Support/Mods/Question.

[Hexalon]

Hey,I got 112 mods.. and ofc I aint using "all" but most of them and reinstalling and what not is quite shitty so could someone tell if theres a special installation order for some mods or not and for wich mods ? Should I install the unoffical SI patch first,after all mods or doesnt it matter.. doesnt OOO work with francesco's and if they dont.. does it really cause such major probs to use both.. and if so.. wich one should i use of them.. and so on..

 

I would be thankful for some answers,cuz this is freakin me out,I gotta reinstall all the stuff for the 3. time now and it takes me about 3hours lol.. so this will be my last try.. I am fed up with this.

 

I done a conflict check with OBMM and almost everything was red lol,and some green,after I deactivated every mod step-by-step and checked wich causes my game to CTD this time,the game still had CTD's when leaving the prison that starts the main quest even after all esp's where deactivated so I gotta reinstall the game again now *sigh*.

 

So if everyone could help me out I would be very grateful..

[AzirAphale001]

General Load-Order Guidelines

Here are the guidelines that I adhere to, personally.

 

~ Unofficial Oblivon Patch should always be first on the list. The fixes are great, but most aren't essential, so if a mod overwrites them its not a big deal, and the fixes have the potential for screwing up other mods if loaded later.

 

~ Offical Content (DLC's) should be loaded last, until you complete all quests associated with them (that includes buying all furniture for the houses and whatnot). Once they're complete, they can be safely moved up in the list. This is especially important for Knights of the Nine, which will have some fairly major problems unless loaded last (unless you get the UOP for KotN)

 

~ Major overhaul mods (OOO, Frans, MMM) should be loaded near the end. That gives you the most complete experience with any of those particular mods. It also lets you carefully choose which other mods to load afterwards... only move mods that you know will conflict and that you want the changes from. For example, I have Improved Soul Gems below OOO because I know that OOO changes the icons of some of the SG's, and ISG needs to be below to show through.

 

Some people will recommend putting larger mods first, but personally I disagree. There are a number of mods out there that make minor tweaks, and loading after a large mod will end up completely overwriting a chunk from one of the bigger mods because of the way conflicts work in Oblivion (even one minor change will take precedence over the entire record... for example, simply tweaking the speed of a weapon can cause every stat of that weapon to be retained to vanilla levels if loaded later).

 

So basically, it stacks up like this...

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Minor Mods / DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mod/Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

 

 

 

Expanded Load-Order Guidelines

by dev_akm

 

I would extend this to include:

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

And a special-case warning for Knights.esp (Knights of the Nine) -- you may not be able to move it earlier than some other mods (some people have had problems after moving it before OOO, for example).

 

That's basically the structure I use and I have 140+ mods working well together.

 

Another way of describing this (posted by DMan77):

....

Oblivion

unoffical patch

Deeper realism mods that add sights and sounds

added content like weapons/items

gameplay changes, like 'must eat and sleep'

The OOO type

the 'new begining' type mod..

[Hexalon]

thanks alot for the useful answer,i will try it as soon as i feel like i want to reinstall the game. :thumbsup:

[bben46]

Bben46 Complete Reinstall Procedure for Oblivion

 

I would appreciate any feedback on this as it is something I expect to post often and I hate to give bogus or useless information.

 

This is usually a last resort and your game is already trashed. I cannot be responsible for any damage you manage to do to your game when trying this. You are free to use this procedure and post it as you see fit.

 

When you uninstall Oblivion it doesn't really uninstall everything. Then when you start adding mods before you have started the game, some things may not get initialized properly. Here is my recommended procedure for uninstalling and reinstalling.

 

The game uninstaller does not remove your mods, save games or Oblivion.ini or the entries that the original installation of Oblivion placed in your Windows registry. It also does not remove helper programs such as OBSE, OBMM, Wrye Bash, The construction set or any other programs you have installed in the \Oblivion folder or the save game folder.

 

DO NOT delete the Oblivion.exe or the Oblivion folder as that will cause problems when you try to uninstall or reinstall - allow the game uninstaller to take care of it.

 

 

Uninstalling Oblivion - you gotta remove it completely before you can reinstall it.

 

DO NOT DELETE THE GAME FOLDERS YET! This is very important.If you delete them,it causes problems later.

 

My instructions assume you are using Windows XP and have installed Oblivion into the default location. If you are using Vista or Linux, the file locations may be different, however, the procedure will be the same.

 

For a full reinstall, first you can try to preserve your mods and save games. I recommend that you save them in a new folder with a new name. Create the new folder in C:\Backup_Oblivion - or any other name you will remember, just as long as it is not in the programs folder.

 

Then copy the data folder where your mods are to the new folder - do not erase them, copy them. And in the new folder, rename the \data folder to \olddata. Then copy and rename the folder that has your saved games and Oblivion.ini, C:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\My Games\oblivion to something like \My games\Old Oblivion - this saves your saved games and the oblivion.ini file.

 

 

Then, using the original CD, NOT the Launcher on your Hard drive. Select uninstall.

 

After it completes the uninstall, reboot your computer - this is important as it allows Windows to remove some references to the original Oblivion.

 

This would be the time to erase all of the helper programs you have in the \Oblivion folder. Such as OBMM, OBSE and some others. The simplest way is to delete the folder completely. The new install will re create the folder for you along with a fresh oblivion.ini and when you start the game and make a save, a new save folder and new \data folder.

 

Now you can delete the game folders if you want to do a complete fresh reinstall. Your original saved games & mods are backed up if you want to try to resurrect them later.

 

Now to remove the registry entries that were left behind. If all else fails, this usually works to resurrect your game.

 

I do not recommend manually editing the registry unless you know what you are doing. A mistake here could make your entire computer unusable.

 

There are several good programs for removing left behind entries. The one I use is ccleaner. Be sure to reboot before using it, and again after. It is free and available here:

 

http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

 

This would also be a good time to do a file clean up. Run the built in Windows 'Disk Cleanup' routine. If you uses the ccleaner, most of this has already been done, but it won't hurt to do it anyway.

 

Now that everything is cleaned up, do a full defrag on your hard drive to leave a large uncluttered area to reinstall to. This prevents your game from installing in a fragmented way, with parts scattered all over the drive. It also will speed up the install a little. It takes a while, but may speed up your game as well as the rest of your computer.

 

At this point Oblivion should not exist on your computer.

 

 

Now to Reinstall.

 

Again using the original CD, install Oblivion.

 

NOTE: If you are using Vista, DO NOT install to the default directory. Instead make a new directory I recommend C:\Games. Install Oblivion there to avoid the hassle with Vista UAC blocking mods.

 

Before adding any mods, patches, helper programs, Shivering Isles or anything else, start the game and make a save. This initializes some stuff that needs to be initialized.

 

If you are using the Game of the Year version of Oblivion you should not need any patches, skip the patching part.

 

Now, If you DO NOT use Shivering Isles, patch the game using ONLY the latest Oblivion patch. All of the stuff from the earlier patches is included.

 

Be sure you use the proper language patch. If you use the wrong one it may work, but with a strange mixture of languages. (Germanglish?) Or it may crash.

 

NOTE: there are two English Patches UK & US and they are different. (Some people actually think we speak the same language) Use the one that matches your original disk.

 

If you use Shivering Isles, Install it now. DO NOT install the Oblivion patch. Install Shivering Isles, then ONLY the latest Shivering Isles patch. All of the updates for Oblivion are included. There is only one Shivering Isles patch for both US & UK English (Maybe sometimes we do speak the same language.)

 

Now, again start the game, make sure it looks right, move around a little to test it, and make a save. Test to be sure everything is working right (No purple objects or yellow blocks)

 

Before adding any mods, back up both your \data folder and the save game folder. Copy them, don't move or rename them, to a different folder - such as \Bethesda\Clean Oblivion\data and \Bethesda\clean Oblivion\saves. Note that this is a different folder than the one used for your old data and saves.

 

Note, Your Oblivion.ini file is in the same folder, but separate from, the save game folder.

 

Now, if you want to try to run with your old mods, first rename the original folders. The \data folder to \newdata and the \oldata back to \data. this restores all of your mods. You should now have 2 data folders \data, and \newdata in your \oblivion folder

 

To restore your original saves and ini file, rename the new My Games\Oblivion to something like \New Oblivion. and the \Old oblivion to \oblivion - this restores all of your saved games and your original Oblivion.ini file.

 

DO NOT erase the files you renamed. These are your backup files in case the original mods do not work or give you the same problem.

 

If you have the same problem, it is most likely caused by a mod. However, you now have a clean install to fall back on. You can You can COPY (NOT move or rename) the backup files back to what they were and be back to your clean install without having to reinstall again.

 

Sounds like lots of work, but you will have a clean install and a back up clean install when you are finished.

[Hexalon]

and is there any problem with installing MMM OOO and Francesco's at the same time ? cuz i read that somewhere last time i installed them.

 

BTW i dont "reinstall" the game,i just use a backup that i made after installing the game plus the DLC's and before installing the mods.

[AzirAphale001]

I think this is what you're looking for.

[bben46]

As long as your backup is clean, You are in good shape. You are doing better than 90% of the people who play Oblivion and don't have a back up.

[Hexalon]

First.. :thanks: alot for the support,if already had the expierence to see how it feels when you ask for help on a platform like this and noone helps,answers or just gives trashy infos for whatever reason.:down:

 

Topic:

I am sorting my mods right now,I luckly put all of them into a folder this spared me alot of redownloading time.

Its "alot" of work this whole procedur and gonna consume lots of time again but its worth it I guess.

 

I gonna make sub folders called

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

This will also reduce the "search and check file" procedur abit and gonna speed up the installation,I first wanted to put all the mod's in this order just in a new folder and sort the files by date,this would had also worked I think but it would take more time than making sub folders,and wouldnt be as safe as this method.

 

But before I start installing all the stuff again.. I got a question,does the mod called FCOM Convergence count as "Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists" or as "Major Overhaul Mod" ?

Because I think it would be pretty unvital for my Oblivion installment if I would install this FCOM mod wrong since it helps extremly large mods to work together ?

 

I will Install the game tomorrow after getting an answer and tell you if following this install order prefents my from getting CTD's - and if that wont work I might consider trying the same thing with a "totatly" fresh installation of the game and report back if it worked,if it doesnt.. I will put up the white flag and give up - I have already put about 20 hours of my time into this without getting past 50 minutes playtime afterall :wallbash:

[bben46]

If you are getting 50 minutes before a CTD you are not doing too bad. I have seen many others who can't get 10 minutes.

 

Crashes are a part of the Oblivion experience. It's the game's way of telling you that you need to take a break.

 

There will always be some crashes, all we can do is minimize them.

 

Save often, it will keep the frustration level down.

 

Anything running in the background can cause a crash. Especially a program that likes to call home, such as an antivirus program that updates without warning, or an instant messaging program.

 

Start by disabling everything that accesses the internet when you play. that includes the Vonage, Skype, IM, xfire and anything that calls in or out.

 

Many programs use a auto update feature - such as HP printers (how often does your printer driver need updating?)

MS auto update can cause crashes.

 

Then look for programs that run in the background, they are stealing time from the game and if they don't give control back quick enough - crash.

 

MS indexing service, antivirus progs that scan everything in the background, Auto defrag programs, Scheduling programs all steal cycles from the game. Any of these can cause crashes.

 

After you have cut down the crashes caused by external stuff, start looking at your mods.

 

You probably won't be able to get rid of all of them, but you can minimize them.

 

Then Try this, Windom Earle_s Oblivion Crash Prevention System

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22282

 

It's still experimental, but it's getting high ratings. It's being updated almost daily so if it doesn't fix all of your crashes check back in a few days.

 

Note, it is not a mod and doesn't install like a mod, so be sure to read the instructions.

[dezdimona]

Here's a handy tweak guide!

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html