Striker879

What sound card is the key thing ... a discrete sound card like Creative SoundBlaster or the sound solution built into your motherboard such as Realtek (i.e. the thing you plug your headset into that takes care of the actual sound processing).

I'm going to guess and say you're playing on a machine (possibly laptop) that is using an onboard sound chip (Realtek is a common one, and one that I have a little experience with). Like all onboard solutions (another example in the Intel graphics on many laptops) it uses CPU and memory resources to do a lot of it's work. That takes away those CPU cycles and memory from the game engine, hence your pauses. First thing to do is go into the Control Panel applet for that onboard sound and make certain all effects are turned off. You could also check on the manufacture's web site for updated drivers (Windows update will often "update" drivers with older versions/broken versions ... I let Microsoft only deal with their own stuff and keep their fingers off all else). Codec packs can also play havoc with the game, so check to see if you have any of those installed (often those get installed silently when you're installing something else). Turning the music off was just to make sure that the problem was sound related.

Is it at the start of the battle music and then when the battle music ends and explore/town etc resumes? If so you could try disabling music in Oblivion.ini (change bMusicEnabled=1 to bMusicEnabled=0 in the [Audio Variables] section) and see if it stops the pause.

What version number does the game show in the lower left of the main menu?

Using Windows Explorer rename the file by changing the file extension from ZIP to OMOD (so for example you would change a file named ThisMod.zip to ThisMod.omod).

After you download the file change the file extension to .omod ... Windows is just hijacking the file extension and changing it to .zip (some new "feature" dreamed up by Microsoft).

The way the game works is that clothes/armor "becomes" the part of the body that it covers. What this means is that if you put a BBBed mesh on and you have installed a BBBed skeleton.nif and BBBed animation replacer then as long as that BBBed item is worn you'll have BBB. Where things get difficult is finding an underwear version of a BBBed body mesh. The best option is probably BBB for HGEC Body Replacer Underwear. The other one that comes to mind is ZKEC Female Body. There are a limited number of mods sized to that body, but you could also use regular BBBed HGEC clothes/armor in similar sizes if you don't mind a seam and/or gap at the wrist and possibly the ankles. You could also just use a non-BBBed underwear version of the body mesh if you don't mind that females wearing no clothes or armor don't bounce (but they will when dressed if you install BBBed clothing and armor replacers).

If you are trying for the 4096x4096 package (the one that comes as a two part download) you need to be certain that the folder you download to contains no other files when you extract part one (after the renaming) ... just part one and part two properly renamed. The 2048x2048 download is much simpler to download/extract and then run the install tool.

Use High Rez Skin Textures for HGEC.

If you are looking for an alternative way of dealing with Umbra you could have a look at Umbra the Unfortunate. The mod offers multiple ways of completing/not completing the quest, obtaining the sword and is customizable via the INI file. As a bonus you can have Umbra as a companion if you choose to let her live.

If looking at alternatives to the Waterfront shack have a look at Maple Cottage. It's location is far superior to the shack, offers ample secure storage and is companion friendly so you won't outgrow it. There is a small quest to get the keys so you won't even need to console gift yourself a thing.

All that and no bashed patch?? That will not give you a very good chance to succeed.

The other thing to look at is whether or not the onboard sound drivers got updated along with the Windows security updates. I have had problems with Windows updating drivers which then stopped working in the past (I do all of my Windows updates manually, so I know exactly what MS has screwed up when they screw something up). A commonly used onboard sound chi[set is Realtek. Before my laptop died that is what it used, and I have updated drivers from the Realtek site a number of times. You just download the new driver and then run the downloaded executable.

I believe there is also a problem with NPCs finding things not on the same level as them (Z axis). If the tower is your creation make the top room a separate cell and give him a package to travel to that cell. Where you will run into trouble with that advice is if he is supposed to guard the top of the tower (i.e. outside on the top of the structure). Then the marker will be in the Tamriel worldspace ... not sure what would help him then (maybe something like bounding boxes ... at least I think that's what they are called). Another thought if that is the case is a travel package to the room directly below the marker and then another to the marker. When he is outside the tower at ground level he's in the Tamriel worldspace and your package directs him to a marker also in the Tamriel worldspace. The game isn't bright enoungh to take him out of the Tamriel worldspace into te tower cells to get to the mark.

No I wouldn't think that security updates would be to blame. That it only happens when you move your charater leads me to suspect something related to sound (footsteps sound in particular). Trying turning off sound effects in Oblivion.ini (set bSoundEnabled=0 ). What kind of sound card are you using?

The vanilla Oblivion launcher doesn't show load order, it's just a list you can select from to activate/deactivate mods.

Sorry I don't. When I'm at home I have links saved galore on my desktop machine, but my normal summer machine (a laptop) died and I'm stuck using a tablet (Android's version of Chrome + tablet controls + me = "I can do this in Windows so much more easily" frustration). Not sure which version of Windows you're on ... I'm most familiar with Win XP myself. In XP it would be Control Panel -> System -> drivers tab -> highlight the driver you want and click on Roll Back (though those steps are plucked from a possibly imperfect memory). Google Roll Back Drivers should give you a list of various links ... pick one that is most pertinent to your operating system.

See if you can figure out which drivers Windows update "fixed" and try a roll back of them one at a time starting with what seems most likely (pointing device, sound, video etc).

Do you have Windows doing automatic updates for things like drivers? Have you tried renaming your Oblivion.ini to OldOblivion.ini and let the game rebuild a new Oblivion.ini?

In OBMM click on Utilites -> Archive Invalidation -> select BSA Redirection -> click Reset BSA Timestamps if you use Steam -> click Update Now. Also make sure you have your texture size set to large in the game video options.

I think your issue is more likely related to this issue TheRomans is talking about than the stuck animation problem I was talking about in the quote. It isn't always present because the static object that crosses cell boundaries and causes the tear doesn't always move ... one time it makes it across the boundary and another time it doesn't.

You can somewhat achieve that using Realistic Fatigue alongside Basic Physical Activities.

Two modders whose work has had a tremedous impact on the game lately are Alenet (Oblivion Reloaded - OBGE v4) and Maskar (Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul along with previous work).

Try this link.

Make certain your texture size is set to large.