Making extended original BSAs?

[bben46]

Making actual changes to vanilla BSA files is not a good idea. (It can be done, and I have seen it done successfully) If anything goes wrong you will have to manually undo any changes in the bsa. Where if you create a new bsa you will know that removing it will allow the game to revert to the vanilla assets. Or, using 'loose' meshes, textures and other files for each mod - if they are packaged properly in their own subfolders are simple to remove without any affect on the vanilla BSAs or their vanilla assets.

 

If all of your new mods are intended to be used separately, a esm (master) file with all of the common assets will make it easier to work with. Any time you create a new mod in your town series, you can add any new assets to the esm. - removing a mod that relies on the esm will not affect the use of that esm with other mods. (any unused assets will just be ignored) So, one esm can be the master for many esp files. And is easier to modify than a BSA. :thumbsup:

[theuseless]

I have found that only the oldest, slowest machines are affected by BSA loading times. I say go for it. If a person has issues with bsa compression, they can unpack it themselves (if you don't offer a variant).

 

While packing the bsa, I use bsacommander. You simply place all the files you need to use into the "in" folder. Next click the esp/esm name you wish to make the bsa for. I set the hex flags to 787 and 63 (787 on top). These settings work fine for me, without the need to update the bsa list in the ini settings.

[Nephenee13]

The problem with BSAs is the 400 ESP/ESM/BSA limit.