Can't get any mods to work

[bilalha]

Hi, I've been trying to download a third person crosshair mod for oblivion for ages, but I can't seem to get it to work no matter what I try. i've followed dozens of tutorials but nothing seems to work.

I recently downloaded NMM and installed the mod with NMM, it said the mod was active but the crosshair doesn't show up in game.

 

This is the mod I'm trying to install

http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/2706

 

When I download the mod it has instructions (unzip the file to oblivion/data folder, rename one file), but when I download the mod with NMM there is no option to unzip, and I tried going into the folder to manually unzip the mod but that doesn't work either. Also, I'm not sure how the mod could possibly be active just like that because there are four crosshairs that you need to choose between, how would NMM know which crosshair to install?

 

Sorry if I'm not giving any detail or anything, this is the first time I'm trying to mod a game and I'm really clueless about this stuff.

 

EDIT:
Sorry, I should have included some useful information.

I'm using the steam version of Oblivion and I'm running windows 7. I previously had Oblivion installed in the Program files folder but I moved it out of that after realising that I had to. I also tried using OBMM but that didn't work either, I uninstalled OBMM because it said NMM is incompatibly with OBMM.

Edited April 14, 2013 by bilalha

[DrakeTheDragon]

 

Also, I'm not sure how the mod could possibly be active just like that because there are four crosshairs that you need to choose between, how would NMM know which crosshair to install?

That's your explanation right there. It can't.

 

This mod was last updated April 2006, years before the NMM was even an idea. It is very likely it can't be installed through it, and due to "install with manager" being on by default, and the author long since being gone, it was never turned off, as should've been done.

 

If a mod needs additional steps done after extracting from its archive, like making a choice in files and renaming, there need to be special installation scripts included with it for the manager to be able to handle it correctly. This is most certainly not the case here.

 

The NMM isn't able to understand these folder structures where there are optional folders and such, and it cannot handle any file renaming after extraction either, without a special install script for the tasks. And if there are folders inside the archive the NMM can't identify, it will not even install these into your data folder so you could perform the additional tasks manually afterwards.

 

This mod can only be installed correctly when downloading it manually and following the instructions.

[bilalha]

Thanks for your help.

 

I've followed the instructions thoroughly and tried and tried again so many times, I just can't work out what I'm doing wrong. It's the only mod that I want to install because the game seems fairly unplayable in third person mode without a crosshair.
I know that there's nothing anyone can help with because you don't know what I'm doing wrong, but thanks for the help anyway.

[DrakeTheDragon]

As you just added you're on the Steam version of Oblivion, this actually reveals another source for your troubles.

 

I can't recall where all those hud and menu files are originally coming from, but if they're found inside a BSA, Steam's BSAs being dated far too recently will prevent any replacement mods from working now.

 

You need to date them back to somewhere around the time the retail version's BSAs are dated at or use OBMM's Archive Invalidation Utilities and click "Reset BSA timestamps" once and forget about it.

 

And for the records, the NMM is not incompatible with OBMM. It is incompatible with the .OMOD file format and installation scripts. At least it was in the past. Maybe this has changed already.

You can use both, NMM and OBMM together just fine, but of course the mods you installed via OBMM won't show up in NMM's list and vice versa. Being based on FOMM NMM actually contains most of OBMM's functionality. What it's missing, though, can still be applied via OBMM itself, while the actual mod install and uninstall functionality can be left at NMM exclusively.