Making .ESM/.ESP that loads mods from a different folder of choice?

[Deleted33087965User]

Hello is it possible to make a .ESM/.ESP (sorry I forgot which one Oblivion uses) that will load any .ESP/.ESM/.BSA from a different folder of choice? Is this remotely possible? Thanks!

[DrakeTheDragon]

Actually Oblivion uses both. ESP is Elder Scrolls Plugin most likely and ESM is the same for Masterfile. A masterfile is mainly the same as a plugin just loaded earlier and used as master for other plugins building up on it and modifying its records. That's why basically all plugins are using Oblivion.esm as their master and will not do anything without it. But masterfiles also underlie some different rules, so they serve more purposes than just introducing new records into the game in abundance. The same could always be done with a plugin instead as well and does not need a masterfile, but their other uses at some point make them just the better choice for specific special tasks.

 

Plugins, and I think masters, too, now can only have masters sitting right inside the game's Data folder, nowhere else. So using a plugin, or masterfile, to load another plugin, or masterfile, from a different place than that is more than unlikely to even work. I haven't ever seen it done so far at least and from my own knowledge of using the CS also see no way how it could even be set up.

 

The same goes for BSAs. One can only enter their names into "sArchiveList" inside the Oblivion.ini but as far as I know in no way any paths. Likewise the auto-load feature by having a plugin/masterfile and a BSA starting with the plugin's name (the -empty- plugin "DLCShiveringIsles.esp" comes into mind here, as it's only used to trigger auto-load of "DLCShiveringIsles - Meshes.bsa" etc.) will also only consider BSAs inside the Data folder, for all I know, or I don't know any way how it could be instructed to work differently.

 

 

Mind telling us what it is you're going after here, so perhaps someone knows a different way to achieve a similar goal?

[Deleted33087965User]

Actually Oblivion uses both. ESP is Elder Scrolls Plugin most likely and ESM is the same for Masterfile. A masterfile is mainly the same as a plugin just loaded earlier and used as master for other plugins building up on it and modifying its records. That's why basically all plugins are using Oblivion.esm as their master and will not do anything without it. But masterfiles also underlie some different rules, so they serve more purposes than just introducing new records into the game in abundance. The same could always be done with a plugin instead as well and does not need a masterfile, but their other uses at some point make them just the better choice for specific special tasks.

 

Plugins, and I think masters, too, now can only have masters sitting right inside the game's Data folder, nowhere else. So using a plugin, or masterfile, to load another plugin, or masterfile, from a different place than that is more than unlikely to even work. I haven't ever seen it done so far at least and from my own knowledge of using the CS also see no way how it could even be set up.

 

The same goes for BSAs. One can only enter their names into "sArchiveList" inside the Oblivion.ini but as far as I know in no way any paths. Likewise the auto-load feature by having a plugin/masterfile and a BSA starting with the plugin's name (the -empty- plugin "DLCShiveringIsles.esp" comes into mind here, as it's only used to trigger auto-load of "DLCShiveringIsles - Meshes.bsa" etc.) will also only consider BSAs inside the Data folder, for all I know, or I don't know any way how it could be instructed to work differently.

 

 

Mind telling us what it is you're going after here, so perhaps someone knows a different way to achieve a similar goal?

 

Nope cannot tell you why sorry. Thanks for the info it was useful though. Do you know how to make a .ESP/.ESM that can load .BSA of choice? Or even multiple .BSA?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Like I said, as you cannot specify any "load this or that BSA for me" instructions inside a plugin or masterfile, there's only the auto-load mechanism for all BSAs starting with an ESP/ESM's name.

 

To evaluate further onto that:

 

Say you have a plugin named "MyFunnyMod.ESP".

 

With a plugin of this name the game will automatically load all the following BSAs:

 

"MyFunnyMod - Meshes.BSA"

"MyFunnyMod - Textures1.BSA"

"MyFunnyMod - Textures2.BSA"

and so on.

 

I don't know for sure whether the " - " is required for this to work or not, but it's the way it was done in the DLC, and if you keep up with that pattern, then it will definitely work.

 

Needless to say, I think, that of course "MyFunnyMod.BSA" should load, too.