One, very minor thing: It would be nice to be able to add newlines to the description field in the esm/esp header.


I'm not a master of Delphi, but to my knowledge most representations of string support some way of replacing a specific string of chars with another - if nothing else, by using their binary representation. Or is there another, deeper issue that blocks that approach?

They are? What functions rely on the BSAs being loaded? Does it matter that I only use it with Oblivion since I don't play much FO3, let alone mod it?

As far as I've seen, the scanning of .BSA's is only useful for TES4Edit (Set all REFR with VWD mesh in this file/as override into...) I could be wrong, but I've never noticed anything ...off with my game or FO3Edit over skipping the archives for Fallout 3 entirely.

Personally, I don't use .BSA's for the sake of reducing the editors' loading times (shaves at least a minute off each FO3Edit/TES4Edit load), not to mention having everything unpacked facilitates PyFFI'ing/tinkering with assets.

Here's what I do for my Gamebryo installs to pull out the archives/satisfy ID:

1) Make a ;Data directory
2) Extract all .BSA's to ;Data
3) Rename Data to ;Data/Merge normal directory over temp directory to ensure modded assets overwrite vanilla ones
4) Rename ;Data to Data
5) Comment out *sArchiveList and SMaster*ArchiveFileName entries from .INI (GECK/CS .INI's too)
6) Set *bUseArchives to 0 in .INI's
7) Save .BSA's elseweyr (external or whatever) as backups, just in case.
8) Done. FO3Edit/TES4Edit skips the archive opening every load thereafter ("[00:15] Background Loader: finished"). Game/editor runs identically.

*

Some might not want to go without archives, but I don't miss 'em at all. The unarchived install size is substantially larger than that of a default one, but potentially worth it for those who open FO3Edit/TES4Edit frequently as those minutes add up quickly.

Begin ForumMode	If GetDisabled		JustinOtherREF.TarAndFeather		MarkForDelete	Else		Disable	EndIfEnd

*omit double post* >_<

All I ask for is anything that helps with LOD creation- especially object generation. The GECK, in it's current form, is terrible at texturing LOD objects if there are a lot of different textures it has to deal with.

@Arthmoor, JustinOther was correct, they are only used with Oblivion - I was thinking of the master files, not the individual content. doh? My bad!



When you left-click on any script record in Fo3Edit you'll notice in the right-hand window that the SCTX Script Source record has these control characters for carriage returns. You can edit the entry, but I've never been successful in pasting a script back into that window - the carriage returns don't get converted back into the control codes so that it will all fit on one line as it does in the SCTX records. The desire is to have the ability to simply cut-and-paste from an editor like Notepad++ and paste it right into that SCTX window. This would remove the need to use the GECK for changing script content - a very heady feature if you ask me.

@Alystin: "About undelete and disable references, moving the Z axis to -30000 has created problems for people in the past (probably due to the base land height being at 10500 for FO3 vs 0 for oblivion). - on the list.

For the "expand tree option" (there are times I've wanted to expand the entire wasteland worldspace from a mod all the way down to all its references and had to do it entry by entry) - not sure about this, will ask.

@Myk002: "uninject record" item in the context menu when r-clicking on injected records. The function would change the formid to an available formid in the current plugin and update references to the new formid. This would help with fixing some mods that have accidentally injected records into their masters. - on the list, not sure about viability.

@Zumbs: "add newlines to the description field in the esm/esp header" - on the list!

@Martigen; I'll ask him about this again and see what he thinks.

@ElijahHouck; We're not likely to get LOD generation with New Vegas unless they have simplified the process over what it was in Fo3.

Compiling the 2nd wave of feedback into a single list, will post again later today. Thanks for all the inputs!

Miax

But that isn't of much use without the script compiler, eh ? You'll still need to compile the script text into bytecode.

Great News

- First, I like to see some kind of feature to redirect ESM ID Paths. What I mean by that? Lets say you have a file structure like this: Depency ESM1 -> Depency ESM2 -> ESP. Now you like to have all IDs of Depency ESM2 into ESM1, but you can't just merge them, because ESP already depends on ESM2. So, you want the depending IDs stored in ESP but belonging to ESM2 to be redirected to ESM1.... mmmh not sure if this is understandable.... :unsure:

- Second, if possible, give an option to easily convert fallout3 esp files into fallout new vegas and back.

I don't know if this has been requested yet. I know I requested it months ago.

What I'd really find useful is if the backups of esp that one alters can be stored in a separate folder - even if it is just a folder called something like 'FO3edit backups' - otherwise the backup files really clutter the data folder and pretty fast. this is especially true if using masterupdate and restore.

please or pretty please

As somebody upthread already noted, this is already a feature in FO3Edit by pressing the asterisk key (something I didn't know and am very glad to now know).

I have a request.
Is it possible to add another tab to the right pane, and copy any error messages from the "Messages" tab to to the new tab (labeled "Errors", perhaps)?
Or, if it is easier, just use a high contrast color to highlight lines with errors in the "Messages" tab... like red, or blue... just something easy to see while scrolling through the "irrelevant stuff".

When I'm having an issue with my game, and try to use FO3Edit to diagnose what is causing it, it is pretty tedious reading the entire "Messages" tab output for any lines that would indicate a problem somewhere...
I'm loading over 100 plugins, and that generates hundreds of lines of text in the "Messages" tab at startup...
It would just make finding an important message easier.


I second this motion.
Great idea Psymon.

Apologies for the delay in posting, work has been twisting me in a knot this last week.

@Yossarian22: I will add it to the list verbatim, I understand what you mean but I couldn't forsee what problems this might cause or how difficult it would be to code. We'll see what the magician says.

@Alystin: Hahaha I had no idea. Thats why I love this tool and the stuff Elminster codes; Its brilliant and I will never Ever find all of the features.

@Ssenkrad: The request to store backups in another directory was recommended by others as well and was added to the list. I also like the idea of the scrolling errors window, I'll ask about that.

I would also like to add that JustinOther has been doing some Kickass additions / revisions to the guide! The upcoming release will have his eloquence in many of the key areas that we spend the most time on or need the most, I'm excited about having his contributions in the upcoming release. I have already learned new stuff from his re-writes.

I'll get a big / more complete list of requests / requirements posted this weekend.

Miax

It is nice that the feature is there, but if it is that difficult to find, the interface to it may need to be considered. An example could be to place the functionality in the context menu as well, so it is easier to find for non-power users.

Why isn't Elminster coming around here anymore?

Hitting asterisk to expand a tree is standard UI behavior. It works that way in most applications. If Elminster didn't document it, it's probably because he expected it to be expected : )

edit: though having an "expand all" item in the context menu does sound like a good accessibility feature

@MadCat221: I have no idea actually, he told me he is still around the boards from time to time, but that there hasn't been any Significant problems reported with Fo3Edit in some time. I know he is very busy with real life, and will likely be around the forum more and post more updates after New Vegas is released and he is actively releasing code. I wish he could be around more too, he is incredibly knowledegable about this stuff! He can be found in an emergency pretty quick.

@myk002: I'll pose that feedback to him and see what he says.

As of this weekend I will be sending the combined list of feedback to him for review, and will give him this thread URL so he knows we're out here talking about him.

Cheers,

Miax

I believe FO3/TES4Edit can already do what you've described.

[00] Game.ESM
[01] Master1.ESM
[02] Master2.ESM
[03] Slave.esp

If Master1.ESM isn't already a master of Master2.ESM, add it first via "Add Masters". Open all three, then expand (*) Master2.ESM, select/multiselect all its native [02] forms, then "Change FormID" and choose Master1.ESM as their target. All selected [02] forms will be, injected or assigned new, [01] FormID's while the references to said forms will remain intact not only within Master2.ESM, but also Slave.esp. Then, Master2.ESM can be copied into Master1.ESM in its entirety, Master2 can be safely removed via "Clean Masters" from Slave.esp's master list, and Master2.ESM can be discarded (after going through everything with a fine toothed comb) as Master1.ESM will fulfill its original purpose as well as Master2.ESM's.

Don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but to edit the text of a script, hold down shift and double-click on the line containing the source code. You can then edit it and when you save, it will deal with the control codes properly. You still need to load the GECK/CS to compile of course.

As for the * thing, I never knew such a thing could be done, let alone that it's supposed to be some kind of UI standard deal.

Sometimes I'd like to move records up the load order or copy to another esp without making the previous plugin its master. Just less of a step in merging some unrelated things without needing to close f03edit then use tesnip to copy paste records around or copy all to a separate plugin then remove the masters from it.
Then again I never did learn how to use the right click menu's merge function.