I've been hunting around for a merge to master function.

With Oblivion, we could enable the Version Control http://www.gamesas.com/topic/793590-version-control-a-primer/page__p__11532181__fromsearch__1#entry11532181and use it to create master files from scratch and merge plugins to them.

It appears that we can't do that any more. In particular, the ability to create the fud and fvd (file extention fid in oblivion) bit array files is missing.

Has anyone had more luck than me yet?

SkyrimEditior.ini -

bUseVersionControl=0, setting this to 1 should enable the feature, but,not sure how it works..

give me a sec to finish looking it over and see what else it has. do not see anything else

Yes, that part works fine. You also need to add the network paths to the ini file and [WhoCanMerge] is still in the exe so I added that too. The version control button and menu item happily appear.

It will complain about perforce initialization when it starts, but I'm not yet convinced the lack of that is the problem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perforce

I'm currently stuck on getting the fud and fvd files to generate from within the details window of the data files selection screen, like we used to be able to.

Another thing we get, if we try to checkin an empty plugin to create a start from scratch master file is this nice little error screen.

---------------------------Old editor warning---------------------------Your 'CreationKit.exe' is old and you must update from the network before check in is allowed.---------------------------OK  ---------------------------

Most of the version control code was removed from the editor for the public release. Enabling it through the INI is bound to cause random weirdness.

It appears that there's more there than one might first think. That's why i went looking in the first place. Sure, they use a proprietry third party back end for their version control in production, but the Oblivion style basic backup with timestamp system that we had appears to still exist in part.

The main reason for this thread was to put it out there, since we know they will watch this forum. Priority was to get the CK out there.

Three things we could do with ...

Ability to combine loaded plugins.
Ability to create a master file.
Ability to merge a plugin to a master file.

While I agree that some of those features would be quite useful to modders, I'm all but certain that the disabled/stripped out code will not be restored in any of the future updates to the editor. But don't let me stop you from experimenting.

PS: It might be worth noting that the various 'dirty edit' inducing bugs of the previous BGS editors were primarily caused by the bits of remnant version control code in them.

Not sure if it will help in this case, but converting a plugin to a master using TESGecko has worked. Maybe it will be too Oblivion specific to merge two files but it could be worth giving a go.

@thekarithian: Did you try using TESGecko on a Skyrim plugin? If yes, that's good news to hear that it works right off the bat. Even if it's not 100% compatible with the new plugin structure, it's more likely we'll see updates and fixes to the existing third party tools than specific fixes to the CK.

~DE

Tes4Gecko only modifies the header and the file extension when converting to ESM/ESP, so yeah that works. Merging plugins doesn't though, which is a must have for big projects.

Agree entirely with the above, TES4Gecko or some other program is eagerly awaited and an absolute neccesity for large projects. There are several stepping stones that need putting in place really before we can commit too much to progressing with our projects. Not being able to merge to master would halt us all in our tracks.

Does anyone have any news or contacts for TES4Gecko team etc?

You forgot to add the version control merging works with the CK.


In the absence of a TES4Gecko type program, SkyProc will be able to merge plugins once all records have been decoded.

Because I didn't know when I posted that.

Yeah, Version Control is functioning. Add the [WhoCanMerge] settings to SkyrimEditorPrefs.ini instead of SkyrimEditor.ini and you can generate the .fud .fid and .fvid files.

Ooops didn't check the date .

Trying version control, I have problems with the error "cannot locate target master file on the network" what's it banging on about?

I would be interested to know more about this version control but I can't find any info on how to use it...
What do you use as Constructionsetnetwork.ini?
And what is this [Whocanmerge]?

Whocanmerge is a list of Windows users (their login) that are allowed to merge their contributions into the master.

Just add a new section to SkyrimEditorPrefs.ini

[WhoCanMerge]YourWindowsLogin=1

Constructionsetnetwork.ini is just an empty file for now, but it needs to be in a network folder. That was the original idea of version control: there is only one Skyrim.esm and dozens of developers spread all across the building (city? country? world?) can simultaneously access and modify that file.

For this to work you need to share one folder or drive on your computer

• Right click on My Computer, Select Properties go to "Computer Name" and remember that Computer Name (e.g. "MyPC")
  
• Create a folder "VersionControl" in your Skyrim folder
  
• Create a new text file in that folder and rename it to "ConstructionSetNetwork.ini"
  
• Right click on the folder, select properties and then "Sharing"
  
• Activate "share this folder in the network" and if you want give it a new network name for example "SkyrimVC"

Now you open SkyrimEditor.ini set bUseVersionControl and add a new line "SNetwork Path" and set it to your network-path (\\MyPC\SkyrimVC\)

[General]bUseVersionControl=1SNetwork Path=\\MyPC\SkyrimVC\[...]

When the path is correct and the network folder can be accessed , you will not be asked to select ConstructionSetNetwork.ini

It works!

Thanks a lot for your detailed guide!