09jlardinois Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 Hey guys, For the first time, I've run into the problem of the 255 plugin limit. Crazy - considering I've been modding heavily since Oblivion. Anyways, I found two really great tutorials for learning how to merge plugins. The only problem is that they don't go very in-depth. They are more advanced tutorials, but still not what I require. I attempted to merge some weapons mods and spent the last several hours fixing my game saves. The knowledge I needed just wasn't there. So I'm wondering if anyone can tutor me on merging mods - preferrably a modder themselves, or someone very familiar with the engine. The reason is that this 255 problem is ridiculous, and I'm sure I'm not the only person in this position, which brings me to my goal.I want to start an official volunteer mod merging service. Free. Gloriously free. I am hoping that, within time, the Nexus will add a "merge request" section to their forum where volunteers like me can find the most popular requested merges and put out files for the community. Because community is important, and I love all of you guys. I want to contribute. I've been programming since I was 10 (17 years), and have modded Skyrim and other games. But I've never RELEASED a mod. I've never contributed. So this is how I want to contribute: by learning to merge plugins flawlessly so I can offer free merging services to others. I hope to launch my own mod author page ripe with merges for gamers and modders alike to download and enjoy. Would someone please tutor me? I promise I learn quickly. (I taught myself 7+ programming languages starting at age 10 - I can learn very quickly.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyRJump Posted June 7, 2018 Share Posted June 7, 2018 You can always have a look at MergePlugins and the accompanying video. Be aware though that you need to unpack any additional content when there is some, in order for MergePlugins to take that extra content into account. As far as starting a "service" for merged mods on request goes, it is commendable to be willing to try and help people with how to merge mods. Such a service would be seriously appreciated. The question however is, if this would be simply a service for private use, or if it would imply releasing mod packs in merged form? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
09jlardinois Posted June 11, 2018 Author Share Posted June 11, 2018 You can always have a look at MergePlugins and the accompanying video. Be aware though that you need to unpack any additional content when there is some, in order for MergePlugins to take that extra content into account. As far as starting a "service" for merged mods on request goes, it is commendable to be willing to try and help people with how to merge mods. Such a service would be seriously appreciated. The question however is, if this would be simply a service for private use, or if it would imply releasing mod packs in merged form? Thank you sir!!!!!! That was insanely helpful. I went through the whole tutorial and have now succesfully merged dozens of mods. This tool is amazing! You bring up a very good point about the controversy surrounding re-uploading merged mods. I had not thought of that aspect. It seems to me like this service wouldn't really be possible, unless I can convince mod authors to let me merge their plugins for them. The only real way I see this working is if all mods use installers, and some sort of program was written for the installer to automate the merging process based on whichever plugins are chosen. However, another way to accomplish that is to create some software that "crawls" fomod installers and automatically generates every possible merge and permutation, then injects them back into the installer. The problem with that is that the mod size would bloat significantly. It seems I've hit a barrier where I need to decide how this service would function, or if it's just not feasible in the end. I'll have to think on this more. The fact that Merge Plugins is built on FO4Edit is quite promising - that makes me wonder if similar programs can be extended from XEdit that automate merges based on permutation. It also makes me wonder if there would be a way to create a "boilerplate" merge that has the greatest common data from each permutation, or maybe from like-bundles, and only injects the final unique data sets on request. This would solve the problem of bloat, and also increase installing speed and create less preparation. This would require a lot of programming, however, and an extremely deep understanding of the Creation Engine, which I don't have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undeadbob666 Posted June 27, 2018 Share Posted June 27, 2018 Cool! I've been wondering how to make my own overhaul mod, just like horizon, of course I know nothing of modding or programming but man I've run into this 250+ limit allot. Really annoying. I hope you do plan on offering this service still, if you build it they will come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAlmightyOS Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 I am also 255+ mods in and currently in mod-merging hell. The most pressing issue I am finding is that the tool used to merge the mods, MergePlugins, is no longer being maintained. It has some errors, rough around the edges and requires a bit of prodding to get results. Also, if you use NMM or Vortex as opposed to MO2, there is no easy way to swap out the old mods for the merged one. Second issue is that this whole concept of merging is a lot more complicated than it looks on the surface. Understanding how mods are layered in a large install (150+) is critical and sometimes very complicated. There is also the issue of merging the largest of the large together that depend/are dependant upon other large mods. I am talking mostly about VIS and Radrose, which take up a ludicrous amount of slots by themselves. Can it be done? yeah. A service? I don't know about that. Each mod set up is different and poses a different set of problems. And let's not forget the constantly updating mods that require F4SE meaning with each update you need a new merged patch. ugh... I think I spend more time getting mods to work than playing now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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