Strange problem with BSA compression and oldrim mod porting

[SkullKnight]

So I've done a few oldrim conversions for personal use and come across some strange issues that I haven't seen mentioned in any conversion guides.

 

I've been unpacking the original mod's BSA, optimizing the appropriate meshes using ousnius's tool, and then repacking the mod's files using the new Archive.exe included with the SSE CK. The ESM/ESP were loaded and re-saved in the new CK with the multiple masters fix applied, and I verified that records were updated to version 44 in xEdit.

 

However, I ran into some reproducible bugs that *appeared* to be caused by me compressing the new BSA while repacking. The converted mod failed catastrophically - CTDs, non-interactable NPCs - if I compressed the BSA, but appeared to work fine if I left the BSA uncompressed.

 

I'm going to use Wyrmstooth here as an example. While using the compressed BSA, I loaded a save file at the Solitude docks and journeyed to the island, resulting in a reproducible CTD within 15 seconds of arriving. However, when I used an uncompressed Wyrmstooth.bsa with the same save file and ESM, the CTD was gone and I could go to the village and start the next quest with no issues.

 

I've seen plenty of converted oldrim mods that use compressed BSAs successfully, so I'm thinking that it's probably something I'm doing wrong on my end. I'm not running short on hard disk space or anything, but any help in figuring this out would be appreciated lol :).

[cdcooley]

Certain things like voices and sound effects can cause crashes on some systems if they are placed in a compressed BSA. The problem seems to be that the game gets too impatient waiting for them to be uncompressed. If building the archive uncompressed works, then do that and don't worry too much about it.

[SkullKnight]

Certain things like voices and sound effects can cause crashes on some systems if they are placed in a compressed BSA. The problem seems to be that the game gets too impatient waiting for them to be uncompressed. If building the archive uncompressed works, then do that and don't worry too much about it.

Thanks, that's good to know!. If I end up having too much free time, I might try taking a look at some of the mods that ended up getting official conversions and see if they managed to get compressed BSAs to work - and if so, how they differ from my version.