I read somewhere that packing all your mod files (ie texture, meshes, and sound folders) into bsa files will greatly decrease stuttering in the game, especially if you have thousands of files. I decided to give it a go and downloaded http://www.surfcanyon.com/search?f=sl&q=bsa%20commander&partner=wtiffeub to create two bsa files out of my sounds folder. The process went without a hitch, and I proceeded by registering the bsa files in the Oblivion ini file. From what I understand, this is done by modifying the "SArchiveList=" entry from

SArchiveList=Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Textures Compressed.bsa, Oblivion - Sounds.bsa, Oblivion - Voices1.bsa, Oblivion - Voices2.bsa, Oblivion - Misc.bsa

into

SArchiveList=S1.bsa, S2.bsa, Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Textures Compressed.bsa, Oblivion - Sounds.bsa, Oblivion - Voices1.bsa, Oblivion - Voices2.bsa, Oblivion - Misc.bsa

where S1.bsa and S2.bsa are the bsa files I created out of my data/sound folder.

Yet when I launch the game all my mods have no sound. I removed the data/sound folder (don't worry, I made a backup!) hoping the sound would load from S1.bsa and S2.bsa since I registered them in the ini, but it seems like the game its not reading them.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it not possible to pack all your mod files into bsa files and have the mods use them?

Thanks

Off the top of my head, I cannot answer the question itself (too much going on and all) but I do know that there is a character limit for the total characters after the "=". I don't think you've hit it yet, however. Also, creating BSAs in this manner increases the file count in the Data folder which count towards the upper limit (folders don't count, though). The best way to use BSAs like this, if you don't care about the file limit, is to set them to load with a plugin file.

And the performance increase by using BSAs is debatable.

FYI the limit is 255 characters. This includes .
The upper limit seems to be dependant on a system by system basis, but generally the number is 300 to 400 esp, esm, and bsa files.

@ El_Hombre86
I never had any luck with bsa commander. Something always seemed glicthy.
Try using the bsa utility in OBMM or TES4Files to create the new bsa.

Check this guide for packing files into BSA. Be sure that the files that goes into BSA is not a replacement for original otherwise the game will have hard time which files to load. Link here: http://tescosi.com/wiki/Oblivion:BSA_Repacking

Its seems the problem was using bsa commander. Bsa files made with OBMM are used by the game (this is after registering them in the ini of course), but I ran into another problem.

Since bsa files must be no larger than 2 gb, I ended up with 8 bsa files for textures only (damn you normal maps), 3 for meshes, and 2 for sounds. I deleted my texture/meshes/sounds folders (I made a backup first of course) and ran the game off these bsa files. The game is working fine for the most part save for a few minor issues (maybe more, didn't get a chance to play it for that long), my world map is back to vanilla (no color, low res) and the armor of imperial city soldiers its missing textures (appears purple in game).

I tried repacking the bsa file that contains the armor, and I know it has the texture files as I can browse to it with OBMM, but it won't show in game. Any ideas?

Like I said, if you are replacing original files from the game with whatever you are trying to use will not work properly because the game cannot decide which files to use i.e textures that replaces armor from vanilla game is no good because the game will access the vanilla BSA then look into the new ones. If you're packing files that are new contents not from the original game, then the files will be loaded properly as BSAs. If you want for example replace the legion armor texture, what you could do is extract the vanilla BSA using the OBMM and then replace the corresponding textures with the new textures and then repack it. Of course, this is not necessary if the armor texture belongs to a new armor that comes with a mod. Read the guide and it should be more clear.

I see what you mean Shinobi, thanks for the help. I will try what you suggested, will report back later, hopefully with good news.

BSAOpt is very good at repacking BSAs http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=41042

Extract it somewhere with plenty of room, drop copies of your BSAs in the In\ folder, if you dont change the destination Out\ then it will just unpack and repack the BSAs found in the In\ folder to the Out\ folder.

Edit: My apologies, you need to create an In\ and Out\ folder for this if you want to organize it better. Then just use the source and destination Browse buttons to choose those folders.

After playing a little bit with bsa files, I have run into another problem: I am trying to pack the Vanilla Races Deluxe mod into a bsa file. First, I installed the omod on a clean installation of Oblivion. Then I used obmm to pack the textures and meshes folders into a bsa file which I named Vanilla_Races_Deluxe.bsa so that it could be associated with the Vanilla_Races_Deluxe.esp. When I launch the game with the textures and meshes folders from the Vanilla_Races_Deluxe mod (without the bsa I made), everything loads without a hitch. When I delete the Vanilla_Races_Deluxe textures and meshes folders and attemtpt to load the mod files using the bsa I made via the Vanilla_Races_Deluxe.esp, meshes load fine but the game is reverting to the default vanilla face textures (causing mis alignment of eyebrows and such). Any ideas?

Most likely it the texture paths in the meshes that is causing this fubar.

A mesh might have a path written as textures/xyz/abc.dds, which is fine for a loose file as the game engine doesn't care.
But when the engine looks in a BSA, it won't work. It needs to be textures\xyz\abc.dds.
That why I always use TES4Files for packing BSA's. It has an option you can tick to correct any paths in any meshes that need it.

I haven't used Vanilla Race Deluxe, but I think it is mostly replacer files (judging by the descirption anyway)

If that is the case, then making a BSA out of them will not work. Its something about the game engine which has never been solved ...


For example in Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa you have ..

Textures \ Characters \ Imperial \ Headhuman.dds

So a replacer file for that goes in ...

Data \ Textures \ Characters \ Imperial \ Headhuman.dds


So now you understand what a replacer file is, it replaces vanilla content in the games BSA, and the game knows if a new replacer file is found in Data\, with the same folder structure and name as the original, it should use that ( and also so long as the date of the replacer file is newer, and you are using BSA Redirection )

Putting custom files in a BSA ( textures and meshes with custom names and folder paths which do not equate to a vanilla game file in a BSA ) - Will Work, and they get pulled into the game by a mods esp.

Putting Replacer files in a new BSA will not work, it does not matter even if you are using the usual methods of BSA Redating and Archive Invalidation, the game sees the two files as being equal in two different BSAs, and randomly chooses between them.

Or .. Occasionally this method besides just randomly choosing between files, may also crash your game.

I cant put my mouse on any back-up conversations or testing, but I do know it has been tested to death years ago and there is no solution, so all mod authors decided for this reason only custom files should go in new BSAs, and replacer files should remain loose.

There is one way, backup your original game BSAs, and then replace the same file in the original BSA with the replacer - But then pretty soon especially with high res textures you will hit the maximum BSA size of 2gb pretty quick and the game will not load it.

Edit: If you are thinking the body mods come with an esp and should pull in all those files .. It wont, typically a body mod esp just solves problems between male and female body mods using the same resources, so a few meshes or textures which have to be placed in specific places ( say a male argonian tail dds in a different folder to a female argonian tail dds ) it does not pull in all the textures and meshes of the mod because it has no need to, they have been designed/named as replacers.

I tried using TES4Files to fix nif paths, but didn't work... Thanks for the explanation alt3rn1ty, I was afraid that was the case with bsa files. I am left with the option of packing custom files into bsa archvies and repacking vanilla bsa's with replacers.

If you have only textures and meshes you want to install then overwriting the files in the vanilla bsa archives is the way to go. You will probably go over the 2GB limit so will need to edit the oblivion.ini file as you mentioned before. I think the rule here is - if it does not have an esp file with it, put it in the vanilla bsa files.

Just consider the gain you will get from doing this compared to the time spent working on it. I had put my textures into the vanilla bsa files and really did not notice any difference. I do not think many people do. Now with BAIN, managing installs is easier and you can see what files are being replaced and in what order, where with BSA files you do not see this and can wind up with the wrong texture. With bsa files you can't easily edit out textures if you want.

Save yourself the trouble and just play the game Or good luck to you on making the bsa files.

Yep, thats about the size of it.

But also beware meshes, it can get a bit more complicated ..

As you now know, meshes can define a custom path to a custom texture, even if the mesh is just a replacer itself, and so does not need an esp to pull in the changed custom textures assigned to the mesh, because the replacer mesh is doing it (that was the idea behind the Custom Eyes for Vilja, I am using a custom mesh which is a replacer for a custom mesh in Vija's BSA - Custom loose can replace custom BSA file, and BSA Redirection makes it work - In turn the custom mesh pulls in the custom eyes texture for vilja, and the same method also used for the other variations for XTudo or 4VGN custom Viljas).

Also esps can define a custom mesh and custom path to that mesh, which in turn can either use a replacer texture or define a custom texture ..

When going along the path of finding out if you can BSA a mod and its files, you really need to get down to the details of the mod and how every file is called into the game. Searching the mod description for clues along with old development threads. Sometimes though, the author may keep the details to themselves. Then you need Construction Set, NifScope and a BSA extractor .. And get your detective head on