(WIP) TESVLE ADVANCED MODDING

[SS90]

[This guide is a byproduct of endless struggle to modding TSEVLE]

 

Contents of this Guide

 

I. BASICS (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

 

II. ENB (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

 

III. LOD PATCH (COMING SOON)

 

IV. MERGING PLUGINS/BASHED/SMASH (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

*. zEDIT:

 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTES:

 

1. THIS IS AN ADVANCED LEVEL GUIDE TO MODDING, TRY IT OUT ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE COVERED THE BASIC ONE : The Skyrim LE (TESVLE) Modding Cheatbook/ Guide [SEP/21]

 

2. EVERYTHING COVERED IN THIS GUIDE IS BASED ON CUSTOMIZATION, MEANING THAT YOU HAVE TO KNOW EVERY/ MOST ELEMENTS WITHOUT WHICH YOU'LL BE FOREVER TROUBLED. ANY CHANGE IN VALUES CAN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO WRECK YOUR GAME AND FARFETCHED BUT EVEN YOUR RIG. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

3. AT THIS POINT, ANY MEDIOCRE TO MAJOR ISSUES WOULD BE BETTER ADDRESSED BY THE RESPECTIVE AUTHORS OF ANY OF THE MODS COVERED HERE. AND EVERYTHING IS AFFECTED BY THE EFFLUX OF TIME, I (OR SOMEONE ELSE HOPEFULLY) WILL TRY AND KEEP THIS GUIDE UPDATED BUT THERE'S ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY OF UPDATES OR THAT SOMETHING NEW HAS TAKEN OVER. WITH THAT BEING SAID, YOU'RE NEVER ALONE, THIS IS A WONDERFUL COMMUNITY AND MOSTLY ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS REACH OUT.

 

4. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, a humble request - If you have benefited from the site or have been a part of the community, kindly consider supporting it if feasible. Thank You! (Link in the spoiler below)

Spoiler

https://www.patreon.com/loverslab

 

I. BASICS

 

*. Terminology: (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

 

If you are not aware of most of the following then you're on the wrong guide better get more familiarized with the game and modding basics.

 

Spoiler

ESM (case-sensitive) or ESM-flagged file refers to any file that the game treats as a master. For games before Fallout 4, the only thing that mattered was a flag inside the file called the ESM flag. For newer games, files with the extension .esm are treated as masters too, whether they have the flag set or not. These load before all ESPs (see below). It is an acronym for Elder Scrolls Master.

.esm (case-sensitive) refers to files with the extension .esm. See the ESM entry above for notes on how they behave in different games.

ESP (case-insensitive) refers to any file with a .esp extension. It is an acronym for Elder Scrolls Plugin.

ESL (case-sensitive) refers to any file with a flag called the ESL flag set. Files with the extension .esl are treated as ESLs whether they have the flag or not. Only Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition currently support these. Certain restrictions apply as to which plugins can be ESL-flagged. They do not take up a regular load order slot, theoretically allowing up to 4096 plugins to be loaded.

.esl (case-sensitive) refers to files with the extension .esl. These automatically receive the ESL and ESM flags. Only Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition currently support them.

ESU (case-insensitive) refers to any file with a .esu extension. These are an unofficial type of plugin used by xEdit. It is an acronym for Elder Scrolls Update.

Plugin refers to any of the above file types.

Master refers to any plugins that another plugin is dependent on to function. (It can also refer to an ESM file, as it used to be that only ESMs could be masters, until mod authors developed methods of using ESP files as masters too. The latter definition is not the subject matter mostly.

 

Conflicts occur when two different mods try to change the same game variable or resource, which could be anything from a specific object in game to a script or a texture. Conflicts can cause problems, including CTDs or save game corruption, but they are not inherently bad, and most modding is the result of purposeful conflicts.

Resource Conflicts occur when two mods contain two different files that go in the same place, so one mod's file overwrites the others's file. This type of conflict can be managed by altering the install order of mods.

Data Conflicts occur when two mod plugins alter the same game data. This type of conflict can be managed by altering the load order of plugins or creating patches.

BSAs are Bethesda Softwork Archives, with .bsa (All but Fallout 4) or .ba2 (Fallout 4) file extensions. They can be used to store resource files such as textures and meshes.

ITMs are Identical To Master records, ie. data in a plugin for something that is identical to the data for that thing in the plugin's master(s). Usually a type of unintended edit, known as a dirty edit, which can break the functionality of other mods that require the record in question to have a specific value, but which have that value overridden by an ITM record.

UDRs are Undeleted and Disabled References. Deleted References can cause crashes, and this can be avoided by first undeleting and then disabling them instead. A type of dirty edit. Note that this acronym does not refer to the deleted references themselves - it actually refers to their fixed counterparts. For example, Scan For UDRs will scan for deleted references, not undeleted and disabled references, and BOSS/LOOT will report the UDR count for a plugin, which is actually the number of deleted references that can be fixed.

 

Here is a comprehensive video covering various basics

Spoiler

 

 

II. ENB  (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

 

 

 

 

 

III. LOD PATCH  (COMING SOON)

 

IV. MERGING PLUGINS/BASHED/SMASH (MORE CONTENT COMING SOON)

 

Most of The Elder Scrolls games have a limit of 255 plugins, merging mods help you bypass that limit. While this is more relevant for x64 games like SSE and F04, it does at the very least double the said limit for the x32 games. 

 

*. zEDIT:

 

It has different application modes are used to accomplish different tasks such as EDIT, CLEAN AND MERGE. It is the successor to Merge Plugins, offering a variety of improvements and simplicity. For now our area of interest is the merge feature. Steps to do so are given below:

 

1. Installation: 

 

1. Get the latest version from the link given below

Spoiler

https://github.com/z-edit/zedit/releases

 

2. Add it to your MOD organizer.

 

Here is a comprehensive video tutorial for installing zEDIT

Spoiler

 

 

2. Using zMerge:

 

Step to do so given below

 

Spoiler

1. Run it via its registered executable. 

 

2. 

 

Here is a comprehensive video tutorial for using zMerge

Spoiler