Looking for help using Cathedral assets optimizer

[Diabolus83]

Ok I feel like I'm really starting to annoy people now (sorry Dreifels), I've read a ton, including comments and

"For this read the instruction How to convert and optimize a mod using CAO 64" but I'm still not 100% I am doing this right.

I have two scenarios I'm struggling with, I am just packing some SSE mods into BSA format to avoid loose files.

Scenario 1 example: Mod - Dlizzio's Mesh Fixes.

So I place the meshes & textures in a data folder and run COA on that folder and I get a data.esp and a data.bsa

https://i.imgur.com/JuexLgv.png

I know I can then rename them and put them in a new folder called data and zip it and install it, but what if the mod comes with an ESP ?https://i.imgur.com/vqWbvyr.png

Do I place the the the COA created bsa & esp WITH the mods original esp in a new folder called data and zip it and install it ?

Or do I run COA on the folder with the meshes & textures and the mods original ESP ? Which gives me this

https://i.imgur.com/X64gZQ3.png

and then put them both in a new folder called data and zip it and install it?

Scenario 2 example: Mod - High poly project

So again, I place the meshes & textures in a data folder and run COA on that folder and I get a data.esp and a data.bsa

https://i.imgur.com/bxcvWqU.png

But this mod comes with patches that have their own ESP's, so do I put it all together in a data folder and rename the created esp & bsa, zip it and install it ?

https://i.imgur.com/ogQaDms.png

Or do I just make separate files, and zip the patches and install them each separately to the original mod ?

https://i.imgur.com/89x48Iy.png

I hope this makes sense and I really hope someone can help me. I have posted this on the mod page too.

[IsharaMeradin]

You run COA on the folder that contains the plugin and all the assets. This will name the BSA after the included plugin.

 

If you have multiple plugins due to patches, you have two options:

1. put all the assets in one BSA with the original plugin

2. treat each patch as a separate mod and pack any assets that came with it into a separate BSA

 

The second option would be the smarter course because if you no longer need that patch due to not using the other mod that requires said patch, you will be able to disable / uninstall and not have to worry about trying to remove unneeded assets from a "master BSA"

[Diabolus83]

Thank you IsharaMeradin I really appreciate it, Dreifels has been really nice & helping out too, but I don't think English is his first language so I have been struggling to understand some of his instructions.

 

That has made a lot more sense to me and so thank you for taking the time to respond.

[Wolfstorm]

Best way to do it is to put the files in a separate folder, following the same directory structure of the game folder.

Then you select to pack as a bsa.