New combining mods question

[kvngreeley]

Hi, again. I have continued experimenting with combining mods as I download and test new mods. I have about 500 that I am working with. I know just enough to be dangerous and I don't know much about the CS, other than being able to load and combine.

 

I ran a conflict report in TESPCD and, probably not surprising, there were a lot of conflicts with the mods. However, that raised several questions that I am trying to answer.

 

#1. If a check of all the mods together revealed that certain mods have NO conflicts, are those mods relatively safe to combine into 1 ESP, within reason on the number?

 

I have stayed away from combining certain types of mods, such as those that add companions, NPCs, lots of extra content, land masses, cities, quests, monsters, etc. But I am wondering if there isn't any conflict, if they could safely be combined.

 

For instance, combining companion mods together. I don't really understand how the ESP files work, but as long as one file doesn't need to load in a particular order compared to the others, could they be combined?

 

#2 I don't really know how to interpret the conflict report and I don't know how to tell if a conflict might not be a problem because it would be resolved by merging leveled lists. This especially relates to those mods that add creatures, weapons, armor, etc. to the leveled lists.

 

Anyway, any thoughts, advice, or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[kvngreeley]

Bumping in hopes of a reply, since this got buried by a bunch of odd posts about hidden files.

 

Thanks!

[Dragon32]

If you merge mods which adjust vanilla levelled lists then the only changes in the merged mod will be from the mod with the latest Last Modified Date (i.e. latest in load order). All the other mods' changes will be lost. Using Wrye Mash's Mashed Lists or tes3cmd's multipatch is the way to deal with those kind of conflicts.

 

Mods which just add stuff to the game world can probably be combined. If two mods add to the same Cell then both mods' stuff will be added to that cell, as if you just enabled both mods. TESPCD's conflict checker doesn't check for CELL conflicts, FYI.

 

When I merge mods I'd clean them with tes3cmd (and/or TESTool) first, then run TESPCD. I will only combine mods which show no conflicts (avoiding quest mods or script- or dialogue-heavy mods). Sometimes I'll fix the conflicts between the mods before merging. But that needs some knowledge of TES:CS or Enchanted Editor or what have you.

[kvngreeley]

Thanks for your reply! Since I originally posted this I confirmed that two mods that add items for a merchant to sell seem to work, so the merchant has the new items from both mods.

 

But if two mods add an items to the same container, it seems like only the last mod loaded actually adds something.

 

I observed this with two mods that add items to the barrel with Fargothâs ring. Separate they both worked. Together only one worked.

 

I observed the merchant behavior with two mods that added items to Galbedir in Balmora. Items from both mods appeared.

 

So it looks like multiple mods can add items to a merchant, or in a cell like in a room, but only one mod can add something to a specific container.

 

I will continue to experiment and hope I donât break something.

 

Thanks again!

[Oblivionaddicted]

Except if I'm wrong only the cells can be modified by several mods without always creating a conflict.

 

To fix the conflicts like for the container you can always add the element from one mod to another by loading them together in the CS, the active file being the one you edit.

 

If one mod adds changes you want ot cancel to fix a conflict you can do it easily with Morrowind enchanted editor.

[kvngreeley]

Thanks for that! I will explore that. I am trying to learn more about how the CS works because I would like to actually make some mods instead of just using mods created by others.

 

Thanks again!