Modding Discussion: What is FO4Edit and what's the difference if i clean mods?

[IvryRen]

Just a discussion thread for those who new to these kinds of stuff (Like myself), so if anyone know what it is, you can explain here.

[Vul†s]

As the name says, it is a plugin editing tool. There's no need to clean Fallout 4 master files. Now, you should under no circumstances clean a plugin from a mod, unless the author of the mod requests it (most authors already clean their mods before posting). Many of the plugins that LOOT points out as dirty are purposeful for its functioning, if you clean them it will break the mod.

[IvryRen]

But why LOOT points out that you need to clean Fallout 4 DLC Files?

[Chaosium]

As a general rule, do not edit the game's base plugins under any circumstances, otherwise it's a sure way to mess up your game. In the case of FO4Edit, always work on new plugins

[ZarahNeander]

I beg to differ:

Originally posted by Vults:

Now, you should under no circumstances clean a plugin from a mod, unless the author of the mod requests it (most authors already clean their mods before posting)

The other way around: do *not* clean, if the author explicitely says: 'do not clean, dirty edits are intentional', Loot has its limits for sure, but 99% of the time, it knows about it and warns the user to not clean

Originally posted by Chaosium:

As a general rule, do not edit the game's base plugins under any circumstances, otherwise it's a sure way to mess up your game. In the case of FO4Edit, always work on new plugins

We all know the 'quality' of Beth's softworking :) The official plugins are full with ITM's (which are harmless) and UDP's, which can and will lead to CTD's, depending on other mods you're loading later. So TLDR: clean the dlc's, xedit is smart enough to get the job done

[IvryRen]

So it's fine to clean some of the mods and DLC that LOOT says it needs to be cleaned?
Because i just cleaned 10 plugins including the DLC

[xybolt]

Originally posted by Beeg Boss™:

So it's fine to clean some of the mods and DLC that LOOT says it needs to be cleaned?
Because i just cleaned 10 plugins including the DLC

yes and no.

For mods: as ZarahNeander has pointed out, some mods do have deliberate dirty edits of which should not be cleaned. These are normally seen openly communicated by them. If there is no word on that matter, feel free to do that. But you have to understand what is being cleaned and why it is dirty. In some context, it is certainly not wise to clean it, albeit it's a rare case. In 95% of the cases, it is an advisable step you need to do.

For DLC's: I do clean these at my own yes. It comes with a small impact: that file is somewhat different than what Steam has on its servers. So using the "verify integrity of game files" tool from Steam would replace it. Moreover; I include UFO4P mod during the cleanup of these DLC plugins because it may have corrected these...

[bLaCkShAd0w]

The benefit of properly cleaned mods is stability.

You are basically removing critical errors.
As mentioned above not everything can be cleaned though. Some mods require their itm's to function. UDR's will cause crashing, deleted navmesh can cause crashing.

[IvryRen]

Alright, at least i know where the crashes comes from this time if it happens.

So let's say i cleaned a mod that shouldn't be cleaned, should i re-install said mod or re-install the entire game?

[bLaCkShAd0w]

The mod, most likely it will break a script reference in the mod. Some mods you can clean, best to ask the author if you are unsure.

[IvryRen]

Originally posted by bLaCkShAd0w:

The mod, most likely it will break a script reference in the mod. Some mods you can clean, best to ask the author if you are unsure.

Okay, I'll do just that in case of crashes, thanks a bunch

[xybolt]

Originally posted by Beeg Boss™:

So let's say i cleaned a mod that shouldn't be cleaned, should i re-install said mod or re-install the entire game?

Just reinstalling the mod is sufficient to fix it. Remember that you have cleaned the mod files, not the game. Meaning you have "touched" the files that comes from mod X. So no reason to re-install the entire game.

Cleaning a DLC is a different story. But as mentioned before, verify the integrity of the game files (a tool, offered by Steam), of which should only download altered DLC plugins. If you suspect it may be caused by a DLC plugin, just use that tool.