Root Builder isn't showing up in the tools menu or MO is throwing an error when launched.
The most likely cause is that it wasn't installed properly. The first folder in the zip (just a single folder called 'rootbuilder') needs to be directly extracted into the plugins folder. If you extract the contents of the folder into plugins ('rootbuilder','shared' and '__init__.py') then it'll break MO. To fix this you will need to take a fresh copy of __init__.py from a clean MO install and replace the one in the plugins folder and then install Root Builder again properly. Remove the __init__.py that was added, and the two folders and try installing again.
If this is not the issue, check that you have a newer version of MO. The minimum supported version is 2.4.*, if you have 2.3.* then Root Builder will not work.
Root mods aren't being copied to the game folder or launching SKSE throws an error that it cannot find SkyrimSE.exe
This is usually a result of having a 'Data' folder inside a 'Root' folder. You should place the contents of any 'Data' folder alongside the 'Root' folder in a mod and not inside the 'Root' folder itself. If a Root mod has a 'Data' folder inside the 'Root' folder, the mod will be skipped entirely by Root Builder.
Example: INCORRECT: \Root\SomeDll.dll \Root\SomeIni.ini \Root\Data\SomePlugin.esp \Root\Data\SKSE\SomeScript.py CORRECT: \Root\SomeDll.dll \Root\SomeIni.ini SomePlugin.esp \SKSE\SomeScript.py If this is not the problem, there is another issue on the MO side of things that occasionally causes problems. What happens is that when running some tools through MO, when they exit, MO doesn't pick up on them closing and doesn't tell Root Builder to clear up, which means a flag in Root Builder is never set and causes autobuild to stop working. The workaround for this is to manually use the Build/Clear in the tools menu or to restart MO. When MO is next launched, the issue will be resolved.
Building/Clearing is incredibly slow or causes MO to crash.
This is caused by having a large number of files or a very large file being managed by Root Builder. The first thing to make sure of is that MO is NOT installed inside the game folder, this is an unsupported setup. MO should always be installed outside the game folder or issues will occur. The next thing to check for is Root mods which have source code included. A lot of mods will come with an 'src' folder, which contains source code, this usually adds a large number of files that are simply not needed for the mod to work. Once you identify the files causing the issue, you can delete them or add them to the exclusions setting in Root Builder so that they are ignored.
Root Builder doesn't work with WINE or on OS X or Linux etc.
There's nothing I can do about this, it's a limitation of MO not being able to track when apps are running or when they close. You can disable autobuild in the Root Builder tools menu and use the manual Build/Clear tools and this may allow you to use Root Builder. You may also need to disable redirect in the settings as well if that is not working and add executables using the alternative method described in the documentation (run a build, add the exe from the game folder and then run a clear).
I am using USVFS or Link mode and something is not working.
These modes work for some setups and not for others. If you are having issues with them, switch back to copy mode and test with that. Copy mode is the only mode that is compatible with everything and there's a good chance that it's simply not possible for USVFS or Link mode to work with the given mod.
Root Builder isn't working with my non- TES/Fallout/Starfield(probably) game.
While Root Builder can work with other games, it is often quite slow. You will likely need to identify which folders inside the base game are folders you will not be modding and add them to Root Builder's exclusion setting. Link and USVFS modes will probably not work (although can be worth experimenting with). If the issue is just speed, and you cannot resolve it with the exclusions setting, the best answer I can give is to disable autobuild, run manual builds when you need to add new mods and then run a clear once when you're ready to close MO.
I still need help!
If you need help, or have suggestions and feature requests, the best place to check is the dedicated Discord server for my mods.
For Oblivion Remastered, add the following to Root Builder's exclusions: OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData OblivionRemastered\Content\Movies OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.pak OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.ucas OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.utoc
I follow the instructions and it seems to work. Now: I delete d2dx9_42.dll, tbb.dll, and tbbmalloc.dll from the game folder (primarily to keep this folder as "clean" as possible), but after playing, these same files appear in the game folder. Is this correct or am I doing something wrong?
Sounds like you let RB run a build before you deleted those files. You need to clear your backup and cache in RB, ensure the game folder is absolutely vanilla, then carry on.
Another problematic mod is No Grass in Objects. During the pre-cache grass generation the procedure goes CTD several times (it is a normal behavior indeed) and the game stops exiting back to MO2. This leads RootBuilder to clean up 'overwrite' deleting all the generated files by the precache process. An infinite loop begins (and never ends, by definition of 'infinite') and the generation keeps going over and over and over again.
While the infinite loop is an observed fact, the 'overwrite' deletion is a speculation of mine, actually.
A quick and dirty fix is to deactivate RootBuilder during the cache generation (and this could be little tricky if you have SKSE installed as a Root-packaged mod) and reactivate it when No Grass in Objects ends.
I'm not sure on the process for actual cache generation, but Root Builder shouldn't be able to delete anything from your overwrite folder, the process doesn't really have a step for doing that! The process is pretty simple;
On running an application through MO;
Backup the vanilla game files.
Copy all Root mod files into the game folder.
When the application closes;
Compare all files in the game folder to the backup.
New files are copied to the overwrite folder and deleted from the game folder.
Changed vanilla game files are copied to the overwrite folder and restored from the backup.
Changed mod files are copied back to their respective mod.
Having a rough look at the plugin's code, the problem is that it checks for certain files while the game isn't running and only in the game folder. So at some point it's probably done generating the cache, but this'll happen;
Grass Precacher launches the game
Root Builder builds, copying files to the game folder.
Cache starts generating.
The game crashes.
Root Builder clears, moving the generated files out of the game folder and into MO.
Grass Precacher checks for cache files in the game folder to check if it should re-launch the game.
Since Root Builder has moved those files to MO, Grass Precacher won't find them. So it'll re-launch the game.
Those files will be copied back to the game folder and (theoretically) Grass Precacher will continue generating the cache.
I don't know what the process is for Grass Precacher if there's already a generated file when it tries to run, but if the answer is 'do nothing' I would assume it's actually finished generating at some point, but it'll still re-launch the game indefinitely.
You do not need to disable root builder entirely to work around this, you just want autobuild to stop running, just do the following;
Open the Root Builder menu.
Uncheck 'autobuild'.
Run a build manually.
Run Grass Precacher.
Open the Root Builder menu.
Check 'autobuild'.
(optionally) Run a clear manually if you aren't planning on launching the game anytime soon.
Thanks for your quick and clear answer. I do not plan to rebuild cache anytime soon, it takes a lot of time. I'll check your suggested procedure 'very soon now'...
hi Kezyma i have similar concern with Gaznevada initially i want to stop the root builder temporarily but I follow your procedure i just uncheck the autobuild. But when i want to re-check the autobuild (step 6), the option is greyed out (all other option also grey out). Kindly need your advice
You cannot change RB settings while a build is already in place, as those settings are needed to clear the build. If you clear, you'll be able to change the settings before building again.
What is the format of the exclusions ? i want to exclude the all new files created in the Tools directory, use format like this Data\Tools\*, Data\Tools and Data/Tools/* but it doesn't works, the new logs files created by some tools are reside in the overwrite (not the files generated by the tools which supposedly go to overwrite or mod we specified but several log files).
Notes, i have installed the tools as normal not as a mod. I also have been delete the cache & backup, run (click) build button.
Data\Tools will exclude the entire folder. Data\Tools\**.* should exclude all files in the folder.
Exclusions are glob patterns by default, so you can look up how they work and test them yourself! There's also regex patterns available if given the prefix r:
can i stop temporarily root builder, i want to update the structure of my game folder or is this not possible (the root builder save the structure / state when the first time installation, every change of the game folder after this will go to overwrite) ?
Hey! I'm having a spot of bother and was wondering if anyone could help.
Set up Root Builder as per instructions for New Vegas, but for some reason, MCM does not detect NVSE and refuses to show in-game. I am also missing the NVSE Icon on the main menu despite the console saying it's fully activated, so I can only assume there must be some correlation there. If anyone can help, I would be most grateful!
what could be making a starfield clear take 1-2 minutes? I've added nearly everything to the exclusions AND i'm even testing with 0 root mods. Root builder just by itself takes so long to clear
This is the part is hangs on: [RootBuilder] Build exists, updating mod files.
Lots of root files or large root files, usually means it's checking something big for changes, or trying to check a lot of stuff for changes. Take a look at the backup/cache, and next time you build, before it clears, go check the BuildData.json in the plugin data and see if there's anything there that might be causing it.
Might be a noob question but what's the difference between setting the SFSE path to the game folder (Ex. K:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Starfield\sfse_loader.exe) vs the mod folder (Ex. K:\MO2\Starfield\mods\Starfield Script Extender (SFSE)\root\sfse_loader.exe)
Both work and I've been distributing my modlist with the path pointing to their game folder this whole time but I just rewatched your video and saw that you set the path to the virtual folder's script extender
I can't get F4SE to load F4SE plugins if I make the path to the F4SE mod Root folder (as shown in the video) - using MO2 - GOG version with -forcesteamloader argument as required. Game will run, but no F4SE plugins will load. ----- I can if I make the path to the actual Game folder - even though the files are in the F4SE mod Root folder. -----
Did you work it out mate? Having the same problem with the GOG/ MO2 set up. Even MO2 won't load them natively either. The only option is putting them into the Base Game folder.
Using with Oblivion Remastered in MO2 and everything is working fine, but I'm weirdly having constant cmd pop-ups. I cant seem to figure out what it is, something ue4ss or this, or something else.
837 comments
- Root Builder isn't showing up in the tools menu or MO is throwing an error when launched.
The most likely cause is that it wasn't installed properly. The first folder in the zip (just a single folder called 'rootbuilder') needs to be directly extracted into the plugins folder. If you extract the contents of the folder into plugins ('rootbuilder','shared' and '__init__.py') then it'll break MO.To fix this you will need to take a fresh copy of __init__.py from a clean MO install and replace the one in the plugins folder and then install Root Builder again properly.Remove the __init__.py that was added, and the two folders and try installing again.If this is not the issue, check that you have a newer version of MO. The minimum supported version is 2.4.*, if you have 2.3.* then Root Builder will not work.
- Root mods aren't being copied to the game folder or launching SKSE throws an error that it cannot find SkyrimSE.exe
This is usually a result of having a 'Data' folder inside a 'Root' folder. You should place the contents of any 'Data' folder alongside the 'Root' folder in a mod and not inside the 'Root' folder itself. If a Root mod has a 'Data' folder inside the 'Root' folder, the mod will be skipped entirely by Root Builder.Example:
INCORRECT:
\Root\SomeDll.dll
CORRECT:\Root\SomeIni.ini
\Root\Data\SomePlugin.esp
\Root\Data\SKSE\SomeScript.py
\Root\SomeDll.dll\Root\SomeIni.ini
SomePlugin.esp
\SKSE\SomeScript.py
If this is not the problem, there is another issue on the MO side of things that occasionally causes problems. What happens is that when running some tools through MO, when they exit, MO doesn't pick up on them closing and doesn't tell Root Builder to clear up, which means a flag in Root Builder is never set and causes autobuild to stop working.The workaround for this is to manually use the Build/Clear in the tools menu or to restart MO. When MO is next launched, the issue will be resolved.
- Building/Clearing is incredibly slow or causes MO to crash.
This is caused by having a large number of files or a very large file being managed by Root Builder.The first thing to make sure of is that MO is NOT installed inside the game folder, this is an unsupported setup. MO should always be installed outside the game folder or issues will occur.
The next thing to check for is Root mods which have source code included. A lot of mods will come with an 'src' folder, which contains source code, this usually adds a large number of files that are simply not needed for the mod to work.
Once you identify the files causing the issue, you can delete them or add them to the exclusions setting in Root Builder so that they are ignored.
- Root Builder doesn't work with WINE or on OS X or Linux etc.
There's nothing I can do about this, it's a limitation of MO not being able to track when apps are running or when they close.You can disable autobuild in the Root Builder tools menu and use the manual Build/Clear tools and this may allow you to use Root Builder. You may also need to disable redirect in the settings as well if that is not working and add executables using the alternative method described in the documentation (run a build, add the exe from the game folder and then run a clear).
- I am using USVFS or Link mode and something is not working.
These modes work for some setups and not for others. If you are having issues with them, switch back to copy mode and test with that. Copy mode is the only mode that is compatible with everything and there's a good chance that it's simply not possible for USVFS or Link mode to work with the given mod.
- Root Builder isn't working with my non- TES/Fallout/Starfield(probably) game.
While Root Builder can work with other games, it is often quite slow. You will likely need to identify which folders inside the base game are folders you will not be modding and add them to Root Builder's exclusion setting. Link and USVFS modes will probably not work (although can be worth experimenting with).If the issue is just speed, and you cannot resolve it with the exclusions setting, the best answer I can give is to disable autobuild, run manual builds when you need to add new mods and then run a clear once when you're ready to close MO.
- I still need help!
If you need help, or have suggestions and feature requests, the best place to check is the dedicated Discord server for my mods.OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvDataOblivionRemastered\Content\Movies
OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.pak
OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.ucas
OblivionRemastered\Content\Paks\OblivionRemastered-Windows.utoc
When to upgrade to support the new version MO v2.5.2 ??
I follow the instructions and it seems to work. Now:
I delete d2dx9_42.dll, tbb.dll, and tbbmalloc.dll from the game folder (primarily to keep this folder as "clean" as possible), but after playing, these same files appear in the game folder.
Is this correct or am I doing something wrong?
now it just appears d2dx9_42.log
thanks...
Another problematic mod is No Grass in Objects. During the pre-cache grass generation the procedure goes CTD several times (it is a normal behavior indeed) and the game stops exiting back to MO2. This leads RootBuilder to clean up 'overwrite' deleting all the generated files by the precache process. An infinite loop begins (and never ends, by definition of 'infinite') and the generation keeps going over and over and over again.
While the infinite loop is an observed fact, the 'overwrite' deletion is a speculation of mine, actually.
A quick and dirty fix is to deactivate RootBuilder during the cache generation (and this could be little tricky if you have SKSE installed as a Root-packaged mod) and reactivate it when No Grass in Objects ends.
Just to report another little glitch.
Regards,
Having a rough look at the plugin's code, the problem is that it checks for certain files while the game isn't running and only in the game folder. So at some point it's probably done generating the cache, but this'll happen;
- Grass Precacher launches the game
- Root Builder builds, copying files to the game folder.
- Cache starts generating.
- The game crashes.
- Root Builder clears, moving the generated files out of the game folder and into MO.
- Grass Precacher checks for cache files in the game folder to check if it should re-launch the game.
- Since Root Builder has moved those files to MO, Grass Precacher won't find them. So it'll re-launch the game.
- Those files will be copied back to the game folder and (theoretically) Grass Precacher will continue generating the cache.
I don't know what the process is for Grass Precacher if there's already a generated file when it tries to run, but if the answer is 'do nothing' I would assume it's actually finished generating at some point, but it'll still re-launch the game indefinitely.You do not need to disable root builder entirely to work around this, you just want autobuild to stop running, just do the following;
Regards,
i have similar concern with Gaznevada initially i want to stop the root builder temporarily but I follow your procedure i just uncheck the autobuild. But when i want to re-check the autobuild (step 6), the option is greyed out (all other option also grey out). Kindly need your advice
RB greyed out
Data\Tools and Data/Tools/* but it doesn't works, the new logs files created by some tools are reside in the overwrite (not the files generated by the tools which supposedly go to overwrite or mod we specified but several log files).
Notes, i have installed the tools as normal not as a mod. I also have been delete the cache & backup, run (click) build button.
Data\Tools\**.* should exclude all files in the folder.
Exclusions are glob patterns by default, so you can look up how they work and test them yourself! There's also regex patterns available if given the prefix r:
Can i do this ?
can i stop temporarily root builder, i want to update / modify the structure of my game folder manually or is this not possible?
Set up Root Builder as per instructions for New Vegas, but for some reason, MCM does not detect NVSE and refuses to show in-game. I am also missing the NVSE Icon on the main menu despite the console saying it's fully activated, so I can only assume there must be some correlation there. If anyone can help, I would be most grateful!
-Win64
-Win64
the content should have been merged. but somehow it split into 2 like this? how is this even possible
Fallout 4 version 1.10.163
- Vanilla
- Fallout: London
Fallout 4 version 1.10.984This is the part is hangs on:
[RootBuilder] Build exists, updating mod files.
Both work and I've been distributing my modlist with the path pointing to their game folder this whole time but I just rewatched your video and saw that you set the path to the virtual folder's script extender
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I can if I make the path to the actual Game folder - even though the files are in the F4SE mod Root folder.
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