Fixing an existing mod

[charlottenoyen]

Right now I'm playing through a very popular (and very long) quest mod and I'm enjoying it a lot, but there's one thing about it that annoys me: the spelling and grammar are pretty bad. (Basic things: they're/their/there, your/you're, that sort of thing). And since the mod is filled to the brim with books, notes and dialogue, it does get grating after a while. I would like to create a "fix" for it, just to clean up the text, but I'm unsure how to go about it. The mod author hasn't been active here in over two years, so I can't ask him for a transcript. I know my way around the construction set, but I thought I'd better ask some advice on the fastest, cleanest way to go about this, so I don't make any obvious mistakes.

 

Just to be clear, I'm talking about NPC dialogue, conversation topics and items such as notes and books. Any advice on how to do this efficiently?

[David Brasher]

If you know your way around the CS, it is fairly straight forward. You just go fix all the spelling and grammar errors everywhere you see them. They can reside in dialog text, topic names, books, notes, place names, item names, quest names, quest update messages, and scripts that use messageboxes or messages.

 

There is one serious problem to watch out for though. The CS is buggy. The CS does not always care about capitalization and cannot always see it and detect it. Let's say you want to fix this line:

Hi. My name is bob.

 

So you capitalize "Bob."

 

Hi. My name is Bob.

 

The CS cannot detect any change between the first line and the second line, so next time you come back to that spot, it will be saying this again:

 

Hi. My name is bob.

 

To register a change, you will need to add a misspelling or other substantial change, and enter it, then go back and make it 100% correct which will be another substantial change the CS can see.

 

Hi. My name is BBob.

 

Hi. My name is Bob.

 

Some people use TES4Edit to fix spelling errors and grammar because I guess it will do it in one step once you have got that far into TES4Edit and done various other steps.

[charlottenoyen]

There is one serious problem to watch out for though. The CS is buggy. The CS does not always care about capitalization and cannot always see it and detect it.

Thanks, I did not know that.

 

When I say I know my way around the CS, I mean that I know where to find everything I want to edit and how to do it. I'm not entirely sure how to create a file that I can upload and other people can use. Create an .esp that replaces the original one?

 

Also, I wouldn't want to break some modder etiquette I may be unaware of. I'd contact the original author, but like I said he's hasn't been active here for years and the original has no guidelines in the description or readme for modifying the file. Just want to be safe here, I've run into some trouble with this before :blush:

[grmblf]

if you just want to fix the mod for yourself mark it as active in the Data selection on the CS and any changes you make will override the original mod; if you plan on making a plugin that you could distribute it will need to be dependant on that other mod. In this case load both oblivion.esm and that mod's .esp but select none as active, so every change you do will be stored into a new .esp wich will require the original one. This way it's like you're making an addition to someone's mod instead of redestributing it with another name. It's the polite way to go.

[charlottenoyen]

I see, thanks very much :)

[David Brasher]

Making mastered patches stinks. People will say I am a clumsy oaf if I admit this, but accidents frequently happen when I work with mastered patches. One false click and all your work is ruined and you have to load up the last uncorrupted save before the bad click. Espify or esmify at the wrong time and you are sunk.

 

If a mod author has not been seen for three years and you contact him and he won't respond after two weeks, and has not left any restrictions in his readme about using his work, then I say appropriate his work and fix it and upload it. List him as the author and you as the editor or something.

 

Some people would say that this is unethical, but I think it is also unethical for the author to abandon his mod without releasing it to the public domain, pulling it down so nobody can download it, or leaving clear instructions on how it may or may not be used.

 

Doing the mastered patch would be totally ethical, but can result in heartache and heartbreak for the modder, and then the gamer is stuck with another patch gumming up the load order.