how do you edit esm?

[JuJuRadahnTheDon]

I'm trying to edit a spell in a mod with a esm but it's a lot harder than doing it on a esp. The spell saves and looks fine in CK but it doesnt work properly in game. I tried creating a esp with wyre bash and sse edit but my spell still doesn't function. Can you tell me how to edit in a esm the same way I can edit a esp?

[marstinson]

Short answer is you don't. You make an esp or esl that uses the esm as a master and go from there. You load up the appropriate master(s) in the CK, change whatever you think needs to be changed, and then save those changes as their own file.

[MysticMalevolence]

You open the file in xEdit, remove the ESM flag in the header file, then you change the file extension to .esp. Later you do this backwards to revert.
Alternatively, you download SSE Creation Kit Fixes and enable editing master files in its .ini file.

[JuJuRadahnTheDon]

Originally posted by MysticMalevolence:

You open the file in xEdit, remove the ESM flag in the header file, then you change the file extension to .esp. Later you do this backwards to revert.
Alternatively, you download SSE Creation Kit Fixes and enable editing master files in its .ini file.

Yea I figured it out last night. In Wyre bash you "copy to esp" then edit in ck then "copy to esm" BUT DONT REPLACE THE ORIGINAL ESM. That was my issue. I kept reverting but I replaced the original esm instead of overwriting it. I know how to create mods with the original Skyrim.esm/dlc esm(s) but when I tried creating a mod with the mod Vigilant.esm my edits wouldn't change. that's weird but most likely something I missing.