Help needed when merging esp's.

[ChancellorKremlin]

I'm trying to merge a plugin I've edited for User29's breeder esp, which included added dialogue. The problem is, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm running into a slew of errors I am sure more experience modders must know well how to avoid, such as "Only group files can be added." and some other such nonsense.

 

For the record, I am going this page as my guide:

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/270207-how-do-i-merge-two-falloutnew-vegas-plugins/page__p__2431739#entry2431739

 

So if anyone could explain to me in a step by step fashion how to do it (the guide is good, but tells me nothing about what to do about errors) or better still, out of the kindness of their hearts, do it themselves, User29 and I would very much appreciate it.

 

Thanks.

[sen4mi]

I think that those instructions sound wrong for merging esps.

 

Those instructions are for creating a merged patch.

 

But a merged patch is an override -- you cannot get rid of the original because a merged patch will depend on the original.

 

So, instead, I would:

 

Start FNVEdit

 

Select just the mod I was copying from and copying to

 

Find a record I wanted to copy, and right click on it, and from right click menu select "Copy as new record into".

 

Say "OK" to the next popup (that asks you for a new editor id)

 

Say "OK" to the "are you sure" popup

 

Select the mod that you are copying to...

 

and keep doing this for each record.

 

If you get a popup asking you to approve adding the "from" mod to be a master for the "to" mod then there's some dependent records that the thing you are copying is trying to reference. I think you should say "no" and copy the dependent records. I do not know if this kind of record can be copied safely? But once something is a master, I think you are stuck -- personally, anyways, I do not know how to remove a master from a plugin.

 

If this does not answer your question, perhaps you can go into detail about how you get the error you are running into?

[Halstrom]

I think that those instructions sound wrong for merging esps.

 

Those instructions are for creating a merged patch.

 

But a merged patch is an override -- you cannot get rid of the original because a merged patch will depend on the original.

 

So' date=' instead, I would:

 

Start FNVEdit

 

Select just the mod I was copying from and copying to

 

Find a record I wanted to copy, and right click on it, and from right click menu select "Copy as new record into".

 

Say "OK" to the next popup (that asks you for a new editor id)

 

Say "OK" to the "are you sure" popup

 

Select the mod that you are copying to...

 

and keep doing this for each record.

 

If you get a popup asking you to approve adding the "from" mod to be a master for the "to" mod then there's some dependent records that the thing you are copying is trying to reference. I think you should say "no" and copy the dependent records. I do not know if this kind of record can be copied safely? But once something is a master, I think you are stuck -- personally, anyways, I do not know how to remove a master from a plugin.

 

If this does not answer your question, perhaps you can go into detail about how you get the error you are running into?[/quote']

There's a remove Master function if you right click on the left side, but it only works iff you've removed all refferences, effects, scripts etc tying the plugins together, the "referenced by" tab on the bottom right window for each item will show whta uses what.

[DoctaSax]

Making Halstrom's advice a bit more explicit:

 

Let's say I want to copy a quest & its attached quest script:

 

 

I had to allow adding the original esp as the master, and now the quest in the new esp still refers to the script in the old, as you can tell by the index numbers of its formid:

 

 

What you do, is view the formid data of the new esp's script, double-click & a pane will open, select & copy the data (editorid + formid):

 

 

 

Then go to the data for the new esp's quest, right click on the script there, "edit", overwrite with the new script's data:

 

 

Continue swapping out stuff until there's nothing more in the new esp that references the old. Then right-click the new esp, select "clean masters", and you're done.

 

There are probably a few tools to automate much of this process. They can be alright for merging armor & enchantments on them, but the more complicated the merge, the more chance they have of messing up things. Nothing beats doing it yourself.

[ChancellorKremlin]

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll try this out at a later time, at the moment I've become swamped with work and won't be able to give it a try.

[ibanix]

Note with the above, if you've got saved games that reference the particular .esp, you'll need to use WyreFlash to edit the save game and change the reference.

 

Even then I'm not sure it will work. The merging would work best if you did it before any saved games, or before you ever add the mod in. Once you have it introduced into a saved game, you're pretty well stuck to that mod file.

 

Don't get me started on merging .esm files. I tried that. Ouch.

[prideslayer]

 

Don't get me started on merging .esm files. I tried that. Ouch.

 

 

Merging ESMs is easy with FNVEdit, FYI. Deep copy + renumber just does it, like magic, not that I've ever found a reason to beyond incorporating changes from other people.

[ibanix]

 

Don't get me started on merging .esm files. I tried that. Ouch.

 

 

Merging ESMs is easy with FNVEdit' date=' FYI. Deep copy + renumber just does it, like magic, not that I've ever found a reason to beyond incorporating changes from other people.

[/quote']

 

Deep copy as override? That would add one as the master to the other. And if you mean renumbering the references so you can remove the one as master, how are you doing them all at once?

[prideslayer]

I might have been a little drunk when I wrote that. I do remember that when I merged some stuff different people provided as ESPs or ESMs into sexout, it was not very difficult to merge/copy all the records into sexout with fnvedit. A million times easier than what it looked like wrye would have me do anyway.

 

edit: i'll get back to you with what I did. I'm pretty sure I did to a renumber and then a deep copy to get the injected records in, then it was some dragging and dropping IIRC.

[KainsChylde]

Everything FNVEdit can do, you can learn about here.

[ibanix]

FNVEdit = FO3Edit = TES4Edit

 

for what it's worth