How to use resources from another .esp?

[SeraVerte]

Let's say I have two mods:

Mod A adds a hair into the game

Mod B adds a specific npc into the game

Without making a third mod that uses A and B as parents, how would I get the hair on the npc?

 

I remember in Oblivion, the construction kit was uncooperative and you had to manually switch one of the .esp into a .esm and use that as a resource, while you set the other mod as an active; however, this doesn't seem to be working for the creation kit. What can I do?

[Ironman5000]

I use TesVsnip

 

The instructions are easy enough to follow, simply copy the data from the 'hair' esp to the 'NPC' esp and save as a new file.

 

Some mod authors will complain that this program causes bugs but I haven't had any problems with it - I merged over 40 weapon mods for one of my projects and it worked fine in-game.

[SuperNussie]

Create a new hair style in modB, and just use the mesh and textures from the hair that mod A adds, it should be in you skyrim data folder.

[David Brasher]

TESVSnip is out of favor and many people do not trust it. They put warning labels on all the files associated with it on TES Nexus, and pulled down all the documentation on how to use it that had been added to the Wiki.

 

So until TES5Gecko is ready, and unless TESVSnip gets fixed, the approved way to merge mods would be with the CK or with Version Control. To do a small mod merge in the CK, you do what SuperNussie described.

[Dudeman325]

I have two other methods you could try.

 

One involves using TESVSnip to change one mod (for example, the hair mod) into an esm instead of an esp. Then its a fairly simple matter of using the mod as a master of the other mod in the Creation Kit, and go from there.

 

The other way involves using a program to extract the art you want from the bsa file (there are many programs, I use Fallout Mod Manager out of habit). From there just reference the loose art files in your other mod.

 

Edit: I should point out, you totally shouldn't distribute any files that you edit in this manner without express permission of the author of those mods.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Dudeman325

[David Brasher]

TESVSnip is not safe to use. Just ask Arthmoor. People cannot predict very well when TESVSnip is going to break a mod it touches. You might get lucky, you might not. So you would be safest to not use TESVSnip for things like making a new .esm. Here is the procedure the wiki gives: Creating Custom Master Files. You just need Windows Explorer and the CK. Edited September 26, 2012 by David Brasher