First time Moding my game, Need help

[pandora6969]

Hello Everyone,

 

Well where do I start, hehe. I have been trying to mod Oblivian with OBMM, I take the files I download and turn them into OMED's and then activate them to work. I figured this was the way to go, and started to download lots of mods and started to play, this is when the crashes came. What I need to know is what programs do I need in order to fix these problems, I'm sure many people have already asked this time and time again, but I hear people talking about Boss, and wyre bash. I tried to put boss into my data folder like it asked but everytime I went to run the Bat. file it told me there was an error message (windows cannot find BOSSlog.txt make sure you typed the name in correctly, and then try again) I have no idea what I am doing, and I am hoping some of you will come forward and help me. I plan on using around 65 mods, and I need to know how do I get them working properly, without my computer crashing every 5-20 minutes. Please tell me what I need to download, and instructions on how to get boss to work, and anything else that will help me to get these mods to work. Most of the mods I use are Endorsed by alot of people, and are mainly hall of fame mods.

If you have alot of mods working, please tell me what you are using, so I can enjoy Oblivian moded without it crshing every 20 minutes or so. :)

[Jenrai]

Firstly; a peice of friendly advice... install mods 1 or maybe 2 at a time then playtest for at least an hour. Check the mod has added stuff and then play to check (most of the time you don't even have to play the mod - you'll know). Installing any more than a couple at a time is fatal, as if it does break your game you won't know which one did it. So install a couple at a time, play for an hour, make sure it works. It'll save you countless hours later. And pick a couple of the small ones to install and uninstall a few times, so you get used to doing it. Yeah, OBMM's marvellous OMOD facility, and Wrye Bash's brilliant BAIN installers can do it for you, but again, knowing how to install and uninstall them manually will teach you about the file structures, and what goes where, saving you endless time later should something go wrong that you need to troubleshoot.

 

Secondly; The Boss .bat is working just dandy. Give it time. The first time you run Boss it will say that it can't find the old list - because this is the first time you've ran it, so its not had chance to make one yet.

 

Thirdly; Other things you'll need or want -

The Official Patch (to version 1.20416) if you don't already got it. You'll find most mods need the newest version. Thats it. Ensure you install that BEFORE modding your game, and use the right version of the patch: Make sure its the language type that matches your disk (eg. the English;US patch won't work with the English; EU disk or vice versa, and if you have Shivering Isles, you need the SI version of the Patch, not the Oblivion Version, as some of Oblivion 1.20416 was included in the Shivering Isles V1, so the two are incompatible) Happily, if you have the Game of the Year (GotY) edition, you're already bang up to date and don't need to patch it. GotY ships as v1.20416 but ONLY if you install Shivering Isles & Knights of the Nine from the GotY disk 2.

OBSE aka Oblivion Script Extender; Ok, so you don't actually 'need' it... but you'll want it. Eventually. A whole lotta mods use it.

The Unofficial Patch Is a great little attempt by modders to fix the remaining issues in Oblivion that Bethesda never got around to being bother to fix. Search for it on the Nexus file site.

The unofficial Shivering Isles Patch (aka USIP) Same as above, but for the Isles. You'll find your game is infinitely more stable with these two little gems.

The Unofficial Mods Patches For any of the Official DLCs you might have. Mehrunes Razor and stuff like that. Again, same as above. Fixes stuff Bethesda could not be bothered to fix.

 

Thats a good start. I know. It looks like a lot of work. It is, for a first time installer. However, this little lot will save you a whole heckuva lotta effort later, and set you up with the basics of a very moddable game build.

 

Have fun.

And welcome to the Nexus.

 

Jenrai

PS - Apologies for the lack of links. I unfortunately am at work, and can't link anything to any d/l servers because websense will have a fit. :(

[bben46]

Mostly the same answer

 

Actually, playing 5 to 20 minutes is better than I would have expected when installing that many without testing.

Here is a link to Bben's Crash Help

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=298.

 

Link to Bben's Mod Advice

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=342.

 

You may want to go back to a Vanilla (unmodified) game for troubleshooting

Here is my revert to vanilla article - how to go back to the original state without reinstalling.

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=340

 

And if all else fails

Here is a link to my complete uninstall/reinstall procedure located in the articles section of the Nexus

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=240

[pandora6969]

Thank you guys for such a fast response, The BOSS files keeps saying that same error message, my question is do I load boss with OBMM? then after I do that do I have to make a list for my data folder, or will the list already be in there? I keep getting the same error in BOSS so can you explain how do I install boss properly into my computer. I also shut down my anti virus and well see what happens, and I am checking each mod now one at a time, but I have been playing on a saved game so, taking mods out, have I ruined the saved game,, or no just keep going? This is so frustrating, but I want my oblivian expierence to be better, so its definatly worth it. Again thank you for the fast replys guys, and please explain BOSS a little better to me, I mean is it always going to say that same error message when I click on the bat file, or after time it will work, or am I missing something, I know you said to give it time, but I just want to make sure I did it right on my end, so please give me the properway you guys installed it. Thanks a ton guys for the quick responses, I really do appreciate it :)

[Jenrai]

Linked to the BOSS d/l page is an updated masterlist file. Install BOSS by hand (I've never OMOD'd it, always done it manually, so I have no idea as to wether or not it'd freak out as an omod) Simply unzip it and drag and drop the .bat file, the .exe (I think... I know theres three files - see the readme docs that are in the zip) and the masterlist.txt file into your data folder (the one with all your .esps & .esms in... hopefully) then copy the new d/l of the masterlist over the one it shipped with.

Double click on boss.bat (really... not the other one, whatever the heck it is. Must be the .bat file) to run it. Give it a lil while (say 20 seconds to half a min, whatever) before you start panicking that it ain't working. You should get a text file readout, and hey presto, your load order will be switched to that read out and saved until the next time you run boss or jiggle it about manually. You may still have a few mods that BOSS doesn't know where to put. These will be at the end of your load order. Manually shift these around using OBMM.

Adding and removing mods constantly from a saved game can cause issues, but usually its just a "This save includes data from content no longer present" or some such warning, and you're ok to continue.

 

Jenrai

[pandora6969]

Im sorry, I'm so green at this, but what did you mean by D/I over the master list, are you talking about exporting the list from OBMM, im kinda confused at that part. I am restarting this again, uninstalling everything and starting from scratch. Im going to try them 2 at a time, not 65 all at once hehe. Also do i need to Install OBSE, I mean is it a very important mod?

[DariusMoranda]

I am not new to using mods,I run around 200 of them at the same time,and yes,Jerai ave you the best advice,do not install all of them at the same time,or if you install them all,do not activate them all yet,do it two by two,or one by one,so you can keep up with it if any issue comes up later in the game.

 

My suggestion is:reinstall your game,patch it to the latest patch,and start with moding it again,step by step.

 

OBSE is Oblivion Script Extender and will allow you to do many things which are not possible in vanilla game.

 

Here is the link for it

 

http://obse.silverlock.org/

 

It is not important ,if you don't use the mods that actually requires OBSE to run in the game.

 

I do recommend it,as,there are many fun mods on here which needs OBSE such as,for example >

 

Deadly reflex by Skycaptain

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8273

 

...which brings the combat system on a completely new level,it is very fun. :thumbsup:

 

One more thing:for the start,try to install mods manually,rather then using OBMM,so you can understand the file structure and the file path.Be sure always to read the description of the mod,check compatibility part always,so you can avoid the mess if the mod you want to use conflicts with some of the current active.OBMM is great as you can change the load order,which is not rarely required for the mod to run correctly.

 

Enjoy your time with mods,and welcome to the community! :wink:

[bamspeedy]

Im sorry, I'm so green at this, but what did you mean by D/I over the master list

 

D/L = download

 

Where you download the BOSS program

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516

 

under 'updates' is a master list, which is a list of the mods that BOSS supports, if I understand things correctly.

 

Also do i need to Install OBSE, I mean is it a very important mod

 

It isn't a mod, but a program that allows you to run the more complex mods. You could go without it, but your choices of mods to play will be limited if you don't have it.

[pandora6969]

WOW 200, and do you crash at all? I don't think I am ready to figure out how to put the mods in Mannually, Does OBMM screw things up at all?

I am Re Starting everything from scratch, and will try them in pairs. Whats a safe time limit to say ok theres no bugs and I am going to add something new?

I wouldn't mind crashing every 1-2 hours but every 10-20 minutes was driving me nuts :wallbash: I am very new at this, and thank you everyone here for giving me a hand, this is a great community, probably one of the best I've seen in a long time. I was afraid I was going to get flammed or something but everyone has been trying to help me out. Should I keep my Anti-virus and firewall down? and what about my internet connection? I read that these could cause crashes. Also I have used in the OBMM the old check for conflicts, Should I be worried about minor conflicts, and very minor conflicts? or just the ones that show up in the red? Thanks again guys :)

[DariusMoranda]

WOW 200, and do you crash at all? I don't think I am ready to figure out how to put the mods in Mannually, Does OBMM screw things up at all?

I am Re Starting everything from scratch, and will try them in pairs. Whats a safe time limit to say ok theres no bugs and I am going to add something new?

I wouldn't mind crashing every 1-2 hours but every 10-20 minutes was driving me nuts :wallbash: I am very new at this, and thank you everyone here for giving me a hand, this is a great community, probably one of the best I've seen in a long time. I was afraid I was going to get flammed or something but everyone has been trying to help me out. Should I keep my Anti-virus and firewall down? and what about my internet connection? I read that these could cause crashes. Also I have used in the OBMM the old check for conflicts, Should I be worried about minor conflicts, and very minor conflicts? or just the ones that show up in the red? Thanks again guys :)

 

 

Well,I reinstalled Oblivion myself recently,due to a certain problem with a map in the game,but that was caused by me,because I messed something up via Construction Set while making my own mod.I added all the mods again,and same as before,I experience crashes very rare.You won't get crashes if you run mods without incompatibility with each other,so I say again,read that part of the description in every mod,first. ;)

 

As for the safe limit,there is none,as I believe,my recommendation is >>> first,if you are into it,add some basic mods like body replacers,eyelashes,some new races,eyes,hair packs,skin retextures,etc,and see how do they tag along. Then go with some new armors,weapons and such,you can try spells too.Then,you can add quests,start with some minor ones,maybe some new dungeons and ruins as well.Level up a bit,give it some time,finish some vanilla quests as well,like The Arena,or Fighters Guild,just to give it some time to see if you will encounter any bug.If there is none,you are ready install some huge mods,which includes massive quests and new lands,too.New lands are usually massive mods,pretty complex,so that is the main reason I told you to practice with a manual install first,as they aren't usually in OBMM ready format.

 

About manual installing,here is what you should do>>>

 

Download any mod which isn't in OBMM format.It is packed in rar or 7z.Then make a new folder on your desktop,and extract the mod content there,just to do some quick research.There,you will usually see folders,such are 'meshes' and 'textures',sometimes 'sound' and 'distant lod',you will find the esp of the mod,which is the most important to run,etc.Anyways,here it is>>>>

 

To install the mod content,you must go to your oblivion/data directory.There,you will find folders with the same names as in the mod,meshes,textures,etc.The only thing you have to do is,to copy the mod content in data.It's a piece of cake. :thumbsup: Just copy meshes content from the mod folder,to the meshes folder in oblivion data.Same with textures,video,or sound,and any other folder.Esp goes into data,too,there is no folder made for it,just copy it in data,and that is all,really.When you start oblivion launcher,you click on DATA FILES in the start menu,and then check the esp of the mod you just installed.The play the game,and everything should be fine. :)

 

I run antivirus and firewall constantly,and it didn't affect my game performance,so,I don't think that you should have any problems,neither.As for internet connection,I wouldn't know,didn't payed attention much,but a lot of times I had it up,and had no problems,as well. :biggrin:

 

Now conflicts in OBMM.I am guessing that you know how to use it,so,you know how to recognize minor,major,and nasty ones.On my side,when I used OBMM ready mods,I usually avoided activating those mods that have too much conflicts of course.I didn't payed attention much to those with minor,I still run a couple of those without a single problem.Although,sometimes OBMM for some reason(and I am speaking from my own experience) will show a mod as 'green' so it's good to run,but then you start the game and it won't show up or something and it ends up crashing or similar.Then I went to OBMM again,and I see the new mod marked with 'black',ran the scan again,and found the list of conflicts,long as credits in 'Titanic' :P So check it from time to time,just to make sure everything goes fine in the background. :thumbsup:

 

If you need anything,help or a mod recommendation,ask freely,I will be glad to help.

 

All the best :)