Fuchsia - Critical Conflict:

Text color:

Black - Single Record:

Purple - Master:

Gray - Identical to Master:

Green - Override without conflict:

Olive - Identical to Master but conflict Winner:

Orange - Conflict winner:

Red - Conflict loser:

Conflict detection is not simply based on the existence of multiple records for the same FormID in different plugins but instead performs a comparison of the parsed subrecord data. The record tree view on the left side has a context menu where you can activate filtering. Filtering is based on the same conflict categorization as the background and text color. Yes, filtering will take a while. It has to decode and compare the contents of every single record which turns up more then once.

Be warned, this program uses a lot of memory. Performance on a system with less then 2GB of RAM will most likely be sub-optimal. Activating the filtering uses even more memory.

Downloading, Installation, and Language Settings

Installation

You can download the latest version from the skyrim Nexus:

FO4Edit by ElminsterEU, updated by Zilav, Hlp, and Sharlikran for Skyrim

Extract the contents of the archive into a new empty folder.
You can execute the program from any folder on your local computer. As I show in the screenshot below, I placed mine in a separate directory, any folder on your computer will work just as well.

FO4Edit Install Folder

NOTE: The program will automatically detect the directory where your plugins are located at.

You can change the way the program interacts renaming it

FO4Edit.exe
TES5View.exe
TES5Trans.exe

Creating A Shortcut

It is best to set up a shortcut at an easily accessible location because you will be opening, closing, and re-opening FO4Edit many, many times. Your desktop is the suggested location.

From where you installed right click FO4Edit.exe, then "Send To" and then Desktop.

FO4Edit Create Shortcut

Example shortcuts

"C:\Program Files\FO4Edit 3.2\FO4Edit.exe"

"C:\Program Files\FO4Edit 3.2\FO4Edit.exe" -view

"C:\Program Files\FO4Edit 3.2\FO4Edit.exe" -translate

Setting The Language

FO4Edit has a Language selection parameter "-l:language" for Skyrim.

Right click the Shortcut you made on the Desktop and click Properties. In the Box labeled Target add the parameter after the last quotation (") mark. In the screenshot I added "-l:spanish".

FO4Edit Language Setting

NOTE: FO4Edit is in English only. This command line parameter is only for the Plugin's localization. If Localization is not available, or not working correctly only English will be shown for that Plugin.

Example shortcuts

"C:\Program Files\FO4Edit 3.2\FO4Edit.exe" -l:sp

"C:\Program Files\FO4Edit 3.2\FO4Edit.exe" -l:de

Documentation

This is a work in progress it is not complete at this time.

FO4Edit Documentation

This is being provided as a base for documentation for all versions. It is being taken straight from the Fallout documentation written by Miax and other contributors. If you have previous knowledge of FO3Edit, FNVEdit, and TES4Edit please contribute to this documentation. There is no way any one person can include everything. Your contributions will make the documentation as through as possible.

What will not be included in the Documentation

How the Bethesda CK Works
Specific conflicts that should be ignored
Technical Plugin Specific Information
Exactly how to troubleshoot load order issues or prevent a Crash To Desktop or, CTD
Which plugins should not be cleaned
Personal Opinion and conjecture even if you can support it in some way[1]

Some people new to using FO3/FNV/TES4/TES5/FO4Edit are trying to prevent their game from crashing. However, they normally don't have the technical background to understand the inner workings of the plugins nor would they understand the programming that goes into the tool itself. Because of this, only general ways to detect a conflict should be presented. The Author of the mod should be contacted to resolve any issues with the plugin they have provided to the public. The documentation should only include proper use of the software. Try to keep it generic so it covers all versions. When applicable, note any version specific differences.

If you do understand programming and would like to know more about the inner workings of FO4Edit feel free to visit our Google Code site. You are more then welcome to read the source code and and search the web for applicable Delphi documentation.

[1] If you feel a version of xEdit should not be used for certain operations such as making a Merge Patch for FO3/FNV/TES4/TES5, for Merging Plugins, or whatever that is not up to you. Users should be aware that the xEdit team does not guide them through plugin editing except in the general sense shown in this documentation or the Training manuals. If they don't do something correctly they are responsible for finding the solution by asking the Modding Community, consulting other xEdit experts, or consulting this document or the FNVedit Training manual.

Benefits to cleaning Official DLC and other plugins

It is recommended to keep a backup of the files you are cleaning. This is done automatically unless you uncheck the option at the bottom of the Save changed files window after closing FO4Edit to save the plugin. If you have undesired results after cleaning a plugin restore a backup. Also remember that sometimes ITMs are intentional so you should check an authors Description page or Readme file to see if that is the case. Attentive authors may have even updated the list of Mods You Should NOT Clean. Deleted NavMeshes and deleted references are normally not intentional and should be resolved. There are three reasons to use the automatic cleaning.

The first reason is because some plugins have entries that are identical to the Official Master files from Bethesda. They are there because an author may have looked at something in the CK and because of that an unneeded entry was saved in the plugin whether or not the item was altered. Wherever that plugin is placed in your load order it overwrites all the plugins loaded before it resetting the settings back to the values contained in the Official Bethesda DLC. It won't cause crashes, it just changes the values of plugins loaded before it. Which can alter mods that you have for Weapon Damage, Armor, Lighting, Food Effects and so on. FO4Edit can remove these records during cleaning using the "Remove Identical to Master Records" option.

The Second reason is that some authors choose to delete things that are in the Official DLC. The best examples are mods that alter Towns, Villages, add Player Homes, and mods that alter the Wilderness. Those mods generally move and delete some things from the world like trees and rocks. The Author adds some trees, Buildings, rocks, fences, decorations, rivers, and alters the landscape. Any mods loaded after a mod with references to deleted records from the Official Bethesda DLC will cause Skyrim to crash. FO4Edit can restore and properly assign values to these records that will disable them and still allow other mods to access them. This is done using the "Undelete and Disable References" option.

The third reason is that FO4Edit will report when a mod has Deleted NavMeshes. Like deleted references any mod that references a deleted NavMesh will cause Skyrim to Crash. Properly optimizing your mods NavMeshes and checking your mod for Deleted Vanilla is important. Mods altering the same cell and the same NavMeshes when your mod is not optimized will cause Skyrim to Crash. Poorly optimized NavMeshes with errors reported by the CK will make Skyrim unstable. Instabilities like fast travelling to a location and Skyrim crashes.

Although those are the three benefits of automatic cleaning, manually cleaning your mods is important to remove wild edits. Some mods will have accidental Wild Edits in them caused by the author looking at how Bethesda did something they wish their mod to do as well. These Wild Edits often prevent Skyrim from doing things like advancing quests, spawning NPCs, assigning dialogue to NPCs, preventing NPCs from patrol areas they are assigned to. They can also alter Vanilla Lighting and Triggers the author wished to use. All of these things effect any plugin loaded before a mod with Wild Edits.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is a work in progress it is not complete at this time.

Frequently Asked Questions

FO4Edit Scripting Functions

FO4Edit Scripting Functions

Additional FO4Edit Resources

Closing Remarks & Credits

This has been adapted from the TES4Edit article on the Elderscrolls Wiki.

Thanks also go to ElminsterEU, Sharlikran, and Zilav for their work in getting FO4Edit released. Special Thanks to Gopher for getting the word out with a short video announcing the public release of FO4Edit and his upcoming tutorials.

Category:XEdit

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