Striker879

Knew you'd have the answer to that one Hickory ... thanks for having my back.

If Hickory didn't offer any advice about using Wrye Bash to try fixing that save either I'm wrong about WB having that ability or it's something that has very low probability of success. A resource I often suggest for WB is the Wrye Bash Picorial Guide. It covers the most commonly used features. I see you have Claudia's Little Secret on your list. Be aware that once you finish playing through CLS you can't really continue on playing through the rest of the vanilla game (or use a great number of other mods that it's not compatible with). The mod team's advice is play through CLS and then disable it before moving onto other things (which also means you can't do CLS concurrent with many of the vanilla quests). In light of that I suggest it's a perfect reason to get acquainted with Multiple Oblivion Manager (MOM). After you get your base mods installed (environment, body replacers etc.) make a clone using MOM. Install CLS and it's requirements on that clone (and trim your original load order as may be required to get CLS to run). When you're done with CLS you just switch back to your regular profile. Everything is kept separate between the profiles. You can have different load lists, game settings, characters (each with their own set of saves) ... anything you can do to the game can be different between profiles. When I'm beta testing a mod for someone I always do the testing on a different profile. My characters games and saves are never at risk (you can sort of see the implications of what that could have had for your bad save ... if you'd been a MOM user and used a testing profile for that castle mod you would have never needed to start this thread). Even if you have no interest in seeing bouncing breasts I suggest you install a BBB enabled skeleton. That will save you some troubleshooting down the road if you install some clothing/armor that requires BBB. You won't see any BBB action until you install BBB enabled animations such as NoMaaM and that will prevent the 'boobs to infinity' problem you'll run into with BBBed clothes/armor and a non-BBBed skeleton. My suggestion is Universal Skeleton Nif. Install the ControlableSkeleton version unless you know you have a mod that requires the TotalControlableSkeleton version (and in that case be aware of the limitations and work-arounds for that version). Companion Vilja author Emma has plenty of additional content available (Aleswell Cottage and Maple Cottage are my favourites ... Red Rose Manor is also very popular). Extra content for Vilja is available as a separate download for each of those. I would never play without her Packdonkeys ... I always have one or two of them in tow. I don't use it myself but COBL opens up the possibility to use many mods, and even some that have a non-COBL variant come with a COBL version that offers more than the non-COBL version. Read through some of the more recent Glenvar Castle mod comments and you'll see that TheRomans is the go to guy for answers to the most common problems and glitches. To be honest, after you start using Companion Vilja you are going to have trouble putting up with the limitations of other companions. I still have CM Partners installed and enabled. In my old guy's game the women are all used as eyecandy for my various houses and the guys are all left where they started (well except a few of the essential ones I've taken to remote camps and abandoned ... it's interesting to find where you run across them next). The women are efficient at trashing the decor in the houses, I'll say that for them. My new guy's game has all but one or two at their original locations. They do help make the inns and hotels more populated (but they're also known for killing the vanilla populace with their spell casting practice ... learn how to revive them with the console). Deadly Reflex 6 is a good one to have a long read through the mod comments before trying. Look back a couple of years ago or so for advice given by Xtudo and omeletted. After the mod was mostly abandoned they were the most knowledgeable supporters. There hasn't been anyone of their caliber recently. One last suggestion. If your rig is powerful enough give Hickory and Ithlia's Highwood a look. Sadly even before my rig's SLI died I didn't have the horsepower for it, but it's unique features and atmosphere are impressive.

The keychain mod doesn't have a sterling reputation (just saying in case you run into trouble down the road). Sounds like you're well on your way. Next thing we'll be seeing you answer questions on here (and more hands make lighter work). And remind me not ask to try your soup (just in case).

I suggest you get Companion Vilja working first before you try adding Sensual Walks. Even if you are planning on using any of the optional Vilja files from Companion Vilja get the base files installed and confirmed working first (so just the files 1emVilja.bsa and 1emVilja.esp in your Oblivion\Data folder with 1emVilja.esp checked in Data Files). Once you have gone to the Bloated Float and met with Vilja and know that the base files are working move onto any Companion Vilja add-ons from the Companion Vilja page that you may want to use. After you get those installed and confirmed working move on to the Sensual Walks. I know that Sensual Walks has some specific install instructions, and I'm pretty sure that Wrye Bash and a bashed patch are included in those directions (I don't use the mod myself). The mod author Surazal actively supports the mod and would be the best one to get advice on getting it to work. If you get Companion Vilja working first it takes one more variable out of the troubleshooting process. Modding is methodical work. The slightest mistake will stop a mod from working or maybe even the whole game. That's why it's important to only do one thing at a time and test in between. As you make mistakes and correct them you'll begin to understand how to mod the game. I myself have never learned a thing by doing things right the first time (except maybe 'Huh ... that was easy', which only sets me up for making a big mistake next minute). Remember to read the mod install instructions (and I know lots of them leave plenty to be desired). Leave mods with poor install instructions or lots of problems IDed in the mod comments for later, once you get a handle on installing and troubleshooting. And don't forget to play the game a bit too ... it's supposed to be fun you know.

Re-installing may be the easiest solution. When you say you got rid of the mods do you mean you uninstalled them or did you just deactivate them? If you do decide to go the re-install route I suggest having a look through Bben46's wiki article Oblivion reinstall procedure. If you currently have the game installed in the default location (C:\Program Files (x86) or C:\Program Files) this would be a perfect opportunity to get the game installed in C:\Games. As it seems you have the Steam version of the game don't miss the link near the top of the page about moving your Steam install location, and also don't skip the registry cleaning step. When you do get the game working don't install any mods until you have completed the tutorial dungeon. Make a save just before you exit the sewers (when you can see the exit in the distance before you get the character finalization menus). This save will be used if you want to start a new game in the future but don't want to go through the whole tutorial again. After you exit the sewer make another save, not overwriting the first. Then go to the IC Market District and make another save, again not overwriting the first two. Use this third save for testing mods as you add them one at a time. If you add mods one at a time it's pretty easy to figure out problems when and if they occur. Once you get your mods installed you can continue your game from the outside the sewer exit save.

You open the console with the tilde (~) key located below the Esc key on standard keyboards (not available on some laptop keyboards). The only real advantage over saving into a new slot with the Esc menu save is that you can give the save a descriptive name. Before I started using Multiple Oblivion Manager - MOM I used named saves for my new character and Esc menu manual saves for my old character for example (MOM makes that unnecessary). So to make a console named save you hit tilde and then type 'save <YourSaveNameHere>' (without the quote marks or brackets) and hit Enter. You'll see a notification that the save was made and then you hit tilde again to go back to your game.

I know there is a fix for that problem but I can't put my finger on it at the moment. I'm certain it didn't involve deleting files (I'm thinking it was an ini tweak, but it's kinda fuzzy). Look through the mod comments. Maybe I saw the solution in there or maybe it was in another thread. If I find it or remember more I'll report back. - Edit - If it's Natural Environments by Max Tael you're using I know Hickory always used to tell people to use Weather - All Natural instead (more recently updated and less buggy if I recall correctly).

I'm not a Wrye Bash (WB) user myself ... either Hickory or Nephenee13 are the one's to go to for advice on that. I believe there's a utility for removing save dependencies in WB, but I don't know how it works or how well it works. If you tend to finish a quest mod and then don't really need it afterwards you can use a tool like OBMM to make sure that your latest mods are lower on the load list than ones you've completed and aren't concerned about. I'm more of an armor/clothes/houses kinda' guy myself (which is how I've avoided crossing the WB bridge for so long). When I'm installing mods I'm mostly interested in checking for file overwrites (skeleton.nif is a common one). Also pay attention to uninstall instructions (a lot of 'upgrade' mods include a switch you need to toggle before uninstalling for instance). I keep a copy of the mod description in a text file along with the original download (I'm an archivist/packrat ... that 1TB data drive doesn't sit empty). I'm a big hour guy too ... my old guy is well over 1300 hours, new guy approaching the 1000 mark. If you're into long term characters you probably already know about the A-Bomb (animation problem with long hour saves). WB has a utility for that. I use OAF - Oblivion Animation Fixer.

A couple of words of advice. When you're getting your fresh start install one mod at a time and test thoroughly in between. Troubleshooting is a trivial affair then. Second tip is about saving. Never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use either save from the Esc menu (what I call a manual save), always saving to a new slot or named saves using the console (again not overwriting). When you get up to a hundred or two saves either move older saves to a new folder (I have a 1TB data drive that comes in handy for archiving) or delete older saves. Make yourself some saves when you start a new character on your new install. Before you add any mods finish the tutorial dungeon. At the point where you can see the sewer exit in the distance, before you get the character finalization menus make a named save. You'll use this save in future when you want to start a new character but don't want to redo the entire tutorial. Exit the sewer and make another save (still no mods). This will be the save you'll use to continue that character once you get all modded up. Go to the IC MarketDistrict and make another save. This will be your testing save. Now start adding mods and use the testing save to verify proper operation (you may want to venture out of the IC and get into some battles/other locations during testing ... or create mayhem in the IC). No need to create further saves while installing and testing. Once you have your game modded to your satisfaction load your outside the sewers save and away you go ... saving either manually or named as frequently as you feel the need for.

Try renaming your Oblivion.ini (found in Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Vista and Win 7 or Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Win XP NOT the file Oblivion_default.ini found in your game's Oblivion folder). Change the name to Oblivionini.old and then start the game as far as the menu screen. Exit the game to desktop and it will build a new Oblivion.ini and redetect your hardware. You will probably need to go into the game menus and reset your screen options. If the new Oblivion.ini works you can use your Oblivionini.old to transfer any special ini tweaks you had made over to your new Oblivion.ini.

A link to the mod in question would help. Some mods have very specific uninstall instructions (which you may also find in the mod's readme, if one was provided). Do you have any earlier saves that you could try?

Which means you have no archive invalidation in place. What happens then is when you put new replacer assets like the skeleton.nif into the correct folders the game ignores them and continues to use it's original copy that is stored in the game's BSA files (Oblivion - Meshes.bsa in the case of skeleton.nif). The various methods that have been developed over the years to deal with that situation are call archive invalidation. They all get the game to use newer assets when available. Some had some downsides and have fallen out of use in favour of newer, less problematic solutions. BSA Redirection is the method of choice today. The simplest way to take care of archive invalidation is to use Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM). Click the Utilities button and select Archive Invalidation from the menu. Click on BSA Redirection, leave everything else at default and click on the Update Now button. Close the archive invalidation dialogue and then OBMM (it doesn't commit the changes until closed). BSA Redirection is a do once and forget about it forever solution. The best BBBed skeleton to use is Universal Skeleton Nif (it is much more complete and recent than Coronerras Maximum Compatibility Skeleton). I suggest you use the ControlableSkeleton version unless you have a mod that requires the TotalControlableSkeleton version, and in that case be aware of the problems and limitations of using that version and workarounds needed.

Have you tried Universal Skeleton Nif? The other thing is what form of archive invalidation are you using?

Search through DrakeTheDragon's posts ... he has much knowledge on the problems you run into when you start editing heads (or many other things).

Have you tried installing it using the install instructions included with the mod? Often there are requirements like Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE), and if you don't have those requirements met the mod won't work.

First, when you say " move everything to c/game/oblivion/data " do you mean " I uninstalled the game and ran a registry cleaner and then re-installed the game in C:\Game\Oblivion\Data "? Second, if this is a mod you downloaded then be aware that Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) doesn't work with some mods. Often mods use folder structure in their download that NMM can't understand.

Better Cities on Oblivion Nexus or if you prefer to use the Nexus Forums interface Banasplit Better Cities (the mod comments are one and the same).

One way is to use the console (opened using the tilde (~) key found right below the Esc key on standard keyboards). Open the console and then using your mouse click on Vilja. At the top of the screen her refID will be displayed. Write that down (on my machine and an old load order she was 1d000f05 ... the first two digits will change with load order changes). Next click on the companion you want Vilja to fight (you may need to close the console (hit tilde again) and change your view so the other companion is in view. With that companion's refID displayed at the top of the screen type in 'moddisposition xx000f05 -100' (without the quote marks and change xx000f05 to the refID you wrote down for your Vilja) and hit Enter. Close the console. You probably won't need to use Vilja's start combat spell ... the other companion should attack Vija right away.

On-board sound solutions like Realtek don't do much if any sound processing themselves. All that work is off-loaded to the CPU (they're really only providing somewhere to plug in your speakers and microphone). Installing a discrete sound card isn't rocket science, but it does involve opening your case and following instructions. If you decide to go that route one thing to make sure of is disabling the on-board sound before you install the new sound card (which will involve going into your system BIOS steup). Many brick and mortar computer outlets offer installation services these days (e.g. Future Shop and Staples, at least here in Canada).

Are you using on-board sound (e.g. Realtek) or a discrete sound card (e.g. SoundBlaster)?

That's how Emma and CDCooley have set up Vilja's 'lead the way' packages. Works well, especially if you add the ability to 'put it on hold' so the player can do something in the middle of the package execution.

Hickory or talveren will be the go to guys for that ... I'm still an WB hold-out and I've never toyed with the console command. It would be simple to test whether the console command sticks between sessions, just set it to 1, save and exit and then see if the change persists when you reload.

Details about the bug is available at the UESP Wiki pages A Brush with Death and Where Spirits Have Lease (just scroll to the Bugs section at the bottom of the page if you want to avoid unnecessary spoilers).

The rule of thumb with replacer mods is last installed is what the game will display unless they use an ESP, and then load order rules (lower in the load order wins conflicts). As it appears you install with OBMM you may not be aware of which of your mods use an ESP and which don't. Also keep in mind that a mod like NoMaaM doesn't make clothing or armor BBB enabled ... you must download and install BBBed versions of stock armor and clothing and insure that any modd added items are either BBBed or find the BBBed version of it and install that after installing the original (most common with older armor/clothing mods). An easy way to tell if NoMaaM is working is to go and find a female bandit. Kill her and loot all her clothing and armor. Open the console using the tilde (~) key on standard keyboards and at the console prompt use the mouse to click on the bandit's dead body. You'll see the bandit's refID at the top of the screen (will start with ff). With the refID displayed type in 'resurrect 1' (without the quote marks, and that's a number one) and then hit Enter. Close the console (hit tilde again) and she'll stand up, full of health and wanting to fight. I you left her with a weapon she'll use that, if not she'll go hand to hand. If NoMaaM is working you'll be able to tell. - Edit - Also what form of archive invalidation are you using? The recommended is BSA Redirection, most easily done using OBMM's Utilities menu.

I may be mistaken, but I think I recall reading something about the clothes/animation issue in the SexDarkness mod comments (it would likely be quite a while ago, so you'll need to read back through the comments). Can't say for sure if there was a solution offered for the problem though. Disabling a mod in Data Files from the vanilla game launcher doesn't uninstall any files or folders. If you extract the download of the mod you want to remove to a temporary folder your can examine it's contents and then delete the files and folders it added. Be aware that if a mod overwrites files or folders that another mod uses (that you are still using) you could cause problems with the second mod. Then you'll need to re-install the mod that was broken by your deletions (or if you know which files and folders are needed you can just restore those files and folders).