A Guide to Merging with TESIVGecko

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:01 pm

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...

Indeed you can't merge a mod and the master it depends on.
User avatar
Sheeva
 
Posts: 3353
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:46 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:59 pm

Well OK merge maestros ? have a I got some questions for you.
Inspired by this person: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19994 I spent the evening trying to map out and figure a way to combine most of the following mod groups together:
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch 1.4.0 - Quarn & Kivan
Unofficial Official Mods Patch v15 - Quarn & Kivan
SM Plugin Refurbish 1.12 - Strategy Master

Since I plan on using the new Frostcrag Revisited 1.4 I did not need to combine in the frostcrag UOMP and the SM Refurbish for that. So, I figured I'd use this as an opportunity to test my merging abilities and came away with more questions after finishing.
To begin with, Mr. Human Bean adds no bash tags to his mega merge. Possible problem right there, doesn't seem Wrye Bash friendly (so this idea might be good with normal load orders, but nor Wrye Bash).

The mods I wish to merge are as follows:
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp 1.4.0 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner,Invent,Names,Stats}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? SI.esp 1.11		DLC Horse Armor ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.05 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? HorseArmor.esp 1.11DLCOrrey ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.3 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Orrey.esp 1.11DLCVileLair ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.5 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Vile Lair.esp 1.11DLCMehrunesRazor ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light,Relev}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? MehrunesRazor.esp 1.11DLCThievesDen ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.5 {{BASH:C.Light,Relev}}DLCThievesDen ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Thieves Den 1.11DLCBattlehornCastle ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Battlehorn.espKnights ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.9 {{BASH:C.Light,Invent,Names,Relev,Stats}}
I notice that Gecko does not import tags into merged mods.
so Question (1)
If the final merged mod had all these tags ? is that harmful? I guess it would also mean that tags (releve,deleve) would be added to content such as the Orrey, which normally would not require those tags. I'd use Wrye Bash and tag it myself.

Question (2) The above list does not include the:DLCSpellTomes ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.1 {{BASH:Graphics,NoMerge}} Which has a bash/no merge option ? is merging that into this mod (and not bash) OK?

Question (3) Nor does it include:
SM Plugin Refurbish ? Knights.esp 1.06 Which is a mergeable (into bash) mod ? would merging this into this mod be OK?
Question (4) Could Wrye's Knights patch: http://wrye.ufrealms.net/Knights%20Patch.html also be integrated? (is that patch even necessary anymore?)

Question (5)
Could the Mystic Emporium Bug Fix: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12745 also be merged ? even though, again, it is a normally merged into bash patch? (no real point to that other than being neat, I guess).

Finally Question (6) recommended load order if the mod and the numerous tags are acceptable.

I've already made the merged mod, but thought I'd check with you smarter than me people before launching it. I put the priority numbered as per the load order of these mods in BOSS.

Thanks all for any help on these matters please.
User avatar
joseluis perez
 
Posts: 3507
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:51 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 1:10 pm

Indeed you can't merge a mod and the master it depends on.


So... even though the 'master' for this one is an .esp, it can't be done?
User avatar
luke trodden
 
Posts: 3445
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:48 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:46 am

So... even though the 'master' for this one is an .esp, it can't be done?

I don't think TES4Gecko will accept that.
User avatar
Cayal
 
Posts: 3398
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:24 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:05 pm

toj - I've not been able to do it - even using the merge to master function - it expects an .esm format in order to merge.

If you were to do it then the merged mod would have as a master a mod you had merged.

You can get tricky though by naming a merged mod after a mod that another uses as a master - if that mod has merged within it the master that is needed.

But with all of this - I'd go through Tes4view line by line with just those mods (the originals) active - looking for conflicts and then thinking about the merge priority.
User avatar
{Richies Mommy}
 
Posts: 3398
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:40 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:56 am

To begin with, Mr. Human Bean adds no bash tags to his mega merge. Possible problem right there, doesn't seem Wrye Bash friendly (so this idea might be good with normal load orders, but nor Wrye Bash).


You have to be careful with the tags. Especially for Spell Tomes UOMP, in fact, I'm not sure it should be tagged. Mine isn't and it all seems to be working properly. You certainly don't want to be using things like Graphics and NoMerge on it in a mega package since that will then apply to the ENTIRE merged mod. See what I'm getting at?

The mods I wish to merge are as follows:
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp 1.4.0 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner,Invent,Names,Stats}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? SI.esp 1.11		DLC Horse Armor ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.05 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? HorseArmor.esp 1.11DLCOrrey ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.3 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Orrey.esp 1.11DLCVileLair ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.5 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Vile Lair.esp 1.11DLCMehrunesRazor ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light,Relev}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? MehrunesRazor.esp 1.11DLCThievesDen ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.5 {{BASH:C.Light,Relev}}DLCThievesDen ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Thieves Den 1.11DLCBattlehornCastle ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.4 {{BASH:C.Light,C.Owner}}SM Plugin Refurbish ? Battlehorn.espKnights ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.9 {{BASH:C.Light,Invent,Names,Relev,Stats}}


I notice that Gecko does not import tags into merged mods.


Nope. Tags are just description text and Gecko has no idea what they mean. It generally just uses the description from the first mod on the list, which would include any tags it has.

so Question (1)
If the final merged mod had all these tags ? is that harmful? I guess it would also mean that tags (releve,deleve) would be added to content such as the Orrey, which normally would not require those tags. I'd use Wrye Bash and tag it myself.


Well the Delev/Relev isn't something I'm completely sure on. But the Light and Climate ones should still be used as what they're trying to do will end up merged into the larger ESP and still need to be done. But it does come at the slight danger of causing plenty of other cells to pick up on the changes that otherwise may not need them.

Question (2) The above list does not include the:
DLCSpellTomes ? Unofficial Patch.esp 1.0.1 {{BASH:Graphics,NoMerge}} Which has a bash/no merge option ? is merging that into this mod (and not bash) OK?


Don't see why it had those tags, ever. You'd probably want to remove those.

Question (3) Nor does it include:
SM Plugin Refurbish ? Knights.esp 1.06 Which is a mergeable (into bash) mod ? would merging this into this mod be OK?


No, because once its contents are merged the larger file will have cell records and Bash won't merge those.

Question (4) Could Wrye's Knights patch: http://wrye.ufrealms.net/Knights%20Patch.html also be integrated? (is that patch even necessary anymore?)

Question (5) Could the Mystic Emporium Bug Fix: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12745 also be merged ? even though, again, it is a normally merged into bash patch? (no real point to that other than being neat, I guess).


Both of those have been rendered obsolete by the current UOMPs. You don't need them at all.

Finally Question (6) recommended load order if the mod and the numerous tags are acceptable.


Well. Obviously it'll need to go after your DLCs, and those will need to all be in a block somewhere together, including Knigts.esp. The result may also require you to shuffle your DLC order around a bit. And you won't be able to allow BOSS to move Knights.esp around on you anymore.

This is also something that's going to mandate you be extra alert for bugs. I'd recommend backing up saves and proceeding with a test subject or other semi-throwaway save you can risk on it.
User avatar
Cheryl Rice
 
Posts: 3412
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:44 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:14 am

yeah I hear you about the bugs, this may be over my head at this point.

but ...

So mystic emporium is fixed? I still had that problem with the recent stuff??? Hmm? Need to recheck that.
Wrye knights - going going gone
DLC spell tomes - should be active? Wrye seems to want it to be merged and the latest Wrye Bash recognizes it as mergeable automatically. Strange? Seems I read somewhere - where though - that it needed those tags. Just unzipped it again and Wrye recognizes it as merageable, but no graphics tag. So you suggest keeping it active and with no tags?

So the C. Lights, Invent, Stats, Relev, Delev are all unkown quantities when applied to all the patches merged? Unnggh - headache. Especially since all the areas this touches - my PC has not even discovered yet.

I may test it out later - with as you say expendable saves, but so far - yeah this is a bit over my head for now.

Too bad would have reduced some 15 slots.

While I can certainly appreciate simple mods (many I love) it seems that the DLC UOPs and SMs could be offered as merges. Hmmm well no tags on the SM patchs - that may be a go!

thanks Arthmoor

[edit] well I'm pretty sure that the stats tag is for changing weapons to MOBS stats, which wouldn't be that bad because other mods do the same. The rest of the tags - not so sure.
User avatar
BEl J
 
Posts: 3397
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:12 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:17 pm

toj - I've not been able to do it - even using the merge to master function - it expects an .esm format in order to merge.

If you were to do it then the merged mod would have as a master a mod you had merged.

You can get tricky though by naming a merged mod after a mod that another uses as a master - if that mod has merged within it the master that is needed.

But with all of this - I'd go through Tes4view line by line with just those mods (the originals) active - looking for conflicts and then thinking about the merge priority.


This may or may not work:
Convert the master ESP to ESM (use Gecko)
Change the master in the dependent mod to the ESM (use Wrye Bash)
Merge to Master (use Gecko)
Convert the resulting merged ESM to ESP (use Gecko)
User avatar
Alexander Lee
 
Posts: 3481
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:30 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:44 pm

So mystic emporium is fixed? I still had that problem with the recent stuff??? Hmm? Need to recheck that.


I'm 99.9% positive Kivan fixed that via scripts, and was at least partly why he tagged all the UOMP stuff so Bash could fix the issue itself. The bug being in the original DLC files and all.

DLC spell tomes - should be active? Wrye seems to want it to be merged and the latest Wrye Bash recognizes it as mergeable automatically. Strange? Seems I read somewhere - where though - that it needed those tags. Just unzipped it again and Wrye recognizes it as merageable, but no graphics tag. So you suggest keeping it active and with no tags?


Yes. I have it active, not merged. Tagged with nothing at all. DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp is marked as being mergeable but also is not tagged and is currently active. The spell tomes show up in loot for me, so I know they work.

So the C. Lights, Invent, Stats, Relev, Delev are all unkown quantities when applied to all the patches merged? Unnggh - headache. Especially since all the areas this touches - my PC has not even discovered yet.


C.Light and C.Climate should be relatively harmless applied to the merge file. Invent may or may not be desireable, it depends on how much inventory mucking the other patch files are doing. Relev and Delev would only affect any leveled lists involved.

well I'm pretty sure that the stats tag is for changing weapons to MOBS stats, which wouldn't be that bad because other mods do the same. The rest of the tags - not so sure.


Stats has nothing to do with MOBS. All Stats does is tell it to import weapon stats from the file. Which again may not be what you'd want it to do in a large merge because the tag would apply to every weapon in the file, not just those from the original file.
User avatar
Luna Lovegood
 
Posts: 3325
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:45 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:47 pm

I just ran through testing the Mystic Emporium bug and with frostcrag before or after battlehorn the door remains locked. So, I dunno. The fix mod is mergeable so it is not like it is eating a slot or anything. Back in it goes.

Before when I posted about DLC spell tomes - I was ever talking only about the unofficial patch - not the original DLC mod. I will try with it active even though it is marked mergeable. I have been noticing that I get mostly only one spell book (midas force burst not even a DLC), som maybe this will address that.

as of the tags and all that - will think more on it.

Inventory - is Item Interchange considered mucking? :)

thanks Arthmoor

Vorians - do you have any feedback about those tags and this 'project'

if so would love feedback.
User avatar
Dan Wright
 
Posts: 3308
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:40 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:30 am

I just ran through testing the Mystic Emporium bug and with frostcrag before or after battlehorn the door remains locked. So, I dunno. The fix mod is mergeable so it is not like it is eating a slot or anything. Back in it goes.

Before when I posted about DLC spell tomes - I was ever talking only about the unofficial patch - not the original DLC mod. I will try with it active even though it is marked mergeable. I have been noticing that I get mostly only one spell book (midas force burst not even a DLC), som maybe this will address that.

as of the tags and all that - will think more on it.

Inventory - is Item Interchange considered mucking? :)

thanks Arthmoor

Vorians - do you have any feedback about those tags and this 'project'

if so would love feedback.


Not really, I don't bother with setting Bash tags. If an ESP has them already, all well and good. But again I must point out that I don't have time to play the game. All my free time goes into modding. When I last played the game, bash tags didn't exist. So until I get back to actually playing the game again, bash tags will be fairly irellevent to me :) The only input I have on them is not to use C.Water on ANY mod unless it's a landscape overhaul (like the UL mods). It certainly doesn't belong on the unofficial patch ESP.
User avatar
brian adkins
 
Posts: 3452
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:51 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:50 am

I just ran through testing the Mystic Emporium bug and with frostcrag before or after battlehorn the door remains locked. So, I dunno. The fix mod is mergeable so it is not like it is eating a slot or anything. Back in it goes.


It's not load order fixable. That's why the tag got added to the Frostcrag UOMP. Didn't you say you're using Frostcrag Reborn? ( or was that someone else? ).

Before when I posted about DLC spell tomes - I was ever talking only about the unofficial patch - not the original DLC mod. I will try with it active even though it is marked mergeable. I have been noticing that I get mostly only one spell book (midas force burst not even a DLC), som maybe this will address that.


That would highly suggest that Midas has taken over that leveled list and blocked out anything else that was using it before. Which means in your case it would be a good idea to tag the DLC, not the patch, though the patch may need it to. I'd have to look again to be sure what it's patching :)

Inventory - is Item Interchange considered mucking? :)


You could say that. :)
I have no idea what that mod actually does though, you'd need to ask Vacuity. Reading explanations of what he's doing with it made my head spin.
User avatar
kirsty joanne hines
 
Posts: 3361
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2006 10:06 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:05 am

I just installed Frostcrag revisited (not reborn) tonight. Prior to that I could not get the door to open regardless of load order or use of the unofficial patches - only that mod fixed it. I made sure I had the most recent patches too (last fall). Oh well, again I found an answer. Perhaps - maybe - doubtful better cities has something to do with it?

Midas took over leveled lists - hmm wish that there were an active Midas thread. I asked in the last one that came up and no reply - maybe FCOM thread. Vacuity didn't seem to have an answer in his thread either. Maybe will try some load order tweaks. Will try no tags first - as tags on the UOP led to more of the midas tome.

Next chance to play around with this I will merge the SM refurbishes - that is about 6 slots less.
thanks man

[EDIT] no actually I cannot get Frostcrag Revisited to resolve the mystic emporium bug at all. took the topic here: http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=936397&view=findpost&p=13597393 if anyone has suggestions.
User avatar
A Dardzz
 
Posts: 3370
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:26 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:43 am

So I'm still looking for a way to merge mods and not lose their items in game, now I'm into merging house mods... but imagine loosing my items in the containers there.. really, isnt there a way to avoid that somehow? even with bash? I dont know how to use it properly however...
User avatar
Dona BlackHeart
 
Posts: 3405
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 4:05 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:53 pm

This may or may not work:
Convert the master ESP to ESM (use Gecko)
Change the master in the dependent mod to the ESM (use Wrye Bash)
Merge to Master (use Gecko)
Convert the resulting merged ESM to ESP (use Gecko)


I believe I tried this and it didn't work. The dependent mod still retains it's dependency.
User avatar
Sebrina Johnstone
 
Posts: 3456
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 12:58 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:07 pm

I believe I tried this and it didn't work. The dependent mod still retains it's dependency.


This would replace the dependent mod.
User avatar
chirsty aggas
 
Posts: 3396
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:23 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:54 pm

This would replace the dependent mod.


What I mean, is that the new mod you create then becomes dependent on itself.

I.e.

Races.esp
Companions.esp (dependent on races)

Do your thing above and make into Races and Companions.esp. (after esmify, etc).

Races and Companions now is dependent on Races and Companions. (this is what it says in the master list).
User avatar
DeeD
 
Posts: 3439
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:50 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:16 am

What I mean, is that the new mod you create then becomes dependent on itself.

I.e.

Races.esp
Companions.esp (dependent on races)

Do your thing above and make into Races and Companions.esp. (after esmify, etc).

Races and Companions now is dependent on Races and Companions. (this is what it says in the master list).


Well that's an odd result from Merge to Master.
User avatar
Albert Wesker
 
Posts: 3499
Joined: Fri May 11, 2007 11:17 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:19 pm

Well that's an odd result from Merge to Master.


Is it not supposed to do that? If not, maybe I did something wrong.
User avatar
DAVId Bryant
 
Posts: 3366
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:41 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 2:28 pm

Is it not supposed to do that? If not, maybe I did something wrong.


I would expect it to merge the ESP into the ESM, and create a new merged file which has no dependencies.
User avatar
Leonie Connor
 
Posts: 3434
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:18 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:17 am

I would expect it to merge the ESP into the ESM, and create a new merged file which has no dependencies.


I'll try again and see what happens. :)
User avatar
Isabell Hoffmann
 
Posts: 3463
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 11:34 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:56 am

I'll try again and see what happens. :)


After my retry... it worked!

I think I did some wrong changes with wrong programs... like use Wyre Bash to esmify or copy, when you suggested Gecko.

This worked perfectly!

Well actually, let me go load it to see if it worked. :hubbahubba:
User avatar
Emilie Joseph
 
Posts: 3387
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:28 am

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 1:06 pm

After my retry... it worked!

I think I did some wrong changes with wrong programs... like use Wyre Bash to esmify or copy, when you suggested Gecko.

This worked perfectly!

Well actually, let me go load it to see if it worked. :hubbahubba:


Yes testing in-game is a good idea :)
User avatar
Theodore Walling
 
Posts: 3420
Joined: Sat Jun 02, 2007 12:48 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:56 am

I don't quite understand the priority system when merging plugins. For instance if some of the data of two plug ins overlapped, would plug in priority 2 override plugin priority 1 or visa versa?
User avatar
Alexis Acevedo
 
Posts: 3330
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:58 pm

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 4:21 pm

Yes testing in-game is a good idea :)


Seems to work just fine!

Thanks man... I *thought* I knew what I was doing... but I my experience (less than 1 day) is still affecting me. :D
User avatar
RaeAnne
 
Posts: 3427
Joined: Sat Jun 24, 2006 6:40 pm

PreviousNext

Return to IV - Oblivion