Striker879

Just had a quick look using TES4Edit and I see three Wander packages using Current Location 512, 1024 and 2048 radius (FormIDs xx0015d0, xx0015d1 & xx0015d2), a single Sleep with Current Location radius 4096 (FormID xx005a69) and a single Eat with Current Location radius 1024 (FormID xx005a6d). In theory that means that those packages should execute whenever the menu (or whatever the mod uses to initiate it's various functions) calls for that package. NPCs with those types of packages (Wander, Sleep and Eat Current Location) will execute them, but I see what is in my opinion problems with all of the packages in that mod ... looks to me like the mod author used just about ever Flag possible. For example every package I looked at has the Must Complete flag set. The rule of thumb I learned while getting myself up to speed on AI packages is you use only the flags you absolutely must have to get the package to properly execute. I sincerely doubt that every single package in that mod requires the Must Complete flag set. In the all of the packages I have ever created I think I may have used Must Complete a half dozen times or less. The mod must be using a script to assign packages (I'm not going to load it in the CS and look through them all ... by my count there are close to 200 individual scripts). To get at your second post here the times for all of the packages are set to Any and package durations are set to continue executing until the mod's script assigns something else. Because the mod allows you to take over any random NPC (as far as I can tell anyways) the scripts that are assigning and then reassigning packages must putting those packages at the top of the subverted NPCs AI package list (I don't know ... perhaps that's why the Must Complete flag is set on every package the mod includes). I'm no scripter, but I'd be looking at why the script that is supposed to assign the Current Location packages isn't working.

A link to the mod in question would go a long way to getting help (at least help from me).

The game evaluates which AI package to run from the top of the list to the bottom and runs the first one that meets conditions (time etc). Sleeping packages need the bed to be unowned for most NPCs to use them (especially outside their regular cell) along with some other factors. What are the exact particulars of the NPCs (i.e. bandit, some Joe Blow who was walking down the road etc) and exactly what mod are you using to "keep them around"?

In my opinion (so neither right nor wrong) this leads to few (if any) game releases. OK ... here's why. Time is money, and game developers need things like groceries and clothes and cars and houses and stuff like that same as you and me, so wages need to be paid today not some day named tomorrow (that actually never arrives anyway). So the business models for the industry have "expectations" and at some point the value of expectations exceeds the value of "quality work" and we get what we get shipped in those virtual game boxes so widely used these days. From the moment the game devs are bludgeoned into submission by the game publisher (those would be the guys who brought those "expectations" to the process) and release day becomes engraved in stone it is handed to a group known collectively as "Marketing", and that particular brand of people have some common characteristics. Top of that list is "what sells more copies is good, what sells fewer is bad". Did you notice any mention of anything resembling the common understanding of "truth" in those quoted words? In the world of marketing that is truth ... the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. So why does this lead to few or no games ever released? If John Q Public's universal expection is a complex fufilling and satisfying game experience (and it goes without saying that this is delivered at a reasonable cost, if not lower price than that) from every game released the game devs will need to ramp their lifestyle expectations back to "living in an abandoned van" levels (or perhaps camping out in the company washroom while not chained to their workstation). I dare say even those game publisher execs may need to shop around for a discarded fridge box or two to call "the manor". What I'm saying is the business plan crumbles and we are left with games developed by a handful of people with the appitude and skillset required, in their spare time after a long day at their real job. We do already have that today ... we just call them Indie Devs and in some cases Modders. And full disclosure ... I personally up your game by an order of magnitude. I wait for a decade after release, and then try out a game (OK, that may not be entirely true, the last game I bought that I actually play is Oblivion, and I owned it for a couple of years before I installed it in 2010, so it was maybe six years old when I bought it ... but I am older and slower now).

Not all mods have (or need) an ESP ... they work as simple replacers and all they need is proper archive invalidation (BSA Redirection is the only sane option ... that is the Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) default).

You would extract the OMOD to a folder using Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) and then using the OMOD install script as a guide pick and choose which parts of the extracted OMOD you want to use (if it's a mod that has optional parts ... sometimes you can run into mods distributed as OMODs that could be a simple "copy Data, paste in Oblivion" type install). Some mods also use OMOD scripts to walk you through INI optional settings (Maskar's mods are an example of that). So after extracting the OMOD make yourself a folder named Installed and inside that one named Data (so you will begin with Installed\Data) and copy the parts of the extracted OMOD you are going to use into that Installed\Data folder exactly the same way you would if you were going to install manually. Once you are done simply archive the Installed\Data folder (and it's contents) and use that in Wrye Bash to install the mod (or if you are me ... right click on the Data folder and select Copy, then right click on the game's Oblivion folder and select Paste ... activate the ESP in WB and go through your normal load order/bashed patch routine). Yes ... I am a dinosaur.

Here is a list of all of the possible games you could be trying to mod. First step to getting help would be to point us towards the right one.

Going in either direction will require exactly the same thing from you ...careful study of the options available, and a thought out plan to test which of those options will be suitable to you. What you are after is a truly individual thing ... for example I'm a vanilla guy who uses only a scattering of "improvement" mods (in my opinion the word "better" in a mod title is simply marketing, and means exactly that much to me). Nothing I use touches much more than a single element in the game (so no, you won't find Joes Really Really Awesome Oblivion Graphics Overhaul anywhere in my install order). Not the answer you were after, but you were persistent so I obliged. - Edit - +1 :ninja: for Pellape

Go to any NexusMods mod page and at the top of the mod description you will see About This Mod in a very large font. Look right above About This Mod and you will see a row that begins with Description (should have the "active tab" appearance) and to it's right will be Files, Images etc. The one that you want will say Bugs (if the mod author has enabled a Bugs tab). If there is no Bug tab then look for a Posts tab (mod authors can also turn off that tab). To switch to any of the other tabs just click the word (e.g. click Bugs to move to the Bugs tab etc).

From the Oblivion Character Overhaul v2 mod comments sticky post: Problem: My characters have googly eyes! -> You have a conflicting cosmetic mod that replaces the default eye mesh with one that uses different texture coordinates. OCO needs vanilla eyes, so delete everything starting with 'eye' in the folder meshes/characters/imperial. If you have installed other mods via NMM, usual culprits are:-Beautiful People-Eye replacer mods-Eye addon mods Ren Beauty Pack is not compatible with OCO v2.

An example ... Oblivion Mod Detectives (obviously still exists, not sure which game M48 was looking for ... in Oblivion it has always been a thread in the Mod Talk sub-forum).

My personal choice for armor is always the leather Thief armor. Yes there are more protective options open later in the game, but I don't like the look of being some "green goblin" so Glass isn't going to happen, Mithril would be OK I guess but it can't complete with the look of that good old leather armor. Early in the game it won't be enchanted, but later once I get some good Sigil Stones it will get my favourite buffs. The low armor rating has been really good over the years at teaching me one of the most important lessons to learn ... don't get hit and you won't die. I also don't use shields, prefer blades and have become quite good at block, parry and dodge while waiting for my chance to strike. It isn't about "timed block" ... it's about timed everything. By the time I get Intelligence and Willpower close to maximum 100 I've transitioned to mostly mage, and since about level 20 or so my guy is almost always just in enchanted clothing. Recently he dragged out a set of his old enchanted leather armor for when he's traipsing along with Mazoga (mostly just keeping her healed up, stepping in with some custom on touch spells that disable the opposition long enough to even the odds for her in Rockmilk if she bites off more than she can chew ... my guy seldom kills NPCs ... they are more fun when left alive, but Mazoga doesn't see things that way).

MessageLogger

Once you skill up your alchemy you will be able to make potions that are far superior to anything you can buy/find in the game, it's just that the total effect takes place over time, not instantly. My characters never buy potions (or at least so rarely that I can't recall an instance). If you want potions for restore health and/or restore magicka Conjurer and Necromancer dungeons are a good spot (they almost always carry a supply of the best quality available at your character's level). - Edit - Some examples of what I'm talking about ... Vanilla game: Strong Potion of Healing - restore health 50 points Strong Potion of Sorcery - restore magicka 100 points Strong Potion of Respite - restore fatigue 50 points Custom potions: A Restore Health - restore health 13 points for 43 seconds - total restore health 559 points A Restore Magicka - restore magicka 24 points for 78 seconds - total restore magicka 1872 points A Shielded Restore Magicka - shield 51% for 166 seconds plus restore magicka 24 points for 78 seconds - total restore magicka 1872 points plus shield 51% A Restore Fatigue - restore fatigue 27 points for 86 seconds - total restore fatigue 2322 points A Life Saver - restore health 13 points for 43 seconds plus restore fatigue 27 points for 86 seconds - total restore health 559 points plus restore fatigue 2322 points The custom A Shielded Restore Magicka and A Life Saver are less commonly used than the custom single effect potions (A Shielded Restore Magicka more often than A Life Saver, but that is a result of gameplay style more than anything else). All of my custom potion examples are made at my character's current 100 in Alchemy using all master quality apparatus and vanilla game ingredients. I use a combination of Basic Primary Needs + Realistic Fatigue + Basic Physical Activities tweaked to serve my purpose so managing health and fatigue are paramount ... if I need to chug A Life Saver it means I haven't done a good job of assessing risks beforehand. My guy always has a small supply of the vanilla potions in inventory, the only one that gets much use is the Strong Potion of Sorcery, and that will probably mean that I didn't see an extra Conjurer or two before picking my fight. In 5344 hours of gameplay my current character has died maybe a half dozen times. Granted that is largely as a result of my gameplay style (you won't find me wading into a dungeon "guns a blazing") but it is also a reflection of learning the game mechanics and using them to my advantage.

When looking at other's work for hints how they solved different problems I find TES4Edit an invaluable tool. Open up the ESP's tree in the left panel and keep opening all the different branches (edits made by the other author) and you can discover much (scripts is about the only thing that won't show).

Yes I find the use of restore potions and spells far superior to fortify. Chug a restore magicka and look out bandits ... you are mine!!

If it's like a flat black (i.e. no highlights showing) it could be a missing normal map (the _n.dds files).

Something to be aware of when using fortify spells/potions is what happens when the effect wears off. Your character's fatigue/magicka/strength/etc is instantly dropped by the amount of the buff, and if this then drops your current value below zero you will get the effect the OP is describing (for the case of fatigue). This is touched on briefly in the Notes section at Oblivion:Fortify Attribute and outlined more specifically in the Notes section of Oblivion:Fortify Fatigue.

Oblivion:Console (also see the link at the bottom of that page) ... be aware a bit of caution goes a long way when working with the console.

So for whatever reason when you speak to Arquen the quest isn't advancing to stage 100 (which completes Dark17Following). When you speak to Arquen make sure to check for other dialogue options hidden down at the bottom until you scroll down (I've been bitten that way before). The only other thing I can suggest is to use the console to advance to stage 100 (setstage Dark17Following 100) but do that while in Applewatch not elsewhere. If it works you should know right away because you'll be transported to Bravil. So flip the numbers around and you've got my version of dirt to be older than. I do like your take on the lessening deterrent of prison time ... never know when I may commit a little plagiarism. :laugh:

Open the console and enter the command getstage Dark17Following . If it reports 40 then you are at the correct stage for that part of the quest to trigger, but if it isn't one thing I can think of is you haven't read (or maybe you need to take ... the UESP Wiki isn't clear on this detail) the Traitor's Diary found in the Anvil Lighthouse basement (in which case the console command would probably be reporting stage 26).

Note that OR changes Oblivion.ini to read only ... wondering if that may be why your fDlgFocus isn't sticking. I have my own set to fDlgFocus=5.9500 even though I don't use Oblivion Reloaded (my Oblivion.ini is set to read only though, so changing it to read/write is just one more step I need to remember whenever I want to make changes to it).

It's a Bethesda game ... they come with "features". Only way I could complete the Knights of the Nine questline was consoling thru some of the final stages when they wouldn't advance themselves.

It looks to me like SE13 didn't completely finish, but SE14 has started. In SE13 you are missing stages 200 and 255. Try using the console to setstage SE13 200 and then setstage SE13 255 (I would close the console between issuing the first and give the game a few seconds to digest the first command before doing the second, but I'm just like that ... don't walk and chew gum at the same time either). - Edit - After entering those SE13 commands do another getstage SE14 and see what it reports.