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Hi all, I've been a lurker here for some time, and played a fair bit of BG2 since release, with a smattering of IWD and BG1. Today I finally have something to contribute. In working toward some multi-mod installs, and perhaps eventually an EET run, I started a list of mods with some info to help me work through compatibility issues. I shared this elsewhere, and @Cahir has been good enough to contribute, bringing it to a state where I suspect it may have some value to others. The goal is to create a compatibility guide and "cheat sheet" for multi-mod installs. The focus is on EE games as I mostly care about BG2EE & Cahir EET. Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vislrHkbvsqlN0m5jtDxDcSzlnA5D6ABSZy5TG1O8FQ Please comment in any additional info or suggested changes, this will only improve with collaborative effort. Any and all feedback appreciated. 4udr4n

Hi, First, I would like to say that it is not a discussion about defining correct install order for mods, it's for creating a system which can define such install order and be applied to already selected mod list. Recently, I'm dealing with Install Order/Install Sorting for my tool and notice few things: Naturally, the first source of the install order is Weidu.log. But it never worked, it must be a reason why nobody created a nice community 'install order' list which use weidu.log data. I think that is very ineffective when it comes to Install Order/Install Sorting because it contains exact numbers of the components - any mod change/update will make such list obsolete. Also for the case when mod will have completely new components, old weidu.log won't have it. The second source is the BWS installorder.ini file. It is also not a good source because this file is not only the install order. At the same time is also a 'list of mods which user can install'. Players cannot simply change it because any 'online update' made by BWS maintainers will overwrite player changes. If he won't update, he will miss new mods//changed components. Such design works only if you have 24/7 maintainer of the mods/components and the exact order which they are installed. The more I think about how many things are affected by the fact that mod components are actual 'mods which can change the ID several times a day' the more dealing with it becomes scary. So I was thinking how to make something which will be effective, easy to use and will avoid unnecessary edits. This is an idea which I want to discuss with you: 1. Part of BWS installorder.ini file, definitely outdated, posted as example: https://pastebin.com/PkjTkyxB - you can see how big such list can be when you need to deal with exact component numbers. 2. Definition of the custom file format: - you can use spaces or commas to separate components, doesn't matter - mod example: ModA components numbers are 1, 2, 100 and 200 (just an example, they can be any amount of numbers) 3. Definitions: - ModB, component 1 and 2 and 100 and 200 will be placed before ModB component 11, 22 and 33 ModA 1 2 100 200 ModB 11 22 33 - all components of ModA will be placed before all components of ModB. Mod updates, changes to index/designated or even adding new components won't break sorting. ModA * ModB * ModB, component 1 will be placed before all components from ModC, ModB component 2 will be placed after all components from ModC. Mod updates will affect such entry but not every time, updates/changes to the components of ModC won't break sorting. ModB 1 ModC * ModB 2 - ModA, components 1 and 2 will be sorted. Even if the definition has '*', there are explicitly defined component at the end of the list, so those will be not sorted now - ModB, component 1 will be sorted - ModC, all mod components will be sorted - ModB, component 2 will be sorted - ModA, components 100 and 200 will be sorted because those are explicitly defined ModA * ModB 1 ModC * ModB 2 ModA 100, 200 3.Examples Example 1: the same BWS Install Order/Install Sorting List as posted above, defined using custom format: jimfix 0, 1, 100 # component 0, 1, 100 will be placed into install order list because those are explicitly defined npc_tweak * # all components will be placed into install order list because there isn't any explicitly defined component stratagems 1000 5900 6000 6010 6020 6021 6022 6023 6024 6030 6031 6032 6033 6034 6040 6041 6042 6043 6044 celestials * spell_rev * Faiths_and_Powers * TomeAndBlood * iwdification * wildmage * iwdification 60 # component 60 will be placed into install order list because it's explicitly defined hammers * UnofficialItemPack item_rev * Divine_Remix * # components 10,11,100,103,106,107,109,112,115,118,121,124,127,130,200,203,403,406,409,412,415 will be placed into install order list DR8_hotfix * song_and_silence * RR 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5 ,6 ,7, 8 # components 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 will be placed into install order list because those are explicitly defined A7-GolemConstruction * A7-ChaosSorcerer * might_and_guile * IHateUndead * willowisp * cdtweaks * # all cdtweaks components will be placed into install order list because there isn't any explicitly defined component Divine_Remix 1000 # component 1000 will be placed into install order list because those are explicitly defined AnimalCompanions * shadowadept * sword_and_fist * refinements * scales_of_balance * stratagems * # all remaining SCS components will be placed into install order list jimfix 2,3,4,5, 400 RR 9, 10, 11, 12, 999 atweaks * scales_of_balance 180 # SoB 180 after SCS and aTweaks PnP fiends klatu * jimfix 201,202,203, 204, 205, 300 Notice that for eg: Divine_Remix has component 1000 nicely defined as explicit while all other components aren't defined by exact number. In case of adding new kits, such install order definitions will be unaffected and it won't require 24/7 maintainer. Example 2: more general install order for EET: [Language] bg2eetrans * bg2eePL * [Fixes] BWFixpack * [Enhanced Edition Trilogy] EET * [Quests] bgqe * [NPC] Sirene * [NPC-Related] BG1NPC * [Items] item_rev * [Spells] spell_rev * [Kits] Divine_Remix * Faiths_and_Powers * TomeAndBlood * might_and_guile * [Tweaks] cdTweaks * scales_of_balance * Refinements * [AI] stratagems * [aTweaks] aTweaks * [Worldmap] Worldmap * [Enhanced Edition Trilogy End] EET_End * [Sounds] HQ_SoundClips_BG2EE * [Portrait] PPE * thepicturestandard * [UI] recoloredbuttons * LeUI * EEUITweaks * Using such general install order as a base/foundation, player or modder can easy discover proper(but not ideal) install order for new mods. So install order list can be compressed from over 700 lines to 36 and it for most cases, it's unaffected by changes to component numbers/designated so it won't require 24/7 maintainer. Such definitions also fits very well for online Excel or Google Docs where you can put comments at the specific lines. Converting weidu.log, BWS install order or even BWP PDF to such list is very easy and offers much less work for updating it. Install Order/Install Sorting lists for smaller amount of mods can use '*' for all mods and be pretty much unaffected all the time. Player would simply choose their mods/mod components, add them to the 'mod installation list' and then load from file and apply 'install order' which will sort know mods. The mods which wasn't included inside install order list would simply be mover at the end, for review. 4. Possible improvements: ability to define component ranges: [0..100] = components from 0 to 100 will be placed into install order list, the [x..y] construct is the same as for defining array ranges ability to define component ranges with only starting point: instead of explicit component number (DESIGNATED), such list can support using LABELS (but modders are allowed to change those without complainants from others) or GUIDS (not implemented yet) and be even more protected from mod changes, but only if there is one explicitly added for sorting order, example: the AI components of SCS (5900,6000,6010,6020,6021,6022,6023,6024,6030,6031,6032,6033,6034,6040,6041,6042,6043,6044) could have additional "InstallOrder-AI" LABEL/GUID so it could be used for sorting order. But not without cooperation from the mod author itself. 5. Weak points: it's still based on DESIGNATED numbers for important parts (SoB 180 after SCS and aTweaks PnP fiends) the '*' definition covers all future new mod components which could require different install order Any feedback is welcomed.