I'm 27 yet a noob when it comes to putting mods or plugins into th

[MS09RS2]

Ok people, some of you may cringe when I say that I played Oblivion on the xbox360 before this. Well, my box got broken, so while its in gettin fixed, I got the PC version for Oblivion, and say I kinda like the PC version alot better! Now to my point......I have tried various mods on new races, new hair styles, new clothing, better bodies, etc. etc. and I can't seem to get any of them to work! I'd think either directly pasting or extractinbg them to the data files would make them run, but thats not the case i guess. Sry to sound a bit salty to everyone, but I've tried this for 5 days straight now and before I do something stupid I'm asking for assistance. Any and every help will be very much appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

 

 

Adam

[nosisab]

If is your first time installing mods is advised you looking at the articles and tutos about the issue. You can find one here in this forum.

Is fundamental you understand the structure of the /Data folder. Most mods that include models place files in the /meshes and /textures, both inside the /data folder. Sounds not surprisingly goes to /Sound and so on.

Yet there is no way to say this is everything needed. Some mods will put the files directly in those folders, others will place then in proper folders...

The cookbook here is knowing the three main type of mod packaging.

 

1 - The compacted file shows just a folder named /data (and maybe some documentation files)

A - this kind is meant to be extracted directly in the folder you installed Oblivion (not the /data there)

 

2 - is shown several folders named like /meshes, /textures.. etc and some files including most of times ESP(s) and or ESM(s) ones, yet they are not obligatory if the mod is just texture replacement.

A - These are to be extracted in ..../oblivion/Data. Better saying, extracted directly to the Data folder.

 

3 - Is showed a folder with the name of the mod

A - These ones are tricky ... Most of times they have choices to be made. You must extract then to a temporary folder. Get in that folder and read carefully the documentation, since they often have special features not common to 'where' and 'what' install.

 

That advise to read the documentation can't be stressed enough. This is mandatory thing aways and ever. Failing doing this can cost a high price.

 

Since you doesn't specified what is getting in trouble those general steps is the max we can do to help for now. To get more precise answer you need to supply specific questions. Is aways good thing placing a list of the mods you use in the order they are loaded. To this you can use a utility named OBMM (oblivion mod manager). Some mods requires specifics utilities or another mods to work, if so these need to exist in your setup too (OBSE is used for so many mods it turns to be almost obligatory having).

 

Try those steps, good luck

[Sharkull]

I found this FAQ to be a great help when I started using Oblivion mods :) :

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index...livion_Mods_FAQ

 

Also, for mods that include an ESP, make sure you remember to enable it using the "Data Files" option of the Oblivion loader. Just having an ESP in your data directory won't do anything if it is not turned on.

[bben46]

I have a set of help files for people who are new to mods. Soon I hope to have them available on another forum. But for now, Here is the one I think you need. Even if you are already familiar with unzipping, please read the whole thing as there is some advice on how to organize your unzipped files.

 

If you want the whole set please PM me.

 

File Compression Basics

 

Now that you have your mod downloaded to your computer (See Downloading Basics) How do you get it into the proper format to work in the game?

 

What is a 7z? .RAR? Zip? And how do I make them work in Oblivion?

 

When you download a file from the Internet (Any file, not just Oblivion game Mods)it will usually be in a compressed format to save space and allow it to download faster. 7Z, RAR and zip are only three of the more popular file compression programs. Oblivion cannot use the file in its zipped (compressed) state. To get the file in a usable condition, it must be unzipped and installed.

 

For this I will use 7-Zip as my example file unzipper as that is the one I use. It is free and will unzip all of the other formats as well (Rar, zip and many others)

 

7-zip is available on Tesnexus here: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15579

 

If you followed the instructions in Downloading basics, you have 7-zip as a zip file in the folder you set up. If not, either download 7-zip or whichever other unzip program you prefer.

 

The 7-zip is compressed in a self installing zip file and to install it you only need to click on it and follow the directions to install it.

 

To unzip a mod, first you must download it and put it into a folder where you can find it. I use a folder called Oblivion Downloads on my desktop where it can be easily located. These instructions should work for any zipped file it could be mod1.zip or mod1.Rar and the procedure is the same.

 

Download the mod file you want to install. I recommend a simple weapon mod such as Bben_Test_Dagger for your first mod. It only has 3 files, a .esp file, a readme file and a picture showing where it can be found in the game. It will be easy to install. If you don't like it you can easily remove it as the .esp is the only thing that it adds.

 

Open the folder where you have the downloaded file. You should now have one file in your download folder, Bben_Test_Dagger.7z. As we anticipate many mods in the future, lets make a plan to deal with them now to keep them organized. Each mod will get it's own sub folder. Create a subfolder and name it Bben_Test_Dagger. (no need for the 7z) move the downloaded Bben_Test_Dagger.7z into this folder. Now the Oblivion Downloads will only have the Bben_Test_Dagger sub folder in it.

 

 

Open the Bben_Test_Dagger sub folder and double click on the Bben_Test_Dagger.7z file. It should open a window showing you what files are in the zip file. There should be 3 files showing, Bben_Test_Dagger.esp, Readme.txt. And bben_test_dagger.bmp. There may be as few as one and as many as over a hundred files in a zip. That's why I recommend a simple file first.

 

First, double click on the readme.txt. If there are any special installation instructions or anything you need to know about the mod it should be listed here. The readme is not needed by Oblivion. It is for you.

 

Now double click on the Bben_Test_Dagger.bmp file, a picture should open showing you where to look for the dagger.

 

Highlight all 3 files.

click on Extract – in 7-Zip it will be a blue minus sign on the top.

 

A pop up should appear with Copy to: and a path to where it thinks you want to copy the extracted (unzipped) files. It will usually be the same folder that the zipped file is in. If it is not, change it to that folder. This is a good place to put it. This serves three purposes, to keep the Bben_Test_Dagger separated from the many Mods you will probably eventually have and as a back up for if you ever need to reinstall it. And as a source where you can look to find what was installed by this mod if you ever want to remove it entirely.

 

After 7z is finished it will close the pop up. You will have to close 7-Zip yourself. Now your bben_test_dagger sub folder should have 3 files. The original bben_test_dagger.7z, the readme.txt and the bben_test_dagger.esp

 

Many times the readme will say to unzip the file directly into your oblivion\data folder, I don't recommend that as it will put the readme and any other unneeded files there also. After about 30 mods it gets messy in the data folder and some of the readmes will be gone and other files may be overwritten or in the wrong place.

 

After you get more familiar with the procedure you may do it this way by only selecting the files you want to go into the data folder when you unzip directly into it.

 

If you make it a habit to always unzip each mod into its own sub folder they will stay organized and parts of one will not overwrite parts of another if they have the same name. When you have several mods that each have dozens of files that is easy to do. \

 

Part two:

 

If you read my post 'Downloading Mods' you already have a sample mod that is unzipped into a download folder and ready to be installed. If not, back up, download a mod, unzip it then come back here. If you don't understand something here please go back and read the earlier posts, it will save you a lot of time lost in fixing problems.

 

The mod I am using as an example is called bben_test_dagger.esp it is a simple mod that only has one file to install, the .esp file.

 

If you have never installed an Oblivion mod before, please don't start with a big mod that has dozens of parts and multiple esps, esms, textures and meshes. I will cover those in a later post.

 

As I use WinXp, that is what all of my examples are based on. The mod I use for my example is available for download on Tesnexus here: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16334

 

If you are using my example file You should have an unzipped .esp named bben_test_dagger.esp

 

It has 3 files in the zip, the esp file, a readme.txt file and a picture showing the location in the game.

 

The read me contains some instructions and is not needed by the game, The picture is for your use to show you what a successful install will look like and is also not needed by the game.

 

The .esp is the file that Oblivion needs to put the mod into the game.

 

If you use WinXP (as I do) the mods go into the Oblivion Data folder it can be found here C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data

 

Copy (Don't use move) the bben_test_dagger.esp file into the Data folder. Thats it! Your mod is now installed. The next time you start Oblivion, instead of selecting Play, first select Data Files. You should see your mod with a empty box to its left. Click on the box to activate your mod. A x should appear in the box. To deactivate it, click again and it will no longer appear in your game. Once you have activated amod, Oblivion will remember and you can just go straight to 'Play' without going to the 'Data Files' first.

 

Go ahead and activate the mod and start the game. Go to the Imperial City Market District and see if the dagger is on the base of the statue in front of Edgar's Discount spells. Make sure it works properly before adding any more mods.

 

Note: Vista users may have to disable a security function known as UAC. If you have downloaded and installed, and the mod is appearing in your Data Files List, but not in your game check to see if UAC is turned on. If so. Look here for instructions on how to turn it off. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vis...-windows-vista/

 

Congratulations, you are no longer a newb. You now know how to download, unzip and install a simple mod. For more advanced mods go on to intermediate mod installation