ok, simply this for me please

[Striker879]

You are quickly outgrowing this old guy ... soon I'll be asking you for advice!

 

I don't use any graphical improvement mods myself ... my machine in it's current configuration isn't up to the task (I'm stuck with a Geforce 9800 512 MB for video). After downloading it and having a quick look through the folders and files I see there is an ESP (Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp) but I'm not seeing any obvious folder structure that would be used for just that ESP and not the others included with the download (Vegetation, Water and Weather). I did find a mod that is just an OBMM installation script (Natural Environments OBMM installation script) but the download is an EXE and I'm not willing or able to test it (on my non-gaming laptop until later tomorrow).

 

The weather component in Natural Environments is outdated and I've seen recommendations to use Weather - All Natural for that (I think the 'Noob up and running' thread even covers that). My go to guy for advice on things like that is Hickory. He'll know what if any parts from Natural Environments to use, how to get it working and what the better alternatives are. I've always found him approachable and helpful ... errr, hope you don't mind me directing some trade your way Hickory.

 

Another observation I'd like to make regarding the unofficial patch thing ... I don't like leaving little problems hanging while troubleshooting other problems. It will sometimes just cloud the issues you're seeing (so you're not sure if what you're seeing is the old problem being affected by a new problem or just a completely new problem). Be prepared to uninstall the Battlehorn unofficial patch as a troubleshooting step down the road if you run into something that's being difficult to pin down.

 

- Edit - See, and I'm already getting too slow :-)

Edited March 20, 2013 by Striker879

[mjc1976]

bit of an update, and a thankyou

 

with your advice, i now have a ridiculous amount of mods added, wrye seems happy enough with it all, and from what i have played so far, it all seems stable

 

i now have as many graphical upgrades as i can find, from the environments, to the flora, to the characters. even blood and the night sky. i have some new companions in there, and the goddess store to go shopping in. and the good news is that everything runs smooth, clocking in at way over 30fps in cities, and steady at around that outside, with the vram usage not reaching 700 mb

 

so, im a happy chappy, and ready to get stuck into the game proper now i have it looking how i want

 

but, before i go, i thought i would ask your opinions on a couple other mods knocking around. theyre biggies, namely unique landscapes and better cities. now, i know these are pretty big, but what do they add, really? so many people recommend them, but to me it seems more like "heres a patch of land with more rocks and trees" and "here is a city with the buildings moved about". are they really as worthwhile as folks are saying?

 

and finally, anything else you would recommend a nosey at? i know its all personal taste and so on, but still...

[Striker879]

First off I don't use either Better Cities or Unique Landscapes, in part by choice (I'm weird because I like the game just the way it is, looks wise) and in part by necessity (my hardware wouldn't be up to the task in it's current configuration).

 

That said you would need to be prepared for some sort of performance hit. How large that is will depend on how much you have 'left in the tank' after your current improvements. Experimentation on your own machine with your current load list is the only way you'll determine what can and cannot work. In my opinion you would also place yourself in the middle of a continuing situation of needing to research and troubleshoot.

 

BC and UL 'own' almost all of Cyrodiil. By that I mean they have altered pretty well all of the usable cells in the game. The reason I use the word 'own' is that every mod you currently have or will install in the future will be tied to that requirement ... either BC and/or UL compatible or UL and/or BC compatibility patch available. I base that opinion on what I have seen across a wide variety of forum posts and threads (and certainly not limited to those mod's comments). House mods, vendor shops for clothing/armor mod compilations even quest mods can be effected by BC and UL. Whether or not compatibility patches get made depends on the modder's skill (many can't resolve UL conflicts on their own for example ... I've done some minor landscape editing myself and it's not something I'd enjoy tackling) as well as the modder's relationship with members of the UL/BC teams (not all conflicts are treated equally ... just human nature that's all).

 

I'm not trying to dissuade you. When you go into something with open eyes you see more than the pretty stuff pointed out by the guy whispering in your ear. Spend some time looking through the BC and UL comments. Just seeing problems reported isn't what you are looking for. How are the problems resolved, is that a problem you know the solution to or do you understand the solution provided, is that a situation you wouldn't get into (you'll see some wild install/uninstall then 'did some random things' type tales of woe) ... these are the things you should be focused on while reading. How important is having BC and/or UL to you. Are you an aspiring screenshotter, looking to impress in the Oblivion Uploaded Images forum? I would say from what I've gathered about you that you care more about how the game looks than I do. Nothing comes without a price tag ... you just need to determine what the price would be for you and figure out if it's in the budget.

 

You have quickly outgrown those training wheels on your bike, so I'll get them off for you with one more suggestion. I use a utility called Multiple Oblivion Manager - MOM to keep separate games for my old guy and my new guy. Fairly simple to understand and once you do it's really simple to use. With it you could create a clone of your current game state ... mods, game settings, saves, ini files, everything you need for your current game. You could then use the clone (appropriately named 'BCandUL_Test' for example) to try out BC and/or UL. Your original game is never at risk. Change your mind about BC or UL you just delete that profile. If you decide you'll give them a shot you can re-clone the profile that has BC and UL installed and use one of the two copies as a testing profile as you add mods down the road. Using MOM you need never put your primary game at risk again (if you are rigorous about using a separate profile for testing). The only price tag attached to this one is hard drive space (every profile physically duplicates all the files needed for the game). Don't know about you, but I have hard drive space out the whazoo.

 

It's been a pleasure helping out in any ways I could. Don't be a stranger and remember, people on here are willing to make mistakes for you ... all you need to do is read through a few forum posts to find one. That's a situation that has benefits on many fronts, at least for me. Gives me a problem to gnaw on (when you're retired gnawable problems are good for keeping the mind busy), plus I don't need to mess up my game install just to have something to fix (I do occasionally find ways to do that anyway, but courtesy of the excellent training provided by all here I generally manage to sort things out without much fuss). Top of the list ... I sometimes meet people like you who are are joy to work with.

[nenina]

I just installed Unique Landscapes and Better Cities.

 

With Better Cities, be aware that the option to install the newer content ( don't choose fps patches ) will add actors to the cities. So if you use crowded cities then remove it. For me, actors are the biggest contributors to slowdown. I hear that it's because of the emotion with facegen. I'm not sure but there might be an .ini setting to disable it. There is also a d3d9.dll file in the Fallout: New Vegas nexus that I use for Oblivion to help with facegen actors on screen.

 

With Unique Landscapes I had a LOT of crashes with xuldarkforest.esp enabled. Removed it and almost all crashing went away. This is with a full on FCOM install. By now I have so many mods that I don't think that I can track down the occasional crashes I have now. Could be the fact that I increased Oblivion Stutter Remover heap to 1024, or having 2 .bsa archives with the same paths of items, or Francesco's mods, or just that my system is having trouble handling my mods. When it does crash it seems to be after having played 40 minutes or so.

 

One thing though, if you will be using Unique Landscapes then I think you will be limited to mods that are compatible with it. There is a Unique Landscapes Compatibility Patches page on nexus. Of note, patches include FCOM, Better Cities, Deserts of Anequina, Integration ( I don't know if it includes Integration Integrated ), Curse of Hircine, Blood and Mud, Dungeons of Ivellon, and Kvatch Rebuilt.

 

Good luck with your modding. I, however, think that zero crashing Oblivion is not reasonable to expect, at least for me.