Modding Oblivion/Fallout 3

[Mintylicous]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post my question, but i have been trying to look for an answer and haven't found it so here goes.

 

Is it possible to mod Fallout 3 or Oblivion without having it through Steam like for Games for Windows Live while still using nexus mod manager or just simply dragging the file to the data folder in the Bethesda Softworks program file?

[Tidus44]

I only have FallOut3 as a download from Steam, and with the Fallout Script Extender (FOSE) installed and used to start the game, the game runs without using Steam or Games for Windows Live (which is no longer running is it?). I mod FO3 with Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM) because NMM seems to not install mods properly to the game, and since using FOMM I have not had any problems modding FO3 with mods from the Nexus and other sites that offer mods.

 

I am not sure if Oblivion runs the same way, but I have been led to believe it does as neither Oblivion nor FO3 were exclusive games to Steam.

 

I know that once I registered FO3 with Steam it never called for Steam to start on playing the game.

[Mintylicous]

I am not sure if this is the right place to post my question, but i have been trying to look for an answer and haven't found it so here goes.

 

Is it possible to mod Fallout 3 or Oblivion without having it through Steam like for Games for Windows Live while still using nexus mod manager or just simply dragging the file to the data folder in the Bethesda Softworks program file?

I see, because when i bought the game from Walmart it was a bundle that had Fo3 and Oblivion in the same case and it came with 1 of the authentication codes well not an authentication code but a CD code but when i entered it into steam to try and register one of the two it was for it said that the code was not valid and i bought it new, then when i installed Oblivion it said that i needed to download games for windows live. i had even bought my Skyrim from Walmart as well and it came with the code and i had entered it into steam and worked but i bought Skyrim months later because i had misplaced my Fo3/oblivion game case. (well not bundle but a dubble pack)

Edited May 24, 2014 by Mintylicous

[DrakeTheDragon]

My Oblivion is the Retail disc version. I already had it before there even was an Oblivion on Steam (at least I think there wasn't, as I wasn't aware of any).

And I can assure you I can use mods in my game and create my own ones absolutely fine.

 

The introduction of the Steam distribution of Oblivion and its modding-impeding drawbacks actually only became a problem some time later, if I recall correctly (I've never bothered with Steam so far, so I don't know).

All its drawbacks can be overcome or worked around, so it's no terminal hindrance, but different to the non-Steam distributions modding Oblivion from Steam requires actually more steps to work than other distributions.

 

As for certain tools like the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) or similar, they may have issues with certain non-uniform distributions like GameStop or Direct2Drive (afaik with those it can't be made functioning at all), but the major distributions like Retail disc or Steam all work with it (though Steam required special means to integrate OBSE's functioning into their processes, which back then was created in cooperation with the Steam developers even).

 

Your Games for Windows Live distributions of the games you bought didn't come with a Steam activation code, as they were not made for Steam. The activation code was for their distribution platform GfWL instead.

Skyrim, however, is a Steam-exclusive game, there is no legal distribution of it without activation through Steam, period. So its activation code will always be a Steam activation code, no matter what.

 

So, to make a long story short, no matter what distribution your games are from, most mods, tools and managers will work absolutely fine regardless. Well, apart from those platforms known to be incompatible with OBSE due to their special encrypted executables.

[Mintylicous]

My Oblivion is the Retail disc version. I already had it before there even was an Oblivion on Steam (at least I think there wasn't, as I wasn't aware of any).

And I can assure you I can use mods in my game and create my own ones absolutely fine.

 

The introduction of the Steam distribution of Oblivion and its modding-impeding drawbacks actually only became a problem some time later, if I recall correctly (I've never bothered with Steam so far, so I don't know).

All its drawbacks can be overcome or worked around, so it's no terminal hindrance, but different to the non-Steam distributions modding Oblivion from Steam requires actually more steps to work than other distributions.

 

As for certain tools like the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) or similar, they may have issues with certain non-uniform distributions like GameStop or Direct2Drive (afaik with those it can't be made functioning at all), but the major distributions like Retail disc or Steam all work with it (though Steam required special means to integrate OBSE's functioning into their processes, which back then was created in cooperation with the Steam developers even).

 

Your Games for Windows Live distributions of the games you bought didn't come with a Steam activation code, as they were not made for Steam. The activation code was for their distribution platform GfWL instead.

Skyrim, however, is a Steam-exclusive game, there is no legal distribution of it without activation through Steam, period. So its activation code will always be a Steam activation code, no matter what.

 

So, to make a long story short, no matter what distribution your games are from, most mods, tools and managers will work absolutely fine regardless. Well, apart from those platforms known to be incompatible with OBSE due to their special encrypted executables.

Ah, so in other words that code that is in the case is a GfWL code, does that mean i have to go to xbox.com or something to enter it in or sign into the GfWL client and enter it? and seeing as how my FO3 and Oblivion arnt part of steam should i download the FOMM and an OMM and just use thos for Fallout 3 and Oblivion?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Actually it should say on the box what kind of activation code it is and where it needs to be entered. How exactly it's done, however, I can't tell, because I'm not using GfWL either.

 

I don't exactly get your relation between your games being from Steam or not and which mod manager you're going to use for it though. There is none.

Apart from the Steam Workshop itself, which last time I checked didn't support Oblivion or FO3, no other managers are restricted to require any distribution platform at all.

 

You can use FOMM and OBMM for Oblivion and FO3 mods, or you don't. Or just use any other manager you like the most. You can also use the Nexus Mod Manager for both of them, only one of them, or none of them.

Though for Oblivion it's currently inadvisable, as most Oblivion mods are packaged in a way which cannot be understood by the NMM, yet. They all can be made understandable for the NMM though with just a little extra work.

For example, all mods I downloaded lately couldn't be installed by the NMM out of the box, but I went ahead and expanded them so now they can, and thus I'm currently using the NMM 'exclusively' for managing my Oblivion mods.

 

But what the game being the Steam version or not has to do with any of this is beyond me. :ermm: