Content Mod Compatibility Questions

[Veltoss]

Hey everyone :happy:

 

I've been working on a mod for several months now, and I have a couple questions about compatibility. It's a new city mod, focused on adding a new town to the game with loads of content. Primarily it will add new items (using vanilla models/textures), have quests, new merchants, new NPCs, new dungeons, etc. Nothing that I would expect would cause compatibility problems with other mods. But I want to make sure that I am not missing something. Is there anything with this type of mod that might cause compatibility problems with other mods that I should watch out for?

 

My second question is about adding mod-specific items to the town. For example, let's say I want to add some items from Bags and Bandoliers to some of the NPCs, vendors, and in a few spawned locations. Can I do this in a way that the items only show up if the player has Bags and Bandoliers installed, and not effect the players who do not? I would like to make the town feel seemless along with the rest of the world when players are using mods such as WIC, Cloaks of Skyrim, Bags and Bandoliers, and so on. But at the same time, I do not want this to affect players without them, nor do I want to create several different .esps for each combination of mods the player might be using.

 

I'm sure I will come up with a couple more questions later, but that's it for now. Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

[Shad0wThirteen]

Hey everyone :happy:

 

I've been working on a mod for several months now, and I have a couple questions about compatibility. It's a new city mod, focused on adding a new town to the game with loads of content. Primarily it will add new items (using vanilla models/textures), have quests, new merchants, new NPCs, new dungeons, etc. Nothing that I would expect would cause compatibility problems with other mods. But I want to make sure that I am not missing something. Is there anything with this type of mod that might cause compatibility problems with other mods that I should watch out for?

 

My second question is about adding mod-specific items to the town. For example, let's say I want to add some items from Bags and Bandoliers to some of the NPCs, vendors, and in a few spawned locations. Can I do this in a way that the items only show up if the player has Bags and Bandoliers installed, and not effect the players who do not? I would like to make the town feel seemless along with the rest of the world when players are using mods such as WIC, Cloaks of Skyrim, Bags and Bandoliers, and so on. But at the same time, I do not want this to affect players without them, nor do I want to create several different .esps for each combination of mods the player might be using.

 

I'm sure I will come up with a couple more questions later, but that's it for now. Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

 

The mod will conflict with any mods that place things where you place your town.

For the other idea, load your mod and tick the others (e.g. Bandolier) but don't set them as active. ONLY your mod has to be active file.

You can access the content of the Bandolier mod, but it's still required to download for others.

[David Brasher]

The primary conflict your mod would have would be mods that use the same land. Like if someone else wanted to put a city, dungeon, or house there. To minimize problems with this, turn on cell boundaries while you are working and be careful to put your edits in the minimum number of cells. try not to cross any extra exterior cell boundaries. I like to change the name of each cell I edit in the CK. (This is not visible to gamers.) Then when I am done I modclean out all the cells except the ones I renamed and therefore meant to change. An inspection for bugs is needed after this modcleaning.

 

Don't do any mesh and texture replacers. Just make standalone .esp dependent versions and use them in your mod. If these objects are only available when referred to by your .esp, then no one will see them if they don't have your mod activated.

 

Don't touch the vanilla Skyrim leveled lists. If you need leveled lists, make your own and apply them to your NPCs and containers.

 

If you want your actors to use things from other mods that edit the vanilla leveled lists, then use the untouched vanilla Skyrim leveled lists in your actor and container inventories.

 

Be sure to modclean your mod and remove all dirty edits including deadwood, abandoned changes, and identical-to-master records.

 

For the other idea, load your mod and tick the others (e.g. Bandolier) but don't set them as active. ONLY your mod has to be active file.

You can access the content of the Bandolier mod, but it's still required to download for others.

 

This technique does not work except with .esm files that contain the data you want. If the data is in an .esp, then you have to use Wrye Bash to .esmify and .espify at the proper times. Or perhaps the technique that was being referred to was copying the objects by giving them new names and new FormIDs so that they exist in both mods. Or perhaps the technique that was being referred to was creating new objects and setting up mesh paths to the meshes from the other mod so that gamers must install the meshes and textures but are not required to install the .esp from the other mod.

Edited July 2, 2012 by David Brasher

[JanusForbeare]

I recently had a compatibility issue that came from a quest that required that the player have ale in their inventory - the issue arose when the player was using mods that changed the base object for ale (namely hunger/thirst mods). So I would suggest that you ensure that any quest-related items are unique to your mod, and not vanilla, as vanilla items are very rarely found in their original state when players have a large number of mods installed.

 

Of course, another major potential source of conflict are the changes your mod makes to the Tamriel worldspace. If someone else has a mod that also affects the same region, all sorts of nasty things could happen. Back in the Oblivion era, I went a couple of months with a huge gaping hole in the middle of Cyrodiil, caused by a castle mod conflicting with a dungeon mod.

 

Also, don't expect to avoid conflicts altogether - everyone's game is modded slightly differently, and you can't prepare for every eventuality. Avoiding conflicts with the most popular mods should be the name of the game at the outset; you can always fix any conflicts with less common mods in future updates, as they'll only affect a fraction of your players.

[Veltoss]

I like to change the name of each cell I edit in the CK. (This is not visible to gamers.) Then when I am done I modclean out all the cells except the ones I renamed and therefore meant to change.

 

If you want your actors to use things from other mods that edit the vanilla leveled lists, then use the untouched vanilla Skyrim leveled lists in your actor and container inventories.

 

For the other idea, load your mod and tick the others (e.g. Bandolier) but don't set them as active. ONLY your mod has to be active file.

You can access the content of the Bandolier mod, but it's still required to download for others.

 

This technique does not work except with .esm files that contain the data you want. If the data is in an .esp, then you have to use Wrye Bash to .esmify and .espify at the proper times. Or perhaps the technique that was being referred to was copying the objects by giving them new names and new FormIDs so that they exist in both mods. Or perhaps the technique that was being referred to was creating new objects and setting up mesh paths to the meshes from the other mod so that gamers must install the meshes and textures but are not required to install the .esp from the other mod.

Using the renamed cells to help clean is a pretty good idea, I will do that from now on. I'd renamed the cells that covered the majority of the city but there's a few overlapping cells. That'd make it much easier to clean..

 

So is using the vanilla leveled lists the only way to get other mods such as Bandolier to affect my new NPCs? I'm using custom outfits for most of them, so that won't work for the guards at least. :confused: And what about placing the items in the world? For example, if the player has Bandolier, then they would be able to find a bandolier in an NPCs home, but if they didn't, they would not see the object but it also wouldn't cause any problems. Is that possible?

 

I recently had a compatibility issue that came from a quest that required that the player have ale in their inventory - the issue arose when the player was using mods that changed the base object for ale (namely hunger/thirst mods). So I would suggest that you ensure that any quest-related items are unique to your mod, and not vanilla, as vanilla items are very rarely found in their original state when players have a large number of mods installed.

Ah, I'd never thought of anything like that. I will make sure to use new items for quests then. :happy:

 

To my knowledge, there are no other mods that affect the cells I am working on, at least not dungeon/castle/house type mods. If anything, it would be something like the mods that add more flora/trees around the world, and that would have to require a compatibility patch from that modder rather than myself in that case, right? Either way, I'll try to minimize the number of cells I modify.

 

Thanks for the help so far everybody!