How to merge and edit a mod? [personal use]

[CancaroHero]

Hello again, guys! Before starting with the real questions, please let me explain what I mean.

I'm a huge fan of mods (of course), but especially mods that increase and expand gameplay rather than graphics, both directly (like "Missives", "HeadHunter" and "Undaunted") and indirectly (even simple things like "Sounds of Skyrim", "Dirt and Blood", "Wet and Cold", "Immersive Laundry" or "Varietea" to name a few). Weapons and armour mods are one of these, but most of the time they replace some category and don't add them as new pieces.

For example, "NordwarUA Vanilla Armour Replacer" by JDJ3, which can also be replaced by "NordWarUA's Armour Variants" by JDJ3, or "Realistic Armour" by NordwarAU, and so on, but the problem is that there are so many variants for the same armour ("Simply Excellent Ebony Armour," for example) that are so good that I don't want to lose any of them (including Vanilla).The idea is to integrate everything in the right category (like all steel armour together with all forms and without any replacements, same for fur, iron, blablabla... you get the idea) and even distribute it both on enemies (random encounters and dungeons, not predetermined NPCs) and chests/merchantes. "Unplayable Faction Armors " by JDJ3 is already unique and perfect. This obviously applies to weapon packs like "Skyrim Weapons Expansion," which is already excellent, but other weapons created by the same author, such as those created by TheReapersMetalworks, can be packed together and adjusted to my personal preferences. The reason for all these things will be better organisation in my mod list and a tiny space saver (and, if possible, to avoid any kind of contrast or replacement with the mods).

But... there are also some problems:

1) I'm pretty sure most of the mods (probably all) require at least the author's permission, so 1/3 of this idea can die if someone says a big "NO!"

2) I have no true experience in modding Skyrim except for a joke I made for a friend (a common knife that can deal 9999 dmg) and since I'm kind of young here and the community has existed for so long, there are so many things to learn and I have no idea what to do and what tools I also need to learn/use. I'm not in a rush, so learning isn't the problem itself, but knowing what I need to learn to do this specific thing can be useful (maybe for a veteran modder, this is the easiest thing to do) so another 1/3 of the idea can be erased.

3) I don't even know if it's a possible thing to do or not due to "technical stuff" (Perhaps?). And this is the last 1/3.

How much am I screwed?

And now the questions:

1) What are the tools I need to merge, edit, and try to make it work?

2) What knowledge should be gained, and what procedures should be followed in order to not mess up everything?

Thanks in advance!

*ask me if something is not clear*

 

[Lexifer452]

I use xEdit, Cathedral Assets Optimizer and zMerge primarily. Archive.exe for packing bsas.

 

Couple tips I can share when doing merges.

 

This is one of the last steps bur its important so is worth saying first. Always hit that Relink Scripts button in zMerge after a merge is successfully built. Can cause all sorts of problems in game with quests and who knows what else if you don't remind and the mod has scripts.

 

xEdit is used for finding and patching mod conflicts primarily but not just the bad ones. You can do all sorts of things with xEdit. I make a lot of bundles (merges) for Xbox One primarily. Basically just simply combining mods to save mod slots and space. (We are so limited its not even funny anymore.) But xEdit can be used to fix hard conflicts, patching mods to let them work together instead of overwriting, tweaking values to your own liking for basically anything, xEdit is pretty mandatory in the end when it comes to merging. There is zEdit too and while it's newer, i think, I and most people I talk to prefer xEdit. Anyway, becoming well-acquainted with this program is a must. You don't have to be a master at it but basic understanding of the various processes you'll need to utilize will help immensely.

 

Cathedral Assets Optimizer

 

I use this program to convert and downscale meshes and textures, respectively. Whether I'm converting some oldrim animation files or meshes or downscaling a mod's textures to a lower resolution (usually a mix of 2k/1k/512 for most things for XB1), CAO is incredibly simple and easy to use. For simple oldrim conversion you don't have to do anything but set up the directory and hit run.

 

There are other programs like Octagon, and while its probably better in the end, I still prefer CAO. Haven't had any problems to date, though I've only been at this for about 5 months now. There are many wonderful guides to these programs on various discord servers, subreddits and probably here on Nexus too.

 

Alright, now probably the most important tool for merging mods, zMerge. Lol.

 

Can be a massive pain in the ass sometimes but usually, I don't have any problems. I think most people use MO2 but I don't. I play on XB1 and port/publish for XB1 so I haven't seen the need for MO2 yet. Maybe one day.

 

Anyway, you don't have to have MO2 to use zMerge. Just set the directory to wherever you want. I simply put a shortcut to the merges folder inside zMerge's directory, that I installed to a folder on my desktop called Programs with the rest of the modding tools and software I use. Easier to keep track of then installing to program files in drive C, for me anyway.

 

But it's a pretty simple process in the end. Basically you just extract all the mods you want to merge to your main Skyrim Data folder, where you would normally manually drop mod's files to install. In their folders, ie. Textures, sounds, interface, etc.

 

Then open zmerge, create new merge, add all the relevant esps to the merge, set up the load order, confirm that each mod is represented I the Data (files? It's the last tab on the right) tab and then click Build Merge. After it completes successfully, hit Relink Scripts and you're gold. From there you just get the esp from wherever you set it to output and pack all the files from the mods in the Data folder into BSAs and upload. That last part is my process. For a pc player merging for themselves I would think you'd just leave them in Data? Not positive.

 

Anyway, hope some of this helps. It can definitely be a little confusing and tricky at first. Mistakes will occur. I'd suggest checking out GamerPoets video guides for xEdit and zMerge. Just know that he is fairly conservative when it comes to what mods you should merge together. Nothing he says is wrong or anything like that, but in my experience, you really don't need to play it quite as safe as he suggests sometimes. The videos should help get you setup very well though. All the relevant info is there pretty much. I'd also highly recomm3nd finding the Tome of xEdit. It's a vast FAQ and how to guide basically on the capabilities and use of the program made by the xEdit team I assume.

 

Aside from learning from fellow porters and authors, this has been the single greatest resource I've found in understanding and learning to use xEdit. Still am really for I am no master but it doesn't take all that much time to get acquainted really if you stick with it. Gonna be quite a read but it's absolutely worth it.

 

Good luck in your future merges. ;)