Can mods alter your ini file? : IV

» Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:00 am

I was having a problem disabling a mod, so I posted in the WryeBash thread for help. The fine folks over there got me squared away, but one of the suggestions was that I rename my ini file and let the game generate a new one. This led me to look at my ini file.

Boy, was I shocked. I had piles of odd entries that I'd never seen before. I certainly didn't add them, and I had no idea what they did, so I deleted them. Apparently that was a good thing - it let me disable my mod, and it seems to have made my game a bit more stable to boot.

My question, though: Where did they come from? Can mods add entries like that? I keep a log of all the changes I make to my load order - new mods, upgrades, etc. - but I'd be hard-pressed to say what caused it; I haven't opened my ini file in the better part of a year. Even basing it on the time period when the game suddenly got really unstable and odd things started to happen, none of the changes I made would suggest it.

Anyway, here's the list of entries. Maybe someone can make sense of it, or knows where they come from:

Spoiler

bDisableHeadTracking=0
bTrackAllDeaths=0
SCharGenQuest=0002466E
uiFaceGenMaxEGTDataSize=67108864
uiFaceGenMaxEGMDataSize=67108864
bCheckCellOffsetsOnInit=0
bCreateShaderPackage=0
uGridDistantTreeRangeCity=4
uGridDistantCountCity=4
bWarnOnMissingFileEntry=0
iSaveGameBackupCount=1
bDisplayMissingContentDialogue=1
SSaveGameSafeCellID=2AEEA
bAllowScriptedAutosave=1
bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0
iNumBitsForFullySeen=248
iPreloadSizeLimit=104857600
SOblivionIntro=
bUseHardDriveCache=0
bEnableBoundingVolumeOcclusion=0
bDisplayBoundingVolumes=0
bUseThreadedTempEffects=0
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=0
bUseMyGamesDirectory=1
bCheckIDsOnInit=0

[LoadingBar]
iMoveBarWaitingMilliseconds=10
iMoveBarChaseMilliseconds=100
iMoveBarMaxMilliseconds=2500
fLoadingSlideDelay=15.0000
fPercentageOfBar3=0.1500
fPercentageOfBar2=0.4400
fPercentageOfBar1=0.3500
fPercentageOfBar0=0.0600
bShowSectionTimes=0

[BackgroundLoad]
bBackgroundLoadLipFiles=0
bLoadBackgroundFaceGen=0
bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen=1
bBackgroundCellLoads=1
bLoadHelmetsInBackground=1
iAnimationClonePerLoop=5
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=0
bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1
iExteriorPriority=50
bCloneModelsInBackground=0
iBackgroundLoadFaceMult=200
fBackgroundLoadingPerLoop=20.0000
fBackgroundLoadClonedPerLoop=5.0000
iBackgroundLoadExtraMaxFPS=20
iBackgroundLoadExtraMinFPS=10
iBackgroundLoadExtraMax=3000
iBackgroundLoadExtraMin=5
iBackgroundLoadExtraMilliseconds=2
iBackgroundLoadTreeMilliseconds=7
iBackgroundLoadMilliseconds=1
iBackgroundLoadLoading=1
bUseBackgroundFileLoader=0
iPostProcessMillisecondsEditor=50
iPostProcessMillisecondsLoadingQueuedPriority=20
iPostProcessMilliseconds=5

[LOD]
fItemLODMax=15.0000
fItemLODMin=1.0000
fItemLODDefault=2.0000
fActorLODMax=15.0000
fActorLODMin=2.0000
fActorLODDefault=5.0000
bLODUseCombinedLandNormalMaps=1
bForceHideLODLand=0
fLODQuadMinLoadDistance=262144.0000
fLODFadeOutActorMultInterior=1.0000
fLODFadeOutItemMultInterior=1.0000
fLODFadeOutObjectMultInterior=1.0000
fLODFadeOutActorMultCity=0.8000
fLODFadeOutItemMultCity=0.8000
fLODFadeOutObjectMultCity=0.8000
fLODFadeOutActorMultComplex=1.0000
fLODFadeOutItemMultComplex=1.0000
fLODFadeOutObjectMultComplex=1.0000
fLODLandVerticalBias=0.0000

[Grass]
fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=125.0000
fGrassWindMagnitudeMin=5.0000
fTexturePctThreshold=0.3000

[Landscape]
iLandBorder2B=0
iLandBorder2G=0
iLandBorder2R=0
iLandBorder1B=0
iLandBorder1G=255
iLandBorder1R=255

[Messages]
bSkipInitializationFlows=1

» Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:43 pm

Those all look like default entries. All of those entries are generated by the game when you load it for the first time (or if it doesn't find the file), and are absolutely nothing to sweat about (just don't edit them unless you are sure what a certain entry is for).

And yes, mods can alter the INI file, but the only one I know of that does this is DarN's UI (to reset the display text).

» Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:42 pm

mods can alter the INI file, but the only one I know of that does this is DarN's UI (to reset the display text).

Streamline will mess with your ini settings if you have streamsmooth enabled.

As far as your entries go, I don't see anything there that I haven't seen in my own ini, although looking at the oblivion_default.ini in my oblivion directory I don't see all of these settings. I'm not sure how or when they are added, but they are there for an unmodded vanilla game.

» Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:53 am

Streamline will mess with your ini settings if you have streamsmooth enabled.

As far as your entries go, I don't see anything there that I haven't seen in my own ini, although looking at the oblivion_default.ini in my oblivion directory I don't see all of these settings. I'm not sure how or when they are added, but they are there for an unmodded vanilla game.

Knew I missed something.

Those entries are probably related to the 1.2.0416 patch, then.

» Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:35 pm

OBMM can when you install.

Wrye Bash can when you apply a INI Tweak

The game can save the current settings to the ini (I think it does that when you quit). So any mod (eg. Streamline) that changes a setting in game can have that setting saved to the ini.

EDIT:
But they all just change the setting, they do not add any.

» Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:27 pm

Some of these are originial game, patch 1.2.0416 changed how backgroundloading section work's. Which fixed No more "loading area " while walking around.

So these where the ones that got removed,

[BackgroundLoad]
iExteriorPriority=50
bCloneModelsInBackground=0
iBackgroundLoadFaceMult=200
fBackgroundLoadingPerLoop=20.0000
fBackgroundLoadClonedPerLoop=5.0000
iBackgroundLoadExtraMaxFPS=20
iBackgroundLoadExtraMinFPS=10
iBackgroundLoadExtraMax=3000
iBackgroundLoadExtraMin=5
iBackgroundLoadExtraMilliseconds=2
iBackgroundLoadTreeMilliseconds=7
iBackgroundLoadMilliseconds=1
iBackgroundLoadLoading=1

and Patch 1.2.0416 Added these instead

[BackgroundLoad]
bBackgroundLoadLipFiles=0
bLoadBackgroundFaceGen=0
bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen=1
bBackgroundCellLoads=1
bLoadHelmetsInBackground=1
iAnimationClonePerLoop=5
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=0
bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1
iPostProcessMillisecondsEditor=50
iPostProcessMillisecondsLoadingQueuedPriority=20
iPostProcessMilliseconds=5
bUseBackgroundFileLoader=0

» Fri Jul 09, 2010 12:27 am

Ah, okay. I'm not using Streamline, DarnUI (I use Phinix DarkUI), and I don't do ini tweaks with Wrye Bash. Odd.