[LE] Question on ESP flag as ESM with independent BSAs (Sound.bsa, Texture.bsa, Meshes.bsa...)

[maxarturo]

Hi to all.

Lately i'm in the mood to start making the final quests of my ACT II and some Add-Ons to the existing ones like: 'Ghost Scenes Help on Main Quests', 'Unmarked Quests', 'Hidden Non Quest related Secrets', 'Cosmetic Additions' and some other crazy ideas that i have....

And although that i have a lot of things ready, i've been doing the math and i need at least another 500 mb (more or less), which brings the mod over 3.4GB. (Now the mod is at 2.9GB).

This makes impossible to pack a BSA containing meshes and textures under 2GB, as a matter of fact the BSA could easily exceed the 2.2GB (without WAVs), and way over the maximum BSA packing limit, it'll exceed the "Safety BSA Packing Limit" causing the mod to become unstable (Which I Don't Want!!!!).

I did a quick test flagging the ESP as ESM and packing 2 different BSAs:

- One for textures = Mod - Textures.bsa

- One for meshes = Mod - Meshes.bsa

And it didn't work...

I know that you can't pack BSA like this in SLE, but i've seen mods doing it:

A) ESM with 2 BSA

And

B) 2 ESM with 2 BSA

The "A" approach didn't work the way i did it and the "B" approach i don't know how to... plus i haven't found any data anywhere on this BSA packing issue.

I'm clearly missing something!!!, and i've to resolve this before i actually start working on the "Main Big Update".

Any data on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading all this.

[IsharaMeradin]

Main plugin with primary BSA

Dummy plugin with secondary BSA

 

Create a dummy plugin by opening the Creation Kit and saving without making any changes.

 

You could alternatively provide additional edits in the second plugin. Some mods I have seen use the ESM for landscape, new areas and other such "major" changes while the secondary is a standard ESP with all the quests, dialogue and other such "minor" changes.

[maxarturo]

Hey IsharaMeradin.

This may be a stupid question, but what do you mean by:

"Create a dummy plugin by opening the Creation Kit and saving without making any changes."

I think that one option i have is to finish everything related to the mod as it is now, and then create the last pair of quests as a DLC for the mod.

Main mod as an ESM with 1 BSA and then an ESP with 1 BSA that has the main mod as a master.

MyMod.esm + MyMod.bsa

MyModDLC.esp + MyModDLC.bsa

Another option i have is to add to the existing BSA only the absolutely necessary stuff, like no more than 50mb, and create everything with the stuff i already have + the vanilla stuff.

Thank you for your reply.

[agerweb]

MyModDLC.esp is the equivalent of a dummy plugin, except it's got things in it in this case. You just need an esp per bsa that's all, the esp doesn't have to do anything except exist.

[maxarturo]

Hey agerweb.

Maybe is the terrible headache i'm having all day, but i still don't quite get how the 'Empty' esp works.

Well.... I'll get back to this when my headache goes away....

Thanks for your reply.

[IsharaMeradin]

The game loads plugin files according to load order and loads name matching BSAs at the same time. The plugin file does not need to have any changed records to be loaded. It literally can contain just the header section and be 'empty' of any game records.

 

Open the Creation Kit

File > Save As > give it a name such as MyEmptyPlugin.esp

 

Do keep in mind that with SSE each plugin can load up to two BSA files.

myMod.bsa

myMod - Textures.bsa

[maxarturo]

The aspirins took effect and i do get it now..., but i think i need to think and plan carefully how i need to move with this add-on before i actually start working on it.

Thank you very much both of you for your time.