Mod Ordering

[Kyeashke]

Hey all,

 

I've got a whole host of mods that I want to install, but I'm getting a bit concerned that I'll have some glitches and inconsistencies if I order them the wrong way. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice or experience about them?

 

The first major ones are what I call my Look and Feel mods, which I found reading through TOTO - so I'm fairly certain the ordering of these is ok. I'm a bit worried given that I don't have OMODs for any of these - getting rid of them would most likely mean a complete reinstall.

 

1. QTP3
   
2. BTQ 2048
   
3. Koldan Noise Replacement
   
4. RAEVWD
   
5. Dark Regal
   
6. Dark Regal Patch for RAEVWD
   
7. Beaming Sunglare
   
8. All Natural
   
9. Rainbows in Tamriel
   
10. Get Wet
    
11. Real Night Sky
    
12. Open Better Cities
    
13. OSSO
    
14. MIS
    
15. Audia Arcanum
    
16. NW Storms & Sounds
    
17. Symphony of Violence
    
18. Darker Mods
    
19. AWLSC
    
20. Original Colour Darker Nights
    

 

The second lot are more gameplay mods (although I realise I have some visual ones in there too). Not in any order, as most of them are OMODs.

1. All Shapes and Sizes
   
2. Alternative Light Armours
   
3. Beautiful People
   
4. Book Jackets Oblivion
   
5. Bow Damage Equalizer
   
6. CDM Necromancy
   
7. Dargreen Glass Armour
   
8. DarNified
   
9. Harvest [Flora]
   
10. Harvest [Containers]
    
11. Qarl's Harvest
    
12. Elven Map Redux
    
13. Female EyeCandy
    
14. Francesco
    
15. Horse Fast Travel
    
16. Intelligence Overhaul
    
17. Inventory Tracker
    
18. Keychain
    
19. Khajiit Nighteye Toggle
    
20. Kikai Bookbelts
    
21. Male Body Replacer
    
22. Mastery Skill Level Adjustment
    
23. MOE
    
24. Nighteye Shader Replacement
    
25. No More Annoying Merchant Comments
    
26. nVidia Black Screen Fix
    
27. PH Vanilla Eyeys
    
28. Polybegone
    
29. Quest Award Leveller
    
30. SaddleBag
    
31. Stealth Overhaul
    
32. UMP
    
33. Unlimited Rings
    
34. VA Better Gold
    

 

I guess most importantly is where do OOO and UOP fit in to this?

 

Cheers,

 

-K

[nosisab]

Hey all,

 

I've got a whole host of mods that I want to install, but I'm getting a bit concerned that I'll have some glitches and inconsistencies if I order them the wrong way. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice or experience about them?

 

The first major ones are what I call my Look and Feel mods, which I found reading through TOTO - so I'm fairly certain the ordering of these is ok. I'm a bit worried given that I don't have OMODs for any of these - getting rid of them would most likely mean a complete reinstall.

 

1. QTP3
   
2. BTQ 2048
   
3. Koldan Noise Replacement
   
4. RAEVWD
   
5. Dark Regal
   
6. Dark Regal Patch for RAEVWD
   
7. Beaming Sunglare
   
8. All Natural
   
9. Rainbows in Tamriel
   
10. Get Wet
    
11. Real Night Sky
    
12. Open Better Cities
    
13. OSSO
    
14. MIS
    
15. Audia Arcanum
    
16. NW Storms & Sounds
    
17. Symphony of Violence
    
18. Darker Mods
    
19. AWLSC
    
20. Original Colour Darker Nights
    

 

The second lot are more gameplay mods (although I realise I have some visual ones in there too). Not in any order, as most of them are OMODs.

1. All Shapes and Sizes
   
2. Alternative Light Armours
   
3. Beautiful People
   
4. Book Jackets Oblivion
   
5. Bow Damage Equalizer
   
6. CDM Necromancy
   
7. Dargreen Glass Armour
   
8. DarNified
   
9. Harvest [Flora]
   
10. Harvest [Containers]
    
11. Qarl's Harvest
    
12. Elven Map Redux
    
13. Female EyeCandy
    
14. Francesco
    
15. Horse Fast Travel
    
16. Intelligence Overhaul
    
17. Inventory Tracker
    
18. Keychain
    
19. Khajiit Nighteye Toggle
    
20. Kikai Bookbelts
    
21. Male Body Replacer
    
22. Mastery Skill Level Adjustment
    
23. MOE
    
24. Nighteye Shader Replacement
    
25. No More Annoying Merchant Comments
    
26. nVidia Black Screen Fix
    
27. PH Vanilla Eyeys
    
28. Polybegone
    
29. Quest Award Leveller
    
30. SaddleBag
    
31. Stealth Overhaul
    
32. UMP
    
33. Unlimited Rings
    
34. VA Better Gold
    

 

I guess most importantly is where do OOO and UOP fit in to this?

 

Cheers,

 

-K

I'm not an expert at the load order anymore. But one comment of yours may lead you into mistake. The Omod is in everything the same as a mod installed by hand. That list at the right window on OBMM is informative only (yet OBMM allows you to change their 'status', like being actually installed or ready to be, etc). That files aren't used by the games in any way (you must see them like the 7z files with one folder more, the configuration one, and sometimes it have a script that allows you to make choices about what to install, among other useful things. Other than this an OMOD is a 7z file with changed extension... you can actually 'unpack' them using the OBMM and more, you can actually change the omod extension to 7z and unpack it 'normally' if you will).

 

So, OBMM will extract the files from the Omod and paste them into the correct places, like any other mod. Better yet, it will know the files from the mod and can uninstall them easily. And you can see the install order is meaningful even with omods, and/or the ESPs load order may need to be changed... As a bonus, the eventual script from certain mods may prevent some ESPs from being loaded before the others it know shall come first, but only if the change is under the OBMM itself.

[Kyeashke]

I'm not an expert at the load order anymore. But one comment of yours may lead you into mistake. The Omod is in everything the same as a mod installed by hand. That list at the right window on OBMM is informative only (yet OBMM allows you to change their 'status', like being actually installed or ready to be, etc). That files aren't used by the games in any way (you shall see them like the 7z files with one folder more, the configuration one, and sometimes it have a script that allows you to make choices about what to install. Other than this an OMOD is a 7z file with changed extension... you can actually 'unpack' then using the OBMM and more, you can actually change the omod extension by 7z and unpack it 'normally' if you will).

 

So, OBMM will extract the files from the Omod and paste them in the correct places, like any other mod.

 

Oh yes, but in terms of removing the files at the other end, OBMM keeps file manifests for which files are 'owned' by which omod (otherwise you wouldn't be able to clean up the directory or anything). It's that aspect that I like for it, although I realise there is an install order there too, for file over-writing again.

 

With regards to the textures, I know that they have an installation order, due to over-writing etc. The other mods are mostly a load order problem. It's actually both that worry me, I forgot to mention that.

[dezdimona]

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..

................................................................................

.................

[nosisab]

I'm not an expert at the load order anymore. But one comment of yours may lead you into mistake. The Omod is in everything the same as a mod installed by hand. That list at the right window on OBMM is informative only (yet OBMM allows you to change their 'status', like being actually installed or ready to be, etc). That files aren't used by the games in any way (you shall see them like the 7z files with one folder more, the configuration one, and sometimes it have a script that allows you to make choices about what to install. Other than this an OMOD is a 7z file with changed extension... you can actually 'unpack' then using the OBMM and more, you can actually change the omod extension by 7z and unpack it 'normally' if you will).

 

So, OBMM will extract the files from the Omod and paste them in the correct places, like any other mod.

 

Oh yes, but in terms of removing the files at the other end, OBMM keeps file manifests for which files are 'owned' by which omod (otherwise you wouldn't be able to clean up the directory or anything). It's that aspect that I like for it, although I realise there is an install order there too, for file over-writing again.

 

With regards to the textures, I know that they have an installation order, due to over-writing etc. The other mods are mostly a load order problem. It's actually both that worry me, I forgot to mention that.

Yes, this is the reason for the configuration folder, among other things, like storing images and such. But it's not only the overwriting, if not epecifically determined by scripting, the ESP's order will follow the install order, and in some cases, be the wrong one too.

 

PS: Note it's not the OBMM than keep track of the omod's files... it is the omod itself. OBMM will concern about the structure only while creating the omod. To install, uninstall (that means activate, deactivate, etc) it will use the informations stored there.

[Kyeashke]

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..

................................................................................

.................

 

Utterly brilliant, thank you very very much :thanks:

 

I'm not an expert at the load order anymore. But one comment of yours may lead you into mistake. The Omod is in everything the same as a mod installed by hand. That list at the right window on OBMM is informative only (yet OBMM allows you to change their 'status', like being actually installed or ready to be, etc). That files aren't used by the games in any way (you shall see them like the 7z files with one folder more, the configuration one, and sometimes it have a script that allows you to make choices about what to install. Other than this an OMOD is a 7z file with changed extension... you can actually 'unpack' then using the OBMM and more, you can actually change the omod extension by 7z and unpack it 'normally' if you will).

 

So, OBMM will extract the files from the Omod and paste them in the correct places, like any other mod.

 

Oh yes, but in terms of removing the files at the other end, OBMM keeps file manifests for which files are 'owned' by which omod (otherwise you wouldn't be able to clean up the directory or anything). It's that aspect that I like for it, although I realise there is an install order there too, for file over-writing again.

 

With regards to the textures, I know that they have an installation order, due to over-writing etc. The other mods are mostly a load order problem. It's actually both that worry me, I forgot to mention that.

Yes, this is the reason for the configuration folder, among other things, like storing images and such. But it's not only the overwriting, if not epecifically determined by scripting, the ESP's order will follow the install order, and in some cases, be the wrong one too.

 

PS: Note it's not the OBMM than keep track of the omod's files... it is the omod itself. OBMM will concern about the structure only while creating the omod. To install, uninstall (that means activate, deactivate, etc) it will use the informations stored there.

 

Wonderful, that just reinforces that I do want OMODs *grin*

 

So far I'm about half way through installing the first batch, and all is good (I'm trying one after the other and testing - I've had trouble before).