properly loading esp. files

[Transient3292]

I have a very noob type of question. I've watched different tutorials over a long time period, and am currently working off of King gath's builders toolkit videos.

 

when I load an esp. to work on, does it automatically load the fallout.esm? I was under the impression that I should double click the parent masters, in this case falout4.esm, and simsettlements.esm, then double click my plug in, and then set it as active. in his videos he just shows double clicking the plug in and setting it as active.

 

I know it's a silly question, but I'm also wondering about how to go about loading other mods so that I can use the assets, but not make my mod dependant on them.

 

Also, I do know about permissions and take that very seriously, this is just for my own personal use so that I can teach myself. Thanks in advance.

[DeathMotif]

Are you using F4Edit or the CK? If the former, yes, it does load the Fallout 4 esm automatically as it is the base for all mods and DLC. I’m not very familiar with the CK, but I believe it does as well. However, when running the CK, you need to make sure that it is configured to handle multiple masters before working on your mod, should you be using multiple masters. With F4Edit, you only need to select mods to be used as masters if your mod hasn’t yet included them as a required master. Otherwise, double clicking on your mod will automatically include all mods it has marked as master. As for including non-master mods for assets, as long as you know the file hierarchy for the mod(s) in question, you can make use of their asses provided the mod(s) is/are installed correctly. I would also presume that you would want to disable that mod’s related esp file if you want just the assets.

[Transient3292]

Are you using F4Edit or the CK? If the former, yes, it does load the Fallout 4 esm automatically as it is the base for all mods and DLC. Iâm not very familiar with the CK, but I believe it does as well. However, when running the CK, you need to make sure that it is configured to handle multiple masters before working on your mod, should you be using multiple masters. With F4Edit, you only need to select mods to be used as masters if your mod hasnât yet included them as a required master. Otherwise, double clicking on your mod will automatically include all mods it has marked as master. As for including non-master mods for assets, as long as you know the file hierarchy for the mod(s) in question, you can make use of their asses provided the mod(s) is/are installed correctly. I would also presume that you would want to disable that modâs related esp file if you want just the assets.

Thank you. I am using the CK right now, I've done minor changes with fo4edit, but for now I want to learn my way around the CK. I have been on and off messing with it for a while, more off than on, but am trying to push myself further. I do believe that I enabled multiple masters when I installed it onto my pc, but I will have to double check that.

 

I had to take a step back and re learn some basics, so I'm currently just making an interior home.One problem I've come across is some items frpm the static drop down menu are only displaying the red and white exclamation point. I know that means I'm missing some files, but since I only have fallout4.esm loaded, I'm not sure why that is happening.

 

I'm not sure if I'm fully under standing your answer on using other assets. I would load the mod along with my own plug in, add whatever items into my render window, and then just not load the parent mod into CK next time I work on my plug in?

 

I apologize for my lack of understanding,every little part that I learn on how to do these things is very valuable info, and I really appreciate your trying to help.

[JonathanOstrus]

It may be easiest to just explain the loading system that CK uses. It's fairly straightforward and simple once you know it.

CK will load any files you manually check. It will also load any files that are masters for those files. If those also have masters it will load those as well going all the way back up the chain. This is why in Kinggath's video just selecting the working plugin will load the simsettlements and fallout4 esms. Both of those are set as masters to the work plugin.

To better illustrate my example in case it is not clear lets take a look at this. If you have MyUberNewMod.esp. It uses a master to SomeOtherMod.esm. But that requires Simsettlements.esm. Simsettlements.esm requires Fallout4.esm. If you were to select only MyUberNewMod.esp it will go back and load all the prerequisite masters in order like this:

Fallout4.esm
Simsettlements.esm
SomeOtherMod.esm
MyUberNewMod.esp

Currently if you try to load a plugin which references esp files as masters, they will get loaded. However upon saving they will be stripped off. This happens regardless of the header flag specifying it is an ESM or not.

If you wanted to load your MyUberNewMod.esp along with another plugin that is not in the master prerequisite hierarchy, that is simple. Just select the other plugin file and your MyUberNewMod.esp and set your mod as active. It will then load all of the appropriate required files as well as the one you manually selected. Note that upon saving it will bake the other file as a master required file unless it is an ESP. If it is an ESM and gets baked in as a master that is actually not necessary to have loaded by your plugin, you can use xEdit to clean the masters and properly remove it. Avoid the urge to use the CK load window to do it as I've heard of and had horrible disasters happen from that (which is why I'm not telling you how to do it there).

I'm not sure if I'm fully under standing your answer on using other assets. I would load the mod along with my own plug in, add whatever items into my render window, and then just not load the parent mod into CK next time I work on my plug in?

Doing that creates a direct requirement for the other mod file to be a master because you are referencing an object from another plugin file. Then the above ESM / ESP concerns come in to play. If you wanted to make it stand alone and not require the other mod you would have to duplicate the item. Then place your duplicated object in the render window.

Edited January 15, 2018 by BigAndFlabby

[Transient3292]

It may be easiest to just explain the loading system that CK uses. It's fairly straightforward and simple once you know it.

Â

CK will load any files you manually check. It will also load any files that are masters for those files. If those also have masters it will load those as well going all the way back up the chain. This is why in Kinggath's video just selecting the working plugin will load the simsettlements and fallout4 esms. Both of those are set as masters to the work plugin.

Â

To better illustrate my example in case it is not clear lets take a look at this. If you have MyUberNewMod.esp. It uses a master to SomeOtherMod.esm. But that requires Simsettlements.esm. Simsettlements.esm requires Fallout4.esm. If you were to select only MyUberNewMod.esp it will go back and load all the prerequisite masters in order like this:

Â

Fallout4.esm

Simsettlements.esm

SomeOtherMod.esm

MyUberNewMod.esp

Â

Currently if you try to load a plugin which references esp files as masters, they will get loaded. However upon saving they will be stripped off. This happens regardless of the header flag specifying it is an ESM or not.Â

Â

If you wanted to load your MyUberNewMod.esp along with another plugin that is not in the master prerequisite hierarchy, that is simple. Just select the other plugin file and your MyUberNewMod.esp and set your mod as active. It will then load all of the appropriate required files as well as the one you manually selected. Note that upon saving it will bake the other file as a master required file unless it is an ESP. If it is an ESM and gets baked in as a master that is actually not necessary to have loaded by your plugin, you can use xEdit to clean the masters and properly remove it. Avoid the urge to use the CK load window to do it as I've heard of and had horrible disasters happen from that (which is why I'm not telling you how to do it there).

Â

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I'm not sure if I'm fully under standing your answer on using other assets. I would load the mod along with my own plug in, add whatever items into my render window, and then just not load the parent mod into CK next time I work on my plug in?

Â

Doing that creates a direct requirement for the other mod file to be a master because you are referencing an object from another plugin file. Then the above ESM / ESP concerns come in to play. If you wanted to make it stand alone and not require the other mod you would have to duplicate the item. Then place your duplicated object in the render window.

Thank you for that detailed description, it is very clear and extremely helpful.

[payl0ad]

Another important thing to note is that the CK will not let you have an ESP file as a master file of your "active plugin" (which you marked active in the file load dialog). xEdit will let you do this, as it's not an actual technical problem to do so, generally. When saving a file that has an ESP as master, the CK will clear that entry and break stuff.

 

In consequence, you should avoid using the CK on patches for other ESP mods. You can work around this but it's very finicky and you risk nuking your ESP if you do anything wrong. Using the example of BigAndFlabby:

 

• Fallout4.esm
• SimSettlements.esm
• SomeOtherMod.esm
• SomeESPMod.esp
• MyUberNewMod.esp
• SomeESPMod_MyUberNewMod_Patch.esp (which already has SomeESPMod.esp and MyUberNewMod.esp as masters)

 

Open SomeESPMod.esp, MyUberNewMod.esp and the patch esp in xEdit. Tick the "ESM" flag in the file headers of SomeESPMod.esp and MyUberNewMod.esp. Then, change the file names in the file header of the patch from .esp to .esm. Save everything, then rename your disguised ESM files to real ESM files. You can now open the patch in the CK, do everything you need to do and save it. Be thorough. Ideally, you do this once. Also, did I mention to keep several backups of your ESP files?

 

When you're done in the CK, open up the entire setup in xEdit again. Change the file names in the patches file header back to .esp and untick the ESM flags in the other file headers again. Save, then rename both back to .esp. Open up everything in xEdit again to check if nothing broke. If you did something wrong, you'll find that xEdit finds dead references in your patch because the CK cleared the master file entries that would point to those.

[JonathanOstrus]

Another important thing to note is that the CK will not let you have an ESP file as a master file of your "active plugin" (which you marked active in the file load dialog). xEdit will let you do this, as it's not an actual technical problem to do so, generally. When saving a file that has an ESP as master, the CK will clear that entry and break stuff.

Â

In consequence, you should avoid using the CK on patches for other ESP mods. You can work around this but it's very finicky and you risk nuking your ESP if you do anything wrong. Using the example of BigAndFlabby:

Â

• Fallout4.esm
• SimSettlements.esm
• SomeOtherMod.esm
• SomeESPMod.esp
• MyUberNewMod.esp
• SomeESPMod_MyUberNewMod_Patch.esp (which already has SomeESPMod.esp and MyUberNewMod.esp as masters)

Â

Open SomeESPMod.esp, MyUberNewMod.esp and the patch esp in xEdit. Tick the "ESM" flag in the file headers of SomeESPMod.esp and MyUberNewMod.esp. Then, change the file names in the file header of the patch from .esp to .esm. Save everything, then rename your disguised ESM files to real ESM files. You can now open the patch in the CK, do everything you need to do and save it. Be thorough. Ideally, you do this once. Also, did I mention to keep several backups of your ESP files?

Â

When you're done in the CK, open up the entire setup in xEdit again. Change the file names in the patches file header back to .esp and untick the ESM flags in the other file headers again. Save, then rename both back to .esp. Open up everything in xEdit again to check if nothing broke. If you did something wrong, you'll find that xEdit finds dead references in your patch because the CK cleared the master file entries that would point to those.

If you're using the most recent CK that supports converting to ESL then you can never use ESP as master, regardless of the header.

[dan1233211]

Hi everyone.

I'm having a issue which I'm hoping someone could help me with. I'm using a gun mod called "MK18 CQBR" I basically want to just create a constructible object for the ammo it supplies with the gun, ammo is "300BLK". I want to add this to my own created workbench. iv added other ammo from the base game into my workbench and they work fine in game but "300BLK" ammo just dose not show up in my workbench. can anyone help me out with this. thanks