So I Finally Download TES4Edit, and it Doesn't Work.

[David Brasher]

I have heard about how useful TES4Edit is. So I download it, but it seems to be designed for Windows XP. I have Vista, and have moved everything to C:Games\Oblivion so I can defeat my own security system and use the CS and mods and stuff. But TES4Edit can't find the mods and can't find Oblivion.esm.

 

Can people with Vista use TES4Edit?

[Pronam]

Maybe it's possible to start it with admin-rights? (Rclick->properties->compatibility)

I usually place it in the data files itself...dono why actually as I can't find any info about it..but if it's not there yet, try placing it inside that folder.

 

I can't recall I had any problems in vista though...

[Vagrant0]

Moving things won't change how it appears in your registry. TES4Edit probably makes use of the registry. It should also probably be placed in roughly the same folder group.

[David Brasher]

TES4Edit starts and runs. It just can't find the directory I use for mods and can't find Oblivion with all of the stuff it has that allow mods to function. It necromanticly brought up an old list of mods from the day long ago when I discovered that you can't use the CS on Vista unless you find a way to defeat your own security system. I don't think I have those mods anymore, and I don't think they are in the directory it says they are in.

 

A real high-class program would have a setting to let you tell it what directory you keep your files in. I can't find it. I think it just uses auto-detect and always looks in the wrong place.

 

I was thinking that I could temporarily move the files I am working on to the Bethesda directory and then move them back to my regular directory if I want to play-test or use the CS. To do this, I would also have to install part of Oblivion in a second location on my computer (and never play that copy.) But if I had to do all this, not using TES4Edit might make me more efficient than using it, unless it has a really cool feature I can't find anywhere else.

[phforNZ]

It just can't find the directory I use for mods and can't find Oblivion with all of the stuff it has that allow mods to function.

 

Fix the "Installed Path" in your registry for Oblivion, and all should work (I've moved my Oblivion install twice since actually installing it - changing these is all it takes).

[David Brasher]

Pardon my ignorance, but what are you saying? Change the .ini file? Alter directory trees? Change a setting in the box that comes up before you load the game? Change a setting in-game?

 

I executed my twisted plan and installed part of a second copy of Oblivion on my machine. I ran through a mod-cleaning and it was nice because TES4Edit can see deadwood that the CS can't. But then I got the error message on the last step. The cleaned mod cannot be saved because Vista views it as a security risk, just like how it won't allow the CS to save mods because that looks like a security risk to it. And yes, I am the administrator, but the computer thinks it is the boss and won't let the administrator administrate.

[Jenrai]

Heya Brash.

 

I think what phforNZ is actually saying is that your installed path in the registry is making TES4Edit look for the Oblivion Files in the wrong directory. Check your registry, using regedit or whatever, for references to Oblivion. One of them is probably telling TES4Edit (and therefore your computer - surprised you've not had many more problems if this is the case) that Oblivion is still installed to the default Directory. TES4Edit does auto-detect where Oblivion is. I'm guessing you either moved it by hand (*hits Brash with something soft and squishy* Dun NEVER do that. Reinstall. Its not all that hard!) or didn't clean your registry or restart your computer if you did reinstall it fully.

Whilst your at it, get CCleaner, and check the original directory for any signs of your old mods - Even TES4Edit, powerful as it is, cannot raise the dead! So there must be SOMETHING there telling it you've still got them there mods - and get that registry cleaned. :D

 

Ok. Apologies in advance. I'm in a silly mood this morning. *goes off to sit in a corner sucking his thumb*

Good luck. ;)

Jenrai

[David Brasher]

I think I got it to work. With all the mod-cleaning in the CS and with the TES4Edit duplicate record removal, the .esp is a full 20% smaller. Now I need to see if it still works.

 

What I have to do to mod with Vista:

(1) Move Oblivion out of Program Files.

(2) Copy Oblivion .esm to the abandoned folder in Program Files so it resides in two places on my computer.

(3) Move any mods I want to work on in TES4Edit to this folder.

(4) Run TES4Edit as administrator.

(5) Move the mods back to my Oblivion directory for play-testing and CS usage.

 

There might be a more elegant way, but this worked for me.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions everybody.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Don't do what I did. I successfully modcleaned and saved a mod on TES4Edit. But the next morning Oblivion and all my modding software were totally broken and unusable. It must have been the registry cleaning work. I lost Oblivion and all the mods in the Data folder. Thank goodness for backups. I don't think I lost anything important. But I had to reinstall Oblivion and all my mods. I think the system is now configured so the TES4Edit can see all my mods and be used like other people use it without using the last four steps in my twisted procedure.

[Pronam]

I'll tell you another fun story.

I recently got the steam version of oblivion. I placed steam outside the program files (in my own folder called Alternate Program Files), so I wouldn't have UAC prompts every time/CS-problems.....but tes4edit didn't work as 'it couldn't find the files'.

I tried to pull of the same thing you did by reinstalling it (actually a separate install apparently) oblivion using my old disc (which thanks to bben went a bit more fluent through the install.) and afterwards it just started to work in both directories where they were placed....it's an odd program. :sweat:

 

I find that tes4edit is especially a good program when you want to clean your mods. It offers more functions like evading the tarmiel worldspace from being ruined if you have an .esm that modifies the vanilla world and some other features (but tes4gecko has those as well.), but the first is the best :smile:

[falcronthe1]

I know for a fact that TES4Edit works with Vista...as I have Vista. I have my game installed directly into C:\Oblivion. Maybe you could try a reinstallation? I installed TES4Edit about a week ago, and am currently learning mod cleaning...and so far everything is running smoothly on my Vista. Hope you can figure something out =)