Geck/Icons missing?

[srayesmanll]

I've got a quick question for the collective. I'm trying to add some items to my mod (notes, ammo, etc). 1 odd thing is it appears I have no icons to use. For example, I am trying to set the model and icon on a note. Problem is, I cannot find any of the standard icons in my installation. I know they are there (somewhere) because I can see them in game. But damn if I can find them to set them. I assume they are in the mesh or texture .bsa. So how do I set them?

[zippy57]

Ah, yes. One of the (many) most annoying things about the GECK. You can't set meshes/textures that are inside BSAs. You have to use FOMM and extract the files you want from the BSA and put them in the proper loose directory so you can actually set them.

[srayesmanll]

Looks like I need to set my signature back to "I've been frelling GECKed" Yeah I kind of figured that's what it was. And I'm about to get majorly bitch-slapped for the next statement: I wonder if NMM can extract the BSA? [ducks while large objects are thrown in my direction...]

[zippy57]

Can't really answer that question with a hundred percent certainty because my NMM just flat-out refuses to even start on my computer, but I know I had FOMM and NMM running at the same time originally because NMM couldn't (and later because apparently no one bothered to program FOMOD script support into NMM for twelve beta versions). It may have been added in more recent versions, though.

[srayesmanll]

It was added and .fomods work perfectly fine (so far). Been working since at least .16 or so. Even seems to work with .omod for oblivion as well. Of course, now I am trying to install FOMM, and the little bastard crashes constantly. Figures. I do have both (I have skyrim on this machine as well) installed, but since I'm not really doing anything in Skyrim (development-wise) on this machine, I think I'll uninstall NMM complete and see what I get. I did uninstall and reinstall, but only syncing to skyrim, then tried installing FOMM (no luck as mentioned above).

[astymma]

You can easily copy the paths and assign them in FNVEdit. I've found it MUCH simpler to assign files residing in BSA's using FNVEdit over the GECK.

[zippy57]

Yeah, you can do that. And that's what I generally do. But you have to quit the GECK or FNVEdit will freak out when you try to save, so you then have to wait for the GECK to load again and that's just adding to the annoyance. Why they'd design a file type to hold their files and then an editor that can't browse within those files is a mystery on par with why they broke error messages and couldn't be bothered to fix them.

[astymma]

Yeah' date=' you can do that. And that's what I generally do. But you have to quit the GECK or FNVEdit will freak out when you try to save, so you then have to wait for the GECK to load again and that's just adding to the annoyance. Why they'd design a file type to hold their files and then an editor that can't browse within those files is a mystery on par with why they broke error messages and couldn't be bothered to fix them.

[/quote']

I meant do everything you need to do in the GECK first then open it up in FNVEdit and finalize it. It's what you should be doing anyway as part of releasing a clean mod given how easily polluted a GECK created mod can be.

[srayesmanll]

OK, here's my impression of some who has used NMM for 6 months trying to install and use FOMM:

 

[rant]OK, let's uninstall all of my FONV mods through NMM. OK, done. Have NMM rescan games and disable FONV (so only Skyrim uses NMM). OK, done. Let's remove the mods from the folder and clear out any leftover NMM crap so FOMM can use the same folders. OK, done. Install FOMM. Launch FOMM. Asks for paths to Mod and Install Info. Cool... Link to existing folders. Accepted paths, hit OK, CRASH. Crap. What I do wrong? Hhmm. Uninstall FOMM (use RevoUnistaller). Reinstall, relaunch, huh, didn't ask for the mod/install folders this time. CRASH. Shit. Oh, wait, it installs to the program files(32-bit) folder (running Win7). OK, dumbass, launch with admin privs. CRASH. Fuck. OK, let's uninstall NMM completely. No Big Deal, I'm not developing Skyrim yet, so don't really need it. Uninstall completely (REVO again). Uninstall FOMM. Reinstall. No folder request again. CRASH. crap shit. OH, launch with admin privs. CRASH. crap shit fuck. OK, reinstall but select an install folder OUTSIDE of program files. Launch. Asks for mod/install folder locations. Use existing ones. CRASH. god-damn it. Reinstall, select another install path (to make it request the mod/install info paths again). This time use the default paths (which are only 1 folders up from the folders I was selecting). Son-of-a-bitch. The damn thing finally launched. Yeah. Cool, see all the DLC. OK, copy my mods to the Mod folder manually. Cool. OK, now where is the mod to install list. Hhhmmm, mods, mods, where are the mods. Nope, nothing in the menu options. Button on the right don't seem to show the label mod. Hhhhmmm. OK, just try something. Hey there is the thing called "packages". OK, this looks promising, but I don't see the mods I added manually. Hhhhmmm. I see a load (or something like that button) maybe... OK, I can navigate to the list of mods that I can add (that are already in the folder, but is being ignored). OK, remove the mods from the mods folder. Use the button to load a mod. Finally! But why did it convert it to a .fomod, when it was already a .7z. At this point, who cares? The mod is added. Great lets load all of the others. Hit load button, select all... wait, select all doesn't work. OK, highlight first, shift select last to highlight all... wait, that doesn't work either. Oh, great. One at a time. Lovely. You know what? FTS. Uninstall FOMM, install NMM, drop mods in the mod folder, double-click mods to install. Done. 2 minutes, tops. [/rant]

 

I'll be the first to admit that I probably missed some options, but when frustration sets in, those things are easily missed. So let me sum up my opinion of FOMM/NMM

 

FOMM:

Pros: Powerful. Can merge. Can unpack BSAa.

Cons: Not intuitive to novice users. Touchy on installation when selecting folders (always use default). Merge features can be done with FNVEdit (and possibly better to do with that).

 

NMM:

Pros: Simple. Can drop any type of mod package and it finds it. Works with fomod, omod, 7z, zip, rar, etc without having to convert everything to a fomod for no reason. Can select alternate folders on install and it doesn't crash.

Cons: Have to package mod somehow (.7z, zip, fomod,etc) - doesn't handle loose esp/esm. Logs into Nexus. Missing some powerful useful features (merging, BSA pack/unpack).

 

In short: If you use FOMM and love it. Good. If you use NMM and love it. Good. If you don't have either and are not planning on installing more than 150-200 individual mods, use NMM. If you are going to install 200-1000 mods: use FOMM and use the merge feature, OR use FNVEdit to merge the mods and use either FOMM or NMM to install, OR use Wrye Bash. And to all the members of the Tinfoil Hat Society who think the Nexus is tracking you with NMM. Well, duh. You're on the internet. You're being tracked. Nexus ain't the only one, buddy.

 

Of course, these are my opinions. Your mileage may vary...

[srayesmanll]

You can easily copy the paths and assign them in FNVEdit. I've found it MUCH simpler to assign files residing in BSA's using FNVEdit over the GECK.

 

I did try that but wasn't successful. Will try that again when I get home tonight and my FOMM frustrations fade away (happy thoughts, happy thoughts: Christina Hendricks, Felicia Day, Firefly, Farscape, Torchwood, Eve Myles... stress fading...)

[zippy57]

I meant do everything you need to do in the GECK first then open it up in FNVEdit and finalize it. It's what you should be doing anyway as part of releasing a clean mod given how easily polluted a GECK created mod can be.

When I'm trying to assign a mesh to a static that I need to place in a cell I can't really wait until I'm done with everything.

[astymma]

I meant do everything you need to do in the GECK first then open it up in FNVEdit and finalize it. It's what you should be doing anyway as part of releasing a clean mod given how easily polluted a GECK created mod can be.

When I'm trying to assign a mesh to a static that I need to place in a cell I can't really wait until I'm done with everything.

 

Heh, you got me there... that's one of the instances where my plan fails.

[srayesmanll]

Since I will be working in a cell placing objects, I guess I do need to extract eveything. So I finally got something stable enough with FOMM so I could extract all of the fallout BSAs. So after letting that work pretty much all night last night, I can finally continue work on the next part of my mod. YYYYEEEAAHHH!!!!! Thanks for help guys. As usual, you've saved my sanity (well, what little is left of it anyways... )