Commonwealth-Online/Commonwealth-Online-Public

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T

andrew aefeb8b51f Add Papyrus build and staging

Compile active Papyrus scripts during build and deploy flows, stage compiled `.pex` and source `.psc` files into the mod package, and update setup/dev docs plus changelog for the new workflow.

2026-06-28 22:09:00 +12:00

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Development Setup

Required Tools

Fallout 4 on PC
Fallout 4 Script Extender, F4SE
Fallout 4 Creation Kit, including the Papyrus compiler
Visual Studio 2022 or newer
Git
CMake or another build system required by the selected plugin template
Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex

Recommended Fallout 4 Setup

Use a clean test profile.

Recommended:

Fallout 4
F4SE
Commonwealth Online test plugin
No other gameplay mods
Dedicated test save

Avoid testing with a full modlist while developing the core systems.

Do not deploy a patched Interface/MainMenu.swf. Commonwealth Online injects the Multiplayer row at runtime via the F4SE plugin. Use vanilla MainMenu.swf or no loose override. See MainMenu_Button_Injection_Guide.md (full how-to) and MainMenu_Injection.md (project-specific notes).

Version Tracking

Record the exact versions used:

Fallout 4 version:
F4SE version:
Creation Kit version:
CommonLibF4 template:
Windows version:
Compiler version:

Git Submodules

After cloning, initialize vendored dependencies:

git submodule update --init --recursive

This includes:

ThirdParty/framework-F4-Conversion — PrismaUI_F4 HTML overlay framework
ThirdParty/Ultralight-SDK — Ultralight SDK (Windows branch) for PrismaUI_F4 builds
ThirdParty/GameNetworkingSockets-src — networking library
ThirdParty/xbyak — assembler dependency

build-prismaui.bat links the Ultralight SDK submodule into the PrismaUI build tree automatically. Override the SDK location with ULTRALIGHT_SDK_PATH if needed.

Build and Install

From the repository root:

build-all.bat

This builds the plugin, PrismaUI_F4, compiles active Papyrus sources from creation-kit/scripts/source into creation-kit/scripts/compiled, and stages a complete mod package into build/Fallout 4/Data at the repo root. The build step does not copy files into the real Fallout 4 install. Reference-only CoSync*.psc files are skipped. If a Papyrus script fails to compile, build-all.bat still stages the repo build folder for inspection, then exits with an error so the failed script is not missed.

build-all.bat uses the same Fallout 4 path resolver as deploy-all.bat: it accepts an explicit path, checks FALLOUT4_PATH, uses the saved .fallout4-path, checks common Steam install paths, and prompts/saves the path when needed. You can also pass the game path explicitly:

build-all.bat "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Fallout 4"

build/
└─ Fallout 4/
   └─ Data/
      ├─ CommonwealthOnline.esp
      ├─ CommonwealthOnline_Vault109.esp
      ├─ F4SE/
      │  └─ Plugins/
      │     ├─ CommonwealthOnline.dll
      │     └─ PrismaUI_F4.dll
      ├─ Materials/       (from creation-kit/assets)
      ├─ Meshes/          (from creation-kit/assets)
      ├─ Textures/        (from creation-kit/assets)
      ├─ Scripts/
      │  ├─ *.pex         (compiled from creation-kit/scripts/source)
      │  └─ Source/
      │     └─ User/
      │        └─ *.psc   (from creation-kit/scripts/source)
      └─ PrismaUI_F4/
         ├─ libs/          (Ultralight runtime DLLs)
         ├─ resources/     (Ultralight assets)
         ├─ misc/
         │  └─ cursor.png
         └─ views/
            └─ CommonwealthOnline/
               └─ browser/
                  └─ index.html

Merge build\Fallout 4 into your game install directory, or copy the contents of build\Fallout 4\Data into Data\. Mod managers can point at build\Fallout 4 as the mod root.

To install directly into a Fallout 4 install:

deploy-all.bat
deploy-all.bat "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Fallout 4"

deploy-all.bat resolves the Fallout 4 install path, compiles Papyrus scripts, re-stages build/Fallout 4/Data, then copies that staged repo build into the game's Data folder. On first use it prompts for the install path and saves it in .fallout4-path (gitignored).

Individual steps:

build.bat              REM CommonwealthOnline.dll only
build-prismaui.bat     REM PrismaUI_F4.dll only
compile-papyrus.bat    REM Papyrus .psc to .pex only
stage-mod.bat          REM assemble build/ from existing DLL outputs
deploy-ui.bat          REM HTML views only (requires PrismaUI_F4 installed separately)

See also plugin/setup.md for plugin-specific build notes.

Folder Notes

Do not copy Fallout 4 game files into this repository.

Do not copy F4SE binaries into this repository.

Use the plugin/external/README.md file to document where external dependencies should be installed.

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