Espifying

[Pwnisher]

When Converting mods through the Creation Kit some will have masters that are esps but the Creation Kit requires these to be esms or flagged as esms. This can be achieved through a process called esmifiying this will be done using Wrye Bash:

Open Wrye Bash
Right clcik on the esp you wish to esmify.
From the menu you should notice esmify self left click on it
Exit Wrye Bash
Close and Reopen Mod Organizer 2 to refresh it.
Now you can open and save the esp you wish to convert in the Creation Kit.

Following these instructions posted on a mod guide, however after doing so I am unable to set the plugin as active in the CK, so I must be missing something. If anyone is able to elaborate on the process I'd be grateful.

[neuralnetwork]

After you esmify the plugin, it is place in your overwrite folder. Move the esp (which is flagged as esm now even though the file extension still reads .esp) to the proper mod it was originally a part of by dragging and dropping.

MO2 utilizes this overwrite folder since it never molests your /data. Therefore, often times file edits are placed in overwrite folder and you must manually deal with them. Most of the time this means moving them to the proper mod.

Remember to remove the esm flag from the plugin after you've done your things. This again will toss the plugin to your overwrite and you must drag n' drop it to the correct mod.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

After you esmify the plugin, it is place in your overwrite folder. Move the esp (which is flagged as esm now even though the file extension still reads .esp) to the proper mod it was originally a part of by dragging and dropping.

MO2 utilizes this overwrite folder since it never molests your /data. Therefore, often times file edits are placed in overwrite folder and you must manually deal with them. Most of the time this means moving them to the proper mod.

Remember to remove the esm flag from the plugin after you've done your things. This again will toss the plugin to your overwrite and you must drag n' drop it to the correct mod.

Yeah I've move the new esp from overwrite to the mod, but in CK it does not allow me to set it as an active plugin because it is now a master and not a plugin.

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Yeah I've move the new esp from overwrite to the mod, but in CK it does not allow me to set it as an active plugin because it is now a master and not a plugin.

Then I misunderstood your intentions. I thought you wanted to esmify a plugin in order to be able to activate another plugin that depends on it.

You can't set .esm files as active. If you have an .esp, just open it and resave. If it requires masters that are .esp - esmify the required files.
If you have an .esm that needs conversion, espify it. Same process as esmifying but in reverse.

If you want to tell which mod is in question, I might have time later today to check it.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Yeah I've move the new esp from overwrite to the mod, but in CK it does not allow me to set it as an active plugin because it is now a master and not a plugin.

Then I misunderstood your intentions. I thought you wanted to esmify a plugin in order to be able to activate another plugin that depends on it.

You can't set .esm files as active. If you have an .esp, just open it and resave. If it requires masters that are .esp - esmify the required files.
If you have an .esm that needs conversion, espify it. Same process as esmifying but in reverse.

If you want to tell which mod is in question, I might have time later today to check it.

So, not doing this to the plugin to be converted, but to its master (which must be turned on to convert) which is an esp rather than esm?

This is the conversion in question:

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

PS: Thanks in advance for the help btw.

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

So, not doing this to the plugin to be converted, but to its master (which must be turned on to convert) which is an esp rather than esm?

Let's say you have a house mod plugin. CoolHouse.esp

This house mod depends on a tree mod master file. BestTrees.esm

This is all oldrim and you want to convert your house mod to SSE.

Install the BestTrees.esm.
Install CoolHouse.esp.
Open CK and tick the box for BestTrees.esm & CoolHouse.esp. Set CoolHouse.esp as active. Resave CoolHouse.esp

Now, open Wrye Bash or xEdit and espify BestTrees.esm.
Open CK and tick BestTrees and set as active file. Resave.
Revert the espifying process on BestTrees.esm

Now both BestTrees.esm and CoolHouse.esp are converted to form 44 and should work without issues in SSE unless there's other things to consider like mesh optimization etc but that's another story.

Edit:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

This is the conversion in question:

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

PS: Thanks in advance for the help btw.

I'll check this a bit later on.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

So, not doing this to the plugin to be converted, but to its master (which must be turned on to convert) which is an esp rather than esm?

Let's say you have a house mod plugin. CoolHouse.esp

This house mod depends on a tree mod master file. BestTrees.esm

This is all oldrim and you want to convert your house mod to SSE.

Install the BestTrees.esm.
Install CoolHouse.esp.
Open CK and tick the box for BestTrees.esm & CoolHouse.esp. Set CoolHouse.esp as active. Resave CoolHouse.esp

Now, open Wrye Bash or xEdit and espify BestTrees.esm.
Open CK and tick BestTrees and set as active file. Resave.
Revert the espifying process on BestTrees.esm

Now both BestTrees.esm and CoolHouse.esp are converted to form 44 and should work without issues in SSE unless there's other things to consider like mesh optimization etc but that's another story.

Edit:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

This is the conversion in question:

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

PS: Thanks in advance for the help btw.

I'll check this a bit later on.

Nope nothing else noted anout nif or anything, just the conversion and pre conversion esmify

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

So, not doing this to the plugin to be converted, but to its master (which must be turned on to convert) which is an esp rather than esm?

This is the conversion in question:

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

PS: Thanks in advance for the help btw.

You're in luck. The whole process is unnecessary as the files you're trying to convert are already in SSE format. You'll find them on nexus at

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9121 BDS
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/518 NSUTR

Better Dynamic Snow has the patch built in, just tick the box when running the fomod installer.

I presume you had some oldrim files since you ran into the WB complaint. Wrye Bash scans the form version of your plugins and notifies you about 43 (the oldrim structure).
The esmifying solution you gave refers to BDS and NSUTR esp's because the patch file Better Dynamic Snow -NSUTR Patch.esp uses those plugins as master. You can check this in MO2 as well when you hover your mouse over the plugin list on the right.

On Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp it should read enabled masters: Better Dynamic Snow.esp, Prometheus_No_Snow_Under_The_Roof.esp, Skyrim.esm (what I tried on the SSE version at least)

So in order to edit the oldrim patch, you need to open CK and load the patch plugin and all it's associated masters. In this case they are the two esp's and skyrim.esm. Since .esp isn't a master, the .esp plugins require esmifying to make CK play nice.

The fix is unnecessary as you can just download the ready SE conversions from the links above but if you're interested, this is how you would've done it:

Download Better Dynamic Snow.
Download No Snow Under The Roof.
Download Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch (if it's not with the main oldrim file).

Open Wrye Bash or xEdit.
Esmify Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Esmify No Snow Under The Roof.esp

Open CK. Tick the box for Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Tick the box for No Snow Under The Roof.esp
Tick the box for Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp
Set Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp as active file.
Click ok. Save the file & exit CK.

Back to WB / xEdit.
Espify Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Espify No Snow Under The Roof.esp

Done. Now your patch would be ready for Special Edition. But again, save yourself the headache and just grab the SSE files and you're good to go.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

So, not doing this to the plugin to be converted, but to its master (which must be turned on to convert) which is an esp rather than esm?

This is the conversion in question:

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

PS: Thanks in advance for the help btw.

You're in luck. The whole process is unnecessary as the files you're trying to convert are already in SSE format. You'll find them on nexus at

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9121 BDS
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/518 NSUTR

Better Dynamic Snow has the patch built in, just tick the box when running the fomod installer.

I presume you had some oldrim files since you ran into the WB complaint. Wrye Bash scans the form version of your plugins and notifies you about 43 (the oldrim structure).
The esmifying solution you gave refers to BDS and NSUTR esp's because the patch file Better Dynamic Snow -NSUTR Patch.esp uses those plugins as master. You can check this in MO2 as well when you hover your mouse over the plugin list on the right.

On Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp it should read enabled masters: Better Dynamic Snow.esp, Prometheus_No_Snow_Under_The_Roof.esp, Skyrim.esm (what I tried on the SSE version at least)

So in order to edit the oldrim patch, you need to open CK and load the patch plugin and all it's associated masters. In this case they are the two esp's and skyrim.esm. Since .esp isn't a master, the .esp plugins require esmifying to make CK play nice.

The fix is unnecessary as you can just download the ready SE conversions from the links above but if you're interested, this is how you would've done it:

Download Better Dynamic Snow.
Download No Snow Under The Roof.
Download Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch (if it's not with the main oldrim file).

Open Wrye Bash or xEdit.
Esmify Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Esmify No Snow Under The Roof.esp

Open CK. Tick the box for Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Tick the box for No Snow Under The Roof.esp
Tick the box for Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp
Set Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR patch.esp as active file.
Click ok. Save the file & exit CK.

Back to WB / xEdit.
Espify Better Dynamic Snow.esp
Espify No Snow Under The Roof.esp

Done. Now your patch would be ready for Special Edition. But again, save yourself the headache and just grab the SSE files and you're good to go.

Both mods in said guide are linked for SSE, not oldrim. However they are still noted with the special instructions I posted earlier. So is that an oversight by the author of the guide or a legitimate fix that needs to be done?

http://wiki.step-project.com/User:DarkladyLexy/Lexys_LOTD_SE#NPC_Retextures

Above is the guides link, if you wanna check what it says yourself for some context perhaps.

update, better yet here is there entire section for that particular mod.

[Better Dynamic Snow SE]
CORE ConvertedBetter Dynamic Snow SE - 2.7.0 - by SparrowPrince
Files to download :

MAIN FILES - Better Dynamic Snow SE v2.7.0
[Expand] FOMOD Instructions
Better Dynamic Snow
Mod Notes: This mod Replaces the default snow shader with a dynamic shader.

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about Better Dynamic Snow - NSUTR Patch.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit this stop Wrye Bash Complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Better Dynamic Snow and No Snow Under The Roof after converting.

Loot Metadata Update Required:
Better Dynamic Snow.esp - Load After Prometheus_No_snow_Under_the_roof.esp

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Both mods in said guide are linked for SSE, not oldrim. However they are still noted with the special instructions I posted earlier. So is that an oversight by the author of the guide or a legitimate fix that needs to be done?

http://wiki.step-project.com/User:DarkladyLexy/Lexys_LOTD_SE#NPC_Retextures

Above is the guides link, if you wanna check what it says yourself for some context perhaps.

Oversight or outdated information I guess. I ran the files in xEdit and they're all in form 44.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Both mods in said guide are linked for SSE, not oldrim. However they are still noted with the special instructions I posted earlier. So is that an oversight by the author of the guide or a legitimate fix that needs to be done?

http://wiki.step-project.com/User:DarkladyLexy/Lexys_LOTD_SE#NPC_Retextures

Above is the guides link, if you wanna check what it says yourself for some context perhaps.

Oversight or outdated information I guess. I ran the files in xEdit and they're all in form 44.

Okay I'll skip it on that one then, the only other one I saw with that note is this:

[Unique Border Gates SE]
CORE Converted Unique Border Gates SE - 2.5 - by Kelsenellenelvian
Files to download :

MAIN FILES - Unique Border Gates All
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Better DG Entrance - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Point The Way - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - UniqueBorderGates - Beyond Skyrim Bruma - Patch
Mod Notes: Unique Border Gates redesigns the border crossings of Cyrodill, Hammerfell and Morrowind by adding new, unique and immersive gates. No two are alike and I believe the design reflects the area well.

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Point The Way and Unique Border Gates before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about UniqueBorderGates-All-PointTheWay.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit to stop Wrye Bash complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Point The Way and Unique Border Gates after converting.

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Okay I'll skip it on that one then, the only other one I saw with that note is this:

[Unique Border Gates SE]
CORE Converted Unique Border Gates SE - 2.5 - by Kelsenellenelvian
Files to download :

MAIN FILES - Unique Border Gates All
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Better DG Entrance - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Point The Way - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - UniqueBorderGates - Beyond Skyrim Bruma - Patch
Mod Notes: Unique Border Gates redesigns the border crossings of Cyrodill, Hammerfell and Morrowind by adding new, unique and immersive gates. No two are alike and I believe the design reflects the area well.

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Point The Way and Unique Border Gates before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about UniqueBorderGates-All-PointTheWay.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit to stop Wrye Bash complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Point The Way and Unique Border Gates after converting.

Yup, same story. The patches use the basic mod .esp files as masters so you must esmify the core mod plugins. Otherwise you can't load the patch in CK as it'll go nuts when it can't find the necessary .esm(ified) files.

I don't know if that one is converted to SSE in full but you can easily check that by running Wrye Bash. It'll tell you right on startup if you have form 43 present in your load order. Alternatively you can use xEdit's scripts but using WB is faster if that's all you're doing.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Okay I'll skip it on that one then, the only other one I saw with that note is this:

[Unique Border Gates SE]
CORE Converted Unique Border Gates SE - 2.5 - by Kelsenellenelvian
Files to download :

MAIN FILES - Unique Border Gates All
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Better DG Entrance - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - Unique Border Gates All - Point The Way - Patch
OPTIONAL FILES - UniqueBorderGates - Beyond Skyrim Bruma - Patch
Mod Notes: Unique Border Gates redesigns the border crossings of Cyrodill, Hammerfell and Morrowind by adding new, unique and immersive gates. No two are alike and I believe the design reflects the area well.

Manual Creation Kit Editing Required:
Idiot Check: Make sure you esmifiy Point The Way and Unique Border Gates before converting.

Problem:Wrye Bash will complain about UniqueBorderGates-All-PointTheWay.esp when generating the Bash Patch.
Solution: Load and save the plugin in the Creation Kit to stop Wrye Bash complaining.
Idiot Check: Make sure you re-espify Point The Way and Unique Border Gates after converting.

Yup, same story. The patches use the basic mod .esp files as masters so you must esmify the core mod plugins. Otherwise you can't load the patch in CK as it'll go nuts when it can't find the necessary .esm(ified) files.

I don't know if that one is converted to SSE in full but you can easily check that by running Wrye Bash. It'll tell you right on startup if you have form 43 present in your load order. Alternatively you can use xEdit's scripts but using WB is faster if that's all you're doing.

Checked in wb and only one mod is showing as an older plugin, no mod dependencies on that one however, since its just eyebrows. So the other 2 should be good to go without the conversion?

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Checked in wb and only one mod is showing as an older plugin, no mod dependencies on that one however, since its just eyebrows. So the other 2 should be good to go without the conversion?

If WB doesn't say anything about old version plugins then yes, there's no need to convert as it's already been done.

If you want to verify the form version you can open xEdit and check it. Click the plugin on the left pane and select "file header". You'll see the form version on the right pane.

[Pwnisher]

Originally posted by neuralnetwork:

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Checked in wb and only one mod is showing as an older plugin, no mod dependencies on that one however, since its just eyebrows. So the other 2 should be good to go without the conversion?

If WB doesn't say anything about old version plugins then yes, there's no need to convert as it's already been done.

If you want to verify the form version you can open xEdit and check it. Click the plugin on the left pane and select "file header". You'll see the form version on the right pane.

Done both are 44. Guess it's a mistake. Guess I'll find out when I'm finished and create my bashed patch, as the noted specified that the issues were noticed when generating. Not sure exactly yet what the errors are/will be. But thanks for the assist anyways, much appreciated.

[neuralnetwork]

Originally posted by Buck.Wild:

Done both are 44. Guess it's a mistake. Guess I'll find out when I'm finished and create my bashed patch, as the noted specified that the issues were noticed when generating. Not sure exactly yet what the errors are/will be. But thanks for the assist anyways, much appreciated.

You're welcome.

WB won't complain. The whole point of this esmifying/espifying and CK saving is to update the record structure from oldrim to SSE and in this case it's been done already.

What I'm guessing is that although many people have updated their mods, patches are a bit of a wild card. There's thousands upon thousands of mods so patches for them all are a nightmare to manage.
Thus it often falls upon the individual to make/keep track of his/her own patches. Some mod authors do a selected few by popular demand or because they feel like it. In this case these two snow mods play well together so it's natural that the patch has been updated.

When you run WB and build your bashed patch, it'll ask you to deactivate the BDS-NSUTR patch.esp. Agree to this (and others it asks - generally speaking) since that's pretty much the point of the bash. You effectively forward records from several plugins into one building a single superpatch to save some .esp slots.
Another good thing about bashed patch is the ability to have several mods that use leveled lists work together.

As a side note, you might want to look into merge plugin. That thing allows you to merge entire mods with assets and all.

Running a bashed patch isn't any arcane knowledge. You can (and probably will) build a bashed patch several times. It won't break your game in any way since you're using MO2. If your BP is faulty, you can always delete the bashed patch and re-enable your plugins in the right pane of MO2.

In any case, glad you got this sorted.

Edit:

Oh, I was wrong. I just ran the snow mods into my BP for the heck of it and whaddaya know, there indeed is an error. I was pretty sure the resaving was simply about old form. First time I've seen an error like this.

Well, according to this, the resaving is still in order. Interesting.