Working on SMC (Skyrim Mod Combiner) Files for STEP

[eecer]

Recently Barvis mentioned making STEP a bit more automated. This had been brought up on multiple other occaisons, and I think it's something that everyone has wanted. I was thinking about it, and SMC had done this for textures so I looked into the files and it is definitely possible to build this to work with STEP.

 

I've build this post to see if anyone is willing to help in doing this and also to let everyone know that I will slowly be working on it.

 

Sadly, it is a bit of a slow process. First, I need to go through and manually enter the information into the settings.ini for every mod that is in STEP, I plan on adding both STEP Core and STEP Extended. This is what needs to be entered for every mod:

 

[Detailed Rugs]Author = raiserfxLink = http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/29608Logo = https://bitbucket.org/drigger/smc/raw/master/Pics/MQArchives = Detailed_Rugs_v1-1-29608-1-1.7z|DataMQSize = 34.6Unsupported = Detailed_Rugs_v1-29608-1-0.7z

Once that has been completed, then I will have to build a .LST file to tell SMC which files from each mod to grab and where to put them in the new combined mod pack. This looks like:

Detailed Rugs|Textures|architecturewhiterunwrcarpet01.dds|Texturesarchitecturewhiterun

I am looking into a few things to help speed along the process. I am going to build a quick set for the first set of STEP 2.2.9 (2.D. Fixes) and ensure that using the full coding he has works with STEP. From there I am going to see if I can select the folder as a whole to be added, instead of having to select each individual file. Hopefully this will help speed along the process since there are quite a few mods that don't get overwritten or don't overwrite.

 

Any help in the process is greatly appreciated. The part that is going to take the longest will most likely be the settings.ini since I will have to grab all the mods details and input them, and it would be great if anyone could help with that chunk. I'll make sure to keep everyone posted on where things are at and we'll see if this can work out, so far I have high hopes.

 

If you want to look around at the files, drigger (creator of SMC) has a bitbucket of everything so you can take a look for yourself here: https://bitbucket.org/drigger/smc/overview

 

[DoubleYou]

I can't really see how that would be helpful in MO.

[eecer]

Well once this is done it would remove a high chance of error for install, reduce the time it takes, and make it easier for packs to make adjustments to the core or extended files. This will then make it easier to have different sets on MO because you just quick select which STEP or Pack you want from a single mod install for each.

 

One thing that I have always hated about STEP is how long it takes to go through the process and fix my mistakes. What can I say, I'm impatient.

[Nozzer66]

Personally, I prefer taking my time and fixing things as I go. I can understand how some would like the one button press and away you go set up, and that's fine, but if something does go awry, how can you determine where the issue is if you have 100 plus mods loaded at once?

[eecer]

Personally, I prefer taking my time and fixing things as I go. I can understand how some would like the one button press and away you go set up, and that's fine, but if something does go awry, how can you determine where the issue is if you have 100 plus mods loaded at once?

That is one of the bad parts. It would guarantee that you haven't done anything wrong with the STEP portion, but if there is a conflict with a separate mod and STEP as a whole then it would make it difficult to find the issue. You would still be able to find the overwrites in MO. Once you investigate where the conflict is you can go into MO and disable the files within the Pack to resolve the issue, but you are correct that it would make the process a bit more difficult to investigate and just disabling the mod within the combiner set would be more difficult.

 

I think that I will start by making each section in the STEP mods a separate list, that way it semi-separates the mods.

 

I hope to make this for anyone who is wanting to quickly do STEP and the STEP packs

[Reurecdead]

I'm a novice when it comes to modding but it occured to me that since u can combine plugins in something like TESEdit, why couldn't u just combine a bunch of mods? I'm sure there's a reason why not, I'm just curious. The STEP system is good but it is extremely time consuming and sometimes just missing a single word in the instructions can wreck everything you do after. It'd be great if there were a simpler and quick way to get all those mods installed and working.

[eecer]

I'm a novice when it comes to modding but it occured to me that since u can combine plugins in something like TESEdit, why couldn't u just combine a bunch of mods? I'm sure there's a reason why not, I'm just curious. The STEP system is good but it is extremely time consuming and sometimes just missing a single word in the instructions can wreck everything you do after. It'd be great if there were a simpler and quick way to get all those mods installed and working.

Sadly there's no quick way to do this since you would have to get permissions from the authors. No matter what gets made, the person must download the mods themselves.

 

I have thought about messing with Perl and generating an auto download and endorse feature through there, but my Perl is pretty rusty. SMC can build all the mods into one for you, but you would still have to manually download each mod. I'm working on the lists for SMC and going to see if it makes the process any easier. 

[Reurecdead]

Well, I gotta say, anything like that would be a great boon to the modding community. I'm sure it'd be a lot easier if you were able to put together some kind of team to help you see this through. And I'm sure if you created a system, it might spur other modders to use it and make unique packs of mods for the masses. Tho I do realize there'd be many obsticles in such a plan.

 

As for what I suggested, I can't imagine why mod authors wouldn't be happy to give persmission for combo mods. Is that a big issue?

Edited November 8, 2014 by Reurecdead

[Nozzer66]

Well, I think of it like this: If I'm a mod author and someone asks me to allow my mod to be put into an automated easy one step package, I'd want to know a few things.

 

1) What other mods are in the package?

2) Who's doing the package?

3) How credits are going to be handed out.

 

I think 3) will be the big issue. If your mod's in one big package with 100 others, the 100 odd mod authors might get forgotten about when the pack maker gets all the credit. And sure the pack maker will and should, make sure that the individual mod authors are mentioned and credited, but let's be honest, who's going to read a list of 100 names when there's a quick 1 step package you could torrent, or download, unpack and let the installer do everything? Even if it's in a 'you must read this file before the installer will run' type of deal?

 

This is where the automation idea might break down. It would only take 1 mod author to say no to make any package idea difficult.

 

Don't get me wrong, am all for making things quicker and easier, I'm just being a bit of a devil's advocate here and my usual glass half empty type. :D

 

I'd be interested to see what eecer comes up with when it's done. :)