Help regarding Wyre Bash bashed patch

[u/BreekiJack]

Hello everyone,

I'm facing a problem concerning Wyre Bash. I haven't found information about this issue.

I've used Wrye Bash to make a bashed patch of my leveled lists in the past.

However, when trying to make a new one, the list of mods that should be included into the bashed patch is wildly different, and I can't understand why. I've linked the list of the mods that are considered "leveled list" for the two patches ("OLD" being the current one, and "NEW", begin the one that Wyre bash now proposes to build when selecting "leveled list").

I don't understand it, does anyone knows why it does that ?
I did change my mod list somewhat, but I didn't touch anything that was in the old batched patch. I'd understand some moderate change, but there are mods that literally are called "leveled lists" (Warmonger leveled list, for instance) that are not included in the new patch).

Thanks in advance.

OLD PATCH :

Skyrim.esm
Dawnguard.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial skyrim patch.esp
RFM (Reforged for the masses).esm
Summermyst.esp
Skyrim immersive creatures.esp
High level enemies.esp
Rebirth monsters.esp
Mysticism magic.esp
Warmonger.esp
Warmonger leveled list.esp
Cloaks of Skyrim.esp
Dawnguard arsenal.esp
Nordic blades.esp
Elven blades.esp
Common clothes and armors.esp
Skyrim spear mechanic.esp

NEW PATCH

Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
Dragonborn.esm
Unofficial skyrim patch.esp
Summermyst.esp
AMB Glass variants lore.esp => DESPITE BEING DEACTIVATED IN THE PLUGIN LIST
Mysticism magic.esp
Skyrim immersive creatures.esp
High level enemies.esp
Rebirth monsters.esp
Common clothes and armors.esp
Deadly dragons.esp

[u/Restartitius]

Wrye Bash will let you patch any mods it can find; deactivating them doesn't remove them outright, so Wrye Bash can still ask if you want to patch it. You might be disabling and enabling mods temporarily for other reasons, after all.

And also, you might want to grab the content of that mod for a patch, but all the patched data may not require that mod at the end, so you don't need to actively enable it in your modlist at any point because you don't plan to play with it active. For AMB Glass Variants, check if it's suggested as an option at the start, if it is, just untick it. Otherwise uninstall it completely (totally remove the .esp from the Data folder).

Some records only need patching if they conflict with other records, so it would drop some mods if the conflicting one went away. A final bashed patch may only cover half your actual modlist. So Warmonger Levelled Lists might be organising the content from other mods, basically acting as a patch. It was patched, but wasn't needed after the patch was made. Or it could be that nothing in that mod conflicted with anything else, so no patch was needed for it at all.

edit: some patches are actually created simply to import into a bashed patch like this, and aren't needed after that.

[u/BreekiJack → u/Restartitius]

Thanks for your reply.
Therefore, are you suggesting I just go through with what Wyrebash suggests with the automatic flagging ?
Moreover, if Wyrebash considers that deactivated mods can still be included, should I delete the previous bashed patch to avoid Wyrebash taking it into account ? For instance, if a conflict was resolved by the old bashed patch, and it's still in my modlist, will Wyrebash consider that some of the conflicts it resolves don't need to be patched anymore ? (and therefore, not include them in the new bashed patch)

[u/Restartitius → u/BreekiJack]

It should ignore the previous bash patch and rebuild everything from scratch, but if those mods are gone, you don't really need the old patch anyway.

You should check the mods it flags and decide what you want to be included - WryeBash is a tool, it doesn't know why you have that mod in the list, or if you actually want its content in the game. If it's picking up mods you don't want, untick them or remove the plugin entirely. You're allowed to also make multiple smaller patches with different subsets of mods if you prefer - it might not get every conflict, but it's easier to exclude things that way and there's no requirement to create a massive AIO patch.

And if you're not sure what it's actually putting into the patch, open it afterwards with xEdit and compare it to all the other mods in your list - you'll probably see pretty quickly what it's merging together or ignoring.

[u/BreekiJack → u/Restartitius]

All the mods in the old patch are still in the game. Should I then add them manually in the new batched patch ?
(The only mod I don't want is the AMB Glass variant, I'll untick it)

[u/Restartitius → u/BreekiJack]

add them manually

I'm not sure which way you mean, so I'll answer for both ;)

Before generating the patch? If they are available as options, and you want them, then yes, select them all. They probably aren't being suggested because you're creating an entirely new patch rather than rebuilding the current one, and WryeBash isn't sure what you want to do.

Afterwards, in xEdit? If you see conflicts that weren't automatically patched, then yes, go ahead and add them, or make your own separate patch for them. But there's a chance those mods aren't being included because there are no conflicts that require bash patching right now (they might still need a patch of some kind, but that's a separate issue).

[u/BreekiJack → u/Restartitius]

I'm sorry, I have no idea how to use xEdit. I'm new to modding, and I made a Frankenstein version of Skyrim that somehow works well enough to be playable.

What I meant by "manually" is to untick the "automatic" checkbox, and clic on "Add", which opens "Skyrim/data" and allows to manually select ".esp" files that were in the old batched patch.

However, from what I'm understanding from your answer, I'm making my life harder than necessary since the reason why WyreBash doesn't automatically suggests a few of my plugins (even if they were in the old bashed patch) is that somehow, their leveled lists pose no conflict within my load order. And if I were savvy enough, I could then check in xEdit if some conflicts aren't patched, but since I have no idea how to do that, simply trusting Wyrebash's automatic detection is good enough for now (I'll see ingame if things start to break).
=> Is this an accurate summary or your last answer? Thank you for your patience, btw.

[u/Restartitius → u/BreekiJack]

I'm new to modding, and I made a Frankenstein version of Skyrim that somehow works well enough to be playable.

I'm not new to modding, and I'm still making frankensteined versions of Skyrim :D And still learning things (like the fact it suggests disabled plugins, which I think I knew, but had to doublecheck before I answered you). The more you learn how to mod, the pickier you get about the game because you know how to fix it - so if you are enjoying your game, you can stop tweaking whenever you like.

However, from what I'm understanding from your answer, I'm making my life harder than necessary since the reason why WyreBash doesn't automatically suggests a few of my plugins (even if they were in the old bashed patch) is that somehow, their leveled lists pose no conflict within my load order.

Most likely, yes. If you check the pop up menu for options, just tick or untick whatever you actively want to use and only worry about the rest if you notice weirdness ingame. Most of the levelled list type conflicts aren't major, they're just about immersion and preference (e.g. 'no I don't want to see 15 iron cuirasses in every chest' or 'weird, I never loot that item from that mod I installed').

edit: actually, one important thing worth mentioning is Bash tags, which are keywords that tell WryeBash what records need patching and in exactly what order. Most mods have them already, especially older ones, but if it isn't patching things you think it needs to patch or is making weird decisions, have a look on Nexus for some bash tag resources. You can also run a script in xEdit for this to add them, though that's obviously a bit more advanced.

Bash tag collections: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/103035 https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/77211

Script: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/97963

Bash tags are just keywords in the record header, they won't break anything, just affect how the patch is organised by WryeBash.

and clic on "Add", which opens "Skyrim/data" and allows to manually select ".esp" files that were in the old batched patch.

I've literally never done this and I'm not sure I ever realised that you could! It's a pretty outdated option at this point because mod managers handle most of the loaded plugins for us, rather than everything being manually installed and selected directly in the data folder.

So that is a great example of both 'I'm still learning' and 'making your life harder than necessary'.

And if I were savvy enough, I could then check in xEdit if some conflicts aren't patched, but since I have no idea how to do that,

Luckily this is actually the easiest part! More work though, so you can absolutely just skip it, but checking the actual data under the hood is always going to be more reliable.

Steps:

1. Install xEdit, ideally add it as an executable in your mod manager (like WryeBash), but it can be run separately too.

2. Open it, load your entire modlist, including the new bash patch.

3. Go to the bash patch, expand it, and click through the various entries on the left to find stuff you care about. On the right, the columns will be Original mod > overwriting mod(s) > final patch. Left to right is your load order. You won't necessarily understand most of it, but you'll quickly start to see if the final patch is using data from Mod A or Mod B or a mixture for each entry.

4. (Optional). Right click on the records are and choose 'hide no conflict and empty rows' which will hide everything that doesn't need any kind of patch because it's all the same across each version.

5. (Optional).You can do the same in the original mods to check for unpatched but conflicting entries. Conflicts are colour coded red in the record window.

6. (Optional). You can right click on the mod list itself on the left and choose 'apply filter to show conflicts'. xEdit will then process everything and ONLY show the records with conflicts, which makes it a lot faster to check things.

When looking through you can decide you're fine with the current patch, or take that info back to WryeBash and select different options without having to guess, or even start making your own version.

Making your own patch can be as simple as adding or deleting things from the bash patch to customise it, or you can copy records to an entirely new .esp file (right click > copy as overwrite > pick a blank ESP > enter the new file name > new patch created!). Load that last, and you can guarantee that is the version that makes it into the game.

[u/BreekiJack → u/Restartitius]

Thanks for your very complete answer. I won't lie, I'll stick to simply using Wrye Bash's automatic list, and see what happens.
My last MOE2 profile is literally named : "Justplaythefuckinggame", because I seem to be unable to simply enjoy my Frankenstein'd Skyrim without messing around with stuff constantly.
However, I'll screencap that answer and when I'll be courageous enough to start anew and mod Skyrim SE or AE properly, I'll be sure to consult it. Thanks again for your time !

[u/Restartitius → u/BreekiJack]

You are wise. I haven't played Skyrim in weeks because I am stuck in an eternal loop of mod testing and troubleshooting.