I'm having a lot of fun (not sarcastic) at setting up my oblivion for an ultimate gaming experience, but I know when I'm going to do it again (and it's bound to happen), I'll be extremely bored and annoyed. The first time everything is new, but after that it's just a lot of time needed in order to play the actual game.
So I was thinking that the game has only 2 kind of files:

1. "Static" files that just lies around and are used by the game engine (meshes, mp3s, textures, anything that is never modified in part, but just added or deleted)
2. "Configurable" files (an example are the .ini files and any kind of file use to configure the mods -if there are, I'm not expert...-)

Also, from a different point of view files are either:

A. Installed by the game
B. Installed by the player

Now, if I want to "do an image" of my clean installation, files of type A1 are a no brainer, since they just will be installed when I reinstall oblivion (if I actually need to do that too). Files of type A2 are installed and configured by the game, altough in part, maybe, they are modified by the installation of mods too (some tweaks i.e.) so I need to backup these.
Files of type B1 can be just copied with a brute manual install ("unzip mod to data folder"). B2 instead are configured (but the configuration shouldn't be dependant on system specs), so I need to backup these too.

So, I just need to backup every file B2 and some file A2 (those that have been tweaked). I can reinstall the game and the mods easyly, then I should just overwrite all the files with my saved version.
Would this work?



Also, if I take care to save a copy of every A2 file before and after the installation of mods, I will know the modification to those files made during my mod installation&configuration process. I can easyly reinstall the game on a different system (with different hardware) by installing the game and the addons manually, then overwriting all the B2 files with my saved copies and update the A2 files with the modification made during the first installation process.

Of course the process of checking which fields should be modified in the new A2 files can be automized by writing a program that check which fields in the two saved version (before and after mods) of the A2 files are different, and edit only those with the value set in the A2 files I saved after the installation (I'm fluent in c/c++ and fortran, so it would take me a bit to write the program, I guess with something more appropriate it sould take like 2 minutes to write such an app!).


If all this works, I could even pass my entire configuration to a friend without him having to go though all the trouble I've gone through! At least, not at the beginning. He could just start to play with a much better version of oblivion, to which he would start to add only minor mods untill he's ready to play with all the mods by himself. I mean... it takes more or less a week (dedicating almost every ounce of free time to studying oblivion modding) for a complete newbye to be able to configure a serious and stable setup with all the must-have mods around and a few selected mods that fit the player's taste... I know because it's what I'm doing now 4 days to choose everything and trying to install everything, finding out all the resources and the tiny problems (Nvidia black screen, 4GB memory etc), 3 days to reclean everything and resinstall and configure (and I'm lucky I like this stuff and I learn fast...).



Do you think this strategy can work? What could be the problems?

Do not pass INI files. That would be a really complicated script to take into account variations in hardware setup. On current (fairly good) system reinstalling Oblivion does not take much time. I do not see the point... Once it is installed, make backups of the original files, and be done with it.

Regarding the INI files.
I don't need a script to account for the variations in hardware setup, that part is handled automatically by oblivion itself when being installed and it selfconfigures (or I configure it via the menu).
In an INI file there are some options that depend on hardware and some others that are "choices" (imagine a voice like "grass size multiplier"). Sometimes when installing mods we modify voices of the kind "grass size multiplier". All I need is to do the logical operation "B - A", where B is the version of the INI after I've done all the mod set up work, and A is the version of the INI file before it (aka, the one I find after a clean install). The result of "B-A" are all and only the fields I've modified during the process of installation of the mods.
When I have a third INI file, C, belonging to a clean installation of oblivion on a machine with different hardware, all I need to do is for my script to change the values in C according to those in B-A, which are all fields not belongning to hardwer specs (altough some modification may have been made due to limitation of the hardware).





Regarding the installation.
Oblivion is fast to install, and even if it weren't you could just do something else while it installs since it's automatic.
Mods installation require a great deal of time to properly install and configure, and you are required to spend all this time by taking care of things yourself.
Thus my point is to save me the time to configure all the mods, merge everything that needs to, pass script and so on.

Also, I could build a premade package full of wonders for a newbie to start immediatly playing an heavyly modded oblivion, with all the most popular mods installed. I would need to upload all the files modified or installed during by the mods installation and configuration process, of course. So a newbye reaching the forums for help on installation could find a good "premade starting pack" with all the more popular addons (I'd go with unofficial patches, FCOM, Qarl III Revised and reduced, All Natural, AWS, Natural Enviroment, some audio mod too, probably even UL - mostly safe mods, hopefully not in need of many updates over time).

Essentially everyone would end up installing mods like those I listed. There are alternatives, of course, or some cool additional mods they could like, and that's when they start learning something new progressively! At the moment you need to learn everything immediatly, which is the problem I'm trying to tackle. And, honestly, there's a lot you need to know to mod properly.

Are you talking about creating a compilation? If you are, I am definitely done here. Those are not simple mods. They should be maintained by the author (or team in the case of a number of the more complex mods you've mentioned.)

I was saying this idea could be used to help newbies, but that was just me anolyzing other possible uses of the idea which I wanted to discuss. The topic is about the alternative procedure I described and if it would work. If someone with more mod experience than me can see a problem I didn't notice.
My problem at the moment (and the reason I started the thread) is saving me the trouble when I'll have to reinstall all the mods I use. I want it done once and for all (at least the core mods that aren't likely to be updated frequently).
This is the what was meant to be the topic of the thread.


So, to get back on topic:

Do you see any possible problem arising from just doing a copy of all the files of a freshly installed and modded oblivion so I can paste all the stuff back once I've uninstalled and then freshly reinstalled oblivion (with no mods)? (same machine, so no change of hardware)

May them be merged, AI-redirected, installed via obmm, bash or manually, with script and all the rest, mods never modify the installed files from oblivion aside for some modification in .INI files and maybe some mesh/texture replacement (altough I think the oblivion original meshes and co. are in a .bsa so an overwrite, altough not a problem anyway, shouldn't be possible?).

Yeah you are looking for the ultimate shortcut in installation that has a long history of failure behind you. It is the whole point of modding that you know the steps involved (that YOU mod your game). You will not be doing anyone a favor in not showing them how.

And already skirting the idea of a mod compilation (what next a torrent download?) which is pretty much universally despised on this forum and for good reason.

if a mod is updated - are you going to update it too? If a mod is later found to contain errors - are you going to fix them?

Best to teach others how to do these things and then learn how to operate your installers so that reinstall is not a major chore - it isn't for me and http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1084204-bain-mod-installation-projects/.

Ok, I see that the point that is insteresting you all the most was just what I though to be a nice and useful side effect. I've not started this thread to make a compilation, my problem is the one I've referred to in the first post. And, on this note, I could really use a bit more specific feedback than "a long history of failure behind IT".
Where is the problem with my method?




P.S. (for those that really want this kind of info)
For the sake of the side argument, If you really want to know, IF I had to go down that route, no, I wouldn't update it. There's no need to. Infact:

1. The game isn't realeasing another patch (official patch I mean), so a compilation made today will work forever in the same way. New users do not need the ultimate package, they need just something that can get them interested into mods and help them do not run away scared by a too hard learning curve.

2. Many mods aren't likely to be update (texture and mp3 one more than others), so it would still be quite up to date as an install.

EDIT: I'm being repetitive. I already wrote why the learning curve is more of a step function than a linear one.
I don't want to seem aggressive, presumptuous or anything, but reinstall is a major chore for you too, because it will take you at least an afternoon and it's not a "standalone" kind of installation.
If my method works, it could become mostly standalone and a bit faster. But the magic word is standalone.

You can do this for yourself, but there is no way you are going to get permission for some of the mods you've mentioned (and probably some you have not explicitly mentioned) for public transfer. I do not know what you are try to do if you are not talking about a compilation and you are talking about offering some kind of giant install package for everyone. Saying that you would not update the package does not exactly sound good either... There are many ways in which the installed package could perform differently on different setups. You would have to troubleshoot those issues when users grow upset about something not working properly.

Talking about your own setup: Yes, you could actually just copy the entirety of your Data folder's contents back into a fresh Data folder, any of the files. Its not magic. I do not understand the difficulty here I guess. Backup all of the original files after installing and patching the game, and you are basically done. The only utility that I use that is not found in the Oblivion folder (which does not need to be touched on a reinstall) is BOSS, which is something around four files, not a big deal to re-extract. You can just backup your INI file too if you want to save it. The issue comes with reinstalling the mods, but, as I have already said, you can just copy them back into the Data folder. There is no need for a script, unless you want to write a quick script to copy the files you could click and drag just as easily...

In your first post, you said you friend could then install minor mods afterward. Even installing minor mods for many new users still requires learning quite a bit about mod usage. Unless you tell them, this is everything, do not install any other mods, they still have to learn about how to use mods.

Ok thanks, I was worried that something could modify the original files from the game (aside from the .ini of course). Since what is installed by the game depends on the hardware setup, if mods or third party programs used with mods were to change something I feared my whole saving could be useless (this is the field with which I'm not really too much familiar).

Regarding my friend, she has intalled a couple of mods by herself, and she is totally mad for the TES serie, but she still was only able to scratch the surface of how awesome oblivion could become.
Me configuring everything for her is a brithday present which I know she will greatly appreciate, but I can't do it on her computer so I need to prepare everything on mine (which, needless to say, is totally different). I'll just drop the package I've configured on mine (it would take all the day for me to configure everything on hers manually and it wouldn't be much of a surprise, while I have a good plan to install everything behind her back if I can do it in a standalone way).

Regarding my idea on how to deal with the modification of the ini (the "B-A" -> C thing), probably the only way is trying, but I am most confident in its success. The logic of the whole plan seemed to work, I just wanted to check I didn't forget (or ignore) something that could invalidate it.



P.S.
You all say that the community hates the idea of a compilation, so I'll just drop the argument. It's not like I cared about it in the first place, altough it could have been a nice idea (imho) to give something back to the community from my part.

Honestly, there is not much configuration you have to do. As mysterious as much of it may seem, a lot of it rests on timestamps. That is how the load order is established for plugins and BSAs. When you copy the files, the timestamps should be retained. Do not copy your My Games\Oblivion folder though. All of the INI files should be generated for her hardware. If you have INI tweaks to transfer for any of them, use Notepad++'s compare plugin to copy over the relevant changes. That should be it.