Striker879

My old original DVD version of the game has bsa files that are all dated various dates from the year 2006, if that helps.

Are you on the Steam version of the game? There are some peculiarities around the Steam game and archive invalidation. Apparently the Steam version bsa files are all given new dates so then your mods appear as older than the game to BSA Redirection and it uses the original assets from the bsa rather than your replacer's. You can use a utility like File Date Changer 1.61 or FileDate Changer v1.1 to change your bsa dates. If MShoap13 sees this post he may pipe in with more info (all I know on the situation is from following his posts on the subject).

Here you go ... all you wanted to know about re-installing the game but were afraid to ask (aka bben46's Oblivion reinstall procedure).

'Turning a mod off' (i.e. deactivating it) doesn't stop the game from loading it's resources (meshes, textures, sounds etc.). The game loads everything it finds in the Data folder with the exception of non-game extensions like .txt, .jpg, .doc and .rtf. To stop the game from loading them you need to either completely uninstall the mod or use something like Wrye Bash's ghosting or BAIN (no experience there myself). A lot of stuff gets stored in your savegame and it's known that quicksave and autosave lead to save file corruption. I've had situations where a particular spot caused CTD, and after I'd avoided the area for a while and done other quests the same spot was OK. I would try uninstalling mods, a group at a time if you have an extensive list, starting with the most recent additions and then 'coc center' for 72+ hours.

If you're interested in using an alternative browser, and Firefox is being a problem right now, what about Chrome from Google? I've been using it for quite a while and haven't seen any issues through the site upgrade (mind you I could be one of the lucky ones ... just this one time mind you).

Install order is important when dealing with esp-less replacers. Did you recently install another replacer? If so check the extracted downloaded archive and see what it may have overwritten. OMODs can be a problem when dealing with replacers, because unless you unpack the OMOD to a temporary folder and check out it's contents you'll have no idea what's being overwritten (trust me I know ... that lesson came the 'hard knocks' way).

@ ffa1mf ... As I was typing that I was thinking a museum mod, that tracks your progress through the various vanilla quests and has a 'museum curator' (similar to the taxidermist from Battlehorn Castle) who offers to create a new display of your latest exploits. As ranoth mentions, Aranmathi came with some weapon racks for display (and I've added more), but one of the things that bugs me about them is how the Havok physics works when trying to get weapons into place and then keep them in place in the racks. The weapons aren't all designed with collision boxes that lend themselves to being placed into a hoop, and when you enter a cell and the game applies the Havok physics to the contents you sometimes get that 'exploding all over the place' effect. I'd have the curator take the item (so he/she could make the model) and then after a static was made and the display set-up the original would be placed in the 'vault'. Looks like one (or both) of us has a 'winter project'.

A question Ghoulz ... you haven't recently tried BBB Ragdoll Breast Physics - Growlfs Skeleton by killermonkey99 (or the previous version based on Coronerras skeleton) by any chance? I've had some odd effects, similar to the 'boobs to infinity' effect but subtly different (well I think different, though I must admit I've never had the true 'boobs to infinity' from using the wrong skeleton ... something to put on my todo list). - Edit - To esdchan ... Did the skeleton change fix your problem?

Here's a quote from the Wrye Bash mod comments page that tesmyk made in post #1144: Does that have any relevance for your situation?

The other thing to consider is that OBMM is 'OBSE aware' meaning that if it sees you have installed OBSE it will try to start the game using the obse_loader.exe. Try starting the game from your old desktop shortcut and see what happens (I'm not a Steam user, so I'm not sure what happens normally if you try to start the Steam version with OblivionLauncher.exe). If you are installed in C:\Program Files (or C:\Program Files (x86) if you are using a 64 bit OS) I totally agree with MShoup13 that you need to get your entire Steam installation out from under UAC's clutches.

For an idea of how my method of in-game placing looks, I've posted some pictures on Skin-toned Mannequins page.

Quote from the OBSE readme: To run the game don't change how you did it before adding OBSE (this only applies to STEAM users). If you are going to use the Construction Set you will need to edit you CS shortcut.

Until I figured out the look straight down in 1st person trick I was going through the same thing. When you set them and they're just standing they'll be centered using my method. Once you pose them the feet will shift, but overall they'll be as centered as you'll get any other way. Don't think there will be any way to drop them in the CS with the pose already chosen (or is it possible to pose them using Reznod's version?).

Here's a link to a Construction Set Wiki artcle: Intro and Landscaping. Be sure to follow the links at the bottom of each section ... your specifically after the second page ... Height Editing.

It's called mod de-isolation. The game can't use an esp as a master for your child esp so you need to make the source esp (in your case Reznod's Maneequins) a master (esm), do your edits and then make the source back into an esp. Here's a Construction Set Wiki article: De-Isolation Tutorial I use Balakirev's Skin-toned Mannequins (which are based on Reznod's work) in my edited version of Aranmathi. I used the in-game method of placing them, but I was using mannequin bases to put them on (I placed the mannequin bases in the CS). I find the skin-toned version looks too much like an NPC if they're placed on the floor ... Reznod's probably aren't so odd looking standing alone. On the mannequin bases it's just a matter of looking straight down in 1st person view and then getting yourself centered on the base.

The file Oblivion.ini will be located in Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Vista and Windows 7 and in Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Windows XP. You may not see the 'ini' file extension unless you have 'Hide extensions for known file types' un-ticked in Windows Explorer (Folder Options View tab on my Win XP machine, probably somewhere similar on Vista and Win 7). It should open in Notepad when you double click it. If you look in the correct folder and see a file named Oblivion (and make sure you're NOT looking in your game install folder) you can right click it and select 'Open with' from the right click menu, then select Notepad.

I'm going to circle back to your original post: Have you looked there for the culprit? I'd be uninstalling those new mods in reverse order until the problem resolved itself (not just deactivating, as Oblivion will still load the resources for mods even if they're deactivated).

Just as an FYI ... don't edit the file Oblivion_default.ini located in the Oblivion folder of your game install. That's the file that the game uses to create your Oblivion.ini file (which is located in Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Vista and Windows 7 or Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Windows XP) on first install, and re-create it when you are having trouble that can be resolved by generating a new ini file. All ini editing is done on the file Oblivion.ini, located where noted above.

Or what about creating a museum ... one spot to see all your treasures (and thanks for the list ffa1mf, I see my next play through needs more thought on what gets sold off). I'm kind of doing that with my Aranmathi Ayeid Home, but sadly many early treasure have been lost to greed.

Black soul gems can be created by placing a grand soul gem into a special altar on the correct day and casting soul trap at the altar. Here's the UESP Wiki link to Black Soul Gems.

Or you can just move on in the quest. Here's a quote from the UESP Wiki walkthrough for The Ulimate Heist: One caveat if you've installed the Unofficial Oblivion Patch:

I've noticed that myself ... thanks for the idea on getting around it!

Is the bow a vanilla one that comes with the default game or one that is added by a mod?

If it's the animations that have been added by a mod you're after (either a replacer mod or one that adds animations) they will generally be found in Data\meshes\characters\_male or Data\meshes\characters\_male\IdleAnims (or a subfolder added by a mod to the IdleAnims folder, e.g. Data\meshes\characters\_male\IdleAnims\personality) or in Data\meshes\characters\_male\specialanims, all located in your game install directory. The vanilla animations are located in the same named folders (with the exception of the folders used by user mods of course) located in the file Oblivion - Meshes.bsa located in your games Data folder.

When you unzip the download you will see a file called obse_readme.txt. It has the install instructions. Follow the instructions for the type of game you have installed (did you get your game from Steam or is it a disk ... if you got your game from Direct2Drive or Impulse then OBSE won't work for you game).