Conflict Resolution for CK3

[Woedenaz]

Conflicting files is a HUGE issue when modding Crusader Kings 3. Many, many mods interact and conflict with each other by editing the same common files. As it is right now, the only way to really deal with this is to manipulate the load order and/or use difference comparison tools manually to find out what parts of each mod to keep.

This is particularly common for UI-based mods and results in a lot of broken UI elements when trying to merge even with careful usage of load orders.

It would be very nice if the conflict resolution currently implemented only for Stellaris could be used on Crusader Kings 3 as well. I'm not entirely sure if this has been requested or touched on before but it would make modding significantly less headache inducing.

As of right now, I'm just using VSCode to open the two files and using the comparison feature to manually create merged files. I then put these merged files into a personal mod folder to be loaded last (so a compatibility patch, essentially.)

I would quite literally throw money at someone to make it so this can be done in a simpler, less labor-intensive manner.

[bcssov]

Just to put out a disclaimer: I am not familiar with any PDX games aside Stellaris.

Now, Conflict Solver has never been requested so far for any other game. I've tried expanding on Conflict Solver support by testing the waters of HOI4 community, I failed to find any interest. Some of my friends who play EU4 and HOI4 told me that there's not much to gain by adding a conflict solver for these games as most people play a bunch of overhaul mods...

I don't own CK3 but a friend does so I could borrow his game to run some unit tests to see if there is any need to touch up on the paradox script parser that is used in Irony, so that's not an issue. The issue is however that I'd need something like this: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/Modding#Overwriting_Specific_Elements
Which I could use to define a set of rules for Irony to know when you resolve conflicts to either use a zzz or !!! prefix in filenames in order to create an override. If there's such a resource then it's relatively straightforward if not; then it's kind of a problem. If wrong naming pattern for element overrides is used this would mean that the override would not take any effect in game.
For stellaris there's the resource I mentioned and there are several modders who report additional stuff to me, so this is constantly expanded.

I'm willing to do it but I'll need the info I mentioned.

[Woedenaz]

My guess for why it hasn't been requested much, or at all, is likely due to how (relatively) new the game is. I know, personally, I'd find it immensely helpful.

Unfortunately, I am not sure I'm quite knowledgeable enough to find or offer you the information you need. I could possibly ask in the CK3 Modding Co-Op discord but you may have more luck doing so. It's very possible the resources you need exist and I'm just not aware of them!

[bcssov]

I just scoured the modding wiki a bit. Doesn't seem like the information I need is available.

[Woedenaz]

I am far from the expert on this, but I'd venture to say that list for Stellaris is, at least, very close to how CK3 functions as well.

I posted this request on the CK3 Modding Co-Op and hopefully someone with more experience than myself can give you the information you need. I appreciate your quick responses!

[bcssov]

Stellaris and CK3 don't have the same structure for common folder. I suppose event overriding works in the same way, interfaces and localizations. Stellaris has about dozen folders in common directory which are FIOS. On top of that there are several folders which are treated in a specialized manner due to duplicate items.

By this I mean that certain items when duplicated and overwritten in different filenames actually causes the game to go berserk. For example stuff like buildings in Stellaris, if you don't override them in the same file (as in using same filename) they vanish from the game (I believe this is how it manifests in the game). In order to fix that Irony uses a hack to create zero byte file overwrites and then dumps all buildings in separate files in its own patch to circumvent this particular issue. I'm guessing down the line CK3 will have similar problems if this ever gets implemented.

[Stryder24]

Conflict detection and resolution for CK3 would be a terrific addition to this tool!

[bcssov]

There's no documentation available for me to implement this feature.

[Woedenaz]

I was mulling this over and I had an idea for a possible soft substitute for this!

I know real conflict resolution is likely not going to happen unless a list like the Stellaris was created. However, what would be very helpful in the interim is something that indicates on merging which file came from which mod. Like a comment inserted at the top of each file or something actually in Irony that indicates where each file came from.

It's not perfect but it'd help a fair bit in figuring out when specific files are being overwritten, at least, and save some time with having to sift through mod files. Would this be possible?

[bcssov]

You're basically wanting a readonly mode for conflict solver if I'm understanding correctly? Since I don't own CK3. How do mod conflicts look like in that game? Do people overwrite specific elements or whole files?

By specific element I mean that let's say you've got in events folder a large file which has a many events like let's say:
event.1
event.2
event.3
event.4
event.5

Then do mods overwrite this whole file which contains all of these events 1-5. Or do they create a separate file which contains only event.2 for example to overwrite?

It's kinda sad to see that only Stellaris community takes the time to document such important modding information.

I'm not sure if you've seen what actually Irony's conflict solver for stellaris does? Irony is able to break down the example file like I mentioned event 1-5 into individual elements and then create single overwrites only without altering a whole file.

I did however in v1.19 RC implement a new type of override which actually merges many different elements into a single file (this could be useful for CK3). Though I'd still need data on how CK3 operates at least. The trick here is that Irony writes zero byte files thus invalidating other mods and then forcing the game to use it's own override.

[Woedenaz]

From what I've seen, for events at least, Modders will overwrite the entire file if they're modifying already existing events. They'll make new files/folders if they're making new Events, though.

Unfortunately, I'm really not the person that could or should be telling you, though. I'm very, very amateur at modding and I'm not even close to the expert in this. I can really only speak from what I've seen digging around other, more experienced Modders' files.

Like, for instance, the Way of the Kings mod, made by Tobbzn who is one of the more experienced modders that I'm aware of, seems to completely overwrite existing event files while also making his own events. However, everything in /common seems to be fairly free game in terms of being able to modify existing items in files without needing to copy the entire file wholesale.

Honestly, though, I could be completely wrong so please don't take my word for it. I agree that I wish a similar resource existed for CK3 as well! Perhaps it's because the modding community is still relatively new? But I'm not sure.

[bcssov]

This mod seems like a total overhaul mod so it's not a good criteria to judge the modding practices for me. Seems like insight from a CK3 modder is needed here.

I can't say what's the reason for the lack of documentation, it is true however that Stellaris is the only one that seems to have this sort of documentation.

[Woedenaz]

How would one go about making that sort of documentation? Is it just a trial and error sort of thing?