SSE How to go about uploading a texture replacer mod on bethesda.net?

[Faelrin]

I already know how to do the bsa and empty plugin method, but I'm not familiar enough with what I need to do (such as what checkboxes need ticked) with SE's archive.exe to get it packaged properly for both the PC and XB1 bethesda.net releases. I'm not seeing a way that the CK can do it for me, before uploading, as I've let it do for all my non-replacer mods with an empty plugin. I've already got it released on the Skyrim Special Edition nexus, but as a loose file (since it is a simple texture replacer) mod. Of course, this is assuming this kind of way to go about it is possible at all, without having to do some other work around such as creating new texture sets or ITM's. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

The mod in question for the curious, is Arvak Texture Replacer - Special Edition: www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6568/?

[ishmaeltheforsaken]

Open up the CK, click File, and click build archive (or whatever, I don't remember the exact wording).

[Faelrin]

When I click on create archive it's empty, which I suppose is to be expected because it's not like there's a plugin associated with the file, because it's a simple texture replacer. I'm not even sure how you go about adding files to archive in the CK, or if it's even possible, without being associated with a plugin. The only times I've had it package files was when I had a plugin that added them in to the game (as was the case for my armor mod). While I could create an archive with archive.exe for the PC version on bethesda.net, there's no proper way to go about doing so for an XB1 archive, because it has different compression methods or something from what I've been reading, and the best way to do it is let the CK handle it, but it can't for a simple replacer, from what I'm seeing, which is why I'm asking if anyone knows how to do it for simple replacers, beyond the above methods mentioned in my earlier that I may unfortunately have to use (which could obviously cause compatibility issues).

[ishmaeltheforsaken]

Sorry, I thought it would be obvious that you drag and drop files onto the box, since that's how archive.exe works in isolation XD

 

Anyway, yeah, you add files to it by dragging and dropping them onto the box. It's actually not a good idea to let the CK fill the archive list on its own even if you DO have a real plugin with actual data, since the CK is... not great at figuring out what it actually needs. You'll always want to clear out the auto-generated list and add the files manually. If you've got a lot of files in different folders, it can be hecka annoying (my mod has over 4000 files in hundreds of folders, and the CK decided to crash in the middle of the process), but you can export the list you've made and just reimport it if you need to create the archive again.

[Faelrin]

Now that's why I had no luck. I wasn't sure if it worked like archive.exe or not. Granted I had also tried dragging the texture folder into it, rather then the individual file, which is why it didn't work. Well that did the trick then. All the same here I am working on trying to improve the mod some, so when I'm done with it, I'll have to give it a go and hope the uploading process all goes well with the blank plugin for it. Thank you for the help. I'll also keep that advice in mind for my future mods. Thankfully for my current mods that I've uploaded there I've had no issues (I was double checking it to be sure it had all of them), but there's no telling where it could go wrong down the line, and now I'll know how to deal with it if it does.

[ishmaeltheforsaken]

Yeah, if your mod only needs one .pex then it's easy to verify that the CK has got it all, but, for example, it didn't detect ANY of the meshes I needed to package. Just something to watch out for if you make anything where that'll become an issue.

[TheLadyChephren]

I just want to say thank you both so much for putting this topic out there! I am having the same problem as Faelrin where I was trying to upload to XB1 and I forgot to write test in all the fields. I tried my npc replacer in game and she was a huge mass of purple crappy looking meshes with dark vanilla eyes peeping out. Also, her custom facegen was missing. She was scary looking and unfortunately, 2 people had downloaded her before I got the chance to take the mod down.

 

I will try deleting the auto-gen archive list tonight when I get home and repopulating it file by file and see if that works. Sheesh. XD