FCOM crashing

[snowdevil86]

I posted this over at the FCOM page at TesNexus, but figured I should post it here, too. Here's the deal: I never CTD on launch, ever. There's about a 75% chance, however, that I will CTD when I exit to Imperial Isle. If I do manage to get outside, it's only a matter of 3-5 minutes (or less) until I get a CTD. This is my third clean install of oblivion/fcom with nothing else loaded, and I've run out of ideas as to what could be causing the problem. In case I've missed something and anyone can help me out, this is the step-by-step installation I've gone by:

 

1) Did a clean Oblivion install, with Shivering Isles and the SI v1.2.0416 patch. No other mods, no other official plugins.

 

2) Installed Python (downloaded from provided links on cheat sheet) & Wyre Bash v275. No problems, Bash works fine. I turn lock times off, install BOSS, and select 'sort by load order'.

 

3) Installed OOO 1.33 Complete (installer version) and selected only 'Full', no other boxes checked. Installed 1.34 Beta 5 Patch (archive), omitting 'OOO_waterfish.esp', as it is never mentioned in the install guide, and is not listed among the ESM/ESPs you should have at this point (on a previous install, I unpacked OOO_waterfish.esp as well, had the same problems, so I don't think it makes a difference). Checked both ESM/ESP in Bash & ran BOSS.

 

4) Unpacked only the textures/meshes/sound folders from 'MartsMonsterMod355ReleaseFull.yz', nothing else. Unpacked only the core 'Mart's Monster mod.esm' from 'MMM_37b3_Public_Release-17784.7z', along with optional plugins looting npcs & creatures, hunting & crafting, dungeons of mmm, & resized races. None of these are on the 'do not install' list for MMM's plugins. Oddly, the installation guide says to copy the textures/meshes/sound folders from this archive and overwrite the previous ones from the 355 Release, but there are no such folders in this archive, and yes I do have the correct archive (followed the link to download). Unpacked 'Lich_Textures.7z' (the recommended 'Invisible Lich Patch'), then checked everything in Bash & run BOSS.

 

5) Installed 'Franscescos_leveled_creatures-items_mod.exe', selecting SI version, declining combat tweaks, accepting MODS, selecting hardcore loot, accepting living economy, selecting new items add-on, chance of more enemies, chance of stronger bosses, chance of stronger enemies, optional leveled guards, keep files separate, and kept default settings for cell respawn, time rescale, & skill progression to be tweaked personally in Bash later. Installed 'FrancescosOptionalNewItemsCreatures.exe', selecting only new items add-on & BSA File Registration, leaving creatures unchecked. Installed Unofficial SI Patch v140 using installer,

then replaced its esp with the one included in 'USIP_MOBS_1-4-17621.rar'. Unpacked 'Frans_Optional_Leveled_Quests-SI_Only-17621.rar'. Following the instructions to force Oblivion to read the Fran's Items BSA, I made a copy of 'DLCShiveringIsles.esp' & renamed it to 'Oblivion.esp'. I then renamed 'FraNewItems.bsa' to 'Oblivion - FraNewItems.bsa' (note: I tried an alternate version of this before, which I stumbled across on Bethesda forums...what I did was rename 'FraNewItems.BSA' to 'DLCShiveringIsles - FraNewItems.BSA', but it didn't make a difference in solving the problems). Finally, checked everything in Bash (including the new 'oblivion.esp' - on my last install I didn't have this, problems still persisted) & ran BOSS.

 

6) Unpacked WarCry ('OWC.7z'), copying only the English version and leaving the German version unpacked. Unpacked the 'OWC_Patch_1.08b_1.085b.7z', again only copying English version. Checked everything in Bash & ran BOSS.

 

7) Unpacked Bob's Armory v1.7, then checked everything in Bash & ran BOSS.

 

8) This is where the instructions had me scratching my head. According to the First-Time User Install Guide (http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/fcominstall.html), the FCOM

files should be installed at this point, after all of the other major overhauls, and says to copy all 8 of the main files in the archive (excluding the Optional Add-Ons folder), along with the textures/meshes folders. In the list, it mentions installing 'FCOM_FranscescosNamedBosses.esp'. This file, however, is never mentioned in the list of core files on the main page's detailed installation guide (http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/convergence.html). In addition, the main page's installation has the FCOM core files listed first, above OOO & the other overhauls, but it doesn't really list them in the install process, it just simply describes each file - leaving it unclear as to when, exactly, these should be installed. Anyway, at this point the guide allows for the user to choose which optional FCOM plugins to install, but I left this alone (I just wanted to make sure it worked with a basic installation before I started loading on extra plugins). So, with the 8 core FCOM files unpacked alongside the meshes/textures folders, I check them all in Bash & run BOSS.

 

9) The Bashed Patch instructions on the cheat sheet are outdated (referring to the Mark Levellers function that no long exists), so I followed the main page closely instead. I adjusted the timestamp on my Bashed Patched by making it 2011 as given in the example, to force it to load last. I then right-clicked the Bashed Patch, clicked Rebuild Patch, and checked 'Leveled Lists' (making sure 'Automatic' was checked) and 'Merge Patches' (which includes FCOM_Franscescos.esp, FCOM_FranscescosItemsAddon.esp, Mart's Monster Mod - Looting NPCS & Creatures.esp, and Mart's Monster Mod - Resized Races.esp, all checked). I left 'Alias Mod Names' checked as default. Then I clicked OK, let it build, and then activated my Bashed Patch. I then made sure all of the green-text merged mods had a plus sign in the checkbox, and I was good to go. I ran BOSS one last time to be sure, and double-checked my load order against both the Basic & Expanded load orders on the FCOM site, with everything matching up (although the renamed 'Oblivion.esp' was missing on the list, but I didn't use that on my last install and had the same problems, so not sure it makes a difference).

 

 

After suffering through the tutorial dungeon several times and getting crashes, and after tweaking my Bashed Patch and rebuilding it a thousand times, I finally loaded my first

non-FCOM mod, which was Alternative Start by Ship, in order to skip right to the chase and find out which settings would cause my game to CTD. I used the latest version of OBSE (0.018 Beta) and launched Oblivion through that. Same problems, nothing different. The odd thing is that FCOM is obviously working, because I definitely notice changes in the brief time I'm allowed to roam around Imperial Isle before CTD. I've seen new Water Rats and been ambushed by huge groups of godlike bandits, and I'm noticing the annoying subtitles whenever I walk past NPCs, displaying their idle chit-chat onscreen (I'll have to disable that crap if I ever get this thing working).

 

 

So to anyone who actually read this novel I penned for you guys, I'd appreciate ANY tips/pointers that could get FCOM working for me. I feel absolutely retarded that so many people seem to get it working with no problem and I'm sitting here bashing my head into my desk trying to stop the CTDs. I appreciate the time, and thanks in advance.