Am I on the right track (concerning file override choices)

[BlackaddertheV]

Hello Nexus, first time player and installer here

 

I am using a guide so I can install a couple of dozen "essential mods" so that when I play the first time it is top spec and fully loaded with great community mods.

 

It has been frustrating so far as I have had to restart the whole process half way through 4 times due to some missing meshes coming up at the start of the game. I am being careful on this runthrough to locate exactly which mod install is causing the mesh problem. I am guessing it is one of the major land mods but I will not be certain for another hour or so.

 

I am following a specific order which is given and I am using the mod manager for zip and rar files and adding manually the 7zip files (smaller 7zip files ahve been converted to zip using arcconvert).

 

 

As I add more mods things seem to be overidden, usually dds files and after a dozen or so mods it is hard to know whether it is a vanilla file or another mods file that is being overidden. I notice that I am told that some files are associated with of another plugin and some are not.

 

 

Am I right in thinking that when adding a mod I shouldn't replace a file if it is already associated with another plugin but it is ok to replace if it isn't?

 

Once I locate what mod is causing the "mesh load error" what do I do to stop the error? espcially if the mesh file isn't in the original rar file I downloaded?

 

 

All help appreciated

 

Thankyou

[Tchos]

I can address one of those questions. For the missing mesh errors, check the instructions on those particular mods carefully to see if they assume you already have a different mod. A retexture mod, for instance, might not include the mesh for the item that's being retextured, if that mesh was supposed to be installed from a different mod.

 

It's pretty normal for mods to start overriding each other at some point if they affect the same things. This can happen because a modder includes common custom items that another mod may have already included, but is providing them again instead of them all telling you "you need to install this other mod, too". Can also happen with improved texture packs. In those cases you just have to decide which textures you like better. That takes getting familiar with the game and its components.

[BlackaddertheV]

Thanks for the reply Tchos

 

I installed each mod and ran one at a time and figured out that the culprit was the "Tamriel Rebuilt Census and Exise Mod"

 

After install it gave me "mesh load failure" for

 

imp_head02.NIF

Stud_leath_UA.NIF

Cont_crate_?_NIF

 

when I started a new game and when I uninstalled the mod the issue went so it must be that.

 

The weird thing is that the only requirements are the map 1&2 esm's and I have both of them. Plus when I look in the folder there are no NIF files, just an ESM file whatever that means. I am not sure what to do about it or even how serious that is as I can start the game despite those meshes.

 

 

So what you are saying about textures is that if 2 plugins used the same texture dds it wouldn't matter which mods dds you put in as both plugins would read it fine? So choosing a dds file is about taste and not risking a crash.

[Tchos]

Plus when I look in the folder there are no NIF files, just an ESM file whatever that means. I am not sure what to do about it or even how serious that is as I can start the game despite those meshes.

 

 

So what you are saying about textures is that if 2 plugins used the same texture dds it wouldn't matter which mods dds you put in as both plugins would read it fine? So choosing a dds file is about taste and not risking a crash.

 

ESM is Elder Scrolls Master file, as ESP is Elder Scrolls Plugin. Some mods use master files so that multiple plugins can work together on the same things.

 

You shouldn't find any NIFs associated with Tamriel Rebuilt, because they have all their resources packed into BSA files. I suspect the offending plugin must also require you have TR_Data.bsa and TR_Data.esm installed.

 

I'd say in most cases, you're safe in overwriting DDSs if they have the same name, because it should be purely aesthetic, and not have any different UV mapping or anything. Usually, when there's different UV mapping, the modder changes the texture name. You can open them to view them to be sure. Irfanview is a free image viewer that has a plugin available to let you view DDS files.

[BlackaddertheV]

Thanks for explaining that. My main modding experience is with mount and blade and this is very different.

 

I have both the trdata.bas and trdata.esm as well so this is weird.

[BlackaddertheV]

Is it normal to get lag whilst playing this game?

 

Because I have a 2.4 ghz quad core with FPS optimiser and morrowind priority set to high, 4gb of RAM and a GTX260 graphics card which will play most modern games on max yet when I walked out of the boat at the start everything was all jerky and laggy.

 

Is that normal because I am shocked the game has reacted so bady to my hardware?

[Tchos]

Are you using both MGE and ENBseries? I had to stop using ENBseries because it added so much lag to the game. It's like you're running 3 games at the same time, with all that processing. If you're only running MGE, then perhaps it's a particularly processor-heavy option in there. I wouldn't want to play without MGE, and it does its best at processing, but it's a bit processor-heavy because it has to run alongside the game and intercept things to render them better.

[BlackaddertheV]

Are you using both MGE and ENBseries? I had to stop using ENBseries because it added so much lag to the game. It's like you're running 3 games at the same time, with all that processing. If you're only running MGE, then perhaps it's a particularly processor-heavy option in there. I wouldn't want to play without MGE, and it does its best at processing, but it's a bit processor-heavy because it has to run alongside the game and intercept things to render them better.

[BlackaddertheV]

No I am only using MGE and not ENB series. I have read about people who have less mods on their game than me and less powerful hardware and are getting fine fps.

 

I put the fps counter on and when I an in the boat at the start I am getting 190-240 fps but when I get off the boat the fps instantly drops to 7-10 fps :ohmy:

[Tchos]

I think the problem must be with MGE, then, because getting off the boat is when you really put MGE to work, with the water, distant land, and perhaps the grass and trees if you've installed those. It should work fine, though, so I suggest checking the help in their thread, or talking to the MGE makers and telling them how you have it configured.

 

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1094925-morrowind-graphics-extender-mge

 

Last time I checked, Morrowind and MGE were only capable of using a single processor, so can't take advantage of dual-core, quad-core, etc.