Configuring a Fresh Creation Kit Install

It's been a while but I have a few mod ideas so I got the CK installed. There were a number of things to configure in the .ini files so I watched a Gamerpoets video for reminders. It only mentioned the Multiple Master Loads. Searching lead me to an aged, huge post so I summarized findings here:

1. Edit CreationKit.ini in the Game folder
2. Under [General] add/set 'bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1'
3. All add/set 'bAllowMultipleMasterFiles=1'
4. Under [Archive] set the following three lines
5. SArchiveList=Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa, Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa
6. SResourceArchiveList=Skyrim - Textures.bsa, Skyrim - Meshes.bsa, Skyrim - Animations.bsa, Skyrim - Voices.bsa, Skyrim - Interface.bsa, Skyrim - Misc.bsa, Skyrim - Sounds.bsa, Skyrim - VoicesExtra.bsa, update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa
7. SResourceArchiveList2=Skyrim - Shaders.bsa, Update.bsa, Dawnguard.bsa, HearthFires.bsa, Dragonborn.bsa
8. Edit Skyrim.ini in the Documents folder
9. Under [General] add 'sLanguage=ENGLISH'

There was definitely a lot of confusion about setting these config lines from 2013 onward. Even had someone post an educational mod about it. Pretty intense!

Ultimately I only did steps 1-3. The various archive settings were a bit different. I attribute this to Oldrim vs. Skyrim SE files since there are now files like 'Skyrim - Textures0.bsa' and 'Skyrim - Voices_en0.bsa' in the Data folder. In case I need these specified I will attempt to use the Oldrim pattern.

I also remember having extra steps once the DLCs came out. Someone listed the support process as:

You need a BSA-Extractor and then you have to extract following files from the DLC.bsa files:
[DLCName]_[your language].dlstrings
[DLCName]_[your language].ilstrings
[DLCName]_[your language].strings.
you have to do this for every DLC you want to load and then you have to place the extracted files into 
Skyrim\Data\Strings\

That seems about right. Yet I'm hoping that was an Oldrim issue that's handled better by SE. If not, at least I have a first step.

I fully intend to stick with SE for tinkering but some mods never got migrated. Eventually I'll get around to making sure my Oldrim is ready by using a fantastic guide I found over at STEP.

Mod Organizer Overwrite Mod

Loaded up Mod Organizer 2 and there was suddenly a red entry "Overwrite" at the bottom of the Mod List. The description was very terse so it wasn't immediately obvious what, if anything, needed to be fixed.

Google found me a reddit that explained what was going on. When MO2 is running, all new files are created on its virtual file system. I had downloaded two creations (the Railroad Skins were free) so MO routed them to its Overwrite folder ('AppData\Local\ModOrganizer\Fallout 4\overwrite').

So I needed to decide if those files should remain isolated in the MO2 virtual file system. Since those creation club files should be in all games, I moved those files into the regular Data folder. Would have been nice if the Right-Click menu allowed that to happen automatically.

Really like how MO2 keeps everything contained the way it does. Wonder if Vortex's Mod Profiles does something similar.

No Longer In There, Here!

Been playing around in the SSE Creation Kit off and on for the last week. Relearning the render window alone has been amusing/frustrating. Hit my first real wall (bug?) last night.

Decided to recreate a looting mod I wrote for Oldrim. Not too difficult but gets me back into the innards. Had to create a hidden cell, copy magic effects and a spell. The first magic effect required a script and the CK absolutely refused to create one.

The extension specified was the default 'activemagiceffect' which absolutely has to exist. Then I remembered that SKSE places a 'activemagiceffect.pex' that maybe the CK was rejecting. After a quick google search I realized it wasn't the .pex at all. The CK needs the source! It doesn't want to decompile the .pex! Of course.

The Data folder has a Scripts.zip that, when initially prompted, I hadn't unpacked. So I opened it up and noticed the folder structure was wrong. Went to over to Data\Scripts and manually created a Source folder to drop everything in to.

Still didn't work.

What?!

Opened up ActiveMagicEffect.psc and everything was fine. Closed down the CK to ensure it hadn't cached an incorrect lack of source files. Still nothing. Had to google the full "The extends script does not exist, please pick one that does." to find this, which didn't really help but got the mental cogs turning. Then found this, which finally made things click.

That "incorrect folder structure" I had immediately noticed in the official Scripts.zip is now what the CK expects!! Yes, the compiled scripts are in Data\Scripts. And for almost a decade the source for those scripts has been in Data\Scripts\Source. But now, for whatever goddamn reason, SSE CK requires source files to be in Data\Source\Scripts. *sigh*

Welcome back to moddding with Bethesda, indeed.

The Saddle

It's been a very long time since I've done any modding in the Bethesda realms. It took so long for the Fallout 4 Creation Kit to be released I'd never even downloaded it. Yet the recent Creation Club drama got me thinking about it. Been bored in Warcraft waiting on a new content patch so I decided it's time to poke around again.

With fresh installs I naturally got an error immediately. Since I tried to use all the DLCs in Skyrim, the CK wouldn't cooperate. It's always seemed strange that by default the official tool used to create both Skyrim and Fallout doesn't support multiple masters.

Figured relearning the ins-and-outs of modding again will give me something to write about. So my first entry is about how to make the CK work the way it should. Which boils down to adding one entry to the [General] section of CreationKit.ini:

bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1

Barely worth posting but I did have to look it up. What will be next?