Creation Kit and DLC question

[raptor4d4]

Got kind of a weird situation with my Creation Kit. 

 

If I open it up through Mod Organizer, I go to load plugins and I see the vanilla game, all the DLC, the "Update" option (which I'm assuming is all the patches) and all the mods I have installed. 

 

But if I try to open the CK outside of MO and through the Steam launcher, only the Skyrim game option shows up in the plugins to load. 

 

Last time I tried to create a mod through MO it resulted in a lot of weird problems.  I would prefer to build my stuff with just the plain game for now, preferably with all the DLC.  But I don't understand why it's not recognizing the DLC or the Update plugin.  Can someone explain to me why it's looking in a different place? 

[Ernest Lemmingway]

MO uses a virtual folder system. Programs run through it refer to its VFS rather than what's in the actual Skyrim folder. What I don't understand is why the update and DLC didn't install to the actual Skyrim folder. It should do that by default when installed through Steam.

[raptor4d4]

42 minutes ago, Ernest Lemmingway said:

MO uses a virtual folder system. Programs run through it refer to its VFS rather than what's in the actual Skyrim folder. What I don't understand is why the update and DLC didn't install to the actual Skyrim folder. It should do that by default when installed through Steam.

I don't understand it either because I'm sure I installed it normally before setting up MO.

 

I tried installing Skyrim and the CK on my laptop and to my surprise I can see the DLC on there.  I suppose for mods I make involving the DLC I can build things there but it's still an annoying problem. 

[GenioMaestro]

1 hour ago, raptor4d4 said:

But if I try to open the CK outside of MO and through the Steam launcher, only the Skyrim game option shows up in the plugins to load. 

 

Last time I tried to create a mod through MO it resulted in a lot of weird problems.  I would prefer to build my stuff with just the plain game for now, preferably with all the DLC.  But I don't understand why it's not recognizing the DLC or the Update plugin.  Can someone explain to me why it's looking in a different place? 

Maybe you have it correctly instaled in the game folder, but the pluging list not have it.

MO use their own pluging list but the game outside MO use other file.

Try open SkyrimLauncher and revise/activate the data files of the DLC's.

[raptor4d4]

2 minutes ago, GenioMaestro said:

Maybe you have it correctly instaled in the game folder, but the pluging list not have it.

MO use their own pluging list but the game outside MO use other file.

Try open SkyrimLauncher and revise/activate the data files of the DLC's.

I just tried opening SkyrimLauncher and selected Data Files but the DLC aren't on the list.  How can I get them on the list? 

[GenioMaestro]

8 minutes ago, raptor4d4 said:

I just tried opening SkyrimLauncher and selected Data Files but the DLC aren't on the list.  How can I get them on the list? 

Go to the DATA folder with windows explorer and look if you have the files:

Dragonborn.esm, Dawnguard.esm, HearthFires.esm

If you not have it in the DATA folder, logically, the CK and the launcher can not activate it.

One option is copy the ESM and BSA from the MO folder to the DATA folder.

If you not know where is you always can make a search in your hard disk.

Other option is re-download and re-install the DLC's.

[raptor4d4]

8 minutes ago, GenioMaestro said:

Go to the DATA folder with windows explorer and look if you have the files:

Dragonborn.esm, Dawnguard.esm, HearthFires.esm

If you not have it in the DATA folder, logically, the CK and the launcher can not activate it.

One option is copy the ESM and BSA from the MO folder to the DATA folder.

If you not know where is you always can make a search in your hard disk.

Other option is re-download and re-install the DLC's.

I just checked my Data folder and I can confirm that the BSA files for the DLCs are DEFINITELY there.  And I double-checked, my Creation Kit is installed in the same Skyrim folder.  If I back up to the top level Skyrim folder, there's my CK and the necessary ini files.

[GenioMaestro]

6 hours ago, raptor4d4 said:

I just checked my Data folder and I can confirm that the BSA files for the DLCs are DEFINITELY there.  And I double-checked, my Creation Kit is installed in the same Skyrim folder.  If I back up to the top level Skyrim folder, there's my CK and the necessary ini files.

You need the ESP files. The BSA files are packed data, like zip files, with the mesh and textures inside it.

But the CK and the Loader work with ESM/ESP files. Verify if you have the ESM files for the DLC's.

[raptor4d4]

2 hours ago, GenioMaestro said:

You need the ESP files. The BSA files are packed data, like zip files, with the mesh and textures inside it.

But the CK and the Loader work with ESM/ESP files. Verify if you have the ESM files for the DLC's.

I was just coming online to post that I think this might be the problem. 

 

I only saw the BSA files in my main Skyrim folder.  A little bit ago I tried installing Skyrim to my laptop to see if anything was missing and sure enough, I noticed there were ESM files in my new directory.  I'm guessing the DLC won't function without these, right?  So they must exist somewhere on my computer that MO is spotting but not in the folder that CK is installed in.  I'll look around to find them next time I boot up my gaming PC. 

[Ernest Lemmingway]

7 hours ago, raptor4d4 said:

I was just coming online to post that I think this might be the problem. 

 

I only saw the BSA files in my main Skyrim folder.  A little bit ago I tried installing Skyrim to my laptop to see if anything was missing and sure enough, I noticed there were ESM files in my new directory.  I'm guessing the DLC won't function without these, right?  So they must exist somewhere on my computer that MO is spotting but not in the folder that CK is installed in.  I'll look around to find them next time I boot up my gaming PC. 

No, the DLC won't function without the .esm files. If you're looking for them in MO, try looking in the Mod Organizer/mods/(DLC Name) folders. That's where they should be if MO is managing them.