Modding Wall

[Deleted17761465User]

Hello Nexus Community,

 

For the past year and even before that I've been working on an Oblivion Overhaul. I'm certain that I've put well over a thousand hours into it with tens of thousands of changes. It is to be a statistical overhaul only without using any other resources hence it is only 4Mb in size as of yet. I fully intend for it to be a public release and have already written a ReadMe and such. There is very little in the game that has not yet received changes statistical-wise. It is supposed to make Oblivion a completely new experience without having to use anything too heavy. I can't really find the right words to concisely describe what it is to be, but it's something major. Much more difficult, every aspect of the game should matter, character building and exploring is made important. Yet...

 

There's one major setback. Today I seem to have hit a wall in development. When I edit any further files the construction set will no longer load my .ESP despite it being diminutive in size compared to the vast majority of mods. But could this perhaps be a limit in terms of the acceptable amount of changes allowed? Are thousands of changed IDs simply too much for the CS to handle?

 

What happens is: I load the .ESP as the fourth in the load order and as the active file. After a brief while you get the usual warning message so you click ignore, but then it just loads indefinitely. It doesn't crash or anything like that, it just keeps loading. Which is odd because a file with just a few less changes loads as quick as usual. I can replicate the problem even if I change different but new files.

 

The game itself won't load the .ESP and won't go past the intro screens. The mod only requires the base game plus expansions so no script extender or anything like it required, and it should be practically a 1:1 copy in terms of system requirements compared to the vanilla game.

 

I would really like to know what could be the cause. It would be such a shame if all these hours of work are for naught. There is simply too much to this mod to let it go to waste. In fact I'd be really angry if this were the case.

 

Help would be astoundingly appreciated.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[forli]

Are you using CS or CSE?

[Deleted17761465User]

I'm using the regular CS. Could this cause a difference? I'm going to try CSE now and see if it will load the .ESP, but if the game itself can't load it... well I don't know. Thanks for the reply. Will come back with my findings.

[QQuix]

Have you tried loading it in CSE ? [ninja`d :ninja: ]

 

Among other great features, CSE fixes a few CS bugs.

 

Although it requires OBSE in your PC for development (it is an OBSE plugin), the edited ESP will not require OBSE to run in game.

Edited April 10, 2016 by QQuix

[Deleted17761465User]

Although it requires OBSE in your PC for development (it is an OBSE plugin), the edited ESP will not require OBSE to run in game.

Ah excellent, was about to look that up because a major point of the mod is that it should be the only thing needed after installing the game. Simply because it's incompatible with practically any other mod as so much has changed and so drastically. Not to mention I worked very hard to keep the included scripts within the limitations of the original engine, all those hours of work and testing would also have been useless if I simply could have relented and used OBSE functions and commands.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[Deleted17761465User]

CSE is also incapable of loading the file. Exact same problem. Indefinite loading but the CS does not crash. Damn I'm starting to get pretty nervous here. I mean I've lost work before, but this... this is something else entirely.

 

EDIT: Ok the mod is able to load properly now in the regular CS... for some reason. I don't know why exactly. Just re-installed .NET Framework DirectX 9.0c and everything required for OBSE + CSE and now the .esp will load again. The game itself still crashes though. Need to somehow isolate what's causing the game to crash.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[Sergio1992]

Know that I'm definitely interested in your overhaul. I tried them all, one more is a joy :)

[Deleted17761465User]

Well, at the very least I require 1 tester before launching to truly test whether it's just as stable as the original game. I myself can't because I run above average specs so I can't make that judgement call. The only thing I can see standing in the way in terms of performance is the vendors. They literally carry hundreds if not thousands of items, so I don't know how some computers will handle going into several shops, then fast traveling to another cell and doing the same there etc. My system handles it fine, but that isn't saying much considering how unstable the engine can be.

 

I've been contemplating whether I should put up a ModDB page or something about the mod to draw in attention. But the thing is I am unsure if there's really interest in it this late in the game, and with such different overhaul mods already out there. My mod is totally unlike other Overhaul mods, but it's just that I couldn't find a better word to describe the mod. Because it is an overhaul in the complete literal sense. Almost all vanilla stats are updated. There's very little I left untouched, but I also added some where allowed (for example there will be like 30 or more "different" undead creatures instead of just 6 or so, but they're all based on the vanilla resources). It will not include completely new models for creatures, weapons, etc. Which is what I think draws people towards these mods. I don't think anyone would really have an interest in mine because of that. Not to mention, it is very inaccessible in terms of difficulty. It cannot in any way be compared to other TES games. I'm not even sure yet that the stats of some enemies I used in rare cases are even possible to overcome by the player without cheating (closer to the lore as in some enemies are nigh unbeatable).

 

These things still require further testing. If I'd have to put a time frame around how far the mod is in terms of development I'd say about 70%, but the groundwork for most things is there. As in, all Mystical, Beast, and Undead creatures new and old are done, but Daedra, Necromancers etc. etc. still have to be tackled. I am currently in the works overhauling everything pertaining to each Quest in lieu of having the global changes primarily dictate each mission's difficulty. And because of the difficulty it's nearly impossible to play as a 100% specialized character. You need to level more skills than just one or 2. So that would indeed mean it's not feasible to just an Archer or a Blademaster, you also need to train in Armory, Heavy/Light Armor, and even Alchemy, Restoration & Destruction all in one character. So it's no longer the "do anything" type of game and more for the player who wants something different from the game.

 

Along with the overall difficulty the other thing that's probably not for most people is the game length. Because it is so difficult and you level much slower, you are really forced to explore and take your time. You can't rush into missions and expect to win. You'll have to carefully build your character and your inventory. In the original game these were a mere afterthought as you could complete the game without leveling, this is no longer possible. And you can't expect to do a +-60 hour run. The mere gold you require alone will soak up hours and hours of exploring playing the actual game and having fun.

 

And then there's this problem I started the thread for. I can't seem to isolate the problem. I can load the mod in the Construction Set but I ca

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest

[Sergio1992]

When it is done, I will help you test it. Just shoot me a pm. I will be your tester :smile:

Edited April 10, 2016 by Sergio1992

[Deleted17761465User]

Really appreciate the offer. You will definitely be the one, if. Sending the file would be real easy as it will probably be no bigger than 5 Mb in its uncompressed format if it's completed. Unfortunately right now it's an if and no longer a when. Maybe someone who knows more about the engine than me could provide some insight what could be causing this issue. I'm not one to mingle a whole lot and usually do my own thing, so I haven't the largest of knowledge what the game can actually handle or not. I just started playing with the CS one day and went from there.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Guest