Advice wanted on merging ESP files

[Ferryt]

Ah. Gotcha. The reason is that at least some modders are using the DLC patches as resources and those resources wouldn't be available in a DLC/DLC-patch combo. That makes sense, now. Thanks.

 

Regarding Fighters Stronghold -- I was just now able to check. Only Mehrune's Razor and Spell Tomes lack a .bsa file.

 

Bottom line, don't think about merging any of the DLCs or their patches.

[MarkInMKUK]

I don't appear to have any mods requiring the patches themselves as resources or masters, so I'm going to see if I can bork my installation by combining them anyway - as long as the merged files have the original parent file name, it should all work ... and I get something like 15 ESP slots back!

 

And, yes, I'm aware some installers look for the UOP files - if I find one it's a simple matter to reinstate the missing files from an OMOD back up of them, install the mod, then deactivate it and reinstall the OMOD of the merged esp.

 

I'll report back on any non-predicted problems.

[Moire]

I can only speak for myself here, but...

 

...I WOULD NOT merge the DLC files. That could cause a lot of problems for anything dependent upon them.

 

I WOULD merge the UOP DLC files. I've done this in my current install and have had no issues.

 

I WOULD NOT use WRYE BASH BAIN or whatever else it's called. All I ever see about those on these forums is how the Bashed patches are ruining people's games. Perhaps this is largely due to user error and no fault of the program, but still I go with the statistics.

 

I WOULD use TES4GECKO to merge the files. This is what I always use to merge files and make other edits that the CS won't do, and I've never had any issues.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

Having a bashed patch will reduce your number of mods considerably and the only problems it caused for me was to override some mods. However, if you place those mods after the bashed patch or sort your mods before building the patch that won't be a problem anymore. Of course you need to understand what you are doing or you might create a mess for yourself. I recommend any user who has some understanding about mods to learn Wrye bash. Since I started to use it, I have experienced less crashes and it's much easier to sort mods and uninstall mods you don't want anymore.

[Herculine]

I can only speak for myself here, but...

 

...I WOULD NOT merge the DLC files. That could cause a lot of problems for anything dependent upon them.

 

I WOULD merge the UOP DLC files. I've done this in my current install and have had no issues.

 

I WOULD NOT use WRYE BASH BAIN or whatever else it's called. All I ever see about those on these forums is how the Bashed patches are ruining people's games. Perhaps this is largely due to user error and no fault of the program, but still I go with the statistics.

 

I WOULD use TES4GECKO to merge the files. This is what I always use to merge files and make other edits that the CS won't do, and I've never had any issues.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

Having a bashed patch will reduce your number of mods considerably and the only problems it caused for me was to override some mods. However, if you place those mods after the bashed patch or sort your mods before building the patch that won't be a problem anymore. Of course you need to understand what you are doing or you might create a mess for yourself. I recommend any user who has some understanding about mods to learn Wrye bash. Since I started to use it, I have experienced less crashes and it's much easier to sort mods and uninstall mods you don't want anymore.

 

And that's fine if you're a member of the minority that gets that to work right. I prefer to stick with what I've had proven positive results with. I've been watching these forums for a good while now, and 9 times out of 10 when I see the word Wrye in a post it's someone asking how to fix what it's borked.

[razorpony]

I've used GECKO a few times to merge mods and it is a very nice tool to have when looking to clear some space in your load order. Someone said not to use it for merging mods that introduce a lot of cell changes but I've personally combined all the Unique Landscape ESPs in my game into one huge ESP and have had no problems. The compatibility patches still work as well because ESPs can't be dependant on other ESPs, they can only be dependant on ESMs. Merging castle mods should work the same.

 

Things I found out by doing this:

 

Don't try to merge more than 2 ESPs at a time. Had bad luck with this method. Merge your first two ESPs, then merge the new merged ESP with the next one, and so on.

 

If you keep the same filename as the original then no problem, but if you change the original filename then you'll also (in addition to the other advice given here) have to change the entry in your BOSS masterlist so it will be sorted properly.

 

-Razorpony

[chaospearl]

And that's fine if you're a member of the minority that gets that to work right. I prefer to stick with what I've had proven positive results with. I've been watching these forums for a good while now, and 9 times out of 10 when I see the word Wrye in a post it's someone asking how to fix what it's borked.

 

This is definitely true. Wrye Bash is complicated and can cause major problems when somebody who refuses to take the time to learn how to use it properly insists on using it anyway. That being said... for every one of those "Help, Wrye killed my game!" posts you refer to, there are a dozen or more other people using it who didn't post for help because they never had any problems.

 

Wrye allows me to run a collection of mods together without any problems that otherwise I would need to choose between. In my book, that benefit is worth any amount of aggravation in getting it to work properly. Not everyone will feel that way, of course.

 

Whether Wrye is a good fit for any given person depends on how important it is to you to be able to run all your favorite mods together, and how hard you're willing to work at it to achieve that result.

[Herculine]

Wrye allows me to run a collection of mods together without any problems that otherwise I would need to choose between. In my book, that benefit is worth any amount of aggravation in getting it to work properly. Not everyone will feel that way, of course.

 

 

TES4Gecko allows me to do this as well.

 

Don't get me wrong here. I'm not trying to be a Wrye-basher here (pun intended). The original post was asking for advice on merging files and I merely offer a simpler solution, especially for folks who might be new to modding.

[Arthmoor]

Ah, the quest for more mod slots. Always a nail biter.

 

First off: The Wrye Bash bashing is bothersome on more levels than I care to get into. Rather stunning the number of people who do something wrong, blame the utility, and then campaign against it hardcore. Wrye Bash has made many things possible that would otherwise not be, the largest and most famous of them being FCOM. Impossible without Bash. So yeah, anyway.

 

It's perfectly safe to merge the UOMP patches with their parent DLCs. You just can't do so using Gecko's normal "merge plugins" method. You have to do it as a "merge to master" instead. When Gecko asks you what the master file is, you have to switch the file type selector from "*.esm" to "all files" and then find the ESP for the DLC you want to be the master. Then once you pick that, find the patch you want to merge in. Gecko will do its magic.

 

The kicker is that when you do this, Gecko will flag the original DLC file as a master. You need to set that back to being a plugin. Which is generally far easier to do in Wrye Bash than it is to do in Gecko.

 

You can then repeat the process with the SM Refurb plugins but I'd recommend against that since they do still get updates from time to time.

 

It does need to be said as well that this type of merging is not the same kind of merging Wrye Bash is doing. Both types have their place, and both types are generally used to free up slots.