Balakirev

1) Avoid quicksaves and autosaves. 2) In general, avoid loading a saved game from within the game. None of the ES games are really optimized well for memory, and you've already used a large junk of what you've got just to run the game. Save, exit, reload. 3) I didn't see whether you were on the PC, or not. If you are, get the Unofficial Oblivion Patch and the Unofficial SI Patch. Both resolve tons of bugs still left in the game after Bethsoft moved on. 4) Get Wrye Bash. It will check for, and repair, certain types of saved game errors. It will also help ensure that a saved game to which you add/remove mods are properly coordinated--so that the game doesn't load expecting a mod to be there which isn't.

I just tried the link, three times. Worked all three times.

Odd that it should request Giants, though. For what it's worth, I wouldn't suggest finding and running that mod. The modder in question wasn't the tidiest, and efforts to remove his stuff have been widely reported to *not* reinstall original game files needed to run Morrowind. I discovered this to be the case from personal experience, as well.

The mod was uploaded in March. There have been no comments on the page you linked to. Why not go directly to the modder, and ask them in the comments section of that page?

Shooting in the dark, here, but it certainly appears as though your issue is memory. You've got only 2 GB RAM on a machine that is running Win7, which requires 1GB RAM, and absorbs everything it can get. It's a greedy OS. You can try turning off all visual enhancements and Windows services you're not going to need, at least while gaming, and closing every program/process not required. I suggest installing a freebie program, Iobit's Gamebooster, which has a huge range of tweaks to get back RAM, and to speed up systems for gaming. It's currently free, and will remain that way for 2 more weeks, before the company starts attaching a price to it for a big jump in development. Worth a look, at least. Otherwise, I'd suggest moving Morrowind to a good PC running WinXP, with at least 2 GB RAM. This will allow you to add all sorts of mods that tailor the game experience--though to be honest, Morrowind needs far less of that than either of its successors, which I also genuinely enjoy.

I'll bet he ran Oblivion.exe with OBSE-required mods installed, rather than the OBSE launcher.

Have you checked out this thread about mod installation? Installing mods can be problematic, and it helps to go through all the steps carefully. All of us mistakes, including people like myself who have 230+ mods going at the same time.

"does anyone know how to fix a error that causes my ground to look like the area i'm in." I'm sorry--but I"m having a little difficulty understanding here what the problem is. What does the ground texture beneath your character's feet look like? Does this happen only in specific areas, and if so, which ones? Do you have a group of mods loaded? If so, please post them in loading order.

OBGE. Some people swear by it, many people swear at it--including quite a few people who use it. It requires an enormous amount of tweaking to get right for each person's system. I can't say for sure, but it certainly sounds like that is the source of your issues. If you want more help, you'll probably be better off checking the OBGE thread on the official forums. I don't use it, myself, although some of the images I've seen with it are frankly breathtaking. For the rest: 1) Don't uninstall/reinstall if you problems with Oblivion, unless you are 100% certain this will help. Otherwise, it's as though you simply backed up a film of a car crash in order to see it again. 2) Texture mods are different from others, in that they don't require an ESP. So they shouldn't conflict with any ESP-based mod. 3) As with nearly all mods, last loaded overrides mods that were loaded before that affect the same thing. So if you install ABC texture mod that modifies everything in the game, and then install DEF texture mod that modifies only Imperial City, you'll have ABC textures everywhere but in Imperial City, where you'll have DEF. Hope some of that helps, and best of luck.

There are several companion mods that include the ability for that companion to repair their own weapons and armor--some without any assist, some with repair hammers you provide, or those they "purchase." There's also Companion Master, which includes a range of options for controlling companions, and gives all of them the ability to repair/recharge weapons, etc. But I've never seen a mod that lets a character pick up a dropped weapon in battle. I'd suggest providing two or three weapons to Ruined Tail.

Yes, that's a new little twist in companion AI behavior. While they would loot containers in Oblivion, they tended to do it less. Now, they do it a lot. I've not checked out the scripting for this yet, so I have no idea what's been changed. There was a mod in Oblivion, Companion Master, that included among its options forcing a companion to use the weapon and armor it currently had ("Lock Companion Gear"). I sorely miss that in Skyrim. Even if you have to rummage through a companion's inventory, they should never have the option to use whatever they want. Especially if it's a casting weapon. It's like giving a child a grenade launcher.

Considering that there are already a range of Youtube videos on Oblivion, including walkthroughs, I don't think you have anything to worry about. However, if you intend to add FCOM, I think you should make a point of giving credit in the video and in any accompanying subtitles to each mod. It's reasonable courtesy.

Why would anyone suppose that Bethsoft would spend a lot of time improving the rules set for its companion AI in Skyrim? Resources were put where they were felt the return would be greatest. That said, I don't suggest avoiding companions altogether. Just keep in mind a few basic rules: 1) Never employ a mage companion. 2) If you have a spellcasting companion, look for mods that allow you to "unlearn" and teach them spells. Remove anything from Destruction. Focus on summons and healing. If you need to, do this in the construction set. 3) Never employ a mage companion. 4) There are a huge range of companions of all levels and training on Nexus. Check those out. 5) Never employ a mage companion. And finally: 6) Never employ a mage companion. Keep those six rules in mind, and you should be able to make it through your next battle with companions without too much swearing.

Crabcakes are good. Some of the best I've ever had were when I visited Bethsoft's old headquarters for previews of Daggerfall and Morrowind. :)

Nice info, Karasuman. I wouldn't recommend MGE so casually as you do, but I can understand why its fans love the thing. One other patch to recommend: The Morrowind Patch Project. It's more of an unofficial bugfix for hundreds of things Bethsoft overlooked, rather than the innovator the Morrowind Code Patch is. They fit beautifully together. Judging from Kingpix's last comment here, he's going to be simplifying the install procedure and issuing a patch, soon. However, if you want the mod right now, you can follow the trail from his first post. It is something of a labyrinth to get to. Don't use it myself, but some people swear by it.

That's pretty much it. I can't think of any other mod near the Goddess Store, or the Heroes Store, for that matter. Apachii deliberately placed them out of the way, so there would be no conflicts. Just reinstall the mod manually, dropping (for example) the textures folder that comes with the mod on top of your Oblivion/data subdirectory, etc, and allowing it to overwrite. It will add, not destroy what's already there.

Could you just list the mods in loading order, minus the bash tags and the cleaning guide reference from BOSS? I'm honestly getting a headache just trying to find the ESP and ESM files in that lot. No offense meant. :)

Just as a separate matter, you're also running Morrowind Enhanced, correct? Because it's required for Combat Enhanced. And you have to launch the game through MWE, if I recall correctly. Check around to make sure you have the latest version of MWE, as well.

As Scriviner pointed out, post the kind of mods you want, and others will help. There's ton of gameplay-adding content out there for Oblivion. Skyrim's got a way to go before anything comparable in quantity (and arguably, quality) appears.

Did you try contacting the author? I know he's around in the Bethsoft forums, as I pointed out above. Unless he's starting taking a break just recently.

It was a Greater Bonewalker I had been fighting. I started again to change my stats & am starting to get the hang of it. Thankyou both for the replies. For future reference, it's a good idea to learn a few restore attribute spells, learn mark/recall and set a mark for a temple in front of a shrine, or work up your alchemy skill and carry around a few restore attribute potions. All three will work in dealing with enemies that cast curses or cause diseases.

The UMP has evolved in the last couple of years, and is now the Morrowind Patch Project. I agree, it's one of the two most important mods you can add to your game. Good catch. The other one is the Morrowind Code Patch. It includes tons of fixes, as well as optional features--such as my personal favorite, Swift Casting, which allows you to cast a spell Oblivion-like, with a weapon in hand. It also fixes saved game corruption, which happened regularly when mods were added or removed from a game already in progress. A must-have mod.

What Fonger wrote. Or as I added above,

GIven that there are 20,000+ mods, there's no easy way to evaluate them all, and no two people have the same tastes, either. What it comes down to is determining instead what you want in the game, and you can best do that by making notes of the things you don't like as you play, then asking specifically for a mod or mods that improve that feature. For example, you may want companions when you go into battle. Fine: ask about companions, and specify whether you just want quiet packrats who will attack when you attack, or whether you want very vocal companions who have personalities and comments to add when you visit new locations, or companions who have lengthy quest systems of their own. Or you may want "better graphics," in which case, you need to define what better means to you, where you want those graphics improved, and what system you're running on, so people can give you suggestions that don't reduce your framerate to a crawl. Feel free to disregard the above. In that case, just look at the Top 100 downloads of the site. Those are obviously skewed, but they should tell you something, and best of luck. :)

I'm thinking of moving my mannequins mod over to Skyrim, but as yet undecided. The lure of Morrowind is calling, again, so--we'll see.