From 492b32bf3d4410a7dab629315e0ebd8f9346f6b4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SulfurNitride <SulfurNitride@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 8 May 2026 17:33:14 -0500
Subject: profile: guard plugins.txt sync against crash-time rewrites
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Bethesda's engine rewrites Plugins.txt as part of its shutdown sequence.
On a clean exit it preserves the active set; on a crash it can serialize
a partially cleared set — every plugin name still listed, but most
without their leading '*'. The previous syncPluginsBack code copied that
file back to the profile faithfully, after which refreshESPList +
savePluginList re-derived state and persisted the broken active list.
NSPBR observed this as 1170 active plugins collapsing to 54.

Two independent guards:

- afterRun() now skips the post-launch sync when exitCode != 0. Non-zero
  is a strong "do not trust the prefix file" signal.
- syncPluginsBack() compares starred-line counts in candidate vs profile.
  Refuses the copy when the candidate would drop the active count by
  more than 30% relative AND more than 10 plugins absolute. Belt and
  suspenders for cases where the engine catches its own crash and
  exits 0 anyway.

Both guards apply regardless of the VFS bridge state and protect every
launch on every modlist.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 src/src/organizercore.cpp | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
 src/src/wineprefix.cpp    | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 65 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/src/organizercore.cpp b/src/src/organizercore.cpp
index 449ff75..a6cbd12 100644
--- a/src/src/organizercore.cpp
+++ b/src/src/organizercore.cpp
@@ -2879,7 +2879,24 @@ void OrganizerCore::afterRun(const QFileInfo& binary, DWORD exitCode)
           break;
         }
         const QString profilePluginsPath = m_CurrentProfile->getPluginsFileName();
-        if (!prefix.syncPluginsBack(profilePluginsPath, dataDirName, wineMech)) {
+        // Only sync the prefix Plugins.txt back to the profile when the game
+        // exited cleanly. Bethesda's engine rewrites Plugins.txt as part of
+        // its shutdown sequence, and on a crash it can serialize a partially
+        // cleared "active" set (file lists every plugin but only a handful
+        // still carry the leading '*'). Trusting that file would propagate
+        // the damage into the profile via refreshESPList + savePluginList.
+        // A non-zero exit code is a strong "do not trust the prefix file"
+        // signal. The active-count guard inside syncPluginsBack is a
+        // belt-and-suspenders backstop for cases where the engine catches
+        // its own crash and exits 0 anyway.
+        if (exitCode != 0) {
+          log::warn(
+              "Skipping plugins.txt sync-back: game exited with code {} "
+              "(non-zero / abnormal). Prefix Plugins.txt may have been "
+              "rewritten with a crash-time active set; profile preserved.",
+              exitCode);
+        } else if (!prefix.syncPluginsBack(profilePluginsPath, dataDirName,
+                                            wineMech)) {
           log::warn("Failed to sync plugins.txt back from prefix '{}'",
                     prefixPathStr);
         }
diff --git a/src/src/wineprefix.cpp b/src/src/wineprefix.cpp
index 09ab825..4651cef 100644
--- a/src/src/wineprefix.cpp
+++ b/src/src/wineprefix.cpp
@@ -663,6 +663,53 @@ bool WinePrefix::syncPluginsBack(const QString& profilePluginsPath,
     }
   }
 
+  // Active-plugin count guard.  Bethesda games rewrite Plugins.txt as part
+  // of normal shutdown, but on a crash (e.g. a buggy SKSE plugin going down
+  // mid-frame) the engine can write the file with the active set partially
+  // cleared — every plugin name still listed, but most without their leading
+  // '*'.  A naive copy-back propagates that damage into the profile, where
+  // refreshESPList re-derives state from disk and savePluginList persists
+  // the broken active list.  External edits (LOOT reordering) never drop the
+  // active count materially, so a large drop is a strong signal that this
+  // is a crash artifact, not a legitimate user-edit.  Refuse the copy in
+  // that case and let the profile's existing list stand.
+  auto countStarredLines = [](const QString& path) -> int {
+    QFile f(path);
+    if (!f.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly)) {
+      return -1;
+    }
+    int count = 0;
+    while (!f.atEnd()) {
+      const QByteArray line = f.readLine();
+      // Skip leading whitespace to be tolerant of formatting quirks.
+      int i = 0;
+      while (i < line.size() &&
+             (line[i] == ' ' || line[i] == '\t')) {
+        ++i;
+      }
+      if (i < line.size() && line[i] == '*') {
+        ++count;
+      }
+    }
+    return count;
+  };
+
+  const int profileStars = countStarredLines(profilePluginsPath);
+  const int candidateStars = countStarredLines(newest);
+  if (profileStars > 10 && candidateStars >= 0) {
+    const int absDrop = profileStars - candidateStars;
+    const double relDrop =
+        static_cast<double>(absDrop) / static_cast<double>(profileStars);
+    if (absDrop > 10 && relDrop > 0.30) {
+      MOBase::log::warn(
+          "syncPluginsBack: refusing copy — active plugin count would drop "
+          "from {} to {} ({:.0f}% loss). Likely a game-crash artifact, not "
+          "a real edit. Profile preserved; prefix file left in place at '{}'.",
+          profileStars, candidateStars, relDrop * 100.0, newest);
+      return true;
+    }
+  }
+
   MOBase::log::info("syncPluginsBack: '{}' <- '{}'", profilePluginsPath, newest);
   if (!copyFileWithParents(newest, profilePluginsPath)) {
     MOBase::log::error("syncPluginsBack: failed to copy plugins.txt back to '{}'",
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