BSA creation, yikes!

[yarddogg77]

For cyring out loud for the second time in 3 days I have to make a post about BSAs. Most of what I've been reading basically says it's really hard to make BSAs that are playable. I'm simply trying to optimize my game. I've read up plenty on how the loading of files works in Skyrim, I'm cozy there, Today I learned how to merge plugins, and I'm feeling comfortable enough about it. Now I only need to learn how to make playable BSAs for my dlcs. I am sure I can crunch the bsas for my merged plugins using bsa opt, I hope. What I really need is to learn how to crunch down a bsa with all different kinds of files including sound in order for esps and esms to refer to them correctly. Also, I need to learn how to make an esm 'pull up the loose files it will need to pack the bsa. I've read wrye bash can do this. I'm not afraid of wrye bash, but I've never used it. I've been saving that one for last. If you know where I can find the tutorials for what I'm trying to do, or you know a method for using merge plugins, bsa opt, and or archive.exe. I'm all ears. I know people have done the things I'm trying to do already plenty of times.

[IsharaMeradin]

Why do you need to make BSAs for your DLCs? They come with their own BSA files which are already loaded by the game. *confused*

[yarddogg77]

Because I'm replacing textures, sound files, maybe it's stupid to do it this way huh? The point is, it bugs me to have duplicate files in the game folder. Some of the mods I want to use don't come with an esp, they are simple file replacers. I know the load order takes care of that but still. You know what, I am trying to crack it aren't I. I never thought of it like that. I'll bet the DLC esms will only refer to the vanilla bsas.

 

Anyway, DLC aside, I still need to be able to package multiple file types into single bsas for my mods. I was reading there was some way to make the compression tools ignore sound files since they don't play well compressed. Also, I have installed wrye bash but have no idea how to make the esps grab the strings for the mods. I can use merge esps and I'm comfortable with the program. But I have only been able to make it grab the files needed in loose format. After that I still need to be able to compress those files the right way. BSA compression is the confusing topic to me.

[yarddogg77]

Another thing. I tried making BSAs just for the textures and I couldn't get them to load even with a fake esp. In the end, I don't want any loose files left over in my game except for, SKSE, and interface files. I want everything else in BSA because They perform better on my pc.

[yarddogg77]

Now I remember why I was trying to repack the dlc bsas. It's because of the load order. Like Isaid, I'm using texture replacers, and othe file replacers that don't have an esp. If I were able to put everything including the dlcs into my game folder as loose files, then when I recompress the dlc bsas it will grab all the new files I installed, so I will no longer need to have loose files for the dlcs in my game folder. After that, any esp for mods that refer to the dlcs, will refer to those new files without them being in loose format. This makes the game run better, and makes it easier in the future if I am removing and installing mods Loose files might read easier, but they are a pain to ninstall and install hen you are tring to mess with so many mods. I'm trying to make modding my game easier, and looking for better performance. I already tried to make fake esps for my texture bsas and it didn't work for s#*!.

[IsharaMeradin]

You could try using Mod Organizer (MO). Yes, you'll have to reinstall your mods. The upside is that MO installs each mod to its own folder and provides that list of folders to the game when you launch the game through MO. This means that your game's data folder can be clean of mod files. It also means that with each mod in its own folder, you can pack up a BSA file for that mod if you so wish without getting confused about which files go with which mod. MO even has the ability to load BSAs without a dummy esp file, tho that can be a problem for other utilities (like when generating LOD for DynDOLOD).

 

That is all assuming you are referring to original Skyrim (as this is the forum for it). If you are talking about SSE, you'd probably get more accurate help asking in the SSE forums.

[yarddogg77]

I'm still using the 32bit skyrim. I have been thinking of switchihing to MO. Merge esp does grab the files for mods and compile them into loose form. Trouble is trying to figure out how to compress them correctly with the right flags to ignore sound files and other files so they play right. I was reading that MO has a capability of doing that. I have found mods that have all the scripts, textures, meshes and pretty much everything that is not sound, interface, or skse compressed, and the rest were loose, so I know I can do that. But I would prefer if the sound files were in the BSA too. I have been trying to use merge esp to compress the DLc files with my replaced files in them, but am having no luck. I used wrye bash to make a duplicate of the dlc esm in esp form hoping merge esp would know what to do with them. The strings were there, but apparently merge esp will not do anything with vanilla esm. That must be a copyright issue. Wrye bash also wouldn't do anything with it unless I just don't know what settings to use or tweaks to make. I know that in previous games up to Fallout New Vegas there were tools for dong this with the vanilla BSAs, so I wonder why there isn't now. I think this last update must have thrown a curve ball at the authors of these utilities.

[yarddogg77]

I FIGURED IT OUT!!! My game is going to play like butter! Finally after 4 years I will have a game that I can finish without buggin out hopefully. I'm happy. I have a lot of work to do now.