Questions about .esm and .bsa

[taknamay]

Hi, I was perusing the data files, and the only type of file I found that wasn't a familiar format (sound files, video files, 3d image files) which could easily be replaced with free content, the remaining files were the .esm and .bsa's. I was not sure what these were (I have never created mods for any Elder Scrolls games, though I installed some mods for Skyrim), upon research I learned .esm is for mods.

These are my questions:

1) What is .bsa? I never actually figured out what they are.

2) I assume the construction set can make .esm for mods. When finished, will the construction set support making an entirely original game, in other words a successor to Morrowind.esm? (Also same question for .bsa, although I don't know what they are.)

[sirherrbatka]

bsa ─ archive for textures, models etc.

Bethesda Constructor set can't make esm files. But there is workaround for this. OpenCS gonna improve modding. You can find informations on the forum.

[Greendogo]

To add to sirherrbatka's information, for just plain Morrowind, without OpenMW/OpenCS, you can make ESMs using 3rd party utilities such as TESAME among others. BSAs can be made using utilities such as BSAPACK among others.

[TorbenC]

bsa ─ archive for textures, models etc.

Bethesda Constructor set can't make esm files. But there is workaround for this. OpenCS gonna improve modding. You can find informations on the forum.

TES CS can indeed make .esm files, it is a hidden option.

Even found a link for you, not the same guide I used (I found a really simple one a long time ago):
Click!

[vv221]

You can switch very easily between esp and esm with an hexadecimal editor:
1C = "00" > ESP
1C = "01" > ESM

I use this to convert mods distributed in esm to esp, and it works well.
Plus, it DOES work both ways!

(it looks way simpler than your method TorbenC )

[TorbenC]

You can switch very easily between esp and esm with an hexadecimal editor:
1C = "00" > ESP
1C = "01" > ESM

I use this to convert mods distributed in esm to esp, and it works well.
Plus, it DOES work both ways!

(it looks way simpler than your method TorbenC )

Oh yes, *way* simpler. I was just correcting them on the fact that it is possible with the original construction set, they were both saying it wasn't.