Borrowing Objects from other Mods

[Forerunner2]

I'm just new to this modding thing so please forgive me if this is a rudimentary question. I've been gathering up some interesting Mods with new armor/clothing for HGEC. I find they are scattered all around Tonas, Apachii, various stores and crates.

 

I want to take some of the items (particularly where permission is granted for reuse) and put them all in a single place. Partly because my kids play and it would just be nice to have an all-in-one shop. And then I can remove some of the more raunchy stuff too. So, while I'd like this to eventually be a shop I'm starting with a crate in the wilderness. No problem there.

 

In CS I drag and drop the objects from the other mods into my crate and they aren't there in game. And I reload CS and I get error messages about the items in the container being not found.

 

I see on the CS wiki that you aren't supposed to use items from other Mods. I then tried to copy the items and give them a new ID. That created an interesting effect: If I had the original item in my inventory, opened the crate and grabbed my new item, if I clicked on the new one in my inventory it would always select the original. They seemed to be linked to each other even though the item was a copy and it had a new ID (I didn't change the name).

 

 

But I think people do this, don't they? Like, aren't there other mods that repackage items?

 

So what's the proper protocol for re-using items? Do you create new items from scratch or is there some special process to copy them?

 

Thanks Much!

[SavageArtistry]

This explains how to get items from one mod into another. http://www.squidoo.com/merging-armor-weapon-mods-for-oblivion . I have recently created a place just for doing this if you are interested in using it. http://modsreloaded.com/custom-store-resource-for-modders

 

As for the protocol for this, I keep my compilations to myself because I'm done, for the most part, with sharing mods in general, but also there is a huge issue with permissions on compilations. To release it you would have to get written from each and every modder whose work you used. I don't know about you, but for me the work of contacting so many people isn't worth it when I'm only doing this as a personal project anyway.

[Forerunner2]

This explains how to get items from one mod into another. http://www.squidoo.com/merging-armor-weapon-mods-for-oblivion . I have recently created a place just for doing this if you are interested in using it. http://modsreloaded.com/custom-store-resource-for-modders

 

As for the protocol for this, I keep my compilations to myself because I'm done, for the most part, with sharing mods in general, but also there is a huge issue with permissions on compilations. To release it you would have to get written from each and every modder whose work you used. I don't know about you, but for me the work of contacting so many people isn't worth it when I'm only doing this as a personal project anyway.

 

 

Thanks SavageArtistry!

 

I was on the right track. I guess the key is that I hadn't disabled the original mod after I'd "harvested" it for the new one. Having two items with the same name seemed to cause some serious havoc even though I changed the ID.

 

Thanks for offering your Custom Store, too. That's just what I wanted. I might keep on with my little project because I'm finding the exercise a good learning process. But I truly appreciate you pointing me to these things.

 

Cheers

[Forerunner2]

Could I ask one more question?

 

That article makes a lot of sense. I ran into a bit of grief. I tend to convert mods into OMODS. So I created my new esp, disabled the OMOD that had the original armor in it and *poof* the armor no longer existed.

 

I'm guessing that the textures and stuff have been removed by omod manager. So are no longer available to my esp file, right?

 

So I should probably just manually delete the omod and esp from the original armor leaving the nif files, etc, in tact.

 

Here's the question: How can I gather up all my esp's referenced files into a package (like an omod)? Is that possible -- is there any tool or option in CS to do that? Or is it a laborious manual procedure.

 

Thanks so much!

[fore]

I use a different approach to make my own "shop" for private use and for public mods. If permission granted in the 2nd case, of course. It takes a little more effort, but avoids both problems with omods and splattering of many subfolders.

 

I simply copy the meshes to a private folder (meshes\<myfolder>). Then I open the mesh in Nifskope and look for the names of the required texture files. It's easy once you understand the basics. Mostly there are only 1 or 2 texture files involved (.dds), plus the same amount of normal maps (files ending on _n.dds). I copy these files into another private folder (textures\<myfolder>). Then I simply change the text file path in NifSkope, and the name of the file if I have to rename when it already exists in my "shop".

 

And with a little practice the whole procedure doesn't take more than 3-4 minutes per object. And I never have to worry any more.

 

Edit: Gathering all objects in one esp is relatively easy, too:

- Load both esp's, the "giving esp" and the "receiving esp", the receiving esp as active file.

- Open your desired object in "giving esp".

- Look for the icon (path and name), and copy it into textures\menus\icons\<myfolder>

- Enter the new icon path and name

- Enter the "shop mesh"es path and name

- change the objects id to your liking

- save (the "receiving esp")

[SavageArtistry]

Could I ask one more question?

 

That article makes a lot of sense. I ran into a bit of grief. I tend to convert mods into OMODS. So I created my new esp, disabled the OMOD that had the original armor in it and *poof* the armor no longer existed.

 

I'm guessing that the textures and stuff have been removed by omod manager. So are no longer available to my esp file, right?

Exactly.

 

So I should probably just manually delete the omod and esp from the original armor leaving the nif files, etc, in tact.

You could do that, or you could use Mod Manager to extract the files and just use them like a manual install.

 

Here's the question: How can I gather up all my esp's referenced files into a package (like an omod)? Is that possible -- is there any tool or option in CS to do that? Or is it a laborious manual procedure.

 

Thanks so much!

You can do it like fore suggests, but personally for me changing all the textures paths in Nifskope takes forever because I have 30 gigs in my Data directory. 3-4 minutes per file when you have hundreds of files really adds up. If you are determined to be able to isolate your meshes and textures for this project, you'll have to use fore's method, or do what I do and that's keep the archive file (zip, 7z or whatever) that you originally downloaded so that you can use them to locate the texture and meshes once they are installed to your Data directory. Whether you use my method or fore's, if you want to package them up, just make a new folder on your desktop or somewhere, copy meshes and textures relevant to your mod into them, copy your .esp to it, and zip it up. Be sure you're keeping the Data\Meshes and Data\Textures paths intact. Then if you want to make an OMOD all you have to do is use OBMM to convert the zip file. There's a how-to in the FAQ section of this mod. Edited April 29, 2011 by SavageArtistry

[wetblanket]

Even easier, use TES4Files to grab only the files needed by your esp and then omod the archive with OBMM.