How I wish I could delete this idiotic mod.

[Vulcanao]

Hi

 

Before I came bothering any of you here, please know that I have been doing thourough searches about a fix but without any success. However it still seems to me that it might be quite simple to fix for someone with some knowledge in the matter so here it is :

 

I reinstalled Oblivion after a while and reinstated my old savegame, along with 2 mods I used a while ago. However, now that I want to get rid of one of them, the savegame doesn't seem to be able to load (loading screen freezes at the very beginning). The mod is some sort of shitty castle called "Nother border castle" that appears to conflict with other mods like KotN for starters, according to OBMM. And since I'm on my way to try other new and more stable mods (darnified, deadly reflex...), I don't want to cause any conflict whatsoever between my new mods. Back when I set it, it worked fine more or less but I can't remember whether I had SI installed or not (which is the case now), and what my level of patching was, and as a consequence, when I go there, it seems that part of the castle is missing and there are weird visual abnormalities.

 

I really wish to proceed with caution before trying more elaborate mods and as someone wise said in an above post-it, some mods are just not worthy of this calling. Fortunately I'm able tell you with certainty that this is the mod I wish to get rid of : when checked, my savegame loads perfectly, when unchecked it doesn't start loading.

 

Is there a way for me to delete it, before I proceed with better mods?

 

Thank you very much in advance.

[Striker879]

A link to the mod in question would help. Some mods have very specific uninstall instructions (which you may also find in the mod's readme, if one was provided). Do you have any earlier saves that you could try?

[Vulcanao]

First off thank you for answering.

 

I wish there was a link! It seems I got this mod from back when Nexus was TES Source or something! As I said, I did thorough searches for this problem but I remain sure someone like you might have the answer for this. Meanwhile some nice fella pointed me towards a mod called wrye bash but I couldn't figure out how to use it. It looks like some software intended to verify compatibility between mods or something like that. I know how to install a mod (more or less) but from there to editing them I'm afraid there's some distance...

 

As for an earlier save, I have none, sadly. And quite frankly I know I could start a new game, but since most of the mods I'll try are meant for badass characters I'd hate to go through vanilla (again) before starting these appearently AWESOME new stories and mods.

 

P.S. : I won't be as stupid this time around : I have Oblivion GOTY installed with both official & unofficial latest patches and about 40 mods waiting to be installed with a nanometric precision for compatibility and conflicts.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Vulcanao

[Hickory]

Why are you whinging and calling this mod idiotic and shitty? By your own admission the mod worked fine before, but now you can't remember if you had SI installed or not, and discover that your previous save game, which relies on this mod, will no longer work. That is not the fault of this mod, it is the fault of the user.

 

Secondly, never take any notice of conflict reports from OBMM unless you completely understand how mod conflicts in Oblivion work, which I suspect you don't.

[Vulcanao]

Well if you knew the mod you would see why it is idiotic by its very structure and making (and that was back when it worked perfectly). I acknowledge my mistake : it was that I installed a mod knowing the risks involved. But I was much younger and didn't really understand.

 

Then, I didn't say it was the mod's fault that my save was stuck with it (although it actually was, since I tried both with and without SI and it still displays visual atrocities : it is very flawed), but that I needed help to seperate it from my saves.

 

As for OBMM, of course I'm among the many who don't truly understand its mechanisms so if it says "conflict", that's what I believe unless someone more skilled than I says otherwise.

 

Is there any way you can help me free my savegame from this bugged mod please?

Edited February 21, 2013 by Vulcanao

[Striker879]

A couple of words of advice. When you're getting your fresh start install one mod at a time and test thoroughly in between. Troubleshooting is a trivial affair then.

 

Second tip is about saving. Never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use either save from the Esc menu (what I call a manual save), always saving to a new slot or named saves using the console (again not overwriting). When you get up to a hundred or two saves either move older saves to a new folder (I have a 1TB data drive that comes in handy for archiving) or delete older saves.

 

Make yourself some saves when you start a new character on your new install. Before you add any mods finish the tutorial dungeon. At the point where you can see the sewer exit in the distance, before you get the character finalization menus make a named save. You'll use this save in future when you want to start a new character but don't want to redo the entire tutorial. Exit the sewer and make another save (still no mods). This will be the save you'll use to continue that character once you get all modded up. Go to the IC MarketDistrict and make another save. This will be your testing save. Now start adding mods and use the testing save to verify proper operation (you may want to venture out of the IC and get into some battles/other locations during testing ... or create mayhem in the IC). No need to create further saves while installing and testing. Once you have your game modded to your satisfaction load your outside the sewers save and away you go ... saving either manually or named as frequently as you feel the need for.

[Vulcanao]

Now these are very useful advices and I will take heed of them, thank you very much. I will follow each of the steps you described because I definitely don't want to cause trouble to the system (I'm a 1000 hour save kind of guy). Please feel free to add any advice in that matter because I admit I didn't think about your technique which is very well thought to say the least.

 

On the other, while I try to psychologically prepare myself to start a new character, what do you think are the risks of me carrying on my current character with this bugged mod? (It's a rather big castle located in the far North on top of the mountain).

 

EDIT : I wasn't planning on installing ALL mods at the same time, but one by one, once I completed each adventure. Do you think this is a bad idea? (That's because those I downloaded are too elaborate for me to try them all and be sure of there sustainability prior to actually playing them).

Edited February 21, 2013 by Vulcanao

[Striker879]

I'm not a Wrye Bash (WB) user myself ... either Hickory or Nephenee13 are the one's to go to for advice on that. I believe there's a utility for removing save dependencies in WB, but I don't know how it works or how well it works.

 

If you tend to finish a quest mod and then don't really need it afterwards you can use a tool like OBMM to make sure that your latest mods are lower on the load list than ones you've completed and aren't concerned about. I'm more of an armor/clothes/houses kinda' guy myself (which is how I've avoided crossing the WB bridge for so long). When I'm installing mods I'm mostly interested in checking for file overwrites (skeleton.nif is a common one). Also pay attention to uninstall instructions (a lot of 'upgrade' mods include a switch you need to toggle before uninstalling for instance). I keep a copy of the mod description in a text file along with the original download (I'm an archivist/packrat ... that 1TB data drive doesn't sit empty).

 

I'm a big hour guy too ... my old guy is well over 1300 hours, new guy approaching the 1000 mark. If you're into long term characters you probably already know about the A-Bomb (animation problem with long hour saves). WB has a utility for that. I use OAF - Oblivion Animation Fixer.

[Hickory]

 

I wasn't planning on installing ALL mods at the same time, but one by one, once I completed each adventure. Do you think this is a bad idea? (That's because those I downloaded are too elaborate for me to try them all and be sure of there sustainability prior to actually playing them).

 

My advice is to first and foremost carry out Striker's advice on not installing any mods (NONE) until you have completed the tutorial and have created a named save at the sewer exit. Once you have done that, back up that save and place it somewhere safe.

 

Now is the time to start installing mods. Start with any mod/s you have that will be required from the beginning, such as gameplay mods (Oblivion XP comes to mind). None critical mods, such as exclusive quest mods can usually be installed late on, when you want to actually embark on the quest/s. Race mods need to be installed BEFORE you exit the sewers, so those will be among the first. Overhauls, too.

 

The way I do it, when needed, is to install the mod/s and leave the sewers. Roam around an check if the mod you have just installed is acting how it should. If so, then move on to the next, but save regularly, and in different slots, and use the console to save, so you can name them. Like so:

 

 

save "Mod X Installed"

 

You can name it anything, but you get the idea.

[Vulcanao]

Yes this time I'll be very cautious with every aspect.

 

But please tell me how do you open console. And why using console to make new saves instead of Escape/Save?