Fallout 4 cleaning DLC content?

[pinky6225]

I purchased fallout 4 and fallout 4 season pass as part of the bundle so thought i'd give it a try, in skyrim pretty much the first step to modding it was to clean vanilla files with tes5edit but i can't seem to find any cleaning guide for fallout 4, i've found f04edit but doesn't really say when it should be used

 

Loot is saying there are loads of ITM's and UDR's in the vanilla DLC content, should i clean all of these before trying to mod FO4 or leave as is?

[guk]

I never did that, 1679 hours playtime on Steam and the game is VERY stable. If there is a CTD then i can almost guarantee that it's caused by a mod or wrong memory settings in ENB.

 

 

P.S.

 

You may want to stop using LOOT for FO4, instead read mod descriptions - example Scrap Everything always needs to go after any other cell edits, but is still compatible with other mods like Settlement Height 9000 without a patch.

Otherwise look for conflicts in FO4edit and make a patch yourself when necessary.

 

For anything else, the load order does simply not matter. There is no secret hocuspocus magic behind plugin order, either there are conflicts (that have to be resolved, except world space parents) or there aren't.

[Ashkandii]

I dont remember If i cleaned them or not because i recently reinstalled my game because the entire folder was getting messy and i couldn't tell which i needed and which i didn't so they all unclean now.

 

But I imagine you can, you could in Skyrim but couldn't in new vegas or oblivion so i dunno, if nothing is wrong then no point taking the risk, i know new vegas would just completely fuck up if you cleaned it. 

[Guest]

Clean them with fo4edit as usual. Open esp, apply filter for cleaning, remove identical to masters records, undelete and disable references. Dont stop using loot but read mod descriptions carefully. And do yourself a favor and use mod organizer 2.0.8.3b. It works with fo4 quite well.

[guk]

Could you show just 1 example, where you can prove that not cleaning the master files in FO4 produces a specific and reproducible bug/crash?

 

I'm willing to learn, but it seems like this is just superstition like a lot of other things that turn out to be contraproductive (like the papyrus tweaks for Skyrim).

[Guest]

People often suggest cleaning your mod files without understanding, or explaining, the possible repercussions of it. There is a lot of information out there about cleaning your mod files (.esp) and why that will or won't help your game be stable, and hopefully most of those ideas can be addressed here.
Mod's, and indeed even Bethesda's own files can run into problems with badly organised records. These are usually, and often seen via LOOT as being marked with a warning, of ITMs (Identical to Master records) or UDRs (Undeleted and Disabled References) [Note : The UDR term is a bit misleading. When a record is 'undeleted and disabled' it is actually fixed. It is the deleted records that haven't been fixed that UDRs are actually pointing towards]
You can see Bethesda's files being marked here with these two flags.[i.imgur.com]

Similarly to the list's discussed above in the Wrye Bash section, the rest of Skyrim's data that isn't related to levelled lists is stored in individual records. Lydia's record for example contains all information about what skills she has, what voice she uses, what she wears, even what her fighting style is and more.
ITMs are when a file has a record that is 100 percent identical to the record that its master has (usually this master is Skyrim.esm). This can happen for a number of reasons. An edit that was reversed but not deleted, a record accidentally copied, or even an error in the Creation Kit. 
UDRs on the other hand are usually objects that exist in the master files, but have been deleted from the world in the modded file (or, as above, in Bethesda's own files). This sort of problem is usually less accidental and more done from lack of knowledge, or from older modding practices.

Both ITMs and UDRs have their own problems. ITMs in mods can actually reverse changes in your other mods. Say you have a mod that edits Lydia's fighting style so she now is a cowardly archer. If a mod that is lower in your load order has an ITM for Lydias record, it will accidentally be undo the changes. UDRs can have other, more serious repercussions. If a script, or another mod tries to reference an item that has been deleted, then the script, or other mod, may cease to function properly or throw off errors. This is because it is constantly searching for the missing object so it can do what it is meant to do. 

ITMs are usually solved by just deleting the identical record, which removes the problem. However, some mods, including some very popular ones such as Convenient Horses, require certain ITMs to function. This is because a feature of the mod may rely on being certain that a record is properly formatted, or has the correct data in it, and therefore the mod can't risk another mod changing it. While many of these cases are marked in LOOT and therefore won't throw out a warning, many smaller mods do not submit this information to LOOT despite their ITMs being necessary. Cleaning these ITMs will break the mod. It is therefore recommended to NEVER clean ITM's from a mod unless you are 100% certain that it is safe to do so, usually if you can read the record yourself, if it is INCREDIBLY obvious (a grasses mod editing perk trees), or if someone incredibly reliable has told you it is. You should instead report ITMs to the mod author via their comments or a personal message and ask them to confirm that it is necessary, or clean the mod file themself. 
UDRs are solved a different way, actually by doing what their name suggests. It instead will undelete the offending item/record and marks it as disabled. This means that in game the script or mod can still find the item, which stops the errors, but because it is disabled you will not see any effects from it in your game which prevents the errors in game from happening. Cleaning UDRs is usually safe and beneficial to your save game under most, if not all, circumstances. 

While having clean mods is always preferable to having unclean mods. Knowing what is a dirty mod, and knowing what 'dirty' edits are essential (which makes that mod a clean mod) is the core thing to keep in mind. 
I'm usually quite happy to provide advice on which mods can and can't be cleaned if needed. 

 

http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/619573787397876592/

 

Rtfm

 

I never got in the situation a mod required cleaned masterfiles but it can not be bad to be prepared. Else you might end up in a corrupted late game save file and don't know how to figure out which of your 300+ mods is causing this.