How do I know if a mod can be merged?

[JosieLoire]

Hi guys, sorry for bothering you. I followed a guide to create a brand new Skyrim but unfortunately I get crashes and I know it's because I merged something that should not be merged 100%.

 

But how do I know which mod I merged is giving me that issue? Or if a specific mod can be merged or not? Not everyone write it on their mod page so I'm kinda puzzled on how to make it work. I so want to play it again after years because I got a brand new PC with high specs.

 

Thanks for anyone willing to help me in any way. I can even post screenshots of what I merged if that's helpful...

[Seijin8]

Depends on how it was merged.  Different merge utilities recommend different things.

[worik]

36 minutes ago, JosieLoire said:

Hi guys, sorry for bothering you. I followed a guide to create a brand new Skyrim but unfortunately I get crashes and I know it's because I merged something that should not be merged 100%.

As always you do everything one step at a time.

 

Meaning:

I have a plan which mods I do want to merge and I have arranged them in consistent merge-packets

I check my game with the unmerged mods, first, rearrange them if needed and THEN I merge them and check again.

Repeat for the next packet of to-be-merged mods.

Time consuming, but I know exactly where the culprit is.

[JosieLoire]

Yeah I was kinda forced to merge them because I have more than 255 plugins, that's why I didn't test before without the merge, I just couldn't play it at all. 

 

I always use the Clobber - Merge Down (Old) from zMerge, because the author of the guide said it was better with that option. But if I don't know if a mod can be merged at all how am I supposed to know if I need to use another merge method? ?

[Grey Cloud]

2 hours ago, JosieLoire said:

Yeah I was kinda forced to merge them because I have more than 255 plugins

253 plug-ins or less.

You should have tested your game well before you got to that many plug-ins (and mods).

[moody132]

Check my list of merged shit: 

https://www.loverslab.com/topic/177966-list-of-mods-that-can-be-succesfully-merged-le/

Right now i have a bit more  of this, but nothing from them got removed.

I am also using zMerge, but most of the times Clean option, not Clobber.

 

Less complicated mod is better. So, Overlays, Hairs, Eyes, Beards.

Single armors or weapons, like 20+ DX armors, merge in one. Do not reccomend merging big packs eachother, it will work, but additem menu will be slow af.

JK Skyrim all in one is merged version of all his cities. On last playthrough i had merged few JK Cities, few Great Cities and Cities of the north with all patches in one esp. Worked correctly. Only Cities of the North doesnt work good with SL mods, and do not have patches for Immersive Citiezens, so, not a best idea.

Little mods with like 1 or two records, like realistic humanoid speed, or reduced npc distance. 

Check the list, 99% of those mods work as intented, that 1% i described at bottom.

one warning, when you merge something with navmeshes, sometimes you need to rebuild them, or npc will not know how to move in thoose places. sometimes, not always. sometimes opening esp in CK and saving it without doing nothing do the trick. Problem is, if you open esp in CK, and your esp has npc records, then you need to regenerate facegen, or npc will have face/body discolloration. and it takes time... a lot of time... and CK, well isn't most stable piece of software i used.

 

[donttouchmethere]

What I would merge without a second thought:

Armor/Clothes/Bikinis

Weapons (unless they come with a script, like the maximal lore friendly machine-gun-xbows)

Equipment (bags, jewelry, pointy hats, high heels)

Fetish Stuff (non ZAP/DD/Toys stuff)

Followers (without own follower system or quests or whatever)

Most ESP quest mods and additional dungeons

RaceMenu addons like hairs, tattoos n'stuff

Patches merged into a Bashed Patch

Armor/Weapon/Equipment replacer (DANGER: LO rules still apply)

NPC replacer (Danger: LO rules still apply)

Various City Overhauls or Player Homes (careful if they also add quests)

One Master + multiple Plugins unrelated to anything else in LO into one merge

 

What I wouldn't merge:

Mods I didn't test first (nothing worse than to find out after hours months of gameplay that the unknown mod is just fucked up and also fucks others up)

Mods I don't know what they do or if they even work (if it's more complex than just some underwear)

Mods that are also Master for multiple other mods (LL mods are famous for that)

Mods that stop working if their name is changed (usually they give a warning ingame... if you're lucky)

Mods with various scripts, mainly LL mods (IDONTTOUCHTHOSEWITHAMERGE)

Mods I have no clear picture of what they do in game, means I wouldn't even know if I broke them

Basically 95% of all LL mods I wouldn't merge, the more devious the less merge-able

 

Keep in mind:

If you're new to merging keep merges small so it hurts less to change them later or even remove them

Make merge themes, helps to keep the overview and makes them easier to move around in LO

 

Merge RULES!

[ ] = merge

[ Master 01 + Plugin 01 A + Plugin 01 B + Plugin 01 C ] = merge them all together

[ Master 01 + Plugin 01 A ] + Plugin 01 B + Plugin 01 C = Bad idea, merge will change the Master name and Plugin 01 B and 01 C won't be able to find Master 01

[ Master 01 + Plugin 01 A/Master 02 ] + Plugin 02 A = Bad idea, Plugin 01 A is also Master 02 for Plugin 02 A, Plugin 02 A won't be able to find Master 02, because Plugin 01 A is merged