I used to know how but that was a long time ago, and now every forum I find on the subject has been deleted. I know it's a stupid question but I can't find the answer so - how do I merge two .esp files?

This http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1044545-team-work-flow-for-geck-modders/page__hl__merge has a lot of dirt about merging.

Get a copy of FO3 Plugin http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5104 it is the easiest and fastest way. simply load up an esp go to merge plugins select the other esps you want, hit merge and save. Done and Done. :celebration:

Ow... reading that tread was starting to make my head hurt. Very informative, and I got a hint at what to do but now I know ABOUT merging plugins, but still don't know exactly HOW to merge plugins.

PKleiss quoted part of Miax's guide which was helpful, but it only got as far as selecting everything in FO3Edit and hitting "Deep copy as override into ..." but that's where it stopped, and when I tried downloading Miax's guide, they were all set to "hidden" on Nexus and wouldn't let me see them.

Anyways, this is getting much more complicated than it needs to be. I'm going to try CevSteel's advice.

And now, this.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m315/Kaileo/Fallout%203/FO3Pluginerror.jpg

I opened one .esp, then clicked "Merge Plugins" and selected the other (in no particular order) and hit save.

I still don't get it, but I hit Save As this time and deleted the 2 old .esps I merged. It worked fine.

That seems very strange to me - I just checked the settings and its open, people are downloading and commenting on it just days ago. I recommend trying again, and if you still can get it I'll put the guide up on another site for you to grab.

Miax