Difference between revisions of "How to read most Bethesda game error logs"

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The primary thing you as the user need to understand is how to identify which mod plugin the log messages refer to.  Please read the article [http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Form_ID Form ID] which explains how to get the "mod index" from the "Form/Ref IDs".  This appears to hold consistent across the Bethesda line of games based upon the Gamebryo engine.  In short the first two characters of a "reference" or "Form or Ref ID" are the "mod index" in hexadecimal form.
 
The primary thing you as the user need to understand is how to identify which mod plugin the log messages refer to.  Please read the article [http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Form_ID Form ID] which explains how to get the "mod index" from the "Form/Ref IDs".  This appears to hold consistent across the Bethesda line of games based upon the Gamebryo engine.  In short the first two characters of a "reference" or "Form or Ref ID" are the "mod index" in hexadecimal form.
  
The second thing is to realize that the game engine is loading and parsing the contents of plugins in "load order" sequence, though it may process different types of data in different passes.  So where an error message doesn't identify the plugin or give a "reference" number, you need to consider that it is probably still processing the last plugin for which you do have a reference.  But it is possible it has progressed to the next one, and a line following may provide the similar clue.  Sometimes it just isn't clear at all and you have to ignore it or guess.
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The second thing is to realize that the game engine is loading and parsing the contents of plugins in "load order" sequence, though it may process different types of data in different passes through the "load order".  So where an error message doesn't identify the plugin or give a "reference" number, you need to consider that it is probably still processing the last plugin for which you do have a reference.  But it is possible it has progressed to the next one, and a line following may provide the similar clue.  Sometimes it just isn't clear at all and you have to ignore it or guess.
  
 
In general you aren't going to be able to do anything about the warnings and errors you find in the logs, unless you are prepared to open the mod in game's Construction Kit and perform the surgery necessary to "fix" it.  Your normal recourse is to send the relevant portion of your error log to the mod author to fix, but in the cases where the author has moved on or fails to respond you have to decide to either live with the problems or remove the mod.
 
In general you aren't going to be able to do anything about the warnings and errors you find in the logs, unless you are prepared to open the mod in game's Construction Kit and perform the surgery necessary to "fix" it.  Your normal recourse is to send the relevant portion of your error log to the mod author to fix, but in the cases where the author has moved on or fails to respond you have to decide to either live with the problems or remove the mod.

Revision as of 01:51, 17 December 2016

Overview

Once you get an error log enabled (which varies by game), you will often find an astonishing number of logged entries. The first thing to understand is that most are "warnings" (if they aren't flagged as "FATAL" or "ERROR" somehow) that the game engine was not able to properly process something. In most instances it will report it ignored or removed a variable or reference, or it didn't execute a script. These did not cause the engine to "break" or stop working through the plugin files.

However, it does mean that something in the mod is not going to work as the creator intended. How severe a problem that causes is unpredictable: but it can range from "unnoticeable" to "CTD" or " 'freeze' in an endless loop".

This article is about how you can identify the source plugin of those messages.

Programs and Tools

  • Any plaintext editor, such as Windows Notepad or Notepad++.

Details

The primary thing you as the user need to understand is how to identify which mod plugin the log messages refer to. Please read the article Form ID which explains how to get the "mod index" from the "Form/Ref IDs". This appears to hold consistent across the Bethesda line of games based upon the Gamebryo engine. In short the first two characters of a "reference" or "Form or Ref ID" are the "mod index" in hexadecimal form.

The second thing is to realize that the game engine is loading and parsing the contents of plugins in "load order" sequence, though it may process different types of data in different passes through the "load order". So where an error message doesn't identify the plugin or give a "reference" number, you need to consider that it is probably still processing the last plugin for which you do have a reference. But it is possible it has progressed to the next one, and a line following may provide the similar clue. Sometimes it just isn't clear at all and you have to ignore it or guess.

In general you aren't going to be able to do anything about the warnings and errors you find in the logs, unless you are prepared to open the mod in game's Construction Kit and perform the surgery necessary to "fix" it. Your normal recourse is to send the relevant portion of your error log to the mod author to fix, but in the cases where the author has moved on or fails to respond you have to decide to either live with the problems or remove the mod.

As a guideline, any "errors" or the more "warnings" a mod generates, the more likely it is causing the problem that sent you looking into the error log in the first place.

References

Nexus wiki articles referred to by this article:

  • <none>



Nexus wiki articles that refer to this article: