CK uses file extension rather then ESM flag

[Sharlikran]

@Arthmoor when you have time can you test this. I just responded to a user report in the FO4Edit comments section where a FormID was becoming an unresolved reference. I figured it was plugin specific but it turns out to be the CK. If you know this already then ignore it. However, if you don't please verify and I will post on the Nexus also.

The CK no longer respects the false flagged ESP file as a master but instead uses the file extension, or possibly both. This will be an issue for mod authors because if they have a mod with the UOF4P as a master, and the extension is ESP it will be removed from their mod.

My conversation with the user:

FiftyTifty, I am so glad you provided those files. Because it's one of my things, specialties to go through plugins, look for corruption, and generally dig into the bowels of the plugin.

So in doing so I think I found a bug in xEdit, I also think I discovered that Bethesda changed the record size from 8 bytes to 6 for the DATA field I mentioned, but there was one more important discovery.

The CK no longer respects the ESM flag for false flagged ESP files.

See I had been thinking that something was up with the master index. So the hypothesis I was testing was if I modify the records, in xEdit will xEdit clamp the FormID in a way that the CK can not do.  Then if that happens will it then keep the FormID for that VMAD record.  So what I had done was I had modified almost all the records. Only PERK remained and I figured I could just make a copy of the plugin, let the CK save it, and even if it destroyed some of the FormIDs that was fine because I was only interested in it fixing the PERK records.

So I saved it and looked and saw what you reported, where 06053699 had the unresolved reference for UFO4PMirelurkHunterAmbushArmorFL [FLST:0701D59E]. So I thought that odd and started poking around, thought maybe the file wasn't false flagged, checked that, did it again, and the whole time I never noticed the UOFP master was gone.

I realized it was gone when I said, okay, the CK just saved the plugin, it corrected any errors, and whatever remains I can use the original plugin and copy over the few values I need from that and the result will be a working stable plugin.  However, upon loading the plugin I was about to alter, after it finished I chose "Compare To..." and selected your original file only to get an error that the UOFP had to load before another plugin. That's when I noticed the master was gone.

So I did a test. I had two copies of the UOFP one ending in ESM and one ending in ESP. I had two plugins named so I could tell them apart, and loaded in one and saved it then loaded in the other.  The plugin with the ESM for the extension of the UOFP kept the master and the reference didn't change into an unresolved reference.  The one with the false flagged ESP lost the ESP as a master. Which is why the record becomes an unresolved reference.

So blame it on Bethesda, they changed it's behavior because of ESL files and now the CK no longer respects the flag but instead the extension of the file.

[Sharlikran]

Madcat said this is a pain. So has this been happening since Beta and never fixed?  I'm just behind the times or I just forgot? Is this recent or has it always been that way? I didn't know about it until just now and  FiftyTifty, the author reporting the issue didn't know or he wouldn't have been complaining that there was an unresolved reference. So I kinda feel bad and I kinda don't because it looks like there are other accomplished modders that may not know yet.

Someone on the nexus discord said it's only after the CC Update. Is that the case?

[zilav]

Yes, CC update changed that.

[Arthmoor]

It was also a factor with the game itself, but they patched that out at the last update. They just haven't done so for the CK yet.

[Sheson]

The game still relies on the file extension alone regarding the large reference bugs, flags do not matter.

Large reference data from world record is only used when the file extension is esm or esl and ignored for esp for example.