Making my first mod in ck. Need someone to point me in the right direction

[Benjango]

Back in April I started plans for a Railroad Overhaul. The first part I'm currently on is attempting to add more combat ranks and outfits to just give them a fresh coat of paint. Something to make them visually more interesting. I've gotten permission from two dozen mod authors around the Nexus to use their assets in my mod.

I started learning how to replace textures, materials, learning how to work parts in nifskope, etc. Honestly it was a lot of fun doing so.

When it came time to actually implement these things into the game is where I started having issues. Here was my process.

I had all mod assets in the game's data folder on my SSD.

Downloaded MO2 and created a portable instance titled RR Project and also had copies of all the assets in that instance mods folder.

Downloaded CK and installed it into the game's data folder.

Work on the mod via the CK in data.

After saving a new version of my mod, I'd copy the project's esp and paste it in a mod folder for MO2.

Run the game to see if the changes were made to my liking.

Repeat.

 

For a while this worked, but I couldn't help but wonder if I had been over complicating it.
Does my project need to have its assets in two different places?
Do they need to be in the game's data folder?
Can I not activate CK in MO2 and work on the project properly from there?
Asking around on discord servers got me a different answer every time.

 

I guess my question ultimately is If I'm making a mod using other peoples assets, where should I put them? How do I properly create a space to work on this project without bloating my Fallout Game Folder? Is that even possible?

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

I personally always start the CK from MO2.

 

I made an "empty mod" in MO2.

That will just create and empty folder in the "mods" folder of MO2.

I put the ESP file for the mod that I am working on in there. (open the "override folder" from MO2, there you will find the ESP that you saved in the CK)

I also made folders in there for "meshes", "textures", "materials" ....

 

That way I can enable and disable my "work-in-progress" stuff like a normal mod in MO2.

 

And it keeps my FO4 data folder completely clean.

NOTHING ever goes there.

 

 

One more thing:

ALWAYS make a new named folder for your custom or new assets!

Example:

Data/Meshes/MyNewCustomStuff/ put the meshes for your mod here

Data/Textures/MyNewCustomStuff/ put the texture files for your mod here

Data/Materials/MyNewCustomStuff/ put all the materials here

 

Just so that you don't accidentally overwrite anything from the vanilla game.

It is just "good practice" to do that.

 

 

And always keep backups!

Backups of every version of your mod!

And keep backups of your backups!

One seperate drives in seperate locations (if possible)!

[Benjango]

Would i need the ESP from other mods to make their assets work? Say I'm using the Shoulderbag Mod for my project. I have permission to use the assets for my mod. Is it better to use her esp as a master for my mod or just rename a bunch of the assets to fit my mod? Also how do you make an empty mod? Do you just make a new folder in the mods section of the instance?

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Would i need the ESP from other mods to make their assets work? Say I'm using the Shoulderbag Mod for my project. I have permission to use the assets for my mod. Is it better to use her esp as a master for my mod or just rename a bunch of the assets to fit my mod?

I don't know.

It depends ....

(I love this answer, it is always true :laugh:)

 

 

Do you want to keep the changes that the original ESPs make to the game?

Then keep the original ESPs ans make them masters of your mod.

 

Do you just want the new meshes, textures, materials that were added by the original mods?

If you don't use the original ESPs you will have to "add the things to the game" in your own ESP.

[Benjango]

Most of the mods I have permission for usually just add retextures for vanilla armors/ clothes, or add new outfits and such.

[YouDoNotKnowMyName]

Mods that add new outfits:

Do they add the new outfits to the NPCs, the leveled litsts (so that vendors can sell them, they can be randomly looted), as a craftable item?

 

If the answer is yes and you want to keep that stuff in, then you need to keep the original ESPs (or recreate all of that in your own ESP).

[Benjango]

I'll be making my own LL changes to the mod, as well as not making them craftable. So in that regard I suppose just ripping out what i want is the way to go.

[Benjango]

Well i started fresh and remade my first bit of the mod. Just a retexture of the hooded rags. Attempted to place an npc into qasmoke, Going into qasmoke showed no npc's around.

[RoNin1971]

Texture mods (which swap vanilla textures) only have an ESP (& .ba2) file for distribution purposes. (so you can load it as a mod)

Basically the ESP is pretty empty in such case. (as you only need to override the texture files)

 

So all you need to do in that case is copy the textures you want to your own mods .ba2 file.