Need advice: Merging mods

[Al-Rabban]

Hello everyone,

I have been playing stock for some time now and have finally decided to start modding. I have gone through the forums and found tons of mods which I have promptly downloaded and installed leaving me with a very cluttered in game part list and an even more messy game-data folder.

The advice I seek is this; If I have a mod which normally consists of say 20 parts but I only like 1 and I take said part and move it to a new folder called [mymods] in the game-data folder how would I edit the .cfg file to allow the part to load?

Also if there is anything else along the same topic that anyone knows that would help me out in this regard please let me know. I'll take anything I can get!

Cheers!

[Majiir]

Do not move mod files. It's a recipe for errors. Many mods depend on files being in a specific location.

If you want to trim down mods, go ahead and delete parts after you've installed the mod.

[Al-Rabban]

Thanks for the reply Majiir,

I know some mods require specific locations due to using plugins and such but a single part file that has a single .mu and tga file that isn't dependent on anything else shouldn't cause that many issues to move should it?

[Fractal_UK]

Thanks for the reply Majiir,

I know some mods require specific locations due to using plugins and such but a single part file that has a single .mu and tga file that isn't dependent on anything else shouldn't cause that many issues to move should it?

Yes, it might cause errors. Some parts refer to models by reference to the location, meaning that if you move them, the models they refer to might no longer be found. Likewise you don't know what's going on inside any plugin code that might be related to those parts.

Deleting parts you don't want is much safer.

[Captain Sierra]

Generally you don't want to move model (.mu) and texture (.png, .tga, .mbm) files. As stated, some mods' parts reference each other in the cfgs to reduce memory footprint. It's entirely possible to move these parts but it requires some more advanced level tweaks to make sure you don't break anything (disclaimer: this only goes for parts-only stuff -- Adding plugins into the mix means you can still screw things up, sometimes very badly).

If you really want to move them, you'd first have to identify all the parts (anywhere from zero to two dozen or more) that reference it's model or texture (or both) and then edit the .cfg file to make the game look for those files in their new location. You'll need some basic knowledge of folder structure and of the model node system to do this correctly. Now it should work, but this is no guarantee as some mods have woven a very complicated web of part interdependency, particularly those that use master texture sheets like the FuzTek station parts expansion by Sumghai. It's generally something you really don't want to do unless you really know what you're doing.

[Al-Rabban]

Thanks for the reply Fractal_UK,

Just for my own clarification, do you mean the part file as in the .cfg? If I open it up I notice the line that says mesh = [location of .mu file]

Wouldn't I be able to change that to allow for a change in location of the .mu file if the .cfg isn't being affected by any plugin?

[Al-Rabban]

Got ninja'd by you there Captain Sierra

Thanks for the reply, now I don't pretend to be anything but a tweeker as I know how to change basic stuff within a .cfg file but that being said, I don't see myself as not being able to grasp the finer points of modding given a bit of experience. The point is I want to learn and am slowly teaching myself. I am glad to know that it "is" theoretically possible to do what I am looking to do, albeit with difficulty but anything worth doing is as such isn't it?

Based on what you've said, what exactly am I looking for that shows interdependency?

[Supernovy]

I'm pretty sure they're referring to model nodes.

MODEL
{
model=path/to/model/from/gamedata
position = x, y, z
scale = x, y, z
rotation = x, y, z
}

You'd have to change the gamedata-relative path for the model to point to wherever you moved the model. Not all parts use these, of course.

[NathanKell]

Please, please, please just in-place delete the parts you don't want. You do not want to make a habit of moving parts, renaming folders, etc--more may depend on folder names than just MODEL nodes, for example paths in plugins, plugins detecting other plugins, etc.

[Al-Rabban]

I'm pretty sure they're referring to model nodes.

MODEL
{
model=path/to/model/from/gamedata
position = x, y, z
scale = x, y, z
rotation = x, y, z
}

You'd have to change the gamedata-relative path for the model to point to wherever you moved the model. Not all parts use these, of course.

Thank you Supernovy,

I will try this on an test file to see how it works.

Please, please, please just in-place delete the parts you don't want. You do not want to make a habit of moving parts, renaming folders, etc--more may depend on folder names than just MODEL nodes, for example paths in plugins, plugins detecting other plugins, etc.

I understand your concern NathanKell, I know many mods such as mechJeb for example rely heavily on plugins and mutual dependencies to run. I am fine with leaving those as is, it's the many mods that are just adding in new parts without the use of plugins, like for example Stockalike by Turbonisu. These mods only contain parts which all contain a texture and .mu for each. These are the mods I am trying to reorganize into a single neat folder.