Recently I was looking around for Oblivion to play on my Xbox360. I wanted the GOTY edition to keep me over until Skyrim is released, I could not find any copies what so ever. I made my tough journey home, opened steam and saw Oblivion GOTY Deluxe on Steam for $8.50. I purchased it. Now I wanted to play Oblivion on my console just because I knew it would run. Oblivion is running fine on my PC (so far lol) but what has really got my attention is the whole modding aspect of it. Some things in Oblivion annoy me, no capes, the ugly character creation, etc. These are things I want to change, but I am not really sure how to.

What do I need to know about modding for Oblivion that was bought through Steam? Is it possible? And how do I do it? Is it any different than modding the retailed version? This is my first ever time I am playing a game like Oblivion on my console, if all goes well I will be upgrading my PC to a gaming one for Skyrim rather than purchasing it for the console.

Thank you for tolerating my noobiness.

Might want to have a quick skim through similar topics like this:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1201609-modding-can-be-intimidating/

Welcome to the forums, have a fishy stick! It's going to be an excellent adventure if you have some patience and some reading ability

First and foremost, do yourself a favor and read this website: http://tesivpositive.animolious.com/?page=intro_to_mods.

From that site, Learn how to download mods, file formats etc. before you decide to jump into complex mods (yes, FCOM is one of the more complex ones). Read other sections and step by step procedures as well.

My suggestion is to learn Wrye Bash's installed BAIN also (rather than getting Oblivion Mod Manager, try Wrye Bash instead), as it will save a million headaches when you try to troubleshoot crashes that are guaranteed if you don't read the instructions and follow best practices.

PS: If you have no idea what the last paragraph means, that's fine. Read the website, it will explain all.

PPS: Modding the Steam version is possible. AFAIK, it requires some tweaking of OBSE, and some conflict with a 4GB patch if you can use it (you need Win 7 64 bit for that), but that's about it.

Thanks guys! I will look into it all tonight. I am not too fussed about the graphic side of things, it looks fine to me. But I have seen some cool armor mods and stuff like that around that I would love to try.

Ok I followed the steps (correctly I hope lol), the title of the items are appearing in game, but the actual item is not visible. I can buy a cape, I can equip it, but you cannot see it at all. What have I done wrong here? I am running Windows Vista 32-bit

You say this only because you have no idea how much better it can look.

[img]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/440/2011070200002f.jpg[/img]

this is the problem im getting! I moved the entire steam folder outside of Program Files there should be no UAC problems unless it protects C:\ in general. And according to the Data Files it only needs Oblivion.esm to function

I thought maybe selecting Oblivion.esm on the Data Files would work since it was unselected but its still the same thing. I can't find anything about needing OBSE to run the capes mod. im at a loss

I just downloaded and followed the steps of installing OBSE for Steam, followed everthing to a T and it still has the exact same out come. Could it just be a broken mod? or is something to do with Windows Vista?

anyone have any ideas?

Which mod exactly are you reffering to? Where did you download it from? Are all the relevent files installed in the correct place? Is this the only mod so far installed? We can't really help unless you provide us with this info.

Regarding Steam installation, particularly moving it outside of Program Files, have a look at this https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129. I have a Steam installation myself and I can run all mods with no problems (except one's caused by me ), so it is possible

Hope this helps.

Artorius.

Thats the guide I used to move the Steam file.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4539 this is the mod I am talking about, it seems like others are having my exact same problem:

If capes is what you like then may I reccomend instead http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=29012. Not only are these sold at merchants but can be found in loot and worn by NPCs all over Cyrodil. I've not heard of any problems been reported by this mod.

Artorius.

Did you check to make sure that the Meshes and Textures folders were in your Data folder, perhaps they didn't copy correctly.

On another note, if you like capes, I recommend http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=29012 as well.

There was no meshes folder in the original /data folder. just music shaders textures and videos. what does this mean?

That is normal. All (or most) of the Bethesda meshes/textures/sounds/etc are packed up in .bsa files within the data folder. However, if you still don't have a meshes folder after installing that mod - you will have to re-install it. Just move the "Meshes" folder from the archive to your "Data" folder. Just to be sure, go ahead and do the same for the "Textures" folder. If it asks you if you want to overwrite - select yes. Hopefully that will fix your problem.

Overwrite the original textures folder with one from a mod I download? I was thinking about doing that but it seemed like a better idea to place the texture folder from the mod inside of the texture folder that came with Oblivion, I will leave mesh in the /data folder and do this with the Texture folder and get back to you. I'm going to give the Hemingweys Capes a go, they look much better

sorry do I put the .bsa inside of the mesh folder in the /data folder?

It worked!!! Thank you so much. I have a feeling it was a mix between a mod gone wrong and my stupid noob mentality towards it all. I think I am going to stick to small things for a while until I get used to it. Modding is so complex when you have never modded anything in your life. Thank you! After playing years of console Oblivion I am extremely happy to finally have a cloak