technically challenged asking for advice about mods

[Striker879]

Oh Ike ... you just can't imagine how much I missed you during your absence.

 

First, Spyder ... I have one addendum to Ike's step by step. At step 2 ignore that last bit after verifying you're at version 1.2.0416. As Ike mentioned before the step by step part, you are with Steam, so it takes care of all of the official patch stuff. You don't manually or otherwise add any of the Official patches ... only the Unofficial patches (which are really just mods).

 

I like to have a save from just before exiting the sewer (the part where you can see the sewer exit in the distance). I can then use this save for creating a new character without redoing the entire tutorial. Then exit and make another save. You will use this save to continue your character after installing mods (maybe not all your mods, but at least your base mods). Next go to the Imperial City Market District and make another save. This will be your mod testing save (or at least one of them ... you can have more). The Market District is a good test of your computer's ability to handle the load ... lot's of NPCs and stuff happening (not to mention that about 90% of the clothing/armor mods will be dumped either there or easy walking distance).

 

A note on saving. Never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use either save from the Esc menu or console named saves. Never overwrite saves ... always save in a new slot. Gives you a fall back position should you run into some difficulty and avoids any possible problems created by overwriting saves (not widely reported, but I did read about that in Wrye Musings). When your save folder gets full (say around 150 to 200 saves) either move some to backup outside of your Saves folder or delete all but your most recent dozen or so and those few key saves like your sewer exit and mod testing saves.

 

I personally like to hold off installing Companion Vilja until I've developed my character a bit. If you have any companions in tow they will do a lot of the fighting, diminishing your chances to get in a punch or two.

 

The Packdonkeys are another thing altogether ... the first thing I buy (beyond food when I can't steal enough to keep up to my Basic Primary Needs hunger) is my first packdonkey. Trust me, it takes a lot of head bonking to gather the required gold, but they are just that ... gold. They carry all but my immediate personal needs stuff (restore health potions, backup weapons and armor, some destruction and restoration scrolls for when I'm dying and out of magicka ... you get the idea). If it's something I can wait to get when I return to where I left my packdonkeys they'll be carrying it (I don't take them into dungeons or Oblivion). They are essential for me now that I use Realistic Fatigue and Basic Physical Activities.

 

Notice I didn't create links to any of those Basic this or that or Realistic whatever type mods. That's because I think you should play as close to vanilla as possible, at least for a while. That will give you a frame of reference on what the game's strengths and weaknesses are, what bugs you and what doesn't. There are lots of people who wouldn't play without their favourite UI mod or leveling system mod, while I'm an example of someone who doesn't give a hoot about mods in either of those categories. I like the challenge of working the vanilla leveling system and don't see anything wrong with the vanilla UI (except for HUD Status Bars, but that's strictly for Basic Primarly Needs). You need to find out what bolt of cloth you're cut out of before you start planning what to wear.

 

Now to Ike's excellent mods. Sorry Ike, but beyond some testing for you I'm kind of a hermit loner weirdo type, chumming with my donkeys, shacking up with Umbra, plying her with candies, wine and flowers in hope of "relieving" her of that accursed sword so that we can become best buds forever (well maybe more than just buds ... I do play male characters, and yes, some mods are involved, as well as console commands for mods that don't exist or I haven't made yet). Spyder, I know enough about that red headed bunch to give you this warning ... look at the uploaded dates on them and if you choose the most recent (ahem ... RYAN ... err, did I say that out loud) best fasten your seatbelt and lock up your valuables. He is a treat, and certainly not in ways you'd expect when you least expect it.

 

I lean towards Cethlenn. She's always got that eager to please (and no, not in that way) look and you get the feeling you could almost count on her having your back (as opposed to leaving your back exposed and dangling off the edge of the abyss with daggers and glass all the way down). CM Partners have their inherent characteristics, whether they are the vanilla ones that come with the CM Partners mod or from other modders. Ike found a way to go far beyond their usual and tread new paths (paths to exactly where is what we've yet to figure out).

 

And for the record ... not one single giggle, chuckle or snort until queued by Ike (snort, chuckle, giggle).

Edited January 10, 2015 by Striker879

[IkeCoast]

 

... look at the uploaded dates on them and if you choose the most recent (ahem ... RYAN ... err, did I say that out loud) best fasten your seatbelt and lock up your valuables. He is a treat, and certainly not in ways you'd expect when you least expect it.

 

 

/me stares innocently, with a bright white halo floating over his head.

 

My, I really don't know what are you talking about.

 

 

 

... (as opposed to leaving your back exposed and dangling off the edge of the abyss with daggers and glass all the way down).

 

/the white halo phoofs out and is replaced with fiery red flames.

 

That little b****rd! Not only that, he's even worse I ever suspected. Can you believe he even pickpocketed me more often than once? Now every time I find some of my items gone from my inventory, I know exactly where to look for it.

 

Truth to be said, right before I was shot down and my computer kicked the bucket, I was trying Companion Fergus and he was boring as Hell in comparison.

 

About the technical information and mod suggestions by Striker, I completely concur with him.

 

Spyder, I understand that right now you feel a little overwhelmed, but trust us, all of this is for a greater good. And the vaudeville. We love the vaudeville, we just can't help it.

 

Now breathe and ask anything you're not sure if you have understood or not (our mutual psychological well-being notwithstanding).

 

/me bro-fists Striker, noticing the bite marks in his fist.

 

Cheers!

[spyder7723]

thanks guys. expecially about the quick save bug. I quick save often so very glad you mentioned that. will stop quick saving. a question about saving, maybe im missing it, but I don't see where you can name your saves. it defaults to save game 1, save game 2, etc. is there a way to rename those as im saving?

 

 

edit to add: I did play about 50 hours before even finding out modding was possible. did a whole bunch of side quests and the first few of the main questline. and several quests into each of the guilds. at any rate, its enough to find out I love the game minus a few things. mainly the characters are freaking ugly as sin.

Edited January 10, 2015 by spyder7723

[IkeCoast]

Hey, Spider!

 

Giving unique names to the savegames is not possible via the UI, but it's possible via the Console. Just fire up the Console Command line, type

 

save filename

 

where filename is the name you want it to have.

 

If you want the name to have spaces, like "inside benirus manor" instead of "insidebenirusmanor" or "inside_benirus_manor", yo must type it between quotes, this way

 

save "inside benirus manor"

 

You also can load savegames via the console if you want.

 

I am not sure about how reliable is this method because I never used it.

 

About characters being freakingly ugly, have you had a look to Oblivion Character Overhaul v2 yet?

 

Cheers!

[spyder7723]

ugh, after fiddling with this once more im ready to just give up. I just don't get it. I download and go to install the unofficial patches. I read the directions, both the readme's and in the description on the nexus. and im completely lost. the readme says to use wyre bash, and then says to use bain. what the hell?

[IkeCoast]

Spyder, you don't need Wrye Bash at all, since the package is also compatible with manual installation. The instructions for manual installation are in the third point, but are scarce, so I will explain you step-by-step how to install it:

 

Unpack the Unofficial Oblivion Patch zip file you downloaded to any place of your liking, for instance right in the Desktop.

 

Open a File Manager window. In this window, navigate to your Oblivion installation folder. Inside this folder, navigate to its Data folder. So, you're in the ...\Oblivion\Data folder.

 

Now, open another File Manager window. WIth this second window, navigate to the Unofficial Oblivion Patch folder in your Desktop.

 

Resize and place both File Manager windows side by side so you can see both of them.

 

Now, in the Unofficial Oblivion Patch window, select ALL its contents (the Distant LOD, Docs, Meshes, OBSE, Sounds, Textures and Trees folders and the four esp files. Right-click -- COPY.

 

Now, in the Oblivion\Data folder (the one that contains the Oblivion.esm, Oblivion.esp, et al), right-click in an empty space (or directly right-click the Data folder itself) and PASTE. If a warning of "This folder already contains a XXX folder..." appears, just click YES TO ALL.

 

And that's all. Once done, open your Mod manager or the Oblivion Loader so you can activate all the esps.

 

Summarizing: take ALL the files and folders contained in the Zip file and place them inside the DATA folder in your Oblivion installation directory. Activate the esps. That's all.

 

The same applies to the Shivering Isles Patch and the DLCS Patch.

 

Tip: If you do not use a particular Mod Organizer (in this case, Wrye Bash), ignore the installation instructions referred to Wrye Bash you may find in a readme. BAIN is the native format of the Wrye Bash installers, as OMOD is the native format of Oblivion Mod Manager installers.

 

Once you have installed all the Unofficial Patches, decide wich mod will you install next, and tell us before you try it yourself, so we can point you the correct installation method.

 

Don't worry, once you catch the idea, all this is easy and straightforward.

 

Cheers!

[Striker879]

Just as an addition to Ike's console save instructions I like to append a sequential number to my console saves ... so it's MyNewGuy01, then MyNewGuy02 etc. You can be as descriptive or brief as you want.

 

I used that method back when I started a new character but before I learned of some things you can use to keep one character's saves separate from another's. The problem always seemed to be I couldn't remember the next number after I'd been playing for a while. Now that I have other alternatives to keep different characters separate I just use the save from the Esc menu. The little summary each save gets for where and when it was made is pretty handy, and unless you incorporated all that info into your save name at the console prompt you'd miss that little benefit of letting the game do the work.

 

Ike, that halo never shined ... it's always had a bit of tarnish on it. But that's OK ... I wouldn't like Ike any other way.

[spyder7723]

ok,this is where everything turns to Chinese for me. you say to open a file manager window? what the hell is that? do you mean windows explorer?

[IkeCoast]

Yes, Spyder, sorry, I meant the Windows Explorer.

 

You actually don't need two separate windows, this just will make things easier.

 

Cheers!

[Striker879]

Don't worry Spyder ... Ike just dated himself.

 

It was called File Manager back in the Windows 3.0 and 3.1 days (just a couple of weeks ago, eh Ike). It was also affectionately known as File Mangler, perhaps why Microsoft changed the name.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Striker879