May 2007 Archives

There is an 'offline' interactive map available at :

http://www.tesnexus.com/files/file.php?id=3961

and an experimental 'online' one using Google API here :

http://www.uesp.net/oblivion/map/obmap.shtml

 

 

- Conflict between mods

Solution: Disable mods one at a time until your game doesn't crash anymore (or crashes less). Do not save over your current game while testing - create new test saves.

- Bad load order between mods

Solution: Study Readme files for your mods and use Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) to move mods around. There are a few pages of hints about how to find a good load order (look at the Forum FAQ).

- Mod Incompletely Installed

Solution: Try to identify if something is causing crashes in particular (entering a house, talking to an NPC in particular, etc...) to identify which mod is causing this and reinstall the mod in question.

- Bug in a Mod

Solution: Check out the comments section of the downloaded mod (most places like TES Source, Elric, etc... have comments sections for each mod) or look for mod threads in the official forum. If you can't find anything, ask in the forum if this is a known bug. Have your list of installed mods ready when you ask.

- Fragmented Hard Drive

Solution: Keep extra room available on your system and your Oblivion drives (if they are separate). Keep both drives frequently defragmented (once a week). Some software such as Diskeeper have options to keep drives automatically defragmented based on usage.

- Slow Hard Drive

Solution: Use utilities such as HD Tack to find which one of your drive is the fastest. Install Oblivion on that drive or buy a new drive if you don't have anything fast enough.

- Insufficient Memory

Solution: If you are going to use a lot of mods, in particular graphic / textures enhancers, make sure your video card has at least 512M of RAM and your machine at least 1 Gb (2 Gb is better).

- Tasks running in background while Oblivion is playing (email, spyware scans, antivirus scan)

Solution: Disable anything you can find that is not necessary to your system while you are playing. Oblivion doesn't like to be distracted by something else on your computer, especially if other tasks compete for drive access with it.

- Video Drivers or other known issue with the base game

Solution: Stay up to date on your video drivers. Check out the official forums to find out if there are known issues between Oblivion and your video card.

- Bad Archive Invalidation for meshes or textures

Solution: Make sure new meshes and textures introduced by mods are correctly registered with the game. Use either the 'OBMM BSA updater' or the 'Archive Invalidation Invalidated!' method to keep your game up to date.

- Corrupted Saved Game

Solution: Avoid using Quick Save or saves during combat. Use plain saves, if possible one per playing session. Create a new save when you start playing and overwrite it from time to time until you are done. Then create a new save just before quitting the game.

 

I recently ran into a glitch with Shady Sam (shady vendor hiding next to the Imperial City barns). I narrowed it down to 'MMM - resized races'. With that plugin, Sam attacks me. He is friendly without it. However, I looked in OBMM - there were no reported conflicts between this plugin and Sam. The only overlap reported with Sam are Reneer Gard's Overhaul and Shady Sam Plus. Actually, OBMM doesn't report any conflict with this plugin at all. I had to disable 'MMM - resized races' for now. I will have to check if it happens again in future versions of MMM.

They can mess up your saved game or your Oblivion install as a whole if you are not careful and just install lots of mods to try at once. There is no way they can mess up your computer though (unless you download the mod from an unsafe source and you are not using an anti-virus... which can always happen each time you download anything from the web).

If you go slowly, create a test saved game, add mods one at a time and pay attention to your load order and archive invalidation of new textures and meshes, you should be fine.

It can look overwhelming at first, but it is actually fairly simple thanks to great tools such as OBMM and Wrye Bash. The help from this forum is also invaluable.

My main 'overhaul mod' is OOO - I like how it balances things out. I like the new quests, armors, weapons and all the little details it adds to the game (like the posters and pamphlets addressed to adventurers).

I fell in love with MMM for what it adds on top of OOO - mainly new creatures, diverse mobs (groups of skeletons or gobelins with different sizes, colors, etc), other adventurers that can help you... or not.

I wouldn't mind to see some of the additional weapons and armors from Fancesco's (or from Warcry more accurately), but since I already have more armors and weapons to look for than I can care about, i can live without it.

In short - I use OOO for the richness it adds to the game and MMM for the life it brings on top of OOO.

If you are ambitious and want all these features at the same time, look up the FCOM project - a complete integration of four major overhauls and an attempt to integrate the best of these mods.

Edit: For a different overhaul experience, with lighter system requirements, I suggest you look at T.I.E (Tamriel Immersion Experience). If I wasn't already running MMM and OOO, I would definitely give this one a try.

There are a few ways to create a list of currently used mods.

One method consists in using the command prompt of Windows to create a list of .esm and .esp files in your Oblivion/Data folder. The method itself is described in details in the Oblivion Mods FAQ section of the The Elder Scrolls Wiki. 

The second method is provided by a program especially designed for this purpose - Super Simple Mod List Generator ... which is really a batch script of the commands listed in the first method. The problem with these two methods is that they will include mods that are not currently activated, as long as they are in the Data folder.

For a more accurate list of active mods, the last method is a by-product of Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM). Install it and run it at least once.

The plugins.txt file created by OBMM is located in :

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Oblivion

The method I follow is roughly around this model :

• ESM files first (they are loaded first anyway but it doesn't hurt forcing the order)
• Official plugins
• Unique landscapes 1
• Textures modifications
• Weather modifications
• Light modifications
• OOO mods
• MMM mods
• PJ compendium
• Supreme Magicka
• other Spell effects
• New armors and weapons
• New NPCs
• Unique landscapes 2 (some UL mods have to be installed at the end, some at the beginning)
• New Quests (ruin tail, etc...)
• Utilities

There are also exceptions. If you look at my list, some mods do not follow this model and are placed earlier or later. You will need a lot of trial and errors activating and deactivation mods to fine tune them, but this should get you started.

Also, if you are using OBMM, an easy way to get a list of your mods is by looking for the Plugins.txt file under : Local Settings\Application Data\Oblivion.

The suggested load order above should be considered just a guideline for a start. You will have to tweak your list depending on your particular mix of mods.

The most useful utility I found for troubleshooting load orders is TES4View. Among other things, it has the distinct advantage to show you all mods involved in a conflict, which is invaluable information when you have to make an informed decision about how to reorder mods.

As a matter of good practice, download a mod to skip the tutorial part of the standard game - such as A New Beginning - and always keep a saved game with no mod activated except that one. That will save you a lot of time if you need to activate / deactivate groups of mods or play around with the load order.

Also, make good use of OBMM's load order import/export feature. It allows you to save a particular arrangement of mods, and return to it later if you mess up your order.

More  tips about the load order at : http://devnull.devakm.googlepages.com/loadorder

Here is a funny collision between mods that I just witnessed.

I was checking out the Fallenleaf grove (part of Unique Landscapes), next to Silorn (south of Skingrad).

The grove ends with a very sharp cliff right up to the Shrine of Akatosh. At the bottom of the cliff is a pond where I found a few Pilgrims of Akatosh quite disorinted. Some were even dead, floating in the pond. The survivors were looking up the cliff, wondering how they could get back up.

I believe they spawned at the shrine, started walking and fell to their death.

See the screenshot

Hard Drive access is definitely a bottleneck for Oblivion and the cause of a lot of Crash To Desktop..

Oblivion will run smoother if you follow these tips with regards to Hard Drives.

- Install it on the fastest hard drive you have (if you have more than one)
Use softs like HD Tack to measure speed of your drives : http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index...?request=HdTach

- Defragment your Oblivion Hard Drive often (softs like Diskeeper have a feature to automatically defragment files based on usage)

- Make sure you have plenty of room left on your drive. This is particularly important if the game is installed on the system drive.

- Disable any background task that would compete with Oblivion for HD access (spyware scans, search engine indexer, etc)

- Disable background music (it worked like a charm for me)

- Use mods like Streamline to better distribute the load of new resources into the game

- Disable the background music altogether and use only sound effects. The constant loading of new MP3 files for the background music can have a serious effect on you performance depending on your system.

Edit oblivion.ini file and set :  bMusicEnabled=0

- Remove the Natural Vegetation part of Natural Environments, especially if used in conjunction with Unique Landscapes Mods.

- Check out this Bethesda forum thread for performance enhancements mods

 

Are you  getting the sound effect of a spell every 5 to 10 seconds after you started wearing a particular item or being affected by some other mod ?

You are most likely victim of a conflict between mods in which one mod is altering the way some magic effect is working in order to create a new effect, which in turn is causing the new script effect to still use a sound from the original magical effect.

The reason this is happening is because Oblivion has a limited number of magical effects. If a mod needs to create a new effect (such as the Conjurer Boon in Mighty Magick, or a Hunger/Thirst effect for example), there is no other way than altering an existing effect to serve a new purpose.  

You'll either have to disable the interfering mod or if you want to keep it, you will need to get a script effect icon replacer ESP (a lot of flyfightflea's mods have them packaged with them) and load it towards the end of your list.

http://www.tesnexus.com/files/file.php?id=7232

I'd say you can get very close to the same gaming experience.

I still miss the customizable interface from Morrowind, the text based storytelling (a lot richer than voice acting) and levitation also to some extend (I know there is a mod for that but I got used to not having it by now) but that's about it.

First, some features in Oblivion are real improvements on Morrowind:

- better graphics (from spell effects to lush environments)
- more realistic NPCs (Radiant AI is not perfect but it is an improvement over static NPCs from Morrowind)
- physics effects (makes the world more tangible even if it is not perfect as well)
- mounts (although lacking the capability to fight from a horse)

The mods I currently have eliminated all of the things I found annoying with Oblivion :

• fast travel (disabled by Cyrodiil Transportation Network)
• world wide leveling with you (replaced by static levels in OOO)
• game console interface (replaced by more immersive interface mods and wz interface)
• cryptic persuasion system (simplified by a persuasion overhaul mod)
• missing travel agents : land travels, boats, mage guild teleport, mark/recall (replaced by Cyrodiil Transportation Network)
• bland map (replaced by aged, color map)
• missing levitation (available in Supreme Magicka)
• clumsy tutorial (replaced by simple questions on a ship to Anvil in A new beginning)
• static prices and unlimited vendor gold amount (both fixed by Living Economy)
  
• repetitive scenery (the Unique Landscape project brings more diversity to Cyrodiil)
  

And you also have the equivalent to some of the best Morrowind mods :

• gold weight and better encumbrance mods
• eat, sleep and drink mods (fixed by mods such as Hunger, Thirst, Sleep)
  
• texture replacement (Qarl's is almost a standard)
• better bodies (TNR is astounding)
• illuminated windows
• more immersive sounds (Atmospheric Oblivion).
  

Finally, some mods bring back content from Morrowind into the Cyrodiil province directly :

• Books
• Unique armors and weapons (Old School Artifacts)
  
• Creeper
• Guars (wild Guars exist in MMM and pack guars are now included in Tamriel Travellers)
• Dwemer spiders (included in MMM)

Unfortunately, many features were unique to Morrowind and cannot be replicated as demonstrated in this Bethesda forum thread.

If you are in a mod debugging phase, the best approach is to create a base character without any mod - save it at the beginning of the prison cell tutorial and save it just before the exit of the sewers (in case you want to make changes to the race or class later).

Once the character is saved, reactivate all the mods and do a save outside the sewers - that's the character you will debug with. Take him/her out for a spin - fast travel everywhere you want to test things - just have fun with it without thinking too much about quests.

Add / remove mods. Change load orders. Install updates. Whatever it takes to fix issues with your game.

And once you are happy with all the changes, trash that character, go back to the save before the sewer exit and start fresh.

There is always a risk to corrupt saved games when debugging a lot of mods. Better to trash the debug character and start over with a clean one.

Missing meshes appear as yellow squares with a giant exclamation mark. The official patch version 1.2 (included with Shivering Isles) introduced a 'fix' that replaces missing meshes by these giant yellow markers instead of just ignoring them.

Read below for instructions on how to fix missing meshes.

 

:: Martigen's Monster Mod v3.0

MMM is a massive enhancement to Oblivion, with a strong focus on encounters and creatures.

From the Readme file "Over 800M in 145+ brand new creatures and NPCs, 1900+ variant creatures and NPCs, unique encounters, advanced behaviour AI, advanced combat AI, tailored loot drops and more!"

This release includes new features such as Racial Zombies, Undead Overhaul, New Creatures (Wyverns, Night trolls, undead lords), improved system of crafting and gems, and a real compatibility with Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul quests and factions.

Official video 

Status:Version 3.5.5 Open Beta is out

 

:: Tamriel Travelers 1.35

This mod adds traveling merchants with unique personalities, pets, and travel schedules. They sit down to eat, run from place to place, enter inns and cities when their pets are small enough and even help you when they feel threatened.

This is a perfect companion mod to balance the difficulty of playing with MMM and OOO by providing much needed relief in the wilderness of Tamriel without forcing you to return to cities for repairs and supplies.

With v1.36 beta, the Travelers are now a welcome sight on the roads of the Shivering Isles !.

Status: Version 1.3.6 beta is available.

Danger Sense - Feral Instinct v1.5

Interesting variations on Detect Life with different colors for hostiles, friends, and even corpses. No more corpse lost in tall grass forever !

(Continue reading if you have issues with missing meshes with this mod) 

Edit: I ended up discarding this mod because of unresolved conflict around the Dark Forest area.

 

 

I used to have systematic crash on exit after installing/removing/tweaking mods for a few months.

I went through the pain of doing a clean install, with only the mods I found absolutely necessary, and used OBMM along the way to keep things clean. A good load order is vital to avoid crashes (for example, Knights of the Nine is known to cause crashes when loaded before OOO).

I am back to what I had before installing mods - crash on exit only after a few hours of play.
I still have random crash to the desktop though.

In both cases, I have come to believe it must be memory / hard drive related.

That is - Oblivion crashes if it takes too long to load resources in-game (textures, meshes from mods...) or if you quit the game while resources are still being loaded in the background.

Defragmenting the oblivion and system drives aggressively helps a lot (I am using Diskeeper with a lot of success in that respect).  Keeping background tasks to a strict minimum helps too (virus / spyware scans tend to impact loading files in-game).

Another way to help reduce crashes is to get attuned to the beat of your hard drives. If the game stutters or HDs are busy loading, slow down on running in-game, and let resources load fully before moving on to a new area.

When quitting the game, wait until HD activity comes to a minimum.

These tips seem to work for me to make playing the game with mods activated more enjoyable.

Based on the observation that the .esp file from Shivering Isles seems to be doing nothing more than registering new resources in the game, famous modder Quarn released a clever alternative to OBMM and Archive Invalidation files.

ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated! v1.1.0