I'm creating a mod that uses several different .esp's to keep it modular and user friendly, however there's a feature I'd like them all to have (referencing the same new keyword in some recipes for a new crafting activator). I've tried adding the same keyword across the different .esp's but it seems that though the keyword is identical it's given a different value in each .esp. From my (limited) experience with prior TES CK's I gather the only way around this is to create the file with original new forge and keyword as an .esm, then load it alongside the .esp files I want to use it.

Is there an easier way to do this without merging all the plugins, or is there currently a way to create a new .esm file for Skyrim?

You can make an ESM using 3rd party tools.

Great!

Can you point me in the direction of one? Been looking all morning but I can't seem to find anything.

Change file extension of a copy to .ESM, *open, save, done.

*w/ CK

You can also jsut use an ESP and make your other ESPs dependent on the first, bust ESM is safer as it will always load before the child plugins.

Another trick that should work is using a hex editor to modify the form id for the keyword. Set it high to avoid conflict with Skyrim.esm ( ie ... higher than 002000000 ) and make it random ( ie ... not 00FFFFFF ). A rough calculation suggests that theres over 15 million master file form ID's up for grabs. By making it random you decrease likelyhood of conflict with other mods that do the same.

When you load a plugin like that into the CK, it will give an error message saying there's no match in the master file. Click OK. The entry will now show up in the object window with it's master file ID. Saving will not over-write it, and it will keep it ingame regardless of load order. That's as much as I've confirmed at this stage.

You should now be able to refer to it in other plugins, and since the form ID never changes, your referencing should work in game.

Unfortunately, the CK won't allow ESP masters. Not sure why as the engine doesn't mind.

Thanks, opening it and saving it with the changed filed extension worked a treat. That was embarrassingly easy considering all the time I spent trying to work it out.