Unpacking BSAs (Why would I do it?)

[Saviorsrd]

This is something that I've seen every so often when playing around with modding other Gamebryo engine games (which I've never been serious about trying to figure out 'till now).  My vague memory comes up with some heated arguments about pros vs. cons, how you should always/never do it, etc. etc.  I did a little research, but with so many split opinions I figured I'd ask this community if my half-baked opinions come even close to the current reality.

 

1)  Never unpack the .bsa when you have a non-dummy plugin.

2)  Otherwise, doing so may help performance and definitely clears out a (literally) useless .esp.

3)  Don't trust Mod Organizer with this via the "Let MO manage Archives" function - it may work, but it will heavily impact performance.

 

...and sorry if I've stirred up a massive controversy in advance.  I really promise I'm not TRYING to troll here.

[Anatriax]

I almost always unpack my BSA's. Not because MO doesn't handle them properly. 

With the "Let MO handle BSA" option, all it does is makes it so those BSA's are handled by an ini file, and loaded that way... instead of with the dummy ESP file.

However, I unpack most of my BSA's because: 1) I don't care about drive space. I have over 8tb of space. 2) It does seem to increase performance (even if it's only a little) because the game engine doesn't have to unpack it to load it. It just loads it. 3) It's RUMORED (for certain games) that BSA files can count against the plugin limit. 4) I find it makes assets easier to manage/manipulate for my own purposes.

[blabba]

Unpacking an archive doesn't make sense unless you frequently use 3rd party tools to edit files.

 

There is a reason why bethesda packed all the game files into a .bsa instead of leaving them loose by default. If your on a standard hard drive and the game needs to load files, there is a pretty decent overhead to find each of those files inside each individual directory via OS calls. You can cut literally up to minutes (depending on your mods) off load screen times by keeping files packed instead of loose all over the place.

 

#3 of the MO thing is pure BS, it's just using a system bethesda already created to load .bsa's. (Real simple .ini file trick as mentioned above)

 

However, if your on an SSD, then yea a BSA isn't going to really improve your performance much.

[gvman3670]

I've found no reason to unpack them. Mod Organizer treats bsa files like loose files anyway and it's quite easy to control overwrites left in archives.

[yatol]

I've found no reason to unpack them.

 

if mod b files in a bsa are overwrite by mod a loose files, that can be a problem

 

.hkx in bsa are a problem too, if i don't unpack them, fnis don't find them

[gvman3670]

I've never had any animations not work because they were in a bsa archive. Have you found any like that?

I rely on loose files overwriting anyway.

[yatol]

was missing 1000 animations before i unpack everything

 

made a dozen bsa with that, so now, if i load fnis with that, it don't even find the skeleton

to load fnis, have to put back the loose files of 2 bsa in skyrim folder

[myuhinny]

I only extract what I need from a BSA generally when converting a armor/outfit then I just add them to the skyrim folder and let them trump the BSA ones or if it is a monster/creature mod and I want to see if they will work with NMC/sexlab creatures.

[ritualclarity]

I've found no reason to unpack them. Mod Organizer treats bsa files like loose files anyway and it's quite easy to control overwrites left in archives.

 

Correct with MO the only real reason for a user to extract is so that they can gain access to the individual files for other reasons such as access to the files on a more direct level.

 

I sometimes extract in MO to get the file to create a mini patch instead of using the "hide' feature as I want the mods to be complete and intact as much as they originally were because I will likely forget that I told it to hide a file and later wonder "why is something missing". lol. With a mini patch I see everything on the surface.

 

However the beauty of MO of course is so many options and ways to accomplish your desired results. there is no real wrong way to approach modding with MO provided the end results work

[gvman3670]

Like I said, I never unpack them. I do, however, on occasion open them with FOMM so I can find the appropriate file path names to change some things that may be in a bsa archive. But that's it. I really haven't found a performance boost unpacking them and with this underpowered machine I'd notice it if there was a boost to be had.

[ritualclarity]

I did say you were correct .