Synthus Maximus - Perkus Maximus Patcher

Introduction

This is a complete rewrite of the Perkus Maximus Patcher (Patchus Maximus) for SE using the Synthesis framework. Synthesis uses the Mutagen library allow programmers to build lightning fast patchers for Skyrim SE. In sort, this code replaces the old SkyProc patcher for Perkus Maximus

Current State

The project is "code complete", meaning I've rewriten 100% of the code, but the resulting output has yet to be fully playtested and we need to write config files for a lot of modern mods, see the Overlay section for more info on how to write these files.

Overlay Files

This patcher loads a lot of configuration data, but does so in an extensible way. It first reads all the mods currently enabled, then loads config files in the same order as those mods. So if your modlist is:

• Skyrim.esm
• PerkusMaximus_Master.esp
• ModA.esp
• ModB.esp

If the loader is looking for exclusions\npcs.json it would look for files in the following order:

1. Data\config\Skyrim.esm\exclusions\npcs.json
2. <Patcher Folder>\config\Skyrim.esm\exclusions\npcs.json
3. Data\config\PerkusMaximus_Master.esp\exclusions\npcs.json
4. <Patcher Folder>\config\PerkusMaximus_Master.esp\exclusions\npcs.json
5. Data\config\ModA.esp\exclusions\npcs.json
6. <Patcher Folder>\config\ModA.esp\exclusions\npcs.json
7. Data\config\ModB.esp\exclusions\npcs.json
8. <Patcher Folder>\config\ModB.esp\exclusions\npcs.json

Each file is configured via a merge mode in the patcher code, for example, exclusion lists use a list concat merge mode, the contents of npcs.json may look like this:

{
  "EDID": [
    "Mannequin",
    "^dunSnaplegSpriggan$",
    "^EncSprigganSwarm$",
    "ARTHLALShip",
    "3DNPC",
    "Chicken"
  ],
  "NAME": [
    "NO\\ TEXT"
  ],
  "FORMID": []
}

In this case, each new file loaded, concats new values to the end of each sub-list in the above json example.

So to add support for your mod, just add a file in the Data\config\<my_mod>\ folder that fits for the data you wish to add, and when it's enabled in MO2 the pather will pick the data up when it runs. Be sure to check the logger output of the patcher to confirm that it's working.

Data formats

Exclusions Lists

Most exclusions lists follow the same a key, that represents the field to match against, and a regex that will exclude an item that matches on the given field.

Currently supported matcher fields:

• EDID - Match on the record's EntityID
• NAME - Match on the item's English Name
• MODNAME - Match on the item's mod Name (Skyrim.esm, myMod.esp, etc.)
• FORMID - Match on a FormID (in hex format)

Example Data:

{
  "EDID": [
    "Mannequin",
    "^dunSnaplegSpriggan$",
    "^EncSprigganSwarm$",
    "ARTHLALShip",
    "3DNPC",
    "Chicken"
  ],
  "NAME": [
    "NO\\ TEXT"
  ],
  "MODNAME": [
    "^Mymod\\.esm$"
  ],
  "FORMID": []
}

Reworking Item Distribution

Introduction

Item distribution in the old PerMa patcher is a bit wack. It works by requiring mod authors to link new enchantments to vanilla enchantments. The patcher then finds all instances of the base enchantment on leveled items, then duplicates those items with the new enchantment and adds them to the leveled list. This requires authors to link completely unrelated enchantments.

There's also a way to tell the patcher to "add similar" armors into the leveled list, so then this causes a combinatorial explosion of armors and enchantments. There has to be a better way.

Standard approaches to adding Armors / Weapons

What's strange is that mod authors already have a system for adding enchantments and items to the game: armor makers make armors and add them to vanilla leveled lists. Enchantment makers enchant vanilla items and add them to vanilla leveled lists.

New approach taken by this patcher (in the 0.3 release)

1. Find all armors, classify them by slot (feet, hands, head, etc.), and material type, and item level
2. Find all weapons, classify them by type, and material, and item level
3. Find all enchantments on these items, classify them by enchantment school, and item level
4. Create variants of vanilla items with new combinations of item and enchantments, grouped by level and enchantment school/level. Don't duplicate existing item/enchantment combinations
5. Distribute these items into leveled lists, perhaps with a cap so we don't explode into thousands of items?

Note: enchantment levels can't be based on the min level of the magic effect. New mods like Odin use scaling enchantment magnitude to scale a item. So we should instead use the level list level.