Working...But Not Really

[Darkbritt265]

Hello all,

 

I've JUST started taking an interest in mods for Oblivion (I've seen some pretty cool screen-shots), but i thought to read how-to's and look at the files to see how to work things. I stared with Ren's Beauty pack (or whatever it is called, I'm sure you all recognize it) and-doing what I read I SHOULD do- I started up the game to see if it works. Here is the issue; Once I started up the game, I started a new character. I looked through the races and the moonshadow elves...or whatever they are, the new race' picture was not showing up. Thinking that that just may be a bug, I went to a different race to attempt to test the eyes and the hair. The names popped up in the selection-just like the Elves- but the actual mesh/item/texture thing wouldn't show up. The same goes for the eyes. As another test, I went to the moonshadow elf race and a new hairstyle and started the story. I went to the menu and looked at the character. She had no head, but had like gums and teeth, as well as weird black ears and nothing else. Her arms were purple (like florescent purple), but she still walked around and stuff.

 

I looked in the Oblivion folder (the official one) and noticed that there is a .bsa and a .esp of each file. I Already had Oblivion Mod Manager, and attempted to make the .esp file into a .bsa file as well. You see, I have the free version, and I'm not sure if that matters, but I made the .bsa file and i checked it in the Mod manager and it has a lock icon on it. I started up the game again and the same thing happened.

thinking that this may just be the mod itself, I unchecked it and put on a different mod. This time a player abode. It was there and i could enter it and walk around, but the outside was that florescent purple and so was the inside, except that the items, like the table and chairs and display cases and such were fine. i tried the oblivion mod manager thing again and nothing happened again.

 

I would REALLY like to enjoy the mods I downloaded, but i understand that I can't solve this with luck, so would one of you amazing people please help me? Thanks for taking the time to read through this really long message btw.

 

-Darkbritt

[Eiries]

Check this out. Pay very, very close attention to step 6. If you ended up having a folder titled "Moonshadow Elves" or whatever it may be in your Oblivion or Data folder, then ya did it wrong. Go deeper. It'll either have a Data folder with Meshes, Textures, and an .esp inside or just the Meshes, Textures, and .esp.

 

.esps and .esms go in the Data directory. Each folder within Meshes and Textures need to be placed in the corresponding folders in your Data directory. If you don't have them, then make 'em.

 

If you're still lost, this is a pretty good read.

 

Installing mods may sound complicated, but it's really, really easy once you get the hang of it.

[Darkbritt265]

Thank you =3. So if I put the textures in the texture folder and the meshes in...(Make a mesh folder?) then it should work in the game?

[Darkbritt265]

I have done what the people in the faqs have said to do (put the textures in the texture folder, update, ect.) but it still refuses to show the characters, hair, or eyes. Does anyone have a fix for this?

[Eiries]

It's all about installation. If you put the textures folder in the textures folder, it won't work. You need to put the folders inside the textures folder in the textures folder, if ya catch my drift. :tongue:

 

I'll download Moonshadow Elves for this one, since that's one of the ones you're having trouble with.

 

...Alright, so this is one that needs to be extracted to a temporary directory because the inside of the zip contains a folder with the mod's name:

 

_{...Ooo, this one's tricky. No wonder why it was a pain in the butt for you.} Okay!

 

Now that it's extracted to a temporary directory, go into the folder, then Manual Install, followed by Data. Highlight those three folders, right-click, and put them into another compressed folder.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/Purple_Eiries/step1.jpg

 

Now right-click your new zip file, and extract it to the Data folder (Probably C:/Program Files/Bethesda Softworks/Oblivion/Data.) Everything should now be in the right spot... except the actual plugin file.

 

Back in the Moonshadow Elves directory, go to the ESP variations folder. Choose either folder within. Copy the .esp inside and dump it into the Data directory stated above.

 

If you did everything correctly, you should be good to go! But keep in mind that the beauty pack will only effect the default races: not the Moonshadow Elves. But they already have tons of stuff, so no worries. Good luck!