Removing File Multiples

[BadPenney]

I've only just started to use FO3Edit, so there is a great deal that I don't know about it. I've been using it to smooth out conflicts with my mod and Fallout3.esm. Now I see that there are a number of bad conflicts with my mod and Broken Steel. If I am reading the data properly, it seems that I have inadvertently made multiples of quite a number of units from Fallout3.esm while creating my mod. When I check Return to Shady Sands against FO3 the multiples look nice and green with no conflicts. It looks as though they are often times identical to the original information.

 

When I put Broken Steel in the mix though, it seems that many of the multiples are creating fatal conflicts to Broken Steel files. I assume that this is because Broken Steel is overwriting items in the Fallout3.esm, and then the multiples of those items in my mod subsequently overwrite Broken Steel's changes and reset those items back to their original form. I suspect that this process will cause conflicts with other mods as well.

 

So, my question is: How do I remove those unnessary file multiples so that the original items can be modified without interference from my mod?

[VerbalEarthworm]

BrokenSteel does tend to alter many of the vanilla numbers.

 

just create a Merged Patch, that should deal with any conflicts like this.

 

it will gather up all the red stuff and create a workaround.

 

in FO3Edit, right click in the left window and choose "Create Merged Patch",

 

name it and close and Save it.

 

launch FOMM and tick the Merged Patch, ensuring it remains always last in load order.

 

if you alter your mod setup, you will need to do a clean-save,

 

disable and delete it, then create a new one for your new setup.

 

it's good practice to do this with any and all mods.

 

(by the way, doing a Merged Patch auto-cures the MMM-raider skin/hair issues).

[BadPenney]

Thanks for the reply VE, but I think that I have stumbled onto another solution. It looks as though the Fallout Mod Manager's plugin editor is going to do the trick for me. Opening my .esp there will allow me to delete all of the units cloned into my file without affecting the parent units from FO3. There were far more than I suspected too. I did a quick hack job that left me seeing mostly single incidents of items in my mod with only the items that I had intended to be modified still showing doubles. I was able to start Broken Steel with R2SS enabled, since there were no longer secondary copies of FO3 scripts interfering with it.

 

I'm going to back up now, reload a backup copy of my .esp that I haven't altered with FOMM and proceed again like an old fox crossing thin ice to make sure that I clean out all the superflous feces without cutting away anything that the mod really needs. I have a feeling that this will absolve a multitude of sins for my mod and resolve conflicts with other gamer mods as well as Bethesda's works. I expect that it will reduce the overall memory footprint of my .esp as well.

 

I'm certainly glad that there are smarter people than me around here to create utilities like FO3Edit and FOMM. :biggrin:

[BadPenney]

FOMM seems to have saved the day for me. It looks really clean and still runs. My .esp filesize has gone from 6,111KB to 3,830KB and the only conflict that I had to resolve with Broken Steel became changing a dialogue priority from 55 to 57. After a few small unrelated tweaks I'll give it another play through before uploading a revised 1.3 that I hope will clear out current bugs.

[VerbalEarthworm]

like an old fox crossing thin ice

 

nice... :)

 

My .esp filesize has gone from 6,111KB to 3,830KB

 

is that a roundabout way of saying that you had doubled almost everything? :P

 

for your own personal game, i still heartily recommend that you create a Merged Patch after your clean-up operation.

 

it will show you exactly what conflicts still remain (if any) and deal with it for you.