i am concerned about storage space on my laptop that i run fallout 3 on. Would i be able to store all of my mod data files inside of a bsa file?

A question that will garner more interesting replies if asked on the Oblivion forum.

I'm assuming you would want to do this for the compression a BSA provides.

As it is the game works like this - files from the main game BSAs load first then BSAs from other mods then the loose files.

Problems could arise when using replacers - not just texture replacers, but say a mod that does many things but also replaces a texture or mesh from the main BSA files.

Loose files will always load last and that is the way it supposed to work, but there is inconsistent reports as to how well two BSAs with the same file name manage which file gets loaded. I'd heard reports of it being a coin toss as to which one gets loaded even if one BSA and the esp it is associated with has differing timestamps.

There are many (myself included) who have taken texture BSAs and repackaged them with favorite replacers, but there is a maximum limit to the size of BSA files - some details http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/881204-the-oblivion-performance-project-topp/. Not sure if it is the same for F3.

With Oblivion there is also the issue of http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/941296-bugz-oblivionexe-filedirectory-thrashing/ - the basic idea being that there is a maximum number of esm/esp/bsa files before the engine starts throwing errors. For Oblivion it is somewhere around 320-380 (varying reports). Again not sure if this is true for F3 too.

yeah i know of that thrashing thing, thats why i start merging mods when i get over 200. It was like that with morrowind too

I have 255+ mods and after using Wrye Flash only 210 or so active. No thrashing here.

I unpack all BSAs - why - I seem to have fewer issues with textures and fewer CTDs...and by using Wrye Flash, I can actually see what mesh or texture is replaced by a mod. This is important as I have seen weird stuff ingame with too many BSAs that reference the same item.

Only the original BSAs from gamesas do I leave alone. It also seem to speed up loading times too. My recommendation is to by a bigger drive as they are really cheap these days...

I just don't get the desire or drive to want to play on a lap top.

I'd always rather build a PC to game on (expensive but happens once every 3 years or so). If I had even a good lap top in front of me - I'd still not want to game.

This is something I've been considering, and something Blade of Mercy does and advocates in his "get oblivion plus loads of mods working sweet" thread. However, for oblivion at least, I went the opposite way and spend alot of time creating large BSA's because, but loading them in the ini sArchive list I could get them to load from another drive and this helped reduce loading stuttering ALOT!

Not modded FO3 enough to require anything as drastic (plus its engine seems much more capable of handling extra content) but it could come in handy in elimiating some of those funny remeshes cetain mods add, via large bsa's which alter vanilla content

I had 2 do it and found that some of the BSAs - over 20 - were editing the same meshes and textures. In game I was getting a "switching" of textures leading up to a CTD.

Secondly FWE was overwritng Book of Earache modded changes with weapons & projectiles. I am now seeing the corrected versions in game installed from BoE.

I am doing this because Wrye Flash gives you so much control over what is being installed.

I'll have to look into this. Not done any BSA packing with Fallout yet - I assume the best thing for this is FOMM's BSA tools?

A couple ifs that could happen.

IF the wrye bash developers finally tackle editing BSA archives (such as reading them for conflicts, extracting and repackaging them).

and

IF Valda returns to update to that new functionality.

then seeing these issues more first hand will be possible.

... good to know about BoE - thanks