Need help for clean start

[Rheel]

Hello, i'm new here. First thing, sorry my english isn't perfect :(

 

I played the game long ago, maybe 2 years but i dont remember well.

I didn't play it much since i was in MMO games, so i've just buy every official plug-in and addon (hopping for some fixes on the ridiculously huge amount of bugs in the original game)

 

After hours of reading these past few days, i decided to try modding my game. So i started downloading and testing various stuff like a crazy man, and came to realise that this modding stuff is a real jungle like it was back in the Morrowind old days.

I mean, the rating system can't be trusted since people put a "10" on every single file, not considerating how much it improve the game content or experience. never seen that much "awesome" or "best mod ever"... not very helpful.

 

Anyway, so far i've tried (and i'll use) these mods and utilities:

- Oblivion, S.I. and all the plug-in

- Exnem EC and Hentai Gentlemen EC

- Robert male body replacer (v4 if i remember correctly)

- OBSE (needed for some Mod)

- OBMM

- Unofficial patch (for oblivion, SI, and the plugin)

- Lost Paladins of the Divines, The Lost Spires

- DarNified UI 1.31, coloured enemy health with a little tweak in the oblivion.ini that just work fine

- DMC Stylish 2.1 Specialanims, Mayu race Idles, Stylish jump.

- Deadly Reflex

- Trollf mods (maybe later for sreenshots): Actors in charge, actors in emotions and actors in madness

- and some other mods that shouldnt cause any trouble, like Reneer's Training Mod, Improved Signs, some weapon/armor mods, etc...

 

I've tried them all but due to activating/desactivating them (with OBMM) i experienced some bud, lost some NPC voices and texture.

 

I wonder if combinate HGEC and Robert male body replacer is alright ?

Is there any mod that add only hair style (working with HGEC of course) ? i want to avoid custom race if possible, but if not, what races would be better for getting as most hair as possible (corean i guess, but what else ?)

I dont know if Qarl's texture pack is the best choice for improving the game graphics, is it really that necessary ? anything better ?

Also CM partner seems to be the best companion mods so is there good conpanion created for this mod ?

I'm still looking for good animation for combat moves, so if you know some i'm really interested.

 

If i missed some essential mods, thanks for telling me, either way i'm still digging in the TES nexus database

 

i won't use overhaul things like OOO or MMM (until i beat the game i guess)

 

I plan to follow this to order files anyway:

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

Thanks for answering, i'd appreciate help (2 years of modding is really something hard to investigate)

[MPalmz]

I'm in the EXACT same position. Played Oblivion fairly vanilla about 2 years ago and boy have things changed. The modding community is insane, and despite the good organization here at Nexus, it's a complete jungle with all kinds of mods, their partial variants, and other mods that make the originals incompatible. Like you I'm looking for some core mods that I'll load into every new start, and then i can experiment with some of the overhauls and animations and such.

 

I'm almost exactly like you for mod preference too, although I may choose HGEC instead of Exnems, but I'm unsure. I'm also unsure about environmental mods, city textures, de-tilers and such, and how they'll interfere with one another, especially if I add an overhaul at some point.

 

Please, please let me know when you come up with a suitable load order, and what mods you end up using OMOD, or other utilities to integrate. PM me any time.

 

 

Cheers, and good luck.

[dezdimona]

ok this is from Bben a moderator here:

 

When you uninstall Oblivion it doesn't really uninstall everything.

 

It does not remove your mods, save games or Oblivion.ini or the entries that the original install placed in your Windows registry. 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.If you can't (or don't want to) remove them, move them into a different folder before removing the Oblivion folders.

 

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.

 

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 the same.

 

For a full reinstall, first you can try to preserve your mods and save games. I recommend that you save them in a new folder with a new name. Create the new folder in C:\Program files\Bethesda Softworks. 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.

 

Special instructions for Vista only: Do not install to the default location - make a new folder such as C:\Games and install there. That way you will not be bothered by the problems caused by the Vista UAC security not allowing mods to work.

 

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.

 

 

LOAD ORDER: Dezdimona

General Load-Order Guidelines

 

 

Here are the guidelines that I adhere to, personally.

 

~ Unofficial Oblivon Patch should always be first on the list. The fixes are great, but most aren't essential, so if a mod overwrites them its not a big deal, and the fixes have the potential for screwing up other mods if loaded later.

 

~ Offical Content (DLC's) should be loaded last, until you complete all quests associated with them (that includes buying all furniture for the houses and whatnot). Once they're complete, they can be safely moved up in the list. This is especially important for Knights of the Nine, which will have some fairly major problems unless loaded last (unless you get the UOP for KotN)

 

~ Major overhaul mods (OOO, Frans, MMM) should be loaded near the end. That gives you the most complete experience with any of those particular mods. It also lets you carefully choose which other mods to load afterwards... only move mods that you know will conflict and that you want the changes from. For example, I have Improved Soul Gems below OOO because I know that OOO changes the icons of some of the SG's, and ISG needs to be below to show through.

 

Some people will recommend putting larger mods first, but personally I disagree. There are a number of mods out there that make minor tweaks, and loading after a large mod will end up completely overwriting a chunk from one of the bigger mods because of the way conflicts work in Oblivion (even one minor change will take precedence over the entire record... for example, simply tweaking the speed of a weapon can cause every stat of that weapon to be retained to vanilla levels if loaded later).

 

So basically, it stacks up like this...

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Minor Mods / DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mod/Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

 

 

 

Expanded Load-Order Guidelines

by dev_akm

 

I would extend this to include:

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

And a special-case warning for Knights.esp (Knights of the Nine) -- you may not be able to move it earlier than some other mods (some people have had problems after moving it before OOO, for example).

 

That's basically the structure I use and I have 140+ mods working well together.

 

Another way of describing this (posted by DMan77):

....

Oblivion

unoffical patch

Deeper realism mods that add sights and sounds

added content like weapons/items

gameplay changes, like 'must eat and sleep'

The OOO type

the 'new begining' type mod..

...

[MPalmz]

That is flippin' wicked.

 

I haven't been around these forums enough to know if stuff like that should be stickied, but I think this late in Oblivion's lifecycle and with so-unbelievably-many mods out there, I think a lot of people returning to the game are looking for a fresh start, and a lot of people will want this info.

 

BTW - about load order. If you are not using a mod manager like OBMM, does the load order happen literally in the order that you check the esm boxes? Of course any mesh, texture, shader etc. files overwrite each other so that is critical for load order. But do certain .esp's overwrite others when "checked" first or will they simply conflict? I have a feeling that's a dumb question since I haven't played Oblivion in at least 16-18 months.

[Rheel]

Sorry for the late answer, and thanks for the big help, i wont be able to re-install before a few days since i'm not currently home, but i'll let you know how things did go.

 

I haven't been around these forums enough to know if stuff like that should be stickied, but I think this late in Oblivion's lifecycle and with so-unbelievably-many mods out there, I think a lot of people returning to the game are looking for a fresh start, and a lot of people will want this info.

 

i think the same way, there are a lot of different mod for the same result but it's pretty hard to follow the ones not conflicting with one and other, since the elder scroll community it's very prolific (not sure if the word is right ^^). So many many good Mod !

 

@dezdimona

From your explanation, it seems i did quite right. I just wanna say that using OBMM is a good thing exept that it cant undo change that implies rewrite of some files like texture, meshes, etc..., seems obvious now (<-- eternal nawbie inside), but i guess i was a little to excited, so i'll back up as you suggested.

Thanks again.

[dezdimona]

That is flippin' wicked.

 

I haven't been around these forums enough to know if stuff like that should be stickied, but I think this late in Oblivion's lifecycle and with so-unbelievably-many mods out there, I think a lot of people returning to the game are looking for a fresh start, and a lot of people will want this info.

 

BTW - about load order. If you are not using a mod manager like OBMM, does the load order happen literally in the order that you check the esm boxes? Of course any mesh, texture, shader etc. files overwrite each other so that is critical for load order. But do certain .esp's overwrite others when "checked" first or will they simply conflict? I have a feeling that's a dumb question since I haven't played Oblivion in at least 16-18 months.

 

they won't overwrite unless there a big mod,and then load order is critical as last one loaded will take precedense over the precedeing ones.

I would recommend OBMM, its easy to convert 7zip to omods and set your load order.It will also notify you of conflicts.

[bben46]

If you are not using OBMM, and rely on the list in the game 'data' when you start, then they are not in load order and cannot be reordered. OBMM is the simplest way to get a true load order listing, and to change the load order if needed. And, there are many more benefits to OBMM than I have space to describe here.

 

When there is a simple difference between mods, such as the color of an object, the mod loaded later will rule and should have no effect in game play. (does it matter if a robe is red or blue?) It will still show up as a conflict in OBMM though. Problem type conflicts occur when a later mod changes something that an earlier mod needs to work properly, Like overwriting a piece of real estate that contains a door you need. Sometimes, changing the load order can fix this type of conflict to make the game work. although sometimes it still might not work.

[Rheel]

If you are not using OBMM, and rely on the list in the game 'data' when you start, then they are not in load order and cannot be reordered.

 

Argh ! No clue about that. Thanks.

 

So i guess i'll spent lots of time turning some mods into OMOD files... The path to Oblivion is such an harsh one.

[dezdimona]

If you are not using OBMM, and rely on the list in the game 'data' when you start, then they are not in load order and cannot be reordered.

 

Argh ! No clue about that. Thanks.

 

So i guess i'll spent lots of time turning some mods into OMOD files... The path to Oblivion is such an harsh one.

If you have any more problems you know where to ask for help! :biggrin:

[SkylaJin]

Question 1: is it ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to convert all mods into OMOD files?