Running Multiple Master files in Creation Kit

[patchling]

my problem? the ck keeps wanting to load in the following order:

 

skyrim

update

dawnguard

dragonborn

hearthfires

usleep

unoffical hi rez

hirez3

hirez2

hirez1

 

that exact order. so when i first made the mod i am working on it had the masters in the incorrect order. i did not notice it at first, but every time i save my new mod in the ck it has the masters in the wrong load order. does anybody know how to rearrange the load order in the ck?

 

otherwise the only way i can get the masters in the correct order is to swap masters in xedit. i have been switching between xedit and the ck to make my mod, but even if i sort masters in xedit the next time i save it in the ck it goes back to having hearthfire after dragonborn. i have been told that an incorrect master load order can cause a lot of problems, and if the ck keeps putting hearthfire after dragonborn in the order for the masters i am working on then my little mod will always have an incorrect master order. :sad:

 

here is the contents of my most recent SkyrimEditorCustom.ini variation

 

 

[General]

bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1

sLanguage=ENGLISH

[Archive]

SArchiveList=Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, HearthFires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa

SResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, HearthFires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa

SResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, HearthFires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa

 

 

 

[cdcooley]

The CK still loads files based on their timestamp. To get the files to load properly you need to change the date and time on dragonborn to something between the times on hearthfires and usleep. The texture packs don't matter since there's no content in any of their ESP files. There are various utilities you can download and use to change date and time on any type of file, but I use Wrye Bash to change esm and esp files since I already have it installed.

[patchling]

one workaround is to uninstall the dlc, then, from your library page on steam, tick them one at a time the box next to the dlc in the order you want to reinstall them. when they reinstall they will have the timestamp of their install date, no need to use a third party program for that. but while that little trick works when running the ck from the main skyrim directory, in the mo environment i prefer working in it does not work. wyre bash can change the timestamp of the file? i already have wyre bash for the bashed patch, i will go look at the instruction manual for wyre bash to see how to do that. thank you for letting me know.

[patchling]

update: i tried to use wrye bash to change the timestamps of the official dlc, with disastrous results. can anybody say: verify integrity of data cache? however, every time i checked the load order it listed the esm and esp with respect to masters. and that this priority took predecease over the timestamp. dawnguard and dragonborn were always loaded after update, even though by the timestamp on update it should have loaded after dg and db.

 

so with a great amount of trepidation i opened up tes5edit, checked hearthfire for errors, and then added update to hearthfire. saved loaded and checked for errors, same errors as before. i then checked for errors and added dawnguard to hearthfire masters. save and quit. loaded my newly modified hearthfire.esm back up, and checked for errors. same errors as just skyrim as a master, and same errors with both skyrim and update as a master. so far so good. dragonborn? it actually had less errors after i added dawnguard and hearthfire as masters. do not ask me why or how that happened. i find it a little confusing myself.

 

after all of that when i fired up the ck, it had the .esm files in the desired order. saved my little mod, unmodified, then checked it for errors in xedit. clean! yay! now i can get back to work on my mod. thank you for getting me started on this track of experiments. :smile:

[Soulbringer1]

followed the instructions here and now the creation kit freezes up my pc when i start it and it doesn't load it gets stuck. Nice advise Guys. Thanks a Million.

[naraferalina]

 

In SkyrimEditor.ini (Skyrim folder) under [General] set bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1

I did that, it only allows me to load the main Skyrim master file, plus one other, like I said. It won't load more than that though.

 

 

That's weird because I can open Skyrim + DLCs + Apachii + whatever else all at the same time... ?

 

There's one other thing you have to do... (just remembered)

 

In SkyrimEditor.ini you have to search for

 

sResourceArchiveList2

 

Add your DLC's at the end of it as well... it should end on Update.bsa, after it add the DLC's in release order (... Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Heartfire.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa ). There's a few more lists there about the bsa files... not sure if you need to add them there as well... I think I did add them there just to be sure

I've done both but they did not work for me. Any suggestions?

[afonik]

 

 

In SkyrimEditor.ini (Skyrim folder) under [General] set bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1

I did that, it only allows me to load the main Skyrim master file, plus one other, like I said. It won't load more than that though.

 

 

That's weird because I can open Skyrim + DLCs + Apachii + whatever else all at the same time... ?

 

There's one other thing you have to do... (just remembered)

 

In SkyrimEditor.ini you have to search for

 

sResourceArchiveList2

 

Add your DLC's at the end of it as well... it should end on Update.bsa, after it add the DLC's in release order (... Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Heartfire.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa ). There's a few more lists there about the bsa files... not sure if you need to add them there as well... I think I did add them there just to be sure

I've done both but they did not work for me. Any suggestions?

 

Keep in mind that is HearthFires and not HearthFire.bsa

[Darkfoot]

Here's what worked for me:

 

Add what everyone above has told you to add, bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 and Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Heartfires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa in their respective spots.

 

BUT DO THIS FOR Skyrim.ini (located in your documents/my games folder) Skyrim.ini AND SkyrimEditor.ini (located in your steamapps/common/skyrim folder).

 

 

Notes:

Keep in mind that is HearthFires and not HearthFire.bsa

SkyrimEditor.ini's Archive section is more towards the bottom keep looking till you find it

Edited April 10, 2017 by Darkfoot

[Lighthorse]

I have read a few of these:

 

(((

 

Error I get:

Assert

File: C:\_Skyrim\Code\TESV\TES Shared\misc\BGLocalizedString.cpp

Line:2871
LOCALIZATION:Error opening or reading strings file.

I hit Ignore button and get this in turn.

MASTERFILE: LOCALIZATION:Zero entries or empty block size read from strings file STRINGS/xxxxxxxxx_ENGLISH.Strings. Strings will be missing.

So I hit Yes to all. Then it Does the whole Microsoft Windows:

Creation Kit has stopped working
Check online for a solution and Close the program
or
Close the program.

 

)))

 

If you are getting this problem, the main cause is if you are trying to open an esp or esm that has a bsa and that bsa is not listed in the SkyrimEditor.ini

All my mods are BSA's and if I forget to add one to the list I get the same problem. I just wonder why no one else has posted this.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Lighthorse

[KingNoli]

I know its late but maybe it will help someone else like me who is just not deciding to do anything with skyrim

 

You do need to edit the SyrimEditor.ini file (i used notepad++)

add the line bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 if you dont have it and if you do ensure it is set to 1

next

add the line SResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, DawnGuard.bsa, HearthFires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa, if you dont have it and if you do make sure it looks like this

the comma at the end is why some people still didnt get it to work i know it seems ridiculous but its actually essential (its like use this file, this file, and the one you actually want to work on) your leaving an opening for another file (your mod) ADD THE COMMA AT THE END