Write a concise guide for stabilizing and fixing Oblivion?

[BFG99]

Yeah, I'm not sure I'd worry about that. I ran my mods' meshes through PyFFI a second time last night and they changed all of 70KB out of nearly 1GB. That's not enough, IMHO, to justify running them through twice. I also doubt the few files that changed could cause CTDs.

 

My guess is that those comments either related to an earlier version of PyFFI, or he was flat out wrong about the CTDs.

 

Speaking of versions - I'm using 2.2.2 because I could never get the latest version, 2.2.3, to install. How about you?

[LuxDivinity]

I have 2.2.2 version installed as well, I didn't even know there is a newer PyFFi version than this.

I remember I had some problems finding the right Python version to make it work, so I settled with Python 3.2 and 2.2.2 PyFFi.

 

Also, I just saw that I never downloaded your WEPON mod from the nexus page, but it was always part of my game every time I run the game with FCOM install, the download must have came from tesalliance. Thanks for the mod, it's a classic.

Now that it's included in OOOExtended and don't have to use standalone WEPON, I'll have to make a custom archive with BSA with Optimized Meshes and Textures, you uploaded them quite recently I see.

[BFG99]

Yes, PyFFI 2.2.3 was released at one point and as far as I can tell was the last version compatible with Oblivion. But I can't find an installer/MSI anywhere, only the resource files. As for Python, yep, 3.2.11 x64 is the highest version compatible with PyFFI - but 3.2.5 x64 is the highest version with an installer. I learned that the hard way!

 

Thanks for the kudos on WEPON! A ton of work went into it and I've been (pleasantly) surprised at its popularity. I can't take credit for anything other than the ESP file, attribute fixes, and idea though - other authors made the key part, the new weapon models and textures. Which is why the 2nd version of WEPON was never released - I could never find any armor or weapon modders willing to help me finish it. (The original plan was to have one more set of weapons and armor, which combined Deadric, Amber and Madness together and was one step above the best available in-game for quality. But without the models, there was no reason to finish that part of the mod, which is why the Jyggalag Shrine quest went unfinished. I also was thinking about a gem-plugin system like what Diablo has but didn't get too far on it.)

 

Yep, the uploaded BSA was done very recently and like you said, won't work for OOO Extended users. But if you took the original meshes/textures and ran them through PyFFI and Ordenador, there's no point to getting the BSA anyway.

 

By the way, I noticed that there is a "Mod Analyzer" utility available for Skyrim that sounds like it might do what I was describing before: search through BSAs and look for duplicate asset files. You'd still have to delete the duplicates yourself and rebuild the BSAs though, if I'm reading the documentation correctly. I left a note for the author to confirm.

Edited October 14, 2018 by BFG99

[Midaves]

Hi,

 

I tried your suggestion of unpacking all BSAs from vanilla and mods. Loose files from mods are kept in the data folder, and I tried to add the DLC BSAs and the unofficial patches together in their respective BSA (all meshes in a new Oblivion - Meshes.bsa after cleaning with pyFFI).

 

But this resulted in various missing files. When I clicked something in the menu, for example, it only had a white background, but it still had the normal fonts. I play with darnified UI. I used BSA creator from OBMM for all commands. I archive invalidated them all afterwards, as well with OBMM.

 

Do you have any idea what I might be doing wrong? Do you have a dummy-proof guide for extracting the BSAs and zipping them together again? Much appreciated!

 

I've been trying to fix a crash around Weye for days now. I've followed Bevilex graphical guide and the Oblivion Ultimate Modding guide for gameplay changes, such as OOO and MOO. If you have tips for troubleshooting errors, those could help as well.

[BFG99]

Iâm afraid I have zero experience with OBMM (I prefer managing mods manually), so my help will be limited!

 

My first suggestion would be to try ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated, if you are not using it already. Second would be to make sure all BSAs you still have either exactly match the names listed in the Oblivion INI fileâs registration, or exactly match the name of an ESP file that is active (not just Bashed via Wrye). Third thought is that you had a corrupt BSA or OBMM did not unzip it correctly.

 

Regarding the Weye crash, there are a lot of things that could cause it. The fastest way to troubleshoot is to turn off one or two mods at a time and see if it still crashes. When you get to a point that it no longer crashes, you know a mod you just turned off is causing a problem - either it IS the problem, or itâs conflicting with another one. From there try some of the below.

 

Other general tips:

âAlways use unofficial patches.

âUse PyFFI and Ordenador religiously.

âAlways use BOSS to sort mods in the right order, and TES4Edit to clean every single mod (unless BOSS says not to clean).

âWrye Bash. But make sure you know what you are doing.

â Other good appa: LandMagic, TES4LL, BSAOpt, TES4LODGen.

âAlways check the Nexus for updated mods, patches from other authors, and the like.

âUse common sense. If two mods are centered in Weye then you canât use them both simultaneously, unless you have a âcompatibility patchâ.

âThe aforementioned dump-almost-everything-into-Data should help.

â Back everything up before you make major changes!

â Do NOT replace the Heap on Oblivion Stutter Remover if you use it. Also turn HookCriticalSections off. The Heap does improve speed but also increases instability, no matter what settings you use. The HookCriticalSections is known to cause problems with combat sounds and other things.

â Use ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated, Engine Fixes, Elysâ Universal Voice, and either Stutter Remover or Fast Exit. All require OBSE.

â Donât use Operation Optimization. Not sure about Streamline or apps written for Skyrim.

â Sometimes the source of a crash isnât obvious, so good luck. Only recently, I learned that when a Shambles is knocked down in SI, its get-back-up animation can cause an instant crash. Thatâs not even fixed in the Unofficial SI Patch.

[leonardo2]

What about something like alt3rn1ty's Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide ... the downloads are annotated screenshots.

That and TES Cosi has a lot of stuff, collected over the years. IIRC, don't bother reading this wiki since most stuff is outdated.

[BFG99]

Something like the Wrye Bash guide would make a lot of sense and is like what I was thinking about. However, I spoke to a moderator and they got away with that guide only because of the INI files they posted for it. I doubt I would have any such tweaks. Plus, I am not convinced there are enough people still playing Oblivion to justify trying. Maybe if I had started a year or two sooner...

 

I wasnât aware of the Cosi site though - thanks! And yes as far as general wikis go, Iâd only trust UESP.

Edited October 17, 2018 by BFG99

[leonardo2]

Plus, I am not convinced there are enough people still playing Oblivion to justify trying. Maybe if I had started a year or two sooner...

Really? So, you're not a fan of playing Oblivion. :tongue:

[BFG99]

Heh, touche! Edited October 18, 2018 by BFG99