I am having a major problem with my oblivion mod load order. I don't know where else to post this so I think this will be the best place.

On Sunday, I was trrying to install mods into a fresh copy of Oblivion for a new playthrough, and i just ran into problem after problem and was not able to get it to work, so finally I made the following post on the Oblivion nexus forums:

Yesterday I found this response:

So I went ahead and did what he said yesterday evening, but it didn't work, so I replied with this:

So that is why I posting it here. Now I have given you all the info that I have on the problem. The list of mods I am using is listed above. Does anybody know what is going on here and how I can solve this problem?

You should delete oblivion, and start instlaling mods one by one.

When you are more practical, you can install them all together. But right now, it seems to me going far if you don't have a bit of knowledge on how things work.

Beside, I do not recommend at all Trails of cyrodil. The mod is a good idea, but his execution is frankly lacking. Go for Road of cyrodil by Arthmoor.

It sounds like your BOSS is not updating its master list. That could be because you are running BOSS offline or you have an old version of BOSS that is still linked to the old location of the master list. You could post that error in the BOSS thread for more info on that.

Dadelus gave good advice about installing mods one at a time. Unless you really know what you are doing and are very careful in your installation procedures to avoid mistakes, installing multiple mods at once is usually a bad idea because it can be hard to track down problems.

Start with one mod, make sure it is working correctly by play testing and then install another mod. Update your load order as you go.

I'd also recommend installing everything with Wrye Bash, rather than NMM. The install tab's ability to adjust install order and automatically revert files on uninstallation of a mod only works for mods installed with Wrye Bash.

I'll chip in just to concur: start again from the top.

Modding Oblivion can be very satisfying, especially if the modding bug bites you and you start writing your own mods to tweak your game to be exactly what you want. But it can also be exceedingly frustrating if you don't do it properly and make use of all the excellent

tools available.

- Uninstall and reinstall vanilla oblivion. BACKUP THAT FOLDER for reference and just-in-caseiness.

- (Re)Install any utilities you need: http://obse.silverlock.org/, Construction Set (Extended), http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/22368, https://github.com/boss-developers/boss/releases/tag/v2.3.0, http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39215, http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11536/?, http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/43277, http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/15781 at the very least. Make certain these are all running properly.

- Install a mod or two. Start with simple things, UI improvements or things like alternative start or a drop lit torches mod or.... Don't start with a full suite of city and landscape overhauls all in one go.

- Rebuild your bashed patch. Rebuild your LOD if needed.

- Fire it up and make sure things work. Run around for 30 minutes, fast travel, kill stuff, talk to people, go in and out of cities and dungeons, pick locks... especially test things that are affected by the mod(s) you just installed.

- Rinse and repeat.

I also can't stress enough the utility of Wrye Bash: make well-organized BAIN archives of everything you install (don't assume that an archive is BAIN-ready when you download it, it's likely not) and your installation and especially uninstallation of mods will be so much easier and more reliable.

@ brianiangoodman

Quick reply to the BOSS error message you posted. I received a reply from WrinklyNinja, the lead BOSS developer. The suggested solution to fixing the masterlist update problem was to delete the .git folder from your BOSS install, then try updating the masterlist again from the GUI. That should fix the error message issue and get you a working masterlist. To clarify:

Find the BOSS folder, wherever it is installed on your pc. Mine is kept in a folder on the desktop, so the install path example is: C:/Users/myusername/Desktop/Utilities/BOSS2.3.0. Inside the BOSS folder, find and open the "Oblivion" folder. You will see a folder labeled ".git". Delete that and then go back to BOSS GUI and open it up. Check "Update Masterlist Only" with all other boxes unchecked and click "Run BOSS". It should re-create the folder you deleted and successfully download the most recent Masterlist.

Once that is done you can go back to the GUI. Uncheck "Update Masterlist Only" and set normal preferences, then "Run BOSS" again. I keep the following boxes checked..but you can set however you like: "Show BOSS Log On Completion", "Display File CRCs", "Sort Plugins", "Update Masterlist".