"Colored Map Mod" borked my Oblivion

[nrot]

Surprisingly, just before I was ready to uninstall/re-install I was able to fix the issue. Turns out the file 'achieve invalidation' caused the mess, I deleted the file and everything was fine. :biggrin:

 

So, I decided to experiment to learn why... I reinstalled elven map redux, this time using the manual install version (drag and drop the archive invalidation file myself, rather than trusting OBMM) and the same thing happened. I removed the archive invalidation file once again and attempted to start Oblivion, same problem occurred... then I deleted all the texture files from elven map redux and tried again... same result. After rebooting, I was again able to play without problems... so it seems highly likely the archive invalidation file for maps is the culprit. I say, 'for maps' because using OBMM's archive invalidation tool didn't seem to cause any problems with my other mods.

 

Now, that leaves me in the dark as to why only map mods using archive invalidation cause this issue. I do have 'ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!' running as well, and maybe that's causing the issue (although I'm pretty sure I only installed that .BSA *after* these problems started, but perhaps I'm mistaken)... I'm going to try and get rid of it and see if I get a different result. I'm also quite confused as to why a reboot would be required after getting rid of this particular file, even after shutting down Oblivion and all oblivion tools (wyre/obmm/etc.)

 

If anyone has any insight as to why this is happening and a possible workaround, that would be awesome. :yes:

 

[edit] Nevermind... turns out that .BSA for "invalidationinvalidated!" was the true culprit after all... my fault for not reading things more carefully. The map mod appears to be working fine now, and everything is peachy. :thumbsup:

Edited August 25, 2011 by nrot

[Keirgarth]

Glad you have it sorted out. I may do a little experimenting on that issue myself as I have the archiveinvalidationinvalidated.bsa in my system as well. This should give me a little bit of an even playing field as to troubleshooting the issue. If I find out anything I will post back my findings.

 

As for why you had to reboot after having the issues, I would guess that something is being put into memory and isn't being cleared until you reboot.

[SineWaveDrox]

As for why you had to reboot after having the issues, I would guess that something is being put into memory and isn't being cleared until you reboot.

 

This would be my guess as well, since, as my understanding is, RAM is only cleared either at shutdown or reboot.

[Keirgarth]

RAM should be cleared by the program that puts stuff in it, but some times that is not the case. Poor programming tends to leave a lot of stuff just sitting in RAM at times. Unexpected end of a program can also leave stuff in RAM, so that might have been your case here.

[DrakeTheDragon]

Some insights on Archive Invalidation might help eliminating confusion and, from my point of view, wrong conclusions drawn here.

No offense, but reading the posts in this topic literally made me jump off my seat on several occasions. It's shocking to see how much trouble you could have prevented, if you'd known those little facts beforehand.

 

First of all, Archive Invalidation is a means to tell the game which "external" resource files to use over "internal" ones from inside the BSA files.

For the regular disc version usually only textures require invalidation. NIFs and others normally work right away as soon as the game detects an external file to be used instead of an internal one.

For Oblivion from Steam things get a little more complicated, as it's said to have far too recent file dates on the BSA files, making them always superrule any external files with an older date, thus most known mods' resources. This can only be fixed by redating them or simply using "Reset BSA timestamps" from OBMM's Archive Invalidation Utilities. For some cause Archive Invalidation for Steam Oblivion is required for "all" types of resources, not just textures anymore.

 

Now, there are 3 different ways to achieve Archive Invalidation, only 1 of them is suggested anymore nowadays.

 

The manual or automatic addition of any external files into an "ArchiveInvalidation.txt" file somewhere in your folders (I learned different locations will work here, so you can actually have more than 1 of these even, depending on the tools you used to create them, which again will only cause issues.) was the first and initial way to do it. However, this method was never working reliably to begin with and is known to cause several heavy issues. It can fail to work without cause all of a sudden, or once you reached a certain number of files. Then add a few files more and it will work again... all pretty random and pretty unpredictable. Just stay away from this solution in any way, shape or form. Don't even use the automated ways from OBMM or Wrye Bash to scan your folders for replacement files and automatically add them to such list. It is using the list itself which is not working, not the way the entries are made.

 

The second approach was called BSA Alteration and is working by replacing the actual files "inside" the BSAs themselves. This of course is pretty dangerous when not taking certain precautions, like making backups and some such, as if it screws up at one point, you'll have to reinstall the game to fix these files. I'd just stay away from it as well. It's not the advised solution anymore.

 

The third and last approach, in my eyes the only feasible one, is called BSA Redirection and works by abusing the fact only one special BSA, determined by place in "sArchiveList" entry in Oblivion.ini, needs Archive Invalidation at all (originally the textures BSA), putting an empty dummy BSA into your data folder and making this take the place of the one in the list, shifting the textures BSA to some other place. In effect the empty dummy BSA will from then on be the only BSA contents of which require Archive Invalidation ever again, effectively eliminating the need for Archive Invalidation itself once and for all (unless the ini gets reset or altered so this entry needs to be changed again, of course). BSA Redirection can be achieved via OBMM's Archive Invalidation Utilities and sticking to the default settings, Wrye Bash (don't know exactly how though in the latest version), or the famous mod "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!". They all do the same and none of their empty dummy BSAs can be the culprit of your issues like you concluded.

 

However, what most likely was the culprit here is the presence of left-over "ArchiveInvalidation.txt" files while already using BSA Redirection. As you kept switching between the solutions and basically mixing up things horribly from what I read this was bound to cause issues aplenty.

 

You know those files were used to tell the game which external files to use over its internal ones from inside the BSA. Can you imagine what an engine as unpredictable and instable as Oblivion's will do, if you tell it to do this for files which aren't inside the BSA (which is now an "empty" one) to begin with?

 

And now imagine what happened when you uninstalled those mods and their files but left the entries inside the "ArchiveInvalidation.txt" files, effectively telling the engine to use external files "which don't exist anymore" instead of its internal ones. Wouldn't you also call this "missing textures forced by user" knowing the things I mentioned above now?

 

As for the CTDs, I know missing font files can cause these already, as they count as "missing masters" for some reason, and I could very well imagine certain vital texture files missing could cause the same and not just purple meshes. Especially considering maps won't just show purple ingame I can very well imagine their files (or files the engine was told to use instead) missing now can actually cause the game to CTD.

 

Well, I hope this sheds some light on the mysteries you were encountering, and I really hope you see no offense in my lecturing here, as this wasn't intended. I just had to correct some conclusions drawn here before they might mislead others into taking them for real and running into yet more issues by this. I really think those facts should be more known... but until then I will keep telling them over and over whereever I need to.

[CLackyM]

I believe the mod called "Colored map icons", found here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4481

 

Has broken my Oblivion, the mod is very old (mid 2006) and the author never updated or replied to any comments on it. The latest comment as you will see is someone reporting the exact same behavior (although in his case, apparently watching some anime and waiting a bit made the issue resolve itself, :blink: no such luck here).

 

There are no uninstallation instructions, the entire readme is below.

 

Unpack archive in a folder with game

These icons is better are looked together with a colored map and BTmod.

Enjoy!

With questions address [email protected]

 

The mod adds 3 .dds files to textures, it was a simply drag and drop, no wrye bash, no omod, etc. Right after pasting the files into said directory, the game crashes/hangs at a black screen, not even a CTD, I have to ctrl+alt+del to regain control of windows.

 

I then created an OMOD for and subsequently installed "elven map redux" found here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3002

 

Thinking that its textures might overwrite (and hence, fix) the problem files in question, no dice, I keep encountering the same crashes. So, I then remove/delete the elven map OMOD, and the files from "colored map mod" hoping that would fix the issue and get me back in the game... again, no such luck. I took at look at my DVD to see if by chance I could access those folders to restore any stock files I deleted during this mess and I can't open the compressed files. :wallbash:

 

I tried running BOSS, it doesn't report any problems (which I expected, seeing how there were no installers/.esp files, etc.)

 

So, at this point, am I screwed? Is there any way out of this mess that doesn't require reinstalling the game? :ohdear:

 

Hey, you do not believe this, but I will not lost. It was enough to write to the specified e-mail. :)

But actually I think that English-speaking users will help you better than me.

With regard to mod. He's really very simple: constant repainted textures and you're the first who have problems with it.

With best wishes, CLackyM