I think your assessment on this is correct, that it is an error with the tool.
I'll look into it.

One other situation where not all of the files were gathered up. I've got a Speedtree in one of my mods. When running TES4Files to gather up what the mod is using, the .spt file was found and copied, the leaf texture was found and copied, but the billboard file and the branch texture file were not picked up. These last two files don't have CS entries, but they do need to follow certain conventions.

As an example, my mod has the following:

Data\trees\Arthmoor\RedDeliciousAppleTree.spt (picked up by CS entry, this one is fine)
Data\Textures\trees\leaves\Arthmoor\RedDeliciousApples.dds (picked up by CS entry, this one is fine too)
Data\Textures\trees\billboards\Arthmoor\RedDeliciousAppleTree.dds (must be named to match the .spt file or it will not work)
Data\Textures\trees\branches\RedDeliciousAppleBark.dds + RedDeliciousAppleBark_n.dds

The ones in the branches folder may be a bit tricky because the filename there is encoded into the Speedtree .spt file and has to match that. Despite being encoded in some weird format, if you open the tree file in a text editor the texture it wants is listed in viewable text. For the tree in my case, it shows up as RedDeliciousAppleBark.tga

Other tree files I've looked at sometimes have other unrelated disk path info ahead of the name, if they do, the filename always has two \ marks right before it. Obviously the .tga part needs to become a .dds.

Good info, thanks a bunch Arthmoor.

Found out this evening 3.43 is available for download.

Bug?
The Notepad button returns an error - "Cannot read the registry for notepad."
Previous releases had no errors.

MentalElf, what a great utility this is! I've started to use the latest version a while ago, and it has made things so much easier, as it seems to be so reliable with not adding unnecessary file. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

new user of this wonderful tool just wanting to doubleckeck he's proceeding right:

I intend to check Armamentarium for unused resource files, so I

1. Unpack its BSA into an empty Oblivion Data folder

2. Set the following in TES4Files V3.43

[X] UNINSTALL FILES
[_] GENERATE BSA File
[_] BSA No Compression
[X] Fix NIF texture paths for BSA
[_] ADD-ON Mode
[X] Extra log text

3. Select all Arma-related esms and esps

4. Click Export

5. Program runs and outputs

=================================================================
TES4Files V3.43 ERROR FILE

Armamentarium
=================================================================
===> Cannot find file "C:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Oblivion/Data/textures/menus/book/trfaf/wethorsecourier.dds"
EXPORT DONE! Files: 6415 Bytes: 1027796228 Time: 7 min 53 sec Errors: 1

These folders remains in Oblivion Data:

Distand LOD - I know TES4Files doesn't process this so it's ok/expected
Meshes 25 files
Textures 37 files


Now,

A) are those remaining meshes/textures files safe to delete (so I then BSA-repack only the files moved by the program) ?

B) If those files are "errors" (unreferenced resources), is it normal that errolog doesn't mention them?


[Afaik they should be deleted, but before repacking and reporting this on Armamentarium official thread I prefer to be sure.]


Thanks for your help and happy gaming

You might notice that the file is present in the path textures/menus/trfaf/wethorsecourier.dds in the Artifacts mod

Good hint GM, by their names I'm suspecting those remaining files are dependant by Artifacts too..
Lol kinda weird as I'm sure Artifacts esm and esp were both selected!

Maybe TES4F has a limit to the number of esp/esms it can process in a run?

I'll check

Edit: I've rerun TES4F with just Artifaxt esm and esp and those files.. It still skips them.
I guess I'll report this on the Arma thread..

Update: maybe they're dependant by some "esp for vanilla" I'm not using..
Guess that anyway I'll stick to checking mods with way less plugins lol

I'm not sure if there is a file limitation, but MentalElf and I have determined there is a memory limitation. Actually, I mean that I discovered a load failure and that was what he determined.

Thanks Aoikani,

that Mind Flayer av looks cool!

Memory in terms of my installed RAM or TES4Files hits a ceiling on its own?

I'm on 4gb and none of the logs reported program failures.. Can you please expand on what this load issue is?

4gb is enough ram, I have the same. If I remember right it's a memory leak, but MentalElf should be the one to speak to on this. I had a very large compilation that I was trying to archive and it failed, when reporting it to MentalElf, he checked and confirmed it being internal with the tool. If you're trying to pack a large mod and are receiving errors on memory, you should report this to him. He's currently working on another tool but most likely will expand TES4Files later as well. I don't know. You can reach him more frequently at http://merp.straygenius.com/forum/index.php as StrayGenius.

Thanks Aoikani, I'll definitely reach MentalElf if the issue rises again.

Anyway, I was repacking a BSA yesterday and noticed that it was missing many files.. Turns out my trusty Windows XP was unable to "see" them, as their filename was too long (C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator.VXP_3G\Desktop\Oblivion WIP\etc etc etc ).

I guess the same can happen when processing with TES4Files, so the skipping is OS-dependant and not a bug.. Not sure that was the cause with Armamentarium, still something to consider when working with Oblivion files.

I noticed TES4Files doesn't add voice-files to the BSAs, and I've also noticed that certain mods, for example Integration - The Stranded Light, comes with 2 BSAs, but then all the voicefiles (900+mb worth in this case) are loose. Tried to find some info regarding this but failed, so if I may ask - what is the reason for not adding voicefiles to BSA? Is it to be more compatible with localized versions of the game, or is it possible to mess something up in my own game if I for example add Integrations voicefiles to a BSA?

V3.5 has been released please see: http://straygenius.com/index.php?title=TES4Files

Thanks to:
andalaybay: book pathing bug report
Jedi21ita: book pathing bug report
Arthmoor: tree branch & billboard bug report.

To Peste who said "I noticed TES4Files doesn't add voice-files to the BSAs", Peste this is completely false,
I even verified that voicing is included in the BSA generation with a test using V3.5, just to be sure.

V3.5
1.Now supports very large esp/esm (example: 550MB "SomeMod.esm").
2.Finished tree support, branch and billboard were not grabbed before.
3.Fixed book image pathing to allow book images outside the stock area.
4.Mute check box added to allow disabling sound effects.
5.Minor change so only .ESM & .ESP files are listed.

*Arthmoor
*andalaybay
*Jedi21ita
Were added to the list of unofficial testers on the web page.

Thanks ME - I just finished recommending this to the rest of my team Now, please tell me, does it still yell at me when it's done? :wink_smile:

Edit: Just saw the mute checkbox - blissful silence! Thank you!!

Welcome.

I was checking v3.5 by packaging Companion Vilja by Emma, and everything went well, but I see that the BSA
for that mod is provided non-compressed, and is quite a bit larger than the compressed version (341Mb vs 271MB).
At one point the program had the option added to not compress the BSA, but I now feel that option was given
(in an effort to improve game function) was in fact useless. Does anyone have any hard evidence that not
compressing a BSA has some benefit??? Thinking of removing that option.

On a side note, earlier in this thread I wrote about getting rid of the yellow effect that can occur
using TES4LODGen by turning off some aspects of the game graphics. As I explored alternatives,
it became clear this was a bad thing. The web page now is a very brief introduction to not one
but two tools to use: http://straygenius.com/index.php?title=Using_TES4LODGen_plus_Yellow_Fix

Uncompressed BSA's are really popular. You still see a lot of people going through and uncompressing them on the forums. I know I find it hard not to release a compressed BSA - I mean if I have enough resources to pack them, I usually want to compress them, but I'd keep the option to leave them uncompressed.

Two things I noticed while packaging one of my mods (with 3.34 so I don't know whether they've been fixed yet, at least 3.5 doesn't mention them):

1. Sun textures aren't recognized (in climate settings).
2. Water textures aren't recognized (in water type category)

Thanks for an extremely useful utility!

And what Andalaybay said. HD space and bandwith is cheap, but stuttering on cell change is annoying. That's why uncompressed bsa's are popular.

The reason why Vilja's bsa isn't compressed it that it mainly consists of voice files, and these, I have had explained to me *), should not be compressed. (The meshes and textures are so few that compressing them hardly would improve the mod size). So if you remove the option to not compress the bsa, I would unfortunately have to go back to making bsas with other tools. so I dearly hope the option not to compress will still be there.

*)I don't remember the explanation well enough to explain it to you here, but if necessary, I can dig it up again).

Uncompresses BSAs don't cause as much disk stutter as compressed ones. There's probably also some slight benefit to CPU usage because the game doesn't have to waste time on decompression. Stuff like this is incredibly hard to document with any kind of proof, but it's something we've all been able to notice.

Boo says, "GLORY!"

Well I guess I won't be taking out the [X] No Comp (no BSA compression) option, lol!

For anyone that missed it, in the bottom right corner of the program display is a [X] Mute checkbox.
Check this to turn off the "GLORY" yell (King Leonitis, 300) at the completion of an export.
Hmmm if anyone wants, I could add a feature where if the user puts a file "tes4files.wav"
in the TES4Files directory it uses that instead of the "GLORY" sound. Anyone want that?

@Emma: great to hear from you, I am intrigued with the Vilja mod, looks like you were
very creative and actually achieved giving an NPC a personality. I must try it.

I started to try to fix this and found that it was properly handled.
In fact if you look at my web page for the program, the version
history shows it was taken care of in v3.4, about four months ago.
My memory is so bad however I went ahead and made an esp
with both sun and water textures and exported it, seeing in fact
that everything was taken care of and working perfectly, lol.

I had already made the change for having an optional custom
wav sound file, so I went ahead and released v3.51, you can
find it on my site :

http://straygenius.com/index.php?title=TES4Files

V3.51
1.Feature addition, if the user places a "tes4files.wav" sound
file in the TES4Files.exe directory, that will be used as the
end of export sound effect instead of the stock "GLORY" sound.