Check it out, my very first post in a modding forum. Interestingly enough this forum happens to be rather slow. I can see some threads haven't been touched since summer or even earlier.

Enough with the small talk though. I am starting this thread because (let's face it) I am new to PC gaming and I'm going to need a LOT of help in the upcoming months and years. So this thread is a place to hopefully get all my answers questions, and questions answers. And of course if somebody else has questions they can ask 'em too.

I keep a 'modding file' on a Word Pad page located in one of my PC's folders, and I've been adding a lot of helpful random advice there, but one of my probs is sometimes I'll read something online in some thread, and then later I'll go to have a look at that thread, trying to remember what the solution is to a problem, but I can't find it anymore.

I'm somewhat of a PC dummy, but also a fast learner. I'm not sure if Beth's forums have a decent modding community; I'm sure it's great (and with a low rate of flaming), but I also can sometimes get too overwhelmed by Bethesda's official forums. I also know that Beth is packed with rude gamers, and I don't have time for that sort of nonsense.

Also, Why ask questions there when everybody I trust is already here, right?

I've been hearing about how great Wrye Bash is, so this is one of the very first things I think I'll mess with. I have also heard Nexus is better than Steam to get mods from, so I'm following that advice. When I go on Nexus and try to locate Wrye Bash, I find a page which has several different versions (?) attached to it.

Which one do I choose? I am assuming it's this one?

I do not use Wyre Bash, so I am afraid I cannot help there. But Acadian and Wyrd do, and think Grits too. I am sure one of them will chime in with something more useful than this post.

Renee, I started with OBMM for installs and have stayed with it for that purpose. Not because it's better but because I'm used to it and it does what I need for installs. I do have an older version on WB installed so can't help much on current events with WB. WB is good for two main things. First, as a utility. It beats the pants off of any alternative (like Oblivion Animation Fixer - OAF) for fixing the A bomb every few hundred hours. Thanks to WB, that is a simple 30 second operation. It also is very handy for tweaking some things like deleting spells from your spellbook or reweighing potions if you don't use mods for such things. So, even with an OBMM install, I consider WB an essential utility. The second main purpose of WB is for installing mods via the Bash Installer (BAIN). Since I am comfortable with OBMM and somewhat intimidated by BAIN's steeper learning curve, I'm not familiar with using BAIN. There are a great number of OB players whose opinions I greatly respect that absolutely swear by BAIN, and the majority of heavy OB mod users recommend it for install. If I were starting anew, I would spend the time to learn BAIN.

I'm no whiz at installing mods. If I was interested in talking to someone at Chorrol who likely is familiar with WB, I would consider Pseron Wyrd - if he's not a Bash master, I'm sure he can help get you in touch with someone who is. He has another advantage of being familiar with modding TES III, IV and V. Another likely candidate might be ghastley.

One area that I do profess a sound knowledge of however is the command console. I developed a love for the wonderful things it can do years ago and have maintained my love and interest for it.

That's the one I'm using. (The standalone version.) If I remember correctly there is an installer. The main thing for me was to give myself a lot of time and not panic. I am very much a clueless beginner! But it does the work.

I got it so that I could make NPCs out of some of my characters following Pseron Wyrd's instructions. The more I learn, the more I love it.


Oh! I forgot to say that the few mods I’ve gotten from Steam I’ve made sure to unsubscribe from right away so that I don’t get automatic updates. I like to wait a little and see if an update adds something I want to the mod (not to mention actually works) before I put it in my game. I've only used Steam for Skyrim, but I’m guessing the process must be similar for Oblivion.

Here’s another thing I didn’t know until I’d been fooling around for a while. On the Nexus you can use the green Track button on a mod's page and then check your tracking center (near the bottom of the Files menu) to see what’s been updated recently. Then you just go to the mod page and figure out what’s been changed.

I forgot to say. I always use the Nexus for my mods. The reason is that way I can save the zip file the mod came in to my backups folder. Then I manually copy the contents to my Skyrim or Oblivion folder and/or make an .omod file out of it using Tes Mod Manager. Anything that has loose files gets turned into an .omod. The .omod you can create with Tes Mod Manager is basically an archive that stores all of the mod's filed within it. When you active it through the TESMM interface it extracts all the files to wherever they are supposed to go. When you deactivate it, it automatically deletes all of those files. That makes it easy to clean up when I find I don't want a mod anymore. It also makes installation simple. Anything that is just an .esp file just gets copied to the Oblivion or Skyrim/Data folder.

I don't think there is a Steam Workshop for Oblivion.



I use Nexus for the reasons Grits said. Sometimes I want to see what the mod update includes before putting it in my game. And there's the occasional screw up by the mod author that ends up breaking something...

What do you use instead of WB? Just curious.

Cool, lots of advice here, thank you all. The Wyrdster seems to be missing in action lately, maybe he's been sucked in by CoD: Ghosts. Last night I did go to Beth's forums to simply read their mod FAQs, lots of cool stuff there to read. I now know what an 'install' is, and how they affect modding (the last mod wins or something, assuming several mods which affect the same thing are being employed).

And I found a website which will help me get my wired Xbox-style controller working. Arena definitely recognizes it (I'm starting with Arena) but the way the dude wrote the site is all bass-ackwards!

Like he says: 'then download the files here and put the .cfg files in the JoyToKey folder.' What the **** does he mean by "here"??? That alone had me stumped for probably close to an hour, until I finally figured out "Here" means the two configuration files he personally linked on the bottom of his page.

I am nowhere near to getting my first Oblivion game (which will probably be Lady Saga) up on PC, but when I finally do get her going, I will definitely be ready to roll in no time, instead of struggling to get anything happening.



That sounds interesting. I've heard so many bad things about Steam, and I'm not sure I understand what these automatic updates entail, but I'll try my best to just use Nexus.



Is this the one you speak of? http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39522/?

Oh wait, I see that one's for Zelda.

I don´t use Wrye Bash or anything like that. I have enough with the few mods I use and don´t need a program with an overly complicated installation or UI

I also don´t know what BAIN or OBMM is and I still manage!

Here is the link to Timeslip’s mod, Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM). OBMM is simple and works well but, again, if starting anew, I would pick the brain of folks like Grits and try to go for a Bash Installer (BAIN) install via WB.

I would definitely use a mod installer of some type. Otherwise it turns into a mess fast, especially if you are trying mods and may want to remove them. OBMM is easier to use and I never had any issues with it. I am not sure what the Bash installer offers that OBMM doesn't so I am not any help there. I just know, USE an installer.

I forgot to mention. TES Mod Manager is for Oblivion as well as Skyrim. It works on both. It is the updated version of OBMM, that Acadian linked to.

For installing Oblivion mods I mostly did it manually to teach myself how it works. I always keep copies of the mods I have tried, whether I keep them in my game or not. That way I can figure out exactly what has gone where when there’s an issue. I also always keep carefully labeled backups whenever files get overwritten this way. It’s much safer to use the utilities that automatically handle such things. If you do it manually just be very careful. I’d highly recommend following everyone else’s advice on using a mod installer (but not the Nexus Mod Manager) and not doing it my way!

The next time I have to install Oblivion (on a new machine) I’ll just use BAIN for installing mods. I use the Skyrim version a lot more than the Oblivion one, since my Skyrim is still very much in flux. I still unzip the files and take a look first, though, since sometimes you can tell right away that something looks screwy.

Awesome, thanks again, all. I'm pretty confused about which installer to choose, but once I start getting into it I'm sure it'll make more sense. Plus, I don't intend to throw so many mods into my game early on. Actually, now that I just said that out loud, I'm liking Grit's plan of installing manually. I'm planning on starting off slow (that's the plan, anyways).

Actually, that is a good question: I do have one mod that I want to get into my first PC Oblivion game from Day 1. It's a hardcore mod (makes food and eating and sleeping matter more) and I forget which one it is, but I have it written down at home.

The question: is it possible to start a mod before the game actually is even being played? Before the Tutorial starts, and before Character Creation even begins? OR will this screw something up?

I suppose I'll have to find the name of hte mod I speak of first, but it doesn't seem to be a very big one. On the other hand, I DO want to get Better Cities into Joan of Arkay's game before she gets of the Tutorial (so the Imperial City starts off being filled with this mod's stuff). How viable is this plan?

I know BC requires OBSE and I've already got this on my PC.

Once you have the game installed (you did install outside of Program Files, right?), then you can indeed install mods that will be effective when you start the game. My caution here would be this: Normally, I'd only add one mod at a time, then test and play it to make sure it causes no problems. The challenge with adding a handful at a time at once is that when you play and get some sort of an unpleasant surprise, it can be very difficult to find the culprit. When you have a stable game and add only one mod at a time and fully play test it before adding any more, then if you encounter a problem, it is pretty easy to figure out what mod caused it.

Oh, and you are wise to have OBSE installed. A great many wonderful mods require it.

There should be no issue with that.

And I strongly encourage you to use a mod installer of some type. Especially if you start adding a lot of mods, it can become messy very quickly if you install mods manually. Installers are not really there to make adding mods easier, it's there to make removing them easier. If you do decide to install manually, then keeping a copy of the mod is a must. That way if you do want to uninstall it, you will have something to refer to when you are deleting files.

Yikes!! Let’s rename the Grits method “Asking For Trouble.” I think it’s a great idea to install one or two very simple mods manually so that you get comfortable with the system, but pick something like a mod that adds a new set of armor or maybe one bow. Please, please use an installer for any major overhaul mods. Eventually you will come across a conflict that you have to puzzle out, and adding/removing things one at a time with an installer makes solving issues much simpler.

I’d suggest a test character so you can check the game out every time you add something. Fast Travel, use the console, do what it takes with them to make sure the mods are working together. Then add another mod and load up Testy’s game again.

Heh heh. Testy.

Anyway when you unzip your first mod and take a look at the files, you’ll probably get a gut feeling. If that feeling is “holy skitt,” I’d say pick a smaller one to start with. If it looks like something you can un-do, just be careful.

I haven't installed (or touched) Oblivion yet. What do you mean 'outside of Program Files?' Won't the computer automatically put those files wherever it wants to put them?

On Windows 8, there are actually TWO program file folders: Program Files, and Program Files(x86). The latter folder is where the game automatically puts gaming files, I have noticed.


I have heard we're supposed to use OBSE to load the game too, correct?



Okay hon, thanks. The test character idea is great; I'm too impatient to get Joan or Saga's game up from the get-go, and that's probably asking for trouble.



Okay. The very first one I want to add (the hardcore one) seems rather small, while Better Cities of course is gigantic.

On Windows Vista and above, mods sometimes get into a peeing contest with the virus protection features afforded by windows to residents of 'Program Files'. That is why most modders install the game in a different place. What you can do is click on 'Computer' to open up and display your drives. Then open your main hard drive (where Program Files and some other folders live). Now, right click in an unused area of you screen and follow the prompts New > Folder to create a new folder. You can name the folder whatever you like (My Games, TES4, or whatever). Then, when you install the game, don't accept the default install location (Program Files); rather, tell the game to install in your newly created folder.

Regarding OBSE, yes, if you have it installed, you need to start the game via OBSE instead of auto start or the normal game starting procedures. The read me for OBSE should tell you how to do this. What most of us do is put a shortcut to the OBSE file that opens the game onto our desktop. Another feature of OBSE that ties to WB is that if you are going to fiddle with a script created by OBSE, you must have the construction site open via OBSE. Happily, one of WB's many features is a little button along the bottom tool bar for WB that opens the CS via OBSE with a single click - very handy and that is now the only way I ever open the CS.

All this makes me sound much smarter than I am. Mostly I'm simply relaying what I do and what I know works for me. I would certainly defer to most other folks here that use mods, since probably most of them are way smarter about puter stuffs than me. At my age, I attribute most puter things to some sort of unknowable magicks.

On the topic of Wrye Bash: I swear by it. It has saved my Oblivion installation on multiple occasions (read: full reinstall and I could still use my saves from before the wipe). It is also required if, like me, you use a lot of mods and require merging records for compatibility. Of all the people here, I think my Oblivion is the most heavily modded:




All that and Wrye Bash can still save the installation thanks to its wonderful installer? Go Bash or go home, is what I say. Do not hesitate to ask about Bash, as it is well worth it, but does have a learning curve.

Acadian is right about Vista and this carries over to 7, as well. If you install your game in "Program Files" Windows will likely block mods from loading properly. That is why I install all of my games to the C\:Games directory and NOT program files. This prevents UAC from causing problems for me, while also allowing me to keep it turned on.

OBSE is needed for certain mods. I actually have several that are not listed there which do some more low-level things, like let me copy the contents of the Console (which OBSE prints debug messages to) to a text file, or optimizes the game engine's memory management a bit so to reduce the stutter. Just remember, as said, you need to launch the game through the OBSE loader, as OBSE uses the Injection method to insert itself into Oblivion's EXE file.

Awesome! Thank you Acadian and Thomas Kaira.

Besides all of the excellent advice given here, I can add one suggestion.

If you have the drive space, before you start adding mods, create a new folder called Oblivion Vanilla (or something similar) and copy the entire contents of your Oblivion folder and all of it subfolders into it. This way if you do screw up your game six ways to Sunday, you can always delete the contents of the regular game folder, and then copy the vanilla files back to it. It is the same as reinstalling the game, except without all the hassle that comes with having to do it the normal way. This also allows you to selectively replace or just compare individual files in your modded folder with the originals. Just in case there is just one file that is causing you a problem.

While you are at it, you will find your game's .ini files and the saves in your My Documents/My Games/Oblivion folder. The same with Skyrim as well. If you are going to make changes to your .ini files, it is not a bad idea to make backup copies of them first as well.

Awesome thanks SR. A friend of mine from Beth might show up here too, or perhaps I might ask a few questions for him.

I am now copying files to the Vanilla Oblivion folder, just like you said, SR. Might as well start with this. It's a slow process, eh?

I guess the next thing is to install the game, and that's where Cream Steam is needed, I suppose. Yucky Steam. Actually Steam's not that bad. It just confuses me. Extra steps to deal with, extra stuff to be aware of.

Copying can take a while, especially on an older computer. It is a good time to watch a little tv.

You won't need Steam if you are just playing Oblivion. Unless you bought Oblivion through Steam I suppose. You only need Steam for Skyrim, and it will automatically install itself when you try to install Skyrim.

Nope, I am using the Anthology disc so (Yah!) no Steam for Oblivion.

Okay, here goes the install. I made sure to create a New Folder as suggested, so htat it looks like this:

C > Modded Oblivion

instead of

C > Program Files(x86)

Let's see if this works. EDIT: Yup, it's giving me a choice of where I want to install. COOL. Here we go....
..I am kind of excited!

EDIT 2: so I can tell this is going to be a long install. I just turned on my PS3 to watch some Netflix, but I can't help but watch the OB game install. I'm sitting here staring at it as it says C:\...\Data\Oblivion - Meshes.bsa.

Nothing is happening but this install (and some pretty pictures being shown) yet I'm fascinated. It's like a computer roleplay or something. Here's me, Renee G rolling the dice, seeing if I get this right!

EDIT 3: Whoa, holy **** look at those graphics. Maybe it's just some pretty art that's being shown, but wow, it's much smoother than what's seen on consoles. Hard to explain.

EDIT 4: screw the Alternative Start mod. I gotta see the differences in the Tutorial! Not tonight, but next time it rains or snows. So hurry up and rain or snow!

The graphics are way better than a PS3 or X-Box. That can have a bad side to it however, as you might find yourself noticing more that people's faces are blotchy looking. In Skyrim the face textures all have a blocky look, like they were Minecraft characters. I am told it is not really noticeable on the consoles. But on the PC, it is really glaring.

Yes, I have seen this actually in the vanilla game. Originally I had one of those big, heavy TVs with tubes in its back, this TV was slightly blurry and not 'hi-def', so I always wondered why people complained about the faces in OB. Then I went to my sister's place one day. My nephew has Oblivion, and they have one of those flatscreen TVs, but this one's almost the size of an entire wall.

So that was the first time I saw it: all the pockmarks, acne, measels, etc. I'm not sure if I'll ever mod this out or not, we'll see.

No more ugly faces.

And as for the screenshots of the game during install, those are downright hideous compared to what you can do with mods and decent hardware.

To explain the blockiness of the faces in Skyrim: this is because the normal maps for the face textures (normal map is a texture that relays information to the game engine on lighting interaction) are compressed. This results in inaccuracy in the normal maps due to the colors of some of the pixels not being quite what they should be. The blocky look comes from how DDS compression algorithms work (very basic explanation: they take 2-2 grids of pixels and unify the color for them).

Thanks Thomas Kaira. You're named after a rare sports car.

I'm currently messing around again. Just downloaded OBMM, where should I put it, though? I don't see any specific instructions on the Nexus page.

Should I put OBMM right alongside the regular Oblivion files, like this?

C:\Modded Oblivion\OBMM files

"Modded Oblivion" is the folder I created last night. *starts clicking F5 over and over, waiting for answer*

Yes, that is where to put it.

Awesome. Good lord, it's got a lot of reading in there.

Well so far I've got OBSE ready. OBMM installed. I think next I'm going for the mods *drools* Sorry. I'm salivating and I can't help it.

I should probably do a bit of reading on how OBMM actually works first though. It looks pretty serious.

IT is snowing outside, and I am going to *attempt* to put a couple mods in my first PC Oblivion game. I know that's a lot for one night, but you don't know how long I've been waiting for this. My first 2 mods will be "See Me Sleep" and "Natural Hunger". They seem rather small.

Whenever I wait for something to download, I've been switching to Lord Haaf-Mersey as he rides his horse slowly back to Falkreath.

What does esp stand for? Sorry, I tried Googling this but it's simply a nightmare getting straight information.

Here is an example of what I mean: The left hand panel contains a list of all active esps. They are listed in oblivion load order, with the top mod in the list loading first and the bottom last

Wow, OBMM color-codes the mods to show if they're active or not? Holy moly

I'm downloading mod files as we speak. I haven't unzipped anything yet. Where should I unzip these mods?

I am guessing C:\Modded Oblivion\OBMM\Mods?

Never mind! I figured it out. YES! I got Natural Hunger installed and there's a little blue box next to it in the Mod Manager!! I wish Chorrol had more smileys, I want to put :foodndrink: and see the smiley with the bottle

ESP stands for elder scrolls plugin file. Nearly every mod, expect things that only change colors or what shape things are in game will have a .esp file associated with it. That is what is set to 'active' or not.

Hi Renee. You installed OBMM to the right place. The same place I did.

.esp is the file extension of the most mods for Elder Scrolls games. I believe it stands for Elder Scrolls Plugin. Where .esm stands for Elder Scrolls Master. You will only see a few of the .esm's. One for the vanilla game, and once in a while one from a mod.

An .esp is what you create when you use the Construction Set to make a mod. Say like one that changes the stats of an NPC, or puts a new house on the map, or changes how quickly magicka regenerates, etc... Some mods have more than just an .esp. Things like new meshes (.nif files), new textures (.dds files), sound effects, music, voices, and so on. Some mods don't even have an .esp. They are ones that simply replace vanilla files with new ones. Texture replacers for things like armor or clothing are common examples.

In any case, a .esp files gets copied to your Oblivion\Data folder. It will be the same folder your Oblivion.esm file is in. If all you have is an .esp, you do not need OBMM to install it. Just copy it over manually, open OBMM, and select the .esp file in the list to make it active.

It is when you have mods with extra files, like those new textures or meshes, that OBMM comes in really handy. Rather than manually copy the files to your Oblivion\Data folder, you have two options. I am sure every mod you download is going to come in a .zip, .rar, or .7z file. The first option is to extract the files to some temporary folder on your hard drive. I keep a folder called Temp off of the root of every hard drive for this sort of thing. Make sure the directory structure is kept intact, if whatever you are extracting with has an option for that.

Then open OBMM, and go down to the bottom and click on the Create button. That brings up a new Omod Creator window. Put in a name that you want to use for the .omod file. The same name as the mod is obviously a good idea. Version Number, Author, and that stuff you can leave blank unless you want to put it in. You can leave the compression rates at the defaults too. Though I always set them to the lowest or none. That takes up more space on my hard drive, but I have plenty to spare.

Now look in the middle of this window and click on Add Folder. A Browse For Folder window pops up. Use it to go to the folder you extracted your mod to. Make sure it is the same folder that the .esp file is in. This is the tricky part, since a lot of people who make mods bury the actual files in a few layers of folder names that are completely useless. Like NickAwesomeUberSword\Uber\Oblivion\Data\<the .esp file>. You just want to select that Data folder with the .esp in it. Click on OK, and wait for OBMM to do its thing. It will take you back to the previous window. From there you can add a description. This is a good idea, so you remember just what the heck Nick's Uber Sword actually does and where to find it. I usually just copy and paste the readme file from the mod. If it does not have one, I copy and paste the description page of the mod from the Nexus. When you are done, click on the red X in the upper right corner. It will ask you if you want to save your changes. Say Yes, and it takes you back to the new Omod Creator window. Now click on Create Omod at the lower right. It will take a few moments to do build the file. When it is done, a little window will pop up saying so.

What this does is take all of those loose files and packs them all together into a single archive. You will now see it in the big window pane on the right side of the program. To activate it, just double click. Or click once to select it, and then click on the Activate button at the bottom. What this does is automatically pull out all those loose files and copy them to your Oblivion folder and all the proper subfolders. It also makes the .esp that came with it active. Do the same to deactivate it. If you want to delete an .omod, make sure you Deactivate it first, then Delete. That makes sure all those files get cleaned up. The beauty of this is that you do not have to keep track of all those loose files. OBMM does it all for you.

The second option I mentioned to creating an .omod above is to skip extracting it to your hard drive. Instead in the Omod Creator window click on Add Archive, and then navigate to the .zip file you downloaded. This works so long as the mod author put all of their files in the right folders. But sometimes mods come with option files, which are stuck in extra folders that OBMM does not know what to do with. This method won't get those options working, and you have to manually extract the files first, and move around the ones you want to use into the correct folders. Because of that I almost always just extract my mods to a folder first, and make my omods from there.

Okay, one last thing before I launch my first PC game. Actually I suppose I could launch the game now, but try this later.

Two questions. (1) Timescale. I wanna slow it down. Am I looking in the .ini file to change this? And also (2) how do I get the console working.

I think I know the answer to #2. It's the ~ button, right? .. anyways, here I go. Heh heh....

You got it. Use the ~ to open the console. Then type in:

Set Timescale To X

With X being the number you want. 30 is the default. I set it to 10, and most other folks go with something in that neighborhood as well.

You might also want to look at Tweak Guides Oblivion page for ways to optimize your performance. Or just to find out what all those settings mean. I found it very handy, as it has pictures showing you what different settings look like in the game.

The TES Construction Set Wiki is also a good place to look at for more info on mods, what file extensions mean, as well as how to use the Construction Set itself.

The UESP Wiki has a good page on Console Commands.

TFC is a handy command for giving you a free camera to take screenshots with.

TM will toggle the menus.

TAI will turn off the AI, which is handy for getting monsters to stay still while you take pictures of them.

SWEET! The mod works! I put Natural Hunger in the game successfully, and did see a couple messages show up that are definitely not vanilla.

I did start my character last night (the dark elf named Snaat Rayag) but then I got stuck trying to figure out button-mapping for my Xbox/PC controller. Still haven't figured it out; that part's going to be harder than the actual modding. But I'll get it.

Congratulations RG4! Welcome to the world of modded Oblivion!

I got into modding when I set up my Mac desktop to boot into Win 7 (Boot Camp) and installed Oblivion on that. Put in a lot of hours playing different mods.

I have just installed Win 7 and Oblivion under Parallels on my Mac laptop (Parallels allows you to run Win 7 on top of the Mac operating system--it is not a separate boot partition). Oblivion plays well enough, though the game play stutters somewhat. I am also missing the console key under Parallels (it works normally under Boot Camp) and some of the modifier keys don't work consistently. So I may go ahead and partition the hard drive on my laptop and run Boot Camp instead.

I only mention this because there are a few folks who use Macs here and may feel they can never run Oblivion on their computers.

I have to second TK's recommendation for the faces. Of all the face mods I've tried to get better looking faces, OCO2 has been the best. I'm the most pleased with the results of this one. I should warn you, though, many of the NPC's, especially the mer, have been "Skyrimized." I don't mind. IRL, not everyone is a Beautiful Person.

I use Wrye Bash for most of my installations, but keep OBMM on hand for a few. DarN UI is one of them. It simply does not work under WB, but is easily customizable under OBMM.

As Sage Rose said, I have a copy of a clean install of Oblivion elsewhere on the hard drive. I have two saves with that: one at the end of the tutorial, and one at the end of the MQ.

And you're the first person who actually got it.

For which mod manager to use, I use OBMM if the mod requires INI alterations in order to configure (specifically DarNified UI, which needs entries in the Oblivion.INI in order to properly display the new fonts). Otherwise, I use Wrye Bash, as there are a number of advantages with using BAIN:

1. It respects install order. Installing a mod after a certain mod that contains alterations to the same object will cause the latter install to always take precedence. Always. This allows you further control over which changes you get out of which mods. Very useful for replacers. OBMM does not do this, for it the last mod to be activated supercedes everything.

2. Conflict detection you can actually use. Bash gives you a nice to-the-point list of all the items that a mod package will override when installed and what packages will override it. OBMM gives you arcane junk that is completely unreadable.

3. It can handle complex installations without needing scripts. All you need to do is set the package up correctly and you can pick and choose which individual PIECES of mods you want to install, too. You can select if you want certain ESPs over others, install some textures in a replacer but leave out the rest, you name it. Outside of INI edits, Bash can do everything OBMM does without the need of scripting the install. And you can even find scripted installs for BAIN now too (called wizards).

4. Clear reporting of mod installation status. It will adjust the color on the package's status symbol depending on what it detects: green = all files matched, yellow = resource file mismatch, orange = ESP mismatch, red = missing files.

5. It does not require the package be a specialized file to work. All you need is a file archive with a folder structure it recognizes. Nothing more.

Another useful console command: TCL. Use this with nothing selected (very important nothing be displayed as selected in the top-center screen) will turn off collision detection for the entire game. Useful for if you get irreversibly stuck and don't want to reload.

You're welcome haute ecole rider. Your name has something to do with horseriding I can see. I've been on somewhat of a Google crusade with people's names lately, I think I started with Pseron Wyrd.



http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=thomas...selectedIndex=8

That's a sweet-looking car right there!

Hey while we're here, I do have one more question. I'm going to have a zillion over the days, weeks, months, years...

I have heard many words about the Unofficial Oblivion Patch. Wondering if I'll need to mess with this at all? ... It's third-party stuff, so I kinda doubt the ES: Anthology disc has anything to do with this.

Unofficial Patches are usually a good idea. It fixes a lot of little (and not so little) issues that the devs never addressed.

Oh I see. So I'll probably just wait a bit until I find out if my game might possibly have a quest broken or whatever.

One more question, and this one has nothing to do with mods: in Oblivion how do I drop something? I've had my new dark elf pick up the tan cup at the very beginning of the game but can't figure out how to drop it. I've tried going into the menu, highlighting the tan cup he picked up, and then I've pressed every key on the keyboard (I think). Can't figure out how to drop it.

Select the item. Hold down the Shift Button, and left-click on it. Exit the menus and it will fall to the ground in front of you.

Awesome thanks!

I just figured out how to disable spells, so Snaat Rayag hasn't got a Flare spell! ... I also changed the timescale and am now trying to figure out how to delete the (guess) compass from the HUD. So much fun. I haven't even left his jail cell yet!

Just don't ever get rid of the starting healing spell. The game uses it by default to fill the selected spell slot. Sometimes events happen - like when you use a scroll - that clear out that slot. Afterward the game automatically puts the Heal Minor Wounds spell back in that slot. So if you delete it, the game will crash.

Oh okay. Good to know. Yes you are right, the game does automatically default to that healing spell, that's the way it is on consoles as well.

Well I got him out of the prison cell finally. I'm not sure when Darker Dungeons is supposed to work; it is really bright down there! .. I also found a mod called No Compass but it didn't work. I found another mod which deletes all of the compass info except for the basic N E S W directions, and this one worked. No more electrical tape on my damn TV!

You guys and gals haven't heard from me; it's because I hit a wall modding-wise and was determined to figure it on my own, but I'm just stuck.

Not sure why, but the PC tutorial dungeon is INSANELY bright. I used to think console dungeons are too bright, but on PC, there literally is no darkness. I've tried messing with Darker Dungeons and Cava Obscura but neither seems to do anything.

When I was reading Cava's ReadMe, I noticed this....


Okay, that seems to explain it, I need Wrye Bash, even though a friend has sworn he got Cava to work with OBMM only. Anyways, it's not a prob. I'll need to figure Wrye next, but I'm okay with this because it was one of my goals, anyways.

My question: is this the version I want? I notice there's a message on the front page where it says the "WB team is MIA" (not around anymore) which is a scary thought.

I do not know a thing about Wyre Bash, so I cannot help you there.

But one thing I can suggest before you start tinkering is to go into your Video Settings and see if you are using HDR Lighting or Bloom Lighting. I found that HDR made everything way to bright for me, to the point where it was literally washing out all the colors. So I always play with it set to Bloom.

Interesting thanks I will try that.