Striker879

Hmm ... it's like the game thinks you've started a new game when you've actually loaded a save. And this is happening when you are starting the game from the desktop (i.e. not loading the save from when you are already in the game, like after dying for example)?

But this save number resetting happens all the time, or just after a bad exit?

When you exit the game does it exit cleanly to the desktop or does it do the good old CTD "Oblivion has stopped working" type exit?

Is it reporting all the other info OK (e.g. hours played, location etc)?

Are you saying when you save to a new slot after loading save 7 the new save is named save 1 or are you saying when you overwrite save 7 the now overwritten save is named save 1?

Sorry, that question is way above my pay grade. Might be best to start a new topic with that question.

Whenever you alter an ESP in TES4Edit it makes a backup in the Oblivion\Data\TES4Edit Backups folder with the date and time appended to the file name (which makes TES4Edit a safer way to "experiment").

What did you do to the backup that TES4Edit automatically makes?

I use VCI Shivering Start myself (including the distant lod fix). Another option is the SI portion of SM Plugin Refurbish.

If it has a discrete graphics card and a fast CPU it will depend on the specific specs of the discrete graphics card and CPU and RAM installed. If it doesn't have both then it will be like all laptops ... a poor compromise for gaming.

Depends ... did you spend a lot extra to get a laptop with a discrete graphics card and a fast CPU (typically laptops will come with a fast CPU and on-board graphics or a slow CPU and discrete graphics card ... if you truly want a proper laptop for gaming you will pay a premium to get both)?

How To Fix 'd3dx9_43.dll missing' Error In Windows 7

Any mods that improve the game graphics will be a "test and see if it works" situation. NPCs and quests will add to the workload, but that is mostly handled by modern CPUs without too much difficulty. Graphics will always be your bottleneck.

No trouble ... kept me busy doing something besides playing the game. Weather this time of year doesn't scream out "Get yer butt outside and do something" if you know what I mean. Play enough to get a really good feel for the base game. OCO v2 and the body replacers don't add much in the way of demands on your machine (a bit larger texture size than vanilla for the bodies and a few more polys on the meshes). As you add mods and test you'll have a good idea how each affects your own machine, which is far more relevant information than how things work on someone else's machine. Have fun and don't be a stranger.

The Intel HD Graphics 4400 is an on-board grahics solution (as opposed to a discrete or separate graphics card that goes into a slot on the motherboard). It doesn't have memory dedicated for it's exclusive use like a discrete card, it shares the system RAM with the CPU. If the CPU needs lots of memory the graphics suffers (and vice versa, but it's usually the graphics that takes it on the chin). Having 8GB of RAM total will alleviate how often and how bad, but won't eliminate the problem. Best that you can do is prepare your machine before playing. Shutdown all unnecessary programs and processes before starting the game. I've seen advice to use a utility called GameBooster to get as many as possible shutdown, but I have no experience with it (I'm always on a desktop machine with a discrete video card). This also makes it even more imperative to exit the sewers and see how the game handles ... the closer that test is to just the vanilla game the better your baseline will be once you start adding mods. Make sure to use these three scenarios in all tests ... an outside area with lots of grass and trees (these settings can be tweaked in the game menus and in the INI file), a battle with more than one opponent (here Vilverin fits the bill for a low level player, and is right across from the sewers ... fight both at once, the test isn't can you survive it's does your machine handle the load) and finally the IC Market District during the day time when it's busy. Having a save in each of these scenarios makes testing much simpler. The hill on the road going up towards Chorrol starting at Fort Nikel is a pretty good grassy spot and there's trees just at the top of the hill (and usually the bandit that spawns near the top of the hill doesn't spawn until you've been past the spot once or twice). Don't fret about things like watching your skills for level-up and stuff like that (ya, I use the vanilla leveling system and micromanage). My testing sessions often take on a just have fun look ... one of the things I like to keep track of as I'm adding mods is how stable the game is. You add mods you get more crashes, simple as that. The longer test sessions allow me to get a feel for current stability, giving me a frame of reference for when I add the next mod. I nearly always know which of my mods affects stability. Yes it takes me longer than most to get my game set up to my liking ... I do micromanage more than my level-ups. - Edit - I'm not sure how well your machine would handle it, but MOO offers a vast range of tweaks via the INI file, including more than one aspect affecting difficulty.

No I don't use any overhauls on this playthrough. Once I get my new machine built (still accumulating pieces for it) I intend to run Maskars Oblivion Overhaul (MOO). My current machine needs a bit more in the RAM and graphics department to comfortably run mods that add more NPCs, especially something like MOO or OOO that are adding NPCs who are bent on killing you. In my opinion the advantage that MOO offers over OOO is that it's a new mod, designed from the ground up to be customizable via INI files to suit your own preferences. Before you get too far down the road of adding mods you need to confirm that the game runs properly after you've exited the sewers. The tutorial dungeon doesn't give you a good read on how the game will react to your current load order in the outside world. Make your before the exit save and then exit and make another save just outside the sewers. Cross over to Vilverin and bonk the bandits on their heads and confirm your body replacers are working. Go to the Imperial City Market District and see how your machine/load order likes having lots of NPCs around. The wilderness and IC Market District (especially during the day when there's lots of activity) are your prime mod testing territories ... a save made in each will help speed up the process.

You are off and running (and with those two as some of your first installs you'll be gaining experience like my guy did with his Alteration, spamming the Shield spell to gain the skill advances he needed for level-up). Level 10, Strength and Endurance at 100 ... this guy is rockin'.

Yes it is odd. I have seen one other report of something similar, that user couldn't drag and drop archives into the Installers Package window and have them recognized. I'm an old Windows dinosaur who dislikes all things drag'n-dropped so I've only tried the copy/paste method in Windows Explorer. Have you tried the drag and drop method into the Installers Package window (though what you have working is working)? Your BOSS issue also has me scratching my head (it always works from the BOSS icon at the bottom of the WB window for me). What operating system are you running, and is the account you're using an administrator account or regular account? - Edit - If you right click the BOSS icon down at the bottom of the WB window there's an option to Launch Using GUI. If it's not ticked it launches BOSS using the same interface as the command line version (all you get is a small black command prompt window). Is your's ticked or not ticked?

Sorry I wasn't clearer about it, but you didn't need to install the HGEC v1-21 BAIN repack at all. It's what I call a "pure replacer" (I'll explain that in a second) while EVE is sort of half way between a pure replacer and a regular mod (well maybe only 1/4 the way between, leaning to the pure replacer end of the scale). Because of how pure replacers work you have no cause for concern though. Recall how I mentioned that the game has all of it's vanilla assets inside the BSA files (e.g. Oblivion -Meshes.bsa and Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa). What replacer mods like HGEC (and EVE is just a variant of HGEC) and Roberts do is at the basest level replace assets with new ones. The vanilla game has body meshes all stored inside Oblivion - Meshes.bsa and the corresponding textures in the textures BSA. Replacers work by putting the replacement meshes and textures in exactly the proper directory (folder) path so that it matches the path used inside the compressed BSA. Inside the BSA the female upper body mesh is in the folder path Meshes\characters\_male and so a replacer will also use that same path structure, only in your Data folder (so the replacers complete path is Oblivion\Data\Meshes\characters\_male in your game install). By default the game will ignore the replacements and continue to use the assets from inside the BSA files. In order for replacers to work without an ESP a method was devised called Archive Invalidation. Using Archive Invalidation if the game found assets that were newer than those in the BSAs it would use the newer. Various methods of implementing Archive Invalidation have been tried over the years. The most recent and by far most successful is called BSA Redirection. How it works isn't as important as it provides a do once and forget about it solution to Archive Invalidation (the older methods such as BSA Alteration were fraught with upkeep issues and compatibility problems). Fortunately enabling BSA Redirection is simple using Wrye Bash. In the Installers tab right click menu, mid way up the second section of the menu from the bottom you'll see BSA Redirection. If it doesn't have a tick mark beside it click on it and reopen the right click menu to confirm it's ticked ... done!! Another note about WB's Installers tab ... you don't need to extract the downloaded ZIP, RAR or 7Z file. Just copy it to the Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion Mods\Bash Installers folder found in your game install folders. Wrye will find it and take care of the extraction ... you'll just see the mods name listed in the Package window, with all the same functionality as if you'd done the extracting yourself. Copying a single file to the Bash Installers folder has less risk of an "Oops" than a bunch of folders. So, more than a second later ... a pure replacer is a mod that doesn't require any ESP file to work. By following the proper folder structure, and using Archive Invalidation pure replacers are simply replacement files for the vanilla game assets (NIF for meshes, DDS for textures and KF for animations). Hybrid solutions like EVE use one or more ESP files to fix shortcomings in the vanilla game, in addition to being a working pure replacer (the ESPs don't replace anything, only add to the game). Then there are all the rest of the mods that rely on ESPs and OBSE plugins to add to the game. OCO v2 is in that camp with some pure replacer mixed in.

When you make it to the point near the end of the tutorial where you can see the sewer exit in the distance make a save. This will be the save you'll use as you add mods and test. A note about saving ... don't use quicksave (it's a known corrupter of save files) and don't overwrite saves. Always save in a new slot or use named saves from the console (again not overwriting). When your Saves folder starts getting full (more than a couple of hundred saves) move all but the most recent to backup storage outside of the Oblivion\Saves folder (Oblivion\MySavesBackup is fine or on a completely separate drive if you want added security). The reason is having too many saves in your Oblivion\Saves folder will start to slow down menu opening etc. Have a look through Wrye Bash Advanced Readme.html section 6b Save Profiles. Pretty handy tool for keeping different load orders for different characters or testing profiles.

EVE is also packaged in a BAIN friendly format. Once you put the downloaded archive EVE_HGEC_BodyStock and Clothing Wrye Bash BAIN -24078.7z into your Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion Mods\Bash Installers folder you'll find WB lists a bunch of sub-packages in the Sub-Packages window to the lower right (after you've selected EVE in the Package window of course). You'll want to tick 00 Core and 01 Body Textures to start. Next look through the 10 and 15 series of folders. There are different sizes of upper and lower bodies available (EBE stands for extra buff edition, others are self explanatory) and all are available as either a nude version or with underwear. Tick one of the 10's and one of the 15's (example 10 Normal C-Cup Nude and 15 Lowerbody Normal Nude ... but you could mix nude upper and underwear lower if you wanted just a topless look for example). Then you'll want to select the matching 20 and 25 series folders (example above would be 20 Equipment Replacer Upperbody - Normal C-Cup and 25 Equipment Replacer Lowerbody - Normal). In the Esp/m Filter box select the ESPs that correspond with what you have installed in your base game (you'll want EVE_StockEquipmentReplacer.esp and EVE_KhajiitFix.esp as well as EVE_ShiverIslesEasterEggs.esp and EVE_KnightsoftheNine.esp if you have Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine DLCs installed). The ESPs are required to allow female versions of armor/clothes that only have a male version in the vanilla game (example, there is no female steel cuirass in the vanilla game ... females wear a male cuirass). Then in the Package window right click on EVE and select install. If in future you decide you want a different body just select EVE in the package list and change which sub-packages are ticked (still only one form each series) and install. You do know that eventually you'll need to play through the tutorial and exit the sewers ... right? Just kidding. I went through similar when I re-installed the game and all the DLCs. Seemed like forever before I got all my base game mods installed. In my case I had a character save at the sewer exit so I could install a mod then exit and make sure everything was working correctly before moving on to the next on my list. Using the Save Profiles I have a Base Game profile, a Mod Testing profile and my newest character's profile (he's just about ready to level up to level 10). And don't forget, it's install then BOSS then rebuild your bashed patch. - Edit - And yes, steps one two and three look correct ... might not hurt to BOSS and rebuild after step three and before installing EVE, as well as after installing EVE. - Edit 2 - Yes that "violates" Nuska's install order ... all will be OK if you install her HGEC compatibility patch after installing EVE.

Au contraire my friend, even though you have removed MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp you will still need the compatibility add-on. The add-on only contains replacement textures that are compatible with the changes made by the OCO v2 ESP. After you have removed MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp the OCO v2 ESP will use the textures from it's replacement add-on and the meshes from your original Roberts Male installation. The original textures from Roberts Male will be overwritten by the OCO v2 add-on, and it adds some textures in a new folder for the heads (so the old Roberts head textures are really the only ones "taking up space" afterwards). For males in the game there is really only one choice ... Roberts Male. For female characters and NPCs there are a number of choices, and unfortunately most aren't compatible with one another. Once again you are at a fork in the path ... decision time. The main two are HGEC and Roberts Female (but there are plenty of others like BAB, TGND and Fantasy Figures). Far and away the most popular is HGEC. Where this popularity comes into play is the variety of modded clothes/armor available for download. Both HGEC and Roberts Female require replacement clothes/armor that is compatible for their respective mesh and texture changes (otherwise the game will only use it's vanilla clothes and armor and varying degrees of ugliness will result). For HGEC I recommend EVE - HGEC Eyecandy Variants Expansion and for Roberts Female Robert Female Body v13. Both come with replacers for the stock clothes and armor. You won't find near as many additional clothes /armor released for the Roberts version but there are some (and most tend to the more conservative approach appearance wise). Sky's the limit with HGEC. Nuska has released compatibility patches for both HGEC and Roberts Female, so it comes down to your preferences. A question to ask yourself is do you intend to play primarily male characters or female? For male characters there is only one choice, and not much released as far as additional clothes and armor (but there is some). For female characters, would you be likely to want to amass a large collection of clothes and armor for your character to wear, or is that unlikely? Either way the vanilla game NPCs will only be wearing the compatible replacements, which for the most part are identical to their vanilla counterparts (unless of course you install some of the skimpy sexy etc. replacers ... in which case you'll be best served using HGEC for a female body replacer).

It takes time, and you've stepped right up to the "Big Boys" table and plunked down your chips. I was weeks if not months getting my head around some stuff. Stayed away from Wrye for years (but I'm "all in" now). The base game stores all of it's assets in the BSA files (e.g. Oblivion - Meshes.bsa and Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa). No installer will overwrite the BSA files (at least none I've ever heard of). About the only folders that aren't kept in the compressed BSA format are Music and Shaders, so they could be vulnerable to the vanilla files getting overwritten (replacements for the vanilla shaders can be downloaded from here, so Music is the only one that you could consider really "at risk"). When you use the Roberts Male Body Replacer Texture Compatibility Addon from the OCO v2 download section you are using Nuska's replacement textures for the Roberts textures that are compatible with OCO v2. If you leave the MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp active it points to the textures that were installed during the Roberts Male installation. The head texture paths are different between the two (Roberts is the same as vanilla ... OCO v2 points to the nuska folder). The MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp isn't required and depending on load order can cause problems because of this difference. Move it to a backup folder that you'll need to create outside of the game's Data folder (can be outside of all the game's folders if you want). Wrye is indeed smart enough to handle things correctly, even when you aren't "following" it's recommendations (if you untick an ESP in the Mergeable and Deactivate list it won't merge that ESP's contents into the bashed patch). The disadvantage of not following it's recommendations is that you'll be ignoring the wisdom of all those much brighter than I who have researched and discovered what works and what doesn't. Wrye Bash uses the combined experience of both the WB team and the BOSS team ... it'll be a very rare occasion that you'll find a recommendation that isn't spot on, and certainly not with a popular mod like Roberts or OCO v2. Following those recommendations not only leverages the combined wisdom of the WB and BOSS team but also the feedback received from thousands of users (if it didn't work they'd be sure to hear about it). Leaving the NoMerge unticked merely follows the mod authors wishes. I'm pretty certain that if WB says it can be merged, it can be merged, but not merging won't cause problems. The bashed patch is a very powerful tool for getting conflicting mods working together. In some cases it offers the only way unless you are willing to use other tools like TES4Edit to manually merge two or more conflicting mods.

Sometimes a mod will be completely mergeable into the bashed patch, meaning that after merging, it's ESP is no longer needed to be active (it still needs to be present in your Data folder). Wrye Bash reads all of the mods ESP contents and puts them into the bashed patch and then deactivates the original ESP. Other mods are actually mergeable but have a bash tag added by the mod author instructing Wrye Bash not to merge them (Mergeable but tagged NoMerge). If you were getting close to the 255 mod limit (that's how many mods can be used by the vanilla game at one time ... a limit that WB has ways of working around) I'd say try merging those Mergeable but tagged NoMerge mods. You're not anywhere close to that point yet so leave the Deactivate Prior to Merging mods ticked and the Mergeable but tagged NoMerge unticked. Another point on your load order so far ... the ESP for Roberts Male (MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp) is not required at all when you are also using OCO v2, and in fact can cause some problems. You can either delete it from your Oblivion\Data folder or move it to a backup folder outside of the game's Data folder (if you downloaded Roberts Male manually to a download folder you can always extract the archive and get the ESP if you need it later ... if you downloaded directly to the Oblivion Mods\Bash Installers folder you may want to just move it to backup). The reason they call them packages I think is in deference to the full blown BAIN packages that some mods include, often with a BAIN wizard to walk you through all of the options. If you download some mods manually and extract them you'll find a numbered folder structure like 00 Core, 01 Orb Style, 01 Skyrim Style, 01 Vanilla Style, 10 Optional Compass HUD base (Dark) DarN, 10 Optional Compass base BT mod, 10 Optional Compass base Vanilla etc. (some of the folders found in the HUD Status Bars extracted download). If it had a wizard it would walk you trough the various options and then install only your selections from the appropriate folders. HUD Status Bars doesn't have a wizard though, so the readme tells you "install everything in 00 Core, one of the 01 folders and then any of the others that apply to your current install". Long answer because I'm not very good at short ones.

The fact that you selected No the first time is probably saved in some configuration file hidden away in some folder somewhere (could be BashSettings.dat in MyGames\Oblivion) ... but where isn't really important as it's simple to turn back on. With the Installers tab selected just right click on one of the column headers (Package will do fine) and select Enabled from the right click menu. When you run into something like that it's better to either refer to Wrye Bash General Readme.html or Wrye Bash Advanced Readme.html found in the game's Oblivion\Mopy\Docs folder or ask on here or in Wrye's download page mod comments before uninstalling and re-installing. Just remember, install one mod at a time, using either manual install or BAIN, then BOSS and then rebuild the bashed patch. Start the game and test to make certain everything is stable and as it should be (the mod assets are where they're supposed to be for instance ... providing they don't involve a big quest to confirm). Testing each mod as you install will save hours of troubleshooting later. When I set up my latest Oblivion install I used WB to create profiles, one of which is devoted to just testing newly installed mods ... I have saves from different areas in Cyrodiil to cut down the leg work. You can do a lot with Wrye Bash, but to get the most out of it will require some study on your part.