BA2 Merge Automation Tool - B.M.A.T.

FO4 BA2 limitations may be a thing of the past with this tool, which provides automatic BA2 file repacking and merging.

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Overview

The BMAT (BA2 Merge Automation Tool) tool was developed to help keep the number of Fallout 4 BA2 files under control. As you probably know, Bethesda games have some limitations when it comes to files, logging, and more. In Fallout 4, when you go over 400 BA2 files (excluding game core/inventory BA2 files), the game randomly crashes, or won't even start.

I know there are several tools available to extract or archive BA2 files. There are even some that can merge many BA2 files into one, but you need to follow a complex guide with many error-prone manual steps.

I wanted something that involved less manual work and was made for the general mod collection user and easier to use, so I developed my own BA2 merge tool for lazy bums... like me????

The same FO4 BA2 restrictions may be a thing of the past with this tool, and there's more control over mod file overrides, so you can add those nifty mods with lots of BA2 files back to your collection and have fun.

The current version of the tool was developed for use with Vortex (see roadmap for MO2 support) and tested with multiple mod collections, including Exoclyps’ “A StoryWealth” mod collection.

All in all, this tool has been developed to be as close to a "one click" tool as possible, it will automatically find BA2 files in your mod collection and merge those BA2 files into new mods in Vortex. This will allow the game to load all the mod BA2 files you want.

The tool can handle mod additions, changes, updates, deletions, and more, making it easy to repackage BA2 archives.

The tool is designed to save as much disk space as possible, but you still need to keep the tools staging folder to work properly.

Fair warning: this tool may not be for the faint of heart as all of its files and folders can be moved and deleted, and all warnings in Vortex apply, but it gets the job done! Keep in mind that this tool is still in beta, and even though it has been tested against thousands of mods of varying sizes and folder structures, there may be some quirks that may need to be worked out. Please be patient and if you find any issues with the tool, please let me know which mod and which mod version you are merging so I can make the tool work with that mod in subsequent versions of the tool.

The tool was tested against 1300+ versions of mods and ran 8 FO4 mod collections (aSW + 7 aSW add-ons + nearly 250 add-on mods) simultaneously on a single Vortex profile. After installing the tool in Vortex, I was able to merge hundreds of mods into just a few with a single click (see this article for my test results and findings while developing and using the tool), and was able to move from a game that was constantly crashing (because I had over 400 BA2 files) to a playable game.

NOTE: No intention to offend anyone, but if you don't know what a BA2 file is, or what this FO4 limit is about, or you're impatient, then

This tool may not be suitable for you...yet????

NOTE: Don't assume you know what you're doing. Read the documentation ( Me.pdf in the package) to understand how the tool is designed and intended to be used and set up.

Prerequisites

Vortex (latest tested version is 1.13.2, I tend to keep updating my Vortex)

PowerShell7 (see the "Red Me.pdf" FAQ for guidance on how to install PS7).

Please note: Make sure you have PS7 installed before running this tool.

Any mod collection or collection combination for Fallout 4

Finally...patience????

Install

All steps are detailed in the “Read Me.pdf” file in the zip file.

detail

This tool is designed and created with the following features:

Has an external configuration file (config.json) for the tool, so there is no need to change the tool code. Please don't mess with tool code and then complain that it doesn't work. Instead, suggest me any improvements.

The tool comes pre-installed with the lat …