Bunce97 Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 also-how-do-you-add-spaces-here-my-space-key-doesnt-work-here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatFalro Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 An archive in this case refers to files of the type .bsa (Bethesda Softworks Archive). Essentially it is a group of smaller files "packaged" into one for easier reading by the game. You can unpack them using a BSA extractor - just google that and you'll find at least three tools that can do it. "Game directory" refers to the filepath in Windows where the game is installed. Generally, this is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim". Not sure why your space bar isn't working though. Do you have a non-standard keyboard layout? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunce97 Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 so if a mod author says extract this mods files to the games directory he simply means put them in the game folder and NOT the data folder and a bsa is a file you would find inside of a zipped mod file along with the other files...so like you have a main zipped folder you open it up and see bsa files and other files right? also what is a rar file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatFalro Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Ah, nevermind, I see what you mean. All mods here come as either a .zip or .rar file, both of which are archives. Use a tool like 7zip (which is free) to extract them into the data folder. Make sure to move any files that might be in the archive's data folder out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunce97 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) ok so the only difference between a zip file and a rar file is ones neat and easy to process and the other isn't? and I see modders say oh this mod contains loose files why state that if rar and zip are basically the same once you extract them and why go through the effort to put it in a rar or bsa archive type why not just do zip archives if its just gonna get extracted by the mod user? or is it where bsa and rar files don't have to be extracted and that's the difference? Edited February 2, 2018 by Bunce97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Not much of a difference between RAR, ZIP, and 7z archives...... just different compression methods. They all accomplish the same thing. BSA, and BA2 archives are very similar, just uses beths proprietary compression method. Now, when you extract the archives, you get some files..... and esp, esm, (or both) and then maybe a bsa, or ba2. For modding purposes, those are not considered 'loose' files. If you had a bunch of folders: Meshes, Textures, Sounds, and each of those folders had various files in them, THAT would be considered 'loose' files. (basically, meshes etc, that are NOT packed into a BSA, or BA2 archive.) Clear as mud? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunce97 Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) oh so you could have archives within archives? and let me see if I got this so archives (zip, 7z, rar, bsa, ect) are compressed files and depending on the archive type and or the way the contents are compressed they could be be a lil different and in order for the game to process it efficiently and or correctly they need to be built (aka coded) to deal with it but instead of deal with all the settings for zip and 7zip, ect. when making the game Bethesda decided to have a standard compression format which is bsa hence why we see bsa archives instead of the say 7z archives in their game? Edited February 2, 2018 by Bunce97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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