Hi folks. I'm in a course where we are tasked with building a mod as a group using the Creation Kit. We were told to make individual esp files, since using one file for the entire class would not work due to time requirements, and we couldn't get version control to work for everyone.

Now we have about 20 esp files, some with cells, some with worldspaces, all using a shared esm file of new models and textures that our artists in the class created. I'm tasked with merging them all into one esp and one esm, and I could really use some advice/tips.

I'm using the recent version of TES5Edit (Nov 21st, I think), and I also have TESVSnip and TESVGecko. I'm familiar with the basic functions of these programs. I use TES5Edit for almost everything, and I've been able to do a lot of the merge work with it.

The problem is, I can't seem to copy Cells or Worldspaces over with TES5Edit, and if I use TESVSnip some of the references to Form IDs break. I know TESVSnip is not recommended for other reasons, but it seems to be the only program that will copy Cells and Worldspaces to a new file. I tried loading the esps in the CK and saving it to a new esp too, but it only saved basic Worldspace info, not all the data contained in cells or worldspaces.

Since I am certain that I am doing it wrong and I'm too close and tangled up in the process to see the correct method now, I really need some advice from folks who have done this recently. Could anyone give me a brief walk-through of the best way to merge mods that use the same .esm for new objects and assets, but also use internal esp references to other objects and cells/worldspaces? I have looked up other methods, but so far I keep messing things up and I have to go through and hand-change dozens or hundreds of Form IDs. So, I'm not certain if what I'm doing is the best or correct way to do it and I would truly appreciate any help or tips that could help me from this point in the project.

Also, for what it's worth, I advised our professor against having so many esp files, but it's his class, and his decision, and he is not very familiar with the CK. Since I am the only person who knows anything about the CK beyond making areas and monsters, I am the only person they have who can salvage the entire project at this point. I have searched extensively on this topic, but I have not found a very concise or recent answer. I will hand-change every Form ID if I have to, but I am just looking for some advice to save me a bit of sanity. Thanks for reading all this, and I'm sorry if it comes across as frazzled, it's been a very stressful task.

With TES5Edit, you need to first add a common master to all the plugins you want to merge, then multiselect all their forms and R-Click > Change FormID to... "Common Master.ESM" such that all FormID's will be in the range of said common master before copying anything. By default, all references to the forms (save scripts currently as VMAD isn't done) will be updated to retain the reference info. From there, you'll have injecting forms which can be "copied as override into" the common master. Merge upward and not downward, that is copy forms into an earlier loading plugin from consecutively loaded plugins or you can and will end up with bashing FormIDs (where two forms have the same FormID).