When I create a new ESP in the CS, it wants by default to save it into the Oblivion installation directory. I'd rather have it saved to my user account's local Oblivion directory. I've found that I can let it save into the program directory initially, then close CS and manually move the file to my local directory. Then I can reopen the CS, load my active file, and edit -- no problem. But it won't let me do the initial save to my own directory. Am I doing something odd, or is this an as-designed behavior of the CS?

Thanks.

Solved spontaneously. It's working now. I think I had a bogus Shortcut that was misdirecting. Never mind.

I learned something additional about this problem: It seems the "local directory" is a feature of Windows 7 (and, I believe, Vista, though I never tried that version). Oblivion and the CS have no knowledge that the directory exists, which explains why the CS doesn't directly support it. Apparently the o.s. has some internal exit hooks that transparently merge this local directory with the system one. I'm a Linux admin, not a Windows wizard, so if I'm wrong here please feel free to correct me.

You are correct ! --- in VISTA and win7 MS increased the security level of the Program files folder in order to keep malware and Virii from being able to mess with your program files --- anytime a user or users program writes a file to that folder it is actually written to a virtual folder for each user so that the changes can not effect the actual program files and then the OS handles using the correct version for the user whos account is active. This can cause problems for older programs that are not designed for VISTA or Win7 since they will not know to look in the proper folder and may not find the adjusted files. (This is why it is suggested that when installing this game you do not install to the default location if using Vist or 7 - to avoid having these type of problems once you start modding the game and instead install to a less secure area like C:\games\ etc. !) -- so you may want to reinstall the game to remove it from the program files folder (change the folder names - uninstall (will not uninstall since the folder is no longer there but will update the registry) - reinstall to a new location - move your old install folder to the new location (to replace the new install with your already in use old files).