Skyrim armor mod manager

[scradam]

I'm thinking about writing a 'mod manager' specifically for armor plugins that obviates any need to load extra ESPs just to check out someone's Blender or 3DS armor handiwork. The initial/basic concept is that you drag the 7z/rar/zip from an arbitrary modder into the manager, the manager parses the package contents, discerns the armor dds & nifs (probably even from BSAs), extracts them to the armor manager's corresponding 'Data' folders, and then adjusts the armor manager's corresponding ESP and/or INI to dynamically plug those armors into a nice standard place that meets user expectations (like a chest in their Whiterun house) along with all the other armors plugged in previously in this fashion - assigning whatever balanced/unbalanced stats the user pre-defines, without any need to adjust the ESP list, worry about load order, dirty/wild edits, etc.

 

Does an 'armor mod manager' similar to this seem useful? If not, why not? (What am I missing? What would you change about the basic concept?)

 

I make stuff with methodology and scope similar to this for a living (but not for gaming). I've tried some Bethesda game modding for personal experimentation in the past, but I've mostly been lurking the Nexus modder scene so far. I've made some stuff of my own in 3DS and am somewhat familiar with the NIF format. I'm reading up on the ESP format at the moment and am figuring out the particulars of making this happen. I don't know how far I'll get with this project. I figured I should bounce my idea off of some of my potential modder peers before I devote a few months to a year or more of pastime to it. I'm entirely pipe dreaming here, but I'm thinking I could conceivably eventually turn armor mod accumulation into a Midas-like game system.

[jet4571]

That's what I do with all my armor mods I download, except I use the CK to do it. No more crazy crafting requirements like 5 different items and 6 of each of those, and all are rare, plus you need a book in inventory... Yeah that crap drives me nuts lol. Also if there's like 4 or 5 variations and I only want 1 of them... and no helmets... cull the herd one would say. plus I make it an esm. So I now have 1 esm instead of 20 esp files. It would be nice to have a tool to do it without having to use the CK.

[scradam]

Alright then. I'll see what I can do. Yeah, I want to write something that programmatically extracts and plugs in armor every time the same way rather than mess with the CK. It will probably take me awhile just to figure out how to programmatically rip apart a single mod, programmatically identify the armors, programmatically alter the nifs, and then programmatically alter the manager's ESP to load the stuff. I'm chipping away further at the details tonight. Indication is that it shouldn't be insanely hard to make something basic, but it will probably take awhile for me to make something polished enough to publish.

 

*crossing fingers that I don't get bored with this concept*

 

PS: My goal here isn't to take the fun out of collecting armors for those who like mods similar to Hentai Mania, etc. I love mods like that and I wouldn't personally change them. I realize some people might not like collecting the armors, but I'd feel bad if some individuals are concerned that I'd be ruining cool mods like those by making this. My personal goal here is to make it easy, simple, consistent, and clean to install the really armor-centric mods.

Edited June 6, 2012 by scradam

[jet4571]

Simply have it load the esp and merge it with another, then change refid's and edid's so there are no duplicates. I wouldn't mess with where the meshes and textures are really located, just have it save the filepaths in a text doc for uninstall. There's several different spots that the refid and edid will need to be changed so linking the armor to the armor addon, constructable objects, and world locations will need to be done but I am sure a find and replace function built in would do the trick.

 

That's kind of what I do except much slower, I load all armor mods in the ck with none active then duplicate the parts I want and fix the id's to fit the new ones. I dont mess with where the mesh and textures are, not really worth it if you have a list of each directory.

 

Once you get a basic tool to merge them that works then worry about adding functions for changing stats/crafting requirements and automatically placing in a particular chest.

 

*edit, Forgot to mention, allot of armor mods have the same names for meshes and textures, like boots.nif. just one function not to worry about with renaming all that too as well as filepathing them when they are already safe from overwrites unless the original mod is a replacer or by some amazing chance 2 modders use the same directory and names lol.

Edited June 7, 2012 by jet4571

[ixdoa]

That's a great idea, I don't know if many people will use it though, sure it's handy and adds things but the nexus mod manager will be easier and simpler to use. Newer members will probably use the nexus mod manager, most of them probably won't forum like older users and I guess you can give it a go but I think you might be dissapointed. Still do anything you want, it's a free world and give it a go! Nothing can hold you back :thumbsup: Edited June 7, 2012 by ixdoa

[tg08096]

I think I would try out a lot more armors if there were something like this. Its just too much of a pain, like you said, to run around jumping through hoops just to check out an armor that you might not like anyway. Not to mention the cluttering of the crafting windows and if something alters a leveled list, I wont even touch it. I like what jet was saying about loading all the mods in the ck without activating any and making one clean mod for everything, and I will probably do that. It would be nice for some of the newer users though to be able to use a tool like this who dont want anything to do with the ck. An added benefit would be the reduction of the "help, my armor mod doesnt work" posts on the forums. I say go for it.

[scradam]

Thanks for the feedback and the tips, people. It's encouraging and useful. I'm only starting to chip away at it. At the moment, I'm using TESVSnip and its source code to help me figure out mod dissection and assembly. We'll see how far I get with it. I'm grateful that TESVSnip was written with C#; it's pretty much my favorite language for stuff like this.

 

*still crossing fingers that I don't get bored with this concept before it comes a published reality*

[jet4571]

Not to mention the cluttering of the crafting windows and if something alters a leveled list, I wont even touch it. I like what jet was saying about loading all the mods in the ck without activating any and making one clean mod for everything, and I will probably do that.

 

I have 2 mods like this. 1 is armor only and the other is weapons only. Makes it easier to sort through them. There are many weapons that are nice but nothing I would use or for my followers so I add them to level lists myself and remove them from the crafting menu. Now the only armor or weapons in my crafting menu is mod versions I use for myself and followers. I have a couple favorite armors I made multiple versions of starting in the steel category to the deadric, stats increase with the category. This way i can upgrade my armor multiple times beyond the standard tempering system. Just sell the old and craft all new in a better category and temper it.