Can you create a merge patch of a merge patch?

[aqwimage]

So I have a ton of patch mods and people told me not to merge ALL mods patches together since they might override somethign. So if I do the following is it ok?

1.) Legacy of the dragon born patch merge

2.) ETAC merge

3.) another mods merge

and than making a merge patch of those 3 mods.

 

 

[baronaatista]

... You can make a merge PATCH but cannot merge merged mods.  As you've described, one way or another you will end up with at least 4 .esp's.

[godescalcus]

I've never merged all ETAC mods, did you do the merge yourself? It sounds like some navmesh fixing would be required after the merge, as merging two or more plugins containing navmesh will break the navmesh for most. Jenna does have a rather long article explaining how to do it in the CK but I've never done it, really. I just don't merge two navmeshed plugins together.

 

Merge Plugins Standalone should allow for merging merged mods, but you'll need resolve any conflicts in xEdit prior to merging or the "rule of one" will determine that the last mod wins any override. It's usually a good practice before making any merge, anyway. It's also possible to run mator's Smash and make a smashed patch for the plugins you'll be merging, then check that everything's consistent in xEdit and merge the smashed patch in as well. It may happen that the smashed patch doesn't have any records, that would mean there are likely no conflicts within the mods you're trying to merge. Naturally, you don't need to merge the smashed patch in if it doesn't have any records.

[Mator]

Merged patch != merged plugin.  Merge Plugins Standalone does not allow you to merge merged plugins because it's an unnecessary layer of complexity.  If all of the plugins can be contiguous in your load order then just put them all into one merge from the start.  There's no good reason to have three merges as an intermediate step.

[baronaatista]

I wasn’t sure if OP meant like an xEdit merge patch is all. You could make merge / bash / smash patch of merged plugins for conflict resolution.