Howdy,

I recently bought a new computer and finally picked up a copy of Oblivion. I've been playing it for a couple of weeks now and am beginning to mod the content a bit. Since I suspect I will have numerous questions concerning the installation and use of various mods I figured I might as well start a thread I can come back to at need, rather than starting a new thread every time I have a question. So here goes:

I've played Morrowind for a couple of years and I've installed and used mods with that game. What are the major differences i the mod installation process between Morrowind and Oblivion? Is it that mods in Oblivion edit the .ini file?

I've downloaded OBMM and finally gotten it working. Then I installed DarkUId DarN (strange name for a mod) -- you know, the one that modifies UI. The various icons have a default size and position, but the UI comes with a extra tab that lets you shift them around on the screen. Unfortunately these changes aren't committed to memory, and the UI reverts back to default after restart. There's a little message at the bottom of the UI tab that says you should record the settings and points out that these changes have to be modified permanently in the hudmainmenu_config.xml file. I don't really recognize the .xml extension and neither does my OS, so what program can I use to edit this file -- or do I have to be a python programmer? (Because I'm really really not.)

Also, I installed DarkUId with small font, and I'm wondering how I could go back and change it to large.

Can I use OBMM to unistall mods as well? I can RTFM so just point me in the direction of a good how-to if that's too stupid a question to answer.

Any other help or advice gratefully accepted, and beginners with other questions please feel free to hijack this thread at your leisure with your own questions.

You can edit .xml files in Notepad.

I'm not sure that there's an easy way... reinstall the OMOD will work, but it's a bit of trouble :shrug:

You can use OBMM to uninstall OMODs. There's a tool that facilitates the removal of mods that's completely unrelated... I'll try to dredge up a link to it.

[EDIT] http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7557

[EDIT again] No big differences between MW and OB mod installation... not sure where you got that .ini edit idea from :huh: Other advice... run OBMM's archive invalidation utility, set to .bsa redirection, and use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516 to sort your load order (this becomes more important when you have a [censored]-ton of mods, but even if you have ten, it helps to keep them neat and tidy )

Welcome to Modding Oblivion I'm like you, a noobie, but I've been one for years...somehow it just doesn't sink in

Anyway here are some really helpful and useful things that I think every installation should have:

BOSS: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20516 is a utility that will sort your load order based on a huge database of mods and the correct load order for most anything you'll ever download

WryeBash: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22368 is a very incredible tool that will make your mods play nice. If you have a small mod list you probably don't need it, but once you have it, and you've figured it out (Alot of RTFM) it's an awesome utility.

There are also alot of things that some people find to be essential, for example:

Unofficial Oblivion Patch: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5296 this is a mod made by some very capable modders, which aims to fix a metric TON of problems in Vanilla Oblivion, like floating trees and rocks, and such. There are a couple other additions to this mod for Shivering Isles, and the official DLC.

Operation Optimization: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10510 is a mod that in some cases greatly increases FPS thanks to voodoo magic...no really they do something awesome, I just don't know what it is.

Streamline: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400 is another potentially FPS increasing utility, that also creates streamsaves as you play, which is infinitely better than using Quicksave. I can only suggest that you never, ever use the Quicksave "feature" packaged with Oblivion.

There are alot more, but since you didn't ask for this in the first place I'm just going to stop here haha, I hope some of this might help you avoid the pitfalls that alot of use less experienced users often fall in

http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/utilities/oblivion-mod-manager-obmm - See OMOD mod installation (Installation > Mod Installation > OBMM Installation.)

There is also a FAQ pinned at the top of this forum that introduces OBMM. (It is the first link on the pages I linked above.)

Hey Ismael:



Well, I never had to use a program like OBMM to install mods in Morrowind, and to be quite honest, I'm not even sure what it does yet...I'm just following the instructions as best I can and hoping for the best.... But when I used it to install DarkUId it informed me that it was writing some changes into the .ini file, so I just kinda guessed that might be one of the differences between Morrowind and Oblivion. The Oblivion data folder contains some sub-folders I recognize (like textures and meshes), some folders I don't recognize (like shaders) and some files I don't recognize at all. Self-extracting mods into the Morrowind Data folder was always a dicey proposition, so I always extracted everything to the desktop and painstakingly moved the folders one by one, manually. Now most of the commands and what not in OBMM are Greek to me at the moment and that's kinda why I was wondering how big a difference there is between Oblivion and Morrowind. Or can I just simply extract zipped mods and transfer the files manually like I did with Morrowind? I get the feeling that that's not a very good idea with Oblvion, whereas with Morrowind it was really the only way to be sure everything ended up in the correct place.

Thanks by the way for the tip on BOSS; I've gotten that one from several different sources, so I've downloaded it and have it on my desktop atm. I figure I might as well go through the process of setting up all my necessary utilities first, before I get to work installing content .. and besides, I ought to at least try one play-through in vanilla.


An OMOD is a mod compression that OBMM immediately recognizes, extracts, and places correctly into the Data folder -- is that right? I can just click on an OMOD and OBMM will install it correctly... Otherwise I need to use OBMM to convert the mod into an OMOD before I install it with OBMM, have I understood correctly?

Morill:

Wyre Mash was my BFF with Morrowind so I'm definitely going to install Bash -- even though it looks like I'll have to install 3 (3!) support programs to run it. Thanks for all the other links as well.

When I start OBMM now I get a message stating that Vista has moved some files into the virtual store...is that something I need to be worried about?

Instead of using OBMM you should use BAIN (part of Wrye Bash) to install most of your mods, since BAIN keeps better track of the installed files, and is much faster. But OBMM is still the best choice for complex (to installl) mods like DarnUI, Map Marker Overhaul (EDIT: actually it's not som complex and comes BAIN ready) and mods that edit Shader packsages.

I am in the process of writing a super detailed step-by-step guide for installation with BAIN. I am writing an FCOM and not-FCOM version. Hopefully, I will be able to finish a first draft in the next few days. Right now, my time is limited, but I will be able to spend more time on the forums later and would be happy to walk you through creating OMODs and whatnot. On my site, there are a couple of pages to introduce OBMM and installing with it. Please let me know if I should add more detail.

http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/utilities/oblivion-mod-manager-obmm
http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/installation/mods/obmm-installation
http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/utilities/oblivion-mod-manager-obmm/obmminterface

OOoooo, looking forward to that.

I will Second this.(The Part in Bold) Besides Being Faster, And Showing More types of Conflicts, IT (Wrye Bash) allows for controlling the Install Order as Well as Mod Order, When your at a point like Me and alot of other people , With 187 mods installed This is more important than you can imagine!

Edit...P.S. Welcome to the Forums.

Late to the party but better than never. For editing xml's and whatnot, this program is far and away a bajillion times better than Notepad. Plus it's free.

http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

I will third it! BUT, if you want one of those pretty mods that messes with shaders, you need to use OBMM as well. BAIN does not handle shaders well, and I do not know if the Bash team is planning on working on that in the near future. The "pretty mods" to which I refer are those such as the OBGE mods: Gods Rays, Screen Effects, etc. Other than that, BAIN can be used to install just about anything.

One thing I noticed was that you mentioned Vista.
If you are comfortable working with the UAC, you can ignore the rest of this.

Many mods and utliltles have fits when you install Oblivion to the default folder - Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion.
For best results and removing the need to dike around with UAC, install to any folder other than Program Files.
Most common is something like C:\Games\Oblivion. Then when you install your mods and utilities, they work as expected "out of the box".

Also, for most mods you can unzip directly to the Data directory. But with Bain, it is sooo much easier.

Welcome to the addiction...

First off, thanks everyone very much for the helpful advice. Even if I don't respond directly to anything anyone has posted, don't worry, I'm reading it all and taking it to heart. One quick response to aeillis, above: actually, I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. I didn't realize Windows had the same UAC system as Vista -- I thought they had changed it because so many Vista users had found it so confusing. But it seems that at lest in the Program 86x folder in Windows 7 you still have to change the permission settings in order to write to the files contained within. I got some help with that in another thread, thankfully.

With regard to installing Streamline: should I use Wyre Bash to install it?

My advice is to either use OBMM or BAIN (Wrye Bash) to install ALL mods. That way you have a very simple overview of all your installed mods, and can uninstall any mod using only a couple of mouse clicks. Not that you need to use either, as any Oblivion mod can be installed by just copying the files to the data folder, but then you're completely left to yourself if you want to uninstall it.

As for the differences between installing with OBMM or BAIN, they both have their advantages. BAIN's main advantages is that it easier let you control the order of installation, and it is easier to update the mods. OBMM's main advantage is the scripted installation. Complex mods like FCOM or Better Cities are a breeze to install with OBMM, but requires lot of knowledge to get right with BAIN. Or in other words, I recommend BAIN for medium to advanced users, but consider OBMM better for beginners, and note that even many of the most BAIN-loving people are keeping OBMM to install the complex mod with installation scripts.

Okay, thanks. But what's the process? I don't see anything about how to install mods in either the Bash help file or on the wiki.

Okay, I give up. I utterly give up. I've spent the last 4 or 5 hours trying to install mods with OBMM and understand absolutely nothing.

I'd like to install OOO; I've downloaded the OMOD version. I've tried place the zipped file into the obmm/mods folder; I've unzipped and put in the folder; I've left the zipped file on my desktop; I've unzipped it on my desktop; I've tried to create an archive with it; nothing works. Not one single how-to I've found explains how to use the damn thing; they all assume you know already, or provide instructions that don't work.

What am I doing wrong?

Uhhh....never mind.

I seem to have finally figured it out on my own.

Wrye Bash can be installed very quickly if you use http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionUtilities.Detail&id=44 which contains all the support programs in 1 exe, you still need to download Wrye Bash aswell though

All mods should be installed as OMOD/BAIN Archives, you will thank yourself the first time you run into a mod that crashes you and your digging through meshes/shaders trying to clean your data folder up from all the useless crap left behind by that mod.

SOOOOO much simpler just to Activate/Deactivate a OMOD/BAIN and be done with it...

Well, I've wasted the better part of a day now and I'm still having problems. I've used OBMM to install OOO, but every single .esp associated with OOO shows up highlighted red in the Wyre Bash Mods list. I don't seem to be able to get Slipstream to work at all and every time I exit the game it crashes.

Basically, I've installed OBMM, Wyre Bash, the unofficial patches for Vanilla and SI, nGCD, Streamslip, DarNifed, IFT Improved faces and OOO. I've followed instructions as carefully as I could.

Anyone have any advice?

Red means that they have the exact same dates. Use BOSS to manage the load order. Slipstream? Streamslip? Ah, you mean Streamline? You must be more specific on what doesn't work - the only thing I can say at this point is to follow the install instructions/readme. It requires OBSE, though, so make sure you have it installed and are starting the game via its launcher.