Book Jackets Not Working

[TombRaiderJake]

Okay, I am following this guide to mod Oblivion:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/466448-noob-up-and-running/?pid=3836531&do=findComment&comment=3836531

And I am going in the order that the mods are listed in, going one mod at a time to make sure nothing messes up. I installed Book Jackets by extracting the 7z into the Data folder. I launch the game, and since I do not have Book Placement installed, I chose the .esp that was not made for Book Placement. When I booted up the game, nothing was changed. All the books had the original textures. I uninstalled the mod and reinstalled it, but with no luck.

 

Other info:
-Using the Steam version (GOTY)

-Using 7-Zip

-Running Windows 8

-i7-3770K CPU; GTX 670 2GB GPU; 8GB RAM

-Mods already installed:

--Unofficial Oblivion Patch 3.2

--Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch

--Unofficial DLC patch

--Oblivion Script Extender

--OBGE

--TES4LODGEN

--Oblivion Stutter Remover

--Fast Exit

--Qarl's Texture Pack

--Landscape LOD Textures

--Border Region LOD Replacer

--Koldorn's Noise Replacer

--Natural Environments

--Enhanced Vegetation

--Improved Trees and Flora (1, 2, and TF2 Update)

--Enhanced Water

--*I did not install the 4gb patch*

I'll be happy to provide any other information necessary

 

Thanks!

[DrakeTheDragon]

This is a replacer-type mod, putting external loose files into the folders to be used in place of the files stored internally inside the game's BSA archives.

It is imperative to apply a working solution to Archive Invalidation, if you ever want the game to even notice those external files. With the disc version it was only required for replacement 'textures', but with Steam Oblivion it seems to be required for replacement just-about-everything.

 

The only sane approach to Archive Invalidation nowadays is called "BSA Redirection". It can be applied through the Oblivion Mod Manager's (OBMM's) Utilities for Archive Invalidation by selecting the proper method and leaving all other options at default (BSA Redirection does not have any options), Wrye Bash's Replacer Tab provides similar means, the famous mod "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!" also does the same, and I think even the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) serves some means to apply Archive Invalidation to your game by now.

 

In history Archive Invalidation meant telling the game which files from the archives no longer to use and instead use the replacement files found in the external folders. This involved a list of external files to be used over internal files, found inside a file "Archive Invalidation.txt" somewhere inside your folders, which sadly never really worked reliably enough to begin with. The results were random at best.

 

So BSA Redirection was invented. It works by placing an empty dummy BSA into your data folder and inserting it into the "sArchiveList" entry inside your Oblivion.ini, at the place of the only BSA requiring Invalidation, basically removing the need for Archive Invalidation itself entirely once and for all. Just make sure there's no left-over "Archive Invalidation.txt" file found anywhere inside your folders, or it will keep instructing the game to use external file X over internal file X which now doesn't even exist inside the empty dummy BSA anymore, and this is known to cause multiple random issues.

 

In case of Steam Oblivion there's even yet another additional pitfall to avoid. The file dates of the BSA files coming from Steam are dated far more recently than any replacement file coming from a mod created in the past will ever be. In Oblivion file date trumps everything, even Archive Invalidation can't win against it. The game will always stick to the Vanilla contents inside the BSAs regardless. The file dates of the BSAs need to be set back to something far enough away in the past (the disc version is dated somewhere around 2006, if I'm not mistaken), either by using a 3rd party file redate tool (I know nothing about these) or simpy by clicking "Reset BSA timestamps" once while in OBMM's Archive Invalidation dialog before applying BSA Redirection to your game. There might be similar means available in the other mod managers as well by now.

[TombRaiderJake]

 

The only sane approach to Archive Invalidation nowadays is called "BSA Redirection". It can be applied through the Oblivion Mod Manager's (OBMM's) Utilities for Archive Invalidation by selecting the proper method and leaving all other options at default (BSA Redirection does not have any options), Wrye Bash's Replacer Tab provides similar means, the famous mod "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!" also does the same, and I think even the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) serves some means to apply Archive Invalidation to your game by now.

 

 

Okay, the other mods I am using says to use BSA Alteration. By switching the setting over to BSA Redirection, would that create any conflict? And is there any other special steps I have to take to enable this mod?

 

My process for installing the mod is:

1. Copy 'meshes', 'textures', and 'Book Jackets Oblivion.esp' into 'data' folder

2. Activate the ESP in Oblivion start screen

3. Run game

 

Feel free to tell me if there's anything else that I'm doing wrong!

[DrakeTheDragon]

BSA Alteration is a different way towards Archive Invalidation. It works by modifying the BSAs of the game directly, replacing the respective files inside them right away.

It's like extracting a ZIP into a temporary folder, performing the file replacements inside there, then packing it all up into a ZIP again to replace the old ZIP with.

 

I don't really know all the pro's or con's of this approach over the other, but if you mess up a BSA, you'll have to reinstall the game... unless you also created a backup to restore beforehand.

You also have to redo BSA Alteration every time you install or remove one of your replacer-type mods, whereas BSA Redirection is a one-time fire-and-forget solution... unless your Oblivion.ini gets modified so the entry gets changed or the dummy BSA gets removed, of course.

 

In general it should be safe to apply BSA Redirection even after you already messed around with your BSAs by BSA Alteration. The game will use the files found in the altered BSAs as it did before, and it will use all external replacement files right away as well without any further steps to be taken. In theory there should be no possibility for a conflict... but this still remains to be proven in praxis first to be certain about it.