Steam and first time installation of mods

[ancarla]

Hello everyone. I just want to say I am as confused now as I have been reading through various topics on installing mods.

 

I use the steam version of oblivion. I installed the unofficial patch

Then I installed the NMM, I heard rumours after I installed it, that is not really compatible with Steam's Oblivion. Anyhow, when I launch that application it does show me what is currently installed.

 

I have downloaded QTP:Redimized I understand using OMOD is not the best thing to do. These are the instructions for the meshes etc, and they seem to be beyond my comprehension once it goes into the validate stuff.

 

"WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND MAKING AN OMOD BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY FILES INCLUDED!

Extract the included "textures" and "meshes" folders to a temporary folder and then move or copy them to your \Oblivion\Data\ folder and use one of the various archive invalidation methods."

 

Firstly, will NMM mod manager not install this mesh pack, and if not what can I do to get it working (that's if of course, this is the latest version, it does mention some issues with stuttering).

 

 

If some one can explain to me, in step by step guide on how to install this and other mods, bearing in mind I use the steam version of oblivion I would be very grateful. I am just completely lost, and extremely surprised there is not a single solution that can easily just install mods automatically. However I know nothing, so I am lost in this world of adding mods. There seems to be far too many ways to make the game go the way of the dodo and I do not want that to happen. I have made a back up of my data folders and the bsa files contained therein, and put them into another folder elsewhere on the hard drive should something break.

 

Hopefully someone can help me with this problem, and how to install other mods, and can NMM install most mods for me?

 

Just to make it easier to understand my needs for what i want to do with oblivion.

 

1 change the landscapes

2 improve npc / character textures, i cannot play a character that looks like an abomination and sadly most npc's and playable races look just like that.

3 perhaps add more quests, new items to the game.

 

eventually when i know for certain exactly what I want, I will be able to download it hopefully and know how to install it.

I need mods that will drastically improve the game with no compatibility issues.

Edited July 31, 2013 by ancarla

[ancarla]

wanting to play this guys......

[bben46]

Oblivion is an older game - it came out years before NMM. Many of the older mods will not be compatible with NMM because at that time there was no standard way to package a mod - Many of the simpler mods will work with NMM, just because their structure is so simple. But a LOT of the mods will not work. they are not packaged properly for NMM to work with. I recomend using the manual downloading for Oblivion mods, and if you want a mod manager - the older OBMM works fine - even with the new mods made with NMM in mind. It also has it's own format (OMOD format) that needs OBMM to work - OMOD allowed mod authors to use multiple esp files in the same mod - allowing you to pick and choose which on you wanted.

 

Wrye Bash works as a very powerful mod manager also, but is difficult for neophytes.

 

The good part is all of these will work together - if you install a mod using OBMM or Wrye Bash, it will show up in the 'Plugins' list in NMM. And any mod installed with NMM will show in the OBMM or Wrye Bash listing as well. But NOT in the Mods list as those are NMM downloaded only.

 

Also, Be sure to actually READ the installation instructions as some will be different. Some will say 'unzip directly into the data folder' these will usually work with NMM. If it says 'unzip into your Oblivion folder' They will not as it will put it into the data folder - and you will end up with a second data folder inside of the original data folder - and the game cannot find the mod there. Others will say to save to a folder, unzip and examine the files structure - often these will have extra stuff in the structure that you may not want to put in your data folder. A complex mod may have more than one esp, or an esm and several esps - READ to see if you put them all in or just one. :thumbsup: