Now, I've looked at a few help me guides, and they just arn't that helpful to what I need, really. Unless I'm missing something, which I probably am, that needs to be linked.
I didn't see any rules against posting 'Hey, I'm new, need help on these specific things' threads.

It seems it's pretty hard to just outright ask for help on these forums, without making a new post like this. So, I appologies again if this is annoying someone, or I missed some crazy link or subforum somewhere.

I also posted this in another thread:


So, that's my situation. I just want to know what I should watch for for load order.

I'd like to know if some things like MMM or OOO are permanent if I put them on [would I need to uninstall TES4 and completely reinstall it].
I, ontop of that, want to know if I add any other mods, would that screw up MMM or OOO?
What if I want to add just new weaps, or armors, or other races, or even an entire section of new map, etc?
I've heard of something called FCOM, which combines a bunch of huge mods like MMM and OOO, and I'm not completely sure about that either.

Which tools I /should/ be using, and perhaps how to use them properlly without completely messing up my computer, etc.
I'm also not quiet sure how to get races to work properly.

I have OBMM, and now have Wrye Bash [unsure how to use this one].

As I noted, I can post my load order, or stuff I have, but if it helps I plan to just start from scratch. Especially if I understand better what to do, after this.

If this needs to be taken up in a PM I would gladly do that, so long as I get some good information.

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Another reason why I might not understand all this is because I've had to deal with multiples of walls of texts, and honestly I don't like to do that when I'm only wanting to setup my game and play it ASAP. Though I try to endure and read through, even if it becomes slightly confusing.

For sake of quickness I'm going to try to edit another post i recently made answering a similar post:

In terms of what I consider 'essential' mods, try OOO and see if you like it. I've been hesitant to myself, but a huge amount of people in the mod forum seem to see it as essential, so it's probably fun

Find a post by CorePC and look at everything in his signature (MMM, Tamrielic travelers etc)

I tend to view MMM, COBL, and Midas Magic all as essential to a TES4 installation.
(
MMM adds monsters and loot and crafting of some weapons/armor
COBL adds a bunch of stuff too varied to enumerate here
Midas Magic adds lots of new spells, as well as a variety of quests in which to use them
)

After that its a case of seeing what you don't like in the vanilla behavior and how you want to change it.

You will want to have OBMM and Wrye bash both, which seems redundant, but they each do different things. You will want to get BOSS and probably OBSE as well. BOSS takes most if not all the guesswork out of your mod load-order, and OBSE gives you more options in which mods you use.

MMM and OOO arn't *permanent* once you install them, any more than any other mod. Your character might have some issues if you play with the mods for 10 levels, then uninstall, but unless you start deleting vanilla datafiles like the meshes.bsa, you won't break oblivion uninstalling a mod.

Hope that helped some. Your best bet is to poke around and read the pinned guides, and read the readme's packaged with mods and utilities. 90% of mod downloads come with good documentation. if the readme's *arn't* in the .zip/.rar/.7z then they are on the modder's website most likely (Wrye Bash for example)

One thing you did not mention is a User Interface Replacer They not only make it more your own from oblivion but in general adds some new functionality to it. I also consider OBSE to be a Must have. Along with map maker overhaul, Quest Log manager, Enhanced Economy, Menu Que, Conscribe. I have OOO the only problem with that is if you are starting a new character you are vastly overmatched (The only reason I am saying anything is that you will need to be very careful).
Now how to use Wyre bash I would say to carefully read the Online read-me, while you are using it reference that same read-me. I am always learning something new about the program.

Is there any answer for my problem with races?

The only 'race's I got to work would be with Rens pack.

Otherwise, any other race I try to put in doesn't even show up.

Can't help you there, the only non-vanilla races i have are added by COBL. I've not tried adding any others, or doing a body replacer etc. Good luck to you though.

When adding races beware of some factors, from what I understand (I dont use many, just my custom race integrated in Midas, and Race balancing project)

Have Custom race fix availible, Im not sure but when starting a new game with a non original race, Valen dreth wont recognize you and the tut quest wont excecute.

Im sure you already know about Meshes/Texture files sounds etc etc, and everyone being in there place as well is ticked esps and esms.

Im assuming that when you install a race mod, it does not show up in the race menu? something's going sour there, can you shove a little more information my way

I would recommend reading at least two stickies at the top of this forum. Compatibility and You and the FAQ guide. You may not want to read walls of text but if you want to mod your Oblivion you need to get use to it. Running a correctly modded game is largely dependent on you as a user to educate yourself so you aren't barraging the forums with questions answered already.

Installing small, simple mods you may get away with not too much reading. But do yourself a favor and save yourself the headache of trying to install big overhaul mods without reading about them first. If you don't, that game you want to play so bad will do nothing but crash and it will have nothing to do with the mods if you get my meaning

Mods are also largely a personal thing. What one likes, another may not. OOO for example is my favorite. I don't have FCOM, MMM or any of that other stuff. Other people like it. Zornac stated you are vastly over matched with OOO as a starting character. I say no, you just have to know where to go and what you are capable of handling while in the tenderfoot stages. A difference of opinion and perhaps play style *shrugs* Someone suggested Midas Magic. I can't speak to that mod as I use LAME and prefer that. You sort of have to find what works for you and what YOU like.

As to your Race problem, I don't know, I use Race Balancing Project, Moonshadow Elves and Hidden Elves with no issue. My guess is you don't have them installed correctly or something with Ren's is not allowing those things to show up. Hard to tell without a load order.

Hope this helps you some and much luck modding your game

I had read 'Compatibility and You', it didn't help me with this situation. I just needed to know if something would be permanent or not. Most of my questions have been answered, though.

As for the race problem...

I install the mod, but the race does not appear when choosing races.
Example, I had one that would let you start a vampire from the very start of the game. I already found a mod that would fix the prisoner across from you not talking, so if I add in a custom race he should still speak. I can add that later. But, that's not my problem.

And the thing is, I have read walls of text, but I wasn't able to fully understand. I find speaking with actual people help a lot more than reading something for an hour and then forgetting what it had said at the top.

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Other mods that I can't seem to get to work, no matter what order they're in, is semi-annoying, too.
And I add them in individually, to see if they'll work, on a clean save.
I've tried shield on back, the race mods, some random other vampire mods, multiple summons, clone self. I'm not saying /all/ the mods I use don't work. But it's annoying when a lot of them don't.

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Tried to read up on the who Wrye Bash stuff, and how to use it. But I don't understand how to use that with other tools. Or when I should use it, or even what I should use it with. o ~o

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Oh, one last thing. I can't seem to find a current file of OOO that works. The file just isn't there, or I DL it and the file is nothing.
I have MMM set up waiting for OOO really, right now.