Oblivion Skins Not Working

[Greentop]

Hello! Fairly new to modding here, but I'm trying to get the basics down. Thought I'd try out some of the player skins/textures because I was tired of the unappealing womenz in my game. My problem is when I try to load these up I'm only seeing Vanilla textures. So, here's a run down of what I've tried. I'm using OMM, I tried two different mods (both don't work), I tested OMM with another mod (the unofficial patch) and that works fine and I even tried a guide.... even rebooting my computer! I got a lot of questions but nowhere to find any answers for them. Another main thing is when I activate these texture mods they don't appear in the data files (so I can tick them to turn them on) when I load up Oblivion, nore do they appear in the collumn on OMM where the other mods are (e.g. DLC and the unofficial patch).

 

I'd be really interested in anyone's help and guidance, as long as it's reaaally easy to follow. Just can't get rid of these Vanilla textures. Thanks to anyone who posts!

Edited July 24, 2011 by Greentop

[Odile]

Texture replacers won't necessarily have a .esp (that's the file that you check off in OBMM). If all the mod does is change textures, it doesn't need to have an .esp. Just for future reference. :) Not all mods come with things that have to be activated like that.

 

As for the textures not working, try installing and using this: click me Sometimes when you replace the vanilla textures the game still doesn't want to recognize your new textures and keeps showing the old ones. This utility sort of gives your game a nudge to recognize your new textures. Try that out and see if it works.

 

I haven't played Oblivion in a while, so I'm not sure if ArchiveInvalidated Invalidation is still current and up-to-date. If it isn't I'm sure someone who is more in the know will come by and correct me. :P

[MShoap13]

Just use OBMM's archive invalidation under the Utilities button. Choose redirection, it only has to be done once, and so long as the textures you add aren't older than the Archives (by date last modified) it will work for any textures you have added or any new textures you may add. Edited July 24, 2011 by MShoap13

[Greentop]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys!

 

I tried changing OBMM's archive invalidation and that didn't do anything. (Not sure how to check the date last modified on the textures I'm adding, or the archive's. May need direction there).

 

Also tried downloading ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated. I'm not sure what to do with that one. It seems pretty promising because of what it's stated to do, but I hardly think installing it and then running Oblivion will get it to work (I tried =( ). Couldn't find any readme that'd point me in the right direction either. What did you guys have to do to make ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated work?

[MShoap13]

Another main thing is when I activate these texture mods they don't appear in the data files

 

Herein lies the problem...

If you've properly installed a texture mod (whether it be installed manually, through an OMOD, or via BAIN) it will be somewhere in you \Data\textures directory.

 

If you're running Windows Vista or 7 and you have Oblivion installed to the default directory (Program Files) that could be your problem.

 

Read this guide to move Oblivion to a different directory.

Edited July 24, 2011 by MShoap13

[Greentop]

Hmm... but the omod file is located in the mod folder in my obmm folder (which is located in my oblivion folder). That's where it was automatically placed once it was loaded onto ODMM.

[DrakeTheDragon]

"ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!" does exactly the same as BSA Redirection in either OBMM's Utilities for Archive Invalidation or Wrye Bash's Replacer tab. They put an empty dummy BSA into your data folder and alter your "Oblivion.ini" to insert it into the "sArchiveList" variable at the proper location. After this the only BSA ever requiring Archive Invalidation anymore is the empty dummy BSA. As there are no files in this one, no files will require Archive Invalidation anymore after this point. That's why it is a one-time-only fire-and-forget type of solution. You will only have to do it again, if some other install altered your "Oblivion.ini" and removed the change.

 

edit: Be careful! Having any left-over "ArchiveInvalidation.txt" files anywhere in your folders (those were used by previous means for Archive Invalidation, never worked really reliable, and pretty outdated nowadays) will make the game try to invalidate files which aren't inside the dummy BSA, as there are none at all. This will cause any type of random issues and can also make it not use some or any external resources.

 

For "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!" there's likely comprehensive instructions on how to edit your "Oblivion.ini" or maybe even an installer doing this for you. I haven't used it in Wrye Bash myself, yet, but it can't be much more difficult. In OBMM it should be the default settings in the Archive Invalidation dialog. Just in case you're using Oblivion from Steam, there's some known issues with the file dates of the BSA files being far too recent for any replacer-type mods to work ever. This can be fixed by using a redate tool (I don't know any specifics about this as I'm not using Steam myself) or by clicking "Reset BSA timestamps" in said OBMM AI dialog once.

 

If you're using Vista or Win 7 though, be warned the UAC might prevent install of files through OBMM or even prevent the game to find its files, if you installed the game to the default location, somewhere inside program files. Steam also resides within these folders, so it's twice as troublesome. Installing (or moving) the game to a different location outside of program files is advisable when on such an OS.

Edited July 25, 2011 by DrakeTheDragon