Note about .mod files...

[Sithspecter 909]

I recently discovered that when creating a new area or reskinning an old one, you can put all the model, texture, lightmap, vis, and lyt files in the .mod file. It will still run fine in the game with no negative effects.

 

What this does is make mods far easier to install and more importantly, uninstall. No more cluttered override with dozens of models and hundreds of lightmaps for each module. Just a simple, packed file.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

True, but what about conflicting files?

[Sithspecter 909]

I suppose that conflicting files would work alright to some extent, but I haven't tested that out much.

 

2DA files and the like would still need to go in the override folder.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Sithspecter

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

The same file within two different .mod files

Or are you just talking about assets for creating new areas?

[Sithspecter 909]

Mostly just assets for creating new areas. Not like putting every single mod in a .mod file.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

I thought you meant grouping certain assets together in a .mod file. That probably would be a good practice.

[Sithspecter 909]

What other assets would you do that with? To me it seems like this would be best suited for mods with new modules. Maybe you could do an ERF and that would be different.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Well, does adding .mod files to the override work for anything? I was thinking along those lines.

Because if that were the case, you could put various textures, utis or utcs and scripts I guess..?

[DeadMan 103]

 

 

Well, does adding .mod files to the override work for anything?

AFAIK, the game ignores *.mod files in the Override.

[Sithspecter 909]

Well, does adding .mod files to the override work for anything? I was thinking along those lines.

 

Because if that were the case, you could put various textures, utis or utcs and scripts I guess..?

 

Probably not, though I haven't tested it out.

[Fair Strides 509]

Probably not, though I haven't tested it out.

I believe the practical application of this new development is for custom areas or hex-edited reused areas.

 

The important difference between the traditional method and this development is that one can effectively put the .wok, .lyt, .vis, .mdl, and .mdx files for an area into the .mod inside the modules folder.

 

This creates a solution to the endless clutter that develops from having multiple custom modules installed. The only things that one should not pack into the .mod files are unaltered files that are shared among modules*, .2da files, .gui files, and any textures mapped onto two different modules' models.

 

*: What I mean by "unaltered files that are shared among modules" is quite simple. Say I have a .utc for a person spawned by a script. I want to use the guy in two different modules, with the same info, scripts, and dialogues. So instead of increasing the file size of the mod(admittedly by a few KB), I'd keep it in the override folder.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

TSLPatcher allows fine adding to .mod-files (I use it almost exclusively in my mods, no having to deal with similarly named files in override and the joys that gives).

.MOD allows *some* .mdx/.mdl, but not all. You probably want to keep most of those in the override still or deal with non-working or plain crashing errors.

[Sithspecter 909]

The real take-away from this is what Fair Strides said. Multiple custom modules. A reskinned area can have dozens, if not hundreds, of files that normally go in the override folder. Any .vis, .lyt, .tga, .mdl, .mdx, .wok or .txi files used for the area model can be included. If you've got a mod like Brotherhood of Shadow installed with numerous custom modules, there are potentially thousands of files in the override folder that could be simplified by including them in the .mod file. Trying to dig through that override is a nightmare.

 

This is really just me trying to encourage people to start putting their module assets in the individual .mod files as opposed to duming the whole lot in the override folder, where it creates clutter.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

*cough* M4-78EP *cough*

[Sithspecter 909]

Probably BOS:SR as well.

[LDR 234]

Has this been tested to actually work?

[Sithspecter 909]

Yes. I've compiled an entire reskinned area in one .mod file. Nothing in override.