Need something explained in relation to creating your own companions for CM Partners

[trees]

So I got the CM Partners mod, and I figured I'd have a go at making companions. I wanted to use a custome race, which I'll link below in case it's relevant. I already hade a CM companion from this race that I downloaded and installed successfully, so I know it works. However, even after following instructions to the letter, the companion I made would not appear in-game. Can anyone help me work this out?

 

 

The custom race I was trying to use:

http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=35892

[Poontank]

Have you put this character into the esp of the custom race CM partner you already have or is it a new plugin you generated?

If the latter is the case, the mod needs a dependency from this custom race mod by using Wrye Bash. Your original Viera CM partner mod already has this dependency.

 

For a new plugin, you will have to copy the race esp to an esm and use Bash's 'add master' function to make the mod dependent from this newly generated race esm. Once you are done with editing the mod in the CS, you can change the dependency back to the race's esp.

The main problem here is the non-extended (non-OBSE) Construction Set's habit of erasing a mod's dependency from any esp, thus the need for a dependency from an esm. Sounds complicated but it isn't.

 

To change the dependency back, you right-click on the race esm in the right-hand window in Bash's mod overview page, choose 'change to...', browse to the race's esp and select it. Click on the 'save' button below and you're done.

 

One other thing which is rather dumb to ask - have you placed the new NPC into the game world? You know, after finishing the creation and tweaking process, you open any cell of the game's environment, drag and drop the character into the render window with the desired cell and press the 'F' key. This dumps the character into Cyrodiil and raises the 'count' parameter in the object window from zero to 1.

 

Wherever the character is placed, this is the periphery where to find him/her. If the character has AI wander packages and such, he/she might be found close nearby, but not in the exact spot where you dropped the companion. Small interior cells are ideal to easily find your NPC.

[trees]

If there is already an ESM for the race, do I need to make a new one?

 

Also, what's Wyre Bash?

 

And yes, I did dump the char. into the world.

[gregathit]

Wrye Bash is the big brother of OBMM. It has a massive amount of additional features and can utilize other plugins as well. It is most famous for the "bashed patch".

 

Wrye Bash Link: http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=22368

Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide Link: http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=35230

[Poontank]

I should have thought of this - that the race already has an esm.

This is the file you select when you use Wrye Bash's 'add master' function, no need for a new esm.

 

For this type of edit, having Wrye Bash installed is a must. It has a myriad of useful features and is much easier to handle than you might think when you start it up for the first time (I was a bit intimidated).