Striker879

Could be some problem with the armor you created. Put it somewhere else in the CS and see if you crash when you try going there.

Have you tried applying the official patches (I'm assuming you have the disk version of the GotY)?

Over encumbered speed is zero so if you're moving it's not over encumbered. Your character does start out with not much speed ... do you see a difference between walking and running speed? If you disable Enhanced Camera does your speed change?

Not sure why you couldn't copy and paste (cut won't work) ... I do that all the time in my posts. Just highlight the source text (I left click and mouse drag myself but it can be done with the keyboard shift plus arrow keys from text files etc ... anything you can edit on your own machine). After highlighting the text just Ctrl + C and then click where you want it in your post and Ctrl + V. I'm a non-Steam type guy myself, so I can't give you anything but not very educated guesses about what may or may not be possible regarding using non-Steam main game plus Steam DLCs. My guess is that if the DLCs are available as downloads separate from a big all-in-one game plus DLCs download you may be in luck, but I also have the opinion that Steam doesn't want to play nice with anybody else (as far as I'm concerned their only concern is world domination, where they are the only source of PC games on the entire planet ... not far from the present day truth, so ya, I'll be the last non-Steam guy on the planet and will be satisfied with playing Oblivion until my dying day). That all said, if you decide to install the DLCs in whatever manner they give you, I would think that your saves should work provided you install all of the mods and utilities those saves require (such as OBSE ... saves fixed with OAF are just renamed saves with the problem causing part fixed and will work anywhere normal saves will work). Note that if you do switch over to using the Steam version of the main game you will need to follow the Steam instructions for installing OBSE for Steam (they're not the same as the disk version). We've had rather wonderful weather here as well, but had a sea change a couple of days ago that looks like it will persist. The long range forecasts are for typical SW Ontario autumn weather over the next couple of weeks, cooler temps and carry an umbrella for the occasional shower. It was good while it lasted though.

Are the sound files mono or stereo ... Oblivion requires mono.

The mod is working exactly as it was designed to ... those ten gates are not random gates. Look at the section Detailed Description in the readme (found in the extracted download or you can just click the Readme tab at the far right of the mod description page).

Did you clean out all of your old install's registry entries? Have a look through Bben46's wiki article Oblivion reinstall procedure to see if it makes any suggestions you know weren't included in your clean uninstall.

Best advice I've ever seen is pretty simple ... don't start installing mods until your character has left the sewers. I'll admit, that advice is a bit outdated in light of mods like Oblivion Character Overhaul v2 (that will need to be active before character creation ... either that or you need to know how to use the showracemenu console command without having your stats reset). OCOv2 needs Blockhead, which requires OBSE v21 so my amended version of the old school advice is only install what is absolutely necessary before your character leaves the sewers. Then install mods one at a time (or along with their required mods) and test thoroughly in between. I use Multiple Oblivion Manager - MOM to keep individual profiles for different characters and for mod testing. It's very helpful to have a MOM profile with a character save from just before you exit the sewer. I can use that profile to create new characters and profiles without redoing the tutorial each time. If I want I can create a clone of a current character's profile (which includes all of the current load order for that character) and use that cloned profile to test a mod or group of mods while keeping my character's profile safe from unexpected unpleasantness. All MOM requires is ample hard drive space and a willingness to utilize it's benefits.

I have my primary bow hotkeyed, so it's a simple push of that hotkey twice whenever I load a save. Don't even notice I'm doing it any more it's so automatic. If you save with some other weapon besides a bow equipped you won't see the bug at all as you'll need to switch to the bow after loading the save.

This is a known bug introduced by Blockhead. If Blockhead is ever updated by shadeMe it will be corrected, but you can easily fix it yourself by simply unequipping and then re-equipping your bow.

Here you go ... Weapon Tool Belts (and the required mod Thieves Toolbelt Streamlined).

You are using the DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp without the DLCBattlehornCastle.esp (i.e. missing master, as Drake points out).

Use Weakness to Magic 100% for 5 or more seconds stacked with Damage Fatigue (can be over time or one second). Unless your character has insane amounts of magicka make the Damage Fatigue part low enough that your character can cast the spell a few times or more. Make sure the Weakness to Magic is at the bottom of the spell effects list. The way the game works is the Weakness to Magic part of the spell stacks, so on the second cast the weakness becomes 200%, third cast 300% etc. (stacking until the oldest spell hit timer winds down to zero ... each subsequent hit will still stack with any timers still counting down). Fatigue regenerates for NPCs the same as for your player character so each spell hit will drop their fatigue by your spell amount times the current weakness effect. Don't make the Damage Fatigue timer any longer than it takes to cast the spell again (2 or 3 seconds max) but the Weakness to Magic timer can be as long as you feel needed. Balance the size of the damage effect and duration of the weakness effect to get an affordable Magicka cost for your character. Here's some examples I use with my characters: Nap Time (Magicka cost 72 for Destruction level 100 character) Damage Fatigue 50 pts for 3 seconds on Target Weakness to Magic 100% for 5 seconds on Target Valium (Magicka cost 108 for Destruction level 100 character) Damage Fatigue 100 pts for 2 seconds on Target Weakness to Magic 100% for 5 seconds on Target Both of these can be made even more effective if you also create a custom Weakness to Magic 100% spell (use a long duration like 15 or 20 seconds). Hit the target with that weakness spell a couple of times and then switch to either Nap Time or Valium. I have two Weakness to Magic 100% spells ... one on target for the first hit and the other an area spell for while they're running toward you (makes targeting easier on the moving target). For dungeons I use a normal vanilla Invisibility spell followed by this Custom spell: Sandman (Magicka cost 47) Invisibility for 3 seconds on Self Fortify Magicka 100 pts for 3 seconds on Self Damage Fatigue 50 pts for 2 seconds on Touch Weakness to Magic 100% for 5 seconds on Touch If there's more than one target don't stop spamming Sandman until all the targets are down and peacefully napping. The trick with all of these spells is to continue to hit the target after they're down to reduce their fatigue to way below zero. You can put an NPC down for as long as you want with the right spells.

The only source for the DLCs is Steam these days, and that means buying the entire GotY Deluxe even if you already own the base game. Bethesda abdicated to Steam (Steam probably gives them a few cents on the dollar that Steam takes in). Umbra ... I remember my first try at her! Tried all the tricks from the UESP Wiki on the quest including running to the IC for the guard's help, but to no avail. She still handed me my hat every time. I finally got lucky with the "basket on the table to jump onto the pillar" trick and managed to not fall off the pillar before my summons plus spells put her down (you can't take a break ... she regenerates health too fast). My new guy waited until he had the right spells and then she wasn't so bad. I'm away from my gaming machine for much of the summer months so once the weather says "stay indoors" I've plenty of ambition to get to work in Tamriel. If I build a new gaming machine this fall I'll probably start a new character to go along with the overhauls I want to try out (Maskar's for gameplay and Nuska's for characters with some various general scenery types thrown in if the new beast will handle it). Even after all this time playing there is still plenty I haven't tried from the modding community and I've yet to visit the Mad God's realm. I haven't tried Mehrune's Razor yet either ... the other DLCs were mainly a disappointment to me (horse armour's OK, but mostly I use it to keep my white horse easy to tell from Bruse (Vilja's horse). I've had hip issues myself so I understand the desire to get out and get moving. One of the things I resolved to do when I got over the latest bout with the hip this past spring was to spend less time in the winters at the computer. Time in Tamriel will suffer, but to a good cause.

When you next load your game the OAF fixed save will be at the top of your list. Of course you could load another save (even the one you used for OAF to fix) but the fixed save is the one you'll want for continuing your character's progress. If you're talking about the old saves I'll need to preface my advice with a caveat about me ... I'm a packrat. Would you like my very first save from my aborted attempt at the game (an all default choices Imperial, couldn't close the Kvatch gate to save his soul)? I have hard drive space out the whazoo (needed to support my habit). If your own situation is a bit different and you don't have nearly unlimited hard drive space I'd suggest keeping certain saves (e.g. perhaps a save from before you started each of the guilds). Or you could keep only a dozen or so of your most recent saves ... it's really up to you. If hard drive space is at a premium but you don't want to send all your saves to cyber-heaven invest in a USB stick. Even a small inexpensive one would store a lot of saves. One thing to note about keeping a lot or all of your save files. If you leave them all in your Oblivion\Saves folder you'll eventually notice that opening your inventory and things like that gets really slow. Create a backup folder and move (not just copy) your older saves to that folder. Make sure you create the folder outside of the Oblivion\Saves folder (Oblivion\SavesBackup would be fine, and it would be right next to your Oblivion\Saves folder when you're doing the moving). I have a huge hard drive that's used for nothing but downloads and backups ... of course your mileage may vary.

Next step is to download Oblivion Animation Fixer and be sure to take note of where you save it. Use the lower of the two links ... just click on the words OAF_v1_2 (the upper link that says Animation Fixer is version 1.1). The OAF download comes as a ZIP file ... would have extracted just fine using your native Win 7/8 utility but if you want you can right click the downloaded OAF_v1_2-5127.zip and select 7-Zip from the right click menu (when you hover your mouse over the words 7-Zip a selection box will open beside with all the 7-Zip options). Select Open archive from the selection box and a 7-Zip window will open with the contents of the OAF download displayed (all you'll see at this point is the folder OAF_v1_2). Click on the Extract button and 7-Zip will by default extract to the same folder as you downloaded to (which is OK as OAF will work no matter where you have the EXE file). After you extract it your download folder will now contain a subfolder named OAF_v1_2 (be sure not to confuse this new folder with the icon for the downloaded ZIP file ... they both look similar on Vista and I'm certain that Microsoft wouldn't change something that confusing in Win 7/8 ). Open the OAF_v1_2 folder and you'll find OAF_v1_2.txt and OAF.exe. Right click on OAF.exe and select Send to and then Desktop (create a shortcut) from the selection box. Switch back to your desktop and double click your new OAF icon. The OAF window will open and you'll click on the Open button. Beside the words Look in click on the down arrow and use the selection box to navigate to your Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves folder. Click on the save you want to fix and then the Open button (I don't have any saves on the non-gaming laptop I'm on right now, so my step by step may be off by a bit). Once you have your save selected then hit the Fix Me button and OAF will report it's success. You'll also know that OAF worked it's magic when you look in your Oblivion\Saves folder as you'll now find a save with the same name as your original but with OAF_ appended to the front of the name (when you fix a save named MySave23.ess you'll get a fixed save named OAF_MySave23.ess). Next find the OBSE co-save that goes with the original save you fixed (so in my example you'll look for MySave23.obse). Right click on it a select Copy and then right click on the folder you copied from (in this case the Oblivion\Saves folder) and then select Paste. You'll now have a file named MySave23 - Copy.obse which you'll change to OAF_MySave23.obse (right click and Rename). Now you'll be all set until you've played long enough for the A-Bomb to start grabbing hold of your saves again. Just run OAF again and you're good to go. - Edit - Been decades since I last watched Good Morning Vietnam ... great flick though, Robin will be missed.

If you downloaded 7-Zip from the Nexus link I gave you there would have been a Save File To type dialogue window that would have opened automatically after you clicked on the Download Manually link on the Files tab. It doesn't actually matter where you download it to, but I always create a folder for each download I save. You use the New Folder button to create the folder but you need to at least take note of the location your new folder will be created (on my Vista laptop it defaults to the last location I saved a file in ... XP is the same as I imagine will be the case with Win 7 & 8). You use the Folder panel on the left side to navigate to where you want the new folder created. I have a folder I created called Oblivion_Downloads on my data hard drive (I have multiple hard drives on my gaming machine, each for a separate purpose ... in your case you will probably only have a C drive so I would have a C:\Oblivion_Downloads\7-Zip folder that would be created after I navigated back to C:\Oblivion_Downloads from whatever folder I last created with the last thing I downloaded). If you always make sure to take note of where you create the new folder or use a method like mine you'll easily be able to locate the download in Windows Explorer, and as bben46 points out, the 7-Zip download is a self extracting archive ... just double click it to run it.

Use 7-Zip ... it will open any of the commonly found archive types, isn't ad-ware and is the slickest archive utility I've ever tried. I still have an old version of WinZIP but it's unnecessary as 7-Zip will open ZIP archive no problem. Most of the mods you'll find on Nexus use 7-Zip (you'll see the .7z file extension). I won't be at my gaming computer for a few weeks so I can't tell you for certain where I installed Oblivion Animation Fixer (OAF) but I believe you can install it to any location and then just use the File Open dialogue to navigate to your Oblivion\Saves folder. When you click the Fix Me button it will save your fixed file to the same spot you opened the original. Don't forget to rename a copy of the OBSE co-save (for an original save named MySave07.ess OAF will create a fixed save named OAF_MySave07.ess ... the original co-save will be called MySave07.obse, rename a copy of it to OAF_MySave07.obse).

The incompatibility has nothing to do with language ... the only digital download version of Oblivion that will work with OBSE is the Steam version (due to copyright issues for Direct2Drive and GameStop/Impulse versions, all outlined in the file obse_readme.txt included with your OBSE download).

Thanks for posting the solution ... I must admit your's was one of the more unique problems I've run across (so it's nice to know what was at it's root).

Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) needs to be downloaded to a temporary folder, unzipped and then manually installed using either copy and paste from the right click menu or drag and drop. The install instructions are outlined in the file obse_readme.txt found after you've unzipped the download (be sure to follow the Steam version instructions if you are using the Steam version of the game).

Yes the Steam GotY Deluxe is the best way to go these days.

Be certain you don't buy the GameStop/Impulse version if buying an on-line version as those aren't compatible with Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE), which is required for many modern mods. Either the Anthology version (which requires a Steam account as far as I know) or the Steam version are the only viable choices (but I can't say for 100% certain the Anthology version works with OBSE).

If you refer back to my reply to your original post I gave a link to OAF's Oblivion Nexus page. At the time you were starting out on the PC version of the game and thus didn't have any need of OAF right away. I'm not sure if it needs to be installed in your Oblivion folder or not ... seems to me it will work where ever you install it you just need to browse to your saves folder the first time you run it. Like I said I won't have access to my gaming machine for a few more days. If you look in your saves folder and see two saves for each save like in the example I gave you that means you have OBSE installed and working correctly. Just rename a copy of the co-save and you'll be good to go.

I won't be able to access my gaming computer for a few more days, so I'm working from memory. Open Oblivion Animation Fixer (OAF) and click on File Open. Find your most recent save (the one that has the .ESS extension at the end) and open it. Down in the lower left of the OAF window you'll see the Fix Me button. Click it and OAF will save the fixed file with OAF_ appended to the start of the save's name (so if your original save was named MySave99.ess the fixed save will be named OAF_MySave99.ess). If you are using Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) you will need to rename the OBSE co-save to match the OAF fixed save. Using the above example save name, the OBSE co-save will be named MySave99.obse ... just rename a copy of it to OAF_MySave99.obse (if you right click the original co-save and select Copy then right your Saves folder and select Paste it will create a file named MySave99 - Copy.obse or similar ... I'm on my Vista laptop, Win 7 should be similar ... just right click on MySave99 - Copy.obse and select Rename and rename it to OAF_MySave.obse). Takes longer to describe than to actually do.