About To Mod Oblivion For The First Time!!!

[ThelebKaarna]

Greetings! I'd previously logged hundreds of hours in Oblivion on both 360 & PS3 and have just recently purchased it for my PC! I'm very anxious and excited to (finally!!!) delve into mod-land, but before I do, want to make sure I've got all my ducks in-a-row. Would appreciate very much if y'all would review my plan of attack:

 

 

My PC specs at-a-glance:

 

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Full-Tower Gaming Case

Power Supply: 1000 Watt Corsair HX Silent Edition [Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible]

Internal Cooling: Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooling System

Motherboard: EVGA X58 3X SLI [intel X58 Chipset, Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire]

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core Processor 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache [Overclocked to 3.33GHz]

GPU's: 2x's EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285, 2GB Each [4GB VRAM Total] Running in SLI

HDD's: 2x's Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB, 10,000 RPM, SATA 3GB/sec, 16 MB Cache

Memory: 6 GB [2 GB x's 3] DDR3-1600 Triple Memory Module Corsair Dominator

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium, 64 bit

 

 

Details and what I've done so far:

 

1. Purchased/downloaded Oblivion (v1.2.0416) "full-pack" (GOTY + all official plug-ins) through Steam and installed directly onto the c-drive (c-drive\steam\steamapps\common\oblivion), not in the default Programs Folder location. Did this to avoid any potential Vista UAC security issues.

 

2. Ran Disc Clean-up & Defragged the HDD before and after downloading/installing the game.

 

3. Downloaded the latest versions of 7-Zip and WinRAR.

 

4. Disabled all non-essential start-up applications (clean boot) which were running in the background that could've potentially caused issues.

 

5. Updated GPUs with the latest Nvidia drivers.

 

6. DirectX version 11.

 

7. Set all my in game options (graphic settings, etc) to my liking.

 

8. Made backups of both the Data Folder and Oblivion .ini file.

 

9. Downloaded/installed OBSE v0019, plus the optional OBSE Steam Launcher.

 

10. Have read and researched modding Oblivion as much as possible.

 

 

So this is where I'm at right now, and at this point, the game runs very smoothly with no CTDs (crash to desktop).

 

 

What I plan to do next:

 

10. Reference The Oblivion Tweak Guide and optimize the Oblivion .ini file to suit my system.

 

11. Install OBMM, which I'll use to manage all my mods.

 

12. Install BOSS, for, well, load order.

 

13. Install TES4Edit, for the purpose of creating a "Merged Patch".

 

14. Create a folder inside the Oblivion Directory , called "Oblivion Mods" where I'll unpack the mods I download.

 

15. Reference the Top 100 List and begin downloading and activating mods with OBMM, one-at-a-time, testing for stability and that they're working correctly.

 

 

Once I get a decent pool of mods functioning, I'll run BOSS to get the load order optimal (guess I'll figure that out as I go), then run TES4Edit to create a merged patch (to prevent any conflicts). After that, I'll start a new character and jump-in!!!

 

OK, so a couple questions/areas where I'm a little fuzzy:

 

1. Somewhere I read that you shouldn't run any mods while still in the sewers (at the beginning of the game). Is this true or false and why? I'd like to be able to create/customize my character with Rens Beauty Pack for example before leaving the sewers.

 

2. My thoughts on the necessity of creating a Merged Patch come from the little bit of experience I gained from modding Fallout 3. I assume I still need to do this with Oblivion mods, and that TES4Edit is the best way to go about this? I've looked into Wrye Bash, but it looks a little daunting for a beginner.

 

3. Should I download/install the Unofficial Patch (and for S.I. too), and if so, is it pretty straightforward?

 

4. Are there any .ini optimizations for modding that are not covered in the Tweak Guide that I should consider making?

 

 

THANKS VERY MUCH for taking the time to read all of this! And THANKS in advance for any comments, helpful suggestions and/or what I might want to do differently. Also, feel free to suggest any favorite mods to try and/or essential utilities I've overlooked :)

[Smooth613]

1. False

 

2. Take the time to learn Wrye Bash, it's worth it. It is by far the most essential modding tool for a serious setup. It does so many things that allows so much more to be possible. The Bashed Patch is the kicker, it's fantastic in and of itself. Wrye Bash is better, and simpler, to use for a merged patch than TES4Edit. Don't get me wrong I love TES4Edit also and use it for things I can't accomplish otherwise. The thing with Wrye Bash though is it's Bash Tags feature. This tags specific records from each mod, that's tagged of course, and then you can import it directly into the Bashed Patch. It's a patch builder basically, instead of doing each record by hand in TES4Edit. Along side BOSS, which tags mods, it's an excellent way to avoid conflicts, and the most efficient. Again, take the time to learn it now, at least the basics. And a Bashed Patch is considered basic and progresses to advanced. You'll catch on.

 

3. Yes. Absolutely. All of the Unofficial's are considered essential by many. Well by anyone with a head on their shoulders.

 

4. Yes. You just have to experiment and learn. Sorry I don't have more on that but it's just what you have to do. Educate yourself on the settings and experiment. Always keep backups. That's how I learned.

 

Good luck! You'll have a truly great game if you take your time, read the documentation, and do your research before just blindly installing mods. Always, I mean ALWAYS, test mods for at least an hour or so before you install another. Don't make the terribly noob mistake of installing 11tyBILLIONmods at once then come back here saying "HALP my gamz is BROK guyz... Wrye BASH and mods suks, it broks my game...." No the mods and utilities didn't break your game... YOU did. Because thousands of us use this stuff daily with little to no trouble.

 

Good luck and enjoy! :thumbsup: