Can anyone recommend me a mod(s)? Thanks!

[oxytamie]

I've packed my Oblivion so far and everything works as supposed - thank you very much! Although I'm stuck with this one - trying to install this (and other mods by him) and I can't seem to get it to work. Also, when installing it did not replace anything so I suppose there should be ESP file I can't find or? It says it's a replacer but there is nothing to replace. I ask you because you listed his mods on your list, so you may know what am I doing wrong. Thanks again. Edited January 15, 2013 by oxytamie

[Striker879]

That mod is an example of what I call a 'pure replacer' mod. What it does is replace something that the vanilla game has without adding anything extra. The other kind of replacer replaces some of the vanilla assets but also adds more (usually a female version of something that only comes as male in the vanilla game). The Female Steel Cuirass mod I linked earlier is a perfect example of the second type. Before you add that mod all females in the game wear a male version of the steel cuirass. To get women to wear the female version of the steel cuirass that it adds the mod needs an esp to over-ride that vanilla game behavior.

 

The pure replacer on the other hand only needs to put files with the right name in the correct folder path, plus one other little trick. Because the game looks for it's vanilla assets (like the female Mythic Dawn robe) in it's compressed BSA files (in this case Oblivion - Meshes.bsa and Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa) we need some way to tell the game to stop looking for that particular item in the BSAs and look for it in 'Oblivion\Data\meshes\mythicdawnrobe\f'. To do that we use something called archive invalidation. The recommended way to take care of archive invalidation is a method called 'BSA Redirection'. The simplest way to do that is with OBMM.

 

Open OBMM and on the right side click the 'Utilities' button. From the menu select 'Archive Invalidation' and in the dialogue that opens click on 'BSA Redirection' (near the top of the dialogue). If you use the Steam version of the game click on the 'Reset BSA timestamps' button (if not just go to the next step). Click on the 'Update now' button at the bottom and then close the Archive Invalidation dialogue (click the 'x') and close OBMM (same way). OBMM doesn't commit it changes until you close the program. BSA Redirection is a do once and forget about it solution.

 

Now if you have already got the BSA Redirection done and the Mythic Dawn robe isn't changing to the new style it could also be an installation error. In your game folders the file 'mythicdawnrobef.nif must be in the exact path 'Oblivion\Data\meshes\mythicdawnrobe\f'. When you copy from the extracted archive you need to pay attention to where you are pasting (I always use the right mouse click and select 'Copy' and then right click on the destination and select 'Paste' method). The rule of thumb is you alweays paste into one level higher than you copy. That means if you copy 'meshes' you paste into 'Data'. If you get it wrong it's usually pasting into 'meshes', which is easy to spot because you'll have 'Oblivion\Data\meshes\meshes\mythicdawnrobe\f\mythicdawnrobef.nif' (notice the extra 'meshes'). Just right click the second meshes folder and select 'Cut' from the right click menu and then right click on 'Data' and select 'Paste' from the right click menu. You'll know you've got it right when you get the warning about there already is a folder named 'meshes'. Just say 'Yes to all' and it will merge the new files into the correct folders.

 

I guess you already figured this out, but I'm not much good at short answers am I?

[oxytamie]

I play on Linux so I haven't got any problems with copying content. Thank you - it worked out. Is there any way to remove BSA redirection just in case? You have greatly helped me and I have no idea how can I thank you. I'll leave you my e-mail - ******************, and if you'll need a web-site one day, write me down and I'll fork one for you. PHP/MySQL, anything you need. Just mention that you're a guy from Nexus forums who has helped me. I'll be also happy to assist you in any programming needs, as long as I can.

 

E-mail address removed, not a good move to post your email publicly - TVD.

[Striker879]

Hmm ... you've got me on the removing BSA Redirection question. I've never run across anything on that, nor any reason to want to. The other methods of archive invalidation (BSA Invalidation, BSA Alteration and BSA Extraction) all have downside consequences and disadvantages compared to BSA Redirection. It really is a do once and forget about it solution.

 

- Edit - Check your private messages.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Striker879