Changed a mod, can't change back even with reinstall

[miketheratguy]

Hi everybody. This is my fist post here so please bear with me.

 

Okay, I messed with the TES CS a little bit in Morrowind, but nothing serious; just enough to change some small elements of my game. I mistakenly assumed that I would retain some familiarity with the Oblivion one. I was wrong. Basically, I just want you guys to understand that I'm no modder by any means so take that into consideration if you will if any of you take the time to help me.

 

Exactly what happened is this: I downloaded the mod "Calair Castle". I fell in love with everything about this abode except for its location. I decided "Why not move it myself"? So I turned on the constructions set and tried to smooth a patch of land near the Imperial City and then selected and dragged the castle and all its parts, relocating it to its new destination.

 

The biggest problem is that in doing so I accidentally changed the altitude of a nearby road, and now roaming guards on horseback (and some of the animal life) have trouble navigating the path. It's glitched now.

 

I decided, obviously, to delete this altered mod and reinstall it. I did, and it's doing the same thing. I don't understand how changes to a plugin will remain even when the file is erased and reapplied fresh from the original.

 

So, I decided to flat-out reinstall the game fresh. I then again installed the Calair Castle mod. And yet again, when I start the game up- a fresh, new character- with the mod on, it still shows the castle in its relocated position complete with messed up path. How is this possible on a new install of both the plugin AND the game itself? Just as strangely, when I first went to test my new install of Oblivion, BEFORE installing this or any other plugin, the Oblivion Launcher showed the Calair esp as being available and selectable. A double-check confirmed that no, there was no plugin in the data folder. What's happening here...?

 

So that's it. My first question would be, does anyone know why this is happening? Is this normal? My other question would be, does anyone know specifically what I did that caused this?

 

I'm new to the community so I don't know if it's normal to call me a complete idiot for doing this, but go ahead if you must because I've said worse to myself over this muckup. But if anyone can tell me how to undo these changes, as well as let me know what I could have done wrong to make such permanent changes, I'd greatly appreciate it.

[ub3rman123]

Well, your initial problem was that you didn't regenerate the pathgrid. When you lowered the land there, the pathgrid stayed the same. To fix that, select the cell(s) you altered the height in, and go to World>Path Grid Generation>GenerateSelected Cells.

 

NO clue about how the problem is persisting, though.

[miketheratguy]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I appreciate your suggestion but I think until I am comfortable enough to mess with the land again without causing further damage, I'd probably just be best playing the game without the mod. Although, if I decide that I really want it back, I'll do exactly as you advised.

 

So this isn't a normal issue? The game retaining this altered data? I mean, I assumed that once I removed and deleted the mod, I could then unrar the original and apply it again, and it would be a fresh new unaltered copy. I suppose I somehow saved the data to the world map rather than the mod? Although that can't be it because when the mod is unchecked and I try playing without it, the land is back to normal.

 

I thought that if you are to make a modification to a plugin - say for example adding a tree that sticks out of the Imperial Waterfront Home- and you save it, then this saves that specific esm, and if you delete it and put the original back in, the data will be different since it won't contain that altered tree and therefore won't have it there anymore. This is what I don't understand. It's as if the GAME hasn't been permanently altered, because without the mod on it's normal. But then it seems like it's not JUST the mod that was altered either, because somehow the game still registers the change even after the re-installations. Could this have something to do with the registry or some hidden data or something? :S

 

I can give you any more data that you need if it would help make sense of what's going on.

[Smooth613]

Are you using Win 7 by chance? If so, are you installing Oblivion in the default location Program Files? If so it's likely your issues are related to those points. UAC creates a VirtualStore in your Documents folder which contains certain things you install to Program Files, like your mod plugins. It's basically ghosting the files. So even though you reinstalled and the data directory is empty the information could still be pooled from the alternate location, VirtualStore. This would explain why the changes are still present even with a fresh install.

 

I suggest you again :wallbash: reinstall Oblivion. This time do not install to Program Files so you can escape the restraints of UAC. Install to something like C:\Games\Oblivion.

 

If you don't have 7 then I guess you can ignore this. It's the only logical reason I could think of that information would carry over to a fresh install though.

[miketheratguy]

Ah, in fact I AM using Win 7. And I've heard of something like what you describe, this weird temporary database. In fact now that you mention it I recall that when I tried to install the Ultima 6 Project (A wonderful homebrew game running on the Dungeon Siege engine) this issue was spoken of then. Don't know why this one mod would be the only thing that would be ghosted though, that's weird. Although I guess it IS the only mod I ever tried to mess with so that could be all the reason needed.

 

If I can get this to work I have no problem uninstalling and reinstalling. I'm off to do it right now and should be back in 10-15 minutes with the results.

 

 

EDIT: Huh. Well, I installed it to C:, and in doing so the game made it C:/ Data rather than in C:/Bethesda/Oblivion/Data. So, assuming the game didn't care based on that, I put the Data folder inside a new Oblivion folder. So now it reads C:/Oblivion/Data.

 

Installed and went to patch, and the patch took a good 7-10 minutes when normally it only takes a minute tops. Weird, but whatever. But now when I open the Launcher and try to look at the data files, it says no data files were found and the installation was corrupt? Wha? Kind of strange considering the esm as well as the Shivering Isles data is right there in the folder it should be. Also strange that the game still starts. Okay.......

 

Well I guess I'll try to get this sorted if I can, although it seems like now the game is complaining at me because I skipped program files or something. Ugh.

[miketheratguy]

Aw YES, sweet, it worked!

 

The last thing was my mistake- the folder should have been named Bethesda Softworks, not just Bethesda. Oops.

 

Anyway, it turns out that the Win 7 bug must have been the problem because now when I install a fresh copy of the mod, it is back where it should be, in its original location, and the land I altered to relocate it to is back to normal. I even imported one of my save backups, and everything there seems to be fine now too. My god, I would have never guessed that this was the issue. In fact I haven't played the game in a month because I got so frustrated over my inability to fix this. Thank you ub3erman for trying to help and giving me a helpful tip, and thank you smooth for having the answer that turned out to be my fix. I appreciate it very much guys!

 

I'm still interested in relocating the castle in this mod, but I obviously want to know what I'm doing first. In addition to the basic tutorials I plan to look at, can any of you guys give me some Construction Set advice relating to this? You don't need to sit and explain it all, I'm just wondering if you have any good beginner's sites or tutorials that would be good for someone like me who's just starting out.

 

Thanks again!

[Smooth613]

Awesome, glad it's taken care of. :thumbsup: Yet another example of this fabulous UAC Micro$oft implemented. :rolleyes: Overall though I like Win 7. :cool:

 

As far as the Construction Set, all I can recommend is The Wiki. Then just follow the links from there and you'll get lost in the plethora of information.

[miketheratguy]

Thanks again guys. Yeah I like WIndows 7 as well, it's basically "Windows Vista Good Edition". But I'll never understand the rigid control that they always insist on enforcing on users like this. Oh well, it's sorted and that's what I came for!

 

Off to learn more about the Construction Set. Thanks again.