1

Cleaning, sorting, patching with

Tes5Edit, LOOT and Wrye Smash
This is how I do it. It works for me, and I could make around 200 mods compatible (I’m not
gonna count them) To give an example, I downloaded the mod “Queen of the Damned -
Deadlier Serana” and tried to make it compatible. Feel free to skip parts you already know.
The grey text might help if you need an extra explanation and blue is only for extra info or
tips. Green is for an example. Or only read the bold text for the steps. I added everything to
make it a complete guide. So you have access to the right information at the right time.

Note: You will probably notice there are MANY ‘conflicts’ between your mods. But if you have
a good load order, and didn’t picked mods that will clash in many ways. Then you should be
fine with only patching the mods you know that needs them.
Don’t try to fix every red line (conflict) you come across. This is ridiculous, will barely
make any changes, and you will most likely mess things up somewhere. Remember, these
‘conflicts’ doesn’t cause more crashes, or make your game stupid/boring.

Read mod pages, and think for yourself what mods might clash. Lightning/weather and sound
mods will most likely override each other. And also overhaul mods should be checked.

Made by Zrynoth

Random screenshot, to make front page more colorful. Irrelevant? Nah, I had to patch all my
weather and sound mods, the armor is also edited to work with requiem. And the city has also
a patch cause I’m using Open Cities …
 2

Content
1. Use LOOT to avoid conflicts ............................................................................................................. 3
1.1. New to LOOT ........................................................................................................................... 3
1.1.1. Cleaning plugins with Tes5Edit ......................................................................................... 4
1.2. User rules ................................................................................................................................. 7
2. Search for Conflicts .......................................................................................................................... 9
3. Making the Patch............................................................................................................................ 12
1. More examples, cause we need MOAARRR!!! ................................................................................ 15
a. Other examples for Queen of the Damned - Deadlier Serana .................................................. 15
Example 1: Follower....................................................................................................................... 15
Example 2: Spells for NPC ............................................................................................................. 16
Example 3: Spell Power ................................................................................................................. 17
b. Examples from my mod list......................................................................................................... 18
Example 1: New weapon/armor (for requiem/skyRe …) ............................................................. 18
Example 2: Creatures (Heimfeigr) .................................................................................................. 20
Example 3: New follower (Sofia) .................................................................................................. 21
Example 4: Multiple factions (falskaar – undeath – marriable Serana) ........................................ 22
Example: 5: Equipment for NPC (Immersive weapons) ................................................................... 23
A word of Appreciation ......................................................................................................................... 24
 3

1. Use LOOT to avoid conflicts

I figured I should add this section in the guide. Cause it’s much better if you can avoid
unwanted conflicts then trying to fix them. If you use BOSS and you know how to use it, or/and
already know how to add user rules then skip this part.

1.1. New to LOOT

If you haven’t done already, download and open LOOT (http://loot.github.io/)

So that you can sort your load order with ease. A good load order is the start of everything.

Choose Sort Plugins, and click apply when it’s done loading.

The best part is that it will also tell you if you have errors. You should have 0 Errors, and 0
Warnings. The warnings won’t cause immediate crashes but makes the game less stable. Dirty
plugins are a little **** But I will explain soon how you can clean them.

Open the Details tab, and read the warnings and errors. If it says you are missing a master or suggest
to download something, then just do it. If it tells you something about missing ITM or UDR, then you
can clean it with Tes5Edit. Also read the messages, maybe it says something usefull for you.

Hide messageless plugins with the filter in the top right corner.
 4

1.1.1. Cleaning plugins with Tes5Edit

For the sake of this tutorial I reverted the main .esm files to the default.
Now if you have never cleaned before, you should had these warning messages in LOOT.

You have to clean each plugin, one by one. (Don’t clean multiple at once) But It’s always the same
process.

Open Tes5Edit, and only check the plugin you want to clean. (right click in the list, and you can
choose to ‘select none’, in place of unchecking everything.)

Click OK to continue

Wait until you see: Background Loader: finished

 5

Right click somewhere in the list, and choose Apply Filter for Cleaning

Let it load, and then right click again on the plugin that needs cleaning.

Choose Remove “Identical to Master” records (this are the ITM records)

Say yes to the warning, Tes5Edit will always make a backup, so you can still go back I you messed up.

After the message [Removing "Identical to Master" records done] you can right click again.

And choose Undelete and Disable References this time. (these are the Dirty edits)
 6

Close Tes5Edit, by clicking the button at the top right corner. After you did this a new
window will popup.

Only check the cleaned plugin (and Backup Plugins) And click OK

Repeat this for every plugin LOOT says you should clean. Most of the time it will load more files cause
they are masters. But only remove the ‘identical to masters’ and ‘undelete and disable’ the
references of that one plugin.

So for the Next plugin, we apply the filter, and only clean Dawnguard.esm. If it asks to save other files
when closing, then uncheck the other plugins

If you clean Dawnguard.esm you will also notice you will get an error message in the proces.
<Warning: Plugin contains 57 deleted NavMeshes which can not be undeleted>.

Just leave them, you have to use the Creation kit if you want to fix those. (I’m not using it … yet)

Missing Navmeshes will cause the problem that NPC’s can’t walk at that certain place. I haven’t fixed
these, but I also didn’t found it somewhere in game. When I had a follower, he/she could always follow
me.
 7

1.2. User rules

If the mod pages says you should load a certain mod after another one. But LOOT doesn’t do that. Or
you find conflicts between a mod, and you want to change their order. Then you can do this by
adding user rules.

Open LOOT again, and choose Edit Metadata

On the left side you will see all your eps and esm files, ordered like in your load order.

Find the mod that should be loaded after something. Open the tab: Load After. And choose Add
Plugin. I added several files to requiem. According to what the mod authors suggest on the mod
pages. Or from the conflicts I find (which will come later in this guide)
 8

Add the exact name of the plugin you want to be placed before it. And click OK

When you are added all the user rules you wanted, save your changes. And sort your plugins again

If you have Wrye Smash, the esp file will be orange when the masters are loaded wrong. So you can
add some new user rules in LOOT to solve it.

However, notice that some mods have listed the masters wrong. In the image above, you see the
mod want that the Unofficial Skyrim patch is loaded last. Which is wrong, so Just let it be in that case.
 9

2. Search for Conflicts

Open Tes5Edit, and just load everything. This makes it easier, and then there is less chance you
make a major conflict with a mod you wouldn’t have included.

Click OK to continue

Wait until you see: Background Loader: finished (It can take several minutes if you have many
mods) Then right click anywhere on the list with all the files, and choose apply filter. Make sure
you only check the follow things.

Click on Filter to apply the filter. Again, this can take a while to load.

Reminder: A lot, if not everything, will be red. You are NOT supposed to fix everything.

Now find the esp you want to make compatible in the list on the left, an overhaul mod like
Requiem or SkyRe is a good start. And expand it so you see some of the records inside it.

The filter we applied will help you with finding the conflicts.
Info: Red means that it’s the conflict loser. The text in orange and khaki means that it’s the
conflict winner, but another mod has to be the loser.
Text colored in black, green or purple can be ignored (they don’t conflict) Important mods
should have as much as possible orange, black, green or purple records.

Tip: Right click, and then choose hide no conflict rows to make it less cluttered.
 10

You will find many occasions like in the next screenshot.

This is the data of an NPC, it is red colored so it should have a conflict. But there is only 1 conflict. It’s
the counter for the amount of actor effects. Requiem only added 6 spells. But ASIS add an additional
38 spells to the npc. The spells from requiem are still applied. So even it says it is a conflict. It actually
isn’t. It might be that a random NPC is missing a spell or something. But is it worth to go through
everything for that one person in whole tamriel just for an additional spell? … Nope
That’s why it is useless to blindly search for conflicts.

I downloaded a mod to make Serana stronger. So we should look to this NPC.

You notice much more red. So it does conflict for real.

 11

We move to this esp so we don’t miss things. Cause maybe it refers to other things, and we
don’t want to miss them. Or we can create errors if we do.

You can do this quickly by right clicking the esp at the top, and choose Jump to

Now click on the formID that you want to check for conflicts.

In my case, I have to check every record, cause it always override something of requiem.

The order you see the esp files at the top, is how it is loaded in your load order. The last one
will be the one that loads in your game.

This makes it so important to have a good load order. If you notice that there is always the
same mod that has conflicts on places you don’t want, you should change your load order
first
 12

3. Making the Patch

Note: When you want to close without saving anything. Uncheck everything after hitting
the x button

Now it is important that you know from which mod every esp comes, and what every mod does
generally. The next part can be different for every person. It also depends on your
preferences. And keep track of what record you are actually editing (magic effect, NPC, etc)

You want to make your changes in a new file, cause otherwise you have to do everything
again when you update or reinstall the mod.

right click on your main esp and choose Copy as override into….

For me, requiem is an important mod, it’s an overhaul, so I like to give it more priority. That’s
why I choose to make it the base of the patch.

You will get a warning message. Choose Yes if you are absolutely sure
Info: At the end Tes5Edit will always make a backup of the original files. So if you messed up
you can still go back.

Check <new file>, click OK to continue. And then choose a name

Tip: You can choose to copy it in an existing patch, in place of a new file to reduce your
number of files. For example, I could paste it into my self-made Requiem – conflict.esp

It will ask to add the masters. Click Yes to continue. You have to do this for every new master.

Now you have to add/change/delete records to make it compatible with your other mods. But
it is different for every mod, and also differs for everyone’s preferences. So I will state my
reasons for the changes I made.
 13

Requiem changes the magic effect drain health so that it will be silent and doesn’t has a resist
value. I want to keep that so I copy it.

The easiest way to copy something, is drag and drop.

Tip: You can drag/drop a whole branch at once. So in place of both dragging the Resist value:
none and Casting sound level: silent, you can drag the Magic effect Data at once.

Requiem isn’t build to be compatible with the Unofficial patches. (But still works fine without
though) And both the unofficial patch and the Serana mod delete 2 conditions. So I chose to
delete the ActorTypeDwarven/Undead.

You can remove things, or just drag and drop the whole branch of the esp you prefer like said
before.

To remove: right click the condition below the new made patch.
And choose remove

That’s all that I’m going to change for this magic effect. The Req_SpellConcentration is already
added because I choose the requiem.esp when I was overriding it into the new file. But I might
want to delete the DLC1VampireDrainEffect. I’m not sure what for impact it will have, so I keep it
for requiem’s sake.

I will post some ‘rules’ I use to decide what to add and what not.

 Try to be consistent, and pick some mods that you want to be superior. Most of the time
the records of overhaul mods shouldn’t be overwritten by others.
 Don’t copy blindly. Always know what you are doing. I already said it, but if you know
what the mod does, and what it should change. You can know what you should keep
and what not.
 If every other mod have the same values for a specific record as the
skyrim/dawnguard/dragonborn/heartfire.esm only 1 does something different. Then
you should add that one record most of the times.
 Some records doesn’t need to be added cause they are automatically merged at
startup. Like DOBJ, DIAL, LCTN, IDLE records. Source:
http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/3940-skyrim-tes5edit-records-that-
merge-at-runtime/
 Don’t change counters like perk counts. They are automatically calculated. And they
should reflect the amount of perks the npc has.
 If you don’t know to what something is referring too. Press ctrl + click on it. And it will
bring you to it. Maybe it gives you more information.
 Some things just doesn’t work together. Deal with it (■_■¬)
 Use your brains and common sense, I know you have them.
 You don’t always have to copy, maybe you find another value that works better.
 14

Keep doing this for everything else. If you need a few more examples, then go to the last
section of this ‘guide’ There is most likely an example similar to your mod.

But once you are finished, you can close Tes5Edit, just hit the button at the top right
corner. After you did this a new window will popup.

Normally, only the new .esp should be listed here. If not, you most likely changed something
accidently in another file. (even if you added something, and then removed it again) But
nonetheless, if your intention was to only make a patch. Then only that specific esp should be
checked. Also don’t change the Backup plugins, it should always be checked.

Info: If you messed up something and just want to close the program, so you can try again.
Then leave everything unchecked. So nothing will be saved.

In addition, (as long as you didn’t touched the Backup plugins. Tes5Edit always make backups in
your skyrim/data/Tes5Edit Backups folder.
They are named x.esp.backup.YYYY_MM_DD_hh_mm_ss so you can find the right backup, if
you know the time when you did your edits wrong. Just drop them back in your Skyrim/data
folder, and remove the everything after .esp in the name. Your computer will say something
about extensions, choose yes/ok.

Don’t forget to sort the new file in your load order, run patchers like ASIS again and make
rebuild your bashed patch if you use Wrye smash (highly recommended)

Irrelevant to this guide, but if you use requiem. DON’T check import names/stats when building
your bashed patch with wrye smash.
 15

1. More examples, cause we need MOAARRR!!!

I always hate it when I experience something different then described in the guide. So I will
give a few more scenarios. Beware that this part contains the most text. It’s just necessary to cover
as much of possible of all the occasions. I still come across new things I need to figure out constantly.

a. Other examples for Queen of the Damned - Deadlier Serana

Example 1: Follower

Requiem just completely removes a whole part. The Serana mod not only adds the script from
dawnguard again, but changes it a little. Notice the name of the script DLC1SeranaLevelingScript

Requiem is know for deleveling the world. So you have to decide if you want to keep Serana
deleveled. Or not, but add the magicscaling of some spells that the mod introduced. If you
scroll down you will also see this:

So if you didn’t added the script in the patch, then make sure you didn’t flag Serana with the
PC Level Mult, and that she is already level 50 with some extra magicka and stamina. Choose
and stay consistent. Don’t mix things.
 16

Example 2: Spells for NPC

For all things like items and spells you can choose which you want to be added. I will add the
spells of the Serana mod to the patch. But notice that this mod also removed the RaiseZombie
spell. My guts tells me that the UDS_CorpseCurse is a similar spell. But this is an example why
you should check the mod page. (I haven’t done that, cause I only downloaded the mod for this
guide)

It’s the same for perks. But a bit more tricky. Cause perks isn’t always to make the npc only
stronger. Some perks are required to do something else. If a perk starts with a weird prefex
you should add them.

The AA000Xarrian prefix is from requiem. You definitely need those, cause otherwise the
follower will be too weak in the world of requiem. The UDS_SeranaPerlk “Coldharbour’s Strenght
will increase the overall strength of the npc. Which is safe to assume, cause that was the whole
point of the mod. If you think she is too weak, add it. If not, then don’t (but why did you
needed the mod then? :p) I know it will work without the perk, cause I checked the other spells
etc the mod alters. And none of them added the condition that the perk is required.

Note: On the first screenshot you could see that ASIS hasn’t been repatched yet. So remember
to do that after you made the patch.
 17

Example 3: Spell Power

Here we are looking at conflicts of a spell. More specific about the magnitude of the spell
(=strength)

Requiem makes the world hard. So the spells also needed to be a little stronger. Using the
changes of the mod that makes Serana stronger, will in this case NOT make here stronger. So
if you still felt that here spells are too weak in requiem, then you have to override it to the
patch, and change the values yourself. (double click, and type the numbers)
 18

b. Examples from my mod list

Example 1: New weapon/armor (for requiem/skyRe …)

First, it’s not a patch, but I merged all my armors together. (I don’t recommend this, cause if you
have that many mods, without the knowledge to merge mods. You should uninstall some mods)
But I can still explain how you can make your new weapons compatible with mods like SkyRe or
Requiem.

Open the armor mod, and then open the branch weapon/armor, click your item. And then search for
the keywords. This armor has the keyword ArmorMaterialGlass. Then look for an existing armor that
is also from the glass category. And see what the overhaul mod changes on it.

glass armor: skyrim – requiem – Weapons and armor fixes

Requiem changes the weight a little. And also the value. Another mod adds a new keyword. So I
could add that keyword too.
Note: even when an armor is made from the same material, it can still be slightly different.
 19

So you could add these records in the patch.

For requiem it is more noticeable when you have dragon or daedric items. Cause requiem makes
them much stronger (Surprisingly, I just don’t have an armor mod of this type)

Daedric armor: skyrim - requiem

For requiem it’s mostly only the gold Value, weight, armor rating, and sometimes an extra/missing
keywords that should be added. But it doesn’t hurt to check the other thing quickly.

For SkyRe there is the reproccer iirc. If you don’t have dawnguard you can still do it this way.
And I heard stories that some mods aren’t changed even with the reproccer. For what I know the
reproccer works according to the keywords the items have. So I think it misses an important
keyword. But don’t hunt me down if I’m wrong about that. I have only installed that mod for a short
time, and that was a year ago.
 20

Example 2: Creatures (Heimfeigr)

You immediately see there are a lot of perks missing for the Heimfeigr.esp Cause they aren’t
there in the original skyrim for the dragonpriest.

You can do the same for new creatures. But you have to find them, cause they doesn’t conflict.
(Turn off the filter, cause it won’t be visible otherwise) And compare them with similar
creatures (ctrl + c/ctrl + v works for copying, cause you can’t drag/drop in this case)

Not recommend for creature overhaul mods, they mostly already have a patch somewhere. But
it works for quest mods that adds a few enemies.

Tip: You can open 2 windows of Tes5Edit at once. Just be sure to only edit in 1 of them.
Otherwise it can cause confusion, and sometimes it doesn’t safe properly if you are editing in
both. But it does make a backup with the changes somewhere iirc.
 21

Example 3: New follower (Sofia)

I compared sofia with a light armored follower that requiem altered. I added the same perks
(the alchemy and perkskillboost are from Requiem – Hard times)
And lowered the skill values. I noticed they are almost always 10 levels lower.
 22

Example 4: Multiple factions (falskaar – undeath – marriable Serana)

This is pretty straightforward. To make the every mod works properly, I just added all the
factions in one esp … I know the patch is called requiem – conflict, and has nothing to do with
requiem.
 23

Example: 5: Equipment for NPC (Immersive weapons)

If you use multiple mods, even their patches can start to conflict. I have Immersive weapons,
and Ethereal elves. Both have a requiem patch. But the patch for Ethereal elves is loaded later,
so the npc won’t have the sword if I don’t add it.

Changing the load order will solve this also, but you won’t have the changes ethereal elves
made to the look. If the load order was reverted, adding these changes will solve it too:

This is actually a good example from what I said in the intro “Note: You will probably notice
there are MANY ‘conflicts’ between your mods. But if you have a good load order, and didn’t
picked mods that will clash in many ways. Then you should be fine with only patching the mods you
know that needs them.” It’s a minor ‘conflict’ and only 1 thing will revert back to default,
depending on your load order.
 24

A word of Appreciation

Thank you if you made it this far. I hope you learned something and can make your game
more to your liking. I tried my best to make this guide informative, understandable for
everyone, without wall of texst. I wasn’t really succesfull in that. But I don’t think I could make it
better.

For now, nobody else helped with the guide then myself (Zrynoth)

But I still want to thank Arthmoor which I found several useful information from around the
nexus.

And Missjennabee for a usefull guide to merge patches. But this also give me a better insight
of Tes5Edit. Link to guide: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?showtopic=1775296

Also the makers of skyrim, Tes5Edit, Wrye bash, LOOT ofcourse :p

But if you found any ideas, improvement, lay-out, errors (also grammatical, English isn’t my
mother language) feel free to tell me
How? … I actually don’t know. I’m not really planning to post it on many places. Most likely I
just posted it if asked for it, so responds back then. Or mail to Zrynoth@hotmail.com (I’m not
really active on this account though)
Just so that I certainly won’t spread wrong information.