bug Merged mods esp that still needs the original mods?

[PoorUnluckyOne]

I have recently discovered the world of merging plugins, after so many years pf playing Skyrim, using Mod Organizer, LOOT, FNIS and so on. But I have never merged a single mod before. So, I watched GamerPoets tutorial about "Merging Plugins Standalone" (nexus index 69905) and followed every direction it gave. I started creating merged .esp the same way it is shown at the video and proceeding to deactivate plugins in M.O. in order to create a new game and play (because starting a game with mods activated is not advised...), I also deactivated the plugins of those mods I have already merged, for the new merged .esp should work fine.

 

But no. The first of the new merged pluging, created through Merging Plugins, gave me a warning that master files were missing. Those masterfiles were the very same plugins that I merged together to create the merged plugin. That has no sense. It happened to me for all the merged plugins I have created. For example, the armor pack of merged armor mods that I created needed each old individual plugin to be activated: Stormlord Armor, Armor of Intrigue, Talos Housecarl... even when I merged all of them together in one.

 

I followed each and every step provided by the Nexus page, the STEP guide, the GamerPoets youtube video, rebuilding merges again doing other things, following again the guides, touching the .ini files... everything. Even the logs says that all went well (all the merge logs says: "adding masters... done adding masters", so no master were added in any merge), but this artificial master file dependency goes on. I have gone desperate for help, even to ask for it in the tutorial video. Not even my father, a true magician of the Net and the Motherboards, found the root of this problem.

 

Help, I beg you...

[Kelmych]

After you create the merged plugin using Merge Plugins try looking at the plugin with TES5Edit. Include the plugin in an MO profile and then start TES5Edit with Mod Organizer (I'm assuming you have setup TES5Edit as an executable in MO) and select only the new merged plugin. You can look at the file header record and it will show all of the master files for the plugin. After merging plugins the new merged plugin should not include in the list of Masters any of the plugins that were merged.

[PoorUnluckyOne]

After you create the merged plugin using Merge Plugins try looking at the plugin with TES5Edit. Include the plugin in an MO profile and then start TES5Edit with Mod Organizer (I'm assuming you have setup TES5Edit as an executable in MO) and select only the new merged plugin. You can look at the file header record and it will show all of the master files for the plugin. After merging plugins the new merged plugin should not include in the list of Masters any of the plugins that were merged.

I do have TES5edit and running as an executable through MO, yes, but I barely know how to use it. I just used it to clean the game and expansion plugins for errors and itm, i think it was called. Or equal to master records or something like that. Even without TES5edit I looked into the merged plugins esp with the notepad and discovered that, at the top of the file they had some or all of the old plugins as masters, along with the Skyrim plugin and the expansions when needed. Only the 3 plugins of my Realistic Nights merge doesnt have the old plugins as masters, but I created it the exactly same way as the others that do not work properly.

 

I will use TES5edit anyway and somehow, because I still dont know what to do when I open it, and look into what you have told me. After that, what do you say I should do? I think that what you say in your post is to comfirm the master files needed for the new merged plugin, isnt it?

[Kelmych]

I wanted you to check whether the merged plugin shows the plugins that were merged as masters in the merged plugin. Have you tried merging just two plugins to see what happens in a simple case. Also, you haven't provided any specific examples of what you are merging; it would help to see this. If, for example, you are merging a plugin that is a master for other plugins not included in the merge then there will be problems.

[PoorUnluckyOne]

I wanted you to check whether the merged plugin shows the plugins that were merged as masters in the merged plugin. Have you tried merging just two plugins to see what happens in a simple case. Also, you haven't provided any specific examples of what you are merging; it would help to see this. If, for example, you are merging a plugin that is a master for other plugins not included in the merge then there will be problems.

Ok, now I get it. After using TES5edit on my merged plugins it show that the individual merged plugins that are included inside the merge are also marked as master files alongside with the Skyrim.esm and the Dawnguard.esm and Dragonborn.esm when the mods require them. In some cases it is just one of the original .esp that are flagged as master, as it happens with my merge of Enhanced Blood, a single mod that comes with 3 different .esp; in this case, only the core .esp is a master (I hope that the image attached to this post can be seen, it is a screenshot of the merge info in TES5edit).  When trying to merge two single mods or their.esp, the result is the same, old .esp flagged as masterfiles.

 

And about the merges I have created so far, here they come: 

 

 

Pack de Armaduras (armor pack): bikini armor, Triss armor, Baraban steel helms, Baraban steel plate, baraban dawnguard, talos housecarl, armor of intrigue, Stormlord, cloaks of skyrim, cloaks dawnguard, bandolier

 

Pack de armas (weapon pack): Billyros weapons, Merc nord shields, ceremonial greatsword, historically acurate weapons, MGsword, Loners sword, unique uniques.

 

Lugares mejorados (enhanced locations): better morthal/ravenrock/dawnstar/docks of solitude , complete skyforge, winterhold gate, riverwood gate, underforge entrance, beakcoast cave star wars easter egg

 

Realistic waters two: five .esp less the main one, it seems that people in the forums says that it must not be merged

 

Estética (aestetics): eyes of beauty, brows, beards. 

 

Map Merged: quality world map (icepenguin), Atlas legendary, atlas compass

 

Bijin + Seranaholic: bijin warmaidens, bijin wives, bijin npc, seranaholic serana, seranaholic valerica

 

Combat evolved: core esp, enemy poison, magic and spell, stealth

 

RealisticNights: realisticnights.esp, realisticnightsDG.esp, realisticnightsDG.esp

 

 

To answer your question about a master file being inside of a merged plugin: none of my merges have a plugin that is required as a master file for a mod outside that very same merge. After watching the GamerPoets tutorial I tried not to mess around mods that need other mods as masters, and if they have, I also tried to put them into the same merge, not outside, if possible. This makes my problem, at least to me, really awkward, because this master files issue happens even with my weapons and armors merged plugins; those kind of mods, as far as I am aware of, do not need any other file to work properly that themselves. And yet, when I deactivate the individual plugins of the Ceremonial Gratsword, Billyro's weapons, Loner's sword and so on to activate the merged weapons plugin, it warns me that master files are missing, and that are that very same weapon plugin that I just deactivated.