Pack loose files as bsa will need change on mod (esp) file?

[vladcuatro]

Hi everyone. I am wondering... If i pack textures and all loose files from a mod into bsa files i will have to change something on the mod (esp) file so it can use those packed files? Thank you.

 

[kevkiev]

Nope, presuming you mean ba2 not bsa (might be the same case with bsa's too, I dunno, but I've packed a few mods' loose files into ba2s and haven't had to edit the esp).

[vladcuatro]

Excelent! Thanks. You are very kind to help me!

I already fiddle with some mods as Skibadaa Weapon Redux packing all loose files into Ba2 (you are correct on that). And everything goes very well.

Do you think all my mods can be changed that way to improve performance?. Well i feel FO4 engine is optimized to use those packed files and a lot of loose files get strangely corrupted sometime.

Have you find some mods that really need loose files?

Be well. Thanks again!

 

[kevkiev]

I've read some comments from people who don't notice much difference between ba2's and loose files, but I sure do. I've done that with a couple (older) weapon mods and can even notice that, with ba2s, it's faster to switch to that weapon with hotkeys than when the files were loose. So, as far as my admittedly limited knowledge goes, yes, I like the idea of packing loose files into ba2s everywhere I can. (As long I have room for the extra .esp's.)

 

That said though, I do worry a bit about stuff like bodyslide. For example, I have the CBBE/bodyslide version of Elianora's Armor Compendium. Unlike her vanilla version (that uses ba2s) the CBBE version has loose files (quite a few of them). Someone commented on that mod that he/she successfully packed the textures into a ba2, which I'm guessing meant that he/she left the meshes and other stuff as loose files. I'd like to pack everything into ba2's but am worried that (i) bodyslide files don't work with ba2s, and (ii) whether or not it would be ok to pack the meshes into a "main" ba2 and leave the bodyslide files loose - i.e. I wonder whether making a main ba2 is "all or nothing." I'm guessing that it would be okay to do that (i.e. leave some files out of the main ba2 file, and keep them as loose files) but, I'm not 100% sure.

 

All THAT said... ha ha... I guess I'm also a bit concerned about things like animation mods or ones that use a lot of scripts (I've read posts saying that scripts and ba2s don't always go well together. I don't know if that's true or not but it still worries me). But, overall, I think the "usual" type of mods that just have meshes/textures/sounds etc. would benefit from being packed into ba2s.

[vladcuatro]

Well, I have some experience now trying to pack Skibadaa Redux weapon pack.

The mod goes smootly on loose files but, when y create Ba2 files for main and textures it get a CTD whenever some weapon spawn on enemies.

On the other hand. I used Weaponsmith Extended 2 and the main author recommends to let some files as loose (sound and sounds, and a heavy weapon i dont recall wich one).

I will try letting those injecting scripts as loose files to see if they break with the packing process.

Good modding!

[kevkiev]

Interesting. For the, relatively few, weapon mods I've packed, I'd already deleted the level lists for npc's before installing. It's not obvious to me why your CTD would happen but, yeah, good to know.

 

And thanks for the info about Weaponsmith Extended 2. Answers a question I had about whether or not it's ok to leave part of a mod as loose files.

 

Cheers

[bill8872]

The Weapomsmith extended 2 mods recommended to be as lose files is due to Ba2 file's having to be the same name as the .esp, or it will not work.

So when I merge my mods I unpack the Ba2 file first. Lately I have been converting mods with Ba2 file's to .els's.

Edited December 8, 2017 by bill8872

[bill8872]

One thing to remember about loose files over Ba2's, is if they are replacers. As some weapon, armor/clothing mods do replace vanilla items.

Loose files take priority over Ba2 files when the game loads. I have two mods that do replace all the vanilla clothing, so I can never pack them into Ba2 files.

[kevkiev]

One thing to remember about loose files over Ba2's, is if they are replacers. As some weapon, armor/clothing mods do replace vanilla items.

Loose files take priority over Ba2 files when the game loads. I have two mods that do replace all the vanilla clothing, so I can never pack them into Ba2 files.

 

Actually, now we're getting into some interesting territory. That you can't pack replacers into a ba2 isn't necessarily true. The best example I can think of is the Vivid environmental textures (mainly roads, bridges, trees etc, but all replacers) that were originally offered as different loose file packs but then Hein84 packed 'em all up into a single ba2 (with a dummy esp) for performance. (It made a huge diff in my game, btw - excellent mod.) Since the dummy esp is loaded after the fallout 4 esm, it takes precedence. But here's the interesting part: the Vivid ba2 went a step further and included replacers of the power armor frame which, like a lot of players, I'd already replaced with a separate, loose file, hi-rez texture replacer. I initially attempted to fix things simply by packing my hi-rez mod textures into another ba2 (with a dummy esp) and loading that esp after the Vivid one. But it didn't work - the Vivid pa frame textures still showed in-game. So I upacked the Vivid ba2 and deleted the pa frame textures. That worked - the high-rez textures that I put into a ba2 were now overriding the ones in the vanilla ba2. I don't know why his ba2 took precedence over the loose file mod, or why making another ba2/esp and loading it after the Vivid one didn't have any effect, except that maybe having three active textures in play when ba2s are in play is too much for the game engine? In that pa frame scenario, things went screwy first when there were 2 ba2s (including the vanilla one) and 1 set of loose files, then when there were 3 ba2s.

[bill8872]

From my experience you can only have one texture replacer at a time, for the same item. Like Power Armor.

Sometimes you can get two world replacers to work together, but for the most part the game will only recognize one replacer, and the other might bug out something else.

 

As far as packing into Ba2's, then it is just my bad luck. I have never been able to get it to work correctly. But then I need to do more with Ba2's than I do.

Edited December 9, 2017 by bill8872