Merging Plugins in 2024/25

[BattleshipsSpaceships57]

I know this is an older method, but is there a way to merge a bunch of similar outfit mods into a single plugin? For example, If I was to take every VTAW outfit that was an individual mod that could not be made into an ESL, is there a way to reliably merge them all so that it doesn't cause crashes. I know it used to work with zMerge I think, but I have never gotten it to work. Same with BashPatch. I'd like to put some more mods in, but I easily surpass the 256 even with the ESL flagging. I use MO2. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[fraquar]

Only way to find out is to get to merging.    

I merged Remington NMA and Carabine, Colt Single Action Army and Toggle Revolver Fanning - Wild West Cowboy.

Just watched a video on how to do it and listened to some vintage Traffic while I was doing it - turned out great.

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You can't break anything so give it a go.

 

[BattleshipsSpaceships57]

4 minutes ago, fraquar said:

You can't break anything so give it a go.

Oh, ye of little faith. I can break anything. I mean, I didn't even change anything, got 5 hours into my playthrough and now I cant even get past the load screen.

[fraquar]

Then just listen to some Traffic and cut your losses - can't go wrong there.   

Try some Forty Thousand Headsman - life is good at that point.    

 

[BattleshipsSpaceships57]

So how does one merge outfit mods? Is Zmerge still effective or should I go to MergePlugins?

 

[sculleywagner22]

I;ve successfully have merged 438 mods combining 3 collections and 285 scripts. My base platform for FO4 is so solid I can pretty much add what ever I want and the game itself will tell me what's broken.

,not just that but between the WryeBash, MO2, Vortex mod installer and noy yo mention F4Edit utilities I'm adding 20-30 mods a day. It takes knowledge and many,MANY, did I say many? Many hours of gameplay,and loading, alt-ctrl-deleting or end tasking. Starting over loading , but if you stick with it, and don't throw too many kids at your monitor you'll end up with something really special NOONE else has.  FYI!!! Don't throw kids at your monitor you might scratch the screen!!!

 I am 1 week away from taking my build into complete VR, If it works like I think it's going to I will give it as a collection to Nexus exclusively. The essential platform that is, The mods will be listed but because they aren't mine, I don't want to misrepresent they're creators. 

 And remember, If and when you complete a build, be proud of yourself!!!! Noone on this planet has it because it's unique, because you created it and its an only copy. Nobody will play their game the way you will. It's about the experience and it's different for everybody. It's all because awesome sites like Nexus give us a way to enjoy playing,creating,sharing and teaching all of us how to make it better. Ive been modding since I was 19,,,I'm 50 now. My first mod was a 1100hp Toyota Supra on Gran Turismo 1 using a Gameshark 1 and a PS1. Never looked back!!!!   NEXUS RULES .!!!!  :}

[fraquar]

The issue with collections is you are essentially stuck with someone elses choices - 100%.

Trying to add on to a collection (to change some of those choices) - might very well be as hard to deal with as making the collection in the first place.

At the end of the day the average user doesn't have the knowledge to do that.

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The USER has an awesome responsibility if they want to mod their game.   It's a single player game, and they are the single player.   Only they know what they want.

 

[sculleywagner22]

Yea, It's really kind of awesome the way it all came about, I mean one day I was playing gran turismo and I thought "Wait a minute here, this Supra isn't right. The game only gives me 933hp but in reality with TWO turbos and a race engine I should be pushing 1200hp. I wonder how to make THAT into the game?" So I started teaching myself, spend days,nights anything I could learn, scoured the internet. I know the file structures,the conflicts, how a load order works, I just can't do the actual architecture itself, I was never good at math but for me it works. I've played "as an example" Skyrim, FONV,Fallout 3, Fallout 4, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series "including Stalker Soup!", everytime I MOD and I have never played the same game twice. It's a completely new experience every time. But you do have to put in the work. Even now, I'm almost thru setting up a new version of Fallout 4 I've melded 4 collections into 1 and testing, OMG the testing! 'Don't even get me started on the testing!! How do you polish",,,go  on admit it you thought I was gonna say Rust,,, The trip may be different each time but the end of the journey is always the same. It's just how we decide to get there. There is no right or wrong way.. Just the adventure awaiting.  God I sound like my dad.. Wait... I never had one.... Then who was that man at the breakfast table every morning???? Oh god am I a synth??? Where is Dogmeat when you need him. Damn dog probably down the street playing with that ghoul kid .    You get my point lol.

[samuraitech]

z-edit is still available on GitHub by matortheeternal.  It has not been updated since November 2022 but seems to still work.  Not sure about Next Gen FO4.  I still run Pre Next Gen.

 

It has a portable version just like MO2.  Just extract and place it somewhere.  I put mine in the folder where I keep MO2.  I am not sure about running with Vortex but with MO2 you run it within MO2 as an executable.

Launch z-edit in MO2.  Ensure game path is correct.  Should be there already.  You need to select Fallout 4 or add profile to z-edit if it does not exist.  I think it will default to Fallout NV.  z-edit works with FO3, FONV, FO4, Skyrim, etc.

Select zMerge.  It will default to zEdit.  Create name of plugin.  I add Merged to end so I know it is the merged plugin.

I used Clean (New) for merge method.  Click on Plugins tab and select your plugins to merge.  I did tactical flashlights just now as it only has two plugins.

Click OK.  Click Build Merge.  Wait for merge.  It should pop up with window that says Merge Successful.  Close out window.  Close out z-edit.

Your plugin should be in a folder called merged inside of your z-edit folder. 

Zip up newly created merged plugin folder and reinstall in MO2.  Place below the mod you just merged.  In this case Tactical Flash Lights.

Ensure original plugins are disabled.  You can click on them an hide them in MO2.

Ensure new merged plugin is enable.

Ensure plugin load order is still correct.

Test mod out in game. 

You can also merge the new plugin into the original mod folder if you don't want two folders.

I kept mine separate so I can easily enable the original plugins again in case it does not work in game.

I was able to find tactical flash light at the chem station, so it looks like z-edit still works.

 

Not all mods are good candidates for merging.  Clothing is normally OK to merge if it the mod does not have a lot of dependencies.

Vtaws Mods should be OK.  I have all my Vtaw mods merged into one plugin.

 

No need to merge light plugins.

 

z-edit the tool contains zEdit, zClean, and zMerge.  I just use the merge portion.  Use FO4 Edit for the rest.

I would do your merges when testing out your game.  You will have a bunch of missing plugins that are burned into a save.  Could cause problems.

When you go to play for real, start a new game.  I use a vanilla save file (No Mods in save) for that.

You can redo your character in Looksmenu once game loads.  Just ensure you save your character as a Looksmenu profile. 

This way if you end up starting the game over multiple times during mod installation you avoid having to create your character preset again.

There are vanilla saves you can get here.  I use one that has saves at multiple parts of the game.  You don't need to start out in the vault every time and is safer when using mods anyway.

If you load the mod cheat terminal you can use that to access Looksmenu from your Pip Boy.

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/13285

 

 

 

 

[fraquar]

The idea of merging mods is you want to put like mods into one mod - so you have 1 plugin instead of say 5 (or more)

Whether they are Light Plugins or not is irrelevant - because when you have to navigate your plugin list - an entry is an entry regardless of plugin type.    Once you start going up in count - it becomes a burden to keep sifting through excessive numbers of entries when you could have just merged them.

Ex.   No Quest Autostart - there are 5 of those mods.  Then I also have When Freedom Calls Quest Tweak, and maybe 3 or 4 other mods that slightly alter in-game quests.   I merge them all.   Why?   a)  They are not going to be updated, b) The do the job on the tin, and c) They all do a similar thing and d)  I'd rather look at 1 plugin than 8-9 in my plugin list.