To get started, let me explain about .esm files: Fallout 3 uses files with an ".esm" extension to store all the media the game uses, from sound to pictures. Now in a standard mod that only affects normal Fallout 3, but not its DLC, there is no need to hunt for any files because the main .esm files are already in the Fallout 3/Data folder.
However, the genius who created the whole DLC idea decided that it was necessary to hide all the expansion pack files away so you can only access them if you know where to look. This was probably done to prevent piracy (illegal copying of files). It is totally legal to make a copy of the DLC .bsa file and drop it in your Fallout 3/Data folder, but it is NOT legal to give this file to anyone else. Doing so allows you to use any mods that may affect the DLC.
Fallout 4 Dlc Esm Files
Now I'll tell you how to find those tricky files (I'll assume you're using Windows Vista, but this method should work fine with Windows XP). Start a search for "DLC" with "Advanced Search" enabled. This allows your coumputer to search hidden files as well as normal ones. The search may take a few minutes, once its done, you should see a folder called "DLC" located at: "C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive\". Inside the folder there should be only one folder named a random string of numbers and letters. Mine has 8 digits, but I'm not sure if thats the same on all computers.
Next you have to navigate through another one of these files (I think it has a random 8-digit name) until you reach a few named with huge strings of random numbers and letters. There should be one folder for each DLC you own. Inside each folder should be another folder named "Content", open it up, locate the .esm files named after the expansion packs (Anchorage.esm, ThePitt.esm, etc) then copy it to desktop. Press the back button, enter the next folder, repeat to copy process until you have all the DLC .esm files on your desktop. Make sure you COPY, do NOT just drag and drop.
Now for the final step: navigate to your Fallout 3/Data folder and drop the .esm files in it. Everything should now work 100%. I hope it works out for you, good luck and tell me if it works out. Take care guys,
Plugins (which come in the form of "*.esp", "*.esm", and "*.esl" files) are files used in Bethesda games (The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout series) that are loaded by the game engine. They can modify data in the base game (e.g. changing an existing alchemy recipe), or introduce new data (e.g. add entirely new alchemy recipes).
Most plugins come in the form of an *.esp file and as such will depend on one or several master file(s) (*.esm files) such as "Skyrim.esm" that contains all the data for the base game. Some *.esp files will have different dependencies, for instance, *.esp files that reference data in the three Skyrim DLCs will depend on Skyrim.esm as well as one or several of the DLC master files: Dawnguard.esm, Dragonborn.esm, and HearthFires.esm.
Other mods come with both a plugin file as well as other assets. That can include but is not limited to: voice files, textures, meshes, scripts etc. These assets can be bundled into game specific archives (*.bsa files, or *.ba2 files), or come as "loose files" (uncompressed folders containing the assets). Assets will be loaded along with the corresponding plugin.
In other cases several mods (i.e. mods consisting of plugins and assets, or "pluginless mods", which consist of e.g. just a texture pack) might reference the same game files, in which case whichever mod is last in the "install order" will "win" the conflict and override the previous mod's changes.
A mod that changes the process of looting animals in the game to be more involved. Comes with a plugin (*.esp files) and assets (meshes, textures, and scripts as "loose files" i.e. files in unpacked folders).
This is because the patch modifies some of Hunterborn's scripts to make them compatible with SkyTEST. As they contain the same files, the two mods are in conflict with each other. When it comes to Bethesda games and install orders, the last mod to load "wins" a given conflict, as it will override the changes made by the mod loaded before. In our case we want the patch to win the conflict, as it contains the updated script files that are edited to work with SkyTEST.
As we established above, when it comes to the three plugins of our example mods, all that matters is that the patch loads last, as it depends on the other two mods' plugin files. Therefore either of these example load orders would be functional.
A plugin's position in the load order is often displayed by mod managers as a hexadecimal number, from 00 to FE (0 to 254 in decimal). The plugin with position 00 loads first, and the plugin with position FE is loaded last (except for .esl files, see below). Hexadecimal numbers are used to display the load order positions of plugins because these numbers form the first two digits of the code that the game uses to reference the records that the plugin adds, so knowing the numbers allows modders and mod users to determine from which plugin a record is from.
In Skyrim, the load order of active plugins is stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\\plugins.txt, and modding utilities generally use %LOCALAPPDATA%\\loadorder.txt to store the load order of all plugins. This makes backing up your load order as easy as making copies of those two files. 2ff7e9595c
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