David Brasher Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 It can be hard to uninstall a mod with loose files, and Skyrim is worse than Oblivion in this respect because of the external scripts. So some gamers would like their mods to have .bsa files. To pack a .bsa, one could use the CK, but it seems like you have to go into every sub-sub-sub folder to get at all the files and some mods have a great number of folders. I can imagine it taking a tedious 15 minutes of labor at top speed, and then pray that you don't miss one of the folders and break the mod. Is there a better program to use or different approach to building .bsa files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eschaeon Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) Pardon me of I'm wrong, but doesn't the standalone Archive.exe do all of that for you? The program floating around in the main 'skyrim' folder. Edited May 2, 2012 by eschaeon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brasher Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) How do you work the interface to add several directories at once to your archive? It seems to be acting like the CK and wanting to go down through the sub-sub-sub directories to the base files. EDIT: It turns out that you do not go through the menu options, you have to counterintuitively know that you are allowed to drag and drop folders from a different window and that is how you make it work. Edited May 2, 2012 by David Brasher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve40 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I haven't had any problems at all using the CK archiver. It does a great job of tracking all the required files. If anything, i have to check that it hasn't been over-zealous and tried to add files that aren't required :tongue: 15 minutes? :ohmy: Have you actually tried using the CK archiver? :whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrivener07 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Sup David, go to file > upload to steam workshop > remove source files for scripts if you wish > and stop short of actually uploading to the workshop. Your bsa will be created and left in you data dir. You can ignore the .bsl file. I think this is either metadata for the workshop or some kind of leftover temp file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalenEllefson Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Every .bsa I make using the Creation Kit is put in the wrong folder. The CK puts .bsa files in the Skyrim folder (where TESV.exe resides), and I have to manually move them to the Skyrim\Data folder. Ii sounds like the CK isn't doing this for everyone else... How do you get it to put the .bsa files in the Data folder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brasher Posted May 2, 2012 Author Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) The auto archive for Steam Workshop does NOT work when I try using it. It only grabs some of the scripts I need and leaves out others which have to be manually added from the sub-sub-sub folder level. It adds junk I do not need and I have to manually remove it. It generally does not add any files but scripts (some of them) so if the mod uses textures and meshes and sounds, you have to manually gather them. So it is fair to say that I am not happy with the CK auto-archive function and Steam Workshop. (And then there are the unexplained error messages when the whole process fails.) Edited May 2, 2012 by David Brasher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauderek Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 @CalenEllefsonWhen you choose to save your .bsa you can choose the folder you want it to be saved @David BrasherI use the Archive.exe and I'm happy with it, if you have to package lots of files you can forget some files, yes. But you can always unpack the files in the .bsa in a temporary folder and add the ones you forget. It can be annoying if you forget a lot of files, but it's like modding itself, trial and error until you package all the necessary files. I don't know of any other easy-to-use program that packages files into a .bsa other than Archive.exe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalenEllefson Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 @CalenEllefsonWhen you choose to save your .bsa you can choose the folder you want it to be saved... Yes, and I do. But, regardless of what folder I select, the .bsa and .bsl files are always in the Skyrim folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve40 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 @CalenEllefsonWhen you choose to save your .bsa you can choose the folder you want it to be saved... Yes, and I do. But, regardless of what folder I select, the .bsa and .bsl files are always in the Skyrim folder. That happens for me also, but it's not a big deal to move the files to the data folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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