Merging Plug-in's or converting master files

Post » Mon Oct 03, 2011 5:06 pm

is there a way to merge all of the plug ins from bethesda? i want to use some items from the plug-in's like battlehorn casatle, or thieves den, so i went to get TES4Gecko to convert these to master files, it will not allow for that, so than i went to merge them into the master, or just merge them into one plug in but it does not seem to allow me to do anything...

I saw on steam that u can buy the game all in one wtih the game of the year addition, in the game of the year edition are they all in one master file? or am i just out of luck and can not use them other than editing the plug ins individualy?

or is there a way to extract the items i want and put it in a new plug in?, i am so lost and i have been trying to research this for hours, so if its a newb question i am sorry i just started moding 2 days ago
User avatar
Mizz.Jayy
 
Posts: 3483
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 5:56 pm

Post » Mon Oct 03, 2011 5:21 pm

GOTY edition's DLC aren't ESMs and you don't want to make the DLCs ESMs for a number of reasons.

A) They have placed stuff in most cases and a bona fide ESM which alters Oblivion.ESM areas will cause the floor to fall out from under you in game. That's why Shivering Isles is merged, by Beth, directly into Oblivion.ESM and its .esp is empty and why all the other DLCs are not ESM'ified. This is not the case with Fallout 3+ as its ESM plugins work differently (ONAM Lists in ESM file headers).

B) If you change their file extension and have them as false flag ESMs to avoid A), you'll still have problems in the event a mod has a DLC as a master in that the .esp needed won't be found, making your game crash at startup.

As for merging them all, it's possible, but there's a high probability you'll break all the dialogue. Each DLC with spoken dialogue has its audio files in a folder named after its plugin which MUST match the FormIDs of their corresponding INFOs. Merging will almost invariably necessitate changing of FormIDs. Also, you'd break all compatibility with plugins that patch, edit, or reference the DLCs in their original state. Also, in the absence of any given plugin, its BSA will not auto load unless you manually add it ti your sArchiveList in your .ini.

Objectively, you should probably just revert to the original plugins and leave 'em alone. Merging stuff can be advantageous, but not in this case.
User avatar
suniti
 
Posts: 3176
Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:22 pm

Post » Mon Oct 03, 2011 5:28 pm

thank you :)
User avatar
Imy Davies
 
Posts: 3479
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:42 pm

Post » Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:45 am

No prob :) I hand merge almost everything myself with TES4Edit, but not the DLCs for the reasons listed above.
User avatar
Kellymarie Heppell
 
Posts: 3456
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 4:37 am


Return to IV - Oblivion