Blockhead not working

[Bongobasher]

Hi there,

 

So I have started modding with encouragement and support from the helpful mod community and have already had to start from install once. Here are my computer specs:

 

Win 10

 

Intel i5 4690k (not OC'ed)

16gb ram

GTX 970 gfx

I own CD copy of Oblivion and SI with no other DLC.

 

The second time around I installed a list suggested as an easy, stable start:

 

OBSE, OBSE plugins and others (install first):

• Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) + updated loader from the official website --> http://obse.silverlock.org/
• MenuQue 16b
• Blockhead
• EngineBugFixes
• MessageLogger (might or might not be of use)
• Oblivion Stutter Remover 4.1.37
• Enhanced Music and Control 2 - EMC2
• MoreHeap (not an OBSE plugin, goes in the Oblivion directory with Oblivion.exe)

Normal mods (excluding Oblivion Reloaded, which should be installed last):

• Unofficial Oblivion Patch
• Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
• Unofficial Oblivion DLC Patches (only pick the ones for DLC you have)
• Qarl's Texture Pack 3
• Bomret's Texture Pack for Shivering Isles
• Harvest Flora
• Atmospheres (I use v4 myself)
• Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul
• Oblivion Character Overhaul 2
• Oblivion Reloaded

So I installed them and it seemed to work ok with fps running at 50-60fps however with big lags every second or so (that didn't seem to be detected well). I went back and changed moreheap settings from loadout 256, 256 to 1024, 1024. Oblivion wouldn't startup so I changed them again to 1026, 768. I then used the "BOSS" tool and it said everything was all good.

I started up the game to find the "install blockheads" on faces. Like wtf? SO I went and had a check in the OBSE folder and the file was there. I then saw something odd:

All the mods are installed within HDD\Games\Oblivion\Data\OBSE but the actual OBSE.ini file is located within another subfolder:

HDD\Games\Oblivion\Data\Data\OBSE

Has something gone wrong?

Cheers in advance

[Striker879]

The steps to troubleshoot a Blockhead install issue are:

 

Start the game after installing OBSE and make a save. Check your Saves folder (by default found in the Users\[username]\ Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves folder for Windows operating systems Vista and newer) and see if you now have two save files each time you save (e.g. MySave09.ess and MySave09.obse). If you only see a single save each time you save then OBSE isn't working.

 

The first time Blockhead starts after installing it, it will create the file Blockhead,ini (found in the Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins folder ... should be right there along side Blockhead.dll). The other test for Blockhead working (as you've discovered) is the Oblivion Character Overhaul v 2 error face ... you will only see the error face if Blockhead isn't working for some reason). If OBSE isn't working then there is no chance for Blockhead to work.

 

For the disk version of Oblivion you will need the OBSE files obse_1_2_416.dll, obse_editor_1_2.dll and obse_loader.exe in your Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion folder (same folder as you will find the vanilla game's Oblivion.exe and OblivionLauncher.exe) and the file obse.ini in the Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\OBSE folder. If those files are in any other folder structure they will not work.

 

Additionally, for users of the disk version of the game, for OBSE to work you must change how you start the game. The easiest way is to edit your desktop shortcut.

 

Right click on your current Oblivion desktop shortcut and select Properties. On the Shortcut tab of the Properties dialogue box find the field Target. The entire current path to the game's EXE will be highlighted ... just single left click immediately behind OblivionLoader.exe, which will remove the highlight and place a cursor at that location. Now backspace over OblivionLoader.exe to remove it and then type in obse_loader.exe so that the path shown in your target field now ends with Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\obse_loader.exe" (make certain you still have the trailing quote mark). Click on Apply and now your game will start using obse_loader.exe (as is required for OBSE to work).

[Bongobasher]

Thanks Striker, I just checked saves and it is doing both files. Ok for some reason Blockhead is not showing up anywhere and it's good to see that there shouldn't be another data subfolder within the Data folder with another OBSE folder. Have moved the OBSE.ini file into the OBSE main folder as you said and deleted the duplicate Data subfolder (only had another OBSE subfolder with OBSE.ini in it).

 

I start the game with the OBSE loader. I have actually followed instructions as much to the letter as possible, must have still messed it up to create a second data subfolder but not sure how Blockhead is not there. If I install Blockhead now, will it cause issues being that I have installed after all the mods etc?

 

After doing this, will I need to do anything else? I have seen stuff on invalidation and creating bash projects and have assumed I don't need to do these functions?

 

I saw some complex instructions on tweaking which made absolutely no sense to me:

 

To force the actual use of 3.0 Shaders after making the above change, you will also need to check your RenderInfo.txt file (see above), and on the last line of the file check which shader package it uses (e.g. Shader Package : 13). Then go to the \Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data\Shaders\ folder and rename that particular package to something else (e.g. rename shaderpackage013.sdp to shaderpackage013._bak. Now copy shaderpackage019.sdp and paste it back into the same directory, and rename this new copy to the package name your card uses (e.g. rename it to shaderpackage013.sdp in this example). This will force Oblivion to use the Shader Model 3.0 shaders in the game, which may increase (or reduce) performance and typically shows no image quality difference.

 

Are there up to date mods that will do an auto tweak? I want to tweak the game but find the technical jargon goes straight over my head and I don't want to end up jumping from the frying pan and into the fire messing with stuff I don't understand (says this fully aware of the irony)...

Thanks!

[Striker879]

I'd suggest holding off on the advice Koroush gives in Oblivion Tweak Guide for a bit ... crawl, then walk and then run.

 

Blockhead is an OBSE plugin. Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) opens ways for plugins to alter the way the game works without using any of the previous tools (like using an ESP file to alter the way an ESM master file instructs the game to do things). OBSE plugins must be installed in the correct folder or they will be silently ignored. If you install Blockhead.dll in the Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins folder and if OBSE is working then Blockhead will work. If you have an old failed install attempt Blockhead.dll somewhere else it can be safely deleted or left cluttering things up ... it will make no difference to the game.

 

Note the last bit of that quote from Koroush ... "and typically shows no image quality difference." I have also seen a report by Alenet (the author of Oblivion Reloaded ... very knowledgeable on how the game's executable works) that trying to force shader model 3.0 doesn't work, and the game still uses shader model 2.0 (I myself have no idea of whether or not forcing shader model 3.0 does anything, but I didn't see any difference when I tried doing so).

 

Archive invalidation is a method developed to force the game to use assets from mods that don't use an ESP file to force such a change (what I call "replacer mods"). There have been various methods tried over the years ... the only one that works reliably and without maintenance issues is BSA Redirection. Ignore all advice you see to use any other method of archive invalidation such as BSA Alteration as it is outdated and for older mods at least, may have been made back in the days before BSA Redirection was invented.

 

There are various ways to implement BSA Redirection depending on which of the mod managers you decide to use to implement it ... do you have a preference?

[Bongobasher]

I'd suggest holding off on the advice Koroush gives in Oblivion Tweak Guide for a bit ... crawl, then walk and then run.

 

Blockhead is an OBSE plugin. Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) opens ways for plugins to alter the way the game works without using any of the previous tools (like using an ESP file to alter the way an ESM master file instructs the game to do things). OBSE plugins must be installed in the correct folder or they will be silently ignored. If you install Blockhead.dll in the Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins folder and if OBSE is working then Blockhead will work. If you have an old failed install attempt Blockhead.dll somewhere else it can be safely deleted or left cluttering things up ... it will make no difference to the game.

 

Ok so installing now won't cause any problems? If I decide to add other OBSE stuff, can I assume that won't cause problems either?

 

Re: archive invalidation, I did read up and see the info on it but a lot of the info went straight over my head! I'm using wyre bash on the reccomendation of contrathetix.

[Striker879]

And Wrye Bash would be my recommendation as well.

 

To check that BSA Redirection is turned on in Wrye Bash go to the Installers tab and from the right click context menu that opens when you right click on the word Package (or anywhere else along that header bar) make sure you have a tick mark beside BSA Redirection (if there isn't on just toggle it on with a left click, but I think it may be on by default).

 

The vanilla game uses assets (meshes, textures, animations etc) that are stored in the BSA files that come with the game (e.g. Oblivion - Meshes.bsa and Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa). To get the game to use assets other than those requires an ESP file to change the instructions the game gets from the Oblivion.esm master file.

 

If you wanted to make the green vanilla glass armor red you would need to create an ESP (e.g. MyRedGlassArmor.esp) using the Construction Set. The game has a limit on how many ESP files it will use, and it was recognized as a limitation to modding early on. Archive invalidation was invented as a method to get the game to use assets that are outside of the vanilla game BSA files, without requiring an ESP. Older methods of archive invalidation required you to create text files and keep them up to date every time you made a change/addition to your non-ESP mod list.

 

BSA Redirection uses a trick that doesn't require any intervention from you once you implement it. If a mod wants to make the green glass armor red it simply places a red coloured texture file named the same as the green one it wants to replace in the exact same file path as the game uses internally in the BSA file Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa and the game will use the newer file and not load the older one from the BSA ... no ESP required.

 

OBSE plugins are all independent from one another (unless they state that they require something in their own install instructions, but I can't recall ever seeing an OBSE plugin that required another OBSE plugin to work). The main thing to keep in mind about OBSE plugins is that they are all manual install ... a simple copy/paste to the correct folder is all that is required.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Striker879

[Bongobasher]

Thanks Striker, your instructions were very helpful. Put Blockheads into the OBSE plugins folder and checked that BSA Redirection was switched on and it is. I started the game and faces are sorted but the sounds are bugged, when stuff attacked me there's no sounds. Now and then a mouse will squeak but the actual attack doesn't resister a sound...

 

Also, it's so laggy that combat tends to be I see a rat coming and press att and it lags and the rat is either dead or somewhere else. The animation often doesn't appear...

Something certainly isn't right at all with settings :(

Edited November 3, 2016 by Bongobasher

[Striker879]

If I recall correctly that was something people ran into with the latest version of OSR. Check the OSR comments ... pretty sure reverting to an older version resolved the problem.

 

- Edit - Scroll down in the OSR mod comments to unwishedjack's post and Supierce's responses. You may want to make a post there to request a copy of Superiece's OSR.ini as it seems unwishedjack found a solution that way.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Striker879

[Surilindur]

I was just about to type about the Wrye Bash archive invalidation, but Striker apparently covered that. Great. Not many people remember it, some recommend OBMM because of the archive invalidation, but WB also covers that. Great.

 

Just to collect it all about the paths. The game would be:

...\Oblivion\

OBSE files would be (yes, the "src" folder is not needed, and obse_steam_loader.dll might also not be needed since you do not have a Steam version, the same might also go for obse_editor_1_2.dll, but I am not sure):

...\Oblivion\obse_1_2_416.dll
...\Oblivion\obse_editor_1_2.dll
...\Oblivion\obse_steam_loader.dll
...\Oblivion\obse_loader.exe
...\Oblivion\Data\OBSE\obse.ini

And OBSE plugins would be (Blockhead as an example):

...\Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins\Blockhead.dll
...\Oblivion\Data\OBSE\Plugins\Blockhead.ini <-- this one gets generated on first launch

And if you want to see which plugins OBSE registers and loads, you could see the OBSE logs in the same directory as Oblivion.exe. The log files all have "obse" in their name, like "obse.log" and "obse_loader.log" or such, I cannot remember exactly.

 

Edit: A-ha! Posted just before me. Both of you. :tongue: Great you got it sorted out. Since you use Oblivion Stutter Remover, do you have "heap replacement" turned on somewhere? If so, then you could try changing the heap type. One (1), the "FastMM4" or something, I cannot remember, could be one to try if it fixes it. Then maybe heap number 6 with a size of either 512 or 768 or something like that. If that does not help, then toggling the "hook critial sections" option might be another one to check.

 

Edit 2: Also, reverting to an older version of OSR should not be necessary. The latest version should also be the greatest, I think. It just takes a little tweaking. It was either the heap number (if having "replace heap" toggled on at the top of the file) or the critical section hooking. Most likely heap replacement, I think. But you should check it. I need to check it myself too when I have finished my assignments and have time for gaming things again.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Contrathetix

[Striker879]

:ninja: ... hehe