Using ESPs as a master file

[SeraphTC]

My additions (duplicated, renamed items) are present, my deletions are ignored.

 

I believe that you can't delete an object listed in a master file. It merely deletes the form entry inside your own mod...and then the master file data is loaded as normal when skyrim loads, since there's no entry for that item in yours. The only way I know around this is for recipes...you can remove the crafting keyword from the recipe and it will treat the recipe as "deleted".

 

Hope that helps!

 

If you delete an object from a master and save the changes in an esp, you see the entry listed in the esp with a D next to it in the count column. That object will not appear in the game as long as the esp is loaded after the master. The object does not actually get deleted, it just gets flagged as deleted so the game knows to ignore it.

[MTichenor]

Interesting. Unfortunately, that makes me 100% out of any possible ideas that can help you. :(

[GnatGoSplat]

I recently ran into this issue where I wanted to use assets from an .esp file in my own .esp. Easiest way was just to turn the .esp file with the stuff I wanted to use into an .esm file, problem solved. What is the benefit of going to all this trouble just to not have to convert the .esp into an .esm?

[SeraphTC]

I recently ran into this issue where I wanted to use assets from an .esp file in my own .esp. Easiest way was just to turn the .esp file with the stuff I wanted to use into an .esm file, problem solved. What is the benefit of going to all this trouble just to not have to convert the .esp into an .esm?

 

If it's just for you then there is no hassle. If you want to release it then other people would have to do the same thing. That's a pita when keeping mods up to date with NMM, and many people are just uncomfortable with Bash, so it's not a great solution.

[GnatGoSplat]

I see, I can definitely agree that being able to make an .esp that depends on another without the user having to do a thing would be ideal.

 

However, part of my lack of understanding is I've never used Bash. From the instructions posted earlier, it sounds like the user would still have to install Bash, and use it as a mod manager in order to get this trick to work. That doesn't really sound a whole lot easier than asking the user to convert the .esp to .esm. At least that way, the user can use the game's built-in manager instead of always having to use Bash for that.

[GnatGoSplat]

I have an idea.

 

Try this:

- Take the Mod.esp you want assets from, create a new copy but convert it to an .esm file with .esm suffix (i.e. Mod.esm).

- Do all you need to do with Creation Kit, pointing it to Mod.esm as a Master File, then save your .esp.

- Use a hex editor like HxD to load your .esp file.

- Look for text string Mod.esm near the beginning in the header. Change the "m" to a "p" so that it is now named Mod.esp.

- Remove Mod.esm from your Data folder.

- Run Skyrim.

 

Replace "Mod.esp" or "Mod.esm" as mentioned above with the actual name of your master file.

Does it work?

Edited September 4, 2012 by GnatGoSplat

[Dnxyken]

I have the same problem myself, creation kit earasing any changes, but i took a swing at it and discoverd something.

 

MTichenor's method actually works perfectly.

 

The problem is that in order for it to work, you must create a new .esp every time. You cannot work off of one already created.

 

At first, I tried making some armor mods compatable with a new predator race on the nexus. Using his method, I loaded only the race mod, armor mod, and skyrim.esm. I then made my changes to allow it to work together, then hit "save" which created a brand new .esp (I did not preload my active .esp i was working on). I added the masters, and played it working perfectly. I then wanted to add another mod to the patch, winter is coming cloaks. I then loaded the already created patch, made the next changes, saved and added all masters in correct order. Loading up the game, I found not only that the cloaks patching didn't take, but the original armor mod also no longer worked.

 

In short: you can't work on a pre-existing active file. you must create a new one after all your changes every time

 

Unfortunately SeraphTC, you can't use an existing patch mod to add another patching and get it to work.

 

If anybody can find a way to add onto pre-existing patches, we could all be golden

[jack013]

why don't you use tes5 instead. if all your doing is editing their records.

[SeraphTC]

I have the same problem myself, creation kit earasing any changes, but i took a swing at it and discoverd something.

 

MTichenor's method actually works perfectly.

 

The problem is that in order for it to work, you must create a new .esp every time. You cannot work off of one already created.

 

At first, I tried making some armor mods compatable with a new predator race on the nexus. Using his method, I loaded only the race mod, armor mod, and skyrim.esm. I then made my changes to allow it to work together, then hit "save" which created a brand new .esp (I did not preload my active .esp i was working on). I added the masters, and played it working perfectly. I then wanted to add another mod to the patch, winter is coming cloaks. I then loaded the already created patch, made the next changes, saved and added all masters in correct order. Loading up the game, I found not only that the cloaks patching didn't take, but the original armor mod also no longer worked.

 

In short: you can't work on a pre-existing active file. you must create a new one after all your changes every time

 

Unfortunately SeraphTC, you can't use an existing patch mod to add another patching and get it to work.

 

If anybody can find a way to add onto pre-existing patches, we could all be golden

 

Actually you can - just not using MTichenor's procedure. You have highlighted the weakness there - you need to create a new file every time.

 

Using David Brasher's procedure you do not need to do this - just simply remember that you MUST esmify all esp dependencies before opening your mod in the construction set and you can patch in as many mods as you like. It works - I've been using it for a while now.

 

My problem with it was that my deletions were not being saved against the other esp dependencies - what I didn't realise at the time is that this is expected and correct behaviour based on the way the game handles esp files vs esm files.

 

In my case, I wanted to prevent certain items from being craftable, so I worked around it by adding in another global variable and using that in a default 'disabled' state to prevent the items from being available.

[sa547]

Sorry for the necro, but I think this thread really helped me understand how to create additional modules for an existing mod (in this case, a player home).

 

If major changes were made to the master .esp (say, deleting an important activator, furniture or container, it means that those changes should be reflected by the add-ons and have to be edited as well. However, if the master .esp is not altered and the reference to this master is not removed, it's no problem to edit the add-ons because they'll override the parent/master .esp (and the add-ons should follow after the master .esp), but if needed to remove those statics and moveables in the master .esp, I think it's more preferable that in the add-on, set them as disabled so as not to see them in-game.

Edited April 1, 2013 by sa547