That sounds great! I need to hunt that mod down and try it.

If you can adjust the mouse's responsibility in the AI menu for him (hopefully you should), put it above 30 so he won't steal anything. This might make it so he reports crimes (please don't ask how that is possible) but I think you are safe from being reported by your followers.

Then no worries about the guards going AWOL on poor Mickey.

ROFL!!! I guess I need to decide if I want to set the mouse as essential and powerful, set his responsiblity low and watch the fireworks - or set his responsibility high so he reports Maxical's every move to the cops! ROFL!!!!

Seriously, these are issues I never thought of. I so appreciate your help in this!

Thanks TK!!! I finally got it working!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyQrieM7tFU

Good job, KC!

Part of what must have been making this so difficult was that it seems like none of the NumPad buttons work in Oblivion. I tried to assign sounds to them again and it did not work. Then I just changed the scan codes to Y U I O P [ ] H and J and it works perfectly.

When I first started working on the mod, I was ONLY trying to assign to the NumPad.

Ok I have another Q for you TK. I have a mod that upgrades the shaders for the landscape and a mod that changes the Nighteye color. When I try to activate those two mods I get this error:
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/416/20975590.jpg

I've never run into this problem before. It worked just fine on 32 bit Win 7 but not here. I checked the permissions on that folder and I have permission to change anything in there.

Hmm... what level of UAC are you using? Or did you turn that off?

Whatever the default is... if that's helpful at all.

Try turning it off completely. I was having similar permissions issues when installing Wrye Bash on my new build that I solved by turning UAC off.

Would it still work if I turned UAC back on after installing?

It should.

UAC isn't that helpful anyways, IMHO. Coming off of XP, I didn't really like how intrusive it got at times.

I really dislike it, but I do see its use. Thanks for the help. I'll give that a shot.

I logged into Admin account and it worked then... but I don't know if the info will be stored in a place where my game can access it on my normal account.

Huh.

Did you give your normal account admin. privileges when you set it up?

No I didn't.

Finally worked on it some more today and found my problem. The file that the mods were trying to change was set as read only for some reason. Unchecking that little box fixed the issues.

Okay, I'm considering starting a new game with a different character. That means using different mods in different combinations, etc.

But I don't want to lose Julian's game, either. Is there any way I can archive that game, with all its associated mods (like a list of which mods I used) in a separate place (like on the backup hard drive I have).

H.E.R. this topic could be of help:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topi...n-one-computer/

Does that mean I have to install Oblivion all over again to have a separate game? Unlike other games I've played (like Rainbow Six) where I can keep the different campaigns/save games in separate subfolders and just tell the game application which save I want to play? Or even move the save games off to a separate memory card like on XBox? Of course, XBox isn't moddable, so it doesn't matter.

Of course, R6 and other games don't have the modding flexibility that TES IV does, so in a way that makes sense. It just seems like a lot of work just to have two separate characters going on the same game.

And if I do that, what's the best way to manage the two separate folders? I don't want to have to add accounts to my Win7 just to have two separate PC's/mod combinations and worry about permissions and et al.

What you could probably do is rename the Oblivion game folder and Oblivion config folder to something like "Julian's game" and reinstall Oblivion from the disc like that. Then when you want to switch between the two, you simply rename the game folder you want to "Oblivion" and rename the matching config folder to "Oblivion" and there you go. Two installations.

I currently have three on my system: one for playing Oblivion, one for modding Oblivion, and one for the total conversion Nehrim.

Okay, that sounds more like what I'm looking for. But the mTES4 Manager that KC recommended sounds interesting. Has anyone had any experience with that one?

Looking at my file hierarchy, I have two places for Oblivion: Oblivion Files (installed in Hautee/Libraries/Documents) which contains Oblivion and all the data files, along with TES4LOD, TES CS, OBSE, OBMM, various mods, etc, then I also have one which has my save games in My Games (Hautee/Libraries/Documents/My Games) just named Oblivion. Are these the two folders you are referring to?

Am I to understand that whichever install of Oblivion I play, it will look for data inside the folders named Oblivion (hence the renaming scheme), which means the application must be inside the folder called Oblivion Files and not inside the one named Julian (or whatever name I choose for it)?

Correct. The game will check that the EXE is running from the Oblivion folder and search for your configs and savegames in the My Games\Oblivion folder.

I already have a clean backup of Oblivion with the installers on a separate hard drive. It already has TES IV Construction Set, Wrye Bash, OBSE, OBMM, BOSS, etc installers in a subfolder. I think I will use that to build a new install (of course, installing from the DVD) with all the mods I want for every game. I am interested in Nehrim, too. The idea of exploring a new world is just too appealing to me. Since I have a 1TB hard drive with W7 on it, there's plenty of room (and the external HD I'm using for backup is plenty big too).

Thanks for the advice, TK. When I'm caught up with this week's coursework, I'll give it a go. Has anyone ever used mTES4 Manager, though?

I'm also thinking of downloading a UI mod. I'm thinking of DarNUI or Dark UI (or maybe both?). Anything I should know about those two? Is there a single file/mod that totally changes the interface elements? Bugs? Conflicts?

Choose DarNified UI if you want to preserve the vanilla parchment color scheme of the menus. DarkUI'd DarN is exactly the same mod, but replaces the textures with a dark leather color scheme. Either one or the other, no point in installing both (they're the same mod, only one includes a texture replacer). Both mods are a total overhaul of Oblivion's menus, and include things like merging the character tab and attribute tab, allowing more information to be displayed at one time (particularly with the inventory, where the number of items you can view at once has been increased from five to about 25), a larger map window, more interesting context-specific menus (like armorer or enchantment), and reducing the size of the HUD. You can also customize the HUD any way you want, but those changes will not stick unless you directly edit the HUDMainMenu.xml file DarN UI adds. (under Data\menus\prefabs\DarN)

mTES4 Manager is a nice utility, too. Difficult to set up, but it does make it easier to juggle around multiple installs.

Okay, this is turning out to be quite a challenge.I'm trying to build a clean install of Oblivion on my hard drive (I've temporarily moved Julian's game to an external hard drive for the time being). I've installed Wrye Bash, and got it to open, but now I'm trying to get it to recognize BOSS. I have BOSS in the right place (I think - it's in its BOSS folder in Oblivion Files\Oblivion, next to the game .exe. I have Wrye Bash in its Mopy folder alongside BOSS. I had gotten Wrye Bash to launch earlier, but it didn't recognize BOSS, so I quit it and moved BOSS to where I think it should be (compared to the file system on Julian's game files). But now when I try to launch Wrye Bash, I get a failure to launch, and this message in Wrye Bash.exe:



It makes no sense to me, so I can't figure out what's wrong. Can anyone help me with this?

This version of Wyre-Bash doesn't work with BOSS. Uninstall BOSS and Wrye-Bash will work.

Yup. Bash 293 doesn't like BOSS 1.8. Might want to check the official forums, as I saw an hotfix posted there, but don't remember what it was.

The fix doesn't work on the stand alone BOSS. That's the only type of BOSS that I've been able to find however.

My (clunky) work around is just have the BOSS setup sitting on my desktop. It installs quickly and I can have it set the load order. Then I uninstall it again (which is quick too) and then do what I need in Wrye-Bash.

Wrye Bash worked fine when the BOSS folder was in a separate place away from the Mopy folder (i.e. not in the same place as the game executable). I moved BOSS out of the Oblivion folder into the parent folder (Oblivion Files) and Wrye Bash runs now.

Until they come out with a fix better than the editing of the python file (which didn't work for me - I have both Python and Standalone versions installed), I'll just use BOSS alone and move it in and out of the Oblivion folder as I need it.

I'm interested in getting a second install of Oblivion going too so I went ahead and renamed the Oblivion folder containing the the launcher, data folder, etcetera, and then renamed the Oblivion folder in the My Documents folder. The issue I'm having is when I pop the DVD in the drive and hit the Setup.exe on the DVD, it asks me if I want to remove Oblivion. What am I missing here?

KC, I hope someone answers your question soon.

I've given up on mTES4 - it keeps giving me an error message (denied access to Hautee\Documents\My Music) and then it won't find the clean copy, even though I've tagged it. I've tried dumping the mTES4 files that are created and relaunching it, but still the same thing. I'm running in admin mode, so it shouldn't deny access to anything on my C drive.I tried looking for the answer on the Bethsoft forums, but it keeps telling me to look for an AppData folder on my C drive, and I don't have an AppData folder (and I had it show all hidden files and folders).

So I'm considering cloning the clean install (with a few select mods that I've been using and have pre-installed and cleaned those few dirty mods with TES4Edit). But I'm not sure how to do that. It's got to be more than just copying the Oblivion Files folder in My Documents, right? I don't mind moving/renaming files as long as I can keep each install self-contained (as in Julian's game files and folders are all currently on a separate hard drive and renamed Julian).

Hmm...

The only thing I can suggest for you is to check the folder it is trying to edit. I was getting errors like that for another mod (while running in admin mode) and all the problems were because the folder the program was trying to modify was set as read only. It worked as soon as I unchecked that little box.

I'm running in admin mode, and I can uncheck the read-only box for the folder. Unfortunately, the change doesn't seem to stick - when I look again under Properties, it is blue (checked) again. It's driving me nuts!

I'm having the same issues. I had a service pack install, then suddenly Oblivion breaks. To make a long story short I have the game working again, but I cannot restore it to the way it was because the INI file is in a folder set as Read Only and will not allow an installer to make changes.

Oh, geez, KC! It sounds like you and I might be having the same trouble! Is there anything we can do other than waaaait for Microsoft to issue a fix to fix the broken fix?

Now, on to a more mundane question: I'm getting ready to start a new game of Oblvion. I've done a clean install, loaded up the mods I want to use, cleaned up a few dirty ones, and now I have run Wrye Bash to avtivate them, BOSS'ed the load order, and going googly eyed just looking at the list. I am wondering if things look good to more experienced modders, or do I have some fatal flaws in my mod order/list? I think I have all the necessary esm's, but can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something. I've compared them to TK's load list and that of one other modder who does immersive gameplay (aka Delte).

Try playing. You'll know if things are wrong if the game crashes

Usually I load everything up in Tes4Edit before playing. That thing will let you know of (some) errors.

And I got the problem I was having somewhat resolved. I went in and manually made the changes that the installer was trying to make.

Issues you need to address:

-You are using both MMM Diverse Water Life and OOO Water Fish. Either expect severe slowdowns when you are nearby a water source. You should probably get rid of one, my recommendation is OOO Water Fish, as MMM Diverse Water Life is more performance friendly.

-Speaking of Diverse Water Life, don't be surprised if you notice your fish seem to be drowning. ( )Grab this updated file to keep this from happening.

-Better Cities VWD for IC is mostly designed for LOD generation and works by placing a copy of every IC structure inside the walls into the main worldspace. This can carry a heavy performance hit, so if you end up with low framerates nearby the IC, you may need to lose this one.

-Do not use Natural Weather together with All Natural, it's already integrated. Both of those plugins must be removed.

-You're going to want a Bashed Patch for that load order. It is always preferable to have one if you are using multiple overhauls together.

-You have installed Better Cities UL patches, but have no UL plugins installed. Same for Skingrad Outer District. If any of those patch plugins are mastered to them, your game WILL crash the instant you start it up. And if not, your terrain surrounding the cities will be really messed up.

I'm going to try this:
http://itexpertvoice.com/home/fixing-the-w...y-folder-blues/

@KC: let me know how it goes with the read-only bug (and yes, I'd call it a bug!!).

@TK: I knew I was missing something - rather a bunch of somethings! Thanks for the advice. I was planning on building a Bashed Patch, but I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed first.

Looking at your own load order, I see you have All Natural .esp, SI.esp, and Real Lights.esp, so I kept those. That left me with the plug-ins made by Max Tael, which according to BOSS is notorious for causing conflicts and crashes, so it's a good thing I asked first. Will that be okay, then? Only one way to find out!

I will make the other changes you recommended as well. I was intimidated at all the UL mods (oh, where to begin!!) then found the compilation that has all of them packaged as BAIN/OMOD, so I downloaded that one as I like the idea of having all of them in one place, and then I can pick and choose which mods I want from the bundle as I go to install them. I think I will start with the ones in your load order, as that seems like a pretty good bunch to start with. Unfortunately none of them are around Leyawiin yet (where I plan to start the game), but I see they opened up the map around Topal Bay, so maybe sometime in the near future . . .

I also found the UL LODs file and downloaded that one, though I don't know yet if I will need it. But it's ready just in case! Oh, and would the Oblivion Graphics Extender be useful as well?

Will I be able to play sometime tonight? We'll see!

Nughtee Hautee's got modding fever! Me like!

Why even bother skimping on the ULs? Put 'em all in! My actual latest load order has them all in there, the only reason I left a couple out was due to bad behavior around the cities... but that was with my old hardware.

Leyawiin's UL counterpart is Blackwood.

The UL LOD files are for if you want the distant landscape to match the up-close visuals. If you're installing them all, choosing these is easy, just pick the ones with the most ULs in the package names.

OBGE is a little more involved than your normal mod to get working, but once you do, you won't regret it. OBGE is worth it just for Liquid Water, IMHO, and you get a number of cool special effects to use, too, like SSAO, Depth of Field, Godrays, and color effects. You will lose anti-aliasing, though (OBGE v3 is incompatible with GPU anti-aliasing). The basic process is this:

Install the OBGE OBSE plugin
Install the Standalone Effects package
Start the game and load a save
Quit the game without crashing

This allows OBGE to save its config file.

By the way, make sure to download this if you plan on using LW, it fixes a lighting bug introduced by the shader. Replace whatever version of that shader file came with LW, delete its brother file (the non HLSL files are compiled versions of the HLSLs), make sure bCompileSources is set to 1 in the OBGE INI, and reload the game. Otherwise, the waves won't display correctly.

I already put a lot of the UL mods in. I figured they worked fine on your older machine, they oughta do well on mine.

Here is my new load order:

I did perform the Bashed Patch. It took some trial and error to get the mods the way I wanted them (Cobl races for the extra hair, for example). I was able to start up and am now in Leyawiin, with a young Breton who doesn't yet know what she wants to do with herself.

I am noticing a few things that are probably due to OOO and maybe MMM. I've explored Leyawiin (hey, it's flooded around my house - of course, it's the poor quarter, so the Count isn't interested in draining the area properly). Tallei will have to be careful - she is primarily a healer with little combat skill. I decided to try playing a magic character, so we'll see how things go. I've already noticed fletching and leatherworking shears, so it seems like she might be able to make a living, once I figure out how to use them.

There's a couple of bugs I'm experiencing: one is the game is unable to find OBSE 0.92 (I have the latest installed), I'm not sure why. I'll have to look into that. The other thing is the game keeps crashing on exit and I have to go into Task Manager to end the process that is showing "Windows is checking for a solution to the problem." I did see something somewhere about that, and what needs to be done. But it's late and I'm off to bed, so tomorrow's soon enough!

I'm also thinking about installing the hunger, fatigue and sleep mods to make things more immersive. I've been playing with an awareness of time, but would like to see it have an effect on my PC. I also am wondering how I can alter the timescale to slow things down a bit.

Good night, all. I'm going to have some fun with my new character.

Basically every heavily modded game will do that.
Fast Exit solves that issue.

I use Realistic Fatigue and I'm very happy with it. One of the coolest things it does is blur your vision when your fatigue is low. It also does a variety of other things that you can read about, but that is by far my favorite effect.

See You Sleep is a good one just for visuals. Your character actually gets into bed rather than stands by it. If you want effects based on how long you've been away from bed, you'll have to hunt that down yourself.

Real Sleep Extended

With portable bedrolls, too! (This means good-bye to your current portable bedrolls plugin)

Make sure to reduce your timescale! (10:1 should be enough).

The first 2 suggestions didn't work for me. I won't be able to try the last one for about a week.

Hey, I can use a little advice, or at least a nudge in the right direction.

I seem to be having trouble building a Bashed Patch. I'm not sure if I'm checking too many options or not. I'm seeing NPC's in Leyawiin walking into walls and buildings, which suggests a problem with the paths. I don't know which of OOO and which of MMM I want to keep for the optimum experience.

Here is my Bashed Patch:


I also have the load order here:


Does anyone see any conflicts here? I've tried searching online for some help, but I guess I'm not looking in the right places.

Thanks!

Try reverting to a Python-based Bashed Patch, CBash is still in beta and kinda buggy.

Should I keep the same options checked in the Python version as I have in the CBash?

That's one thing I really like about Wrye Bash - it remembers the last settings I used.

Okay, I rebuilt the bashed patch as a python-based one - still having issues.

What I'm seeing in the game are missing textures (some foliage in Leyawiin, the polygons are there in various shades of purple but no leaves/branches; skin on Khajiit and Argonian bodies are fluorescent pink instead of the usual colors). I haven't explored more of the city to see what else is wrong. Also the NPC's (the vanilla ones, not the ones added by either OOO or MMM, not sure which) are still having trouble finding their paths. The Countess is stuck walking into a broken wall near the Chapel, and while I'm content to let her keep trying to walk through the wall, I don't like seeing other less deserving NPC's have the same trouble.

So I've printed up my log from BOSS, and had Wrye Bash give me a mod check report. It detected more dirty mods than BOSS did, and I'm wondering if I should go by the WB list and clean those mods (the ones that aren't tagged as intentionally dirty mods by BOSS (i.e. OOO esm and esp, MMM esm and some of its esp's). I still can't shake the feeling that the bashed patch I built has overwritten some essential information.

Can someone please tell me if I'm barking up the right tree, comparing the BOSS log with the bashed patch to see if something got checked off that shouldn't be? And in the case of the dirty mods discrepancies, what should I do about them?

Bash can't do anything with the game's resources, so it has nothing to do with your missing textures. I would suggest checking your Archive Invalidation and make sure you have properly set up BSA Redirection, and if you previously performed a BSA Alteration, that you undo it.

To BSA Redirect, you need a BSA Archive containing a single dummy texture file. Stick it into your data folder, open Oblivion.INI, and modify the sArchiveList entry so that it is registered first. So it would look something lke this:

sArchiveList=ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa, Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, ...etc.

As for the pathgrids, I am uncertain as to what is causing that at this point, but now we know for certain it's not Bash, because the Python-based patch will not touch the pathgrid records. If this is not a fresh game, consider waiting around somewhere else for a couple days to let the NPC AI get accustomed to their new surroundings.