Merge Plugins Standalone not merging Textures and Meshes

[Ragnarok101]

Pretty much what it says in the title. Mator's Merge Plugins Utility isn't merging things properly, apparently forgetting to merge together textures and meshes from mods. This is, obviously, not acceptable, as I am trying to merge several mods that add weapons and armor and I don't have the plugin space to keep their esp's separate. What in my settings could cause this?

[Jannifer]

There's really no reason to merge the meshes and textures. Those files have to stay separate because the mods use those specific file paths to access any meshes or textures that they add. If you change the file paths, you break the mod. Merging mods allows you to lower your .esp/.esm count so that you don't hit the game's plugin limit, and that's really all the utility is intended to do. So, do your merges and don't worry about leaving the meshes and textures in their separate folders. :)

[Ragnarok101]

There's really no reason to merge the meshes and textures. Those files have to stay separate because the mods use those specific file paths to access any meshes or textures that they add. If you change the file paths, you break the mod. Merging mods allows you to lower your .esp/.esm count so that you don't hit the game's plugin limit, and that's really all the utility is intended to do. So, do your merges and don't worry about leaving the meshes and textures in their separate folders. :smile:

 

Okay, then explain why upon merging the plugins the textures and meshes immediately go missing and can't be accessed? I'd like to have that fixed if at all possible.

 

EDIT:

 

What I'm saying is, the mod on its own, when the separate esp is active, works fine. But when it is part of a merged plugin generated by Mator, the textures and meshes for some of the items vanish, usually the ones that are custom. For instance, Lozza's gas masks mod (the patches and fixes are part of the 'armor' merged patch) produces invisible gas masks, but something like the NCR Overwatch armor is completely unaffected. I don't know why this is the case and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

ANOTHER EDIT:

My typical practice with merges is, once the merge is made, to go and disable the mods that are part of the merge rather than uninstall them or have to go through my data folder and delete each and every plugin. Should I not be doing this, and might that be why the meshes and textures aren't working?

Edited January 11, 2018 by Ragnarok101

[M48A5]

From your description it would appear that when the plugins are merged, the path to the meshes and textures is broken.

 

If there are custom items that you want shown in the game, it might be a good idea not to merge those mods.

[Ragnarok101]

From your description it would appear that when the plugins are merged, the path to the meshes and textures is broken.

 

If there are custom items that you want shown in the game, it might be a good idea not to merge those mods.

So how do I fix it to not be broken? I realize it's probably a pathing issue but what would be necessary to get it working?

[kingbeast88]

The texture paths needs to be set in the .nif (shouldn't need to adjust the path for these but maybe), the model paths can be fixed manually in FNVedit (these are likely the issue). You just need to manually copy & paste the correct paths.

[dubiousintent]

In Mator's "Merge Plugin Standalone" V2.3.0.1 you have to set an "option" (the Gear icon), then in the "Merging" tab, under "Asset handling", called "Batch copy assets". (Personally I set all those "Asset handling" options except "handle script fragments" (NA for FNV) and "Build merged BSA".) That should handle everything for you.

 

You might find the wiki "Merged Plugin Guidelines for Personal Use" article of some help.

 

-Dubious-

Edited January 11, 2018 by dubiousintent

[Ragnarok101]

In Mator's "Merge Plugin Standalone" V2.3.0.1 you have to set an "option" (the Gear icon), then in the "Merging" tab, under "Asset handling", called "Batch copy assets". (Personally I set all those "Asset handling" options except "handle script fragments" (NA for FNV) and "Build merged BSA".) That should handle everything for you.

 

You might find the wiki "Merged Plugin Guidelines for Personal Use" article of some help.

 

-Dubious-

By 'set' do you mean turn it on or off.

Because I had it on- nothing changed. Turned it off- still no textures or meshes in the merged file, and it's still broken upon testing.

 

So how the hell do I fix this?

[dubiousintent]

To "set" means "enabled" or "checked".

 

Mator's MPS "asset handling" for FNV only works on "loose files". If the art assets are in a BSA, they aren't included unless you unpack them from the BSA so they can be treated as "loose files". BSA files have to have the same "significant portion" of the the ESP filename in order to get loaded. MPS creates a "new" filename (as a consequence of the "merge downward" process), so you don't merge files with BSAs. This is why they flag files with BSAs when you select them for merging on the "Plugins" tab. (It's warning you against it.) In addition, you don't want to attempt to merge "compatibility" mods designed to make two or more mods to work together. This is discussed in the "Merged Plugin Guidelines for Personal Use" article.

 

Bottom line: you can't merge everything. Some things can't be "fixed". If you are having problems with particular mods when merged, then most likely it's your choice of mods to merge.

 

-Dubious-

Edited January 12, 2018 by dubiousintent

[Ragnarok101]

To "set" means "enabled" or "checked".

 

Mator's MPS "asset handling" for FNV only works on "loose files". If the art assets are in a BSA, they aren't included unless you unpack them from the BSA so they can be treated as "loose files". BSA files have to have the same "significant portion" of the the ESP filename in order to get loaded. MPS creates a "new" filename (as a consequence of the "merge downward" process), so you don't merge files with BSAs. This is why they flag files with BSAs when you select them for merging on the "Plugins" tab. (It's warning you against it.) In addition, you don't want to attempt to merge "compatibility" mods designed to make two or more mods to work together. This is discussed in the "Merged Plugin Guidelines for Personal Use" article.

 

Bottom line: you can't merge everything. Some things can't be "fixed". If you are having problems with particular mods when merged, then most likely it's your choice of mods to merge.

 

-Dubious-

 

Here's the weird bit: neither of those two categories (BSA-mods and compatibility patches) are actually part of the things I'm having problems with. In fact, the thing I'm having trouble with are what should be the simplest to merge- armor and weapon packs. There's no BSAs, no patches...so I don't know why it's doing this.