My own mods don't appear in game

[TAGoblin]

Hey, I'm not new to Oblivion but I am new to modding. I have been troubleshooting this issue by reading everything online and nothing has worked so far. All the mods I download and install work fine. However, when I try to make my own mod, it doesn't appear in game. I have followed every guide I can find and have them practically memorized now. After being stumped with a few more complex things (AI behavior not sticking and my house not being there), I narrowed it down to a very simple mod: Oblivion.esm is my only master file and I've placed a vanilla tree in front of the bridge behind Bravil (Wilderness 13, - :cool:. No matter what I do, the tree is not there when I load up my game.

 

I tried fast traveling away then back. The mod is in the Data folder and activated in Wyre Bash. I tried building the mod into my Bash patch as well as letting it sit at the bottom of the load order. I did a clean save then reactivating the mod. I have Windows 10 and recently re-installed the game outside of Program Files just in case. My game (GOTY version) and the Construction Set are both up to date and patched. If I exit CS without saving, it prompts me to save. It doesn't prompt me when I have already just saved so it can't be that "plug-in not saving" issue.

 

I've probably done other things that I can't recall because I've been working on this and reading about it for 2 days straight. I've found threads online about similar problems but their issues are always solved by one of the solutions that I've already tried multiple times. I'm really stuck and feel like I can't enjoy the game now that I've invested this much time into trying to get the mods to work.

 

I've attached a screenshot of my load order just in case. Any help would be appreciated.

 

~Goblin

 

[TAGoblin]

NOTE: It inserted an emoji at my 13, -8 coordinates even though I disabled emojis. lol Lame

Also, I have a few more things to note. I'm not using BOSS because it can't find Oblivion no matter where I install it. I've been running Construction Set in administrator. When I re-open the mod in CS, the changes I made are still there. I've tried disabled world changing mods that add new vegetation or including them as master files when I make my plug-in just in case they are creating whole new cells of those exterior locations. Considering that changed I made to AI didn't appear in game either, I don't think this is a duplicate cell issue. Unless I am having 2 modding problems at once... There are also 2 things about the render window that probably aren't related to my problem but I might as well mention them. When I choose any exterior cell to view in the window, I get several pop-ups saying something about an "animation group note problem". They go away if I click yes to all. The second thing is that no rocks or vegetation are visible in the render window (unless I place them) but there are shadows of trees I think.

Edited November 15, 2020 by TAGoblin

[Oblivionaddicted]

Do you use an administrator account?

[TAGoblin]

Do you use an administrator account?

Yes I do and I've been opening CS in admin because I saw somewhere that it can help with saving plug-ins.

[TAGoblin]

I don't know if this is helpful information but I have the "Install Blockhead" error ONLY when viewing NPCs in CS. OBSE and Blockhead seem to be working fine in game. My mod tree wasn't showing up when I loaded the vanilla game or the OBSE version.

 

EDIT: I finally got the CS Extender to work and that solved the Blockhead and animation pop-up issues above. I made a new tree mod with it and it still isn't visible in game.

Edited November 15, 2020 by TAGoblin

[TAGoblin]

I got something to work!

 

I made another mod but this time placed a tree, a cabinet, and a bear in front of Benirus Manor in Anvil. It worked! I'm not sure why it works within cities but not outside of them. However, this is a huge step because it means my mods can work in-game. I'll have to do more tests but I'm so excited to actually move forward now. If I figure out how to solve the whole issue, I'll post it here. I might also open a new thread in a bit about my AI issue I encountered before because now I can't blame it on my mods not working in-game. Spoiler: I wanted to make Henantier spend his idle time in my own home but he always goes back to his house in Bravil. If I delete those behaviors, he just stands there doing random idles but not sleeping/eating/wandering.

 

Ta-ta for now!

[Striker879]

For AI packages the order from top of the list to the bottom is how the game evaluates which package to run. The first one it comes to that evaluates as true (all conditions met) runs. What I do with NPCs I'm tweaking is put all of my own custom packages higher in the list than any vanilla packages I don't want to run. If I'm not concerned about possible conflicts with other mods I'll either reorder the vanilla packages or remove ones I don't want from the NPC's list ... if I'm thinking possible future release of my tweaks then I'll avoid that for compatibility.

 

I've absolutely no experience with trees, and precious little with landscaping, but I do wonder if there is a step (maybe something like rebuilding LOD) that you are missing for the outside the city tree. Emma has a house mod in what I'm assuming is the same spot you are looking at (Bravil Bridge Cottage ver 2 2) ... perhaps you can see something in that ESP that gives you an idea on what you are missing (often using TES4Edit will show you behind the scenes stuff that may not be obvious in the CS when you're looking at other people's work).

[TAGoblin]

Oh that's a good idea to look at that mod for clues! I have no experience with LOD yet and that could be the issue. I haven't gotten to do much experimenting since my last post but I want to try non-tree objects in that location too. As for the AI problem, I did what you said when I attempted it last week (It reminded me a lot of building tactics in Dragon Age) but he just ignored the ones I put up top. However, this attempt was before I learned a lot more about modding so I want to try it again. Now that I think a about it, I only tried the AI in mod houses (using the mod .esp as a master file as well) and that could have caused some weirdness. In any case, I'll update once I have success or run into an issue. Real life is unfortunately limiting my time for this new hobby. lol

[Striker879]

If your AI package attempts using the house mod as a master came before you started using CSE that could explain why your packages weren't executing even though listed higher in the package list. The vanilla CS can't use other ESPs as masters without using Wrye Bash to flip a bit in the file header that makes the vanilla CS treat the ESP as an ESM (and then you need to flip it back afterwards). Any changes you make in your NPC's ESP while trying to use the house ESP as a master without flipping the bit will be silently ignored by the game.

 

For my own vanilla game tweaks I have two ESPs (MyTweaks.esp and MyTweakedNPCs.esp). Generally I keep changes to the game world in one and changes to vanilla NPCs in the other, but sometimes it's just easier for me to make game world changes related to a particular NPC in the MyTweakedNPCs.esp (adding markers for AI packages for example). If later I want more than one NPC to use that marker it does complicate things.