Anybody knows how to pack correctly/properly a BSA file?

[lupus_hegemonia]

Hello to all.

So, I'm trying with some friends they helping me out, to unpack (I did it) the official BSA files... open them... replace ALL the textures with much much more better (from my mods, CC mods, FrankFamily mods, etc - a lot great textures modders) and then TO RE-PACK THEM BACK as BSA and simply... replace the official BSA files with the new ones!

With this... I'll save A LOT loading time (since all the textures will be pack back in the BSAs.

I tried with the Cathedral Asset Optimizer, after some notes few friends gave me... done the process (after few weeks!)... replaced the bsa with the new bsa files... the result was magnificent... but I had CTDs after a while. So I probably re-packed them back to BSA wrongly.

Any advice, please?

[Chef]

Did those files get larger? There is a limit on how large they can be. Archive2 for Fallout 4 will split them automatically based on size, but Archive will not. I could have sworn the limit is somewhere around 2gb.

[lupus_hegemonia]

Nope, the CAO (Cathedral Asset Optimizer) actually makes them smaller.

[lupus_hegemonia]

This is actually a VERY ambition project.
Think about it. A "Realistic Skyrim Overhaul" (as that notorious mod)... over 20GBs larger (now)... packed in the official bsa files in less than 4GBs!

We all save tones of plugin slots, simply by replacing the official bsa files.

[Chef]

You could take all those textures, pack them into their own bsa's, and then load them with a esp with the ESL flag. Two advantages to that would be that you wouldnt have to touch the base game files, and the plugin wouldnt count against the 254 limit.

As far as teh crashing, I would guess something got corrupted at some point. If you tried to run DynDOLOD it would error out and give you the name of the corrupted textures.

[lupus_hegemonia]

Why to run DynDolod for?

I replaced the official vanilla files. And why to make a plugin for those? My goal is not to "create a mod", but to replace the original vanilla bsa files with bsa containing MUCH BETTER textures.

[lupus_hegemonia]

Ok... question:

If I can't manage to make the "replacing bsa files"... can I "create a mod"... by placing all these files into bsa files and having a plugin (blank?) to load them?

[Wolfpack]

You could just pack everything up into a rar and do loose files too -- loose always overwrite bsa.

[lupus_hegemonia]

But that's the problem: I don't want loose files, I want them in bsa!
That's the reason I spend a month to replace all the vanilla textures carefully and separate them in the proper "bsa folders".

[Chef]

Originally posted by lupus_hegemonia:

Ok... question:

If I can't manage to make the "replacing bsa files"... can I "create a mod"... by placing all these files into bsa files and having a plugin (blank?) to load them?

Yes. Thats what I was suggesting. That way you don't touch the base game files and its much easier to fix if something goes wrong. I have taken all my loose file texture mods that I use and packed them into bsa's for Skyrim and ba2's for Fallout and then use an empty plugin with an ESL flag to load them.

Wolfpack, the biggest reason to have things packed onto bsa's is speed. A ton of loose files actually hinder game performance by a noticable margin. Th game can load archived textures much faster than loose files.

[Wolfpack]

Yeah, makes sense if you are doing a huge replacement. There's this too:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12229/

[lupus_hegemonia]

I guess I can re-pack the files in bsa by using the TESArchive.exe (in Data/Tools)?

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&biw=1638&bih=808&sxsrf=ALeKk016HUaH3PC4dMIbrR_bpZmTiRxT7w%3A1595269824081&ei=wOIVX8O_BI_7kwWq3qeQAQ&q=how+to+pack+bsa+file+with+tesarchive&oq=how+to+pack+bsa+file+with+tesarchive&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzoECCMQJzoECCEQClCPFFi-T2D1UmgGcAB4AIABjgGIAeQKkgEEMC4xMZgBAKABAaoBB2d3cy13aXrAAQE&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjDn72Zu9zqAhWP_aQKHSrvCRIQ4dUDCAw&uact=5#kpvalbx=_y-IVX-iFI9K3kwXBkKDACg19

[lupus_hegemonia]

Originally posted by Wolfpack:

Yeah, makes sense if you are doing a huge replacement. There's this too:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12229/

(That I used and didn't worked).

[lupus_hegemonia]

Perhaps I'll try this one:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/247

[MysticMalevolence]

For me CAO has worked fine aside from voice files, but I am never packing that many files at once.. I don't know what kind of settings Bethesda used to pack their own stuff with the archive(dot)exe.

If your crash is consistent in a specific area. Does that area crash if the files are loose? What if you put files from that area into a separate bsa? Basically can we certainly eliminate the possibility that something is wrong with the files?

[lupus_hegemonia]

I'll try again. Perhaps was something else.

Also as you wrote, packing 500MB or so with CAO is one thing... packing 4-5GBs (as Bethesda did) is another!!!!! Perhaps they have different method AND SETTINGS you need to do before packing so many files.