Creation Engine Modding Template

This template contains the structure to create a mod, pack it up with BSArchive and Spriggit, along with a place for your project files (like Blender, Photoshop PSDs, Audacity AUP3 etc.). It requires the following:

Prerequisites

• Mod Organizer 2
• Powershell 7
• Spriggit
• BSArch

Package Structure

• workdir contains the loose files, deserialized ESP from Spriggit and any other files that help build your mod
  • projects contains the project files for your mod like Photoshop PSDs, Blender .blend files, etc.
  • src contains the deserialized ESP
    • archive contains the loose files for the BSA and should mimic the Data folder structure
• packaging where finished mod releases go, you can choose how to organize this

Versioning

By default the version starts at v1.0. You can use whatever version numbers you want by changing the values in config.ps1. If you append -SNAPSHOT to the end of the version, the scripts won't overwrite the ESPs/BSAs in the packaging directory, but instead create a timestamped folder.

Usage

Basics

1. Set $ModName in config.ps1 to the name of your mod
2. Set $LatestVersion to the version you want to build, if you're just ideating you can append -SNAPSHOT to the version number so that you're not constantly overwriting built ESPs
3. Set MO2ModsFolder to <MO2 Profile Directory>\<Game Name>\mods. Usually this is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ModOrganizer\<Game Name>\mods
4. Set GameRelease to one of the Game objects in the config, for example if you're working on a Starfield mod, set it to the $StarfieldGame object
5. Run pwsh .\InitializeTemplate.ps1

Converting your .esp to source YAML

If you want to convert the .esp you've been working on for your mod in xEdit or CreationKit to YAML using Spriggit you must first have the mod in your MO2 mods directory. Then, set $ModName in config.ps1 to the name of the mod folder/esp. The name of the esp and the mod in MO2 must be the same.

Once the $modName is set properly, run the following command in PowerShell 7:

pwsh .\ConvertEspToYaml.ps1

Converting your source YAML to a built .esp (Release)

This step will convert your source YAML to a built .esp file and place it in packaging\<$LatestVersion>\Data. This is useful if you want to rebuild the YAML after a peer edited the esp. In order to do so, run the following command in PowerShell 7:

pwsh .\ConvertEspToYaml.ps1

Pack BSA (Release)

If you wish to pack your loose files in src\archive into a BSA for release run the following command in PowerShell 7:

pwsh .\PackBSA.ps1

Build a Full Release

This is used if you want to convert your source YAML into a .esp and also pack your loose files into a BSA. This is recommended when finally creating a proper release to upload to Nexus/other mod repos. To build a full release, run the following command in PowerShell 7:

pwsh .\BuildRelease.ps1