How to make plug-in like mod?

[Aetherderius]

I'm making a Dragon Priest Follower mod, which was inspired by and intended to work with "Konahrik's Accoutrements", and kind of act as a plug in for it. How do I make it required that you have "K.A" downloaded to play the mod? And how do I make it a 'master file'? I've read things that say it's hard to make a plugin styled mod.

[AaronOfMpls]

I presume you know how to make your mod dependent on another one. Load Konahrik's Accoutrements in the Creation Kit, but don't make it the active file; just double-click it to check the box next to it. When you save your changes, the CK will save them as a new mod.

 

What happens at this stage depends on how Konahrik's Accoutrements is set up. If it's an ESM (or an ESP false-flagged as an ESM, like the unofficial patches), then the Creation Kit will list it as a required masterfile (an explicit dependency). If Konahrik's Accoutrements is an ordinary ESP (like most mods), then it'll be only an implicit dependency, not listed as a required masterfile. To make it explicit, you'll need a third-party tool like Wrye Bash to add it. (Search around for tutorials on how to do this; there's one here, but it's from 2012, and I don't know how much has changed since then.)

 

If you don't add it, it might still work, but you'll have to remember to load both mods the next time you edit your mod.

 

EDIT: See lofgren and IsharaMeradin's posts below. They found much better information on this than I did.

 

Whether you add it or not, you'll still need to list Konahrik's Accoutrements as a required mod on the Nexus. Add it to the Required Files (so downloaders will get the prompt for it) and mention/link to it in your description somewhere (so downloaders who actually read descriptions can be proactive).

Edited July 18, 2014 by AaronOfMpls

[lofgren]

The information provided by the poster is wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

There is a guide on how to do this here:

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/754151-tutorials-without-youtoob/?p=6035531

[IsharaMeradin]

If that link is too much to read, a condensed and updated version is available on the CK wiki... which I'll quote here (with formatting modifications) because you have to have an account on the CK wiki in order to view it.

 

 

Overview

There are at least two methods of obtaining ESP records from third-party mods. The papyrus method using GetFormFromFile_-_Game and fooling the Creation Kit by using false-flagged ESP files. This tutorial describes the false-flagged ESP method. For more information regarding the papyrus method, visit GetFormFromFile_-_Game

Required utilities

• Wrye Bash

Setup

The following needs to be performed only once.

Create a new blank text file in the main Skyrim directory where TESV.exe is located. Rename it to SkyrimEditorCustom.ini and add the following

[General]
bAllowMultipleEditors=1
bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1
[Archive]
SResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Hearthfires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa

bAllowMultipleEditors= -- A value of 1 allows opening more than one instance of the Creation Kit. Not necessary but has uses.

bAllowMultipleMasterLoads= -- A value of 1 allows loading the DLC ESM files with Skyrim.esm and Update.esm. It is also necessary for loading the false flagged ESP files created with this tutorial.

SResourceArchiveList2= -- The Creation Kit cannot access DLC content without having the respective BSA files listed here.

Note: Mod BSA files may be added to this entry as well. There appears to be no harm in having them listed provided the mod file(s) exist within the Skyrim\Data folder.

Alternatively, SkyrimEditor.ini may be edited to modify or add any of the above entries as needed. However, any updates to the Creation Kit or verification of files by Steam will revert any modifications made. Therefore, the use of SkyrimEditorCustom.ini is recommended.

 

Workflow

1. Launch Wrye Bash
2. Locate the ESP file(s) in question
3. Right click on each, select "esmify"
4. Launch Creation Kit
5. Select the ESP file(s) in question
   • Note: If this was done correctly, ESP files should be listed as master files instead of plugin files
6. Make the desired edits
7. Save the plugin
8. Return to Wrye Bash
9. Right click on each "esmified" plugin, select "espify"
   • Alternatively, right click on the dependent plugin (the one saved in step 7) and select "espify masters"
10. Re-sort load order, if necessary.
11. Test any changes in game.

 

 

 

[AaronOfMpls]

Thanks, lofgren and Ishara. I admit I haven't really done this, at least not for a long time, so I was only slightly less in the dark than the original poster.