Need advice

[hyenafur]

I got Oblivion and installed it. Then got the mods I wanted, but there's a problem; I instilled the correctly, but Oblivion does not run them. I even have them on OBMM, and that doesn't work. Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[bben46]

The most common problem with people new to mods is forgetting to select them either in the original launcher or OBMM. Then, many mods require the latest patch to work properly. More complicated mods may require OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) But when you try to run an OBSE mod without it, you usually get a crash when loading so I don't think that is your problem.

 

I have written a set of tutorials for people totally new to mods - they start with how to download, how to unzip, how to install and how to activate mods. I include a simple mod you can download from Tesnexus and install to see if it is working.

 

The tutorial is here: http://thewormhole.nfshost.com/forum/index...opic,296.0.html

 

just click on the highlighted text and you will be taken to the site. You will have to register, but its free. Registration is just to keep out the barbarians.

[hyenafur]

The most common problem with people new to mods is forgetting to select them either in the original launcher or OBMM. Then, many mods require the latest patch to work properly. More complicated mods may require OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) But when you try to run an OBSE mod without it, you usually get a crash when loading so I don't think that is your problem.

 

I have written a set of tutorials for people totally new to mods - they start with how to download, how to unzip, how to install and how to activate mods. I include a simple mod you can download from Tesnexus and install to see if it is working.

 

The tutorial is here: http://thewormhole.nfshost.com/forum/index...opic,296.0.html

 

just click on the highlighted text and you will be taken to the site. You will have to register, but its free. Registration is just to keep out the barbarians.

 

Well, I've done all that, but when I run the game, nothing works. There are no new species/races to choose from and the other special mods don't run at all.

[LHammonds]

Common problems based on what you describe:

 

1. You did not enable the plugin by placing a checkmark beside the plugin name when you start Oblivion Launcher, Data Files.

 

2. If you did the above and it still acts like it was never installed, then the internal version of the plugin is 1.0 (instead of 0.8) which requires Oblivion 1.1.511 or higher before Oblivion will recognize this mod. Or you could use a Back-Rev technique if you know that the mod does not utilize any of the new scripting features found in the official patches.

 

List of Official Patches for download:

Oblivion 1.1.511

Oblivion 1.2.214

Oblivion 1.2.416

 

Install this way if you do not have Shivering Isles:

 

1. Install Oblivion 1.0

2. Install Official 1.1.511 Patch (only if you want the launcher to be fully functional)

3. Install Official 1.2.416 Patch

4. Install all Official Add-ons

5. Install the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (user-made mod)

6. Install the Unofficial Official Mod Patch (user-made mod)

 

Install this way if you have Shivering Isles:

 

1. Install Oblivion 1.0

2. Install Official 1.1.511 Patch (only if you want the launcher to be fully functional)

3. Install Shivering Isles (which brings Oblivion to 1.2.201)

4. Install Official 1.2.0416 Shivering Isles Patch

5. Install Official Add-ons

6. Install the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (user-made mod)

7. Install the Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch (user-made mod)

8. Install the Unofficial Official Mod Patch (user-made mod)

 

As for load orders which would be your next logical question, there are a bunch of forum topics on this matter and they vary in implementation. Here is just one of the handy load order listings I found.

 

LHammonds

[bben46]

Are you running Vista? If so, I found this on Timeslips (the maker of OBMM) Site FAQ. http://timeslip.chorrol.com/obmmm/index.html

 

 

16) I'm using windows vista. Why do my mods not show up in game even if they're active in obmm, why are my omods randomly disappearing, why do I get random access denied errors when activating omods, why is obmm generally being really weird?

Short answer: because you're using windows vista. The best solution to all vista related problems is to uninstall it and get a decent operating system. Failing that, disable UAC. (Do a google search if you don't know what UAC is.) If you're only interested in fixing oblivion, either install it somewhere other than the program files directory, (C:\games\oblivion' is the usual choice,) and make sure that all users have write access to that directory, or right click on every exe file in the oblivion folder and its subfolders as well as any other oblivion related tools you keep outside of the oblivion folder, click properties, go to the compatibility tab and check the 'run as administrator' checkbox. (obmm has two additional exe's in the \obmm folder, so be careful not to miss any.)

 

The long explanation is that all of these problems are caused by a part of vista's security system called user access control, or UAC for short. One of the features of UAC is that all applications are blocked from writing to the program files directory, even if you're logged in to the computer as an administrator. Oblivion requires mods to be installed to its data directory, so if you have UAC turned on and oblivion has been installed to its default location in the program files directory you're obviously going to run into some major problems using mods.

 

Also fairly obviously, any program written before the release of vista isn't going to know about this new security, so in order to keep backwards compatibility any time a program tries to write to the program files directory windows tells the program that the write has been successful, even though it wasn't. In fact the file being written to is copied to a hidden folder in you user account. (Known as the 'virtual store') Other programs may or may not be able to see these files, depending on your security settings; if oblivion can't see them then you get the problem of mods not showing up in game even though they're active in obmm.

 

obmm doesn't require admin privileges, but it does need write access to oblivions directory. In versions previous to 1.1.2, it couldn't tell the difference between when it did actually have write access to the oblivion folder, and when windows was just pretending that it did via the virtual store. Since 1.1.2 it can tell the difference, and will start up in limited user mode if its file writes are being redirected.

 

Also since 1.1.2, if obmm does have full admin privileges, it will offer to move any files which old versions of obmm have left in the virtual store back to the oblivion folder. This will fix any problems with vanished omods, or mods not showing up in game. It's important that you set other mod tools to run as administrator before doing this, or they may start giving access denied errors too. If obmm doesn't have admin privilages, it wont be able to move things out of the virtual store itself, and will just display a warning instead. In this case, you can still move the files out of the virtual store by hand. On a default windows and oblivion install, the folder you need to move is 'C:\Users\[yourname]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Bethesda softworks\oblivion'. You need to have 'show hidden files and folders' turned on to see the virtual store.