[Feature Request] Show conflict with files contained in BSA archive.

[Project579]

The problem

As of right now ModOrganizer 2 does not show conflicting files packed as BSAs like ModOrganizer 1 did.

Edit for people that came here via search engine

This feature is currently available under experimental flags.

Environment

• Mod Organizer Version that exhibits the issue: v2.1.1
• Last Mod Organizer Version that did not exhibit the issue (if applicable): v1.3.11
• Desktop OS/version used to run Mod Organizer: Windows 7 x64 and Windows 10 x64

Details

The old ModOrganizer was able to access files inside of BSAs thanks to the archive manager, but due to its removal (done by design to solve problems with Third Party application) an important feature that allowed users to see if the contents of archives where overwritten was lost.
What i'm asking is NOT to re implement the old Archive Manager but simply allow MO 2 to see inside of BSAs (or BA2s) without the need for users to unpack the archive and check conflicting files against the other installed mods; obviously BSAs always lose conflicts with non-packed files but MO 2 should also be able to show which files will get overwritten.

[Al12rs]

Don't worry this is already being worked on, there are technical difficulties due to the fact BSAs now are loaded in the correct order, not the way Mo1 did which was just a new system only Mo used and that was in contrast with how the game actually loads things. We need to reimplement the order and make sure that parsing the BSA does not kill performance. But it is being worked on right now.

[Project579]

OK, fantastic news! I'm really looking forward to the next updates!

[Silarn]

This has been on hold due to other important bugs, but there is a partially complete Dev build available. The latest builds include full archive extraction support for all games, including Morrowind.

[Project579]

Also there is a possibility for MO2 to load BSAs without dummy plugins, example:
https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/1704/8933251-1500486475.jpg

MO could look at the BSA/BA2 and automatically add it to the [Archive] section for it to be loaded by the game automatically, but there are problems because the BSA loaded from the game always loose conflicts from BSA loaded by plugins, this may add to the complexity of checking for conflict, but at the same time allows smaller load orders.

[Al12rs]

@Project579 problem with that is the 256 character limit on that string that basically makes it unusable. MO1 used the vfs to inject the full list of BSAs while the game was reading from that line but it required game specific code inside the VFS itself and doing that caused issues with the FNV script extender. All the new games might work differently regarding it as well, which is why Tannin decided it was simply not worth it as it only added more complexity

[Project579]

Ok that makes sense I didn't know there was a limit.

[Al12rs]

There is now a test build on discord for 2.2.0

Known Issues:

• Fix issues with incorrect files shown in the conflicts tab and icons after removing or disabling mods.

• Archives are considered as loaded even if the plugin loading it is disabled which is incorrect.

• Fix crashing on FO3 and FNV when archives.txt exists or is created for some reason.

Things to implement:

• rework the system to use a generic priority that can be defined differently depending on game, not only plugin order. This way we can account for INI loaded archives as well as possibly other systems like archives.txt with a game patch.

• Add Archive cache system to improve performance.

• Fix Archives tab to follow plugin order or remove the tab completely.

• Add blue lightning icon for loose files over BSA files.

• Make sure user can't start something while conflicts are parsed.

• Make entire conflict feature optional with a setting so that people that don't care for those conflicts can keep the good performance instead.

• Add colour selection settings for archive conflicts highlights.

Improvements:

• improve conflict tab Improve conflicts tab of mod info dialog #628

• Add list of flags and descriptions when hovering over the flags columns header.

• Add new tab to modinfo that contains fileteee will files from archives as well, color coded with conflict information, similar to the data tab.

• Add filters for the different types of conflicts.

• add a new column for the containing archive name if applicable in the conflicts tab.

• add conflicts icons to the BSA tab.

• add conflict highlights for the plugin tab as well.

• Visually distinguish files coming from archives in the conflicts tab (use italic for them for example).

• Add archive conflicts icon to the plugins tab since there is where people can actually change the winners.

• Make the contents flags check inside the archives as well.

• Add preview support for textures inside archives.

• -Add a new tab in the filetree view of the modinfodialog for archives contents

[Project579]

Add Archive cache system to improve performance, I like this very much but it would be interesting if you could implement a similar thing for the mods in general.

Consider Archives loaded by the INI file as well: Forgot about those, also would the Plugin (PrivateProfileRedirector SE - Faster game start (INI file cacher)) be able to inject a skyrim BSA list by changing the values cached in memory at runtime?

Make sure user can't start something while conflicts are parsed: also block parts of the interface while MO2 is still loading (right after launch, when a mod just installed or when a program hooked was just closed) this would resolve some crashes.

[LostDragonist]

The content column in the mod list could reflect the contents of the archives as well as the archives themselves.

In the mod info conflict tab, right-clicking a file in an archive does nothing. Right-clicking a conflicting loose texture allows you to bring up the preview but this preview only includes the loose files.

[Al12rs]

@LostDragonist nice suggestions, added to the list.
@Project579 for the mods cache better discus on discord but basically there is already.

The PPR plugin could do something there but I would see it pretty hard as it would need to have a list of BSAs given to him and all that. So I don't think this is happening.

[Project579]

Well you can easily give the plugin the BSA list via MO2.