Load Orders

[vansenigma]

hey guys, i am a big noob at modding , so i was wondering what is a load order? What does it do?

I read some comments like " i load this last in my load order so the game crash"

can anyone explain to me what a load order is? And what i should be careful about when loading them?

thx :)

[Fonger]

http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/finishinstall/loadorder

[Lanceor]

Basically a mod "modifies" something in the vanilla game. The problem is that each item can only be modified once, and if two or more mods modify the same thing, the last one to get loaded "wins".

 

For example...

Mod A gives Martin a suit of daedric armour

Mod B modifies Martin to have green hair

 

If mod B were loaded after mod A, Martin would have green hair, but would NOT have daedric armour.

 

A bigger problem occurs if things were deleted. If Mod A deletes Martin and mod B tries to give green hair to the non-existent NPC, this will probably result in a crash. In this case, making sure Mod B loads before Mod A can prevent crashes.

 

In general, optimising the load order can help to get different mods to work together.

[MShoap13]

This is my "Beginner's Guide" post:

 

Are you running Windows Vista/7 and is your \Oblivion\ or \Steam\ directory in the default location (C:\Program Files\)? If so, Windows UAC is known to cause all kinds of issues while modding Oblivion and it's highly recommended to go ahead and move steam to somewhere Windows UAC doesn't affect, like C:\Games\ and reinstall Oblivion to that location as well. If you're on XP you can skip all of this as Windows UAC isn't implemented.

 

Next, you need to ensure you're running the latest version of Oblivion. If you're running the GOTY edition off of Steam or via disc, simply activating Shivering Isles will ensure that you're on the newest version. If you don't have SI, I highly recommend getting it as it adds a vast amount of content to the game and you'll find it is required by a great number of mods. The most up-to-date version is 1.2.0416 and your version number is located at the top of "readme.txt" located in C:\...\Oblivion\.

 

Then, go ahead and install OBMM and/or Wrye Bash and run BSA Redirection as your form of Archive Invalidation one time. Without using some form of Archive Invalidation Oblivion has problems with using user created textures and animations instead of the vanilla content. BSA Redirection is the best solution to Archive Invalidation as it's practically fool proof and never needs to be updated after you've done it once.

 

The next step for a Steam installation is to use File Date Changer to roll back the "Last Modified" dates of all of the .bsa archives that come in your vanilla Oblivion install (plus the DLC of course) to somewhere around 2005. This is necessary for BSA Redirection to work properly.

 

From here, be sure to make at least one character save in Oblivion so that you have a known working standard. I personally recommend playing through the tutorial dungeon (the sewers) up until right before the exit that allows you to change your character's aspects and keeping that save around permanently. This gives you a good testing base for adding mods in the future and you never have to play through the sewers again.

 

Now you're ready to start modding. I'd say take it easy and try something simple like a sword or a simple texture replacer and then go ensure that it's actually taking effect in your game. Moving on you can add other mods, though I recommend installing them one or two at a time and trying them out for a little bit before adding more. This way when an issue does occur (and it's bound to happen) you'll have a pretty good idea of where to start troubleshooting.

 

Here's a list of mods I'd recommend for any Oblivion install whether you're after grossly modded content or not:

The Unofficial Oblivion Patch and the Unofficial Patch Supplementals (Be sure to get the Shivering Isles patch for SI and the Unofficial Official Mods Patch for any other DLC you may be running)

Darn UI or Dark Darn UI

Natural Environments or All Natural

MiniMap

 

It doesn't exactly answer your question (Lanceor pretty much covered what you need to know), though you may find some of the information from it useful for your modding experience.

Edited November 2, 2011 by MShoap13