ESM,ESP file naming

[altean]

Hi there..

This might going to sound like nit picking for most, but if can be done I think it would make everybody's life a bit easier.

I'd like to ask the mod-creators, if its possible , could they name their esm and esp headers to the file names they are using on Nexus.

Two reasons..

 

1. For easy search on the search engine and for obvious cataloging reasons.

 

2. For the given mod to be used with NMM, Wyre for sorting file names and also for Boss file list creations.

 

As you know there are thousands of users dloading these files and most of them aren't keen in editing or manually sorting files if there is conflict among mods.

Did I say conflict? Oh my.. How can that be? lol

Anywho... I think it would be a great boon for the community ,the moderators and for the the mod creators , so they could collaborate at large.

 

Thanx for reading and for your patience

[MTichenor]

I always name my mod files to match the mods I'm uploading, though sometimes I shorten the name a little when it's super long. It's too bad others don't though, and there's no way to enforce it. Edited September 17, 2012 by IndigoNeko

[luthienanarion]

Every file downloaded from the Nexus has the mod page's URL in the file name. If I wanted to know where this "NewVegas-HOTSEXYGIRLS-44204.zip" came from, I could just look up http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/44204 and see that it's just Tommy messing with us and using a weird name for an NVEC file.

[DrakeTheDragon]

ESP/ESM filenames cannot simply be changed "after the fact" though.

The filenames are used for parenting (ESM/ESP mastering), in BOSS masterlists for load order and Bash tag suggestions, for association with BSA archives to be loaded automatically, and even stored in savegames for the mods you used.

If I rename an ESP I was using, it's like I deactivated the mod and made a cleansave. I would loose all quest progress, items from the mod I picked up, everything. It constitudes a clean start-over.

If I was to rename the ESP of my dragon race mod in the next release, I would be "CTD'ing after the Bethesda logo" everybody's game who's using a mod that requires mine. Mine will technically be gone, as far as the mods requiring it are concerned, and the games will insta-crash right after updating my mod.

 

You can change the names displayed in the "Files" tab at every point in time though, maybe even the title of the mod page, if I'm not mistaken.

However, with mods with multiple downloadable/additional/optional files this will turn into a nightmare of a concept pretty quickly by design.

You cannot have 2 ESPs with the same filename, just so it's the same as the mod name, without one replacing the other, or can you? A sort of prefix instead of completely identical filenames would sure work though.

 

Using similar filenames to the mod's name "from the start" definitely helps with association. So that's not a bad idea. For "already released" mods though it sounds like it's not worth the trouble, and there will be a lot of it due to the points I mentioned.

Edited September 17, 2012 by DrakeTheDragon