Merge plugins that come with .string files.

[tnu]

Is there a trick to this or is it just not possible? I've been trying to merge together a few crafting mods but for ones that come with .string files once the merge is complete I keep getting names of objects, recipes, etc replaced with <No string> errors. I try copying the strings folders over to the new merge with no luck. Is there a trick to this that I"m misisng?

[Mator]

What game are you merging plugins for?

 

I don't honestly know exactly how string files work.  How does the game decide to load a string file, and how are IDs assigned to items?  If you can figure this out you should be able to answer your question on your own.  A merged plugin is just a plugin, so if you know how strings files work for plugins in general, getting them to work with a merged plugin should be trivial.

[tnu]

SKyrim. Unfortuantley I don't know anything about how it works either. but it leads to the names of items being broken. I can try and show you a screenshot if  it will help.

[Mator]

SKyrim. Unfortuantley I don't know anything about how it works either. but it leads to the names of items being broken. I can try and show you a screenshot if  it will help.

A screenshot doesn't help much, unfortunately.  If you tell me what mods you're merging I can investigate it at some future point in time.

 

I think you should be able to find some kind of guide somewhere which explains how string files work.  My initial thought is that they may be file-specific assets, meaning if your plugin was named MyMergedPlugin.esp, the string file would have to be named MyMergedPlugin_en.strings to be loaded by the game (that would be the english strings file, replace _en with whatever language suffix is used on the string file currently).

[tnu]

A screenshot doesn't help much, unfortunately.  If you tell me what mods you're merging I can investigate it at some future point in time.

 

I think you should be able to find some kind of guide somewhere which explains how string files work.  My initial thought is that they may be file-specific assets, meaning if your plugin was named MyMergedPlugin.esp, the string file would have to be named MyMergedPlugin_en.strings to be loaded by the game (that would be the english strings file, replace _en with whatever language suffix is used on the string file currently).

That seems likely I can to a veyr basic test of that Unfortunately it's not a solution just yet. If you're right, and I suspect you may be, i'd have to figure out how to create a rband new string file that merges the string files of the exisitng mods.

[tnu]

Can't figure out how to edit my post otherw is e I'd dpo that but 'll just post m y findings. tried renaming one of the exisit ng.string files as well as using TES5Edit to generate new ones no luck.

[Greg]

If I understand it correctly, it's basically looking for a file name modname_language.strings, modname_language.dlstrings, and modname_language.ilstriings where modname is the name of the esm or esp file (without the extension) and language is something like english, german, french, etc. As an example, the dawnguard.esm string files on my system are dawnguard_english.dlstrings, dawnguard_english.ilstrings, and dawnguard_english.strings. I don't remember offhand the differences between dlstrings, ilstrings, and strings.

[Greg]

I went back through some really old code that deals with strings and found that the localized string reference is a FormID in the mod, so you might make a note of this if you renumber FormIDs when merging mods.

[tnu]

I don't renumber formids as far as I know. I just use thep rocess that comes with Mator's tool

[Mator]

I don't renumber formids as far as I know. I just use thep rocess that comes with Mator's tool

Merge Plugins renumbers form IDs.  It's necessary when there would be a formID conflict.

[tnu]

Merge Plugins renumbers form IDs.  It's necessary when there would be a formID conflict.

Good to know, that probably has something to do with it like Greg said. So yeah not sure if there's a way to account for that.

[Mator]

Good to know, that probably has something to do with it like Greg said. So yeah not sure if there's a way to account for that.

You'd have to edit the strings file.  Merge Plugins saves a map file in the merge folder which has renumbered formIDs in the format oldFormID=newFormID.

[tnu]

the only th ing in the map fileis each merged ESP followed by =0 what does tht mean?

[Mator]

That means that no formIDs were renumbered.

[tnu]

That means that no formIDs were renumbered.

 

 

That makes this even more confusing. I"m so sorry for causing you so much grief.

[Mator]

All good dude.  At the very least I now know that I need to tackle handling string files as file specific assets in zMerge.  :)