[REL] v065 Merge Discussion

Prince-Moth

1) Where can I find logs about all the changes for 0.65?

Here is the change log from the latest Morroblivion V065 developer version (Dev-C3): 

Morroblivion-v065-Dev-C3-update_README.txt
Morroblivion-v065-Dev-C3-Changelog.txt

You can find the full source-code for the ESM in JSON format at:

https://github.com/ponyrider0/Morroblivion-JSON/tree/v065-beta-Dev-C
https://github.com/ponyrider0/Morroblivion-JSON/commits/v065-beta-Dev-C

I think the repository is still only at Dev-C2 instead of Dev-C3.

Well... what are the Pro's and Con's to releasing now as apose to later...

If all the main planned work has already been done which I understand is basically the merging of all the bug fixes from the Unofficial Patch and the hotfixes into the core Morroblivion installation files.... and all you are waiting on is more Beta testing... then maybe just release it as is...

If there is some more bugfixes that wasn't integrated... maybe just release them as extra hotfixes for v065.

Just had a quick look at the v065 changelog:

So, the Improved path grids for Seyda Neen and Ebonheart by DaggerfallTeam... I am guessing v065 has a full merge with the Morroblivion_Seyda Neen Improved Path Grids.esp & Ebonheart Path Grids Improved.esp that was posted on Nexus by DaggerfallTeam... but I guess Morroblivion Improved was not merged.

Also the Changelog mentioned integrating fixes from Morroblivion Unofficial Patch but didn't mention the hotfixes.... such as the 2018 bloodmoon and tribunal fixes or the 24oct2019 Morroblivion-CarryWeight-Hotfix. If these weren't included, will they still be required for v065. If they are included will you also add a check like you did for Morroblivion-Unoffical-Patch.esp.

AllisterHendersonAlso the Changelog mentioned integrating fixes from Morroblivion Unofficial Patch but didn't mention the hotfixes.... such as the 2018 bloodmoon and tribunal fixes or the 24oct2019 Morroblivion-CarryWeight-Hotfix. If these weren't included, will they still be required for v065. If they are included will you also add a check like you did for Morroblivion-Unoffical-Patch.esp.

LOL, are you deliberately trolling me??  I have already mentioned this several times.  Every missing bugfix listed on the Cumulative Hotfixes page from the release of Morroblivion Unofficial Patch until present has been merged into v065.  Many were merged in the v065-qwerty branch.  V065-Dev-C1 added all hotfixes missing from v065-qwerty.  These hotfixes are listed in the v065 Changelog by the description of what they do rather than the filename that was used in the hotfix.  The one bugfix which has not yet been merged is the May-07-2020 fix created by qwertyasdfgh, found here: https://morroblivion.com/comment/88698#comment-88698.  This will probably be merged, since no one has confirmed the theoretical potential to break teleportation when XMarker is used instead of a Creature "Marker".

No no... I assure you it isn't deliberate. Ok well if all the bugfixes have been integrated into v065, after the May-07-2020 fix gets merged, then just release it, before more bugs appear and more bugfixes need to be merged LOL.

PS I hope all your real life issues get sorted :)

I support the idea of releasing v0.65 update. I addition to what ponyrider0 said, the disparity between current dev build and what most users have is affecting further development now (for example, I couldn't release or update a mod, because it would've been made for v0.65 and potentially not work right with v0.64 master).

Are there any serious unresolved issues that are preventing v0.65 release?

I also agree with release.

From my little testing the last build seems quite stable.

qwertyasdfgh

Are there any serious unresolved issues that are preventing v0.65 release?

The last issue was the mwMainMenu quest & script over-ride problem when Morroblivion Unofficial Patch is activated.  I've created a fix which involves moving the mwFnCheckInstallation call into a separate quest/script (mwCheckInstallation).  For now, I don't think we should renumber the FormID used by mwMainMenu, since that would break a number of functions in the ESM as well as other mods which rely on variables set in mwMainMenu.  At least until we can determine the full extent of the breakage that will happen.

I've also integrated the changes for using XMarker for teleportation rather than a Creature "Marker".

Currently, I am repackaging the BSAs.  One last change I am considering is separating the _far.nif files from the main Meshes.BSA.  This will allow us to more easily create mods that reduce or optimize the number of _far.nif files for better Distant Lands performance.

Sorry to be a nuisance.....
But wouldn't it be better to keep everything all neat and tidy in a BSA instead of having additional extra lose mesh files floating around....

Any future VWD mods with lose _far.nif files will just override the ones in the main Meshes BSA, I thought..

That's not a bad question.  As I previously stated: "This will allow us to more easily create mods that reduce or optimize the number of _far.nif files for better Distant Lands performance." 

The problem created by including all the _far.nif files in the BSA is that the only way to easily deactivate them is to unpack the BSA, delete the file you want to deactivate, then repack the BSA.  As you said, adding in loose _far.nif files can over-ride files in the BSA and can add content, but it is a bad way to REMOVE files.  I developed a hack/workaround where empty _far.nif files are used to override BSA files... but this could lead to instability if there are any hard-coded functions that assume there is at least 1 triangle or 1 vertex within a .NIF file. 

What is the purpose of decreasing/deactivating _far.nif files from the BSA?  Stability and performance.  I've done extensive testing of the Distant Lands engine while developing the multiple iterations of FarNifAutoGen and have come to the conclusion that the very existance of a Distant Object (_far.nif) instance in game, no matter if it's just 3-4 vertices, causes a measurable performance/resource hit on the game engine.  The amount of the hit may not be significant for a modern gaming PC, but is very significant for low-end systems (laptops from 7-8 years ago, desktops from 10+ years ago).  I have not yet been able to isolate out other variables to objectively measure any decrease in the frequency of crashes, but preliminary performance measurements suggest that reducing the number of Distant Object instances can result in FPS increase of over 100% (15-20fps to 40-50fps).  My hope is that any crashes related to limited resources will be reduced by that amount as well.

Since v065 is about increasing stability, one can argue that separating _far.nif files from the Meshes BSA is a step in that direction, since it enables the ability to remove the _far.nifs without unpacking/repacking the entire Meshes BSA or resorting to empty NIF hacks that can potentially cause more instability.

So, it's basically just for convenience. I don't have a strong opinion on the matter, if you think that'll have a benefit, please, go ahead. Keep in mind though, that there are some locations (Vivec, mostly) that'll look really terrible without the VWD meshes.

qwertyasdfgh

So, it's basically just for convenience. I don't have a strong opinion on the matter, if you think that'll have a benefit, please, go ahead. Keep in mind though, that there are some locations (Vivec, mostly) that'll look really terrible without the VWD meshes.

Agreed.  My goal is to have them active by default, but just easily accessible for deletion/modification.  So there should be no noticeable changes from player's perspective.

Ponyrider0>

Thank you for your detailed explanation regarding the _far.nif files. Myself and I'm sure the Morroblivion community trust your judgement on this matter. I had a look at your www.patreon.com/ponyrider0, I see your passion & skill / knowledge is the main force driving the Morroblivion project, which of course benefits the community. Although most of the content went over my head, I believe you want to keep the _far.nif files out of the BSA because you have future plans to implement your FarNifAutoGen-BillboardGen system you designed to generate better _far.nif files that has both improved image quality and improved performance (something you don't normally hear regarding Oblivion _far.nifs LOL).

AllisterHendersonAlthough most of the content went over my head, I believe you want to keep the _far.nif files out of the BSA because you have future plans to implement your FarNifAutoGen-BillboardGen system you designed to generate better _far.nif files that has both improved image quality and improved performance.

Actually, no.  My FarNifAutoGen and BillboardGen mods and tools have been published and usable for months/years now.  You can download and use it right this moment for v064, and take advantage of the 50-100% increase in FPS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-34442026.  Separating the _far.nif files from the main Meshes BSA would not significantly benefit that mod (except for the currently theoretical increase in engine stability).  Instead, separating the _far.nif files from the main Meshes BSA is most directly beneficial for mods like wakkoswami's Morroblivion - Improved landscape lod and fps - For v064 , which currently must repackage the entire Meshes BSA for it to work.  Anyway, this continued discussion has now taken up more time than the actual 5-6 minutes it took for me to implement, hehe.  There is now a "Morrowind_ob - Meshes.bsa" and a separate "Morrowind_ob - Distant Objects.bsa".  Both will be installed by default.  Mod-makers can now make small, compact mods which over-ride the "Morrowind_ob - Distant Objects.bsa", or advanced users can manually unpack/modify/delete it without having to deal with the entire Meshes.bsa file.

I will be posting the Release Candidate for v065 in a few hours.  Let's just test it out, and if there is agreement that the change should be removed, then I will quickly revert back to the combined BSA, which is also prepared and ready for v065.

I am almost finished with Release Candidate 1 for v065.  The ESM Installer has been built.  The v065 Resource File is ready with ESPs, BSAs and other assets.  The one remaining task is updating the documention in the Resource File.  Please look over these current versions and offer any input you may have.  Maybe we should share it on Google Docs and make it editable by everyone?  I'm not familiar with how to do that, so if someone can do that, I would appreciate it.  Thanks.

Morroblivion_v065_Changelog.txt

Morroblivion_v065_Credits.txt

Morroblivion_v065_Release_Notes.txt

I need to delay posting of Release Candidate 1.  I've discovered some very subtle data corruption done to the ESM by the Installer executable.  The CRC of the ESM created by the Installer does not match the CRC of the original ESM that I used as a resource file to build into the Installer.  Using TES4Edit, I discovered at least one record with obvious corrupted data compared to the original.  Even after I fixed this entry, the CRC did not match up -- meaning there are additional data points which are changed from the original ESM....  It may take me a few days to track down what is going on.

Answered you in PM with details and also uploaded alternative installer code here

> I will be sure to use your FarNifAutoGen-BillboardGen FastLOD, but will use it on v065 when it is released.

>Had a look at the txt files for v065..... and I cannot fault (I couldn't even find one spelling mistake).

>Good job picking up on the .exe corrupting the esm.... hope you can get to the bottom of why the installer is causing the data error.

qwertyasdfgh

Answered you in PM with details and also uploaded alternative installer code here

Thanks!!!  I have confirmed that the data corruption issue is now resolved.  Your expertise is much appreciated!

So we are now back to focusing on finalizing the text documentation.  In the mean-time, I will go ahead and post the new Release Candidate (RC2) so people can test it out.

Release Candidate 2 for Morroblivion v065 (Open-Beta):

The following files should be installed on a new, fresh installation of Oblivion using the same installation instructions and requirements as v064.

1. Morroblivion-V065-ESM_Installer-RC2.exe (80 MB)
2. Morroblivion-v065-Resources_File-RC2.7z (2 GB)

Please Note: 

• You must start a new savegame file. 
• You can NOT use v065 with the Morroblivion Unofficial Patch or the Unified Hotfix Addon.  Many other mods for Morroblivion v064 or earlier may also be incompatible.
• Morroblivion v065 contains mainly bugfixes. 
• There are no new gameplay features or improvements from v064.

EDIT: Please be sure to post any problems you have with the Installer or the game to the v065 Bug Reports thread.

FYI, I unintentionally included updated Landscape LOD meshes in the RC2 Meshes BSA.  This fixes the landscape tears near Seyda Neen and Balmora, so I updated the Changelog and Release Notes documents (2020-June-04).  I will wait another week for any more suggested changes to the documentation.