Better Cities Mod

[aaroncox]

Aaron - I strongly suggest that at this point you backup your downloaded mods, remove and reinstall Oblivion, and get tHAT working first. Then add mods carefully, one at a time, and check it works at each stage.

 

 

alright thanks guys...well once i uninstall and reinstall oblivion (not to my program files) but to my C:\\games\ is it ok if my first mod is a fairly big mod? like better cities? or should it be small?

 

and do i need to touch the ini.file?

[Hickory]

alright thanks guys...well once i uninstall and reinstall oblivion (not to my program files) but to my C:\\games\ is it ok if my first mod is a fairly big mod? like better cities? or should it be small?

 

and do i need to touch the ini.file?

 

When you are troubleshooting by installing one mod at a time, it doesn't really matter that you first mod is a big mod, but you should always keep in mind if a later mod is likely to override/overwrite content frem earlier ones. That's why it's always best to install the UOP before all other mods.

 

And there is no reason to edit the ini file for troubleshooting in general.

[MarkInMKUK]

Start with Oblivion, then Shivering Isles (if installing it), then the official patch to either Oblivion or both files. Then add Knights of the Nine and any other DLC addons. Add the unofficial patch and the unofficial mods patches, to get a "Vanilla install" starting point. Other mods opinions vary about load order - some suggest leaving the DLC mods til later, but I've not had a problem yet.

 

Group your mods to decide which ones will affect each other

 

- overhaul mods like OOO, MMM and Frans with FCOM inter-react somewhat and the result may alter some of the settings introduced by any of them - I suggest doing those as a group and making sure THAT works but some others suggest leaving them til later and doing as a group.

- world mods like Better Cities and Unique Landscapes often overlap and need patches. Other big quest mods or add-on castle mods also can inter-react with them. Again, best installed as a group.

- Graphical and environmental mods - should be able to apply at any time, but leave until near the end as other mods may overwrite textures with their own versions.

- Body mods - install as and when - bear in mind some bodies may require clothing mods too or you'll make a vanilla skirt look like fetishwear on some bodies.

 

That's more or less the basic order I use. Obviously use BOSS and Wrye Bash to sort the load order and free up ESP spaces

 

The only reason to tweak the ini file SHOULD be to change options in the memory or display sections that you cannot adjust using the in-game settings menu. Be careful - you can bork your setup if you edit the wrong value.

Edited February 16, 2011 by MarkInMKUK

[Smooth613]

Or you could just take the time to learn BAIN, Wrye Bash's installer, and then it doesn't matter when you install any mod, since you have total control over your Installation Order. BAIN shows you file overlaps and allows you to adjust your Installation Order, much like a Load Order, as needed.

 

For example,... Oops! I forgot to install the Unofficial Patch but now I have over 300 mods installed, what to do?! No worries, simply put the Unofficial Patch at the beginning of your Installation Order and click install, you're done, and nothing from later ordered mods were overwritten. Do you want the Unofficial Patch to overwrite those 300 mods? (In reality no, but for example read on) No problem, move it to last in your Installation Order and click install, now it has overwrote all previous packages. If this same scenario happened with an OMOD installation you're basically screwed and would have to rework your entire installation, due to limitations of OBMM.

 

BAIN truly is the best method of installation and I'll never understand why people refuse to adopt it. Take the time to learn BAIN if you want total control of your installation and the ability to add any mod at any time and not worry about unwanted overwrites, since you have options to control these overlapping files.

 

The following links will help introduce you to BAIN.

 

Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide for Newbies - by alt3rn1y

 

BAIN Mod Installation Projects comprehensive instructions from beginner to advanced - by Psymon

[MarkInMKUK]

If they ever made an OMOD-to BAIN converter I'd adopt it, but with 300 or so OMODS around and only two of the scripted ones even remotely BAINable without learning the whole lot, of cOURSE I stick with OBMM Edited February 16, 2011 by MarkInMKUK

[aaroncox]

i found out the problem. why my game kept freezing and crashing.. it was the unoffical oblivion patch.. after i uninstalled that my game worked like a charm... so maybe i got a corrupt file or something?

[aaroncox]

alright so i reinstalled oblivion, placed it in c:\games\oblivion. it worked fine. then i installed the unofficial oblivion patch and the game started to crash. so i uninstalled the patch and the game worked fine. so then i installed the better cities mod and when i walked to the imperial city, it was all in skeleton form, with no walls. i practically walked right through the city and everything looks weird and glitchy. then i walked under the city or what not and it didn't crash but the graphics looks haywire. so i decided to wrap to a new city. and right when i warped the game crashed.

 

obviously it's the better cities mod (whether or not i need a compatibility patch I'm not sure, or if the actual mod files are corrupted, but the only mods i have installed is the 3 parts to better cities. as of right now i deactivated the mod and the game seems to be running fine again. any suggestions? thanks

 

Aaron

 

p.s I'm determined to get to the bottom of this.