Con struction Set???

[fg109]

1. Delete Han.esm from your Data folder if you still have it there

2. Open up Wrye Bash and find Han.esp

3. Right-click Han.esp and select "Copy to Esm"

4. There should now be a new Han.esm in your Data folder

5. Open up the Construction Set and click the folder icon

6. Check Oblivion.esm, Han.esm, CMPartners.esm without setting any as your active file

7. Click OK, and if it asks you, choose to continue without setting an active file

8. Create your custom race partner

9. Save your mod (I'll just call it yourmod.esp)

10. Select the folder icon again and find yourmod.esp

11. Select it, but don't click OK

12. On the right hand side, under "Parent Masters", you should see Oblivion.esm, Han.esm, and CMPartners.esm

13. Select Han.esm and delete it

14. Open up Wrye Bash again and select yourmod.esp

15. Right-click and choose to "Add Masters"

16. Choose Han.esp

17. Go to your Data folder and delete Han.esm

[Striker879]

Have you read through the Construction Set Wiki article on De-isolation that LFact linked for you (which is what you are trying to do)? Here's an excerpt with some emphasis added:

ESM Mastering. You can make the base (or "source") mod(s) into a master by converting it to an ESM. Both TES4Gecko and Wrye Bash provide functions to let you convert an ESP into an ESM. It works great for lots of things, especially new content that's not directly connected to the Tamriel worldspace.

However, masters generally should not modify other masters -- only plugins are supposed to modify masters. When one master directly modifies another master, problems can result, such as vanishing landscape. If you try to use TESCS to make a mod based on a master that modifies another master (especially worldspace changes), then you will very likely crash TESCS or encounter a bunch of "assertion errors" when you try to save your changes, leaving you with a plugin containing corrupt cell records.

ESP Mastering. You can trick TESCS into letting you work with plugins as if they were masters. This can be done using a fairly easy bit-flipping method in Wrye Bash or a more cumbersome bait-and-switch method (also using Wrye Bash). It works by temporarily turning an ESP into an ESM so TESCS will let you to establish dependencies on it. Once again, however, these solutions can be problematic when working with plugins that include cell changes, such as the official DLC plugins, usually resulting in a crash or "assertion errors" when you try to save your changes, leaving you with a plugin containing corrupt cell records.

ESP Patching. This involves using TES4Edit to directly create an add-on "patch" plugin or using TES4Gecko to create a patch file based on the differences between the original and your changes. This works best when you're not adding any new content to the source originals (i.e., you're just altering values in existing records, such as giving all mudcrabs more health or making certain weapons do more damage).

 

What is confusing me in what you are doing is this:

Thanks, this is basically a copy of the readme in partners mod and I have had problems with this before. Can I please list some steps and you tell me what I am doing wrong because when I try to do custom races, the game crashes or seizes the computer. Lets say I want to add a few Han race, downloaded the esp.

1) converted the esp to an esm.

OK ... you converted Han.esp into Han.esm

2) loaded Oblivion.esm., partners.esm, han.esm and made han.esp my active file.

3) changed race details and saved.

So now the edits you've made are recorded in Han.esp (the new Han.esp).

4) converted han.esm to han.esp (which therefore overwrites the han.esp I started with).

So now you've deleted all those edits you've made in your new Han.esp and are back to the old original Han.esp records wrapped in a Han.esm wrapper.

5) loaded the same files again including han.esm (which means you get a duplicate race in the list)

Han.esp is still Han.esm, the original Han.esp converted to Han.esm

6) now when I create a Han NPC, even with vanilla items, game crashes/freezes when I try to startup.

I direct your attention to the red highlight in my opening CS Wiki quote ... perhaps not verbatim what they're getting at but you ARE trying to use an esp as an esm, certainly not a good idea. Esp files are records of changes relative to an esm file ... the de-isolation trick is to 'fool' the CS into thinking changes you've recorded in your esp are changing esm records when you load them in the game, not load an esp as an esm.

 

There is a lot more detail in the de-isolation article than I quoted above. Enough perhaps that you can compare to the instructions you have been following thus far and see where you are getting off track.

 

Starting with Han.esp downloaded (renamed from the Han mod which is called asian races). To make it easier to identify in OBMM.

You can't just rename an esp and expect it to work (at least as far as I'm aware).

 

Edit: @fg109 While I was orchestrating an opus you've created a masterpiece!! I've copied and pasted into my own personal reference ... thank you. :thumbsup:

Edited April 9, 2011 by Striker879

[whalecakes]

Just use one of the methods of adding master files(e.g. construction set extender, wrye bash) to add the .esp to your mod as a master after you finish making the mod.

 

It's not that you cannot have .esp files as masters, just that the construction set does not save them as such. Converting files between .esp and .esm to get around this is a really bad idea.

Edited April 9, 2011 by whalecakes

[Striker879]

Just use one of the methods of adding master files(e.g. construction set extender, wrye bash) to add the .esp to your mod as a master after you finish making the mod.

 

It's not that you cannot have .esp files as masters, just that the construction set does not save them as such. Converting files between .esp and .esm to get around this is a really bad idea.

 

I just had another read through the CS Wiki De-Isolation article. When you say "is a really bad idea" are you refering to changing an esp to an esm and leaving that way to get around a dependency problem or are you saying the ESM Mastering method mentioned in the article is a bad idea. As always, getting my head fully around this is a work in progress, and your input is always welcome whalecakes.

[whalecakes]

If the esp is not intended to be an esm, converting it to one is likely to cause problems, and is entirely unnecessary anyways since there are multiple ways to directly add an esp file as a master, which is what the entire esp->esm->esp process is attempting to accomplish in the first place. Some of the methods of converting between esp/esm even have the ability to add esp files as masters, e.g. wrye bash.

 

In short, if you're converting an esp to an esm for any reason other than to use it as an esm, you're doing it wrong.

[StanIsTheLaw]

So now you've deleted all those edits you've made in your new Han.esp and are back to the old original Han.esp records wrapped in a Han.esm wrapper.

 

This is the part that had me confused. But this is where I got it. CM partners readme, adding NPC's.

 

Using Custom Faces/Races

 

1. You will need to download TES4 Plugin Utility, Wrye Bash, or another utility that creates master files, that is, files with the esm extension. Use the utility to convert Ren’s Beauty esp for example (or another face/race mod) into an esm file. Let's call it Rens Beauty.esm.

2. Open the TES Construction Set, select Oblivion.esm, CM Partners.esm, Rens Beauty.esm, CM Partners.esp, and make your custom NPC mod the active file.

3. Change the faces and save.

4. Now convert that Rens Beauty.esm to an esp.

 

Pretty sure it is the same in Wiki.

 

Anyway I have solved the problem, I did this and it seems to allow me to add 4-5 race based NPC's.

 

Load the useal oblivion/partners esm, check one race esm, then make as active a clothing mod. Create an npc, add the mod clothing, save, place and it seems to work.

 

However, it appears to either have a limit of 3-5 npc's or CS is unstable when adding non standard NPC's? Because I add one, seems to work fine, start oblivion and it is all there, then add a few more and the game freezes the whole computer on startup. I added 5 NPC asians wearing mod clothing, after adding one and testing, then it siezed up after adding the other 4. So I went back and deleted the last one and re added in a slightly different location and it worked??

 

Just seems to be pot luck :-((((

[Striker879]

In your quote they don't have you make the Rens Beauty.esp (changed to Rens Beauty.esm) the active file. My point was you renamed Asian Races.esp to Han.esp, then made a copy of Han.esp into Han.esm. You edited Han.esp, saved your changes and then turned Han.esm back to Han.esp, which, as you noted, overwrote Han.esp. Your edits were made to Han.esp ... now they're gone and you have the contents of the original Asian Races.esp (renamed to Han.esp).

 

Using your method the Using Custom Races/Faces quote would read:

 

1. You will need to download TES4 Plugin Utility, Wrye Bash, or another utility that creates master files, that is, files with the esm extension. Use the utility to convert Han.esp for example (or another face/race mod) into an esm file. Let's call it Han.esm.

2. Open the TES Construction Set, select Oblivion.esm, CM Partners.esm, Han.esm, CM Partners.esp, and make your custom NPC Han.esp mod the active file.

3. Change the faces and save.

4. Now convert that Han.esm to an esp.

[StanIsTheLaw]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I think I have got it now.

[Striker879]

No problem. I wasn't wanting to get smart or anything, just hoped to help you see a little logic flaw. I know that sometimes the hardest thing to do is see your own missteps. Look at how often I edit a post for example, and I proofread before I hit the Post button ... just don't see the errors until I can step back from it for a second. An extra set of eyes on one of my problems has always been one of my most treasured possessions (back when I worked, my job was basically troubleshooting, in process control, 'Auto' doesn't always get it right, and when things weren't going right 'Striker' didn't always see the root of the problem ... that's why I had co-workers).

[StanIsTheLaw]

Has any had CS shut down their computer? I mean literally shut it down. Several times while working in CS and going to full preview with non vanilla clothing on the NPC, my computer has done a restart. :wallbash: