Heyho all,

just a quick question - I'm working on my second project at the moment which heavily uses my first (now released) project. Does anyone know how I go about using the .esp from this first mod in my next one? I assumed it was simply a case of having the file ticked in the GECK, but if I want to make any modifcations to this first file, I'm slightly concerned I'll overwrite that original file in some way.

Alternatively, doesn't FOOK have a function which checks to see if other mods are installed?

Alas, GECK does not support using esps as masters. If you rename the file ending to .esm and set the ESM flag in http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=637 you can load it in GECK and use its ressources. At a later time, you can edit the original file to being an esp and remove the ESM flag, but then you have to change the name of the master in the new plugin. Also, this new plugin cannot be loaded by GECK.

Checking to see if a mod is installed is somewhat simpler if you use FOSE. The order is called http://fose.silverlock.org/fose_command_doc.html#IsModLoaded.

Lovely, thanks Zumbs. Is there any way of checking if a certain quest is completed from another mod per chance?

Bugger, I see what I've gone and done. Can I copy worldspaces from one .esp into another and not have it be reliant on having to have the origin .esp active?

Basically, Ive created a worldspace in one .esp, and I want to copy that and all the goodies inside it to my other .esp.

Cringe. :thumbsdown:

To my knowledge, there are three options:

• You make the second mod dependent on the first mod. As noted above this is a little annoying, but fully possible. Better yet, it does not require you to distribute an edit version of the original mod.
  
• Modify the original mod to modify something in Fallout3.esm upon completion. The second mod can investigate if this has been done. However, this is a very ugly hack, and very error prone, as another mod could be either editing the item or dependent on the items initial configuration.
  
• Add a common master for the two mods, where the original mod writes completion and the new mod reads it. This requires distributing an edited version of the original mod.

I think you can do that in FO3Edit (linked in my previous post). But you *seriously* should consider option 1. above.

Unless the original esp is in active development, you can simply make a copy, convert it to an esm and build your second esp on top of the esm. If your original mod is called original_mod.esp, you make a copy and convert the copy to original_mod.esm and build your new mod new_mod.esp using original_mod.esm as a master. During development you have original_mod.esm and new_mod.esp active in your load order, but deactivate original_mod.esp.

When new_mod.esp is done, you change the name of the master of new_mod.esp from original_mod.esm to original_mod.esp. After that, you deactivate original_mod.esm and activate original_mod.esp, and you are ready to go!

Note that the game engine has no problem with using esps as a master - only GECK has that problem.

Option 1 definitely seems the most applicable.

Say I have a door linking content from Original Mod's interior cell to New Mod's external worldspace, and Mr Bloggs comes along and dl's just the original mod, would that cause conflicts?

Essentially, if I set New Mod as the active file and muck around the Original Mod's interior cell, will this overwrite originalmod.esp? Surely not?

No, changes are saved in the active plugin, which is the new mod. So if you add a door to a cell, the door will only be visible if the new mod is active.

Ah, wonderful. Thanks a bundle for the help Zumbs

Hmm, I've just tried this by adding a new option to a Terminal that originates from the original mod, saved it with the new mod as the active file, gone into the game and it doesnt appear on the terminal... bizzaro.

Any persistent references you modify in the mod won't be changed if they've already been loaded in a save game. If you need to change persistent references then the user is going to have to clean save to update to the new mod; which is annoying for everyone involved.

Aaaah, worth knowing.. thanks Scarecrow. Does this exclude autosaves created by door ports?

Badump.

New query, similarly related.

Turning an .esp into an .esm.

1) Any possible danger of conflicts or effects to the game?

and

2) a simple case of renaming it from '.esp' to '.esm'?

Reasoning being, I want my project to act as a main file, so my next release and feed off it without repercussions.

• Nope.
  
• Nope.

You have to set the master flag for it to be a proper ESM. FOMM's plugin editor will let you do this.

Actually turning an ESP into an ESM is usually a Good thing, as there are a few bugs that are still only solved this way (a Navmesh bug, a face bug to list a few). In fact that's exactly what MasterUpdate mode in Fo3Edit does - turning all the plug-ins into Master files (to the game engine), thus alleviating many issues. Just adjust the header section in Fo3Edit and check the Master flag, rename the file to .ESM and your good to go - two step process. The specific steps can be found in the Fo3Edit manual (in my sig).

Luck!

Miax

Cheers guys, I'm still getting used to FO3Edit I'll have a dabble with FOMM's plugin editor now aswell. Do the two (FO3EDit and FOMM) conflict at all?

They're just tools, there's no reason for them to conflict.

Actually Fo3Edit and FOMM work very well together, I consider them both essential tools for Fallout3 modding. FOMM is critical to Fo3Edit for it's ability to re-order the mod list, moving ESPs and ESMs around. FodEdit does not do this, it addresses the list as it is when Fo3Edit loads. We use FOMM to manage the mod-order list, to extract/build BSA archives and to install mods via package when possible, so I would definitely use it. FOMM also works well with FOSE.

Cheers!

Miax

It's possible to use an .esp as a master. Check its master flag in FO3Edit, then load it along with your mod in the GECK. Make your edits, save, and then open the file up in FO3Edit again and clear the master flag. Careful though, if you accidentally open your mod up in the GECK later but forget to set that mod's .esm flag again, it will get dropped from your master list when you save, and any edits that were based on it will glitch out.

Just warn people that are upgrading to the esm version that their save game will be affected.