How do you know/check to see if a bsa is corrupted?

[Tank0123]

I have missing meshes for a mod, which requires COBL and Better Cities Resources.

 

I am wondering if the mod's (Castle Legacy) bsa is corrupted, and what to do if it is. If it isn't, then I wonder if maybe I'm installing it wrong.

 

Is there a way to use Wrye Bash or anything else to see if it is? And-- how are you supposed to install a BSA?

[Striker879]

First, any installation should start with reading the readme/mod description install instructions (and I know that sometimes they can leave a lot to be desired). Any mods that I have experience with that include a BSA file all have the BSA in the Oblivion\Data folder the same as the vanilla game and DLCs.

 

Outside of comparing your downloaded file size with the file size listed on the download page I can't be of much help there. You could try downloading the mod again to a different folder and comparing file sizes between the two extracted downloads. If there aren't a bunch of complaints in the mod comments about missing meshes the problem is probably something on your end.

[DrakeTheDragon]

Getting a BSA to be used by the game requires one of two steps to be taken.

 

For one, if there is an ESP with the same name as the BSA, or I think also beginning the same already, then the BSA will be loaded automatically. That's the reason for there being an "empty" DLCShiveringIsles.ESP, just so its BSA gets loaded. All ShiveringIsles data records were already merged into the Oblivion.ESM when it was replaced by installing the Expansion.

 

For two, there's an "sArchiveList" line inside your "Oblivion.ini", which holds a list of BSAs to be loaded even without a fitting ESP to be present. The Vanilla BSAs are in there and any Archive Invalidation business is also taking place through there.

 

Now read the install instructions of the mod the assets of which are missing from your game to find out whether it's the "BSA and ESP named similarly" approach or if you have to manually add an entry into the "sArchiveList" variable in the INI.

 

edit: Checked the description and readme uploaded. Seems there is no such intructions anywhere to be found.

Can't check the file right now, it's not downloading for me. A reoccuring issue lately though and it usually fixes itself in some days. Guess it's coming close to the point at where I can't keep using FF5 to browse the Nexus any longer, but updating to any higher version is forbidden by a job order.

Regardless, make sure you also have those required resources, COBL and especially Better Cities Resources are full of custom meshes and textures, which when their BSAs, or whatever, are missing will lead to all kinds of missing mesh errors throughout the whole castle or mod area, going from the description in the readme.

 

edit2: On a sidenote, while you could check if a BSA is corrupted by unpacking it via BSA Commander or the BSA Tools from OBMM and seeing if it fails, you will never be able to spot a missing file in there without exactly knowing beforehand what exact files all should be in there! So there's only half of the issue you can actually check for.

Edited March 22, 2012 by DrakeTheDragon