Modding Question

[BaKonator751]

Hey i have a stupid question that most likely has been asked before by another modding noob. When installing mods after i extract the files into a folder, they usually come with a folder that says the mods name then inside a folder that says data. inside that is all the mesh folders, texture folders etc. My question is a lot of mods have the same named folders and if i extract them it replaces the folders i already extracted so am I supposed to keep it in the original folder? example is "Modname/data/textures" which folder do i extract from? also another question i had is if a folder has "loose files" AND esp/esm files do i still throw the esp/esm files in the main data folder or keep em grouped with their asset folders? And one last question is what do I do with the ba2 files? do i also drag them right in like the eps/esm files?

Edited October 9, 2018 by BaKonator751

[TheGreatFalro]

A. No, you shouldn't put them in separate folders, otherwise the game won't read them. Everything in the Data folder from the mod should be in the Data folder of Skyrim.

 

2. Depends on what the loose file is. Generally, the only files that have to be "loose" in the data folder are the .esp/esm and the .bsa files.

 

III. .ba2 files I believe are only useful for the mod creator (and technically shouldn't be packed with the mod) but they won't hurt anything being there. Delete them or leave them as you see fit.

 

As a final note, manually installing mods like you are doing isn't the best way for a beginner (or anyone, in my opinion) to install mods. As you mentioned, sometimes mods can have file conflicts, and it can be difficult to figure out which mod should "win", and God forbid you ever have to uninstall a mod that had conflicts, as you either have to remember every single file and folder involved or simply start from scratch.

Therefore, I recommend you try and set yourself up with a mod manager like Vortex or Mod Organizer 2 - those are the two currently most supported and popular ones. There are good videos on Youtube by a man called Gopher that detail setup and use of each, not to mention countless textual guides. There's also a ton of people both here and on the Steam forums that would be willing to answer any questions you might have, and also feel free to PM me as well (don't worry too much about bothering us - most of us still remember when we were noobs too!)

 

Sorry, that was kind of a wall of text, wasn't it? LOL

Well, I hope my answer helps.

[BaKonator751]

The major issue I see is basically all my mods use a folder called textures or meshes and if I put 2 of those folders in the data folder then it overwrites. Would I take the files out of those folders as well? Also I'm working off of fallout 4 lol

[TheGreatFalro]

That's why I suggested using a mod manager - to prevent conflicts. However, at least in Windows, folder conflicts don't actually matter, because the folders are simply merged.

[BaKonator751]

Okay so I have the NMM installed but all my mods are under unassigned because i downloaded them manually in the first place... how do i fix that? do i have to redownload all of them because i have 241 mods lol (My computer can probably still handle more)

[WakahisaSensei]

Okay so I have the NMM installed but all my mods are under unassigned because i downloaded them manually in the first place... how do i fix that? do i have to redownload all of them because i have 241 mods lol (My computer can probably still handle more)

It's generally recommended to keep the number of mods at or below the 255 range. So be careful. Each mod you have will decrease stability. As for transferring mods...well, If I were in your position I'd reinstall the game and then download the mods directly to the mod manager. Otherwise you'll be manually sorting through a lot of files. Unless someone else knows a better method.

[soupdragon1234]

III. .ba2 files I believe are only useful for the mod creator (and technically shouldn't be packed with the mod) but they won't hurt anything being there. Delete them or leave them as you see fit.

 

BA2 is what Fallout 4 uses instead of BSA's. Its basically an updated version of the BSA format.