Striker879

I don't have any experience around those kinds of mods myself, but I know there are some. A search using 'Crowded Roads' on Oblivion Nexus turns up this list. Roaming NPCs sounds interesting. Pages two and three of the search results have a few variations of the Crowded Roads mod, and then there's Tamreil Travellers 139c. Perhaps some users of those mods or others will have some suggestions/advice. - Edit - Reading through the mods comments for Roaming NPCs and the more recent ones for Tamreil Travellers brings me to make a couple of observations ... adding a bunch of NPCs to the world is 1) a good thing, 2) not without pitfalls.

Before you install any mods, just patch the game to version 1.2.0416 (the latest) and then do the tutorial dungeon. Just before you exit the sewers (at the point where you can see the exit in the distance) make a save. That will be your save for creating a new character without having to do the whole tutorial again. Exit the sewer and make another save (this one will be your 'base save' for that character). If everything looks all right go to the Market District of the IC at a busy time of the day. Make another save (this will be your 'testing save'). Then you can start adding mods, one at a time and testing in between. On the subject of saving ... never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use either the save from the Esc menu or named saves using the console command 'save <YourSaveNameHere>' (without the quotes and brackets of course). I have left autosave enabled myself (though there are those who advocate disabling it) as it's never given me a problem of crashing the game. I generally try to save every hour or so, and if I do get a CTD I'll only use a more recent autosave if doing so will mean I won't lose more progress than I'm willing to lose if I use my last save. About the only time I get much in the way of crashes is when I'm being Mr SmartAlec with the 'resurrect 1' and 'moveto player' commands (setting up battles between bandits, marauders, conjurers and necromancers ... a favourite of mine). The bound weapons summoned by the necros and conjurers are to blame when I do that along side the NPCs Yield mod. Good luck ... third time's the charm. - Edit - Your purple textures make me wonder if your hardware is being detected correctly. Maybe you're using the wrong shader.

Another tip before you start installing mods ... use Multiple Oblivion Manager - MOM to make a 'vanilla' install profile, perhaps free of any mods beyond the UOP etc. Use that as a testing ground for mods (you could even keep a 'backup' of your working modded game once you get all your mods installed). That way you can just delete the profile if you ever run into trouble after backing up that profile's saves. Makes keeping different character's games unique and separate a breeze too.

I generally only use markers for the location of a wander package, with the exception of my girls 'meet at the pub for a few drinks' packages. Then I'll either use a vanilla marker or create a marker for them to all gather at (fairly small radius). They stand and drink (using the same Use Item At targeted to the MiddleClassPewterMog01) using the swaying drunk animation. Makes for a nice show when you bump one of them and get her to turn direction (well providing you have BBB installed).

And no offence taken. I'd forgotten that you can't pick a non-persistent reference from the Render window. Here's all the particulars of a read package I have assigned to one of my girls in Chorrol (which executes no problem). She has a copy of Overview of Gods and Worship in her inventory. At 10 am every day she has a Travel package (one hour duration, no conditions set) with 'Near Reference' zero radius and only the 'Must Complete' flag set on the Location tab with 'MCBench01Frtlt' 00014EE2 selected from the 'Select Reference in Render Window button (Chorrol Great Oak, nothing set on Target tab). At 11 am every day she has a 'Use Item At' (two hours with the condition set 'IsRaining' == 0.000) with the location selected to the same bench (radius is set to 384 for some reason ... probably just didn't change it from the vanilla package I'd used as a base), no flags set and 'Any Object' selected on the Target tab with the book 'Book2CommonOverviewofGodsandWorship' selected in the Object ID field. I've found by using the travel package to get them to the right spot and then the use item package I avoid the problem of them 'warping' to the chair from wherever in the cell they are beforehand (for when the read package is in the same cell as their previous package). I haven't tried using the same time for both packages, but it should work providing the travel package is listed above the use item package in their package list. Using the travel pack first works nicely getting them to their seat when their previous package has them in a different cell. I use the same method for 'sit and drink' packages (targeted to the 'MidleClassPewterMug01' and make sure they have -1 beer in their inventory).

In the Render window double click on the stool. In the Reference dialogue that pops up make sure there is a check mark beside 'Persistent Reference' in the lower section of the dialogue.

Keep in mind that the way the game works is when you or an NPC wears clothes/armor they 'become' the body part they cover (actually the body slot assigned in the CS). That's also the reason you'll see varying amounts of ugliness if you don't use a HGEC stock clothing/armor replacer (if you don't, look at the arms of anyone wearing something short sleeved) and why you need to make sure custom clothing/armor is HGEC compatible. EVE HGEC Eyecandy Variants Expansion is an option that offers the HGEC body as well as the replacers.

Also make sure the stool is a persistent reference.

For future reference here's a couple of options to consider: Whispered Warning - offers an option to keep the original DB members alive Darkforthers_Lucien Lachance Alive Again_V3 - So Lucien has a 'life' after death A Better Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary - Ocheeva and Arquen will still want the same bed though (easily fixable in the CS) A Brotherhood Renewed - in case you want the story to continue a bit more Your resurrected Lucien has the same problem as resurrected dead bodies (those which are only ever dead bodies in vanilla) or clones created with 'createfullactorcopy' ... no AI packages. The Lucien Alive mod gets around that little detail for you. Which refID did you use when you resurrected Lucien ... 2FD77 or 34B0? The first is the Lucien you know from prior to the Following a Lead quest, the second from after.

Once you have finished the Dark Brotherhood questline the Cheydinhal sanctuary will be inhabited again. Not sure how the new ones will get along with the old ones. More info on the new ones from the UESP Wiki: Arquen and the Dark Brotherhood Murders.

I wonder if kuertee's Magicka-based enchantment limits may be of some help. I use it to create multiple effect weapons and armor using a combination of sigil stones and enchanting (along with a bit of tweaking in the CS to get a multi-effect base enchantment on some items). If you're just looking for a way to create a multi-effect sigil stone it won't help. If you want a way to get multi-effect armor/weapons it will.

A note on saving ... never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use save from the Esc menu or console named saves only. Another good habit to get into is always exit the game to the desktop before loading a save.

The essential trick will keep Ongar alive, but he may keep falling down unconscious on you. When you 'resurrect 1' him does his health start to drop again or is he alright until next time you enter the cell?

When you re-install the game do yourself a favour and install in C:\Games ... it will save a lot of headaches once you start adding mods. Your failure with C:\Games before was likely related to how you moved the game there (i.e. no registry cleaning after uninstalling). - Edit - On the subject of when Vilja appears, you'll get a message about a rumour you heard about a Nord girl needing help shortly after you exit the sewers.

Part of the problem with the sparseness of the game (especially true of the Imperial City) is that quite a few have travel packages that take them to other cities. Those NPCs aren't marked as essential in the most part, so if they are unfortunate enough to be travelling through a cell adjacent to your character or in a different part of your current cell they can fall victim to bandits and wildlife. On my first play through, after I'd learned about the console commands, I'd 'resurrect 1' them if I found their dead body (the 'Paramedics of Cyrodiil'). It wasn't until I created my second character that I realized how many of the IC citizens I was missing in my first game (if I didn't find their body before a cell reset they were gone without a trace). In that second character's game I've gone through each city's citizens using the UESP Wiki and on any with travel packages I used the console to make them essential. Now I'll often get a 'So-in-so is unconscious' message while I'm travelling. Sometimes I'll drop what I'm doing and put on my 'Protector of Travellers' hat, or other times just ignore the message in full knowledge they can't die and will eventually make their way back home. Why Bethesda spent all that time and effort at creating NPCs and their AI packages just to leave them to the mercy of the cruel cruel world I'll never understand. I use your method of changing NPC's clothes/armor as well. It saves the trouble of finding the baseID of the item I want to give them (more of a problem with mod added items) and the baseID of their current inventory. Many of those travelers I mentioned in my first guy's game would 'wake up' to find themselves sporting a nice shiny weapon to help them help themselves next time they got jumped. Then there's the ladies who now have somehow 'misplaced' certain 'items' from their inventory ... who knows how that could have happened? - Edit - Something to be aware of in the case of the Mage apprentices and couriers (and possibly the legion riders) is that their inventory resets. If you give them rare or mod added items you'll lose them.

Another avenue to investigate is how you did this part ... Have a look through Bben46's wiki article Oblivion reinstall procedure and see if anything mentioned there rings a bell as something you did differently or missed doing.

The simplest way is to download manually to either a folder you create or to your desktop. When it's done downloading extract it using 7-Zip (it will by default extract to wherever you saved the download). You will now see a file called 1em_Vilja.bsa. Right mouse click the file and select 'Copy' from the right click menu. Now navigate to your game install Oblivion\Data folder and right click on the Data folder. Select paste from the right click menu. Fire up the game and go and meet Vilja.

Have you tried the 'coc center and wait' trick?

I believe Ongar is the only one I've seen pickpocketing food at Olav's. Before you 'resurrect 1' the dead NPCs make sure you check their inventory and take any poisoned apples from them. I'd also suggest deleting your clone (deletefullactorcopy) before you leave, at least for testing purposes. Spend three full days away from Bruma and see if things are back to normal. If it is OK then create your clone again. As soon as you create him kill him using the console command 'kill' (with his refID displayed at the top of the screen of course). Take all his poisoned apple from him and then 'resurrect 1' him. One of the problems I found in using clones to populate the world was they don't have any AI packages ... they just stand there. You can temporarily remedy this with the console command 'addscriptpackage a3a59' (a basic wander current location package) but it will only stay in effect while you are in the same cell. If you exit Olav's and then come back in the door you'll need to reapply the package ... an immersion breaker and pain in the butt to say the least. You'll be far more satisfied if you crack open the Construction Set and place some new NPCs with a basic wander package. That's exactly how I got started ... from cloner to creator.

The glib answer is "As long as it takes". Much will depend on the complexity of the mod vs your current skill and ability to ramp up and learn new things. If you're an accomplished modder in other games you'll perhaps have the skill set to put your shoulder to the wheel and start making progress from day one. If you are just starting out it may be in your best interests to work on either simpler aspects of your idea or pick some simpler ideas from some of the many tutorials available. You'll be less likely to lose interest in a project that doesn't have you throwing up your hands in frustration at every turn.

In her dialogue options select 'How are your skills progressing?' and then from her 'Options Menu Book' you'll find options to set her to essential. I highly recommend that you read the Vilja manual and Vilja readme that were included with the download (Vilja_Manual.html and Vilja_Readme.html) to get the most out of this excellent companion.

Even though most older mods encourage you to extract the downloaded archive directly to your Oblivion install it's really a bad idea. You've now placed yourself at the mercy of the mod author (and his/her competence). I suggest you download your mods to a named folder, outside of the game folders (I have a separate hard drive for data). If I want Joe's Cool Sword mod then I download to H:\OblivionDownloads\JoesCoolSword. I extract the mod to that same folder (which is 7-Zip's default behavior). This way I can examine the mod's files and folder structure without affecting my game install. If I suspect that Joe's Cool Sword may overwrite some files I can open a second Explorer window with my game folders open and compare (a life saver with some older mods that came packaged with a 'new' for the time BBBed skeleton ... I don't want some old version of the skeleton overwriting my latest and greatest version). Once I'm satisfied with a mod I install using copy and paste from the right click menu. The rule of thumb when copy/pasting folders is always paste into one level higher than you copied (if you copy 'Data' you'll paste into 'Oblivion'). For files you paste into the folder you copied from (if you copy 'skeleton.nif' from 'Data\meshes\characters\_male' then you paste into 'Data\meshes\characters\_male' in your game install). If you read the overwrite message carefully you'll see that it's telling you a folder already exists named Data (for most commonly structured mods). As DocRob mentions it's the folder contents that will be written to your game install, which is what you want if you expect the mod to work. Actually the overwrite message is a clue you can use that you're putting it in the right spot in your game folders (i.e. if you don't get the overwrite message your pasting or extracting to the wrong folder in your game ... pasting 'Data' into 'Data' for example).

A number of the game's NPCs have eat packages but no food. The low responsibility ones, like for example Ongar, will often pick pocket their meal. If your clone was holding a bunch of poisoned apples then Ongar may have pilfered some. Another possible explanation comes courtesy of the UESP Wiki for Olav's Tap and Tack Bugs section: I myself have never seen fights breaking out in my own non UOP game.

Have a look at fore's NoMaaM BBB Animation Theatre.

You may find some clues on the getting to a random Oblion world and returning after grabbing the Sigil stone from the Aranmathi Ayleid Home mod (it has a portal to a random Oblivion world, so you won't get any clues on the gate animation from it though).