How to create a universal save game

[oc3]

I am just about finished with a new mod that places the prison sewer exit in the wordspace and I would like to include a decent save game just before that point for people to use if they wish. I tried disabling all esps in Wrye bash and then removing bloat, now the havok based tree roots that I placed are not enabled, they're stiff. For instance they are stick straight out of the walls instead of drooping. Then when I hit them they respond to physics.

 

Any suggestions besides disabling all my mods? That's not gonna happen.

 

Thanks

Edited June 1, 2011 by oc3

[Arthmoor]

If you're after a universal save anyone can use, you don't have much choice but to disable all mods before creating it.

 

The root thing is normal. The havok system in Oblivion is bugged and that's just how it behaves with everything.

[myrmaad]

It's good to keep a "clean copy" of Oblivion for testing purposes, obviously an unmodded game makes the best "universal save".

 

You might check these out:

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=432

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=285

[oc3]

Thanks Arthmoor and Myrmaad,

 

Good info from both of you. The links are great..a lot of good info I can use. I do have a save game at the end of the sewers that I use for testing, but unfortunately all of the critters are already dead, so It would be boring for someone to use to experience my mod, but that is what I have decided to do. The last time I disabled all my mods, it took days to get it working again, so if someone wants to check out my new mod, they will have to settle for playing it from the very beginning for max benefit or from just before the changes take place, but with dead creatures. I've reached the point of being sick of this thing, besides most people don't provide saved games anyway.

 

Thanks to the both of you for your help

 

Here's the link to it if you are interested.. My link

Edited June 2, 2011 by oc3

[oc3]

If you're after a universal save anyone can use, you don't have much choice but to disable all mods before creating it.

 

The root thing is normal. The havok system in Oblivion is bugged and that's just how it behaves with everything.

 

 

Thanks. It's good to know it's not just something dumb that I did. It's strange though, because I have a save game that allows the roots the behave normally when I enter the final sewer bit from the beginning of story direction, But if I exit the sewers to the outside and then return inside, suddenly the roots all stick straight out. Is there anything that you know of that I can do to fix it? I've actually never seen this behavior before.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

Here's a link if you wish to check it out..My link

[Arthmoor]

Neat little mod you have there. Stuff like that are things I find most interesting, when people find clever ways to leverage the system.

[bben46]

I have abandoned my own 'dual oblivion' in favor of the much better mtest4 solution :thumbsup: When I get around to converting my articles to the wiki, I will skip that one.

 

Use the mtest4 to create a 'base save cell' with no mods first in the cell at the beginning, and then another one, 'Base Save sewer', just before exiting the sewer. Then whenever you feel the urge to start over, go back to one of those and instead of playing from there, Make a new 'clone' of that one and use the new clone as your active game - add whatever mods you want from there.

 

I have those clones complete with Shivering Isles, latest patch and unofficial patches already in them as I cannot imagine not needing them. Then I have a clone without SI, but with the patches and without OBSE that I use for working on mods. again, every time I start a new mod, I make a new clone to use to make the mod - If it turns out that the mod requires OBSE, I put it in.

[oc3]

Thanks Bben and everyone else for all the info.

[LHammonds]

I'm a bit late to this party but here are my thoughts:

 

Most everyone wants to skip the tutorial but want to customize their character which means a savegame at the end of the sewers just before you exit the sewers is the ideal location.

 

How the sewers was played is not extremely important but it is nice to have all the possible loot you can carry, even though it is more than you can run with. My savegames have all the loot scattered on the floor a bit further back.

 

Another consideration already mentioned is to not have any mods enabled when creating this "template" savegame.

 

It is handy to have a race and gender preset for each variation of the savegame as well to save some time. If you use a custom race mod, then you can use that mod in order to use the new race...but make sure it is just that mod.

 

I just so happen to have these templates already created and uploaded in a collection that also has many face configurations that you can copy/paste onto your template race/gender savegame. You can also copy these faces to your existing savegame but you need to make sure the race / gender matches up.

 

Oblivion Face Totality Pack

 

If you are BETA testing a mod, you probably want to use different characters at different levels to see how leveled players will view the difficulty. I also have a collection of savegames for this purpose which has characters from various members in the community that did not cheat or artificially level their character in order to not skew the level stats.

 

BETA Testing Characters

 

LHammonds