LE Adding modded armor to Skyrim, without requiring .esp master files

[Dahveed]

Hi there everyone!

 

I was thinking about making a mod which would distribute modded armors from various mods to NPCs throughout Skyrim... to named NPCs. Leveled lists tend to be annoying (part of the reason why people avoid putting their armors into the game), so I'll be avoiding them for now.

 

However I was wondering if it were possible to make an .esp without any other .esp or .esm master files. I know how to accomplish this already with TesVEdit, but once a user installs my mod without the .esp they would need, They wouldn't CTD necessarily but the edited NPCs would be naked, since the outfits don't exist.

 

I am wondering if it's possible to make each NPC have a "backup" armor set (i.e. their default) that they would automatically wear. Would something like this require scripting?

 

I don't want to embark upon something that is too complicated just to waste a lot of my time.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Dahveed]

Not sure if I explained myself well. Here's an example:

 

myesp.esp

 

with Master: ElvenChainmail.esp

 

I use (for example) ElvenChainmail outfit in the CK on Elwen at the Thalmor Embassy. Normally this would be fine.... the user would need elvenchainmail.esp in his load order or he'd CTD at startup.

 

However, I was planning on using many different Nexus mods for myesp.esp. It would be unrealistic and impractical to require Nexus users to have to download (for example) 12 different .esp files in order to accommodate one .esp file in their load order.

 

So I'd run TESVEdit to get rid of the master files.

 

So taking the above file, we're left with myesp.esp, with no master requirements.

 

But now, what happens if elvenchainmail.esp isn't in his load order and he visits the Thalmor Embassy with my mod installed?

 

My hunch is that Elwen (Elenwyn? Forget her name) would show up naked.

 

So my question is, how would I avoid this. I am thinking I could somehow incorporate a "failsafe" mechanism so that she would wear vanilla Elven armor if the .esp weren't present. But I'm not sure if this is even possible, and if it were, how I would go about this kind of thing.

[Reneer]

The best way, I think, to accomplish what you want would be to write a short Quest script that uses GetFormFromFile to check to see if those other mods are loaded at runtime. Next time, though, you might have better luck asking questions in the Skyrim Modding Discussion section and not in General Mod Author Discussion.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Reneer

[Dahveed]

Thanks for the info.

 

Can you direct me to that forum? I was directed to this page by the Nexus moderators in the first place, for mod author discussion.

[Reneer]

Here you go.

[Nephenee13]

Or you could just put them in the leveled lists with a script and not try to be overly clever