Hi everyone. Long time reader, but never really had anything to post about before.

Turns out I'm not particularly computer savvy! So I need help. My computer desperately needs to be re-formatted, so I am thinking about doing that and backing up my game saves and then maybe try modding Oblivion (the only mod I have now is the home decorating one).
Someone suggested to me that I try the FCOM mod and so I did a lot of reading and it sounds really, really complicated and completely beyond my scope! But never one to be discouraged when things seem destined to end in tears, I figured I would come here and ask some pointed questions.

1) Does anyone know what will happen to the official plug-ins (Deepscorn, Horse Armor, etc.) if I reformat my computer. I noticed the other day that their download site was gone. I think last time I had computer trouble I just bought them a second time to avoid having to deal with anything, but now I wouldn't be able to buy them again and I'm also unwilling to do so a third time. Is there a way to save them or something, so that they won't disappear?

2) Are the official plug-ins included with Shivering Isles or any other store-bought discs, by any chance?

3) What programs/downloads/whatever do I need to make FCOM slightly easily to use? I have read the guide on installing FCOM that someone on here wrote and posted and it was enlightening, but as always I remain somewhat confused. I have gathered that I need Wrye Bash. Do I also need BOSS and the OMOD thing, what is it called? ODMM or something...Anyone know what I'm trying about?


As you can see I need a lot of help. Ha. Any would be appreciated!

Do you not have an external HDD or a flash drive to move them to? They are not very large. Reformatting your computer is going to wipe out all of the data, of course. Almost all of the DLCs are available with the GOTY version, I believe. The only one that may not be available is DLCBattlehorn Castle. You need Wrye Bash run FCOM. I would not want a new user trying to figure out the load order without BOSS. OBMM is optional. However, it sounds as though you need to sort out your computer first.

I'll try to help you with a few of those.

Transfer the Official plug-ins to discs and flashdrives, or you will probably lose them. None of the retail disks carry the DLC, cept that GoTY carries Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. FCOM, I'm still working out myself.

Edit: Also, I know for a fact that the American GotY does *Not* have any of the DLC except Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine on it. Since I'm holding the box infront of me right now.

If you still have the installers for the DLC, back them up. If not, you should be able to copy the files in your Data folder to back up your DLC.

If you are new to modding then I personally don't think FCOM is the best place to start. If you want to use an overhaul maybe start with just OOO or maybe OOO and MMM. Either way, you should try to learn some basics before jumping in too deep. Learn to use Wrye Bash, make a bashed patch, learn to install mods with Bain or OMODs. For somebody who isn't comfortable manipulating files in Windows, FCOM will be frustrating.

Edit: GOTY comes with Shivering Isles and KOTN, there is a separate KOTN retail disc that comes with all the rest of the DLC exept for Battlehorn Castle.

They really are small though. All nine of them are a whopping ~195MB 7-zipped.

Edit: That must have been what I was thinking about. I downloaded them all, so I have not first-hand knowledge of the post-original Oblivion discs, haha.

Gah, how can anybody be playing the PC version w/o the unofficial patch and darnifiedUI (or a similar UI mod)? It baffles the mind!

They don't know they exist...? Well...I can see the UI mod missing, but the other missing is just a "no-no."

Thanks for all the replies!

The weird part is a long time ago I did have quite a few mods. I can't remember them now. None of the overhaul ones, but probably about ten. I had the decorator (that I still have), one about wildlife that I can't remember the name of. It made mudcrabs non-aggressive and made lots of animal-related things much better and a few others. Then things got out of hand and the game was crashing a lot. I had some kind of problem with conflicts and when I ended up getting a new computer (unrelated to Oblivion, of course) I just never got back into mods. I did try for a while to find the animal related one and never could and then decided that I'd lost my modding "confidence". Ha.
I did use OBMM or whatever it's called back then. I found it slightly confusing, but whatever. I guess I got the hang of it.

The reason why some people don't use the mods is because some people are easily overwhelmed! Ha!

Oh, and of course I have Vista, and yes! Oblivion is installed in my programs files. Ha. I know (now) that you're not supposed to do that. *sigh*

I will probably take the advice of one of you and start with something simpler. Maybe just make the unofficial patch do as far as modding goes. You wouldn't be the first to tell me that I'm insane for living without it. I have just always been leery. The only mod I couldn't live without is the dec. assistant, since without that it's impossible to do anything in your house, even though it's a pain in the ass to use too. It's at least slightly better than the "set things down and watch them bounce all over the house" method.

I'm gonna go ahead and say again that OOO and MMM might be a good choice for you. With just those you can have a very different experience then vanilla. MMM add many new creatures and also changes the behavior of vanilla creatures, aka no more suicidal mudcrabs. Using OBMM, with OMODs, installation is fairly simple. And definitely use the unofficial patches.

Well, you can try http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/intro to get back into using mods. I suggest going the "Next Step" route, following the "Next Step" near the bottom of each page. The site, although it has has specific instructions for installing a couple overhauls, is for running modded Oblivion in general, even if you just run the UOP. There are instructions for BAIN, manual and OBMM installation.

Edit: One of the overhaul guides if for MMM+OOO, go figure. It can be found in the walkthroughs section, but I suggest reading up through Installing mods first. It is best to understand what you are doing a little before following a step-by-step guide like a robot, and following it should be a fairly mechanical task.

Mcc - Yes, I think you're right! I think that is what I'll tentatively attempt.

Tom - Thanks for the link! I actually was reading that page earlier today because I read another thread where you linked to that site.

MMM is modular and easy to change configurations for, especially if you use BAIN to do your MMM+OOO install. On the first page of the relevant guide, I linked a thread where I helped someone along (pre-production of the guide) and it should have some more specific questions and answers you may want to look at before asking for additional help. You can always add more MMM plugins later. It is usually easier to add mods to an existing setup than to remove them, anyway. Also, Albertine, the user I helped through the MMM+OOO setup is not using the bashed patch, so even if you use BAIN, as he chose to, you do not have to venture into the bashed patch realm if you want to take things more slowly, not for MMM+OOO, anyway.

Yeah. Thanks! I read it, Tom, and I appreciate the help!!

Well, I installed MMM along with the unofficial patches. I had to go back and change it to have no adventurers and to turn off the increased spawning. When I loaded the game it was craziness how many creatures and stupid adventurers were just milling around literally everywhere. The game was total chaos. Ha.
Things are going well now though. It does crash about 90 percent more than it did before, but I did read where people were saying MMM works best on a new game that it can cause crashing if you're using a game save, so no big deal.

I also think I might get rid of the Decorator Assistant and get the Enhanced Grabbing mod instead, even though that means getting the Script Extender, which is more work. Ha. But I read about a lot of problems with the assistant and I have noticed a few bugs with it myself, I just always ignored them.

So there is my modding update. Ha.
Thanks for all the help, everyone! I think I sort of have the hang of it now. So I am no longer completely confused, thanks to you guys.

You should post your load order so that I can look it over you may have something activated from MMM that is not needed in a MMMforOOO config that could be causing the problems.

What Corepc said. Adding MMM to an ongoing game shouldn't be a problem. What you should do, though, is adding it from a save in a secluded cell (like the player home) and wait for a respawn (4 days).