Striker879

Could be the game had trouble identifying your hardware, perhaps because of some files left over from your previous install (e.g. did you rename your old install's Oblivion.ini to something like Oblivionini.old). There is one setting in Oblivion.ini that could be giving you trouble. Search for 'bFullBrightLighting' and make sure that line says 'bFullBrightLighting=0' (it will be in the [Display] section). Also make sure you looking in Oblivion.ini and not Oblivion_default.ini found in your game's Oblivion folder. The one you want is located in 'Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion' for Vista and Win7 or 'Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion' for WinXP.

Here's my standard reply: Noob up and running.

I can't really say for certain that having an NPC marked as a quest item will affect game speed (that's a trick that most partner/companion mods use so that the companion isn't reset on exit from Oblivion planes by the way). What I wonder is if you've considered just setting the NPCs to 'essential' (unkillable) instead of quest item. When set as a quest item their bodies won't disappear from the game world when they die, but if they're off somewhere in the wilderness they could be hard to locate if you don't have their refID handy. If they're essential they'll just resume their current AI package when they recover (usually the bandit etc. will have moved off). If you're using the console to set them as a quest item then you've already dealt with getting the NPC's baseID (not such a problem for vanilla NPCs but a bit more complicated for mod added NPCs). The console command to set an NPC to essential is 'setessential <baseID> 1' (without the quote marks or brackets, the number one sets them essential or using the number zero will make an essential NPC not essential). If you're using the Construction Set then it's a simple tick next to 'Essential'.

Other thing to keep in mind is the 'lost stuff' isn't really lost, it just doesn't show in the container inventory list. If you add something else then one of the 'missing' things will appear in the list. Takes some fancy footwork to get everything back, but I don't recall ever 'losing' something permanently.

I think the bug is made worse by having too many things in a container (and your character's inventory is really just another container). Everything in one container plus repairing to 125% = looking for trouble. Buy some houses, spread your stuff out, stop repairing items beyond 100% except the weapons and armor your character is wearing and using most often. I haven't had the problem since my first playthrough, before I found out about the bug. As far as I know there isn't a mod to fix it (if the UOP did the wiki article would mention that).

This is probably the vanilla Oblivion bug with items repaired past 100%. What I do is I don't repair items past 100% if I want to store them in a container (they are all right as long as you carry them yourself). If an item is less than 100% and I want to store it I take it to a shop and get it repaired (vendors always repair to only 100%). Of course before I get to Expert armorer I repair my own stuff (you can't repair past 100% until you hit 75 armorer). Here is a UESP Wiki note on the problem.

I was thinking you may have run into Ancotar's pets from the vanilla quest Zero Visibilty. I don't use it myself, but I understand that FCOM can be a bear to install. I know the game uses different methods to indicate missing resources (such as the famous 'WTF I'm a missing mesh' exclamation point). One of the effects is invisibility, but I'm not sure if that is indicating just a missing texture or a combination of missing resources (e.g a missing texture and a missing normal map). Your enemy problem sounds like the game limitation on how many enemies it can support at once. Not sure if there is a tweak for that one.

Are you near Fort Caractacus when you find it?

Of particular note for you is the question of whether or not you will ever want to use any mods that require OBSE in the future. The only version of the game that is available for download that supports OBSE is Steam. All other downloaded versions (including your GameFly version) will not work with Steam. That said, the vast majority of recent mods (and by that I mean the last few years) require OBSE. I'd advise that either Steam (perhaps when they have one of their frequent sales) or a used disk copy via Amazon etc. would be your best choice.

Have a look at the mod descriptions, especially the install instructions and see if they make specific mention of being installed or being compatible with NMM. If they're an older mod the chance of that being the case is very low. NMM will work with some older mods providing their download is organised in a manner which NMM can work with. It's a matter of experimentation to find out which mods those are. I suggest reading the installation instructions provided by the mod author and using them. Granted, sometimes those instructions can leave a lot to be desired. Until you get enough experience try sticking to a few simple to install mods that catch your eye, and work up to the more challenging ones later. As far as I understand you can still use NMM to activate the mods once they're installed (I don't use NMM myself, so I'm just going on what I've read).

@ jwotz ... have a look at this post and this post in the mod comments (still available via the forums interface).

From the UESP Wiki for the initial Shivering Isles quest A Door in Niben Bay: If you have not received that message within the time frame outlined you don't have SI installed (or installed correctly). What are the details around how you re-installed? Did you do a registry cleaning between installs, what version of the game are you using (e.g. GotY, Steam)?

That's what Hickory's suggestion was using ... when you hit the tilde (~) key you open the console. After you get the console open click on the display case with the mouse and then enter the commands.

Posting a load order, courtesy of Hickory.

No they just fade into obscurity. Every now and then an old thread will get necroed, and sometimes you'll see one necroed with a comment about how it helped somebody solve their own version of the problem the thread was about. Learning everything WB is capable of could be a life long task. The most important stuff is covered by Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide by alt3rn1ty.

You may want to start a new thread for the problem with Frans, as some people may not look at this thread to see what the latest is on it. Give a good description in the thread title (like you did on this one). The 255 mod limit is a hard limit imposed by the game, but tools like Wrye Bash or using the Construction Set to combine mods you can get far more (400 is the limit using Wrye Bash I think). I'll never get close to that either.

Not sure what if any changes Frans may make to landscape, but that sounds similar to the problems that can arise from the various landscape overhauls. Typically there will be a patch that resolves the conflicts. You'll need to search to see if such patches exist for the problem you describe (or maybe somebody who has experience with Frans will pipe in). The leveling micro-manage situation is what has me looking at Realistic Leveling for my next guy. My current guy is in that mid-level flat spot right now (waiting to get high enough level for the quest rewards I want, but needing to leave enough gates open that there will be opportunities to find the loot I want). When I set him up with a custom class I thought I was avoiding the worst of the leveling pitfalls (my first guy was a double warrior ... class and birthsign ... try efficient leveling that combo). That of course doesn't turn out to be the case and I'm finding myself grinding through the situation. Maskar's overhaul promises the avoidance of the quest reward leveling problem (if I'm reading things right anyway). I like to find mods that fix just one or two things the way I like. If I ever start running into the mod cap limit situation (no more than 255 mods) I'll just starting merging some of those clothes/armor mods (that I usually go and collect and then leave moulding away in some chest in one of my houses anyway).

I have been following the development of Maskars Oblivion Overhaul but haven't started using it yet (I'm waiting until I start a new character). My plan is to use it along with Realistic Leveling (so far all I've ever used is the vanilla game leveling system). Maskar also has two realism mods I'll add to that playthrough, Basic Primary Needs and Basic Personal Hygiene and I may add a couple of his other mods (Basic Physical Activities and Unequip Broken Armor). I'm currently using Maskar's Camping and Hotkey Pro along with kuertee's Magicka-based enchantment limits and NPCs yield. I tend to dislike overhauls as they invariably make too many changes and/or changes I don't agree with. Maskar's mods are customizeable using ini file options (as are kuertee's mods), though his overhaul is starting to get a bit too 'far reaching' in my opinion (which is why I download and archive the older versions). And of course I have house and clothes/armor mods out the whaazoo. If you've never played Oblivion before I'd recommend playing at least a little way through a character using the vanilla game. It will help to have a frame of reference you can compare to when you're trying out game changing mods.

Looks to me like the optional Manga version of DMRA-GUTS BBB BB, possibly with a non-GUTS lower body used instead.

Best thing is to start off with just the vanilla game (in your case the full GotY install, including all the DLCs you want ... but include Shivering Isles even if you don't intend to play that DLC, some mods you may want later will require it). Play through the tutorial dungeon up to the point you can see the sewer exit in the distance (before character finalization). Make a save, either using the save option from the Esc menu or a named save using the console command 'save <YourSaveNameHere>' (without the quotes or brackets). This will be the save you'll use if you ever want to start a new character but don't feel like going through the whole tutorial again. Exit the sewer and make another save, not overwriting your previous save (overwriting is always a bad idea ... save in a new slot each time). Now travel to the Imperial City Market District and make another save. This will be your testing save. Exit the game and install one mod. Using your testing save see if your game starts OK and is running fine. If so add another mod and test. Using this method it becomes trivial to troubleshoot problems (if it worked before you added one mod it's a pretty short list of where to start looking for the culprit of a problem). In modding the game, slower is generally faster (and less frustrating). Now that is all my standard advice. You've mentioned Francesco's mod, which from my understanding is a whole 'nother kettle of fish to get working (I don't use it so can offer little beyond that). I'm going to suggest two possible courses of action in that case. One is to install Francesco's mod (and requirements) before you start on any other mods, using the suggested steps above. Only once you get Francesco's working move onto other mods. The other option is to install Multiple Oblivion Manager - MOM immediately after you exit the sewer and use it to create a second game profile that you will use for testing Frans (or make two clones of that sewer exit stage install, one that you will keep as is unmodded for future use and one for mod testing). The advantage of using MOM is you'll never need to risk your stable game play install to a new mod again. You can test any new mod in it's own environment, either a clone of your current game or a clone of that clean sewer exit.

Hickory's right ... it's awful trying to read through your mod list. The only one I could see that mentioned torches in the esp name is the Brighter Torches_v1.2.esp. What happens if you disable that one and rebuild your bashed patch?

I understood that ... what I meant is are you showing more than one stack of torches in your inventory (in other words if you had 50 torches in your inventory do you see a stack of say 10 torches and a stack of 40 or just one stack of 50 torches)?

I don't recall ever seeing a problem like yours reported here. My texture size question was more of a shot in the dark than anything. I'd try setting the texture size to large temporarily just to eliminate that as a possibility.

Did it appear to just add itself to the same stack as the rest of your torches or did it list itself separately in your inventory? The Namira torches are separate in your inventory (because they are different, wondering if yours show up different than the vanilla ones).

Ahh ... I hadn't tried it myself. Last time the mod author was active in the mod comments was August of last year (about the same time that their profile shows they were last active on any of the Nexus sites).