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75 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
75 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
## Wabbajack - An automated modlist installer for TES/Fallout games
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The general idea behind this program is fairly simple. Given a Mod Organizer 2 folder and profile, generate list of instructions that will allow
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a program to automatically recreate the contents of the folder on another machine. Think of it as replication, but without ever distributing copyrighted
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files or syncing data between the source and destination machine. The end result is a program that recrate a modlist on a computer while respecting the
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rights of the game publisher and the mod authors.
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### Socal Links
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[Discord](https://discord.gg/zgbrkmA)
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### How it works
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At a technical level the process is as follows.
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1) Hash and cache the contents of every archive in the `\downloads` folder. This lets Wabbajack know of all the possible locations where you could have installed mods
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2) Apply the `resolution stack` to every file in both the game's root folder and in the MO2 folder.
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3) Take the install directives and required archives and write their metadata to a JSON file.
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4) Attach the JSON file to Wabbajack itself, creating a new Auto-installer for the profile
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### The Resolution Stack
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Every file analyzed by Wabbajack is passed through a stack of rules. The first rule to match the file creates a `Install Directive` or a instruction on how to
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install that specific file.
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Currently the Resolution stack looks like this:
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1) Ignore the contents of `logs\`
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2) Ignore the contents of `downloads\`
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3) Ignore the contents of `webcache\`
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4) Ignore the contents of `overwrite\`
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5) Ignore `.pyc` files
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6) Ignore any files in `profiles` that are not for the selected MO2 profile
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7) Ignore any disabled mods
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8) Include any profile settings for the selected profile by including them directly in the modlist
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9) Ignore "ModOrganizer.ini", it will be re-created when MO2 starts on the new machine
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10) Ignore "Data" in the Game directly (in your Steam folder)
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11) Ignore "Papyrus Compiler" in the game folder
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12) Ignore the "Skyrim" folder in the game folder
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13) Ignore any BSAs in the game folder
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14) Include all meta.ini files from all (selected) mods
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15) Include archive and file meta information for any file that matches a file in an archive directly via a SHA256 comparison
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16) Generate patches for files that may have been modified after being installed from an archive (see section on Patching for more info)
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17) Deconstruct BSAs to see if they can be created by generating a BSA from assembing files and patches from archives
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18) Ignore files in the game directory
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19) Ignore .ini files
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20) Ignore .html files (normally these are logs)
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21) Ignore .txt files
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22) Ignore `HavockBehaviourPostProcess.exe` this seems to get copied around by tools for some reason
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23) Error for any file that survives to this point.
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So as you can see we handle a lot of possible install situations. See the section on `Creating a Modpack` for information on working with the installer
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### Patches
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Wabbajack can create binary patches for files that have been modified after installation. This could be `.esp` files that have been cleaned or patched. Or
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it could be meshes and textures that have been optimized to work better in a given game. In any case a BSDiff file is generated. The output of this process
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is copied directly into the modlist instructions. However! It is important to note that the patch file is 100% useless without the source file. So original + patch = final_file
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without the original file, the final file cannot be recrated. This allows us to distribute arbitrary changes without violating copyrights as we do not copy
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copyrighted material. Instead we copy instructions on how to modify the copyrighted material.
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### Archive Sources
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Wabbajack can currently install from many different file hosting sources. Currently these consist of:
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* Nexus Mods - Only Premium accounts, this restriction will not change. They host a lot of files and support the community, respect the service they provide.
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* HTTP Servers - Bare HTTP downloads are supported, additional headers can also be passed to the server
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* Dropbox
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* Google Drive
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* MEGA
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* ModDB
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### License & Copyright
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All original code in Wabbajack is given freely via the GPL3 license. Parts of Wabbajack use libraries that carry their own Open Sources licenses, those parts
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retain their original copyrights. Note: Wabbajack installers contain code from Wabbajack. Therefore, selling of modlist files is strictly forbidden. As is hosting
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the files behind any sort of paywall. You recieved this tool free of charge, respect this by giving freely as you were given.
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