Better Oblivion Sorting Software

A simple "one-click" program for users that quickly optimises and avoids detrimental conflicts in their Oblivion, Fallout 3, Nehrim - At Fate's Edge and Fallout: New Vegas mod load orders.


Contents
  1. Features & Introduction
  2. Installation & Basic Usage
  3. Uninstallation
  4. Further Details
  5. Contributions & Help
  6. Updates
  7. Troubleshooting
  8. Running BOSS Under Linux
  9. Credits
  10. Project Members
  11. License
  12. Quick Links
  13. Version History


Features & Introduction

Better Oblivion Sorting Software (BOSS) will reorder your mods to their correct positions (as listed in the masterlist.txt database file), putting any mods it doesn't recognise after them, in the same order as they were before BOSS was run.

BOSS is designed to assist in the installation and usage of mods, especially more complex mods such as FCOM, MMM and FOOK, and help mod users avoid serious conflicts. It is not a complete solution to load ordering issues, as there are far more mods out there (estimated at about 30,000 for Oblivion, and about 11,000 for Fallout 3) than BOSS knows about. To properly place mods BOSS doesn't know about, a good working knowledge of mod load ordering for the relevant game is still necessary, for which some research and documentation reading will go a long way.



Installation & Basic Usage

BOSS can be installed for use with Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas or Nehrim - At Fate's Edge (a Total Conversion mod for Oblivion). Installation may either be automated, using the BOSS Installer package, or manually, using the archive package. Either method is simple, and instructions for manual installation are given below.

For Oblivion:

  1. If you have Wrye Bash, make sure the "Lock Times" function is deactivated.
  2. If upgrading from an earlier version of BOSS, delete your BOSS.bat, modlist.txt, modlist.old, masterlist.txt and BOSSlog.txt files in your Data folder. If you have an edited masterlist, make sure to keep a backup so that your edits are not lost.
  3. Extract the BOSS archive you downloaded to your ..\Oblivion\Data folder, so that BOSS.exe is in the same folder as Oblivion.esm.
  4. Run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" file to get the latest masterlist from the Internet and sort your mods.
  5. When running BOSS normally, do so from the BOSS.exe, but remember to run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" regularly to ensure you have a recent masterlist.

For Fallout 3:

  1. If you have Wrye Flash, make sure the "Lock Times" function is deactivated.
  2. If upgrading from an earlier version of BOSS (also known as BOSS-F), delete your BOSS-F.bat, modlist.txt, modlist.old, masterlist.txt and BOSSlog.txt files in your Data folder. If you have an edited masterlist, make sure to keep a backup so that your edits are not lost.
  3. Extract the BOSS archive you downloaded to your ..\Fallout 3\Data folder, so that BOSS.exe is in the same folder as Fallout3.esm.
  4. Run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" file to get the latest masterlist from the Internet and sort your mods.
  5. When running BOSS normally, do so from the BOSS.exe, but remember to run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" regularly to ensure you have a recent masterlist.

For Nehrim - At Fate's Edge:

  1. If you have Wrye Bash, make sure the "Lock Times" function is deactivated.
  2. Extract the BOSS archive you downloaded to your ..\Nehrim\Data folder, so that BOSS.exe is in the same folder as Nehrim.esm.
  3. Run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" file to get the latest masterlist from the Internet and sort your mods.
  4. When running BOSS normally, do so from the BOSS.exe, but remember to run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" regularly to ensure you have a recent masterlist.

For Fallout: New Vegas:

  1. If you have Wrye Flash NV, make sure the "Lock Times" function is deactivated.
  2. Extract the BOSS archive you downloaded to your ..\steamapps\common\fallout new vegas\data folder, so that BOSS.exe is in the same folder as FalloutNV.esm.
  3. Run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" file to get the latest masterlist from the Internet and sort your mods.
  4. When running BOSS normally, do so from the BOSS.exe, but remember to run the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" regularly to ensure you have a recent masterlist.

Once BOSS has finished running, the output will be displayed automatically. Read any notes, errors if applicable, and make any relevant changes that are suggested by them. Wrye Bash/Flash will automatically import and apply Bash Tag suggestions from BOSS. Some Bash Tag suggestions can come with conditions and notes that require human intervention though, so read the suggestions makes thoroughly and adjust tags by hand in Wrye Bash/Flash if necessary.

You will need to reorder "unknown" mods by hand using OBMM/FOMM or Wrye Bash/Flash.

You can update your masterlist to the latest version by running the "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" file. This will replace your copy with the latest available online, and then run BOSS as normal using the updated masterlist. If you have an edited masterlist, using this updater will cause you to lose all your edits.



Uninstallation

Delete BOSS.exe, "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat", "BOSS - Undo Last Run.bat", "BOSS - Print Debug Info.bat" and, if BOSS has been run, the BOSS folder in your ..\Data folder.



Further Details

Command Line Arguments

BOSS has a number of command-line arguments. The syntax is:

boss [-hVuosnd] [-r [level]] [-v [level]]

-h [ --help ]

This prints a short description of BOSS and some information on the function of the command line arguments, then exits.

-V [ --version ]

Prints the a banner displaying the program name and version number to the command line, then exits.

-u [ --update ]

Automatically updates the local copy of the masterlist using the latest version on the Google Code repository, and then sorts your mods. Since this replaces your current masterlist, don't run this if you have an edited copy and wish to keep the changes. The "BOSS - Update Masterlist.bat" runs BOSS with this switch.

-o [ --only-update ]

Automatically updates the local copy of the masterlist using the latest version on the Google Code repository, and then does NOT sort your mods. Since this replaces your current masterlist, don't run this if you have an edited copy and wish to keep the changes.

-s [ --silent ]

Stops BOSS from automatically opening up the BOSSlog in your web browser after it has finished running.

-n [ --no-version-parse ]

Disables the parsing of each mod's description to extract the author's version information, so it is not printed alongside other data in the generated BOSSlog.html. This can be used if the version parsing is not working properly for some of your mods, and you wish to remove the version notes.

-r [ --revert ] [ level ]

Revert to a previous load order. This parameter optionally accepts values of 1 or 2, indicating how many undo steps to apply. If no option is specified, it defaults to 1. A value of 1 will restore the load order to that stored in modlist.txt. A value of 2 will restore the load order to that stored in modlist.old. If the modlist that you are reverting to does not exist, BOSS will cancel the undo and display an error message. The modlist files are not updated when BOSS is run with this parameter.

-v [ --verbose ] [ level ]

Specify verbosity level (0-3). 0 is the default, showing only warning and error messages. 1 (warning, error and informational messages) is implied if this option is specified without an argument. Higher values increase the verbosity further.

-d [ --debug ]

Adds source file references (filenames and line numbers) to logging statements.



BOSS Changes and Files

The only changes BOSS makes to your game install are to re-date the .esp and .esm files in your Data folder, to create a BOSS folder there, and create a few text files in that BOSS folder. Your game's master file (Oblivion.esm, Fallout3.esm, Nehrim.esm or FalloutNV.esm) is never touched, and all dates are derived from it.

The files that are used and created by BOSS are all found in the ..\Data\BOSS folder, and they are:


Undoing Changes

To undo the changes BOSS makes to your load order, you can use the included "BOSS - Undo Last Run.bat" file. The .bat file will, by default, revert to the load order before the last run of BOSS, as stored in modlist.txt. If you want to revert back to the load order before that, as stored in modlist.old, you will need to edit your "BOSS - Undo Last Run.bat" file:

  1. Right-click it and select "Edit" to open it up in Notepad.
  2. On the line containing "BOSS.exe -r 1", replace the 1 with a 2 to give "BOSS.exe -r 2".
  3. Then save the file and run it to revert your load order back two levels.


Customising How BOSS Works

The best way that users can customise how BOSS works is by using the included User Rules feature. This feature allows you to define the positions of mods not in the masterlist, and to override the masterlist positions of mods, as well as edit the output messages of mods, and more. In addition, this is all done without editing the masterlist.txt, so when you update it using the built-in updater, your changes shall not be lost. All the information on the User Rules feature can be found in the "BOSS User Rules ReadMe.html" file.

An alternative is to use the BOSS Master List Manager (BOMM) by Surazal, which is a Word 2003, 2007 and 2010 Macro that provides similar features, and is compatible with both Oblivion and Fallout 3.



Contributions & Help

General discussion, and the submission of questions, suggestions and unrecognised mods, takes place in BOSS's official threads for Oblivion, Nehrim, Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

User contribution of additions and corrections to the masterlist are vital to the upkeep of BOSS. Let us know what you know.

Lists of unrecognised mods are welcome but the only way we can include them in the database in a timely way is if we get:



Updates

Updates are published at the TES Nexus, Fallout 3 Nexus and New Vegas Nexus BOSS pages.

For those not using the masterlist updater, the latest masterlist is always on the Google Code repository.

Always make sure to use the latest release of the BOSS program, and the latest masterlist.



Troubleshooting

Under some circumstances, BOSS may not be able to run properly due to a variety of reasons. In such cases, BOSS should be able to provide an error message detailing the type of fault. If the program unexpectedly crashes, the crash and the circumstances in which it occurred should be reported to the official BOSS thread (linked to in the Quick Links section below), so that we may fix it. Here is a list of the error messages and their common causes:

In addition to the specific error messages above, BOSS may also fail to work properly, or appear to do so, for a few general reasons:


The Data\BOSS folder and all the files in it must not be read-only. If a file in this folder, or the folder itself, is read-only, BOSS will not function correctly, resulting in some of the errors listed above.

If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7, also in some situations limited users accounts on XP, BOSS (and other modding programs) may be prevented from working correctly by the UAC security feature. There are four common workarounds to this problem:

  1. Install the game outside the Program Files (or Program Files (x86) folder if on 64 bit Windows). UAC prevents unauthorised edits to these folders, so by installing the game outside of them, you remove it from UAC's reach, allowing you to use mods more easily.
  2. Deactivate UAC. This can be done from the Control Panel, and will turn UAC off across the whole of your computer. It is up to you whether you feel that you have adequate security measures in place to do this without risk.
  3. Give yourself Full Control permissions over your game install folder. This will allow you to make any edits you desire while keeping UAC active and on guard for any edits made by programs you do not run, and also means that you do not need to reinstall your game to a new location.
  4. Run BOSS as an Administrator. Right-click the BOSS.exe, and select "Run as administrator".

For those that wish to take the third option and give themselves Full Control permissions, here is a guide:

  1. Right-click the folder you wish to change the permissions for, and select "Properties".
  2. In Properties, select the "Security" tab, and click the "Edit..." button. A UAC prompt may appear, simply allow yourself to continue.
  3. In the "Group or user names" box, select the "Users" option.
  4. In the lower box, check the box opposite "Full Control" in the "Allow" column. Press OK to exit. If a UAC prompt appears, allow the change.
  5. In the Properties window, select OK to exit. You should now have Full Control permissions over your chosen folder.

For dealing with limited accounts on XP you can run this console command: cacls drive:\path to relevant folder\*.* /e /t /p users:c. However note that if you set it wrong it can mess things up so if you decide to do so, use care (and do so at your own risk).

If the above information does not help you to solve any problems you are experiencing, please seek further support in one of the official BOSS threads.

Running BOSS Under Linux

It is possible to run BOSS on Linux through the Wine compatibility layer, though no official support for doing so is given. Installation and usage is as on Windows. While all the features work as they do in Windows, there are a few issues:

It is also possible to compile BOSS from the source code as a native application on Linux. Again, no support is given for doing so, and this has the disadvantage of making the masterlist case-sensitive, so if the case of a plugin's name in the masterlist does not match the case of the plugin in your Data folder, it will remain unrecognised. If you come across any such plugins, let us know and we will update the masterlist to use the correct case.

The BOSS Team does not supply pre-compiled Linux binaries or instructions for building BOSS in Linux at this time, although a makefile is included in the source code to ease the process.



Credits

Sources for the mod list and its order include: Agiel's Annotated Load Order; Fivefries load order; dev_akm's official expanded FCOM load order (FCOM 0.9.9); suggestions and instructions from Mart's Monster Mod, Better Cities, Open Cities and Open Better Cities developers; suggestions and instructions from many other modders; lots of advice and information from users. Some people have gone out of their way and provided continuing, expert and detailed help - thank you very much!

Thanks go to Wrye and the rest of the Wrye Bash Team for implementing the importing of BOSS's Bashed Patch tag suggestions into Wrye Bash.

Thanks also go to the Beta Testing & Analysis Guild at TESAlliance and Surazal for testing and giving feedback on v1.6 prior to release. Thanks also go to myk002 for extensive code contributions.



Project Members

Since June 2009, BOSS has been a collaborative project on Google Code using the SVN version tracking and editing engine. In alphabetical order, the project members are:

Google Code Administrators Oblivion Masterlist Developers Fallout 3 Masterlist Developers Fallout: New Vegas Masterlist Developers Nehrim - At Fate's Edge Masterlist Developers Source Code Developers

Most project members can be contacted on the Bethesda Game Studios forums, in the Oblivion Mods and Fallout 3 Mods sub-forums. Most can also be contacted on TES Nexus/Fallout 3 Nexus.



License

Better Oblivion Sorting Software and periodic updates are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported copyright license, some rights reserved, 2009-2010. Copyright is owned wholly by the Better Oblivion Sorting Software development team (see list of project members).





Version History

Only updates to the BOSS program are recorded here, not masterlist updates, as that is updated far too frequently to be concisely recorded. A full record of changes made to the masterlist may be viewed by browsing the Google Code repository.

Version 1.65

Version 1.64

Version 1.63

Version 1.62

Version 1.61

Version 1.6

Version 1.5

Version 1.41

Versions 1.0 - 1.35

Changes Not Recorded.