Bodyslide, HDT, and Mod Organizer... help?

[Sethala]

So, I kinda don't really know what I'm doing, but so far I can't figure out much of anything about how to get these to work together properly.

 

Right now the only main body-changing mod I've got installed is CBBE and Bodyslide, both using Mod Organizer.  I ran through the steps with Bodyslide for using it with MO (getting the application through the Data tab on the right pane instead of through the normal configure executables window), and my first problem is that the preview images just show the body with the regular texture replaced by a bunch of "No Image" boxes.  I can work with that since I have the texture handy, just can't see what the end result will be too well, but my fear is that this means something I'm doing isn't working right.

 

I've tried sending the files from Bodyslide to the Overflow folder, but when I make that into a mod, nothing seems to change when I start up a new game, and I can tell that the animations aren't including breast bounce or anything like that from HDT.  I'm pretty sure the problem isn't HDT, since I can load a different body mod (SeveNBase) and I get proper animations, but I don't like the rest of the mod's appearance.  Unfortunately, I can't find a tutorial here that I can understand, so I'm hoping that someone here is willing to walk me through the steps to make sure I'm doing things right.

[Acornus]

You need to have body textures installed first, and are right under the BS folder (the left panel in MO). Make sure you installed a body texture that corresponds to the body you wish to use (CBBE or UNP or UNP+)

 

Once that is done, run BS through MO, it will ask to run in Admin, just say yes.

 

There, done. Just remember that any bodies you create will be put in the Overwrite Folder.

[Sethala]

You need to have body textures installed first, and are right under the BS folder (the left panel in MO). Make sure you installed a body texture that corresponds to the body you wish to use (CBBE or UNP or UNP+)

 

Once that is done, run BS through MO, it will ask to run in Admin, just say yes.

 

There, done. Just remember that any bodies you create will be put in the Overwrite Folder.

 

Pretty much done all of that.  A few issues:

 

First, should I be holding Ctrl down when I hit Build?  Doing so will sometimes spit it out in the Overwrite folder, but not always.  Not holding Ctrl will always spit it out in the default Skyrim folder.

 

Second, when I do get it to spit out in the Overwrite folder, what then?  Just turning that into a mod doesn't seem to do anything.

[dork42]

You are activating the mod created, silly question I know gettting as far as you have. What skeleton are you using?

[Sethala]

I experimented a bit more and managed to get it to work somewhat by manually inserting the files I made with Bodyslide into the CBBE mod, which is a hassle but doable.  Unfortunately, I think something broke with my face because my characters suddenly looked very wrinkled.

 

As for skeletons, I use XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended

[dork42]

to clarify, are you talking about the basic body (when you're naked) not changing or when wearing armor/clothes?

 

In MO, make sure XPSE isn't being overwritten by another mod that provides a skelly (like Reduced Ragdoll Force) red dash in Flags or right clicking XPSE/information/conflicts tab

[Sethala]

to clarify, are you talking about the basic body (when you're naked) not changing or when wearing armor/clothes?

 

 

Naked body, I know I need to do other stuff to make clothing work properly.

 

In MO, make sure XPSE isn't being overwritten by another mod that provides a skelly (like Reduced Ragdoll Force) red dash in Flags or right clicking XPSE/information/conflicts tab

 

The only conflicts are from ECE, but I think that's only face data.  (As well as UNP now, but that's only because I decided to toy with that for a bit and see if I could get something else to work; that wasn't there when I was trying to get this to function.)

 

The main issue, I think, is that the files tossed into Overwrite aren't in the right filepath to actually load into Skyrim, and none of the tutorials I could find for using Bodyslide with MO included any information on where to put those files so they'd actually load.  No idea why it seems sometimes the files go into the overwrite folder and other times they don't show up there, however (it never asks me where I want to save the files if I hold ctrl when clicking the button).

[ESDES]

cool

 

[ousnius]

That's because the default location without holding CTRL is the correct one. It shouldn't go into your real Skyrim Data folder if you run it through MO, though. That's probably why you also don't get any textures.

 

The load order for textures doesn't matter for BS, MO will always send the latest ones of the order to it, no matter where BS is located in that order.

 

Did you watch the video linked in the troubleshooting section yet?

[Sethala]

That's because the default location without holding CTRL is the correct one. It shouldn't go into your real Skyrim Data folder if you run it through MO, though. That's probably why you also don't get any textures.

 

The load order for textures doesn't matter for BS, MO will always send the latest ones of the order to it, no matter where BS is located in that order.

 

Did you watch the video linked in the troubleshooting section yet?

 

Ah, so something's broken there.  Could that be why I'm not getting any textures on the body when I'm previewing what Bodyslide is doing?

 

And I don't think I've seen the video, would you be able to link me to it?

[ousnius]

 

 

That's because the default location without holding CTRL is the correct one. It shouldn't go into your real Skyrim Data folder if you run it through MO, though. That's probably why you also don't get any textures.

 

The load order for textures doesn't matter for BS, MO will always send the latest ones of the order to it, no matter where BS is located in that order.

 

Did you watch the video linked in the troubleshooting section yet?

Ah, so something's broken there. Could that be why I'm not getting any textures on the body when I'm previewing what Bodyslide is doing?

 

And I don't think I've seen the video, would you be able to link me to it?

[trpd]

I got question about BS 2.3 behavior with MO. When i build something shouldn't all resulting files go into overwrite?

tri files go into overwrite however the nifs replace those that were currently "active" in the last replacing mod.

 

It would seem that if file exist already in MO system it gets replaced and if new file is being created it goes into overwrite. Quite different behavior then with FNIS that always put files in overwrite.

 

[Uhuru N'Uru]

 

That's because the default location without holding CTRL is the correct one. It shouldn't go into your real Skyrim Data folder if you run it through MO, though. That's probably why you also don't get any textures.

 

The load order for textures doesn't matter for BS, MO will always send the latest ones of the order to it, no matter where BS is located in that order.

 

Did you watch the video linked in the troubleshooting section yet?

Ah, so something's broken there. Could that be why I'm not getting any textures on the body when I'm previewing what Bodyslide is doing?

 

And I don't think I've seen the video, would you be able to link me to it?

 

All this is general MO modding advice, not specific to Bodyslide (I won't use it, only UNP and Demonica/Lady Body)

 

However the priority order (left pane) certainly does matter and you should let MO manage BSA's (This is important and saves much SSD space (Or HDD if you have no SSD, Basic rule for SSD's is MO and Mods on SSD but Downloads (Archives) folder on HDD.

Always use a BSA version instead of loose with MO.

Why? MO treats BSA's just like Loose files (Means they load according to left panes Priority Order as do Loose Files, instead of the right pane Plugin Load Order normally used with BSA's).

The end result is you get the advantages of both Loose Files (User Control of Files separated from plugins) and BSA's (Smaller size on the SSD) without the normally linked disadvantage.

 

This is important in your case of making sure the wanted files win the conflict.

 

MO's Mod Priority Order is essentially what other managers call the Install Order, but where they actually replace the losing files, MO doesn't lose any files. The virtual Data Folder shows the final result but no files are actually deleted, making changing Mod Priority as easy as changing Load Order.

 

So where you said you put the created Bodyslide files in the CBBE mod, youy souldn't ever do that. To achieve the same result, you simply create a Mod (Folder) using right click on Overwrite Mod. Then make sure the new mod has a higher mod priority than any other conflicting mod.

With just CBBE and the created mod it can be the one after CBBE, if the conflicts tab, top pane, shows it as only providing the files it will work.

If another Mod provides files conflicts tab, bottom pane, then you must put the created mod after the winning mod as well repeating until nothing is in bottom pane at all (This case, other cases it may be just specific files that matter.

 

Load Order=Right Pane

Sort using LOOT for Plugins (*.ESM and *.ESP) see my sig for crucial info.

 

Mod Priority=Install Order=Left Pane

Manual Sorting for all other files.

 

Generally take note of Mod Authors Install instructions as usual, but with MO you can change it anytime, not just when installing.

For both panes Orders ignore Mod Authors who just say put mine last, the Mod Authors thinking about themselves and they will get less bug reports this way. It is true this will always work for any single mod and is thus perfect for testing mods, but in reality, only one Plugin and/or Mod can actually be the last one.

 

Load Order

LOOT says that plugin is part of Warburgs Paper Map Mod with Dynamic Patchers just above it.

 

Mod Priority

You should place the Dynamic Patchers output last, those you run after every install, directly above these are the Mods that make the Patchers and Map Mods

 

My actual MO Profile Unp - Beeing Female, only the last few Mods (Reverse Order where +=Active Mods from MO Profile's ModList.Txt)

 

 

+Unp - Beeing Female - Dual Sheath Redux Patch

+Unp - Beeing Female - Generate FNIS for Users - Results

+Unp - Beeing Female - Bashed Patch

+Unp - Beeing Female - TES5Edit Compatiblilty - TES5Merged

+Unp - Beeing Female - SkSE Files and Logs

+Unp - Beeing Female - Skyrim Performance Monitor

+Dual Sheath Redux

+XPMSE - XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended - HDT - FoMod

-FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Spells

-FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Creature Pack - Beta

+FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Creature Pack

-FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Behavior - Beta

+FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Behavior

+FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim - Sexy Move

+Map Overhaul and Atlas Map Markers - Merged

+Map Overhaul - Assets

-Map Overhaul - Plugin

+Atlas Map Markers for Skyrim Blackreach Dawnguard and Dragonborn - Assets

-Atlas Map Markers for Skyrim Blackreach Dawnguard and Dragonborn - Plugin

+World Map - Skyrim Hold Borders

-High Quality 3D Map - Textures Original 4k

+High Quality 3D Map - Textures Better Landscape Redux 4k

+High Quality 3D Map - Meshes Hi-Res

+A Clear World Map - With Clouds

+A Quality World Map and Solstheim Map with Roads - Solstheim Map

+A Quality World Map and Solstheim Map with Roads - A Quality World Map

 

 

 

So in general, last actual unchanging mods (unless updated by Mod Author of course)

All Map Mods

FNIS - Fores New Idles in Skyrim Mods (FNIS - Sexy Move isn't actually part of FNIS Mod)

XPMSE (HDT Skeleton - The only really good one, must have even without HDT)

Dynamic Mods (Basically any Sky Proc Mod) SkyRe, PerMa, Dual Sheath Redux and any needing a Patcher and/or SUM - SkyProc Unified Manager)

 

Then we have Profile Specific Mods, I want to link these to each Profile, so each has their own version, dependant on that profiles currently active mods.

 

<Profile Name> - SkSE Files and Logs (Anything in a SkSE folder that's placed in Overwrite while the game is running)

 

The last 4 are the Dynamic Patchers, they all depend on your active Mods and/or Plugins so must be updated if any mod changes occur.

<Profile Name> - TES5Edit Compatiblilty - TES5Merged (Name your Merge Patch "TES5Merged" and LOOT will sort it automatically)

<Profile Name> - Bashed Patch (The main use for Wrye Bash in MO, the other is to change a Merged Mods Master, CK can do it, but as I'm making a bashed patch anyway, this is just easier)

<Profile Name> - Generate FNIS for Users - Results

<Profile Name> - Dual Sheath Redux Patch

 

The last 3 Plugins are

TES5Merged.esp

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp

 

Matching the two sets of Dynamic Patchers (FNIS deals with animation files, so no associated Plugin, place after the Bashed Patch but before Sky Proc Patchers for all Generate FNIS for Users files.

 

Generally match Mod Priority to Load Order, but for most mods that's only if conflicts are not an issue, then order to give the desired outcome, in MO the folder is the Mod and you can make a single file into Mod, to win a conflict, if needed.

 

As well as Hosting the MO Docs and Forums, the STEP site is the best place to find out tried and tested proof of any and all modding theories.

They take no ones word for anything, they test, test and test again. The STEP modding guide is the 2nd best way, by far, to learn correct techniques, even if you never play it afterwards and want different Mods you will learn how to mod properly, by following it.

 

Wait you said 2nd best? Well good as it is, there is one other guide that's not really better, more like it's a more advanced and technical guide, not really for beginners, STEP isn't really a beginner guide either, Gophers made a great beginner guide for MO. Neovalen's Guide uses every technique and Tool in the Modding Book, from Creation Kit to TES5Edit you will use them all with Skyrim Revisited.

 

You can go from noob to expert in 3 easy STEP's and all use MO as the Manager of choice

 

Beginners Modding Guide

Gopher's Mod Organizer Video Guides

 

Intermediate Modding Guide (Also Gamer Poet is making the Official STEP Video Guides)

S.T.E.P. Project Wiki - S.T.E.P. (Skyrim Total Enhancement Project)

 

Advanced Modding Guide

Neovalen's Skyrim Revisited - Legendary Edition - S.T.E.P. Project Wiki

 

It's more about learning the techniques, than agreeing with each mod choice.

STEP Core is a Solid Base to build your own Mods from.

Skyrim Revisited is one man's vision, but what a vision if your Rig can handle it.

 

The Beauty of MO's Profiles is, you can have all the versions, on your PC, Plus many more of your own as well.

[ousnius]

BodySlide can't read BSA's, even when MO manages them.

 

While it's better to not let BodySlide replace the last file with the same file name as you said, by making a mod out of it (hold CTRL in BodySlide to build into overwrite but without a proper path), it will also work just fine replacing the files that come with the CBBE mod, since you can always rebuild bodies with BodySlide.

I got question about BS 2.3 behavior with MO. When i build something shouldn't all resulting files go into overwrite?

tri files go into overwrite however the nifs replace those that were currently "active" in the last replacing mod.

 

It would seem that if file exist already in MO system it gets replaced and if new file is being created it goes into overwrite. Quite different behavior then with FNIS that always put files in overwrite.

 

FNIS' generated files go into the overwrite folder because it doesn't come with files that have the same file name yet.

Now CBBE does come with pre-built body meshes.

 

MO always replaces the last loaded file with the same path + file name, so if you do not have any bodies anywhere as loose files, MO will make BodySlide build them into the overwrite folder.

 

If the last appearance of a nude replacer is in your CBBE mod folder, MO will make BodySlide replace those. If you have an outfit mod installed, and build new meshes using a BodySlide conversion of it, those will get replaced. Unless the outfit mod comes inside of an BSA, then the built files will go to overwrite.

 

I have no way to influence what MO does in the BodySlide code. BodySlide doesn't control MO, MO 100% controls BodySlide.

[trpd]

 

 

FNIS' generated files go into the overwrite folder because it doesn't come with files that have the same file name yet.

Now CBBE does come with pre-built body meshes.

 

MO always replaces the last loaded file with the same path + file name, so if you do not have any bodies anywhere as loose files, MO will make BodySlide build them into the overwrite folder.

 

If the last appearance of a nude replacer is in your CBBE mod folder, MO will make BodySlide replace those. If you have an outfit mod installed, and build new meshes using a BodySlide conversion of it, those will get replaced. Unless the outfit mod comes inside of an BSA, then the built files will go to overwrite.

 

I have no way to influence what MO does in the BodySlide code. BodySlide doesn't control MO, MO 100% controls BodySlide.

 

 

No i can rerun FNIS with same mod set and it comes with same files as it had before but they land in overwrite always.  (i then move them into the FNIS files and got confirmation for replacing files)

 

I don't blame You! Nor i expect changes. I was just curious why it works differently. It's fine when i know what is happening. Only the first time i was running around headless looking where the files went
 

[Uhuru N'Uru]

 

 

FNIS' generated files go into the overwrite folder because it doesn't come with files that have the same file name yet.

Now CBBE does come with pre-built body meshes.

 

MO always replaces the last loaded file with the same path + file name, so if you do not have any bodies anywhere as loose files, MO will make BodySlide build them into the overwrite folder.

 

If the last appearance of a nude replacer is in your CBBE mod folder, MO will make BodySlide replace those. If you have an outfit mod installed, and build new meshes using a BodySlide conversion of it, those will get replaced. Unless the outfit mod comes inside of an BSA, then the built files will go to overwrite.

 

I have no way to influence what MO does in the BodySlide code. BodySlide doesn't control MO, MO 100% controls BodySlide.

 

 

No i can rerun FNIS with same mod set and it comes with same files as it had before but they land in overwrite always.  (i then move them into the FNIS files and got confirmation for replacing files)

 

I don't blame You! Nor i expect changes. I was just curious why it works differently. It's fine when i know what is happening. Only the first time i was running around headless looking where the files went

 

It's just how FNIS works.

 

The Overwrite Mod is MO's Temp Folder, for every file change MO does, MO uses it. Including updating Mods, when MO uses it to extract the archives to install them.

FoMod's (Installers) use the windows Temp Folder, but MO has plugins to deal with that issue and they work fine.

When MO is in charge, this is all hidden from the user and as said above, existing Mods get the files they should, as normal.

Only new created mod files end up left in the Overwrite Mod, because no mod exists for them yet.

Issues like FNIS only occur when MO isn't in control, having given that control to a 3rd party app like FNIS.

 

Basically when the App finishes, MO asks Windows for the the last used Move/Copy addresses, in simple terms, the "From Here" and "To There" Addresses.

Usually this is enough to give MO the required Mod Folder, but FNIS isn't that simple and after multiple copies of files, the only Address given is the Overwrite Mod.

So MO has no Mod folder to move the files to, even though it still exists.

 

Finally the Overwrite Mod must be available to every profile and Mod, not just the Active one.

Anything in Overwite is applied to all profiles and always wins file conflicts as Overwrite has Maximum Priority Order, (Always last).

Due to this you shouldn't leave anything in Overwite at all, move the files out, as soon as the warning appears.

 

Also don't copy over the old files, delete them and then move the new ones, sometimes the old files are not replaced after a change, without deleting them first, unwanted files are left behind, if you watch MO replace a big Mod you will see it deletes it first as well.

This is the only way to be sure it's done right and ensures accurate Mods.

[Sethala]

 

 

That's because the default location without holding CTRL is the correct one. It shouldn't go into your real Skyrim Data folder if you run it through MO, though. That's probably why you also don't get any textures.

 

The load order for textures doesn't matter for BS, MO will always send the latest ones of the order to it, no matter where BS is located in that order.

 

Did you watch the video linked in the troubleshooting section yet?

Ah, so something's broken there. Could that be why I'm not getting any textures on the body when I'm previewing what Bodyslide is doing?

 

And I don't think I've seen the video, would you be able to link me to it?

 

 

Oh, that video.  Yeah, I've seen it, I've followed the steps, and where I have problems is after the video ends, so it's not terribly helpful.

 

Anyway, I whacked MO a few times with the metaphorical hammer, and now suddenly I'm getting the proper textures over the body in Bodyslide when I try to edit.  So, progress!

 

I think I've figured out the main problems, though: even though I run Bodyslide through MO, it's not outputting the files into MO's overwrite folder, but instead outputting them into the main Skyrim directory.  That means just running Skyrim after using Bodyslide does nothing.  Holding Ctrl does (sometimes) spit them out in the Overwrite folder, but not under the proper files so the game still doesn't load them unless I change the filepath (the filepath it spits out is Overwrite\Caliente Tools\BodySlide)

 

Simple question, then: is there any way to force Bodyslide to output files into a folder of my choosing?

 

Also, now that I've got this working, I want armors (and possibly DD's chastity bra and other armors) to work with a new body.  Is there a simple way to take a body I just made in Bodyslide and automatically apply that to all armors?  Most of the tutorials for such things that I've found start talking about things that are way too advanced for me to understand without spending an hour looking up other instructions for those... a video tutorial would be best, if one exists.

[Sethala]

Ok, after more testing and managing to get a few things working, my main problem is that I have no idea where the files I get from Bodyslide will end up, as it seems every time I run the program they end up tucked away in a different folder.  Once I do find the files, I can drop them into the overwrite folder and make a mod out of them and it works perfectly fine... frustrating, but workable.

[ousnius]

Ok, after more testing and managing to get a few things working, my main problem is that I have no idea where the files I get from Bodyslide will end up, as it seems every time I run the program they end up tucked away in a different folder.  Once I do find the files, I can drop them into the overwrite folder and make a mod out of them and it works perfectly fine... frustrating, but workable.

 

Or you hold the CTRL key before clicking "Build" or "Batch Build" as said in the tooltip and readme.

Then "Build" will go to Overwrite/CalienteTools/BodySlide, while "Batch Build" lets you choose a folder on e.g. your Desktop.

[Sethala]

 

Ok, after more testing and managing to get a few things working, my main problem is that I have no idea where the files I get from Bodyslide will end up, as it seems every time I run the program they end up tucked away in a different folder.  Once I do find the files, I can drop them into the overwrite folder and make a mod out of them and it works perfectly fine... frustrating, but workable.

 

Or you hold the CTRL key before clicking "Build" or "Batch Build" as said in the tooltip and readme.

Then "Build" will go to Overwrite/CalienteTools/BodySlide, while "Batch Build" lets you choose a folder on e.g. your Desktop.

 

 

No, sometimes holding Ctrl and hitting Build sends it somewhere else entirely.  No idea why.  Batch build seems to work (I couldn't find instructions on what batch build meant, so I wasn't using it), so I can use that from now on.

[ousnius]

 

 

 

 

Ok, after more testing and managing to get a few things working, my main problem is that I have no idea where the files I get from Bodyslide will end up, as it seems every time I run the program they end up tucked away in a different folder. Once I do find the files, I can drop them into the overwrite folder and make a mod out of them and it works perfectly fine... frustrating, but workable.

Or you hold the CTRL key before clicking "Build" or "Batch Build" as said in the tooltip and readme.

Then "Build" will go to Overwrite/CalienteTools/BodySlide, while "Batch Build" lets you choose a folder on e.g. your Desktop.

No, sometimes holding Ctrl and hitting Build sends it somewhere else entirely. No idea why. Batch build seems to work (I couldn't find instructions on what batch build meant, so I wasn't using it), so I can use that from now on.

Build with CTRL ALWAYS builds into the overwrite folder. I coded on the thing and use MO myself.

 

If it sends it somewhere else, you forgot to hold CTRL or let go too early.

 

For info on what buttons do, read their tooltip or the readme.txt.

[Sethala]

Hm, I've had a few times where it gives the normal "ctrl+click" message but nothing shows up in Overwrite, so... no idea, honestly.

 

Anyway, I think I know enough to use it now, so thanks for the help!