SSE Getting xwm files into a bsa

[cumbrianlad]

Hello.

 

I decided to replace 3 wav music tracks with xwm for filesize savings.

 

I can get the xwm files into CK and as loose files, the music tracks play in game.

I made bsa files and temporarilly removed all the loose files to test the esp just using the BSAs to see that I'd got everything.

The game crashed to desktop whenever I entered the cell where the music played. I'm confused. The filepaths in the BSA are correct and the xwm files are all in there.

 

Any ideas? I know this can be done because Beyond Skyrim does it. They don't seem to have structured anything any differently to me.

 

Edit: It's not the xwm files. I experimented with .wav in the bsa. CTD again. No CTD with loose files. maybe it's the file structure that needs to be precisely formatted?

[IsharaMeradin]

I could be wrong, but try creating the BSA without compression. If you need compression for textures, make a second BSA ("myMod - Texures") that is compressed.

[cumbrianlad]

I'll try that. I already create a separate - Textures.bsa, so that's no issue.

 

If compressing the archive is the problem, that makes sense. I did have compression on, because it's never caused an issue with sound FX. The soun FX files I added do still play from the BSA. The loose files aren't compressed and play fine. Only running the game from the BSA causes CTD. I've just looked at Project AHO's BSA and they also use xwm format.

 

Worth a try. Thanks.

[cumbrianlad]

IsharaMeradin,

 

I've probably said this before, but you are my hero! I'm reminded of the film 'Wayne's World', the original, not the sequel (it's just better)... On meeting Alice Cooper (or was it Aerosmith?), Wayne and Garth fall to their knees in supplication and start chanting... "We're not worthy!"

 

In this instance, you are Alice Cooper (or maybe Steven Tyler), and I'm probably Garth. This drivel will mean nothing if you haven't seen the film!

 

Saving the BSA uncompressed did the trick. No CTD! At least it did using wav files. No reason to assume that it won't work using xwm format... Another test coming up, I think. If that's fine, then I want to see what difference there is in filesize compressed v uncompressed. I may then choose to have 3 BSA files, one for textures, one for music and one for everything else. Neither 'Beyond Skyrim' nor 'Project AHO' does this with their BSAs, but that's not to say that what they do is right! If compression is only useful for textures, then that would explain Beyond Skyrim and Project AHO lumping their music tracks in with the meshes, SEQ, etc.

 

BTW, for anyone reading this, when you try to get an xwm format music track into the game, you aren't allowed to add any track except if it's in .wav format. The way around this is to make your new 'Music Track' form in CK, click 'Choose File' and then start typing the name in the 'File Name' field at the bottom of the dialog box that opens. If you don't do that, your xwm files won't show up and the dropdown menu for formats only gives you the option of .wav. As soon as you start typing the filename, a box appears under this field with all the available options. Choose your xwm file and OK.

 

The Wiki gives wrong advice on this, telling you to use a wildcard search in the wrong place. I tried it. It doesn't work. My method does work.

 

Edit: it works for xwm files, too! Now I just need to see about separating the music BSA from the meshes etc. If that leads to a more compact upload file, I'll do it. The problem there is that I know about adding separate 'textures' BSA files, but not music. I believe that not compressing that BSA has increased it from 40 MB to 54 MB, using xwm music. With WAV files it was over 100 MB. That suggests that there is some compression going on in the other files. I may be able to restore that and get the BSA much closer to 40 MB. This may not seem like much, but if my mod was 10x bigger, I'd be saving 140 MB from the player's HDD. I'm probably verging on OCD about this, but I hate unneccessarily large files!

[IsharaMeradin]

SSE only allows two BSA files per plugin: myMod.bsa and myMod - Textures.bsa

 

Anything beyond that requires editing an entry in the INI file and then that BSA will load independently of the plugin and in the order placed in the INI file entry. You'll probably just have to deal with a larger file size than you would like.

[cumbrianlad]

Ah!

 

Rigmor Of Cyrodiil has 3 but that's an esm, so I'm guessing an esm can have more. It has an ini file but that just contains a line about 'borders': nothing to do with extra BSA files.

 

Shame.

[IsharaMeradin]

I have seen mods with multiple BSA files but typically these also come with multiple plugins. Sometimes the extra plugins are dummies and other times they are actually used for some content. Depends on the mod author. Beyond Skyrim: Bruma is an example of this. Three plugins and five BSA files.

 

The main Rigmor of Cyrodiil mod has four plugins and three BSA files.

[maxarturo]

If you have 'WAV' files in your BSA, DO NOT COMPRESS THE BSA ! or the 'WAV', it might or might not cause CTDs on your system but it will 100% cause it on other systems.

My update that was done 2 weeks ago was done only for this reason, thanks to the collaboration of the japanese community, i was able to narrow it down very fast, although we still can not target the exact reason why this happens on "Some Systems".

Now the mod is 110% stable as hell !!!, on all platforms and systems.

Have a happy modding.

Edited August 1, 2020 by maxarturo

[cumbrianlad]

Noted.

 

Not compressing anything except the - Textures BSA certainly sorted the issue.