(Tutorial) How to add items to leveled lists so they appear in-game.

[shaggy08251993]

Warning: Tutorial is only long because I made sure to go into detail about everything and not leave out any steps. When you do this once, you can do it again in a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

First off I'd like to start by saying I am NOT a pro modder. I cannot create my own models or textures...I am just very good at making connections by observing other peoples' work. The guide I'm about to type is just from what I have discovered by mixing, matching, and comparing several well-known mods such as "Weapon X Standalone" or "Wasteland Imports". I'm also typing this out because I always see numerous requests for mod authors to incorporate items into leveled lists, only for those requests to be ignored or denied...which honestly after learning myself, it really isn't that hard. I took it upon myself to learn after I was also denied by an author for leveled list incorporations, and am hoping that I can help some poor innocent souls who had the same problems...because once you know how...you can add anything into a leveled list in like 10 minutes.

 

Anyway, on to the actual tutorial. All you need is FO4 Edit, and to open it up. Make SURE to run as an administrator, otherwise, you won't be able to save your changes and all your work will be done for nothing.

 

When you open it, you will have a list of all of the .esp/.esm files currently in your Fallout 4/Data directory. FO4 Edit will ONLY read files from this directory...so don't think you can edit a file that is located on the desktop. Whether the file is there via Nexus MM or you placed it there yourself doesn't matter, as long as it is there.

 

Select the .esp that you want to edit/add items to leveled lists, and click OK.

 

Note: Some mods might be corrupt and you will get an error message saying that editing is disabled... For me, editing still worked, but I couldn't create merged patches if I got that error (more on that later). One mod in specific that gave me this error is The M2216 Standalone (or whatever it's called)...so ultimately I deleted it because my goal is for a smooth and conflict-free game.

 

After the info panel on the right side of FO4 Edit says "Background Loader: Finished", then you can begin.

 

You will see your mod along with master .esp/.esms listed on the left.

 

For those of you who are not tech savvy, a master/parent file just means that the mod/file you want to edit needs info/references from the master/parent in order to function...Naturally, Fallout4.esm will always be loaded as will as the mod you want to edit because all mods are editing/overwriting references from the Fallout4.esm.

 

Now, click on the + icon next to the mod you want to edit. If you see "Leveled Item" as a drop down option, click the + icon next to it as well. If you don't see "Leveled Items", then that means the item has not been added at all. If you do see "Leveled Item", but a bunch of entries in it are red, then that means that it is conflicting with another mod and is losing the fight...because whatever it is conflicting with comes later in the load order and so is overwriting your current mod. In an example, if you flipped the load order, then your current mod would come later and so would win the conflict.

 

SITUATION # 1: NO LEVELED ITEM LIST AT ALL (Skip to Situation #2 if you have conflicts)

 

If you don't have a Leveled List subsection for your mod, then you will need to add it. Very simple. You need top expand Fallout4.esm and then expand Leveled Items for Fallout4.esm.

 

Here you will see TONS of entries with a bunch of abbreviations that quite frankly I don't know what the heck any of them mean. What I do know is that all of these entries are "containers" so to say in the game. Some these containers have info for specific items, and others are more like master containers which contain spawn info for smaller containers.

 

Example: If you find the entry for the leveled item container of "Vendor Armor". The types of armors you will see for this container include "Leather Armor Any", "Helmets Any", "Metal Armor Any", and so on. This would be a Parent Container. Each of the references listed though (Leather Armor Any, Helmets Any, etc) will also be containers of their own that you can find in this massive list. These containers will break things down into actual items, such as leather chest piece, different hats, metal shoulder pieces, and the like).

 

 

(Child Container) ---Leather Chest Piece

---Leather Armor Any

---Leather Left Leg

 

 

(Parent Container)

Visual Tree: Vendor Armor

 

 

(Child Container) ---Ushanka Hat

---Helmets Any

---Dirty Army Helmet

 

 

 

So all you need to do is sift through all the different types of inventories, be it lootable containers, enemies, vendors, and in the "Leveled List Entries" section right-click said container and choose "Override as new record into...", and choose the mod that you want to add the edited container into.

 

Note: Maybe it is just me, but whenever I create/override a new record into a modded .esp, I always have to save and then reopen FO4 Edit to see the changes. You may need to do the same.

 

 

Now open the "Leveled Item" drop-down in the .esp you are modding. In the right-side window, you will see a bunch of info for all the .esps that are using the current leveled item container. In the column under the correct .esp, right-click the blank area and select "add".

 

You will see a new entry with "NULL" and some zeroes. Change NULL to the item you want to add, and both of the zeroes to "1".

 

When you are done editing, if the everything in the entry is green (or as long as there are no red-ish colors), then you are good! Press Control + S to save changes. Load up the game, let the inventories refresh by waiting, and you should see your item in the game.

 

 

 

 

SITUATION #2 - IF YOU HAVE CONFLICTS

 

 

Assuming everything in situation 1 has been done but you are left with conflicts, then you will need to make a merged patch. Sounds hard, but it is really just 2 clicks of the mouse. Make sure you have the latest version of FO4 Edit.

 

You will need to open FO4 edit again and open ALL of the .esps that have conflicting Leveled Lists. (Remember if you get an error, then you need to find the .esp that is causing it and delete that mod, otherwise, you can't create the merged patch).

Once FO4 Edit is done loading all of them, expand the Leveled Items list for each mod so you can see all of the conflicting containers.

 

Control + Left Click all of them, and then right-click the final one, highlight "Other", and select "Create Merged Patch.

 

When it asks you to enter an ID or whatever, it is really asking you what you want the name of the new .esp to be. I usually name it "Yada Yada Something Something Merged Patch" so I know what it is.

 

Click Okay, and now you will see a new .esp at the bottom of the list on the left. If you expand it, you'll see Leveled Items. If you click on any of the containers, you will now see the new .esp listed as also using that container, except the new .esp has taken the previous conflicting records, and included them in one file, instead of separate files. The idea is that now this .esp will come after all of the previously conflicting mods, and combine their info into one file so they don't overwrite/void each other out.

 

...long story short, make sure the merged patch .esp is after the conflicting mods in your load order.

 

When you are finished, press Control + S to save changes, and load the game to check it out. Make sure you let vendor/enemy inventories refresh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that about covers it...if I missed anything or if you have questions, feel free to ask. Probably won't respond to this post at all after 3 days.

 

 

EDIT: I am not very active on the forums...so if I posted this in the wrong section, let me know and I'll move it.

Edited May 13, 2017 by shaggy08251993

[QuantumBios]

Thank you for posting this. I'm trying to merge mods by category. I'd like to be able to create, say, "ClothingMerge01", TweaksMerge01, SettlementBuildingMerge01, etc and without conflicts or errors, but haven't been able to grasp exactly how to do it yet.

[shaggy08251993]

Quantum, is that a question, or are you saying that this guide helped you?

[QuantumBios]

I am saying that this guide is helping me to better understand how to use FO4Edit. There is a specific thing I want to do, and can't seem to find a guide or tutorial that specifically addresses what i want to do. I'm reading everything I can on FO4Edit, and hopefully, eventually, I'll have a good enough grasp on how it works to be able to do what I'm trying to do. :-)

 

It's guides like this that are incredibly helpful, even if they're not explaining how to reach my specific goal.

[shaggy08251993]

Quantum, you should be able to reach your goal by following Situation 2 in my guide. If I understand correctly, you need to open all of the mods in FO4 edit that you want to make the patch for, then expand the "Leveled Items" list for each of them. Control+Left Click each of the conflicting inventories, then right-click the final one. Highlight "other", and select "Create Merged Patch". Then the name can be "Clothing Merge" or whatever you want. Rinse and repeat for other categorized patches you want to make.

[QuantumBios]

Thanks for the input. I am going to try that once I determine which clothing plugins are designed to be player crafted, which are meant to be randomly generated on an NPC, and which are necessary to be present in order for other mods to work. (Better Settlers, for example has a Clothing plugin that requires certain other plugins be installed, so I imagine i cannot merge those, as they would not appear in the plug-in list then).

 

Curious as to how merging tweaks will go. Tweaks such as Easy Hacking, Slow Time, Faster Terminal Displays, Move(Get Out of the Way), Master Locksmith Hacker, etc should all be mergable. However, when I tried merging a bunch of tweaks, mods such as Slow Time, Survival Quicksave, Increased Speed and other just stopped working.

 

Merging Settlement changes is going to be interesting as well. Echo Lake Lumber Mill, SpectacleIsleBridge, Mystic Pines, etc...Theoretically, these should all be merge-able, as they shouldn't get in the way of each other.

 

I've only been modding for a couple months now. It's incredibly fun, but also very time consuming and frustrating. I'm actually considering putting an ad on Craigslist seeking an in-house FOEdit/WryeBash tutorial session. lol ;-)

[shaggy08251993]

Well, I'm glad I could help. Happy modding! :}

There are many things I'd also like to learn how to do, but as you said, very frustrating and time-consuming haha.

[lavarob]

Are you talking about "Copy as override into" or "Copy as new record into" or maybe even "Copy as override (with overwriting) into) ?

 

This is the only thing holding me back atm. I have a bunch of usable containers already listed but that right click command you said doesn't exist (at least anymore)...

[Skcyte]

I also a bit confused with using multiple LL with the same name/ref and count within the LL itself.

[Indipotter]

Are you talking about "Copy as override into" or "Copy as new record into" or maybe even "Copy as override (with overwriting) into) ?

 

This is the only thing holding me back atm. I have a bunch of usable containers already listed but that right click command you said doesn't exist (at least anymore)...

use copy as override into and make a new esp that way for the files so you dont break something.