Advice on when to make an esp into a master?

[amokrun1]

I have an esp that I have continually been adding to. It consists primarily of levelled list, weapon and armor overrides, as well as adding in almost 20 weapons with non-vanilla assets. I am thinking of separating it into an esm and an esp for the overrides as the file itself is getting very large. Is this recommended? When should a plugin be made an esm or esp?

[madmongo]

What are you calling "very large"?

 

Mods run into issues when they become larger than 16 MB. This is because the game uses 32 bits to specify references, ID numbers, etc. with the first 8 bits being used as the mod number in your load order. That leaves 24 bits leftover to specify the offset into the file. 24 bits is 16 MB.

 

You typically only run into this issue when you are creating a new worldspace. Otherwise, it is very difficult to create a mod that comes anywhere close to 16 MB in size.

 

The solution when you run into this issue is to set up the GECK in networked developer mode instead of the single user mode that most people use. You set up a fake network share and check your modifications into that. This will create an esm. As long as each individual esp mod that you check into your master is smaller than 16 MB, checking the file in will automatically place anything with a 32 bit reference number down lower into the file. Things like landscape will be placed higher in the file since they don't need a 32 bit reference.

 

Do a search for "Fallout New Vegas GECK version control" if you want more details. Warning - it's not particularly well documented.

 

I can't imagine that you are creating a mod with leveled lists and weapon overrides that exceeds 16 MB.

 

The other reason to use an esp is to avoid the face/body mismatch bug. If you aren't adding NPCs in your mod, this doesn't apply to you.

 

In general, you want to avoid splitting your mod into multiple files. This is due to the horribly inefficient way that FNV manages files. The game opens multiple file handles for every esp and esm. You should be able to have up to 255 esp and esm files but the game runs out of file handles somewhere around 140. There is a fix here:

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68714

 

Even though the fix exists, if you can keep your mod all as one file, it's better from a file handle usage perspective.

 

One other issue to consider is that you have to be careful how you edit esp and esm files. There are different ways to create an esm. For example, using FNVEdit to set the esm flag and then changing the file name to match works fine. But if you then edit that esm in the GECK in normal single user mode then the GECK will lose certain records (called ONAMs) in the file, which can break your mod, depending on what your mod edits and how it works. If you use FNVEdit to turn your mod back into an esp before editing it, you can avoid this problem. Using the GECK in networked developer mode and making edits using esp files that you then check in also avoids the issue.

[amokrun1]

The mod is basically an amalgamation of different weapons, so the install pack is the only large element due to the meshes and textures packaged within.

 

What I have done is use FNVEdit to flag it as ESM, though I left the extension name esp to keep it compatible with animation mods I have it under. Are you saying that if I edit it in the GECK as is, it can cause issues? If so, that means every time I want to edit it in the GECK I need to flag it back to an esp, make the changes , then flag it back to esm again?

[madmongo]

The esp/esm only cares about its own size and where records are located inside of it. Whether to make a mod an esp or esm has nothing to do with the size of meshes and textures that are included.

 

Keep in mind that this is a 32 bit game. If you use a lot of high resolution textures, that tends to make the game run out of memory sooner and causes it to crash. For typical weapons mods this usually isn't an issue, but might be if you have all of the weapons on the screen at the same time (like for example you have a new interior that has all of the weapons laid out on tables).

 

If all that your mod does is add weapons, then editing the esm in the GECK probably won't cause any issues. Here's a good example of how this can cause you problems. Let's say you have your mod that adds a couple dozen weapons, and you have them in containers inside a new interior that you made. Let's say for this example that your new interior is in one of the unused houses in Goodsprings, and that one of the things your mod does is that it deletes the static door along with the static wood planks that cover the door. And of course you add a new door so that you can enter the house and go into your new interior.

 

Make the mod as an esp and everything works fine. Convert it to an esm and everything works fine. Edit the esm in the GECK, and now when you go to the house in-game the original static door and the static planks are still there and you can no longer access your new door.

 

If you are just adding new things, then you don't need to worry about it. If you are modifying existing things like static objects, NPCs, etc, then you need to convert it back to an esp, edit the file, then convert it back to an esm.

[amokrun1]

Crystal clear, thanks for the great example. Seems like I don't need to worry about it then, as the mod is just an accumulation of new items, with an esp further down that connects it to other mods(NPCs, cells, LLs, etc).