prettyfly

@Elmurel The tool you are asking for does not exist. Every single install is unique and there is no way that a program could take into account abslutely everything out there and beable to order each and every different install correctly. The closest thing we have is BAIN, and so you're either going to have to overcome your irrational dislike of the tool or use it. As for simple guides, well, there's things out there such as fifty steps to a stable FCOM and the like. The reality is though if you want a large working Oblivion mod install, YOU need to put in the effort, work out how the game and modding functions and be able to understand what you need to do with your install as a result using the avaiable tools to get things you run properly. There is no easy, plug and play' method to get around it. Period. @Gorge09; the problem is that those complicated mods aren't designed to be installed using BASH. Which sucks, so unfortunately we're stuck using OBMM because thats what they have been packaged to work with.

@ishameltheforsaken FCOM may be in need of more concise install instructions and more centralized locations for downloading the necessary files, but I doubt that something so complicated will ever be able to be effectively installed at the touch of a button. Even if it was packaged like that, it would consequentially make it extremely difficult to manage the overhaul to ensure stability and even then you would still need to know how to use the Bashed Patch to get the game to work.

I can see the advantages for the Fallout community (where people don't use too many mods) and for casual mod users for Oblivion with only a few mods running (we'll see about Skyrim), but I doubt that this tool will be of much use for the bulk of the Oblivion modding community with 100+ load orders. Its been long been known that you simply can't run an install like that with OBMM, and even with the improvements of FOMM, these tools still aren't powerful and flexible enough to handle such a volume of files. I've had my own bad experiences trying to do this before. The only tool that can handle such a large install is Bash, preferably with BAIN in use as well. My concern is that this tool may well direct newcomers to Oblivion away from Bash, and when they get up that 100+ mod install they are going to run into serious problems which their modding tool simply can't resolve for them. Its also going to lead them to the conclusion that getting a large load order working properly should be quick and easy with all the hard work handled by install scripts. Anyone familiar with getting a large install working will be able to tell you that this is not the case. While I think this tool will have its uses, particularly for Fallout and probably the Skyrim community, I can't say I can support this tool if it comes into operation on Oblivion. BAIN is and will remain the tool of choice in that community and anything that drives mod users towards the less advanced Mod Manager style installers is only going to cause pain and frustration for many. It would be quite sad if this tool undercuts the years of benefits and advances the Oblivion modding community has received as a result of the success of BAIN.

Question: Is there anyway the available stats could be used to figure out the approximate user size of the communities of these games?

I agree that the future of Better Cities should see lots of other mods continue to be incoporated into the main files so that they can be used without conflict. I was always under the impression that this was the point of the whole project anyway.

I voted for merged files. I use all the cities anyway and I look forward greatly to the potential future with the merged files. Still, wouldn't it be possible to maintain an old version of Better Cities that has the seperate city files that are currently available. All that it would need is patch updates, and I imagine that would cater for the minority who like the seperate city modularity (they obviously wouldn't get all the additions of future versions with merged city files, but thats the compromise, right?). BTW, whats happened in Bruma that has annoyed so many people?