Combine .esp Files

[Bael]

I apologise if there is already an answer to this somewhere. I did some searches and nothing blatant came up.

 

I've been trying to combine the .esp files for the mods I've created so I can release them as a single entity. I am having no luck with FOMM of Fo3Edit.

[fap6000]

Well if you get good enough at using FO3edit, heh you can even make new mods with it. Not that it's anymore easy that way, just useful if you were tired of the GECK or lazy. "Copy as override into" comes in handy if yer wanting to fix something that can't be fixed without an override, also just if you wanted to override something, also if you just wanted to add something to a mod that comes after it. There's also a "deep copy as override into" I've never really used it, but I reckon the general idea is that it copies a while group, like weapons or armor for example. Then there's "copy as new record into" which is useful if you were going to RCM something, RCM as in (resource mod) remaking the mod so that it doesn't replace items, or just remaking it because the person that made it was a dufus.

 

The program that we use to merge two mods into one, or 2100 mods into one, is called "FO3 Plug-in Utility". It's a nice Java app that will load up a mod, then you can merge any other mod into it, then saving them both together. The only problem you run into is duplicate entries. While a duplicate entry where both of them match exactly will remain uneffected by the process of merging them, a duplicate entry which is different slightly, maybe even just one tiny part has one number or letter different. In those cases the different one will get renamed with not much way to tell if any references that were using that entry get carried over, or auto update the name change. So most of the time before I merge something I'll look at them in FO3edit, apply a fliter which only shows duplicates, an then check to see that it looks clean. The important part is to just pre-check it to make sure it looks clean. Then rather than delete anything you merge, keep the original seperated copies in a folder (with subfolders) for each merger, which might even need a notepad file with a copy of the load order. So that you always have an idea which mods went where, as well as the backup copies.

 

Say mod A has "13mm Ammo" An mod B also has "13mm Ammo", but they don't exactly match. The mod B version has different stats or sumthin. Anyhow, in mod A the ammo gets placed in a NPC's inventory, then in mod B the ammo gets placed in a Cell. You load up mod A with FO3 Plug-in Utility, then merge in mod b into it. The utility will give a warning, because of the duplicate entry, if you hit yes. Then the "13mm Ammo" gets renamed to "000Z13mm Ammo" or whatever, thus not messing up anything in the mod A's entry for "13mm ammo" perse, but who's to say that the ammo inside the NPC's inventory you placed there doesn't get renamed too, thus making it not able to be used in the weapon, but I mean it could be any number of issues that pops up. So long as you are careful it's not a problem. Personally if I even get the warning that they have duplicate entries then I exit an use FO3edit to fix it first.