Whenever I'm running COBL (which I've only tried once before save for now) every ten seconds or so the game will make a deep rumbling 'boom' noise. This will happen non stop no matter where I am and it drives me insane. Also, now that I have COBL installed, it's not possible to remove it as doing so seems to make my entire install invalid (and I've spent far too long to go back and re-mod).
Is this seriously just me?

Seems to be, yes. Perhaps the first order of the day would be your load order, though I suspect the second order of the day will be to get yourself a script effect silencer (or remove whatever mod is adding the noise to the script effect). Not quite sure what you mean about trying to uninstall Cobl making your entire install invalid? Perhaps you could explain that a little better?

Vac

Essentially, removing COBL (despite it being an OMOD) will make the game unable to boot. I've removed anything dependant on COBL, and ensured that nothing remains in the Data files, and yet once that mod has been installed/uninstalled, Oblivion will no longer run. It's a problem I've addressed here in the past that had no resolution. Ultimately the only reason I gave COBL another chance was simply as I assumed the problem was due to a confliction in my old install. I've since run through a new one and wouldn't have expected the same problem- as you said, it seemed like a one in a million thing.
I don't actually know how most people access their load orders so I can't provide a list as yet (It's quite a number) however the problem does ONLY seem to happen when COBL is installed. So it's without tied to that mod, and so far nobody has been able to identify it.

Thank you for suggesting the Script Silencer! To my great surprise it actually worked.
I downloaded the Fitspatrick Silencer and now the deep drumming noise has stopped. Much oblieged.

I had the same problem with the mod Malevolent. If you went to a certain wizard's tower too early, you got stuck with that. If you are running Malevolent, it may not be COBL at all.

Too many people use COBL for it to have a major unknown problem that's not a mod interaction/conflict problem. It DOES edit a number of vanilla scripts though, so conflicts aren't unlikely.

Do you use Wrye Bash, ZombieGenesis? If you don't, I highly recommend that you get it and use it, as it will resolve most conflicts with the Bashed Patch. Also, that would give you an easy way to get your load order.

Even if you got the script effect silenced, the fact that it was happening may indicate a significant script conflict that could crop up in a game-breaking way later on if not resolved.

Actually, it only edits one vanilla script, GenericLoreScript, which is completely empty and unused in the vanilla game. Most modders who deal heavily with scripts are aware of this, and so avoid using that script for anything. The chance of Cobl conflicting with anything on its own is delightfully close to nil.



It may, but that is not inherently the case. Many very well-made mods require script effect silencers in and of themselves, particularly combat mods and some complex companion and quest mods.

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I can promise that whatever is causing this for you is not a problem in Cobl, given the thousands of users who can install and uninstall it without the issue. Use Wrye Bash to check for any remaining dependencies, at the very least. Even though your issue is fine for now, at some point you may need to uninstall Cobl again, and you'll want to know where you went wrong about it last time.