RMWChaos Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 My problem: 300+ mods with their meshes, textures, .esp, and .esm files making my Oblivion gaming life a nightmare - and Wrye Bash has it's ~256 .esp limit, so no help there. Well, some help. My Solution: Merge what .esp files can be merged, and archive most or all resource files into BSAs. While I know how to extract, modify, PyFFI the .nif files, and create new BSA files, there are some things that I don't know and would like to understand before I completely fubar my Oblivion install. So here goes... Are BSA files inherrently more efficient for Oblivion than individual files or quite the opposite? In other words, does the Oblivion game engine run more efficiently when files are stored as BSAs than as independent files in /meshes or /textures folders? Or does it really matter? Or do they actually slow the game down such as loading time, etc.? Does compression during BSA creation affect performance in any way, short of loading time? When installing a mod, we use some method of ArchiveInvalidation, either editing the ArchiveInvalidation.txt file, using BSA redirection, applying the ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated! mod, etc. Is this necessary if you create a BSA of mod files? Does a BSA file loaded in a mod automatically override the files in earlier loaded BSA files such as Oblivion.bsa? Or do you still need to use an ArchiveInvalidation method? Does using a BSA file defeat any of the above mentioned Archive Invalidation methods? If a BSA file is named the same as a mod (.esp or .esm) for instance "MyMod.bsa" and "MyMod.esp", do you still need to register it in Oblivion.ini, or is it only necessary to register BSA files that are not tied to a mod? As I understand it, Oblivion.ini BSA registration has a limit of like 256 characters. If all BSA files must be registered, is there a way to work around this limit? Does using a BSA instead of individual files defeat distantLOD generation (TES4LODGen)? Do I need to generate new LOD files with the files in the BSA unpacked first? Suppose one BSA file conflicts with another, and I am correct in assuming that the last loaded BSA file takes precedence ... how would that affect distantLOD creation? When loading mods with individual files, the last installed mod is the one whose meshes and textures are used because they overwrite earlier installed mods. The load order then does not affect the resources, just the .esp and .esm files. However, if instead each mod has it's own BSA file, then resources are not overwritten. So I assume that the load order now determines which resources are used. Is that correct? The BSA of the last mod loaded will override (not overwrite) earlier BSA files with the same internal resource names? Or does it result in other weirdness such as googly eyes? In order for a mod to make use of the resources in a BSA file, must the resoures be included in the BSA file attached to the mod? Or can a mod utilize the same resources from a BSA file loaded from another mod? If the latter is the case, must the mod that "owns" the BSA file load before any other mods that want to make use of the BSA file? Or can the BSA file load at any time? Is there a logical limit to the size a BSA should be? Oblivion breaks up many BSA files into seperate meshes, textures, and voice files. Ultimately, once I finalize my list of mods, I want to streamline my BSA files so that I have a single Oblivion - Textures.bsa, Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Voices.bsa, etc. But I don't want to break anything by doing this (there are seperate BSA files for DLC content, but I assumed this was just because the contect was released seperately from the main game, not because the files could not be merged into the original BSA files. And finally (for now at least), is there any reason that I have not considered why I should NOT be using BSA files in favor of individual files? Thanks in advance for your replies! -RMWChaos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandiedan Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 My problem: 300+ mods with their meshes, textures, .esp, and .esm files making my Oblivion gaming life a nightmare - and Wrye Bash has it's ~256 .esp limit, so no help there. Well, some help. My Solution: Merge what .esp files can be merged, and archive most or all resource files into BSAs. While I know how to extract, modify, PyFFI the .nif files, and create new BSA files, there are some things that I don't know and would like to understand before I completely fubar my Oblivion install. So here goes... Are BSA files inherrently more efficient for Oblivion than individual files or quite the opposite? In other words, does the Oblivion game engine run more efficiently when files are stored as BSAs than as independent files in /meshes or /textures folders? Or does it really matter? Or do they actually slow the game down such as loading time, etc.? Does compression during BSA creation affect performance in any way, short of loading time? When installing a mod, we use some method of ArchiveInvalidation, either editing the ArchiveInvalidation.txt file, using BSA redirection, applying the ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated! mod, etc. Is this necessary if you create a BSA of mod files? Does a BSA file loaded in a mod automatically override the files in earlier loaded BSA files such as Oblivion.bsa? Or do you still need to use an ArchiveInvalidation method? Does using a BSA file defeat any of the above mentioned Archive Invalidation methods? If a BSA file is named the same as a mod (.esp or .esm) for instance "MyMod.bsa" and "MyMod.esp", do you still need to register it in Oblivion.ini, or is it only necessary to register BSA files that are not tied to a mod? As I understand it, Oblivion.ini BSA registration has a limit of like 256 characters. If all BSA files must be registered, is there a way to work around this limit? Does using a BSA instead of individual files defeat distantLOD generation (TES4LODGen)? Do I need to generate new LOD files with the files in the BSA unpacked first? Suppose one BSA file conflicts with another, and I am correct in assuming that the last loaded BSA file takes precedence ... how would that affect distantLOD creation? When loading mods with individual files, the last installed mod is the one whose meshes and textures are used because they overwrite earlier installed mods. The load order then does not affect the resources, just the .esp and .esm files. However, if instead each mod has it's own BSA file, then resources are not overwritten. So I assume that the load order now determines which resources are used. Is that correct? The BSA of the last mod loaded will override (not overwrite) earlier BSA files with the same internal resource names? Or does it result in other weirdness such as googly eyes? In order for a mod to make use of the resources in a BSA file, must the resoures be included in the BSA file attached to the mod? Or can a mod utilize the same resources from a BSA file loaded from another mod? If the latter is the case, must the mod that "owns" the BSA file load before any other mods that want to make use of the BSA file? Or can the BSA file load at any time? Is there a logical limit to the size a BSA should be? Oblivion breaks up many BSA files into seperate meshes, textures, and voice files. Ultimately, once I finalize my list of mods, I want to streamline my BSA files so that I have a single Oblivion - Textures.bsa, Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Voices.bsa, etc. But I don't want to break anything by doing this (there are seperate BSA files for DLC content, but I assumed this was just because the contect was released seperately from the main game, not because the files could not be merged into the original BSA files. And finally (for now at least), is there any reason that I have not considered why I should NOT be using BSA files in favor of individual files? Thanks in advance for your replies! -RMWChaos Did you ever figure out the answers to these questions? I am looking into the same things right now. -dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bben46 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Too many complex subjects to answer. Try reposting with each question in a separate topic. Maybe one a day to keep it simpler. Then when you get it worked out, how about writing an article on what you found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMWChaos Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Did you ever figure out the answers to these questions? I am looking into the same things right now. -dan Dan, Yes, I did get a great answer to all these questions care of Arthmoor in the Bethesda Oblivion Forums. It is a pretty detailed discussion, even though there were just a few posts. Here is the link in case you or anyone else wants to follow up on it: Bethesda Forum Topic Link Regards, -RMWChaos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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