How To Put Those Great Mod Resources In-Game?

[TivoAtheos2020]

Hi All,

 

I have downloaded Oblivion Mod Maker's Manual as compiled by Lord Gannondorf and enjoyed reading it, helped me a lot in a single day. I did notice however, there wasn't any tutorial about putting user created mod resources in-game. I know how to put VANILLA furniture and containers as I wish, putting objects for sale, editing object properties and renaming stuff. I'm just hesitant to go wing it and learn stuff the hard way, possibly breaking my oblivion install and wasting the gaming hours I've already invested.

 

Here's my situation. I have downloaded Andy Sauron's Kitchen and Bath Modder's resource from Oblivion Real Estate, great stuff. I'm planning to put these objects in Centurion's Knightstone Castle-my favorite! So how do I go about doing this safely and properly? Just loading the 2 esps together in the CS and drag and dropping things and saving is what I think I must do and it scares me. I need your input, feedback, warnings and pointers before I do something stupid since I can be a clumsy idiot with new things :rolleyes:. Please help. Thanks.

[LFact]

No, don't do that, unless you want to make your mod dependent on those demo plugins. Rather, you need to make new object entry(If it is normal furniture, you should make one in 'furniture' category. If it is a furniture working as container, it should be in 'container' category) with unique EditorID, then assign new mesh to it.

[TivoAtheos2020]

No, don't do that, unless you want to make your mod dependent on those demo plugins. Rather, you need to make new object entry(If it is normal furniture, you should make one in 'furniture' category. If it is a furniture working as container, it should be in 'container' category) with unique EditorID, then assign new mesh to it.

 

Hi LFact,

 

I see, good to know. Thanks! So I only need to load oblivion ESM, make new object entries in the right categories then assign the meshes and textures pointing to the respective folders in the DATA folder and save, provided I already extracted the mod resources there? Is this correct?

 

So when it's time to place the mod resources, I need only to load the castle ESP as the active file, access the interiors, select the editor entries, drag and drop them where I want them then save? Please let me know.

[ub3rman123]

You need to have both the .esp for your mod as well as the .esm, then go through the process of making the new IDs.

[chaospearl]

I see, good to know. Thanks! So I only need to load oblivion ESM, make new object entries in the right categories then assign the meshes and textures pointing to the respective folders in the DATA folder and save, provided I already extracted the mod resources there? Is this correct?

 

So when it's time to place the mod resources, I need only to load the castle ESP as the active file, access the interiors, select the editor entries, drag and drop them where I want them then save? Please let me know.

 

Yes, that's exactly correct. The only thing is -- do you want to directly change the castle mod? Or do you want to create your own mod that changes the castle mod? That's two different things. If you load the castle ESP as the active file and drag all your new stuff into it, then save, you will wipe out the original castle mod. It will now forever be a castle with your changes and stuff. If you make a mistake or decide you don't like it, you'll have to re-download the original castle mod and start over to get the plain castle back. (Or just save a copy of the castle esp before you do any changing.)

 

The other option is to make your own mod that changes the castle mod. To do that, you would open the castle ESP in the CS but do not make it the active file. The CS will pop up a box that says "You have not set an active file, do you wish to go ahead?" Tell it yes. Once it loads up, click Save. You'll get the box that allows you to type in a new name for a file. Do that. Now you have your own ESP as the active file, but you also have the castle loaded up so you can make changes to it. Any changes you make will be saved into your new esp that you just created. However, since that new esp uses the resources from the castle, it will be dependent on the castle ESP. That means that you'll need to be sure the castle esp is always running in your game. If you try to load your new mod without also loading the castle, the game will crash.

 

I hope this helps.

[TivoAtheos2020]

I see, good to know. Thanks! So I only need to load oblivion ESM, make new object entries in the right categories then assign the meshes and textures pointing to the respective folders in the DATA folder and save, provided I already extracted the mod resources there? Is this correct?

 

So when it's time to place the mod resources, I need only to load the castle ESP as the active file, access the interiors, select the editor entries, drag and drop them where I want them then save? Please let me know.

 

Yes, that's exactly correct. The only thing is -- do you want to directly change the castle mod? Or do you want to create your own mod that changes the castle mod? That's two different things. If you load the castle ESP as the active file and drag all your new stuff into it, then save, you will wipe out the original castle mod. It will now forever be a castle with your changes and stuff. If you make a mistake or decide you don't like it, you'll have to re-download the original castle mod and start over to get the plain castle back. (Or just save a copy of the castle esp before you do any changing.)

 

The other option is to make your own mod that changes the castle mod. To do that, you would open the castle ESP in the CS but do not make it the active file. The CS will pop up a box that says "You have not set an active file, do you wish to go ahead?" Tell it yes. Once it loads up, click Save. You'll get the box that allows you to type in a new name for a file. Do that. Now you have your own ESP as the active file, but you also have the castle loaded up so you can make changes to it. Any changes you make will be saved into your new esp that you just created. However, since that new esp uses the resources from the castle, it will be dependent on the castle ESP. That means that you'll need to be sure the castle esp is always running in your game. If you try to load your new mod without also loading the castle, the game will crash.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

Thanks Chaospearl, I totally get it now...but I'm getting a problem all of a sudden with the CS. The CS now CRASHES everytime I save my NEW ESP for the castle mod. No problems loading ESPs, just saving them. I haven't experienced this before, I've edited objects, terrains and interiors before and it worked fine. I'm running 164 mods, this new save would be 165th and I'm far away from the 225 esp limit. I wonder what's causing this?

[TivoAtheos2020]

After a lot of tries making a new ESP save, CS still crashes :wallbash: . So I decided to backup and change the castle mod completely, dependent on the mod resources ESP and adjusted the load order by hand to make the added objects visible in-game.

 

This was how I did it:

 

1.) Loaded the 2 ESPs, the ESP that came with the mod resource and the castle mod esp as the active file.

2.) Selected the object I wanted to add, right-click>new>gave unique ID, assigned mesh>OK.

3.) Selected the interior I wanted to add objects into>selected the the object>drag-drop-put into place>doubleclicked object>gave Reference Editor ID.

4.) Saved, exited>started Oblivion>loaded the game and checked if it worked and it did.

 

I somehow managed to modify a room and created a much needed new bathroom complete with wall urinal, toilet, standing sink and bathtub. Yay! :woot:

 

Will my newbie way of putting mod resources in game create problems and issues in the future? Please give me your much needed feedback. Thanks!