Questions About .BSA Files

[bluesmurph]

So i am totally new to modding and I was wondering what a .BSA file is used for. I'm making a mod and I don't know if I need to make one or how to make one. All I know about them is that if you add meshes and textures and stuff to the game then you need to archive them into a .BSA (please don't kill me if this is not true). Can someone shed some light on me on what they are used for, when i should use them, and how to make them?

[kevkiev]

I think a BSA is essentially a compressed file. You don't necessarily need to make one, there are tons of mods with "loose" mesh/texture/sound files. I think they're mainly handy if you have a whole bunch of new meshes, textures etc. but they're definitely not necessary especially if you're not adding a whole lot of new files.

 

Here's a how-to guide on making one if you want to go that route.

[bluesmurph]

I think a BSA is essentially a compressed file. You don't necessarily need to make one, there are tons of mods with "loose" mesh/texture/sound files. I think they're mainly handy if you have a whole bunch of new meshes, textures etc. but they're definitely not necessary especially if you're not adding a whole lot of new files.

 

Here's a how-to guide on making one if you want to go that route.

So if i was to create a mod with new sounds/meshes and such i wouldn't need to make a .BSA? by just dropping the .esp in the data folder it would load all the stuff?

[kevkiev]

Caveat: this is all coming from someone who's only noobily jimmied up some housing-type mods, and changed the odd sound file here and there, for personal use ;)

 

If your esp relies on new meshes, textures, sounds etc. you'll have to pack those along separately from your esp. For example, I used some custom meshes and textures for some objects in the Lucky 38 suite in FONV. Focusing on the textures: I put the textures into, and made the nifs point to "...steamapps/common/FONV/data/textures/lucky38/"name of my new texture".dds (and_n.dds etc; might not be the exact filepath, it's been awhile since I played FONV, but hopefully I've passed on the idea) If I were to have published that mod on nexus, I would have had to include the new texture separately from my new esp, packed inside the folders: data/textures/lucky38 with instructions to install the folder into the skyrim folder. That way, a downloader would have those texture resources in their game folder for the new esp to use. Same thing with meshes: even if they use vanilla textures, they'll have to be packed separately from your esp.

 

DL and check out the file structure of a housing mod on Nexus (or one that uses new sounds) and you'll get the idea. Generally, people use the same file paths that Bethesda uses (eg.. skyrim/data/textures/clutter). You can see the vanilla paths by "unpacking" the vanilla texture, mesh, or sound bsa files - that'll generate a ton of files with the path (using textures as an example) data/textures/ [umpteen gazillion folders]. Though I'm not sure how to do that for skyrim. For FONV, you could use FOMM to unpack but I don't think NMM has that tool (I could be wrong on that).

 

The idea is basically that anything in your esp that uses new meshes, textures, sounds, etc. has to have those textures, sounds, etc available in the game data folder.

 

I hope that was useful, and not just confusing, 'cuz like I said I'm a total noob at this.

[bluesmurph]

Caveat: this is all coming from someone who's only noobily jimmied up some housing-type mods, and changed the odd sound file here and there, for personal use ;)

 

If your esp relies on new meshes, textures, sounds etc. you'll have to pack those along separately from your esp. For example, I used some custom meshes and textures for some objects in the Lucky 38 suite in FONV. Focusing on the textures: I put the textures into, and made the nifs point to "...steamapps/common/FONV/data/textures/lucky38/"name of my new texture".dds (and_n.dds etc; might not be the exact filepath, it's been awhile since I played FONV, but hopefully I've passed on the idea) If I were to have published that mod on nexus, I would have had to include the new texture separately from my new esp, packed inside the folders: data/textures/lucky38 with instructions to install the folder into the skyrim folder. That way, a downloader would have those texture resources in their game folder for the new esp to use. Same thing with meshes: even if they use vanilla textures, they'll have to be packed separately from your esp.

 

DL and check out the file structure of a housing mod on Nexus (or one that uses new sounds) and you'll get the idea. Generally, people use the same file paths that Bethesda uses (eg.. skyrim/data/textures/clutter). You can see the vanilla paths by "unpacking" the vanilla texture, mesh, or sound bsa files - that'll generate a ton of files with the path (using textures as an example) data/textures/ [umpteen gazillion folders]. Though I'm not sure how to do that for skyrim. For FONV, you could use FOMM to unpack but I don't think NMM has that tool (I could be wrong on that).

 

The idea is basically that anything in your esp that uses new meshes, textures, sounds, etc. has to have those textures, sounds, etc available in the game data folder.

 

I hope that was useful, and not just confusing, 'cuz like I said I'm a total noob at this.

 

Thank you. but i have one more question. so say if I duplicated an item and just renamed it and gave it some new atributes but kept the visual look of it would i need a .BSA? and if i create a new npc or add another building/structure to an area would a need a .bsa? sorry but i just want to make sure my mod will work.

[Rennn]

If you don't add new things, if you only duplicate vanilla things and change their stats and names and stuff like that, you shouldn't need folders for meshes or textures or anything, or any BSAs. The examples you listed should only require an esp, as long as you don't use things designed by other mods within your mod. You can easily add a building anywhere, change around the interior, add or remove shelves, bottles, books, NPCs, etc, as long as the stuff you add and change is available in vanilla Skyrim.

 

People use folders like "meshes", "sounds", or "textures" to give the person something that they made in another program, like Blender or Photoshop. If you just use the CK and don't activate other people's mods when you load the CK, you won't need folders 99% of the time. The only time I can think of where you would actually need a folder if you work only with the CK would be if you write scripts, and that's not needed for your examples.

 

BSAs are just used to store large quantities of items that would normally be in regular folders because that makes it simpler to install and easier to uninstall.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Rennn

[bluesmurph]

Thank you guys! I now better understand BSA's. thanks!

[Copey101]

Hi

 

not sure if this is the place to ask this or not but i have the files of a .bsa and a .esl i have put them in my data folder but the mod is not in my game? is there something else i need to do?

[xkkmEl]

You likely need to 'activate" the esl.

 

In MO2:

• there is a "mod list" in the left half of the MO2 window. Scroll to your mod and tick the checkbox. (you likely have that done already)
• there is a "plugins" tab in the right half of the MO2 window. Scroll to your esl and tick the checkbox. (that's likely your problem)

 

Other mod managers will have a similar setup.

[babylight6]

Question modding skyrim LE in MO2 is it OK to unpack the BSAs and discard them after extracting the files?