Combining all my texture mods into a single mod. Is my theory sound?

[nagrom2608]

Hi Guys.

 

I'm about to embark on yet another modding project. My third in a year I think. After yet another catastrophic crash.

 

I currently have my mods installed through MO, my weapon of choice, and I'm planning on returning the game to a vanilla state by removing all the mods. Gotta love MO for using a virtual folder system for mods.

 

Anyway......

 

Most of my mods are texture overhauls. Covering pretty much every aspect of the game. I'm going to backup the current mod folder, so I have the mods in an extracted state. I'm planning on creating a folder on my desktop with the following path 2019 Graphics Overhaul\data\textures. From the backup of the mods, I'll copy ALL the texture mods into this folder. Preserving the file structure. Once I have them combined into this folder, I'll RAR it up, and then install it into the vanilla game using MO. In the normal way. Since the file structure is the same for all the mods, with the exception of the sub folders, in theory I should be able to combine, and install them as a single big mod. Am I correct in thinking this?

 

If this is correct, can I use this technique for other mods that fall under the same catagory? For example I have all rougeshot's creature mods. That alter the skeleton of them. Again, since they follow the same file structure, can I combine these into one single mod?

 

I'm Trying to reduce the amount of single mods that do practically the same thing. Also if any mods held within these new combined mods need updating, I can just update the combined one, and ONLY the files that have changed in the updated version will be over written.

 

Phew........

 

Hope that made sense.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Andy.

Edited February 26, 2019 by nagrom2608

[HadToRegister]

It will be super easy to do for texture/graphic mods that use loose files texture and meshes that don't have an associated esp with them

[nagrom2608]

It will be super easy to do for texture/graphic mods that use loose files texture and meshes that don't have an associated esp with them

That's what I figured. rougeshot's creature skeleton mods also have no esp's so I assume the same applies?

[QuagaarWarrior]

Doing this is a mistake if you ask me. Theory is sound but...

1. What if there is an issue in game? How will you troubleshoot this? You cant disable the mods one at a time to see where the problem lies.

2. Dont some textures need their associated meshes to display correctly? Keep in mind meshes arent always neatly named the same as the texture they are associated with so youll need to know how to track down the correct mesh for the associated texture

3. In regards to updating what happens when you use for example 3 landscape textures from Mod A and 10 landscape textures from Mod B? If Mod B updates are you going to remember which textures you are using?

4. You will have a neater load order. I cannot think of any other benefit. Performance wont be better

5. What about mods that come with an ESP, what will you do with those?

 

You may be better off creating small texture packs. So maybe creating a pack of all of Kajuan's work for example. Or creating a pack of a certain category so one for mountains and dirt cliffs and a other for landscape textures.

That way you can create each small pack and test each one as you go

[nagrom2608]

That's a good idea, and some good points.

Thanks for the input.