So I'm trying to get a new Oblivion install up and running and something weird happens. AT some point in installing all my mods, the horses at Weynon Priory acquire names. Prior Maborel's horse is suddenly named Buster. The chestnut who shares his stall is called Bentley. I forget the third. It's got something to do with one of three quest mods - Et in Arkay Ego, Lost Spires, & Myths & Legends 2. The thing is, when I look at the mods individually, the change isn't there. It's only when I load them together and then use a Bash patch. I'm also running Slof's horses 2 base. I don't think that's the problem. The name change doesn't show up until all the mods are loaded. If I get Prior Marobel's horse, Buster, over to Snak and armor him up, his name goes back to being Prior Marabel's Horse (Armored). As it should.

So what's doing this? Is it a mod or is it some kind of Bash problem I'm introducing?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Ya try http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16704 or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21862 to find the exact mod that changes the name? Also, assuming the Bash Patch is loading last, it probably contains the information from the quest mods itself.

Those would give the name of the mod that changes the name? Wow, that is news... I was thinking of using TES4Edit to see which mods were overriding the horses. Player horses are easy to find in TES4Edit. The EDID gives them away.

They have the same names in my game - and I'm not running any of those three quest mods at the moment. I am using Slof's horses, though. Will have a look in TES4Edit.


Edit: At least in my case, it's the Bashed Patch doing it. Specifically, Guard_Names.csv under Import Names.

Same names in mine. I've got Rational Names installed, maybe that does it.

Does someone have TES4Edit on hand? This might expedite the search process a bit: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Horse <-- sort by FormID (Oblivion.esm > NPC)


Edit: wording

OK - progress!

After looking at all my esp's in TES4Edit, including the "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" it seems that the name changes are coming from Bash itself. That explains why I can't find any information in Slof's mod, or in the quest mods I was talking about. The name changes didn't show up until I Bashed them all together.

Some more digging - it turns out that Bash incorporates the Rational Names mod. It's under the options when you rebuild the patch esp, there's a section which includes Rational Names. Theoretically I could uncheck the the Rational Names option and skip that step. I'm going to try it just to see.

What I'm really trying to do here is combine several horse mods - Slof's horses, the Knights of the White Stallion +dev_akm's compatibility mod, the Lost Paladin's mod which includes horse armor, maybe something for armored imperial watch horses. I was worried that name change might screw things up since I didn't know where it was coming from.

I think I'll probably be safe to use all those horse mods I want and bash them together, since presumably Bash knows what it's doing applying its own modules.

If you're not already, you can use the console command setactorfullname to change the name yourself in game as a temporary solution until you can find the problem mod. Just open the console, click on the horse, and then do

setactorfullname Spirit

or

setactorfullname "My Horse"

or whatever you want it to be.

If you're looking at horse mods, you might want to check out http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16688. It makes Slof's Horses 2 compatible with a bunch of stuff and also puts armour on the Imperial Horses. It solved a lot of my horse mod compatibility issues. Ulrim is back on the modding scene, so any issues might get addressed, although I didn't have any problems.

I believe it's actually Guard_Names.csv under Import Names in Wrye Bash that results in this behavior. I don't use rational names myself, but have similar types of horse names since checking Guard_Names.csv to get more unique names for the various guards as well as horses. Wrye documentation says "A names patcher file that covers guards, legion soldiers, couriers, and a few other generically named characters and creatures from both Oblivion and Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. ; * This is based on Flak's Complete Names Project. However, ranks have been strongly tweaked from Flak's version and OOO names have been added." Looking at the documentation for Flak's mod: "This mod aims to replace all those npcs and horses with generic names, and gives them a unique, semi-lore correct name to identify them by."

So, working as designed if you use that option.

I think you misunderstood me, a bit. It looked like the OP had an answer and was making the comment that he was thinking of installing some other mods and looking to combine some. I was suggesting some alternatives - not really responding to the original issue...

That's part of the Guard Names tweak in Wrye Bash and isn't coming from any mods at all.