How to make an ESP refer to things inside another ESP

[Bluarchon]

Hey guys... I'm trying to make a sequel for my mod. The first part is a questline and for the sequel I wanted to pick up where the first one left off. Basically I just wanna make sure that the sequel will require the player to have finished the previous questline, before it can actually trigger. I also want to avoid making the first part an ESM if that's possible. I've never done anything like this before and I've tried using WyreBash to esmify the first ESP and then make the sequel ESP use it as master but when I go in-game I cannot use the conditions to check whether the quest has already been completed or not. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

I'm not sure if I explained my situation clearly enough but will provide more details if needed. Thanks to anyone who can help!

[VectorPlexus]

not possible, you have to turn the ESP into an ESM

 

http://www.creationkit.com/Creating_Custom_Master_Files

[Bluarchon]

Thanks VectorPlexus. So just to understand better how am I going to make this work. I will upload an ESM file for the first mod so that people who would want to download the sequel should have the ESM version of the first mod rather than the current ESP, correct?

[VectorPlexus]

yes

[Sjogga]

not possible, you have to turn the ESP into an ESM

 

http://www.creationkit.com/Creating_Custom_Master_Files

This is only half true. You don't need to convert it into an actual .esm-file. You do however need to esmify the first mod using Wrye Bash while working on the second mod inside the kit.

 

@BlueArchon: What is supposed to trigger your second quest to start?

Edited March 4, 2013 by Sjogga

[scrivener07]

not possible, you have to turn the ESP into an ESM

 

http://www.creationkit.com/Creating_Custom_Master_Files

 

 

Ummm no, Game.GetFormFromFile(int aiFormID, string asFilename)

[jet4571]

He could also make something vanilla a trigger for the second mod, have the first mod disable it then replace by enabling a mod version of the item. the second mod's quest kicks in when the vanilla item becomes disabled.

[scrivener07]

True that. lol disable a vanilla tree somewhere when the first quest completes and then test if the tree is enabled or not in the second quest.

[unuroboros]

You can also use Tes5Edit. You can add masters to an ESP directly from Tes5Edit, I've done it several times to hand-craft my own three-way merge files on Actors or Leveled's. Unfortunately, the disadvantage to this method is that subsequently opening the file in the CK breaks the inheritance, and you'll need to re-do it in Tes5Edit. GetFormFromFile is an option... but I'd really worry about its overhead (disk I/O is a great way to cause blocking).

 

The best way to make the contents of a script agnostic of the Forms they are working against is Properties.

• Use a GlobalVariable in the first mod to indicate that quest is complete.
• In the second mod's script where you are checking for completion, include a GlobalVariable Property. Check for .GetValueInt() == 1 or the like.
• Now, in your development environment, do ESM-ify the first quest's mod and parent it to the second mod. You don't have to distribute / upload it as an ESM; this is just to make it easier for you to work on in the CK.
• Finally, point the GlobalVariable Property to the Global in the parent / ESM / first quest.

This could be a little more challenging if your goal is actually to prevent the second ESP from crashing the game even if its dependency (first quest ESP) is missing, but I'm assuming you're enforcing the dependency and just want some reliable way to refer to a Form from the first mod.

[jet4571]

So much for impossible to do, One must think outside the box to mod games sometimes.