As some will be aware, I am packing together all the content of the mesogea mod for upload. I am wondering if it might be an idea to make it a BSA file to keep it all tidier. Anyone give me some advice of how best to do this, how to link it so I dont have to have people muck about with the .ini files and so on.

As this mod is a modders paradise mod, basically asking others to get involved and mod it themselves, would a BSA be sensible anyway? Your thoughts?

BSA creator asks to links esp's. Are esm's not able to be linked?

I... actually prefer loose files (packed in a standard archive, like 7z or RAR) nowadays. But I might well be in the minority there!

For BAIN installations, it's preferable, IMO. And BAIN itself is preferable, so...

Even if using another installation method, it's nice to be able to (straight away, with no fuss) see what the mod package contains.

Just my 2c.

My only concern is that having loose files might cause problems for people using other mods, such as distant land files and meshes. There shouldnt be much of a problem or any at all in reality, because anyone already having meshes from lets say Mr Siika wont worry about overwriting the current files as they will just be replaced by the same ones, so no change in game at all.

Im probably concerning myself with daft things, but the easier the mod is to download and put where it needs to be, the happier people will be.

You need an esp to activate a BSA. Just look at the Shivering Isles, it only installs an empty esp just for that.

BSAs can only be loaded with ESPs or through the Oblivion.ini. Also, none of the files packed in the BSAs should be replacements for original files. You don't want BSAs with multiple versions of the same files in them.

It should be fairly simple to create a BSA in OBMM and make a dummy ESP file to make it load. That's how SI, BC and others did it.

I suggest using "Oblivion.esp" since it is recognized by BOSS as a dummy plugin for loading BSAs, already. You could also use an OMOD script to look for DLCShiveringIsles.esp and rename the BSAs accordingly. Just give the user some options to allow them to reduce clutter on their setups.

I'll give those ideas a try. I'm aiming to stop any conflicts.