YELLOW Triangles and exclamation marks!!

[SunWolf]

hi. i installed a bunch of mods. made sure they were ordered well, and installed all files and mesh and texture folders properly in the data folder. Everything works great, except there are these huge yellow triangles on all kinds of objects. usually almost always on houses and structures like that. What can i do to get rid of them? I read here: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index...clamation_Marks

 

that it could be corrected by changing the oblivion.ini file. but i dont really understand what the person is saying to actually do. can someone please help me out by being a little more specific?

 

thanks a bunch!

[Jntk]

the yellow triangle with the ! in it means that your missing meshes/textures. what mods did you install?

[bben46]

Oblivion uses those yellow blocks as place holders for meshes that it can't find.

 

That explanation on the WIKI that you reference is not the right one for your problem.

 

Yellow block with an exclamation point in it

 

This is probably the most common problem in mods. It is caused when the game cannot find the mesh called for by a mod. It uses the yellow block as a placeholder to keep from crashing.

 

All except the simplest mods have new textures and usually Meshes. If you look at the zipped files (expand them to see what is there before installing) you will usually see several types of files. The filename.esp is the actual mod, it goes into the Oblivion\Data folder.

 

A filname.txt or Readme.txt file - this is the read me file that you should read to see if there are any special instructions for this file, such as it may need another mod to work or need OBSE, or need the Shivering Isles expansion, or Need the latest patch.

 

Textures folder. this contains the texture files (.dds) for the mod. this should be copied to the Oblivion\data\textures folder

Meshes folder. This contains the meshes for the mod, it should be copied to the Oblivion\data\meshes folder

Sounds folder. This contains any new sounds needed by the mod. it should be copied into the Oblivion\data\sounds folder

 

.bsa files these are compressed files that may contain all of the different files. Any .bsa file should be copied without change into the Oblivion\data folder

 

There may be other files or folders included, but those are the most common.

 

If you look in the Oblivion/data folder and see a bunch of .dds files, .nif files, .mp3 files they are in the wrong place. You need to MOVE them to the proper folders.

.dds to the textures folder

.nif to the meshes folder

.mp3 to the sounds folder

.wav to the sounds folder

 

In a mod with meshes and textures, they are usually in their own folder - look in the zipped file, extract the meshes folder to the Oblivion\data\meshes folder and the textures folder to the Oblivion\data\textures folder. Do the same with any other folder in the zipped file. Usually only the esp file goes into the \Data folder

[myrmaad]

Just a quick thought to add to the excellent advice you've been given:

 

Many unzipping programs "keep the file structure" when they copy over to your Oblivion data file.. What that means is inside the data folder you'll have another folder named data.

 

Check that first. you should NEVER have a folder named data inside your data folder.

 

your missing meshes and textures could very well be in the second data folder.

 

Instead of keeping the file structure always "merge" the files so that the new textures files and new meshes files will MERGE into the original textures and meshes folders.

 

An example of the Default File structure, only One Data Folder.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c117/SeaBlossom/otherstuff/oblivion/defaultfilestructure.jpg

 

 

Secondly, if you have used a different directory other than the default as in the above example, some mods hard code the locations to the default directory. which should be a nono but they do it.

 

if this is the problem it can be fixed with Nifskope.

[SunWolf]

".bsa files these are compressed files that may contain all of the different files. Any .bsa file should be copied without change into the Oblivion\data folder"

 

so if i put the esp, and all the meshes and texture folders in as well as the bsa file from a mod into the data folder is that wrong? should i have only put in the bsa file?

[bben46]

If the mod has a .bsa, Yes it goes into the data folder unchanged. bsa is Bethesda's own compressed file type and is used as is by the game. Usually if a mod has a .bsa, it doesn't have any meshes or textures - they are all contained inside the bsa.

 

However, if there are meshes (.nif) or textures (.dds) files, they need to be put in the appropriate sub folders or the game will not be able to find them. Often thes folders are sub sub folders for example, mod xyz will be downloaded in a zipped format such as 7-zip (xyz.7z) when it is opened, you find the following files.

 

xyz.esp this is the mod itself. it always goes in the data folder

xyz.bsa if it has this, it also goes into the data folder

a folder called meshes - copy this to data\meshes. it should create a new sub folder inside the Oblivion\data\meshes folder called xyz that contains all of the mesh files.

a folder called textures - copy this to data\textures

any other folders - copy them to their appropriate sub folder in \data

Often there will be jpeg files, thse are pictures and are probably not needed.

A read me file. You should read this, but it does not need to be copied anywhere.

 

If you are using OMODs, they install differently - read the instructions that come with OBMM about how to install your mod as an OMOD.

[SunWolf]

so, should i re-open the compressed files, (i saved all of them). then move them all over again? another question, when certain meshes and texture files ask if i should override do i say yes, no, or the other option which keeps both and renames the newer one _____(2)?

 

currently i have removed most of the yelllow things on the building structures, but there are a few left. all i had to do was remove better cities mod....

[bben46]

When you are installing a mod, always answer 'Yes to All' when it asks if you want to overwrite. This is where it replaces any other textures and meshes with the same name - that is what allows the game to use the new ones you are trying to install.

 

I am glad to see you are keeping the original compressed files. That makes it easier to see what you need to uninstall if you ever want to completely remove a mod. As well as making it easy to reinstall the mod.

[SunWolf]

I am still having trouble with the Yellow diamonds with the exclamation mark in it. they are huge and so distracting. They are only on building structures and only show at evening and night times. I disabled mods that affect night and buildings (better cities mod) and all i could think of and still it remains..... if i re-install the game, but keep the mods, will the problem go away?

[bben46]

If your missing meshes are only on buildings and only at night, that leads me to think they might be the fire in a lantern or some other light source. Look to see if there is a lantern or something there in daylight. It's possible one of your mods changes the fire mesh in some lanterns.

 

If you do decide to reinstall, please read my recommended uninstall and reinstall procedure. It leaves you with a clean install, and a back up clean install, plus the ability to put all mods and saves back. Then take them out again by switching to the backup clean install.

 

 

When you uninstall Oblivion it doesn't really uninstall everything. Then when you start adding mods before you have started the game, some things may not get initialized properly. Here is my recommended procedure for uninstalling and reinstalling.

 

It does not remove your mods, save games or Oblivion.ini. It also does not remove helper programs such as OBSE, OBMM, Wrye Bash, The construction set or any other programs you have installed in the \Oblivion folder or the save game folder. I recommend that you go ahead and delete them, then re download and install the latest version of them again later. After you have verified that the game works.

 

I would appreciate any feedback on this as it is something I expect to post often and I hate to give bogus or useless information.

 

Uninstalling Oblivion

 

My instructions assume you are using Windows XP and have installed Oblivion into the default location. If you are using Vista or Linux, the file locations may be different, however, the procedure will be thae same.

 

For a full reinstall, first you can try to preserve your mods and save games. I recomend that you save them in a new folder with a new name. Create the new folder in C:\Program files\Bethesda Softewrks. Name it Old Files. So it will be C:\Program Files\Bethesda softworks\Old files.

 

Then copy the data folder where your mods are to the new folder - do not erase them, copy them. And in the new folder, rename the \data folder to \olddata. Then copy and rename the folder that has your saved games and Oblivion.ini, C:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\My Games\oblivion to something like \My games\Old Oblivion - this saves your saved games and the oblivion.ini file.

 

Then, using the original CD, NOT the Launcher on your Hard drive. Select uninstall.

 

After it completes the uninstall, reboot your computer - this is important as it allows Windows to remove some references to the original Oblivion.

 

This would be the time to erase all of the helper programs you have in the \Oblivion folder. Such as OBMM, OBSE and some others. The simplest way is to erase the folder completely. The new install will re create the folder for you along with a fresh oblivion.ini and when you start the game and make a save, a new save folder and new \data folder.

 

This would also be a good time to do a file clean up and defragment your hard drive.

 

If you are worried about the registry entries that were left behind. There are several good programs for removing left behind entries. The one I use is ccleaner. Be sure to reboot before using it, and again after. It is available here: http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

 

 

Now to Reinstall.

 

Again using the original CD, install Oblivion.

 

Before adding any mods, patches, helper programs, Shivering Isles or anything else, start the game and make a save. This initializes some stuff that needs to be initialized.

 

If you are using the Game of the Year version of Oblivion you should not need any patches, skip the patching part.

 

Now, If you DO NOT use Shivering Isles, patch the game using ONLY the latest Oblivion patch. All of the stuff from the earlier patches is included.

 

Be sure you use the proper language patch. If you use the wrong one it may work, but with a strange mixture of languages. (Germanglish?) Or it may crash.

 

NOTE: there are two English Patches UK & US and they are different. (Some people actually think we speak the same language) Use the one that matches your original disk.

 

If you use Shivering Isles, Install it now. DO NOT install the Oblivion patch. Install Shivering Isles, then ONLY the latest Shivering Isles patch. All of the updates for Oblivion are included. There is only one Shivering Isles patch for both US & UK English

 

Now, again start the game and make a save. Test to be sure everything is working right (No purple objects or yellow blocks)

 

Before adding any mods, back up both your \data folder and the save game folder. Copy them, don't move or rename them, to a different folder - such as \Bethesda\Clean Oblivion\data and \Bethesda\clean Oblivion\saves. Note that this is a different folder than the one used for your old data and saves.

 

Note, Your Oblivion.ini file is in the same folder, but separate from, the save game folder.

 

Now, if you want to try to run with your old mods, first rename the original folders. The \data folder to \newdata and the \oldata back to \data. this restores all of your mods. You should now have 2 data folders \data, and \newdata in your \oblivion folder

 

To restore your original saves and ini file, rename the new My Games\Oblivion to something like \New Oblivion. and the \Old oblivion to \oblivion - this restores all of your saved games and your original Oblivion.ini file.

 

DO NOT erase the files you renamed. These are your backup files in case the original mods do not work or give you the same problem.

 

If you have the same problem, it is most likely caused by a mod. However, you now have a clean install to fall back on. You can rename the files back to what they were and be back to your clean install without having to reinstall again.

 

Sounds like lots of work, but you will have a clean install and a back up clean install when you are finished.

 

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