A Guide to Merging with TESIVGecko : IV - Oblivion

» Fri May 27, 2011 8:21 pm

Question for the gurus amongst you.

I'm trying to take arthmoor's advice about taking the (hopefully easier) route of merging only the UL mods into a merged mod. I'm having problems with my logic, but first I want to make sure I don't need to (or do need to worry) about a cert thing.

First the mods I hope to merge:
The patch: Their masters (with the load order number for this list in parenthesis):
1. Ravenpride-Stendarr Patch.esp v2.0: None
2. TheNecromancer-StendarrValley patch.esp v1.0: None
3. Lost Spires-Dark Forest Patch.esp v 1.1: None
4. LostSpires-Everglade patch.esp v1.1: None
5. BCChorrol-ChorrolHinterland v1.4: BetterCitiesResources 1
6. TheElderCouncil-FanleafEverglade patch.esp v1.1: ElderCouncil 3
7. TheNecromancer-EntiusGorge patch.esp v1.0: Necromancer 5
8. LostSpires-BravilBarrowfields patch.esp v1.0: Barrowfield 6 + Lost spires 4
9. BC_B&M-Barrowfield v2.0: BarrowField 6
10. OldCrowInn-AncientRedwoods patch.esp v1.1: Old Crow Inn 2 + Ancient Redwoods 8
11. xULulPatch_AY_AC.esp v1.1: AncientYews 7 +ArriusCreek 9

I'm under the impression that the patch should always have the masters load in the order that is mandated by what order the patches are merged. After creating a couple of merges I see in Wrye Bash some green and some orange (meaning out of order).

So the first question - is that important? Is it required to have the masters load in the order the patch says?

Next question is how? Is there a logic behind it? After several passes I cannot get that to be so AND stick to conventional load order logic.

any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:16 pm

If your intent is to merge the ULs together into one huge mod, the only concern you'll need to have is those patches with UL mods as parents. They will need to be altered to point to the merged mod instead of the UL they point to now.

You may run into a problem though if Gecko is unable to resolve formID collisions and has to change some of them to compensate. If something the child ESP needs to move gets a different formID, that patch will be unaware of this and may move something else you didn't expect. Or, the formID could be pointing to something that's not an object, such as a script or a cell definition. If that happens you'll probably crash the game.

I realize you're trying to manage a pretty big list of mods, and the ULs look like a juicy target, but the more and more I think about it, the less and less I like the idea. You'd probably be better off taking all your UL patches and merging them with each other. At least then when Gecko fiddles with the master lists they won't get fouled up. And you're far less likely to have a serious formID collision.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:41 pm

No, I've decided that it would be a better path to merge the patches together and leave the UL mods themselves as freestanding. That way then I reduce the patch sizes down (which grow much faster than the UL sizes), so I'd still have the 16 or so ULs nut then my patches would be one or two - much more manageable (I hope).

That list above is all the patches (that I'm sure I want to keep), so I was asking that question only in terms of how to get the patches to merged so that the parents (of this mega merged patch) load in the order required by the newly created patch.

First off is that necessary?

Here is an example of the problem - the patch:
OldCrowInn-AncientRedwoods patch.esp v1.1 ... has the masters: Old Crow Inn which loads second of all the masters and Ancient Redwoods which loads 8 of all the masters.

So then I'd have to have Old Crow Load before Ancient redwoods; however, if I then merge that patch into a priority that is after another patch, such as:

LostSpires-BravilBarrowfields patch.esp v1.0 ... which has masters: Bravil Barrowfield that loads 6th of the masters and Lost spires that loads 4th.

The final result will be that the patch will expect: the masters to load in this order:

xul Bravil Barrowfield
Lost spires
Old Crow Inn
xul Ancient Redwoods

Not the worst thing ever - but there are a few puzzles in there that make for load orders that are very unconventional (and I can see would lead to modders refusing to assist when they see that load order). May not be that big of a deal, or may be nothing to worry about if it is the case that the order of masters loading doesn't matter - that it is ok to have orange in the master field of Wry Bash.

thanks

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:48 am

No, I've decided that it would be a better path to merge the patches together and leave the UL mods themselves as freestanding. That way then I reduce the patch sizes down (which grow much faster than the UL sizes), so I'd still have the 16 or so ULs nut then my patches would be one or two - much more manageable (I hope).

That list above is all the patches (that I'm sure I want to keep), so I was asking that question only in terms of how to get the patches to merged so that the parents (of this mega merged patch) load in the order required by the newly created patch.

First off is that necessary?

Here is an example of the problem - the patch:
OldCrowInn-AncientRedwoods patch.esp v1.1 ... has the masters: Old Crow Inn which loads second of all the masters and Ancient Redwoods which loads 8 of all the masters.

So then I'd have to have Old Crow Load before Ancient redwoods; however, if I then merge that patch into a priority that is after another patch, such as:

LostSpires-BravilBarrowfields patch.esp v1.0 ... which has masters: Bravil Barrowfield that loads 6th of the masters and Lost spires that loads 4th.

The final result will be that the patch will expect: the masters to load in this order:

xul Bravil Barrowfield
Lost spires
Old Crow Inn
xul Ancient Redwoods

Not the worst thing ever - but there are a few puzzles in there that make for load orders that are very unconventional (and I can see would lead to modders refusing to assist when they see that load order). May not be that big of a deal, or may be nothing to worry about if it is the case that the order of masters loading doesn't matter - that it is ok to have orange in the master field of Wry Bash.

thanks

What does Old Crow Inn have to do with Bravil Barrowfields or The Lost Spires? Old Crow Inn can load before or after Bravil Barrowfields, and can load before or after The Lost Spires, as it doesn't conflict with either of them (that I know). When one of my readmes says "set load order as follows:" and then lists the mods, it isn't saying that those ESPs must now be "glued" together forever. You can place any mods you want before, between and after the mods listed (as long as they themselves don't conflict). You're making this all far more difficult for yourself than it really needs to be.

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:52 am

No, I've decided that it would be a better path to merge the patches together and leave the UL mods themselves as freestanding. That way then I reduce the patch sizes down (which grow much faster than the UL sizes), so I'd still have the 16 or so ULs nut then my patches would be one or two - much more manageable (I hope).

That list above is all the patches (that I'm sure I want to keep), so I was asking that question only in terms of how to get the patches to merged so that the parents (of this mega merged patch) load in the order required by the newly created patch.

First off is that necessary?

Ok. I don't know exactly what your load order looks like, if you're managing by hand or letting BOSS do it for you, but here's what I have. After my Open Cities files, the following patches are in this order:

BarrowFields-Blood&Mud-Patch.esp
[Stuff between]
NRB4+UL-II+LtPD+OCOD Patch.esp
LostSpires-Everglade patch.esp
LostSpires-DarkForest patch.esp
OldCrowInn-AncientRedwoods patch.esp
Wickmere-Milewood Patch.esp
WeynonRetreat-ChorrolHinterland-Patch.esp
VeronaHouseBloodlines-ChorrolHinterland fix.esp
VeronaHouseBloodlines-LostCoast fix.esp
VeronaHouseBloodlines-LushWoodlands fix.esp
HeartoftheDead-ArriusCreek patch.esp
Faregyl-FGRoad-Patch.esp
Suliin-BravilBarrowfields patch.esp
RTT-AFKWeye-Patch.esp
PinePeakLodge-CloudtopMountains patch.esp

Instructing Gecko to merge all of those together all with priority 1 resulted in a single Merged Plugin.esp with the following masters:

Masters for: Merged Plugin.esp00  Oblivion.esm01  RTT.esp02  WeynonRetreat.esp03  OldCrowInn.esp04  HeartOftheDead.esp05  LetThePeopleDrink.esp  [Version 2.5]06  Suliin.esp07  road+bridges.esp  [Version 4.2.1]08  xulAncientRedwoods.esp09  xulImperialIsle.esp  [Version 1.4]0A  xulArriusCreek.esp  [Version 1.1.1]0B  xulChorrolHinterland.esp  [Version 1.2]0C  xulBravilBarrowfields.esp0D  AFK_Weye.esp0E  Milewood.esp  [Version 0.51]

Bash lists the file as orange, which is supposed to mean the masters for it are out of order, but I don't know why as the real load order of the master files matches what the patch master order is. My prediction is that the patch should work just fine but who knows. Bash may know something we don't? Only way to be sure would be to load the game with only the merge active and deactivate the rest.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:17 pm

Hmmm?
Vorians - I read as saying arrange the masters in any way that makes the patch work. Simple solution

Arthmoor - I read you as saying that most likely the orange does not matter, and that even though it is orange with your mergers that everything seems to work. Simpler solution

I guess asking Wrye might be appropriate for clarification, also testing and more testing.

Also the priority thing? Arthmoor you set yours all to priority 1. I thought they were in descending order of load, so each has a priority (currently defined by the number preceeding the descriptions above). What impact would setting them all to one have?

thanks guys

[edit] update!!

Well I did it! I asked on the wrye thread about the orange and all that. Some kind of answer pending. The one problem was that Wrye Bash didn't recognize and skipped over my merged mod (but I don't beleive there were any bashable tags in those patches).

I combined the above mods and then tweaked my load order (to be not so bad):

* 00 Oblivion.esm* 01 Francesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod.esm* 02 Francesco's Optional New Items Add-On.esm* 03 MD_Saddle_Master.esm* 04 Jog_X_Mod.esm* 05 EnhancedWeather.esm  [Version 1.2.8]* 06 Cobl Main.esm  [Version 1.55]* 07 Qarls_Harvest.esm* 08 Ulrim's Horses.esm* 09 Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm  [Version 1.34]* 0A Mart's Monster Mod.esm  [Version 3.6beta3]* 0B Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esm* 0C TamrielTravellers.esm  [Version 1.37a]* 0D FCOM_Convergence.esm  [Version 0.9.9a7]* 0E Armamentarium.esm  [Version 1.2.2]* 0F Kvatch Rebuilt.esm* 10 Better Cities Resources.esm* 11 CyrodiilUpgradeResourcePack.esm* 12 Progress.esm  [Version 2.0]* 13 You Are Here.esm* ++ HrmnsOblivionScriptOptimizationv1.0.esp* 14 Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp  [Version 3.2.0]* 15 UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp  [Version 1.0.0]* 16 Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp* 17 DLCShiveringIsles.esp* 18 Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp  [Version 1.4.0]* 19 SM Plugin Refurbish - SI.esp  [Version 1.05]* ++ Shivering OOO.esp* 1A Francesco's Optional Leveled Quests-SI-only.esp* 1B Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Bosses.esp* 1C Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Enemies.esp* 1D Francesco's Optional Chance of More Enemies.esp* 1E Francesco's Optional Leveled Guards.esp* ++ Francesco's Dark Seducer Weapons Patch.esp* ++ FCOM_Francescos.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_FrancescosItemsAddOn.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 1F FCOM_FrancescosNamedBosses.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 20 Fran Armor Add-on.esp* 21 Fran_Lv30Item_Maltz.esp* 22 Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp* 23 Enhanced Water v2.0 ND.esp* ++ Enhanced Water v2.0 HD - SI Addon.esp  [Version 0.1]* ++ Symphony of Violence.esp* 24 Atmospheric Oblivion.esp* 25 MIS.esp* 26 MIS New Sounds Optional Part.esp* 27 OBSE-Storms & Sound SI.esp* 28 EnhancedWeather.esp  [Version 1.2.8]* 29 EnhancedWeather - SI.esp  [Version 1.1.7]* 2A AliveWaters.esp* 2B 300_Lore Dialogue.esp* 2C aaaBorsBedrolls.esp* 2D Elytramount.esp* ++ Item interchange - Extraction.esp  [Version 0.66]* 2E P1DmenuEscape.esp* 2F P1DanywhereSittable.esp* 30 Qarls_Harvest.esp* 31 Book Jackets Oblivion - SSBFL.esp* 32 Choices and Consequences.esp* 33 C&C - The Blackwood Company.esp* 34 Map Markers Be Done -Elys-.esp* 35 Landmarks, w Wells.esp  [Version 1.10]* 36 HotkeyCasting.esp* 37 Lem - Hotkey Cyclers.esp* 38 Improved Hotkeys.esp  [Version 1.1]* 39 DLCHorseArmor.esp* 3A DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]* 3B SM Plugin Refurbish - HorseArmor.esp  [Version 1.11]* 3C DLCOrrery.esp* 3D DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.3]* 3E SM Plugin Refurbish - Orrery.esp  [Version 1.11]* ++ Choices and Consequences - SM Plugin Refurbish - Orrery.esp  [Version 0.1]* 3F DLCVileLair.esp* 40 DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]* 41 SM Plugin Refurbish - VileLair.esp  [Version 1.11]* 42 DLCMehrunesRazor.esp* 43 DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]* 44 SM Plugin Refurbish - MehrunesRazor.esp  [Version 1.11]* 45 DLCSpellTomes.esp* 46 DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.1]* 47 Slof's Horses Base.esp* ++ DLCHorseArmor_SlofBase.esp  [Version 1.3]* 48 Mounted_Steering.esp* 49 Mounted_Spellcasting.esp* 4A Mounted_Trampling.esp* 4B Dude Wheres My Horse.esp* 4C MD Saddlebags v3.0.esp* 4D HRMHorseCommands.esp* 4E DLCThievesDen.esp* 4F DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]* 50 DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp  [Version 1.0.4]* 51 SM Plugin Refurbish - ThievesDen.esp  [Version 1.11]* 52 KDCircletsOOOOptimized - NPC Equip.esp  [Version 1.2]* ++ FCOM_KDCircletsOOOOptimizedNPCEquip.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 53 ExnemRuneskulls.esp* ++ FCOM_ExnemRuneskulls.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 54 Slof's Oblivion Robe Trader.esp* 55 Cobl Glue.esp  [Version 1.55]* 56 Cobl Si.esp  [Version 1.32]* 57 OOO 1.32-Cobl.esp  [Version 1.41]* ++ FCOM_Cobl.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 58 Bob's Armory Oblivion.esp* 59 FCOM_BobsArmory.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 5A Loth's Blunt Weapons for Npcs.esp* ++ FCOM_LothsBluntWeapons.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 5B Oblivion WarCry EV.esp* 5C FCOM_WarCry.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 5D Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp  [Version 1.34]* 5E OOO-No_Guild_Ownership.esp  [Version 1.33]* ++ OOO-Magic_Script_Effect_Fix.esp  [Version 1.33]* ++ OOO-Container_Trap_Instant_Effects.esp  [Version 1.33]* 5F Geomancy & Gem Dust OOO.esp* ++ ArmamentariumLL4OOO.esp* ++ ArmamentariumLLArmaVendor.esp  [Version 1.2.2]* 60 ArmamentariumArtifacts.esp  [Version 1.2.2]* 61 Choices and Consequences - OOO.esp  [Version 0.1]* 62 FCOM_Convergence.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 63 Choices and Consequences - MMM.esp  [Version 0.1]* ++ FCOM_EntropicOrderRebalance.esp  [Version 0.9.9beta2]* 64 FCOM_RealSwords.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 65 FCOM_DurabilityAndDamage.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_SpawnRatesReduced.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_LessRats.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_NoAdventurersInGates.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_LessReaversInGates.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 66 Mart's Monster Mod - Extra Wounding.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* ++ Mart's Monster Mod - Looting NPCs & Creatures.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* ++ Mart's Monster Mod - Less Reavers.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* ++ Mart's Monster Mod - Less Bone Loot.esp  [Version 3.6beta3]* 67 Mart's Monster Mod - Vindasel.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* 68 Mart's Monster Mod - Dungeons of MMM.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* 69 Mart's Monster Mod - Hunting & Crafting.esp  [Version 3.6Beta3]* ++ Choices and Consequences - MMM - Looting NPCs & Creatures.esp  [Version 0.1]* ++ TamrielTravellerAdvScript.esp  [Version 1.38]* 6A TamrielTravellers4OOO.esp  [Version 1.38]* ++ TamrielTravellersItemsNPC.esp* 6B TamrielTravellersItemsCobl.esp  [Version 1.38]* 6C ShiveringIsleTravellers.esp  [Version 1.38]* ++ ShiveringIsleTravellersFriendlyFactions.esp  [Version 1.38]* ++ FCOM_TamrielTravelers.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_DiverseGuardUnity.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ Choices and Consequences - FCOM - Diverse Guards.esp  [Version 0.1]* ++ FCOM_BobsGuardUnity.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_HungersUnitySI.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_Archery.esp  [Version 1.0]* ++ FCOM_ArcheryArmamentarium.esp  [Version 2]* ++ FCOM_ArcheryRealSwords.esp  [Version 2]* ++ FCOM_ArcheryHunting&Crafting.esp  [Version 1]* ++ FCOM_FriendlierFactions.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 6D TIE In.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - ExnemRuneskulls.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - Cobl.esp  [Version 1.07]* 6E TIE In - FCOM Convergence.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - RealSwords.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - MMM Craft.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - DiverseGuardUnity.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - BobsGuardUnity.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - Clothes.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - DB Enchantments.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - Thieves Quest.esp  [Version 1.07]* 6F TIE In - Game Settings OOO.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ TIE In - Sounds.esp  [Version 1.07]* ++ Choices and Consequences - FCOM.esp  [Version 0.1]* 70 PersuasionOverhaul.esp  [Version 1.4]* ++ PersuasionOverhaul_MMM.esp  [Version 1.2]* ++ PersuasionOverhaul_OOO.esp  [Version 1.2]* ++ Atmospheric Oblivion - MMM Patch.esp* ++ Atmospheric Oblivion - OOO Patch.esp* ++ Qarls_Harvest - OOO Patch.esp* 71 C&C - The Blackwood Company - OOO.esp* 72 Wearable GS and DS armor for OOO CG.esp  [Version 0.1]* 73 Living Economy - Items.esp* 74 Castle Ravenpride.esp  [Version 1.01]* 75 Ivellon.esp  [Version 1.8]* 76 The Ayleid Steps.esp* 77 TheElderCouncil.esp* 78 TheElderCouncil_TempleOfTheOne.esp* 79 thievery.esp* 7A VaultsofCyrodiilBC.esp* 7B za_bankmod.esp* 7C DLCFrostcrag.esp* 7D DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]* 7E SM Plugin Refurbish - Frostcrag.esp  [Version 1.09]* 7F DLCBattlehornCastle.esp* 80 DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]* 81 SM Plugin Refurbish - Battlehorn.esp  [Version 1.11]* ++ DLCFrostcrag_MysticEmporiumPatch.esp* 82 Knights.esp* ++ SM Plugin Refurbish - Knights.esp  [Version 1.06]* 83 Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.9]* ++ Ulrim's Horses - Knights patch.esp* 84 Knights Patch.esp  [Version -02]* ++ TIE In - Knights.esp  [Version 1.06]* ++ DLC_MOBS.esp* 85 Blood&Mud.esp* 86 Lost Paladins of the Divines.esp* 87 Origin of the Mages Guild.esp  [Version 6]* 88 TheNecromancer.esp* 89 The Lost Spires.esp* 8A MannimarcoComplete.esp* 8B MannimarcoRevisited.esp* 8C MannimarcoRevisitedOOO.esp  [Version 0.1]* ++ FCOM_Knights.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 8D FCOM_Blood&Mud.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_SlofsRobeTrader.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 8E FCOM_OMG.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* ++ FCOM_OMGSRT.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 8F Origin of the Mages Guild OOO Patch.esp  [Version 5.0.FINAL]* 90 Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esp* ++ FCOM_EnhancedDaedricInvasion.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* 91 xuldarkforest.esp* 92 xulStendarrValley.esp* 93 XulEntiusGorge.esp* 94 xulTheHeath.esp* 95 xulFallenleafEverglade.esp* 96 xulColovianHighlands_EV.esp* 97 xulChorrolHinterland.esp* 98 xulBeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp* 99 xulBravilBarrowfields.esp* 9A OldCrowInn.esp* 9B xulLushWoodlands.esp* 9C xulAncientRedwoods.esp* 9D xulAncientYews.esp* 9E xulCloudtopMountains.esp* 9F xulArriusCreek.esp* A0 xulRollingHills_EV.esp* A1 xulPantherRiver.esp* A2 xulRiverEthe.esp* A3 xulImperialIsle.esp* A4 Cutthroat Merchants.esp* A5 Living Economy - SI.esp* A6 Kvatch Rebuilt.esp* ++ Kvatch Rebuilt - OOO Compatibility.esp* A7 Kvatch Rebuilt - Leveled Guards - FCOM.esp* A8 _burning_kvatch.esp* ++ FCOM_UnofficialFranArmorAddon.esp  [Version 0.9.9]* A9 NPC new clothes V2.6.esp* ++ FCOM_NewNPCClothes.esp* AA Harvest [Flora].esp  [Version 3.0.0]* ++ Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp  [Version 3.0.0]* ++ Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp  [Version 3.0.0]* AB Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp  [Version 3.0.0]* AC 300_Test.esp  [Version 0.9.2]* AD diversegrasses.esp* AE WindowLightingSystem.esp* AF Dungeon Actors Have Torches 1.6 DT.esp* B0 P1DKeychain for COBL.esp  [Version 4.21]* ++ P1DkeyExtraMouseButton.esp* ++ ScriptIcon_Replacer.esp* B1 Ulrim's Horses.esp* B2 Roleplaying Dialogues.esp* B3 Enhanced Quest Roleplaying.esp* B4 Quest Award Leveller.esp* ++ Quest Award Leveller - Vile Lair.esp* ++ Quest Award Leveller - Mehrunes Razor.esp* ++ Quest Award Leveller - Battlehorn Castle.esp* ++ Quest Award Leveller - Knights of the Nine.esp* B5 MidasSpells.esp* B6 Midas OscuroGems.esp* B7 MidasSpellTomes.esp* ++ GrimbotsSpellTomes.esp* B8 FrostcragMidasLab.esp* B9 SupremeMagicka.esp  [Version 0.85]* BA SM_ShiveringIsles.esp  [Version 0.85]* ++ SM_DLCSpellTome.esp  [Version 0.80]* ++ SM_OOO.esp  [Version 0.80]* ++ SM_MMM.esp  [Version 0.82]* ++ SM_COBL.esp* BB SM_EnchantStaff.esp  [Version 0.80]* ++ SM_UnlockSpells.esp  [Version 0.70]* ++ SM_SigilStone.esp  [Version 0.83]* ++ SM_NoPoisonLevitationEffects.esp  [Version 0.70]* BC bgBalancingEVCore.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D]* BD bgMagicEV.esp  [Version 1.65EV]* BE bgIntegrationEV.esp  [Version 0.035]* ++ bgMagicSpellTomes_for_WryeBash.esp  [Version 1.63EV]* BF bgMagicPotionNumberSoulGemValue.esp  [Version 1.63UV]* ++ bgMagicItemSigil.esp  [Version 1.63EV]* ++ bgMagicEVStartspells.esp  [Version 1.62EV]* C0 bgMagicBonus.esp  [Version 1.62EV]* ++ bgMagicEVAddEnVar.esp  [Version 1.63EV]* C1 bgMagicEVPaperChase.esp  [Version 1.63EV]* C2 Spellbooks.esp* C3 Ayleid Wells.esp* C4 Syc_AtHomeAlchemy_No_Bounty_v2.esp* C5 Alchemical Formulas.esp* C6 Duke Patricks Sickness Alarm.esp* C7 Duke Patrick's Health Alarm.esp* C8 kuerteeInventoryIsABackpack.esp* C9 attack and hide medium v2.1.esp* CA StealthOverhaul.esp* CB DD_ProximitySneakPenalty.esp* CC No psychic guards v1.2.esp* CD RenGuardOverhaul.esp* CE RenGuardOverhaulShiveringIsles.esp* CF _Real_Lights.esp* ++ Atmospheric Oblivion - Real Lights patch.esp* ++ MIS New Sounds Optional Part - Real Lights Patch.esp* D0 Better Cities Full - B&M Edition.esp* D1 Better Imperial City.esp* D2 Better Cities - Full City Defences.esp* D3 Better Cities - Old Crow Inn.esp* ++ Better Cities - COBL.esp  [Version 0]* D4 Better Cities - No LEYAWIIN Flooding.esp* D5 Extinguish the Lights.esp* D6 _xulPatchesMerged.esp [b]<-- The merged UL Patches[/b]* D7 road+bridges.esp  [Version 4.2.1]* D8 ProgressGSD.esp  [Version 1.1]* D9 RealisticLeveling.esp* DA Legendary Abilities-Reflect MOJ.esp* DB Grandmaster of Alchemy.esp* ++ bgBalancingEVOptionalFCOMAdditions.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D]* DC bgBalancingEVLAMEAddition.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D]* ++ bgBalancingEVLAMEGlue.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D1.62EV]* ++ bgBalancingEVOptionalFangs.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D]* ++ bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp  [Version 10.0EV-D]* ++ Item interchange - Placement for FCOM.esp  [Version 0.66]* ++ Visually Realistic Deadly Lava.espOblivion.esp   [b]<-- the bashed patch[/b]CleanQuit.espReal Injury.espDuke Patricks - Friendship Ring For Companion Detection.espDuke Patricks - Fresh Kills Now Alert The NPCs.espDuke Patricks - All NPC Or Just Vampires Now Bob And Weave.espDuke Patricks - Basic Combat Geometry.espDuke Patricks - Running Backwards RISK.espDuke Patricks - SCA Shield Tricks.espDuke Patricks - Stat Based Bob And Weave.espDuke Patricks - Momentum Damage And Jump Risk.espDuke Patricks - Near Miss Magic And Arrow Shots Alert The Target.espDuke Patricks - NPC MAGIC and Arrows Can Miss Now.espDuke Patricks - Custom Melee Weapons Made Compatible.espDuke Patricks - Custom Bows And Arrows Made Compatible.espDuke Patricks - Who Goes There.espDuke Patricks - SCA Melee Combat with NO RECOIL.espDuke Patricks - SCA Combat Archery.espDuke Patricks - Basic Exhaustion Plus Encumbrance And Sleep.espDuke Patricks - Smash of the Titans.espDuke Patricks - BASIC Script Effect Silencer.espStreamline 3.1.esp

So then it seemed to work. I extracted the UL landscapes omod and cleaned and used undelete refs function on them - and so far it seems very solid. With Better Cities recently getting the same treatment. I think that is makig a big difference.

Kept trying to find a pace where is would crash and it didn't.

Thinking about merging the unofficial DLC patches with the SM quest delayer mods - like this guy did: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19994

thanks for the help.

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:50 am

Well I did it! I asked on the wrye thread about the orange and all that. Some kind of answer pending. The one problem was that Wrye Bash didn't recognize and skipped over my merged mod (but I don't beleive there were any bashable tags in those patches).

Orange on Wrye Bash eh? I saw your posting on the Wrye Bash thread and followed you here via links...wierd that it led me to a thread I created to help out other

IT's also good that you're working on UL and it's patches. SOmething I recently worked on myself for my own mods.

ORange means the mods listed in the masters description field are out of order. This doesn't mean that they're out of order in Wrye Bash only that they're out of order in the description field. Keep a note of what masters are in there and put them in order by "changing" them. You put them in order of how they appear in your own load order. For example Oblivion.esm before MMM.esm and so on.

I merged all the patches and also all the Unique landscapes mods. I changed the patches dependance onto the new merged mod. I had renamed it to one of the UL mods anyway so that BOSS would read it and keep it in it's proper load order automatically. I then changed the Patches merger to read the UL merger. The patches mod was still orange until I went to it's masters and moved them around til it was in proper load order.

[codebox]Active Mod Files:
00 Oblivion.esm
01 Francesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod.esm
02 Francesco's Optional New Items Add-On.esm
03 Children Of Rourken.esm
04 Jog_X_Mod.esm
05 CM Partners.esm
06 Inventory Tracker.esm
07 Easy_Companion_Share.esm
08 Crafting Skill Engine.esm
09 AWS-Core.esm
0A Tamrielic Ingredients.esm
0B Qarls_Harvest.esm
0C Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm [Version 1.34]
0D Mart's Monster Mod.esm [Version 3.6beta3]
0E Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esm
0F TamrielTravellers.esm [Version 1.37a]
10 FCOM_Convergence.esm [Version 0.9.9a7]
11 Armamentarium.esm
12 Cybiades.esm [Version 2.0]
13 Kvatch Rebuilt.esm
14 AFC v2 Core.esm
15 You Are Here.esm
16 Miscellaneous Stats Master.esm
17 Waalx Animals & Creatures.esm
** TNR - ALL RACES FINAL.esp
++ HrmnsOblivionScriptOptimizationv1.0.esp
18 Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp [Version 3.2.0]
19 DLCShiveringIsles.esp
1A Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp [Version 1.4.0]
1B Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Bosses.esp
1C Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Enemies.esp
1D Francesco's Optional Chance of More Enemies.esp
1E Francesco's Optional Leveled Guards.esp
++ Francesco's Dark Seducer Weapons Patch.esp
++ FCOM_Francescos.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_FrancescosItemsAddOn.esp [Version 0.9.9]
1F FCOM_FrancescosNamedBosses.esp [Version 0.9.9]
20 Fran Armor Add-on.esp
21 Fran_Lv30Item_Maltz.esp
22 AWS-ShiveringIsles.esp
23 Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp
24 Natural_Water_by_Max_Tael.esp
++ Louder Nirnroot Sound.esp
++ Symphony of Violence.esp
25 Atmospheric Oblivion.esp
26 AliveWaters.esp
27 advlt Books.esp
28 Akatosh Mount By Saiden Storm.esp
29 AFC v2 Damage Text.esp
2A BookTrackerOBSE.esp
++ Brighter_Torches.esp
2B Damsels In Distress.esp
2C Days&Months.esp
++ FGPorter_nofollow.esp
2D Qarls_Harvest.esp
2E Harvest[Containers].esp
2F Living Economy.esp
30 HouseMapMarkersOnlyBought.esp
31 Adonnays Elven Weaponry.esp
32 ArmamentariumVendors.esp
++ Darkgreen Glass Armour.esp
33 Dreadweave Complete_Light.esp
++ FineWeapons.esp
** RustyItems.esp
34 SentientWeapon.esp [Version 3]
35 Grim's Necro Robe.esp
36 Kylin.esp
37 AncientTowers.esp
38 KDCircletsOOOOptimized - NPC Equip.esp [Version 1.2]
++ FCOM_KDCircletsOOOOptimizedNPCEquip.esp [Version 0.9.9]
39 ExnemRuneskulls.esp
++ FCOM_ExnemRuneskulls.esp [Version 0.9.9]
3A Slof's Oblivion Robe Trader.esp
++ FCOM_TamrielicIngredients.esp [Version 0.9.9]
3B Bob's Armory Oblivion.esp
3C FCOM_BobsArmory.esp [Version 0.9.9]
3D Loth's Blunt Weapons for Npcs.esp
++ FCOM_LothsBluntWeapons.esp [Version 0.9.9]
3E Oblivion WarCry EV.esp
3F FCOM_WarCry.esp [Version 0.9.9]
40 Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp [Version 1.34]
41 FCOM_Convergence.esp [Version 0.9.9]
42 FCOM_OscurosOverhaul.esp [Version 0.9.8]
++ Mart's Monster Mod - Lesser Balrog Fix.esp
43 Mart's Monster Mod - GhostApparitionFix.esp [Version 1.2]
++ FCOM_EntropicOrderRebalance.esp [Version 0.9.9beta2]
44 FCOM_RealSwords.esp [Version 0.9.9]
45 FCOM_DurabilityAndDamage.esp [Version 0.9.9]
46 Mart's Monster Mod - More Wilderness Life No Gates.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ FCOM_SaferRoads.esp [Version 0.9.9]
47 Mart's Monster Mod - Extra Wounding.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ Mart's Monster Mod - Looting NPCs & Creatures.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
48 Mart's Monster Mod - No Carrion Rats.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ Mart's Monster Mod - No Blood.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ Mart's Monster Mod - No Undead Rise.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ Mart's Monster Mod - No Adventurers.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
49 Mart's Monster Mod - Zombies for Body Meshes.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
4A Mart's Monster Mod - Foxes.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
4B Mart's Monster Mod - Dungeons of MMM.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
4C Mart's Monster Mod - Gems & Gem Dust.esp [Version 3.6Beta2]
4D TamrielTravellers4OOO.esp [Version 1.38]
4E ShiveringIsleTravellers.esp [Version 1.38]
++ FCOM_TamrielTravelers.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_DiverseGuardUnity.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_BobsGuardUnity.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_HungersUnitySI.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_Archery.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_FriendlierFactions.esp [Version 0.9.9]
4F FCOM_MoreRandomSpawns.esp [Version 0.9.9]
50 FCOM_MoreRandomItems.esp [Version 0.9.9]
51 TIE In.esp [Version 1.07]
++ TIE In - ExnemRuneskulls.esp [Version 1.07]
52 TIE In - FCOM Convergence.esp [Version 1.07]
++ TIE In - RealSwords.esp [Version 1.07]
++ TIE In - BobsGuardUnity.esp [Version 1.07]
53 KDCircletsOOOOptimized - Loot Only.esp [Version 1.2]
++ SentientWeapon - OOO & MOBS.esp [Version 3.1]
54 SSEE-OOO.esp
55 Wearable GS and DS armor for OOO.esp [Version 0.1]
56 VHBloodlines 1.2.esp [Version 1.4]
57 ClocksOfCyrodiil.esp
58 Castle Ravenpride.esp [Version 1.01]
59 bartholm.esp
5A Ivellon.esp [Version 1.8]
5B 300_Artifacts.esp
5C 300_White Stallion 4.esp
5D Artefacts of the Ancestors.esp
5E castleofnight.esp
5F CDEP_FanaCeya.esp
60 COR-Episode1 Secret of Enourk.esp
61 eyja.esp
62 Fort Falkenshire.esp
63 GlenvarCastle.esp
64 GTAesgaard.esp
65 HauntedHouse v1.4.esp
66 HauntedHouse.esp
67 HoarfrostCastle.esp
68 Malevolent.esp
69 Pit Trap.esp
6A TempleoftheFullMoon.esp
6B The_Dragon_Citadel-6178.esp
6C thievery.esp
6D Village of Lily 2.0.esp
6E WeaponsOfTheNine.esp [Version 2.2]
6F za_bankmod.esp
70 zDangerSense.esp
71 sir_balin_mod.esp
72 Knights.esp
73 Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.9]
++ TIE In - Knights.esp [Version 1.06]
74 Cybiades.esp [Version 2.1]
75 CybiadesDungeon.esp [Version 2.1]
76 The Lost Spires.esp
77 TOTF.esp
78 Ruin.esp
79 Mighty Umbra.esp
7A Ungarion1TheWelkyndSword.esp [Version 1.4]
7B Blood&Mud.esp
7C Lost Paladins of the Divines.esp
7D Origin of the Mages Guild.esp [Version 5.1]
7E The Mystery of the Dulan cult.esp
7F Mart's Monster Mod - City Defences.esp [Version 3.6Beta3]
++ FCOM_MightyUmbra.esp [Version 0.9.9]
80 FCOM_Blood&Mud.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_Knights.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_WelkyndSwordBlood&Mud.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_Ruin.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_SlofsRobeTrader.esp [Version 0.9.9]
81 FCOM_OMG.esp [Version 0.9.9]
++ FCOM_OMGSRT.esp [Version 0.9.9]
82 FCOM_DulanCult.esp [Version 0.9.9]
83 Enhanced Daedric Invasion.esp
++ FCOM_EnhancedDaedricInvasion.esp [Version 0.9.9]
84 xulAncientRedwoods.esp
85 VeronaHouseBloodlines-UL patches Merged.esp [Version 1.1]
86 PersonalPackGuars.esp [Version .50]
87 Kvatch Rebuilt.esp
++ Kvatch Rebuilt - OOO Compatibility.esp
88 Kvatch Rebuilt - Leveled Guards - FCOM.esp
89 ImpeREAL City Unique Districts - Talos Plaza.esp
8A FightersGuildContracts.esp
++ FCOM_UnofficialFranArmorAddon.esp [Version 0.9.9]
8B Harvest [Flora].esp [Version 3.0.0]
++ Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp [Version 3.0.0]
8C AlendrialsLibrary.esp
8D AutoBookPlacer_v2.esp
++ BetterCoins.esp
8E Ingredient Storage Shelves.esp
8F Quest Award Leveller.esp [Version 2.0.1]
90 MidasSpells.esp
91 Advanced Magecraft.esp
92 bgMagicEV.esp [Version 1.6EV]
93 bgMagicSpellTomes_for_WryeBash.esp [Version 1.55EV]
94 lumi_alchemyexpanded.esp
95 DirenniAlchemyApparatus.esp
96 BountyReductionOverTime_standard.esp
97 Nanite's Legendary Alchemy.esp
98 CM Partners More NPCs.esp
99 Duke Patricks - Near Miss Magic And Arrow Shots Alert The Target.esp
9A Bashed Patch, 0.esp
9B Duke Patricks Script Effect Silencer Gold Edition.esp
9C Streamline 3.0.esp
9D Advanced Fletching.esp
** ImperialdragAR.esp
9E Master-Crafting-1.1-MMM.esp
9F Master-Crafting-1.1-MMM Greaves fix.esp
A0 Special Abilities.esp
A1 BoneMaster.esp
A2 WAC.esp
++ The_Student_Mod-3069.esp
++ Adoring Fan Respawn Disabler v100.esp
A3 Wondrous_Inventory_v091.esp
++ Weightless_Repair_Hammers-7731.esp
A4 The SilverDragonArmorQuest.esp
++ More Lockpicks.esp
++ toothman's funny loadscreens.esp
++ Red Ayleid Silver Ware Replacer.esp
A5 Explorers 2.2.esp
A6 Increased Restoration and Mercantile Leveling Rates.esp
A7 ACCCGR SI.esp
A8 Evantal's Dual Wielding.esp
A9 CleanQuit.esp

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:07 am

Hmmm?
Vorians - I read as saying arrange the masters in any way that makes the patch work. Simple solution

thanks for the help.

What I said is that just because the readme says load order must be "Old Crow Inn, Ancient Redwoods, Patch" this doesn't require that the Old Crow Inn ESP be immediately before the Ancient Redwoods ESP, nor that the Ancient Redwoods ESP be immediately before the patch ESP. You can have:
Old Crow Inn, Some Guard Mod, Ancient Redwoods, Some Weather Mod, New Weapon Mod, New Armour Mod, patch
Some Guard Mod, Old Crow Inn, Ancient Redwoods, Some Weather Mod, New Weapon Mod, New Armour Mod, patch
Old Crow Inn, Some Guard Mod, Some Weather Mod, New Weapon Mod, Ancient Redwoods, New Armour Mod, patch
Old Crow Inn, Ancient Redwoods, Some Guard Mod, Some Weather Mod, New Weapon Mod, New Armour Mod, patch

As long as the ESPs are in the order specified in the readme, you don't need to keep them together in a tight block. And thus if one readme says place The Lost Spires before UL (1) with the patch after, and another readme says place Old Crow Inn before UL (1) with the patch after as well, you simply place both mods anywhere before UL (1) and both patches anywhere after UL (1).

And getting the load order or merge order wrong won't result in crashes. At most, it will result in land tears and floating or buried objects as the patches cease to be effective when the mods they patch go out of sequence.

ORange means the mods listed in the masters description field are out of order. This doesn't mean that they're out of order in Wrye Bash only that they're out of order in the description field. Keep a note of what masters are in there and put them in order by "changing" them. You put them in order of how they appear in your own load order. For example Oblivion.esm before MMM.esm and so on.

I merged all the patches and also all the Unique landscapes mods. I changed the patches dependance onto the new merged mod. I had renamed it to one of the UL mods anyway so that BOSS would read it and keep it in it's proper load order automatically. I then changed the Patches merger to read the UL merger. The patches mod was still orange until I went to it's masters and moved them around til it was in proper load order.

When I first merged them they were out of order, all I did was make a list and then put them in order of how they appear in my load order.

This doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Better not to try shuffling the expected load order of an ESP.

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:37 pm

Perhaps this is a question for Wrye then? I too have some orange master problems, only with item interchange though. I guess the question is do out-of-order masters really cause problems, and if they do, what should change, your load order, the ESP's load order, or something else?

» Fri May 27, 2011 9:57 pm

OK Vorians that bit about load order/merge order was a real bit of info there.

I went to all the places I could find for problems and didn't see anything noticible.

With the above load order are there any glaring problems? Anyone?

Shadowcran - I don't think I'm going to be merging the UL mods themselves. That way as new patches come out I can try them out individually without putting them into a merged patch.

thanks all - will have time to review more tonight.

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:06 pm

Arthmoor - I read you as saying that most likely the orange does not matter, and that even though it is orange with your mergers that everything seems to work. Simpler solution

No. I'm not saying it doesn't matter. I'm saying I don't know why it shows up orange when the master list on the merged plugin lists its masters in the same order the parent ESPs are listed in the grand scheme of things. That's why I don't know if there's something Bash saw that I don't because everything I can see indicates it shouldn't have done that.

Also the priority thing? Arthmoor you set yours all to priority 1. I thought they were in descending order of load, so each has a priority (currently defined by the number preceeding the descriptions above). What impact would setting them all to one have?

Priority 1 on everything simply says to merge them as equals. When Gecko merges things, it resolves disputes over formID collisions by changing the formID of whatever is assigned a lower priority ( bigger number ) and that's not always a desired result. Setting everything to 1 usually causes Gecko to halt with an error message if it can't resolve the dispute. That's the desired outcome with large merges like this because changing a formID could result in duplicates.

When I first began merging Open Cities and was testing the outcome, I did the same as you. Numbered 1 thru 8 on the files. Loading up in an existing game was, shall we say, rather interesting. Leyawiin had braziers show up where XMarkers should be, Ayleid ruin pieces where castle walls should be, it was utter chaos. Other cities had less obvious but more insidious results. Cheydinhal even tried to turn the city gate into a script. Yeah, that went poorly. It turned out that the cause of all the fun was the large Bravil Blood & Mud ESP I had which at the time contained the entire mod, not just the open portion of the city. I eventually figured out that setting that file to priority 2 and the rest to priority 1 solved the entire issue and kept the formIDs in sync. The end result means that the 4 full package ESPs are interchangeable. No weird results will occur from swapping them mid-game. Even through a dirty swap/upgrade. So long as you don't change its load order at the same time. I imagine that would just be bad bad stuff.

So then it seemed to work. I extracted the UL landscapes omod and cleaned and used undelete refs function on them - and so far it seems very solid. With Better Cities recently getting the same treatment. I think that is makig a big difference.

Yes, it's probably very good advice to clean and undelete *ANY* mods you intend to merge to reduce the chances of formID collisions, especially on things neither mod should have been messing with.

Kept trying to find a pace where is would crash and it didn't.

It won't crash unless one of the changed formIDs ends up trying to turn a tree into a cell ID or something.

Thinking about merging the unofficial DLC patches with the SM quest delayer mods - like this guy did: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19994

That's a thought. Might try that one myself.

» Fri May 27, 2011 6:59 pm

Perhaps this is a question for Wrye then? I too have some orange master problems, only with item interchange though. I guess the question is do out-of-order masters really cause problems, and if they do, what should change, your load order, the ESP's load order, or something else?

That's a good question I'd like to know for sure myself. I do not know if the masters being out of order make them unplayable. Until I figured out how to reorder them, I would use them and they didn't seem to cause problems. That doesn't mean that they didn't somewhere where I couldn't see. However, having them show up orange in the sea of green just....bugged me. Seems that I'm not alone in this as other players, by the time they're at FCOM installs, want everything just so. You can hardly blame them or me for that.

While you're suggesting this to Wrye also suggest incorporating BOSS straight into Wrye Bash. I've done so myself and other people suggesting it might lend weight. Seems he's also contemplating incorporating making OMODS into it or something. So much for his "retired" status, eh?

» Fri May 27, 2011 7:17 pm

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?s=&showtopic=929386&view=findpost&p=13558990

Wrye has already addressed what his installer feature will do

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:41 pm

Instead of, at all, having to worry about funky load orders because merged patches require many masters and after merging the load order is more messy - not at all a worry once you you edit masters and simply give the masters a new 'expected' load order.

Also Vorians - the merge to master function only seems to work with esm/esp pairings - it seems to ask for an esm first (with that extension being the main choice).

-or-

am I missing something and there is a way to merge an esp to another esp that is it's master.

thanks all

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:40 am

Few questions about merging....

So lets assume I have some mods merged together in a "Merged.esp" file, if I try to merge another mod together with this already merged file, and name it with the same name of the old "Merged.esp", and choose to overwrite, I get a lot of weird java errors, and I end up with no new "Merged.esp" file, neither with the old one, they all get deleted. So in any case, the thing is that i'm always forced to give a new name to my merged plugin everytime I try to put in a new mod together, this leads to problems of missing content warning whenever loading, and since the name changed, these merged mods gets reseted... I'm doing something wrong by any chance?

And two, as a workaround... after merging a lot of stuffs together within a single file, to not lose the items that these mods gives in my inventory before the merge, I'm using bash save manager to change the plugins that are no longer to be left active in the lower right corner list in the bash's save page, by changing them and pointing to the new merged file one by one, is that the right way to do the thing? I havent tested this, I dont know if leads to problems like bloat or anything...

» Fri May 27, 2011 1:01 pm

Bot Man-

Not sure what you mean by mods getting reseted??

As for the name of the mod - what I do is just add a new number (for working version) at the end so that it does NOT overwrite the previous merge. So for the UL patch project. I had (in my numerous temporary and permanent folders related to oblivion) a folder that contained several other folders: The mods being merged (for copying and pasting into and out of the main data folder), and a new folder for each version. Those folders in turn also contain a very brief readme (that is copied into their description field). That way I can keep track of progress and differences. Since no mods depend upon this mod I can simply rename one of or the best/most recent version and then copy it back into the data folder.

also don't forget the hide/unhide feature of wry - keeps the data folder cleaner and easier to focus on. You can then remove the mods that you want to merge, try your new merged one out. If you don't like then delete or cut and unhide those mods again and make a new one. The hide/unhide feature therefore will not change properties of a mod.

that is, if I read your post correctly.

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:52 pm

Sorry, its all due to my faulty english I guess I couldnt be clear, but let me try this way, so imagine a mod that drops a chest in IC where inside of it theres a sword, I simply grab it, and go play around. If later on If I change the mod name, It gets reseted, the sword goes back to chest in IC just like if I have activated that mod for the first time. Thats whats happening with me, I have lods of +armors/weapons mods that are all scattered around my house and with companions and such, so If I just merge them all together, these will simply disapear and go back to their original places for me to get all again...

And, because I'm not being able to overwrite the old merged esp, the new merged one gets a new name, wich leds to this 'reset' problem all the way again, YET, I tought about deleting the old, and renaming the new merged esp with the same name of the old in the explorer, but, I'm unsure if that would cause problems with some particular mods.

Basically, I just want to merge a bunch of armor/weap mods that age given via vendors, in a chest somewhere, or given to an NPC somewhere that we must kill (dark illusion armor for example).

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:56 pm

Few questions about merging....

So lets assume I have some mods merged together in a "Merged.esp" file, if I try to merge another mod together with this already merged file, and name it with the same name of the old "Merged.esp", and choose to overwrite, I get a lot of weird java errors, and I end up with no new "Merged.esp" file, neither with the old one, they all get deleted. So in any case, the thing is that i'm always forced to give a new name to my merged plugin everytime I try to put in a new mod together, this leads to problems of missing content warning whenever loading, and since the name changed, these merged mods gets reseted... I'm doing something wrong by any chance?

And two, as a workaround... after merging a lot of stuffs together within a single file, to not lose the items that these mods gives in my inventory before the merge, I'm using bash save manager to change the plugins that are no longer to be left active in the lower right corner list in the bash's save page, by changing them and pointing to the new merged file one by one, is that the right way to do the thing? I havent tested this, I dont know if leads to problems like bloat or anything...

Just make your merge, and rename it. Then when you merge another file into it, the new merge will be named Merged.esp. Delete the previous renamed version, and rename the Merged.esp to match the name of the one you just deleted. The game will see it as the same file. Now as long as the merge hasn't changed any Form IDs from the contents of the original merged file, the game will not start mixing things around in your saves. Set Priority of merging for the already merged ESP to 1, and the subsequent additions to 2. This should maintain Form IDs from one merge to the next.

You will of course still lose whatever items you had picked up or progress you had made in the ESPs which you have just merged in and disabled. This cannot be avoided.

» Fri May 27, 2011 7:02 pm

I like mods and I use a lot of them.... I would love to be able to merge them.

I currently use OBMM (for easy installing and load order).
Wyre Bash (I think I've only used it to esmify and espify stuff, when editing mods... most of the features I haven't even addressed.
I have TSIVGecko, which I installed a week ago to merge mods, but the merging process was 'scary' so I haven't done it yet.
I also use TCS for mod creation/editing.

Having read this, it seems easy enough, but I have a few questions.

What does 'cleaning' a mod do? What program works best for this?
This 'hide' feature in Wyre Bash... it just moves esp's you are not using into another directory, but doesn't move resources? Is this the recommended method for old esp's that you merged together? I also have some esp's showing that I never use that I installed in case I ever download additional content... I could hide these the same way?
My first test in merging would be for the races I've downloaded. I'd like to merge Rens Beauty Pack, Necs Mystic High Elf Remake, Necs Mystic Dark Elf Remake, and Cute Elves Race. Currently I have some companion mods that use some of these race esps. What do I need to do with those mods?
Is it possible to merge the companion mods I have together... or could I even merge them together with the races merge?

Thanks!

» Fri May 27, 2011 12:29 pm

Bumping..... for answers :embarrass:

» Fri May 27, 2011 7:04 am

Help!

» Fri May 27, 2011 4:27 pm

I can only answer your first question -- and partially. Cleaning a mod compares its records to all masters and removes duplicates, which as I understand it help generally reduce bloat and possible conflicts. I know both TES4Gecko and TES4Edit clean mods, but I have only used the latter. I don't know the difference, to be honest, though it seems that for the cleaning specifically most people use TES4Edit.

» Fri May 27, 2011 5:25 am

The reason most of us use TES4Edit for cleaning mods is because Gecko sometimes goes to far and has led to issues with breakage. TES4Edit is perfectly safe to clean mods with.

I don't use the hide feature of Bash, so I don't really know exactly what it does. Do the Bash docs not say?

As far as your race merger, without knowing the details I'd say as long as they aren't altering the same records you should be fine. If they only add new content, this should be especially easy. If any of them alter vanilla content you need to examine the lot of them with TES4Edit first to see exactly what they should be doing so you know what to expect to see in the merged outcome.

Same principles apply to the companion mods, and really to any mod. You need to know what you're working with because merging without knowing what's going on is somewhat risky.

» Fri May 27, 2011 11:40 am

The hide feature is super simple - it temporarily moves a mod to another directory and can be retrieved easily. Great for testing versions of a mod - or to, not only disable but temporarily remove the mod from the mod list/folder. You do it all by hand but it is grear for mods that may go in and out fairly regularly. For a mod that you never use much I'd just cut and paste it.

If you've not merged before (like I'm all that experienced) I'd start with something simple first. Something where mistakes would be easy to see.

I'd keep races and companions separate (just to be neat) and a good person to ask about races is bg2048. If your successful then I'd make an omod with all the resources to go along with the the mod.

» Fri May 27, 2011 2:55 pm

The hide feature is super simple - it temporarily moves a mod to another directory and can be retrieved easily. Great for testing versions of a mod - or to, not only disable but temporarily remove the mod from the mod list/folder. You do it all by hand but it is grear for mods that may go in and out fairly regularly. For a mod that you never use much I'd just cut and paste it.

If you've not merged before (like I'm all that experienced) I'd start with something simple first. Something where mistakes would be easy to see.

I'd keep races and companions separate (just to be neat) and a good person to ask about races is bg2048. If your successful then I'd make an omod with all the resources to go along with the the mod.

I've been experimenting all day and I've had some success and failure.

First, I've done the clean thing and had success. Done the hide feature in Wyre Bash. Then I started merging.

I first merged a couple of companions (for CM Partners). Then merged the rest of them (4 total).

Then I merged some races (Ren's, Cute Elf, Necs Mystic High, and Nec's Dark Elf.

So I have a Races mod and a Companions mod.

I then 'tried' to merge these two together, but I can't. Two of the companions rely on the races, and evidently you can't merge mods together that rely on each other? If there is a way around this, then please let me know.

I appreciate the help so far...