Installing open cities classic v355 for the second time, need help

[BloodyShinta]

I'm somewhat new to the oblivion modding thing so I came here looking for some guidance. I installed Oblivion, SI, and KofN again after a huuuuuuuge break. Things looked nice with the new patch, much better than how i remembered them, but I remembered that old feeling of satisfaction i got from successfully modding the game. So I went about putting stuff in, downloaded OMM and put some .esp files and new textures in. Then it finally hit me, I wanted open cities. I installed it all at the same time, the new textures, meshes, character files, and open cities classic, and my computer was totally unable to handle it.

 

After that crushing defeat I uninstalled the game and tried again. I've gotten to the point where i have

UOP, SI Texture pack, QTP3v1.3, Qarls_LOD 4096,Phinix_Waterfix, Natural_Environments v2.1.3, LODnoiseReplacerFinal,Jazzjrs_whiskers (doesn't work), Improved Fruits, Harvest Flora, Gorier Blood, Better Tiling textures for Qarl, all installed and the game runs well. And I'm at the point where i wanted to give Open Cities another try.

But after reading the text file I've seen that some Wyre Bash tinkering is required. This is new ground for me, i've never messed with Bash before, so I am asking for some help in this matter.

 

Can someone, please, pretty pretty please, explain to me how to install this fantastic mod using this crazy program?

 

For reference so far i've gotten the game from looking like this:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs470.ash2/74362_453085416820_550051820_6002974_3074172_n.jpg

 

To look like this:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs465.ash2/73850_453085436820_550051820_6002975_8123034_n.jpg

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs472.ash2/74569_453085451820_550051820_6002976_1856219_n.jpg

[Smooth613]

First I suggest you drop Natural Environments, it's buggy, and get Weather - All Natural (requires Wrye Bash) or Enhanced Weather. (does not require WB)

 

The most noticeable difference in the screenshots above is color saturation. Of course the textures are slightly different and higher resolution with QTP3 but that's not what gives the "rich" look of the 2nd and 3rd image. That's saturation. However that increased saturation is coming from Natural Environments, which I suggest you remove. You can increase saturation in many other ways and avoid a buggy mod. Oblivion Graphics Extender v2 has many great shader options to enhance graphics. Screen Effects has great configuration options to enhance your image. Including Saturation. All adjustable from an in-game menu so effects are immediately noticed. It's what I use to get a much better color palette.

 

Now on to the more complex question, Wrye Bash. Yes it can be kind of intimidating at first glance but it's not something that you cannot learn. You have to be patient and read documentation. Then you experiment some, starting with simple tweaks then moving on to more complex functions. Wrye Bash is the ultimate mod tool, hands down. So I'll get you going in the right direction with the following links.

 

Wrye Bash Download page. Read over the description and anything linked from the description page. Within the download you'll find an HTML version of the ReadMe. It's very thorough, covering every feature and describing how it works. There is also a version of the Wrye Bash ReadMe Online.

 

Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide for Newbies is a great starter piece. This is also linked on the WB page.

 

Wrye Bash Release [RELz] Thread. Excellent info in this thread and the previous threads. This is where the developers and contributors hang out. You'll get the most up to date information and best troubleshooting support here. Don't go there with simple things that are covered in the basic documentation or you might just get pointed right back to the documentation. Now if you don't understand something that's different. Make it known you read over it but simply don't understand it.

 

Tomlong's Site: TESIV:POSItive Excellent resource for a little bit of everything from beginners to advanced.

 

UESP Wiki Lots of good stuff here too, it's a Wiki!

 

Well that ought to give you a few days worth of reading material. I still use these sites as references on a regular basis. I'll be upfront and blunt though,.. If you're not prepared to put the time in to read the information and do your research you're in for nothing but headaches. But if you actually read the documentation provided with the utilities and mods then you will succeed and save yourself a ton of time and problems by doing so. Don't let this abundance of information intimidate you. After you get the basic idea and play around with mods and utilities it will start to "click". Then it'll become second nature and you'll do certain actions without much thought.

 

Remember at one point none of us knew this and were in the same shoes you're in. We all started at ground zero. But now thousands of people use Wrye Bash and other more complicated utilities on a regular basis. If all of those people can do it so can you. The information is out there, it's up to you to use these resources.

 

Good luck! :thumbsup:

[BloodyShinta]

thanks for all the resources, i start a new job in about 2 weeks so i will have plenty of time till then to become versed in Bash. I've only played the game a bit, so i haven't experienced any bugs, but i really like the additions that Environments makes, the bugs and birds, the taller trees and diverse plant life, they all make the game come much more alive. Do you have any recommendations for mods that do similar things? And as far as open cities goes, have you had luck with this particular mod?

[Smooth613]

You can still use all other parts of Natural Environments if you wish. Just don't use the Weather module. I still use Natural Habitat but I use Enhanced Vegetation and Enhanced Water v2.0 HD plus the SI Addon. You'll still have the bugs, birds, and butterflies by keeping Natural Habitat. The vegetation is kept by using Enhanced Vegetation, but you get more options. 100% 125% and 150% choices. And the water, in my opinion, is much nicer with Enhanced Water. Although there are many water mods out there. You're bound to find one that will fit your taste. Trust me your not losing anything by ditching a flawed weather system.

 

As far as Open Cities, never used it. I may consider it when Open Cities Reborn is finished up and I beef up my PC a tad. I can't deal with the performance drop at the moment. Open cities hits hard on performance though. Currently I use Really AEVWD and I can't add much more without having FPS issues. But I just love RAEVWD too much to give it up. So I make other sacrifices to ensure I can maintain 25+ FPS using most of the RAEVWD package.

[BloodyShinta]

cool thats what i did... but with pretty crappy results :( I unchecked Natural Weather and installed Enhanced Weather, and every time i started the game after that it would randomly change the weather to something like foggy or raining. I went to the wyre bash for newbies site and installed and did everything he said there, created my bashed patch and gave it a go and now oblivion wont start. Before i did that i noticed that the interior lighting wasn't working, so i knew i had to dive in and get my feet wet in bash. I stayed up all night, till like 5 AM messing with it and unfortunately only made things worse. Bash tells me when i hover over my bashed patch that it is missing one or more masters. and when i run TES4EDIT this is what the error says

 

 

[00:14] Background Loader: [JJR'sWhiskers and Eyebrow.esp] EditorID index built

[00:14] Background Loader: [JJR'sWhiskers and Eyebrow.esp] Processing completed

[00:14] Background Loader: loading "Bashed Patch, 0.esp"...

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] Loading file

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] File loaded

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] Start processing

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] Adding master "Oblivion.esm"

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] Adding master "All Natural Base.esm"

[00:14] Background Loader: [bashed Patch, 0.esp] Adding master "P1DcandlesForKleptos.esp"

[00:14] Background Loader: [P1DcandlesForKleptos.esp] Loading file

[00:14] Background Loader: Fatal: <EOSError: System Error. Code: 2.

The system cannot find the file specified>

[00:17] Background Loader: finished

 

so, back to the drawing board :(

 

*edit* after looking at Bash again a bit more closely I see that the missing master is from P1Dcandlesforkleptos.... i dont even know what that is!

[Smooth613]

Candles for Kleptos Just as the name suggests it's a mod that allows you to steal candles. Could be a cool mod I guess if you're big into decorating your player house.

 

With your Bashed Patch make sure you're not selecting any options or tweaks for mods you don't have installed, as you've already experienced. Most tweaks within the Bashed Patch don't require any additional mods or masters, but a few do, like the exhaustion options. Actually be thankful you did this early on, you've learned something very valuable about masters. :thumbsup: Mistakes are awesome, it's a learning opportunity. Just keep it simple until you grasp the basics of what you're doing.

 

Oh and did you "clean save" when you removed Natural Environments? To clean save follow these steps.

 

• Deactivate the mod in question, Natural Weather and Enhanced Weather in this case.
  
• Load the game up.
  
• **Extra precautionary step for weather mods; force the weather to clear with the console command "fw 38EEE" no quotes**
  
• Save and quit
  
• Reinstall/Reactivate Enhanced Weather
  
• Load and make another new save.
  

 

That process should remove any errors that would be "stuck" in the save from the mods before. Clean saving is good for many reasons, it's a good process to remember. So just to summarize the process; -Deactivate mod(s), -Create new save, -Reinstall and/or Reactivate mod(s).

[BloodyShinta]

the only way i would be able to do this would be to disable the bashed patch, is that what you had in mind?

 

*edit* ok i did that, deactivated and removed Natural Weather, opened game and reset weather, saved. exited, opened again and saved again. Opened WB reactivated Bashed Patch, opened oblivion through OBSE and was able to get half way through loading the saved game... so i guess that progress... ?

[Smooth613]

If by "do this" you mean clean saving then... Yes, that's fine. You'd just be making a save without those records from your Bashed Patch, it won't hurt anything. Then you reactivate everything and you'll have what's considered a "clean save".

 

A clean save is simply a save without a mod, or mods, in question. Then you just reactivate them and continue normally but with a fresh record, like they were never there and this is the first time you added them. That's the purpose of this process.

 

**edit** I guess you just edited as I was posting.**

 

Crashing that early means you are missing a master file. Simply removing a mod, make sure you remove all of it, should not cause this. If you're crashing before the main menu then it's 99% sure to be a missing master. What exactly did you do when this crashing started happening? Noting I suggested earlier would have caused this, something else must have changed.

 

**edit 2** Have you rebuilt your patch without the Replace Form ID's checked? Since that's where the missing master problem was coming from. The P1DCandles_Formids.csv relies on, and must have, P1DcandlesForKleptos.esp to work. Or your game will crash.

[BloodyShinta]

ok makes sense. Actualy after i did it, i noticed things seemed a bit different, so thats good to know for future, but at this point i'm thinking that its a lost cause, a full reboot of the game install is starting to seem like it might be necessary... which is too bad because WB and all the utilities it offers are trying to convince me nothing is wrong :(

[Smooth613]

If your game loads, as you indicated it will, without the Bashed Patch active then you are importing something you shouldn't be. It's likely a .csv file or one of the Cobl options. Do not select those unless you have the mod installed. Rebuild your patch without those selected and try again. Also look at my above edits.