Problems with The Path of Dawn

[rjfsky]

Hi everyone!

Hope you can help me with this.
So since the first quest in the imperial prison sewers my game has been glitchy. I got many CTDs when approaching the emperor and his blade bodyguards but through persistence I managed to get to the end of the quest where the emperor was laying dead on the ground. Now, Baurus has been a glitchy character from the beginning, first he didn't follow the emperor through the tunnels so I had to move him next to the Emperor's body with the "moveto player" command. Once next to the body he wouldn't recognise it and just kept healing himself. It was only after I shot an arrow at him that he came back to his script and recognised the emperors body, giving me the key so I could finish the quest.

Now, fastforward a few quests and adventures and I'm trying to do The Path of Dawn quest, where I'm supposed to meet the Sponsor to get the v4 of Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes. And there is Baurus, and he is glitchy again. After we kill the agent that had been following him, he just frose there and wouldn't proceed to the elven gardens sewer. I searched on the net and someone suggested to use the command "disable" and "placeatme (Baurus ref)" which made Baurus respawn in full blade's armor but proceed with the quest.
After going through the sewers and finally reaching the point where I have to choose either to meet the sponsor myself or to cover Baurus from the passage on the top I get two different glitches:

1. If I choose to cover Baurus, he sits on the chair but the Sponsor NEVER shows up.
2. If I choose to meet the sponsor , as soon as I sit on the chair my game CTD

I sincerely hope someone out there can help me with this, as I'm enjoying a lot playing a modded version of Oblivion but often times it makes me wonder if it's worth it with all the troubles I'm going through. By all means I'm not a experienced modder, I don't even consider myself an amateur one.

Here's my modlist in its respective Load Order:

• 00 Oblivion.esm [CRC: 2FF840C5]

• 01 Jog_X_Mod.esm [CRC: C7C58B41]

• 02 Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm [Version 1.5.10] [CRC: 0981E8C0]

• 03 Fundament.esm [Version ision] [CRC: 56AE9AB7]

• 04 Progress.esm [Version 2.2] [CRC: C2F22F8B]

• 05 CustomSpellIcons.esm [CRC: 902BF62E]

• 06 Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp [Version 3.5.6] [CRC: BBFBF53A]

• 07 UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp [Version 1.0.0] [CRC: A57A5DAC]

• ++ Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp [CRC: E1CC0647]

• 08 DLCShiveringIsles.esp [CRC: 2BB84977]

• 09 Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp [Version 1.5.9] [CRC: 19ADA30F]

• 0A GOSH.esp [CRC: 98C6F03A]

• 0B GOSH Region Ambiance.esp [CRC: EE864273]

• 0C 00 Realistic Player Speech.esp [CRC: 06B037D8]

• 0D Enhanced Economy.esp [Version 5.4.3] [CRC: D3A5CA4B]

• 0E BetterSaves.esp [CRC: E1039E7B]

• 0F DarNifiedUI Config Addon.esp [CRC: 6F14751D]

• 10 kuerteeCleanUp.esp [CRC: 6A1C7A0F]

• 11 Dynamic Map.esp [Version 2.1.1] [CRC: D538B7E2]

• 12 Enhanced Hotkeys.esp [Version 2.3.1] [CRC: 93154947]

• 13 DLCHorseArmor.esp [CRC: BAD48E5D]

• 14 DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.9] [CRC: C5A61F9E]

• 15 DLCOrrery.esp [CRC: 5BC59DB4]

• 16 DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.7] [CRC: FCF99B11]

• 17 DLCVileLair.esp [CRC: 74D2CA6F]

• 18 DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.11] [CRC: 84ABAB20]

• 19 DLCMehrunesRazor.esp [CRC: CB413740]

• 1A DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.7] [CRC: FDD28667]

• 1B DLCSpellTomes.esp [CRC: 312156F8]

• ++ DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.1] [CRC: 3AE29795]

• 1C PTArtifacts.esp [CRC: 82EAD742]

• ++ Weapon Improvement Project.esp [Version 1.9] [CRC: DBA7F1BC]

• 1D Weapons Of Morrowind.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: 4173492C]

• 1E DLCThievesDen.esp [CRC: 05DB8CCC]

• 1F DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.15] [CRC: F7685DB5]

• 20 DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp [Version 1.0.14] [CRC: F8731FE7]

• 21 Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp [Version 1.5.10] [CRC: BED082EE]

• 22 Hunting and Wildlife Expansion.esp [CRC: E38F650C]

• 23 Fighters Guild Quests.esp [CRC: 7BBB46E5]

• 24 Mages Guild Quests.esp [CRC: AEB59AE7]

• 25 thievery.esp [CRC: D5951BC9]

• 26 DLCBattlehornCastle.esp [CRC: 7048C609]

• 27 DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.12] [CRC: 1F6B40D8]

• 28 DLCFrostcrag.esp [CRC: 2A7665FB]

• 29 DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.0.10] [CRC: 7835C46D]

• 2A Knights.esp [CRC: F1F478FA]

• 2B Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp [Version 1.1.8] [CRC: CCDA5239]

• 2C Oblivion Uncut.esp [CRC: 009EB2BF]

• 2D Oblivion Uncut - OOO Adaptation.esp [Version 1.4] [CRC: FDE39F50]

• 2E SM Plugin Refurbish(Merged).esp [Version 1.30] [CRC: 0DE2D83B]

• 2F The Lost Spires.esp [CRC: 5B6ADFB3]

• 30 DarkBrotherhoodChronicles.esp [Version 1.2.6] [CRC: C560027F]

• 31 ImpeREAL Empire - Unique Forts.esp [CRC: 82D86B94]

• 32 Better Dungeons.esp [CRC: F6E3D7C4]

• 33 Birthsign Zero.esp [CRC: 00333A5F]

• ++ Enemy Weapons dont drop.esp [CRC: 92CF7048]

• 34 GMArcheryRebalance.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: BE9C9119]

• 35 Myserious Bear's Epic Necromancy.esp [CRC: FB7F2E6E]

• 36 RefScope.esp [Version 2.1.2] [CRC: 09E4EE27]

• 37 RshAlchemy.esp [CRC: 228D44DF]

• ++ RshAlchemy - AVU.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: 9603AA05]

• 38 RshAlchemyRecipes.esp [CRC: 4FB2F06E]

• 39 IThieveryRaise.esp [CRC: 526F4472]

• 3A ActorValueUncapper_Example.esp [CRC: 1B99E3BA]

• 3B Bundlement.esp [Version ision] [CRC: 31E02BF3]

• 3C ProgressGSD.esp [Version 2.0] [CRC: FD2D4BDB]

• 3D ProgressMBSP.esp [Version 2.0] [CRC: 0259F308]

• 3E ProgressSBSP.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: FF8856A3]

• 3F ProgressRBSP.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: 8C91AC98]

• 40 ProgressRacial.esp [CRC: 62F0F4D5]

• 41 ProgressArmorer.esp [Version 1.0] [CRC: BD769C50]

• 42 JCN_AV Uncap.esp [Version 1.01] [CRC: 282078EA]

• 43 Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp [Version 2.0] [CRC: 132EEADF]

• ++ OCO DLC Faces.esp [CRC: 63F0C0DC]

• 44 bgMagicEV.esp [Version 1.7EV] [CRC: 9BC3012B]

• ++ bgMagicSpellTomes_for_WryeBash.esp [Version 1.68EV] [CRC: 574DE475]

• ++ bgMagicItemSigil.esp [Version 1.68EV] [CRC: 4B6D0435]

• ++ bgMagicEVStartspells.esp [Version 1.68EV] [CRC: 45372624]

• 45 bgMagicBonus.esp [Version 1.7EV] [CRC: A5261C90]

• ++ bgMagicEVAddEnVar.esp [Version 1.68EV] [CRC: 3B46F6D6]

• 46 bgMagicEVPaperChase.esp [Version 1.68EV] [CRC: 6DC9FA83]

• 47 bgMagicAlchemy.esp [Version 1.57] [CRC: 10E8EA45]

• 48 TRAP.esp [CRC: 29FCD775]

• 49 Birthsigns Expanded.esp [CRC: 976C3606]

• • • bgMagicEVShader.esp [Version 1.7EV] [CRC: 4887705A]

• ++ bgMagicShaderLifeDetect.esp [Version 1.68] [CRC: 5CF9A723]

• 4A bgMagicLightningbolt.esp [CRC: B8B3BF6E]

• 4B Bashed Patch, 0.esp [CRC: F3737F39]

• 4C Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul.esp [Version 4.9.3] [CRC: CA9EBC66]

I've been using Wrye Bash as my manager.

Also, every now and then, after I die and have to Load a game, I get a Crash with the following message:

"Runtime Error!

Program:C:\Games...

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information."

This doesn't bother me THAT much, I'm just mentioning it in case it will help you solve my problem.
I have uninstalled a few mods since I started playing (mainly Vanilla combat enhanced, Vampyre overhaul, and Curse of Hircine Ressurected), as I'm running it on a low-end laptop, again, just metioning it in case it helps you all.

Thanks in advance for your help and for taking the time to assist me in my quest noble community!

TL;DR: Game crashes in the Path of Dawn Quest, Baurus is glitchy from day one.

 

[Striker879]

What are you using to sort your load order?

[rjfsky]

What are you using to sort your load order?

I'm currently using BOSS to sort my load order.

[Striker879]

OK ... that is what I would have suggested if you had been using some other method. You have quite a few mods in your load order I'm not familiar with, so I don't have much I could offer from a mod conflict perspective.

 

Something that did jump out at me when I was looking through the UESP Wiki for Oblivion:The Path of Dawn is something from down in the Bugs section:

 

"If you dawdle before reporting to Baurus after procuring Volume 3, he may come and find you instead, and his range extends even outside the Imperial City. This can prove annoying, as you will be forced to manually travel with Baurus the entire way back to the sewers. Using fast travel to speed up the journey will not work, as Baurus does not follow you. More annoying still is the possibility that Baurus will get stuck. If you meet him outside the Imperial City, he may not be able to figure out how to get back. This fatally crashes the main storyline."

 

I'm not suggesting that this is how you wound up in the spot you are in, more pointing out that he is one source of getting painted into a corner that offers no escape. I'm wondering if the advice to disable him and then placeatme him has you firmly into that corner. A quote from the UESP Wiki for the placeatme console command Oblivion:Console:

 

"This command should not be used for unique NPCs"

 

The reference ID for the Baurus you now have in the game is not the same as the refID for the original Baurus, and though I haven't examined the quest script for The Path of Dawn I'm fairly confident it will be looking for the old Baurus not your new guy.

 

As to why he was glitchy at the very start I can't offer much, as my intuition says mod conflict but even I don't put much stock on my intuition.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Striker879

[rjfsky]

Yes, the different Baurus references makes complete sense to me. The thing is, I can only make the Baurus with blade armor spawn, as he doesn't recognize the reference for the other Baurus.

I'll try to make it work by restarting the quest from before killing his follower and somehow try to manage him to perform his script without disabling him, just as I did on the first quest.

 

I haven't cleaned or performed anything that BOSS suggests on the report. Should I look into it?

Edited March 30, 2019 by rjfsky

[rjfsky]

An by the way thank you so much for taking the time to try and solve my issue!

[Striker879]

I'm generally not a big "clean everything that can't hide quickly enough" type myself, but if you have mods other than the DLCs that's where I'd start if I was going down that road. If some of those mods that BOSS suggests cleaning were also ones that seem as possible candidates for interfering with Baurus I'd have a good point to start cleaning one at a time and testing how Baurus behaves on a test run new game.

I've never had any issues with him myself, beyond the documented problem stemming from an old alternate start mod I'm using in my current guy's game, and those problems were all related to the tutorial quest stages not properly triggering (so then Baurus wouldn't get his next stage either). It was simple to resolve by setting the appropriate quest stage at the appropriate spots using the console.

Which leads me to another thought ... if you have your saves from when Baurus first started acting up in the tutorial dungeon you could do a series of console "getstage MQ01" and compare the result to the UESP Wiki page Oblivion:Tutorial. Might give some insight into what is happening (that is how I found the exact place the alt start mod was chocking on and that gave me the necessary quest stages to bump through the problem).

[rjfsky]

Here's what I did:

I restarted the quest and got through the sewers by using the moveto player command on Baurus. He of course glitches when it was time to give me the option of either meeting the sponsor or covering him. After some waiting and reloading the game he finally unglitched and went inside to meet the guy. I let the mythic dawn kill him and so, I shouldn't have any problems with him anymore.

 

So everything is sorted I guess, except for the runtime crash when I'm loading a game. Would you have any guesses on that?

 

Thank you so much for your help throughout this. I really appreciate it.

[Striker879]

I'm not real well versed on diagnosing crashes. To me that appears as a generic Windows generated crash dialogue, which in general have zero useful information (for me anyway).

 

In my own game I was a pretty regular crash on exit guy, but those have become quite rare these days since I've started using the OBSE plugin EngineBugFixes (version 1.7 had the most effective combination of exit crash fixes for me).

 

It includes a wide variety of fixes and may be worth a try.

 

Back to Baurus ... you may need to give him some further "moveto help" if you want him along for the big battle at Bruma or the finale in the Imperial City (or leave him chillin' at Cloudruler so he doesn't get hurt).

 

- Edit - Ohh ... I just reread what you posted. Remind me to not count on you to have my back (poor Baurus).

 

If you want to try getting the original Baurus back using the console do this:

 

prid 32a17

enable

resurrect 1

moveto player

 

If all goes well he should just head off to Cloudruler. If you don't want him running into a mess with somebody he can't handle on the way there, but don't feel like babysitting him all the way there it's:

 

setessential 23f2a 1

 

He'll then be essential (unkillable), which is one less thing to fret about while you're trying to keep Martin alive later on.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Striker879

[rjfsky]

Hahaha it wasn't my fault! Part of his glitch was that he had very very low health at all times and couldn't heal himself, and neither could I. So he took one hit from the mythic dawn and died.

 

I'll try reviving him near cloudruler temple my only fear is that he comes back glitchy. I'll ressurect him and see how he does.

Thanks for all the help and all the thoughts and hints! You are the real MVP!