Yes you can. But first you need to rename the file, as it will always output the merged file as Merged File.esp so it will overwrite any previous merged file if you didn't first rename it.

What I have done is made a chest(called the Ultra Vendor Chest) with a lot of encumberance set to it respawn and make one for every vendor in the game from that chest(with different IDs), then I make clipboards of equipment mods with nothing but the stuff I want to buy, merge the clipboards to that chest mod and the result is a long list of items that I can buy form vendors all around Cyrodiil. And I update this from time to time when I see stuff I like that is not placed in the game to my taste.

It's pretty easy to combine the armor/weapon esps as they''re so small in size. It's the textures and meshes that make most of the download.

But unless you use them by dispersing them, they're just glut. I went through every downloadable armor/weapon mod searching only for those that weren't "give aways". The result was a pitiful 100 or so out of about 1500. However, I only found ONE out of all of that containing texture mistakes that I just couldn't fix, Ice Daedric armor.

However, I just didn't want to use them. The FCOM setup adds so many that it's hard to even manage my menu with 4 different holding bags. I picked out only 1, Dreadweave, that I liked. It's just not my bag. I only went about collecting the mods as I'm trying to just gain knowledge. I'm pretty good at finding particular mods. Especially for tweaks and miscellanious.

Tweaks and Miscellanious are filled with countless mods that are useful and NOT cheats. They ,too, are very good for merging.

Small quests are also good for this. However, you might just end up with too much to do and too little time. I'm disabled and have more time than you can imagine to play.

I've thought seriously about building a page to tweaks and miscellanious, but only those "gems" that get little attention. Wondrous Inventory, for example, is the greatest bag mod out there. I think me and one other person has commented on it at the Nexus site. Alendrial's Portable Library, which holds every scrap of paper, book, scroll, ..everything, is the same way. I merged them with the other bag mods into one esp that's available for download but mostly to get them attention as I point "Go to the mod in questions page and give them their due and not me".

The thing is, people are afraid of using the Gecko. I've often thought about making more and more "mergers" available for download.

I've succeeded in merging some mods, especially tweak mods which after all wasn't so difficult but I still can't get those weapon/armor mods to work using leveled lists like OOO/FCOM... There is some info on the first page but I can't get my head around it. Any Tips? Anyone?

I'm sorry to double post, but I really would want to merge them in a leveled list and I can't figure it out on my own as it seems...

I don't know enough about that but if I had to guess I'd suggest putting a levelling Bash tag on it should disperse them. Don't quote me though as I may be wrong. The bash tag would look like this:

{{BASH:Delev,Relev}}

Put this on the mod description in Wrye Bash.

The question appears to be: can Gecko's merging do what Wrye Bash does with its magical bashed patch? So far, it seems Gecko cannot, or am I mistaken?

I know this is mostly a how-to thread but what I'd like to hear is success stories of people who have merged mods together and found no flaws - specifically many popular mods:
Duke Patrick
Unique Landscapes
P1D mods
magic overhauls

most reports here seem vague and I'm just wanting to know that others have done this successfully.

And I think it important to understand that many authors of mods may not want their mods merged; however, perhaps just an overall understanding that the warranty is void if merged - 'use at your risk' statement ... followed by "and I did and it was successful and here is what I merged ..."

It's funny, but I've actually merged everyone of those on your list,lol.

It works without flaw as long as you placed the mods correctly in the first place with the meshes, textures and the rest. ALso, when you have the "merged plugin.esp" it's best to name it after one fo the mods in it so that BOSS can auto sort it in correct load order.

You have to keep two things in mind:
1. Bash takes all loaded mods into account, Gecko only the ones you've selected.
2. Bash has import functions to handle specific differently. Gecko does not, is therefore a lot more "blunt" in combining.

Which can be a good thing, and which can be a bad thing. Example given let's say you've got one mod giving NPCs new eyes and hairs (let's call it NpcDiversity), another one giving them new face structures (let's call it TNR). Both edit the same Import category, therefore cannot be merged in Bash's bashed patch (last loaded wins). In Gecko though they are combined, because Gecko looks for each subcategory individually. But if you look at many mods editing leveled lists, which need to be combined in a quite elaborate way (let's call it FCOM), using Gecko's merging will result in mod soup. Or let's say you're running LAME, after that Supreme Magicka, and after that LAME's shaders. LAME's shaders are an import graphic mod, therefore doesn't overwrite SM when using Bash. Gecko although will take the whole magic effect settings, not only the visual ones, therefore would reinstitute LAME's settings.

Both Bash and Gecko are different tools, with different purposes. As a modder I can say I need both. Players most likely will only need Bash - Gecko is much more a modder's tool than a player's tool.
One of the three "big no"s of merging is to not merge mods that have files depending on them. All magic overhauls have. If you want to use any file depending on them, you'd have to merge all of them together. Which can be quite a task, and the more files there are, the more likely mod soup becomes.

Gecko merge is not quite the same as Bash merge. Gecko takes two plugins and literally fuses them into one.

Bash can take MANY plugins and fuse them into the Bashed Patch, but only under specific conditions, and Bash will tell you why it can't merge something.

Gecko does not care what kind of records there are, and so is ideal for merging plugins that do cell and worldspace edits. Gecko does have a limitation on what it can merge too though, although right now I can't think of an example.



Merging the ULs with Gecko should go pretty smoothly since they don't deal with the same space.

As far as success stories, the Open Cities package is a working example of Gecko in action. All of the "full" city packages are simply merges from the smaller individual city files. It works well and saves me tons of hassle.

I've also merged a few other small things into my own personal file. Things Bash wouldn't merge for whatever reason, leaving me to find other ways to cut active ESP count.

Hmm - ok well I'm not running into anything rash with this for sure.

What about merging patches into the mods they depend upon - such as UL patches into the UL mods themselves?

then it seems that there has to be a constant mapping of what the mods are called - or is it that you can get away with calling a merged mod by one of the mods that was merged. For instance if UL Bravil Barrowlands was merged with two of it's patches and then the final merged mod is named after the main UL mod so that any other patches that come along can still use it as a master?

I thought I once saw a post by Cthulu stating that merging the UL mods was a bad idea? He certainly didn't want a merged mod being circulated and I recall it had to do with the lack of uniformity amongst the UL modders in how they added things - that once combined might be problematic. still - I'd like to hear success stories regarding these things.

Hard to believe, now,m that 254 mods seems limiting - still many mods I have do very small things.

thanks all

Merging patches into the mods that need them is probably not a good idea. Usually those need a certain load order to work and the act of merging with the parent mod voids that. What you could probably do though is gather up all your patches and merge those, so long as they're all in one nice neat place. For me, I've thought about trying it just to see what comes of it since I've got a crapload of patches

It depends on the patches. If they have no dependencies, then as long as you merge in the required load order so that the patch has final priority, it'll be fine. I think Gecko has a Merge to Master option but I've never tried it. That might merge a patch dependent on only one other ESP together cleanly. But then you've got patches with multiple dependencies. Successfully merging that patch into one of its masters would make that master dependent on the patch's other master. If you're going to attempt this, be sure to merge the patch with the last-loading master prior to the patch itself.

Cthulhu has always said there are no plans to release a single ESP with all ULs merged, because there are more being created all the time and the UL team don't want the hassle of remerging each time there's a new UL or an update to an existing.
Cthulhu also does not want anyone else releasing a single merged ESP, but that doesn't prevent you from merging them all together for personal use.

So what about Unique landscapes? Can I merge all of those in a single one w/o problem? sorry but im a complete lackey to whats about merging and such.

See the post I made immediately above yours. Half an hour ago.

So again with the UL question -- If I merged all the ULs together then I really couldn't use the patches that patch the ULs with other mods - is that correct?

On the other hand -- if I merged the patches then they still will need the individual mods they depend upon to remain as they were.

Not all ULs have patches I need - only like 4 or 5 - so perhaps merging only those mods.

Any patch not dependent on the UL will not be broken by the UL being merged with other mods. Gecko's Merge to Master may allow you to merge a UL-dependent patch with the UL before merging the ULs together. If the patch has no other dependencies, that'll be the end of it. If the patch is also dependent on the other mod it patches, then either it will lose the dependency (patch broken) or the merged all-in-one UL ESP will become dependent on that other mod. You'll get a much better answer if you just try and see.

You will have to use the cs editor if you want to add items to leveledlist, you cannot do this with tesgecko, it has be done manually by hand in cs editor..Good luck has understanding how leveledlist take time to learn..

If you are merging ULs you have to be careful of child patches. Those patches will need their masters renamed in their records and you can use Gecko to do this as well. It's not a wise idea though as the process of merging can sometimes reset FormIDs to avoid collisions.

If the patch only affects path grids and landscape for an oblivion.esm record you should be fine, but you will need to load the merged mod into the CS and verify that none of the path grids have been damaged as this is something I've seen when 2 mods edit the same path grid.

Thanks, I've been trying to make it work but nothing as worked as of yet, I'll try to use the CS after my exams, in the meanwhile, I'll just play using my other mods without those weapons and armors. It's a shame they aren't included in FCOM like Adonneys Elven Weaponry, Nicoroshi Creations, Coolmans Dagger collection, Frostmourne and Lich Kings Armor, BSS Battlemage Armor Sets, Daethic Armor and Weapons and all x-files creations... Although I believe the Daethic Armor was going to be included in a future release of FCOM

Help my computer is messing with me!

So I'm trying to install TES4Gecko on my Vista 64 mochine and I cannot get the shortcut thing to work at all.

Here is the file path as best I can figure it out for my system:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin\javaw.exe -Xmx1200m -jar "D:\Games\Obl_extraprograms\Gecko\TES4Gecko 15.1\TES4Gecko.jar"


It does not like that and will not let me use these paths for the shortcut. Errr.

Also I have Java 1.60_7 - is that compatible?

thanks

Perhaps try uninstalling Java itself and when you reinstall it, don't stick it in Program Files? Seems to be a big problem with Vista and a lot of stuff. Also if you get the option, perhaps try installing 32-bit Java? Maybe you got ahold of a 64-bit version and Gecko doesn't like it?

Ok still cannot get the Gecko Shortcut to accept the file paths.

I uninstalled all java. Went to the Java archives downloaded and installed on another drive. As per an Ismelda post on TESNEXUS I made sure I only had version 6 update 7.

Still no go.

Anyone here using Gecko with Vista?

thanks all

[EDIT] Wait - got it. Sure enough it was the damn Vista being 'controlling' of the program files folder. When I reinstalled I just put it into a similar named folder on another drive - put it into a different named folder than the default 'Program Files (x86)' ... like C:\Java - worked.

So next question then - does this need to monitor the main data folder of the oblivion game - or can it be set to work with files in a different folder?

thanks

Does merging it decrease the load time or stuttering in any way?