A Beginner's Question about OBSE

[Striker879]

Can't say for certain ... I personally would never use a mod manger of any sort to install something as simple as OCO v2 (despite all the warnings Nuska posted in the OCO v2 mod description). Since my very first couple of mod installs I haven't used OBMM for anything beyond archive invalidation and extracting from BSAs (don't worry about all the jargon ... the first one you'll need to learn, the second only when you start to create your own mods).

 

Installing OCO v2 is as simple as extracting the zipped download to a temporary folder (I called mine OCO_v203). After that you'll find a folder named Data, with sub-folders inside Meshes and Textures. To install manually just right mouse click on the Data folder and select Copy from the right click menu. Now navigate to your game install's Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion folder and right click on the Oblivion folder. Select Paste from the right click menu. You'll get a Windows warning about there is already a folder named Data ... click on Yes to All (don't worry, all you're doing is merging the new content into your already existing folders). Next open the vanilla game Data Files using your non-OBSE launcher and put a tick beside Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp and then close the vanilla launcher. Start your game using your OBSE launcher and play.

 

So archive invalidation ... what the heck is that??

 

In the vanilla game all of it's resources are stored in compressed archives called BSA files (e.g. Oblivion - Meshes.bsa and Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa). Normally the game will use it's resources (meshes, textures etc) from the BSAs and ignore any newer replacements you install (for example HGEC, which replaces the vanilla game female bodies and textures). To get the game to use your new replacements you need a way to "invalidate" the BSA "archives" in favour of any newer replacements. There have been four main methods tried over the years ... the most recent and problem free is called BSA Redirection.

 

It's simple to implement archive invalidation using OBMM. Click on the Utilities button on the right hand side and select Archive Invalidation from the menu. In the Archive Invalidation dialogue select BSA Redirection. If you use the Steam version of the game you'll need to click on Reset BSA Timestamps (Steam in their infinite wisdom changed the dates of all the vanilla game BSA files, thus breaking archive invalidation for all it's users). Then click on Update Now and close OBMM.

 

Job done ... it's a do once and forget about it solution.

[Fereed]

There! I followed your instructions and poof! It's like magic. Everything is working. Thanks so much for your help and time. My mods are working and I feel I understand the whole process much better now.

 

Thanks again!

[Striker879]

There are some mods that are far easier to install/uninstall if you use a mod manager like OBMM or Wrye Bash. One is NoMaaM BBB Animation Replacer, but it will only be required if you decide you want bouncing boobs somewhere down the road, and even it is easily installed manually once you know a few things about where the game expects/needs to find certain types of files.