Some mods of mods not working/loading

[ART1E117]

So I like to make my own adjustment to mods and store them in a seperate .esp. For example, if I download a cool armor I'll make my own .esp that also integrates it into leveled lists and vendor chests, but I'm having a weird issue now where they won't load no matter where I put them- whether in data or through MO2. And what's even weirder is that some of them do load. Like, the .esp I have for the Service Carbine mod that rechambers the gun for .357 and integrates it into the game's leveled lists doesn't work, but the .esp I have that stops Tammer's Nif-bashed armors from being added to leveled lists does work. I'm kinda confused at this point about what to do now so any help is greatly appreciated.

[dubiousintent]

If I am reading you correctly, what you are doing is making your own "patches" to mods. That is because they are altering how the mod behaves (e.g. different "leveled lists"). A "patch" requires more than just loading after the mod it changes, because now there are two ESP files (the original mod and your "patch") which are causing a "record level conflict". Some "patches" may work because there is no record level conflict, while others are losing out to the original mod.

 

* If you have more than one mod that makes any change to the same record or set of records in the vanilla game, then you really need to use a "Merge Patch File" with that collection of mods. Please see the 'Third Rule: The Rule of One' and 'Merge Patch File' sections of the wiki "FNV General Mod Use Advice" article. When in doubt, create a "Merge Patch" file for your overall "load order" anyway.

 

Depending upon how you go about resolving such record level conflicts, you may also want to read:

* the "Bashed Patch file with Marked Mergeables" article.
* the "Bash Tags and the Wrye Bash Patch" article.
* the "Compatibility Patching" article for the basic process. There is also the "Multiple file Merge-Up Procedure" article for a more complex example.

-Dubious-

[ART1E117]

Thanks, the merge patch file section seems to be exactly what I want.

 

One last thing: I suppose I could just entirely avoid this headache in the future by editing the .esp that comes with the mod instead of creating my own?

[dubiousintent]

Yes (for your own personal use), because then there is only the one file. (Be sure to keep a backup safe in case things go badly at some point.) The risk is that any other mods which rely upon or patch the original are likely to have problems with your "custom" version. You can mitigate such potential conflicts to a large extent with the current approach of separate patch files of your own loading after the others.

 

You can create a single patch file that affects multiple mods by making them "masters" of your patch. The issue then becomes one of you are locking in the relative sequence of those masters in the load order. If they get out of sequence, you can have problems with your patch. It can get complex to track in a hurry.

 

-Dubious-