Mods Adding Themselves as Masters on Merge

[StupidFox]

So I'm following the instructions here to merge patches:

https://wiki.step-project.com/Merging_Patches_with_TES5Edit

 

And doing everything EXACTLY as it says, I'm running into an issue where the first patch adds itself as a master to the merged patch, so instead of having a merged patch with three DLC patches for UFO, I'm left with a merged patch with two DLC patches for UFO that still has the first DLC patch I used to create it as a master.

So I'm running UFO, UFO DG, UFO DB, and UFO HF.

I go to merge them in TES5Edit per instructions, starting with UFO DG since it's the first patch on the list. I Deep copy as override into a New file (UFO DLC Patches) and then repeat and add UFO DB and UFO HF into the same file.
I save the mod, turn it on, move the UFO DG, DB, and HF esps to optional in UFO... and the new patch I created (UFO DLC Patches) says "missing master, UFO DG".

 

So what's going wrong here?
I thought the point was to make those three patches into ONE patch, not then also need to keep the first one turned on separately?

[Astakos]

Well, TBH, I did not know about this STEP article...having a quick look at it here are my first comments regarding your case:

 

1. This STEP article is targeted to manually merging patches...although I am not using UFO I have the feeling the UFO DG, UFO HF and UFO DB are not patches but mod extensions to cover the DLCs. Therefore, the procedure you just follow will not work as, I assume, there are new records in i.e. UFO DG, that cannot break the master dependency of UFO DG.esp using the "Deep copy as Override into..." command.
2. Instead of following this procedure, get yourself accustomed to learning how to merge plugins with "Merge Plugins Standalone" from mator. It is really extremely powerful. There are numerous guidelines and comments within STEP forums on how to accomplish this.

[StupidFox]

Awesome. Thanks. I'll look into it.

[Kelmych]

That small guide was written before the Merge Plugins utility was available. For many merges the new tool is sufficient since it can handle merging mods that add new FormID content. If several of the mods being merged add or modify navmeshes then an additional process may be needed. An excellent tutorial for this task is available in the forum section (specifically forum 5) on the Nexus page for the Expanded Towns and Cities mod.