Mod Corrupted After Update

[AJStoner]

I have a mod for download (Coats Hats and More) which worked fine. I added some new items to it and got a bug report that there were texture problems (they said it looked like there was an archive invalidation problem) so I removed my working version and downloaded the updated version from Nexus. Sure enough, the textures were going nuts; flickering, weird patterns, etc.

 

I’ve removed the new version but I am confused as to what happened. I tried putting back a copy of the updated version that worked (moved it temporarily to another folder) but the problem persisted even though it worked for me in testing when I added the new items.

 

What could have caused this and how can I avoid it?

 

Not sure if it matters but when I updated the mod I did so from a downloaded version (from Nexus) and not from the original file—could THAT have caused a problem?

[ElfyPers0n]

What are you using to create/export textures? On the export dialogue, you need to make sure that it is set to export with DXT1 compression (unless there's transparency) and to generate mipmaps. I'm not sure about the compression at a glance, but you don't have any mipmaps, which is probably what is causing the issue.

Edited March 9, 2017 by ElfyPers0n

[AJStoner]

Been using GIMP but didn't mess with any of that as the initial mod version worked fine. Guess that might have been luck though. I'll check my export settings. Still, wouldn't that have caused 6the textures not to work in the first place when I tested them?

Edited March 9, 2017 by AJStoner

[ElfyPers0n]

Not necessarily. The game doesn't always need to use mipmaps. To export correctly from GIMP, select DXT1 from the compression drop-down list and make sure to check "Generate mipmaps." I've made this mistake myself a few times, and it's a pain because it isn't always obvious at first.

[AJStoner]

Okay, I just made a fomod after redoing the textures with DTX1 and minimaps checked but the issue persists. I see I get thumbnails instead of the GIMP logo but in-game the same thing is happenning.

 

EDIT: Replacing the textures in the old, working version of the mod appears fine though. I am guessing something just flubbed in the GECK now during the update. It HAS been very twitchy. Is there something else I might have done during the update that might cause this?

Edited March 9, 2017 by AJStoner

[ElfyPers0n]

Strange. I'm assuming you're using texture sets? Have you made sure that they all reference the correct filepaths? You may have accidentally re-named the folder or something.

 

EDIT: Just checked in the GECK, and with the version on your mod page, the filepaths do line up. You don't have normal maps assigned to them, though. That shouldn't cause this, but you should probably assign some at any rate.

 

EDIT #2: Checked some more, and several of your texture sets do have incorrect filepaths, namely the "0000ts" and "0000wastelandmerchant" ones. Are these the ones having issues, or are they just left over from development?

Edited March 9, 2017 by ElfyPers0n

[AJStoner]

Everything on the posted version functions normally. There are a few items that are disabled (like the 0000ts and wasteland merchant) because there were problems or I decided I didn't like them but meant to go back to. All the textures fail on the updated version however, even the ones that work fine on the posted version to which no changes were made. I am going to update the origional with the corrected textures as that doesn't seem to hurt anything.

 

As to the normal maps I assumed that because they are all based on existing assets it would just use the default ones, is that not the case?

Edited March 9, 2017 by AJStoner

[ElfyPers0n]

I'm not sure about that, actually. Perhaps. Always good to be safe, though.

 

Have you checked the texture sets on the new version?

[dubiousintent]

Just something to keep in mind: Are your texture paths "relative" or "absolute"? They need to be relative. The editor you are using may have defaulted to absolute paths. (See the TESTG entry on the subject if you don't understand what I am talking about.)

 

Are you using a BSA, and if so do any of your replacement textures use the same filenames as vanilla versions? In that case, the game randomly will use that file from any BSA in which it exists. The game has no mechanism to allow for the same file in multiple BSAs, which is why you are advised to use "loose files" for your replacements. They will always override the ones in BSAs.

 

-Dubious-

Edited March 9, 2017 by dubiousintent

[AJStoner]

@dubiousintent: They are relitive and no, I'm not using a bsa file. Just an esp and mod-specific texture folder inside the data folder's texture folder.