New to Modding

[StalkingLillies]

so there is a mod i wanna download but i have to get a skeletal mesh for it to work and my meshes folder isn't a folder its a white page :/ what do i do? is it cause i haven't played the game or what >.< this is so frustrating

[Striker879]

Before you start adding mods the vanilla game has all of it's meshes in a compressed file named Oblivion - Meshes.bsa (as shown in your Windows Explorer list). Replacement meshes like your skeleton.nif replacer and mod added assets will create the required Oblivion\meshes folder and subfolders (e.g. skeleton replacers will go in Oblivion\meshes\characters\_male and Oblivion\meshes\characters\_1stperson).

 

One thing to note about replacers ... they will all need archive invalidation to direct the game to use the replacements rather than it's original assets found in the vanilla BSA files. The simplest way to achieve that is using Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM). Click the Utilities button and select Archive Invalidation from the menu. Click on BSA Redirection, leave everything else at default and click on the Update Now button. Close the archive invalidation dialogue and then OBMM (it doesn't commit the changes until closed). BSA Redirection is a do once and forget about it forever solution. If you use the Steam version of the game click on Reset BSA Timestamps before clicking the Update Now button (Steam re-dated all the vanilla game BSA files, thus breaking archive invalidation ... that fixes it).

[StalkingLillies]

Before you start adding mods the vanilla game has all of it's meshes in a compressed file named Oblivion - Meshes.bsa (as shown in your Windows Explorer list). Replacement meshes like your skeleton.nif replacer and mod added assets will create the required Oblivion\meshes folder and subfolders (e.g. skeleton replacers will go in Oblivion\meshes\characters\_male and Oblivion\meshes\characters\_1stperson).

 

One thing to note about replacers ... they will all need archive invalidation to direct the game to use the replacements rather than it's original assets found in the vanilla BSA files. The simplest way to achieve that is using Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM). Click the Utilities button and select Archive Invalidation from the menu. Click on BSA Redirection, leave everything else at default and click on the Update Now button. Close the archive invalidation dialogue and then OBMM (it doesn't commit the changes until closed). BSA Redirection is a do once and forget about it forever solution. If you use the Steam version of the game click on Reset BSA Timestamps before clicking the Update Now button (Steam re-dated all the vanilla game BSA files, thus breaking archive invalidation ... that fixes it).

thank you so much :3 made that easier for me cause ims till learning where to put the mods and how to install them or what to install them with

[DrakeTheDragon]

Basically mods should come packaged in a way so you can put their archives' contents directly into your data folder and they will merge their folders and files with your existing ones or create the ones missing themselves. Mod archives' contents usually mirror the game folders for just this reason.

 

Sometimes they contain a data folder themselves, which just means in this case put their data folder into your Oblivion folder so it will merge with your data folder. Sometimes they'll contain a folder you cannot make any sense of which then contains a data folder itself or the meshes/textures/etc. folder and/or ESPs/ESMs right away. These have to go into your data folder of course.

 

 

OMOD-ready archives come with a special folder called "OMOD conversion data", and when you create an OMOD from these in the Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM), it will ask you whether you want to use the information found inside there to automatically fill out the fields and maybe even provide rather complex installation customization dialog scripts. They 'can' be installed manually as well, as again they should contain either a data folder with contents or the meshes/textures/etc. folders with contents and/or ESP/ESM files.

 

BAIN-ready archives are a little something to look out for. In general these cannot be installed manually that easily by just putting their contents into your data folder or some such. They will contain a bunch of main and/or optional folders with custom names fitting their contents and usually numbers at the start to signal their priority and which is part of a multiple-choice group or select-only-one group or whatever. And each of those folders will contain meshes/textures/etc. folders again and/or ESP/ESM files etc.

 

The basic functioning of BAIN is to install all selected folders of these right into your data folder and in the order denoted by the numbers. That way it again creates a complete archive structure like in manual install, all folders merging into existing ones. But if you just copy&paste its contents right into your data folder like installing manually, you'll only end up with those feature-folders inside your data folder and their contents never merging or going into the proper places. That's the difference.

 

Some mods will also contain specially named alternatives to files which you will have to use to rename and replace other ones with, like the famous Robert's Male Body mod contains multiple "LowerbodyPants1.nif", "LowerbodyPants2.nif", 3, 4, etc. inside its "meshes/characters/_male" folder, all containing different opions of male default underwear, your personal choice of which is meant to replace the one "meshes/characters/_male/Lowerbody.nif", the file the game uses as default legs for males when nude. With these setups it is paramount to follow the manual install instructions to the tin, or you won't end up with the desired results ever!

 

 

In general it is paramount to follow the install instructions anyways, as only the authors can tell you whether there's choices to be made, and "how" exactly they're to be made, and what else there is to be done previous to, during, or after installation in order to make their mods do what they're meant to do.

 

 

Take especial care that with Oblivion mods most were released ages before the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) even became a concept and as such might have folder structures it simply cannot understand. This is the same as copy&pasting a non-manual-install archive into your data folder and ending up with meaningless subfolders instead of the actual contents inside your data folder. Only because there's a "Download with manager" button on a mod file does "not" mean it can be installed with it! This was made the default selection for all files already uploaded before its release, and most of these files' authors simply never came back to untick it.

 

 

Oh, one more point: If it's a mod only containing some loose files, without any folders even, and the instructions/readmes tell so, you just put these right into the folder structure they belong into, and if any folder is missing in your's, you can simply create it yourself.

 

 

Ah, and last but not least, welcome to the forums and the wonderful world of modding! :thumbsup: