BOSS for FALLOUT NEW VEGAS

A "one-click" program for users that quickly optimises and avoids detrimental conflicts in their TES IV: Oblivion, Nehrim - At Fate's Edge, TES V: Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas mod load orders.

Threads:



Features

• Correctly positions over 3,100 Fallout: New Vegas mods and counting.
  
• Provides a large number of usage notes for many mods, including requirements, incompatibilities, updates and bug warnings.
  
• Displays the version number of mods when it is available.
  
• Provides Bash Tag suggestions that are automatically applied by Wrye Flash NV.
  
• Sorts mod files ghosted by Wrye Flash NV.
  
• Allows easy user customisation of mod positions and the messages provided.
  
• Includes both CLI and GUI clients, offering full functionality and ease-of-use for all users.
  
• Includes a semi-automatic updater to ensure that you always have the latest version installed.
  
• Is under constant development and improvement by a team of modders and Fallout: New Vegas experts.

Better Oblivion Sorting Software (BOSS) will re-order your mods to their correct positions, putting any mods it doesn't recognise after them, in the same order as they were before BOSS was run.

BOSS is designed to assist in the installation and usage of mods, especially more complex mods such as nVamp, and help mod users avoid serious conflicts. It is not a complete solution to load ordering issues, as there are far more mods out there (estimated at about 6000 for Fallout: New Vegas) than BOSS knows about. To properly place mods BOSS doesn't know about, a good working knowledge of mod load ordering for the relevant game is still necessary, for which some research and documentation reading will go a long way.


Downloads

Better Oblivion Sorting Software can be downloaded from http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516, http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6, http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10193 and http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35999. All four sites have the same files.


Installation & Basic Usage

Note that BOSS does not support Windows 2000 or earlier.

1. If you have Wrye Flash NV, make sure the "Lock Times" function is deactivated.

2. If upgrading from an earlier version of BOSS, delete all BOSS files and folders in your Data folder (including the BOSS folder, BOSS.exe, masterlist.txt, modlist.txt, modlist.old, BOSSlog.txt and any of BOSS's .bat files). If you have an edited masterlist, make sure to keep a backup so that your edits are not lost. It is recommended that you instead use the userlist functionality to apply changes to the masterlist.

3. Extract the BOSS archive you downloaded to your game's installation directory (ie. the one containing the Data folder and FalloutNV.exe, so "fallout new vegas"), so that there is now a BOSS folder alongside the Data folder and FalloutNV.exe.

4. In the BOSS folder, run the "BOSS.exe". This will download the latest masterlist from the Internet and then sort your mods.

5. Thereafter when running BOSS, you may run it directly from the BOSS.exe to simply update your masterlist then sort your mods, or you can use the GUI to choose how BOSS runs.

Once BOSS has finished running, the output will be displayed automatically. Read any notes, errors if applicable, and make any relevant changes that are suggested by them. Wrye Flash NV will automatically import and apply Bash Tag suggestions from BOSS. Some Bash Tag suggestions can come with conditions and notes that require human intervention though, so read the suggestions makes thoroughly and adjust tags by hand in Wrye Flash NV if necessary.

You will need to reorder unrecognised mods by hand using FOMM or Wrye Flash NV.


Contributions & Help

General discussion, and the submission of questions, suggestions and unrecognised or unclean mods, takes place in BOSS's official threads for http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1205712, http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1132338, http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1256118, http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1175276 and http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=1203068.

User contribution of additions and corrections to the masterlist are vital to the upkeep of BOSS. Let us know what you know.

Lists of unrecognized mods are welcome but the only way we can include them in the database in a timely way is if we get:

• The ESP/ESM file name(s).
  
• A link to where the description, download or readme can be found to read or download.
  
• A brief description of each mod will also help. Feel free to make load order suggestions.

Lists of unclean mods are also very welcome, but for the report to be most useful we require:

• The ESP/ESM file name(s).
  
• The number of records removed (the ITM count) as shown by FNVEdit (not the number of records processed).
  
• The number of records undeleted (the UDR count) as shown by FNVEdit (not the number of records processed).
  
• The CRC(s) of the unlcean ESP/ESM file name(s). Make sure that the CRCs are of the uncleaned files, not the files after cleaning. The CRC(s) may be calculated using BOSS, Wrye Flash NV or 7-zip, with other sources being unverified as correct. In the case of 7-zip, the "CRC checksum for data" is the one required.

Updates

You can check for updates to BOSS then download and install any available using the GUI's "Check For Updates" functionality. Masterlist updates are by default automatically downloaded by BOSS when it runs.

BOSS program updates are also published at the http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516, http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6, http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10193 and http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35999 BOSS pages. For those not using the masterlist updater, the latest masterlist is always on the Google Code repository.

Always make sure to use the latest version of BOSS and the latest masterlist.


License

Better Oblivion Sorting Software and periodic updates are distributed under the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 copyright license, some rights reserved, 2009-2011. Copyright is owned wholly by the Better Oblivion Sorting Software development team (see list of project members).

• BOSS may be copied and distributed freely as long as it is not changed and includes all the original files including this documentation.
  
• Commercial use of this software or masterlist.txt file is not permitted.
  
• Publishing derivations and customizations of the BOSS or BOSS GUI programs or masterlist.txt file is not permitted.

See the ReadMe in the download for more information.

As the thread description states, continued updates for New Vegas are dependent on community members volunteering to join the BOSS Development Team and keep the masterlist updated. Quoting my post from the end of the last thread:



If you can find your way around FNVEdit, know the rules of load ordering and have experience setting load orders manually, you're probably what's needed. Those interested can PM me or any of the other Team administrators (as listed in the readme), though only Arthmoor and I are active ATM, so PacificMorrowind and Random007 are unlikely to respond.