Would it be possible to make UL combo mods...I am not saying everyone would use them...but it could cut down on the number of mod spaces used by us mod fanatics. I mean, maybe combine 2 or 3 ULs into 1...and have a variety of choices. For example, maybe combine CHORROL HINTERLAND with the mountainous one located north/northwest of Chorrol, and just have a whole bunch of varieties and combinations...in case some players use certain mods that would conflict. At least there is a variety of choices to choose from.

Just sayin'....

I would like to see them all merged into one since I use all of them. They do take up a rather annoying amount of esp slots plus the slots taken up by patches. Is it even possible or would it cause problems?

I use them all also...except Imperial Isle. That would be heaven if the other 26 got put in together...but I do not think that is possible...with the patches needed to connect some of the ULs.

There's a function in the CS to merge plug-ins, perhaps you could do it yourselves.. providing the function does what i think it does.

I agree though, it's a lot of .esp slots taken up.

Gecko I think it is called can merge plugins the problem isI don't know what kind of problems this could cause. That and patches wouldn't work anymore because they're masters would appear as missing would they not?

I have no CS skill whatsoever...but I have been a fanatic for Oblivion since the day it came out.

I know this is likely near impossible for the average mod user to do.. but perhaps merge all UL, patches, and the mods that're being patched for.
Seems the only way to cut down on the .esp slots really.

I also have limited skills in the CS. Right now I can only build a basic house or something. I have no idea how to approach something like this.

I'll have a wee poke-about. Let you know what i can do.
It's possible to change masters through bash, i think. So merging all UL into 1 mod, then edit master accordingly through bash.

My brain hurts.

Feel totally free to tell all your results here...if you can't find a quick answer...maybe someone else could use your info...and continue on the quest to completion!

You could maybe just ask Arthmoor if he could merge them an add it as an optional download to the nexus page. I'm sure if enough people want it he would do it.

Richard you already know what Vorians and Arthmoor are gonna say. This has already been asked many times before. Just think though a unified version and there will always be someone saying - can I get a version without a particular UL -- like Imperial Isle or something.

It is not the ULs that take up as much space in my LO it is the patches.

The really adventurous could try merging the patches that they use which will have many masters. Or try merging the ULs that don't have patches.

No, I don't want a mixture of all the ULs...maybe just 2 or 3 in each one.

all i can suggest richard is maybe read up on merging your patches to the master file, than merging those .esps together to have your single plugin

No, he wouldn't, because he has repeatedly recommended against doing this. So why would he want to turn around and do something that's not recommended?

He also sometimes has a weird habit of responding in the 3rd person....



Yes, and we also give that same response when someone asks us to merge the patches or suggests merging the packages. It's not recommended, so we're certainly not about to support doing it.

We take the stance that if anyone is savvy enough to know how to do it, they'll also know how to solve the problems that come up. Anyone who takes this path is on their own.

Sorry I haven't been here that long so I wouldn't have known that it's been suggested and refused already.

Repeatedly, both by Arthmoor and myself (the current UL Council) and by past incarnations of the UL Council

As Arthmoor said, anyone who wants to merge files for their own personal use is welcome to do so, but they must not expect us to be able to provide support or assistance should things not go as planned.

After my nice 12 hour nap, i'm working on combining the mods.
I think i'm possibly over-complicating things, but i want to merge all the active UL mods i have, and then i've looked at every patch i have associated with UL, and i'm merging the associated mods in with UL.
Then i'll make a separate merge of the patches to be loaded after the first file.
Once i've managed to get that done, i'll playtest it a wee while and see what happens.

I'm not particularly experienced with the Oblivion CS, so this is a bit of a test

Will post back later if i hit a major issue or if it works!

:goodjob:

Edit: Typos.

And what will you do when a new UL comes out, or a new pacth for an existing UL, or a UL gets an update, or a merged patch gets an update? What about when you find something doesn't look right? Is it a new conflict, or the result of a failed merge? Will it be the UL/other mods merged at fault, or the patches merged at fault?

Hitting some issues while merging the mods, this is gonna take me a good while to iron out

Your answer tells me you have absolutely no idea what you're doing. I'm sorry, but I really don't think you should try this until you have a better understanding of modding and mod dependencies. Once you've merged the ULs together, the chances of a new patch working with that merge (even after changing the master) are very low. Non-vanilla Form IDs get changed during merging, so if the patch is dependent on either the UL, the conflicting mod, or both, then there's a high chance that it will no longer be able to find the records it is meant to be editing, and will leave the conflict unfixed, instead creating duplicates of the conflicting objects nearby.

Also you didn't take into account my query about updates to the existing ULs and patches (plus updates to the conflicting mods, which I hadn't considered before).

Actually, I think you should try this, as doing so will help provide you with an understanding. Just don't use the resulting files in your game. If the patch is not dependent on either of the two conflicting mods, then merging will work out fine in-game, but the ones which have dependencies have a high chance of failure. And the more mods you merge the higher the chance of failure as more Form IDs will clash and need changing during the merge.

A more successful method (still not recommended however) would be to transfer the edits from the patch into each of the conflicting mods if the patch is dependent on them. If you have ModA.esp and UL1.esp followed by Patch.esp, and Patch.esp is dependent on both ModA and UL1, then transfer all edits to records unique to ModA into ModA.esp, and transfer all edits unique to UL1 and all vanilla records into UL1.esp, making the patch ESP itself redundant. Then merge ModA with UL1. I would still expect something to break eventually and it'll still suffer from the issues I listed earlier, but it should be more reliable than what you proposed.

Well like i say, it's a learning process, i've fully backed up everything before meddling around anyway, i'm confident i can get it to work with enough trial and error.

Don't use the CS for this, you need TES4Edit and TES4Gecko.

I think it is safe to say that if they won't do it for us it probably shouldn't be done (plus they said that already). I mean they made them so I'm sure they would know better than anyone else, especially someone new to CS.

Well in the end, anyone can do whatever they want. We won't provide the files ourselves, and we recommend that others don't attempt it, but regardless, if you want to try, then try.