How does anyone get it to work?

[Kutter]

Hi all,

 

I am at my wits end!

 

I am a person that likes to 'return' to games... I have 'returned' to Fallout 3 and Oblivion more times than I can remember! And i have ALWAYS had the same problem!

 

I desperately want to use mods!! So badly! In Oblivion, I want to use Obscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.. With MMM.

 

In Fallout 3 I want to use MMM and Fook2!

 

But after 'returning' to these games time and time again (oblivion I would say more than 7 times!!!)... And carefully installing Bashed patches, and Mod manager programs etc etc etc etc etc etc etc!! I can NEVER... and i repeat NEVER get these games to work without crashing!!

 

I just dont get it!

 

A little about me... I am an IT engineer for a large company. I work with PC's everyday. I started my computer life at age 15 with a zx spectrum that I used to program and take to bits... From there i went on to commodore 64, amiga, atari ST, pc 486... pentium 1.... etc etc etc... I am NOT a newb! I know how to edit an ini file, and I know how to read and follow instructions!

 

But no matter how many times I try to make Fallout and Oblivion work with mods (no mater HOW CAREFULL I AM TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS) I fail every single time!

 

The latest installation of Fallout, which I desperately want to play with mods (because I think leveled lists and mobs is extremely BAD for enjoyment) just crashes randomly within 15 minutes of play EVERY time I start it.

I have carefully picked a load order for mods, I have carefully made bashed patches (cant remember what they called for fallout - but done those carefully too!) I use the mod manager and yet simply cant get the game to work fluidly!!

 

Seriously folks.. Can anyone even guess at how I am going wrong?

 

It cant even be my hardware, as over the years I have had several 'different' machines that BOTH games have repeatedly failed on!

 

Oh and get this... The latest failure is the Texture pack! NMC's texture pack! (I only know this because the game will run for 10 minutes before crashing!)

 

It simply does not work! I have installed it MANY times, making sure that its not installing to the wrong folder, making sure it OVERWRITING files in its instilation! yes STILL the new textures do not show up in game! GO FIGURE!!

 

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY, can I not make these two games work with mods???

 

I dont really expect a reply, but would appreciate anyone else who wants a rant to tack on to this post...

 

Oblivion and fallout 3 are amazing games that NEED to be patched to be what they should have been out of the box...

 

But no matter how hard I try! I can NOT make either work, smoothly with mods!

 

Thanks for listening to my rant....

 

Kutter.

[whalecakes]

If it's replacing textures I believe you'll need an archive invalidation method, preferably the one that redirects it to a dummy .bsa so you don't have to worry about it anymore.

For the rest of the mods, the best thing to do would be to test a clean install to make sure it works, then install them one at a time, making sure it still works after each install, especially with huge mods like OOO and MMM. That will help narrow the problem down from 'all these mods here' to something fixable.

Even with properly installed and ordered mods you may need to tweak various settings in the ini for optimal performance and stability, as there are some crashes that aren't caused by mods directly, but by the amount of resources it's loading up, such as those from a hi-res texture pack. De-fragging the install drive can also help in this regard.

[bben46]

First things first.

1. If you have a pirate version - SOL. Don't ask for help here. We have no clue what they put in or left out.

2. Make sure that your FO3 is NOT installed in the default location. My prefered install is to C:\Games\Fallout3

And for New Vegas, the steam client should be outside the protected program files folders. Mine is C:\Games\Steam.

3. Make sure the game works without mods. If it doesn't, then adding mods isn't going to make it better. :rolleyes:

4. For FO3 make sure you are patched to the latest version.

5. If your game is unstable without mods it will be worse with mods.

6. Add your mods one at a time and test thoroughly before adding another mod.

7. When a mod causes a problem. fix it or remove it before adding any other mods.

8. Not every mod will be compatible with every other mod. Be willing to sacrifice one or the other for stability.

9. Archive invalidation is your friend, learn it and use it.

10. You will never get rid of all crashes. Be prepared to live with some. :wallbash:

 

Not all crashes are caused by the game - here is my crash help for Oblivion, a lot applies to FO3 & NV also

http://www.tesnexus....cle.php?id=298.

[audioave10]

You should also list all your PC specs and hardware. I rarely have any trouble, but I have a tweaked gaming PC.