[LE] Merging changes to master mod file with TES5Edit

[duude98]

I have been working on a large scale mod for quite some time now. Apparently enough time for it to bloat to the point where the creation kit starts to break under its weight when loading it as the active file. Whenever I open any options window, there is about an 8 in 10 chance that this will happen and I need to restart the whole thing. Any window that isn't the object/render/cell window is vulnerable. If I open the preferences menu and this happens, it forgets every key binding and render window control, so I keep backups of my ini files that I swap out when that happens. Very frustrating, and near progress halting.

 

Finally I decided I had enough of it and researched a way to use the mod file as a master file and merge changes to it with a separate "working" esp file and TES5Edit. I first tried setting up the version control feature, but that made my creation kit even slower. I was ultimately unable to get version control to actually work due to an error I couldn't find anything about, so TES5Edit is where I landed. I am using the method detailed here. As far as I can tell, this seems to work just fine, but I have some concerns. The use case demonstrated here is for compatibility patches, and not for repeated use for active mod development. Do I need to be worried about data corruption if I rely on this to save my work? If that is going to cause me trouble down the line, is there any other method aside from version control that can do this?

 

Thanks~

 

EDIT: In reading a little further in that thread I linked it seems people had problems with script properties unfilling. As far as I can tell, after doing this once this has not happened to me. Was this eventually fixed?

Edited December 12, 2017 by duude98

[agerweb]

TesVEdit doesn't do version control ie An esm file (whose name remains unchanged) which you repeatedly merge esp's into. It will only merge esp/esm's together safely into a single file with a different name; of course if you don't mind the name of your master file changing to something different each time that's fine. I think you may be able to type the the same name in but it is definitely not recommended (I posted a question to the author way back).

 

I have to use Version control because I have a second esp that has my esm as a master so changing the name causes more trouble than its worth - also I am a little nervous of multiple merges with the same file but I may just be paranoid.

 

This appear to be a good guide on the subject:

 

Guide

[duude98]

Thanks, that's just the answer I was hoping for! The guide you linked is extremely helpful, I did not know about the merge plugins utility. That said, it won't merge because it says that my working esp is lower in the load order than the esm, despite that not being the case in nmm, my appdata plugin files, or even the merge plugins program itself. Luckily TES5Edit seems to work fine for now while I figure this out. Just seems to be slightly more tedious.