Oblivion Mod Install Help

[Theme57]

I am running win 8 and I have followed the guidelines for how to install oblivion mods, but fore some reason when I click the data file on the oblivion screen I only see the content that comes with Oblivion Deluxe Edition. I got this off of steam and cant figure out the issue. I have the files in Common/Oblivion/Data but still nothing :(

 

Also being a new oblivion guy what are the recommended mods? I head OBMM, OBSE and some other mods that allow a more colorful startup screen, map and larger area to scroll when in the inventory.

[Striker879]

First off get your game installed and working correctly. Follow the recommendations in Bben46's wiki article Oblivion reinstall procedure. Don't miss the link near the top of the page about moving your Steam install location, and don't neglect the registry cleaning step ... it's important.

 

Once you get the game installed in C:\Games start a new game and create a character. Go through the tutorial dungeon up to the part where you can see the sewer exit in the distance (just before you get the character finalization menus). Make a save using the Esc menu (never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files, and always save in a new slot ... never overwrite a save). This save prior to the sewer exit will come in handy if you ever start a new character but don't feel like doing the whole tutorial again. Exit the sewer and make another save (this one will come in handy for continuing your game after installing mods). Go to the Imperial City Market District and make another save (this will be your mod testing save). Then start adding mods one at a time, using your Market District save to test how it impacts your game (and quite often the armor/clothes mods will add their items to a container in the Market District).

 

Slow always turns out faster when modding Oblivion. Take a look at the threads here with people needing help to get the game to run after they've added a whole bunch of mods at once. If you add one mod and the game stops working it's pretty easy to figure out where to start troubleshooting.

 

Most Oblivion mods will install best either using Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) or manually installing (if you are good at picking up new stuff then Wrye Bash and it's BAIN installer are the way to go ... just be prepared for a bit of a steep learning curve). In general Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) has trouble installing all but the simplest Oblivion mods (unless you know how to reorganize the mod's files and folders in a manner that NMM can understand). Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) is a requirement for many of the more recent Oblivion mods, so it's a good idea to get it installed right off the bat. There are specific instructions for the Steam compatible version of OBSE (read the readme). Also if your Steam version of the game includes Shivering Isles (SI) then make sure you get it installed right at the start (a fair number of mods require it as well). Not sure how the Steam version of the game handles it, but I know with the disk version you can't add SI after you've installed Oblivion add patched it up to the most recent version (Steam handles the patching for you I believe).

 

If you run into trouble we're here to try to help.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Striker879

[Theme57]

So if I have this straight.

 

Reinstall Oblivion by following the reinstall process.

 

Dont use autosave and save on new files instead of overwriting. Make saves at 3 different locations to see if they work correctly.

 

Do it slowly to make sure everything works out correctly.

 

I got this game off of steam so what do I do in that case? Also would it be better to install the oblivion mod manager first to see if that works? Also as of now I have BOSS.

 

Thank you very much. I will do my best to follow directions as well so I can figure this out :) as well

[Striker879]

After you uninstall Oblivion follow the link near the top of the page. It will bring you to a Steam page that explains how to move your Steam install location.

 

I myself don't have any problems caused by autosave (that's what happen when you go thru some doors ... like when you first enter a dungeon). Quicksave (by default the F5 key) is what you don't want to use. Hit the Esc key, which opens the game menu and select Save from there. Always click on an open slot, don't save over top of your last save (when the game overwrites a save it doesn't save the same way as a fresh save). Those three saves I suggested are to help you when installing mods or starting a new game.

 

OBMM can be installed anytime after you get the game re-installed. The reason I suggest re-installing the game is because I believe that the 'Common' folder you have used now is still protected by User Account Control (UAC). Oblivion is an old game. It was last updated long before Microsoft dreamed up UAC. When you add mods to the game UAC see the changes and blocks them (thinking it's 'protecting' you from unauthorized changes to the game).

 

The slowly part refers to adding mods. A lot off people install the game and right away before they even see if the game will run they add twenty or thirty mods. Then they post here wondering why the game won't start or won't run. It's like untangling a plate of cold spaghetti in the dark with oven mitts on.

[Theme57]

Hmm, I see what you mean. So when I change the location I make a new folder called games in my :C driver so it wont be protects from changes. THinking of it this may be the reason why Gmod imports werent working. I will give it a try later today!

[Striker879]

You've got it. Create the folder C:\Games and then when you follow the instructions for moving Steam you move it there. I don't use Steam myself, so I could be wrong about the folder names here, but it should wind up something like C:\Games\SteamApps\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion. The instructions on Steam tell you how to move the Steam folder so that your other Steam games will still work, and then when you re-install Oblivion from Steam it will automatically look for C:\Games\SteamApps.

[talveren]

You've got it. Create the folder C:\Games and then when you follow the instructions for moving Steam you move it there. I don't use Steam myself, so I could be wrong about the folder names here, but it should wind up something like C:\Games\SteamApps\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion. The instructions on Steam tell you how to move the Steam folder so that your other Steam games will still work, and then when you re-install Oblivion from Steam it will automatically look for C:\Games\SteamApps.

 

I use steam. What you'll probably end up with is c:\games\steam\steamapps\common\Oblivion

[Striker879]

Well perhaps I jumped to a wrong conclusion about the 'common' part of where your game was installed then Theme57 (I thought it was referring to a 'common' subfolder in your 'Users\[username]\Documents' folder). My advice stands that the best place for Steam and Oblivion is C:\Games, and thanks talvern for helping clean that up for me. I always say "It takes a team to solve problems".

[Theme57]

Ok I looked up a guide to see how to move my steam stuff to the C:/Games folder, but before I do that I am going to download OBMM to see if that helps. Sorry if I am doing the opposite of what you said, I uninstalled and forgot to try using the Mod Manager before I moved my entire steam stuff. If it works in the current folder then good, if not then at least I know I will have to do the process of changing where my steam downloads go.

[talveren]

Ok I looked up a guide to see how to move my steam stuff to the C:/Games folder, but before I do that I am going to download OBMM to see if that helps. Sorry if I am doing the opposite of what you said, I uninstalled and forgot to try using the Mod Manager before I moved my entire steam stuff. If it works in the current folder then good, if not then at least I know I will have to do the process of changing where my steam downloads go.

 

 

There is another way around it. It's kind of a pain in the a** to do it all the time, so you're better off doing what Striker879 suggested. You have to run your mod manager as an administrator. To do that, go to the place where you've installed your manager, right click on the executable, and click Run As Administrator.

 

As an example, if you're using OBMM and you still have Oblivion in the default folder, you'd go to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Oblivion\OblivionModManager.exe and right click that executable and select Run As Administrator. Windows will do the customary "OH F** DON"T DO THAT" Yes No dialogue. Pick the Yes, you idiots, I do want to do that. After that, OBMM should have the permissions it needs to write to the Oblivion Data folder.

 

Edit: Now that I think about it some more it's possible you may need to run either the steam launcher or the oblivion.exe as administrator at least once in order to activate the .esp files if you try this work around.

Edited January 11, 2013 by talveren