Exactly How Do I Install 158 Mods?

[Jakobsky]

After reinstalling oblivion, all the DLCs, Shivering isles and patching up I went and downloaded my mod list of 158 mods.

 

After spending 3 hours clicking through downloads on tes nexus, I had my entire glorious mod collection in a folder.

 

The biggest problem now is this. How do I install 158 zipped mods? Some of them are pre-omodded, some of them have alternate textures/esps inside, and they're all organised differently IE

 

Mod Name/Data/Files

Data/Files

Files

Mod Name/AlternateESP

 

Yeah... a little help on this one?

I have BOSS, Wrye Bash, WinRAR and OBMM at my disposal.

 

Thanks to anyone who can help.

[mimada]

Take it slow. Install your utilities first; OBMM, Wrye Bash, Save game manager, Cobl, and OBSE. Check the readmes for mods that are dependent on other mods. Then install the complicated overhaul and uber mods like FCOM, OOO, Franciscos, TIE, etc.. BOSS and test the game after the major installs and make sure everything comes up correctly. Install game altering mods like weather, lighting, eating and sleeping, etc.. Again, BOSS and test after each install. Next, put in replacers for textures, LOD, body meshes. Test after each install. If you start noticing performance hits, think about using the light weight versions of textures and LOD replacers or lower your screen resolution.

 

Put in the large scale environment changing mods like UL, BC, TNR, etc. BOSS, test, etc.. Put in new quests. The last things should be custom races, armor and weapons, and companions.

 

Try to use OBMM or BAIN whenever possible. You should avoid doing manual installs (package everything) unless you're really confident of your ability to remove manual installations. Some people seem to enjoy reinstalling Oblivion when it's nerfed.

 

If you have an issue with a particular mod, post the name of the mod, the nature of the problem, and what you've previously installed.

 

Good luck!

 

BTW, I'm assuming you've read the sticky on installing mods.

[dezdimona]

do not batch load mods! Install one at a time and verify it works before adding another mod.This process will insure that if a problem occurs that you know which mod is causing the problem. also here's a load order guide too

 

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)>

Note: If using Mayu's Overhaul Mod. I recommend loading it after OOO or MMM

 

 

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..

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

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

[malonn]

You're all about that load order guide, dezdimona.

[thehim87]

I think one will farely admit that you will not be able too make 158 mods work together without effort, time and headaches. It is likely that you will have to reinstall one or two times. You will gain experience in each process and thus will avoid common mistakes that you made in your previous installation. Mod using is a work, and is the counterpart of mod makers work. You can't have it all and good at once. Mod using is basically about architecture. Your first house, even though you are a talented architect, will be missing something. The next will be better configured, safer. The next one will be more harmonius, you will no how to prevent little annoying details (glitches, bug), etc.

 

Ok... I'm getting bored and work right now so excuse the hogwash metaphor.

 

Here is speaking 250+ mod user that is at his early stage. I've just started playing with fairly few CTD's for soo many mods and an instable game. My game time can range to 20 minutes with a CTD, and somtime 10 hours without. Soo far so god. Yet to get to this point I have installed each mod one by mod, cleaned each plugin I sense could be dirty (early mods, inepexerienced mod maker mods, foreign mods), and spend hours reading ReadMes and Guides, and users comments.

 

I would say it have been a month whole I have been working on reaching my ideal Oblivion. So my recommandations :

 

1. Information. This is vital. Before installing or even downloading a mod. Read the F*** ReadMe. On Nexus or the one in the folder. Beware of a mod without RM. Read the users comments, even just the first page. You can take a quit look at what I call the Endorsement/Comments ratio. If a mod has a LOT of comments but very few endorsements, this often means this mod isn not optimal for use yet, or too buggy. I would then just not download it.

 

2. Mod installation. If you are a newbie, I think everyone will agree that OBMM is the easiest to handle, especially with load ordering issues. OMOD every mod you have before installing. This will make the installation and unistallation much safer. I do things overmethodicly : I put the website link in each OMOD and thus save a lot of time when I have to search for it too see instructions in the Description Tabs. Install OMODs one by one. The time this will take you will be shorter than the time you will take to uninstall and test a bunch of mods you installed in a row and figured out your Oblivion crashes at load.

 

3. Clean plugins that might be dirty by using TES4Edit or TES4Gecko. Google this, you will find instructions easily.

 

4.Use Wrye Bash and its bash features this will help get several conflicting mods work nicely together.

 

There are the little recommandation of a player that has been at your very position. Hope it helps.