Mod Order and Incompatabilities

[Matoyak]

Just an FYI, this is the first computer game I have owned that wasn't a game designed for windows 1998 (Sonic MegaPack and Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun, if anyone was curious). While doing some research about the PC version of Oblivion I ran into information about Mods... Well, one thing led to another and, well...here I am.

I have a question as to the mods I am considering and what particular order I should put them in once I have managed to figure out what all this mod stuff is about... Here's the ones I am considering... Do any of these conflict with each other in bad ways? What order should I put them in to minimize issues?

Are any of these out of date enough to not be worth using? Would y'all suggest others in place of some of the ones that I have down here? My computer isn't all that powerful (it's a Dell laptop), so I can't do too much in the way of retexturing the game, I'd assume?

 

Windows Vista Home x64 bit Home Premium

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GotY Edition, patch 1.2.0416

 

*Unofficial Oblivion Patch

*Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch

*FCOM

--OOO

--MMM

--Fran

--WarCRY (maybe?)

--Bob's Armory

*DarkUId DarN

*Open Better Cities (this one seems like it could possibly slow down the game/ cause lag issues?)

*CreeperJones

*Reneer's Guard Overhaul

*Deadly Reflex (have heard this one can cause issues if not loaded last [bottom of the list]?)

*Race Balancing Project

*Midas Magic

*Oblivion Script Optimization

*Ambient Dungeons

*Facial Textures by Enayla

*Oblivion Polygon Overhaul (rocks)

 

I have never done anything dealing with mods before, so I'm a bit skittish with all of this, and do not really know what I am doing. Thanks for y'all's help in advance :D :thanks: And apologies for being a newb...

[bben46]

With over 17,000 mods on TesNexus alone, you are bound to eventually find some incompatibilities. Anytime two mods mod the same thing there is an incompatibility. Often it is minor and will not be noticed, such as a blue robe instead of a red robe showing in the game. The problems come with more complex mods that change a lot of things - such as an entire modded city. If you use a mod that modifies a complete city, then add a second that makes extensive changes to the same city you will find things like floating buildings, missing walls, NPC path problems, falling through the scenery etc. Sometimes you can swap the load order of those two and solve most of the problems. But not always. some mods will be incompatible with certain others and you must choose one or the other.

 

BOSS is a good starting place for ordering mods, but it is not perfect. It does set the order of a lot of the more popular mods. And it leaves the ones it dosn't know where to place at the end of your list for you to place manually. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516

 

There is also a manual method of setting order promoted by Dezdimona. I recommend using this to fine tune after using BOSS for the initial settings - Note that it is easier to add new mods to your list using the manual method as BOSS will always move all of the mods it dosn't recognize back to the end of the list.

 

dezdimona will be along with her mod ordering method soon I think

[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)>

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..

maigrets...You should also follow Dezi's load order guide if you're new to mods. BOSS is good, but not foolproof. There are a lot of mods it doesn't have in it's database and they have to be ordered manually.

 

 

Here I am! :biggrin:

[Matoyak]

Thanks for the responses :D

 

OK, where would RBP and Deadly Reflexes go in that list? Does the Guard Overhaul conflict with any of the big OOO-esque mods? If any of the big mods already have a guard overhaul, it would be pretty pointless to add another one...

[bben46]

Deadly reflexes is usually the last mod. also, I would not try to install a bunch of mods all at once. That is asking for trouble. install one, then test, then another and test. save deadly reflex for last. Whenever you find a problem, fix the problem before installing any more mods.

 

The time you think you save by installing a bunch will be more than lost trying to figure out which mod is causing problems.

[Matoyak]

Deadly reflexes is usually the last mod. also, I would not try to install a bunch of mods all at once. That is asking for trouble. install one, then test, then another and test. save deadly reflex for last. Whenever you find a problem, fix the problem before installing any more mods.

 

The time you think you save by installing a bunch will be more than lost trying to figure out which mod is causing problems.

Yeah, like I said, I have read most of the mod tuts out there, they just aren't detailed enough for me hehehe. I know not to overload with mods first.

 

But Deadly Reflexes last? Ok, thanks :D