The error/glitch free, heavily modded game is a dream that I doubt many have achieved. Though I would like perfection, I'm no where close, and I am sure that I am the culprit. I'll give my load order in a second, but here are my issues...

1. NPC Digital Facial Shadows - It's barely noticeable from a distance, but when you talk to someone, it's clear that there are small blocks of pixelated shading going on.

2. The Infinite Graphical Glitch - this happes occationally when there is a missing texture (I think). Often an NPC will have something small attached to them that streches out into infinity. (I fixed this once when some swords were missing their textures, but I'm not sure what is missing now.

3. Semi-directional Solid Color Blocker - Again, I think this is a missintg texture. It happens usually when I am inside a cave or building... I'll be walking in one direction and then turn and everything goes to a solid color. It's not always black or brown... ???

I understand that the way to overcome this is to check each mod out one by one, and I didn't, so that is why I'll probably re-install. What I wanted was to see if anyone else might see a problem with my load order (I'm using BOSS) and if the graphics problems sound familiar.

I tried taking screenshots (yes, I changed the ini settings to allow this), but it didn't happen.

Lastly, I was wondering if there was anyone willing to detail exacly what order they install everything oblivion related. I know that there are many people who have re-installed multiple times. Maybe there's a "good" way to do it?

Thanks in advance!

Load order:

Oblivion.esm
Windfall.esm
Kvatch Rebuilt.esm
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - SI.esp
Book Jackets Oblivion.esp
ChaseCameraMod.esp
Update My Statue.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - HorseArmor.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - Orrery.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - VileLair.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - MehrunesRazor.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp
Adonnays Elven Weaponry.esp
RTFemaleReplacerV12.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - ThievesDen.esp
BrumaMGRestored.esp
Kvatch Rebuilt.esp
PrincessAnvilSeasideCabin.esp
VHBloodlines 1.2.esp
Windfall.esp
DLCfrostcrag.esp
Kvatch Rebuilt_Frostcrag Reborn.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - Frostcrag.esp
BrumaMGRestored-Frostcrag.esp
Knights.esp
Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp
SM Plugin Refurbish - Knights.esp
Harvest [Flora].esp
Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp
Birthsigns Expanded.esp
2nd to 1st person.esp
LastUnicorn.esp
Leviathan Soulgems.esp
moremerchantmoneyv1.1.esp
Short Grass V3.esp
tag_NaturalWildlife.esp
Quest Award Leveller.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Vile Lair.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Mehrunes Razor.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Knights of the Nine.esp
Denock Arrows.esp
RealisticLeveling.esp
bgBalancingEVCore.esp
bgMagicEV.esp
bgMagicSpellTomes_for_WryeBash.esp
bgMagicItemSigil.esp
bgMagicEVStartspells.esp
bgMagicBonus.esp
bgMagicEVAddEnVar.esp
bgMagicEVPaperChase.esp
bgBalancingEVLAMEAddition.esp
bgBalancingEVLAMEGlue.esp
bgIntegrationEV.esp
MM_NoMoreAnnoyingMessages.esp
bgMagicEVShader.esp
bgMagicShaderLifeDetect.esp
bgMagicLightningbolt.esp

Try using http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21862 or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16704 to id which mods are missing textures, and then reinstalling them. IIRC, the latest FOCM thread has a recommended install order, if you do decided on a full reinstall.
EDIT: Note that this might not apply to a non-focm install.
EIDT2:"digital face shadows" are caused by turning self shadows on, right? I've heard people say that that setting if buggy even in an unmodded game, and that it's best to leave it off.

Ok I know this is not what you were asking but use this for taking ingame pics. http://www.fraps.com/download.php just set it up prior to playing make sure it is running and then you will not have any problems taking the screen shots. Good luck.

You were right on with the self shadows. I turned them off and now it's fixed.

I have the FormID Finder, but I'm not sure I installed it properly... I'll check that out.




Thanks for the link. It looks like a great tool. Love the FPS notice at the top!

#2 is hopefully a bad mesh or is a graphical artifact. Someone said something about overheated video cards can cause that, but I think mine have just been bad meshes. If #3 concerns something like solid light blue at certain angles, I think that that is either a bad mesh or a graphics card issue too. The FormID Finder should help with #3, if it is a mesh problem. Oooh, I am going to take a wild guess that #2 is probably the bad shoe in the Robert Fem package. Tommy_H uploaded a fix a couple months ago. That one bugged me for over a year. I recommend the fully PyFFI-ed version of Robert's mod, but you could just get the shoe: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28975.

Now that you mention it... I do seem to recall that the glitch was coming from the foot area. Thanks! My card is a brand new GTX 295. It's not overclocked so I can't imagine the thing being overheated.

You guys are great! One by one my issues are being resolved. I appreciate it!

Edit: Just checked the "Unique Signs" comments and found that all I needed to do was do an Archive Invalidation update in OBMM and they stopped having the double image. I'm getting there! :twirl:

#3 sounds like the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Technical_Support#Black_Screen. If you can live without interior shadows, turning them off entirely might fix it. Alternately, there is a setting in Wrye Bash to address it, or you can search Nexus for a couple of installable fixes.

gothemasticator

If you are installing mods with OBMM and BSA redirection is ticked off (which I think is the default setting) you do not have an archive invalidation issue. OBMM has already go it covered. Wrye Bash also uses BSA redirection.

I don't think it's the black screen bug, but I'll go ahead and turn off interior shadows just in case. I'm still thinking it's a missing texture I haven't found. Thanks for the link. I'll be sure to bookmark it!



I'm not sure if I even mentioned the problem that I was having with Unique Signs in the beginning, but I basically had signs with 2 images that overlapped. When I did the BSA alterations update, it fixed it. By "ticked off", do you mean checked or unchecked? When I returned it to default settings, it put a check mark in the BSA redirection box.

Sorry about the confusion. I meant checked. Once BSA Redirection is checked, you do not have to do anything more. Do not bother with the other options. As I said before, Wrye Bash also uses that type, so you can forget about archive invalidation after this (for the most part.)

another graphical glitch I'm having has to do with "Let There Be Darkness"... well, it's not. It had worked at one point and now it's back to vanilla brightness levels in dungeons. Any ideas?

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22368? Make sure you have the latest http://code.google.com/p/better-oblivion-sorting-software/source/browse/masterlist.txt.
Edit: If you are having a skeleton miss-match problem, bash also has a fix for that, along with the Nvidia black screen bug.

One of the plugins loading after it, or something that got bashed into the bashed patch, is overriding the lighting settings. Unless it really bothers you, only a few locations are probably affected in this way. You could just leave it, or make a patch with TES4Edit to override and the bad lighting settings or tweak the offending mods directly. You only have to set three settings to 0, so tweaking the plugins would not be that bad if you keep back ups.

This is probably caused by NPCs wearing some modded clothing that is not compatible with the vanilla skeleton. Try the http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21388