BA2 Archive Version Patcher vs Backported Archive2 Support System

[katrina.balanchuk]

ok i am risking to look foolish or ignorant but... I will ask anyway:

 

My use case is I am on .163 and want to enjoy some content that has the new BA2 files system (aka "NG")

 

 

Also which one is easier to use?

I confess I dont really understand the instructions for either for example:

 

-BA2 Archive Version Patcher page says to :

"
Simply extract to wherever you install your modding tools.

Run the BA2 Archive Version Patcher application to use."

 

but I dont have a place I installl my "modding tools" to, I let Vortex do this automatically for me. 🤔

The pic of the use wizard seems simple enough, but i am uncertain which folder to extract the file to

 

- Backported Archive2 Support System

Has a help video that refers to MO2 filing systems so I am unfamiliar with those folders:

The help video is titled  "Fo4 downgrader" of course I dont need that, but at the 99th second it talks about how to use

Backported Archive2 Support System.

even so since it uses Mo2 and I am not fmailiar with that,  the help is not very intutitive to me at all. 😌

 

 

 

 

 

So I guess my question is , given my use case, which do folks recommend with the addtional need to pick the simpler one for me to work through?

 

Usually I would just trial and error my way through it but since these tools dont seem to be isolated to a single profile but to all my game folders it worries me a bit to have somehting that will affect all my carefully tweaked game files.

If I do mess something up.

Edited July 7, 2025 by katrina.balanchuk

[subaverage]

I use "Backported Archive2 Support System". It needs "Address Library for F4SE Plugins". You can install it through a mod manager or download it manually to your drive, unzip it and copy the unzipped "Data" folder directly into your main game folder (not Data). Or you take the content of the unpacked "Data" folder (folders "F4SE" and "Interface") and copy these into the game's "Data" folder. You only need to keep in mind to uninstall it whenever you decide to upgrade your game.

Edited July 7, 2025 by subaverage

[katrina.balanchuk]

1 hour ago, subaverage said:

I use "Backported Archive2 Support System". It needs "Address Library for F4SE Plugins". You can install it through a mod manager or download it manually to your drive, unzip it and copy the unzipped "Data" folder directly into your main game folder (not Data). Or you take the content of the unpacked "Data" folder (folders "F4SE" and "Interface") and copy these into the game's "Data" folder. You only need to keep in mind to uninstall it whenever you decide to upgrade your game.

 

Thank you for the response

 

I did not realize Backported Archive2 Support System can be installed via a mod manager. (I use Vortex)

So this means its action would be limited to the profile I isntalled it on, would it not?

 

Edited July 7, 2025 by katrina.balanchuk

[subaverage]

I installed it through NMM without problems, but I can't speak for Vortex. Still I would believe that it will work. The Backported Archive2 Support System doesn't have a plugins file (esp or esl) so normally it would not show up in modlists.

[katrina.balanchuk]

Sp just to double check:

I should be abnle to just install  Backported Archive2 Support System  with my mod manager and then play normally and do nothing extra?

Edited August 26, 2025 by katrina.balanchuk

[katrina.balanchuk]

So i ran it via vortex to try a mod from here human cattle in its advanced verion that uses the new BA2 format.

BUT i noticed all females in game, (I use CBBE) , now have weird skin error issues around the neck and , if no hair, on the head too.

 

It reminds me a bit of the weird skin error one gets sometimes with patches on the skin and twisted underwear around the body (though I dont see any underwear, its neck/top of head only but the skin reminds me of it)

Not  ahuge porblem as most hairdoes cover it mostly up and collars do too.

Still odd.

 

In Vault 81 some, not all, not many, but some, interior floors walls tables and the like have disappered.

Edited August 26, 2025 by katrina.balanchuk

[plutocene]

9 hours ago, katrina.balanchuk said:

Sp just to double check:

I should be abnle to just install  Backported Archive2 Support System  with my mod manager and then play normally and do nothing extra?

 

Like subaverge said you also need "Address Library for F4SE Plugins". for using BASS.

 

You can also use CM-Toolkit to patch the NG archives.

 

Spoiler

 

Skin, texture issues sounds like an issue with face texture resolution, if you mix 1K and 2K textures, funky stuff can happen, mostly brown face bug, the neck is also part of the headmesh in Fallout 4. Maybe Human Cattle has 2K textures and you are using 1K ones, it could be overlays like tattoos.

 

Th Vault81 issue sounds like a precombines issue, or a load order issue, if 2 mods change the cell. For example, FPE, at least the redux version makes changes to Vault81. 

 

[katrina.balanchuk]

14 minutes ago, plutocene said:

 

Like subaverge said you also need "Address Library for F4SE Plugins". for using BASS.

 

You can also use CM-Toolkit to patch the NG archives.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Skin, texture issues sounds like an issue with face texture resolution, if you mix 1K and 2K textures, funky stuff can happen, mostly brown face bug, the neck is also part of the headmesh in Fallout 4. Maybe Human Cattle has 2K textures and you are using 1K ones, it could be overlays like tattoos.

 

Th Vault81 issue sounds like a precombines issue, or a load order issue, if 2 mods change the cell. For example, FPE, at least the redux version makes changes to Vault81. 

 

 

thanks for the info!

I have address library though..

 

The skin texture I have a is a different one thna 1k-2k

And it disappeared as soon as I disabled BASS (shrug)

 

As for vault 81 i run FPE redux in every profile and this was the first time I saw those issues.

They were not so severa that I couldnt ignore them though

 

I will have to look into that CM toolkit even though, thank you .

[plutocene]

19 minutes ago, katrina.balanchuk said:

 

thanks for the info!

I have address library though..

 

The skin texture I have a is a different one thna 1k-2k

And it disappeared as soon as I disabled BASS (shrug)

 

As for vault 81 i run FPE redux in every profile and this was the first time I saw those issues.

They were not so severa that I couldnt ignore them though

 

I will have to look into that CM toolkit even though, thank you .

 

It may also be an archive issue, for example, an archive can become corrupt, there is an archive limit of 254, and also a total archive volume limit, and BASS may F it up loading an archive, resulting in missing textures for example I guess.

 

If disabling BASS restored everything to normal, then I would suggest to use the CM-Toolkit to downgrade any NG archives. As far as I know, this should be save to do.
The tool is extremely handy to have in general, verifiy your .dlls, check total number of plugins, archives, and more.

 

Since you are using FPE redux, I might ask you for some details later, for me the new born always disappear from the cribs after a while... But I have bigger fish to fry right now