Bsa

[Ysne]

I am thinking the best way to pack the resources would be to put them in a .bsa file.

[The Old Ye Bard]

You need to organize your resources into appropriate file hierarchies, and have them included in your resources .esm (without any errors, such as missing meshes, incorrect file paths, etc) before archiving them in a .bsa.

[morcroft]

That's definitely the right approach - I'm using BSAs for the Elsweyr resources and it's quite easy to do using the BSA creator utility in OBMM. It also makes for a super-clean install.

In case it's useful to you, here's what I'm doing over in Elsweyr:

It seems that as long as you have a file called
[modname].esp
enabled in the load order then Oblivion will automatically load any bsa's called
[modname] - [anything].bsa
so for us,
Elsweyr.esp autoloads
Elsweyr - LOD.bsa and Elsweyr - Resources.bsa

(I think Elsweyr.esm does the same thing, but I have both anyway because I'm using the TESGecko plugin split utility)

I think you may have to add the resources BSA to the constructionset.ini in order to mod with them, but Oblivion.ini doesn't need changing.

I keep the LOD separate because it's a big file we probably won't want to update and redistribute very often, unlike the resources which need frequent updates.

I've been starting with all resources for Elsweyr under data\meshes\Elsweyr, data\textures\Elsweyr etc until they've been added to the ElsweyrResources.esm; then I move them to a completely separate folder structure, from which I build the BSA. That way I get a pink object or a "WTF - missing mesh" when I forget to update the BSA. That or TOYB gets one when I send him the pack...!

So my release sets at the moment are:

Elsweyr.esm
Elsweyr.esp
ElsweyrResources.esm
Elsweyr - Resources.bsa
Elsweyr - LOD.bsa

I'm also using:
Elsweyr - ResourcesAdd.bsa
for updates while were still adding new stuff.

[ Edit ]

I was using
ElsweyrResourcesAdd.esm
to reference the resource additions but I don't think it's necessary, and merging two resource file esms is proving to be a pain.

[ /Edit ]


I intend to distribute only the BSA to modders - anyone who needs the meshes and textures should know how to unpack a bsa for themselves anyway, and no-one else really needs the clutter!

I'm not saying this is exactly right - it's just how I'm trying to do it at the moment and it seems to be working so far!

[Ysne]

Thanks for the info Morcroft. That is very helpful.

[morcroft]

Just updated my previous post because I've been having problems merging two esm resource files. It's definitely better to keep all resource definitions in one file and update that as required.

[sandor]

Just out of curiosity.

Why do you use two esm's?

[Ysne]

I have Corthian's stuff and Keilanai's stuff and the heightmap Corthian has worked on.

I still need to go through the list and grab the other resources. I don't have much energy right now because of all the weather changes, but I'm doing a little at a time.

I'm curious about the two esm's too morcroft.

I also have questions about whether to use TES4Gecko or TES4edit or a combination when I get to the point of actually creating the BSA.

[morcroft]

Why do you use two esm's?

I think because TOYB told me to - at least that's what I think he said...

It does seem to work really well so far, though: because the resource esm contains no land/cell data it's really quick and easy to work with. It's dependant on nothing except Oblivion.esm.

The main Elsweyr.esm contains all the heightmap data, and it and the gecko-split esp are dependant on the resources.esm. I find the huge heightmap makes the main file slow and unstable to work with as an esp - I know I'll merge all changes into it as an esm with Gecko in the long run, but right now the resources are in constant flux and I'd rather be able to work with them freely.

Like I said before, I'm not saying any of this is right and I really welcome any input. I'm pretty new at this.

Tried TES4Edit once, briefly, and didn't get on with it. Probably just me.

I use TES4Gecko and love it for all mod management stuff - although I don't think it has a BSA builder so I actually build the BSA's with OBMM, which is super-easy once you find the option.

[The Old Ye Bard]

I think because TOYB told me to Wink - at least that's what I think he said...

I've never said two resource .esm's, I have however said a seperate .esm for resources, and then a seperate one for all the world data, which is the standard for all the large worldspace mods.

And usually they're not merged.

[morcroft]

To clarify: two resource.esm's was my not-so-bright idea. Which I've now ditched.

I'm now using

ElsweyrResources.esm (for just resources)
Elsweyr.esm (main esm with all world data)
Elsweyr.esp (Gecko "split" file for stuff that breaks the LOD)

Elsweyr - Resources.bsa
Elsweyr - LOD.bsa

These will be the final release set - unless for instance we have enough sound files to justify an additional BSA

During the build phase I may use a file called
Elsweyr - ResourcesAdd.bsa
to hold extra resources to save redistributing the main Resources.bsa. This would be only temporary though.

Changes to the resource set will be merged into
ElsweyrResources.esm

All other changes will be merged into Elsweyr.esm.
Well, actually they'll be merged into the pre-split (all-in-one) Elsweyr.esp, which will then be TES4Gecko-split into the release esp and esm.