XCIM Data not properly loaded in Cell/ICellGetter

[JunaMeinhold]

Hello,
I tried gathering all Landscape records for a certain mod and then the winning records to merge them later and encountered multiple issues:

• IModContext<ICellGetter>.ImageSpace always null.
• IModContext<ICellGetter>.ModKey of the winning Record the is “Northern Roads.esp”, but expected is “Northern Roads - Lux patch.esp” (See image).
• Lux.esp is not showing up in the LoadOrder, despite being present in the RawLoadOrder
• A huge deviation between RawLoadOrder and LoadOrder in count (raw 726 vs 170)

Test bench: (Simplified version of Program.cs)

public static void RunPatch(IPatcherState<ISkyrimMod, ISkyrimModGetter> state)
{
    state.LinkCache.Warmup<Landscape>();
    state.LinkCache.Warmup<Worldspace>();

    foreach (var winningRecord in state.LinkCache.AllIdentifiers<Landscape>())
    {
        var winner = state.LinkCache.ResolveSimpleContext<ILandscapeGetter>(winningRecord.FormKey);

        ICellGetter? winnerCellGetter = (ICellGetter?)winner.Parent?.Record;
        if (winnerCellGetter == null)
            continue;
        IWorldspaceSubBlockGetter? subBlockGetter = (IWorldspaceSubBlockGetter?)winner.Parent?.Parent?.Record;
        if (subBlockGetter == null)
            continue;
        IWorldspaceBlockGetter? blockGetter = (IWorldspaceBlockGetter?)winner.Parent?.Parent?.Parent?.Record;
        if (blockGetter == null)
            continue;
        IWorldspaceGetter? worldspaceGetter = (IWorldspaceGetter?)winner.Parent?.Parent?.Parent?.Parent?.Record;
        if (worldspaceGetter == null)
            continue;

        worldspaceGetter = state.LinkCache.ResolveSimpleContext<IWorldspaceGetter>(worldspaceGetter.FormKey).Record ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"IWorldspaceGetter is null {worldspaceGetter.FormKey}");

        if (worldspaceGetter.Name!.String == "Blackreach")
        {
            if (blockGetter.BlockNumberX == 0 && blockGetter.BlockNumberX == 0)
            {
                if (subBlockGetter.BlockNumberX == 0 && subBlockGetter.BlockNumberX == 0)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(winnerCellGetter.ImageSpace); // always null
                    Console.WriteLine(winner.ModKey); // "Northern Roads.esp" but should be "Northern Roads - Lux patch.esp"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Source code:
https://github.com/JunaMeinhold/NorthernRoadsPatcher

What the patcher does:
It tries to forward Landscape data from Northern Roads (and any patch with the name in it) to prevent Terrain holes when other mods overwrite it.

Load Order/Mods details:
Mods installed: 939
Plugins: Active 160, Light: 563
My Load Order: https://github.com/JunaMeinhold/NorthernRoadsPatcher/blob/testbench/NorthernRoadsPatcher/loadorder.txt
If you need the full mod list just ask and i make a collection on nexus.

Best regards
Juna

[Noggog]

Heya Juna!
Sorry for the long delay. Got pretty far behind on modding upkeep the past month or two.

Null Imagespaces

IModContext.ImageSpace always null

I think the field is working fine, but probably other issues are what's causing it to be null when you don't think it should be.

For ex, running this code on stock skyrim:

foreach (var cellContext in state.LoadOrder.PriorityOrder.Cell().WinningContextOverrides(state.LinkCache))
{
    if (!cellContext.Record.ImageSpace.IsNull)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"{cellContext.Record} had image space {cellContext.Record.ImageSpace}");
    }
}

yields

Skyrim.Cell 015518:Skyrim.esm had image space 01560E:Skyrim.esm
Skyrim.Cell 0C97F8:Skyrim.esm had image space 01560E:Skyrim.esm
Skyrim.Cell 01552C:Skyrim.esm had image space 01560E:Skyrim.esm
Skyrim.Cell 01552D:Skyrim.esm had image space 01560E:Skyrim.esm
Skyrim.Cell 0C97F9:Skyrim.esm had image space 01560E:Skyrim.esm
...

I believe the field itself is working as intended and able to parse the subrecord when present.

Load Order Missing Some Mods

IModContext.ModKey of the winning Record the is “Northern Roads.esp”, but expected is “Northern Roads - Lux patch.esp” (See image).
Lux.esp is not showing up in the LoadOrder, despite being present in the RawLoadOrder

The mods not showing up on the LO is likely the root issue for the image space results you're seeing. You're seeing null image spaces because they're null on Northern Roads and earlier in the LO, which is what synthesis is reading from.

Synthesis will trim the LO past itself, as described in these docs. But your LO seems to be appropriate, where synth is at the end, and so shouldn't be trimming for that reason.

We would need to dive into specifics a bit more to diagnose why your synthesis is not running against your full LO.

• How are you running it? Via Visual Studio directly? As a Solution Patcher? As a Github Patcher?
• I assume it's being run through Mo2
• What do the logs print as the LO they're running with? The full list should be printed when you run.

Here is the code that creates the difference between the raw load order and the used load order
https://github.com/Mutagen-Modding/Synthesis/blob/44fadc615d0e05e65cc2327c3d6516bd3295290f/Mutagen.Bethesda.Synthesis/States/GetStateLoadOrder.cs#L97

• Trims anything after the outgoing patch mod (Synthesis.esp)
• Adds any implicit masters not on the LO but implicitly referenced by mods that are
• Removes disabled mods

So, the only way I could see lots of mods being not included is if they were after Synthesis.esp, or if they weren't enabled.
What is the raw plugins.txt that MO2 is giving synthesis?

Can you upload the raw logs somewhere? Will be helpful diagnosing some of this.

Feel free to swing by the discord if you want to chat more directly!

[Noggog]

Unrelated to the core issue, but I think your code snippet can utilize some convenience calls that exist in mutagen to make the logic simpler.

foreach (var landscapeContext in state.LoadOrder.PriorityOrder.Landscape().WinningContextOverrides(state.LinkCache))
{
    if (!landscapeContext.TryGetParentContext<ICell, ICellGetter>(out var parentCell)) continue;
    if (!landscapeContext.TryGetParentContext<IWorldspaceSubBlock, IWorldspaceSubBlockGetter>(out var subBlock)) continue;
    if (!landscapeContext.TryGetParentContext<IWorldspaceBlock, IWorldspaceBlockGetter>(out var block)) continue;
    if (!landscapeContext.TryGetParentContext<IWorldspace, IWorldspaceGetter>(out var worldspace)) continue;

    if (worldspace.Record.Name?.String == "Blackreach")
    {
        if (block.Record.BlockNumberX == 0 && block.Record.BlockNumberX == 0)
        {
            if (subBlock.Record.BlockNumberX == 0 && subBlock.Record.BlockNumberX == 0)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(parentCell.Record.ImageSpace); // always null
                Console.WriteLine(landscapeContext.ModKey); // "Northern Roads.esp" but should be "Northern Roads - Lux patch.esp"
            }
        }
    }
}

Some links
https://mutagen-modding.github.io/Mutagen/Big-Cheat-Sheet/#__tabbed_5_2
https://mutagen-modding.github.io/Mutagen/linkcache/ModContexts/#containing-modkey

Additionally, this line is a bit dangerous: (threw an exception for me when running)
if (worldspaceGetter.Name!.String == "Blackreach")

The ! symbol means it assumes the name will exist. This won't be true for some worldspaces that might not have a name, at which point you'll get a NullReferenceException. Usually you want to use ? instead, which will do a null check and only access .String if it's not null. Otherwise it'll return null itself, which will naturally not match "Blackrock" without throwing any exceptions.

[JunaMeinhold]

Hi,

No worries about the delay!

I'm still stuck with Vortex T^T and can't move forward because my current mod load order is over 900 mods and moving would be a nightmare.

Here are the details for reference:

• plugin.txt from AppData/Local
• Logs of the patcher
• plugin.txt from Synthesis workspace

I’m using the GitHub version of the tool and running it through Vortex. In Synthesis, I’ve set the local solution path. I also tried disabling all other patchers, but the issue still happens.

Regarding the nullable stuff and related details, I know it's just part of the test setup. The full code is a bit more complex — you can check it out here: NorthernRoadsPatcher Program.cs.