 TK's Mod Questions Thread, Got mod problems, or are you just lost with a tool? |
| Thomas Kaira |
 Feb 8 2011, 06:45 AM
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#1
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 Mouth  Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky!  |
First off, some useful links and utilities:
The Bethesda Oblivion Mods forum, this is where you'll want to go for all the latest news and updates on the mountains of unofficial content we all take for granted. If I don't have the answer you're looking for, chances are one of the many people here do. Oblivion Mod Manager, I don't think I need to explain this one.  Better Oblivion Sorting Software, this is a well maintained utility that reads the mods you have installed and suggests the best order to load them in to avoid the inevitable conflicts. This is another must-have. Wrye Bash, the Swiss army knife of Oblivion modding, and I swear by it. It's intimidating at first, but surprisingly easy to use once you figure out how it works. Finally, Once you figure out BAIN, you will never need to worry about installation problems again. Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide for Newbies, if you are just starting Bash, it can be very easy to get lost in how much it does. This will help you get on the right foot. TES4Edit, a very important tool. Most of its features don't concern the end user, but its ability to clean up dirty and unneeded edits in a plugin is invaluable. TES4Edit Cleaning Guide at the TESCS Wiki. It contains a comprehensive list of mods that need to be cleaned, mods that are already clean, and mods that should not be cleaned, as well as a comprehensive guide on how to actually do it. So, it seems I have become "Mr. Modder" around these here parts, so I've decided to open this little thread if you have any questions for me. Questions about making modding easier for yourself, how to use a specific tool, if you've encountered a rather irksome problem and can't figure out what to do about it, or if you want to make your game perform a bit better. I will be the first to admit I'm not a professional modder, as I don't make my own mods. I do have the experience needed to maintain a heavy load order with minimal issues, as well as understanding a few advanced tricks to squeeze every last drop of performance out of the game, so I do know what I'm talking about. If anyone has any doubts, this is my load order: So with that, ask away.  This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 8 2011, 06:46 AM -------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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Replies(40 - 59)
| Thomas Kaira |
Feb 23 2011, 01:37 AM
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#41
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
I've provided the link to BOSS (Better Oblivion Sorting Software), a one-click utility which will suggest the optimal load order for you in mere seconds. Download it (it's very tiny and easy to use) and run it. That should get you what you want.
This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 23 2011, 01:37 AM -------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| King Coin |
Feb 23 2011, 01:59 AM
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#42
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 Master  Joined: 6-January 11 |
That sucker completely changed the load order lol. It's screaming at me to Bash stuff but it works fine without.
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| Thomas Kaira |
Feb 24 2011, 01:12 AM
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#43
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
Quick bulletin on how to improve your game's performance here: today, I wish to discuss water reflections.
The pros? They make your water look nice and purdy. The cons? It has recently come to the attention of the TES4 modding community that water reflections can provide a huge FPS hit. Here's why: The water reflection system in this game piggybacks onto the game's Distant LOD system. If an object has a matching _far.NIF mesh (which are the low quality objects you see over long distances in this game) the game also uses that mesh for the water reflection mapping. This means that every _far.NIF mesh that is loaded into the game is being rendered twice (once for Distant LOD, once for reflection map) if you have the water reflections setting turned on. Now, due to Oblivion's lack of occlusion culling (which is a system that prevents a game engine from rendering objects the player can't see), this means that any exterior cell that has water in it gets a reflection map rendered... even if there's only a small puddle on the ground. Every single object that is Visible When Distant, even those you could not hope to see in that tiny puddle. HEck, there are some cells in the game that have no water in them whatsoever up on ground level... but down below the landscape is a giant sea. Not only can you not even hope to see them in normal gameplay, it's impossible to even reach the water. Even they get reflections rendered! This is an astoundingly inefficient (and dare I say lazy) method of adding reflections to the game, and many people have reported up to 20 FPS (!!!) gained just by turning reflections off. So, if you are looking to squeeze a bit of extra performance out of your game, consider removing the water reflections. The downside to this is you will lose every reflection, including the sky reflection, so the water will look rather soupy and bland, so it is your decision, and it may not be worth the trouble if you are running a lightly modded game. This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 24 2011, 01:16 AM -------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| King Coin |
Feb 24 2011, 01:24 AM
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#44
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Master Joined: 6-January 11 |
Nice. I'll consider turning them off, I have had some nasty slow downs.
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| mALX |
Feb 24 2011, 02:15 AM
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#45
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 Ancient  Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
Can you turn it off by going to the game menu options? I have noticed my PC game slowed a lot recently before crashing - but so did my PC itself, so not sure if that is a PC issue. It has been acting up since I downloaded the latest drivers from NVidia. (overheating, bluescreening, etc.)
This post has been edited by mALX: Feb 24 2011, 02:15 AM -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Feb 24 2011, 03:06 AM
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#46
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
In the video settings, the option is Water Reflections.
As for your drivers... you may want to consider re-downloading them or rolling back. -------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Feb 24 2011, 03:34 AM
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#47
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Feb 23 2011, 09:06 PM)  In the video settings, the option is Water Reflections. As for your drivers... you may want to consider re-downloading them or rolling back. Can I roll-back just the drivers without doing a system restore? What I found odd about the driver update is, I went to the NVidia site itself, and it did not list my card. I asked it to automatically determine my card and it came up with a driver that listed cards way newer than mine. - I don't think they gave me the correct driver, and can't figure out why they didn't have mine listed. -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Feb 24 2011, 03:57 AM
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#48
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
What card model do you have?
-------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Feb 24 2011, 04:13 AM
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#49
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Feb 23 2011, 09:57 PM) What card model do you have? 8600GT -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Feb 24 2011, 05:02 AM
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#50
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
-------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Feb 24 2011, 05:24 AM
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#51
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Feb 23 2011, 11:02 PM) Yeah !!! Mine is Vista 32 bit, I installed it - and am keeping my fingers crossed it helps !!! Thanks, TK !!! -------------------- |
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| Bolzmania |
Mar 9 2011, 07:01 PM
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#52
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 Knower  Joined: 17-February 08 |
This a very pointless comment but I also have 8600GT
-------------------- "When a man lies, he murders some part of the world"
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| mALX |
Mar 11 2011, 10:05 PM
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#53
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
I wonder if when you have to do a System Restore if it deletes the downloaded mods that you have on your desktop? I just noticed yesterday that my "Oblivion Werewolf Mod" is missing from my desktop - I would never have deleted that, or my Kawa Khajiit files - but both are gone.
I did delete some plug-ins I wasn't using, and assumed the Kawa had somehow gotten mixed in among them - but now I am wondering if the System Restore did it. GAAAAAH!!!  ** mALX crossing fingers, facing east, kneeling before a graven image of a cow ... ** I guess it doesn't matter how much I wish it, the mods are gone regardless. "The Oblivion Werewolf Mod" is no longer on Nexus, and I couldn't find it by Googling. Unless something has changed, copies of those files are still in my Data file in the Bethesda folder - but the originals have disappeared from my desktop. -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Mar 11 2011, 10:12 PM
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#54
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
Did you try undoing your System Restore? There should be an option available to reverse the restore if you recently performed one.
-------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Mar 11 2011, 10:25 PM
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#55
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:12 PM) Did you try undoing your System Restore? There should be an option available to reverse the restore if you recently performed one. I haven't done it recently, and it won't let me go back any further than 2/5/2011. Do you know exactly what can be erased in a System Restore? Like if we wrote a chapter for our stories today and saved it, would it still be there after a System Restore? What about recent emails? Screenshots? (etc.) - does anyone know ??? -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Mar 11 2011, 10:41 PM
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#56
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
System restore only deals with the system files in the Windows folder and the registry. It doesn't touch personal files like word documents or saved emails.
-------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Mar 11 2011, 10:56 PM
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#57
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:41 PM) System restore only deals with the system files in the Windows folder and the registry. It doesn't touch personal files like word documents or saved emails. Thank you. GAAAAAH! -------------------- |
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| TheOtherRick |
Mar 13 2011, 08:36 PM
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#58
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 Finder  Joined: 7-January 11 From: The Heart of Dixie |
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:41 PM) System restore only deals with the system files in the Windows folder and the registry. It doesn't touch personal files like word documents or saved emails. This is one reason why your desktop is a notoriously bad place to save things. I also learned that lesson the hard way. I have all of my original mod downloads saved in a folder called "Oblivion Stuff" in "My Documents", and a shortcut to that folder on my desktop. Might I suggest a similar strategy... -------------------- |
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| Thomas Kaira |
Mar 13 2011, 11:39 PM
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#59
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Mouth Joined: 10-December 10 From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky! |
QUOTE(TheOtherRick @ Mar 13 2011, 01:36 PM) QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:41 PM) System restore only deals with the system files in the Windows folder and the registry. It doesn't touch personal files like word documents or saved emails. This is one reason why your desktop is a notoriously bad place to save things. I also learned that lesson the hard way. I have all of my original mod downloads saved in a folder called "Oblivion Stuff" in "My Documents", and a shortcut to that folder on my desktop. Might I suggest a similar strategy... I keep all of my game mods currently not in use in a "Mods Archive" folder. To save Hard Drive space, installed Oblivion mods remain in the Bash Installers folder for BAIN and their folder in the archive is empty. This lets me know that the mod is on my computer, but is currently in use. All of my game mods (Flight Simulator 2004, Morrowind, Age of Mythology, etc.) get the same treatment. I also do my best to keep this folder organized so it is easy to track down any mods I may wish to use again, but am not right now. Anyways, want to know my most recent addition? Auto Book Placer This is a decoration assistant mod designed to quickly stack your private library with your books and volumes. This can be done literally in seconds, on any book (even mod-added), on any shelf (again, even mod added). You can also use it to stack your wine racks, too! -------------------- Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning? |
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| mALX |
Mar 14 2011, 04:13 AM
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#60
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Ancient Joined: 14-March 10 From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN |
Ok, I just blue-screened again, and got the info (not sure if it is the same cause or not, but here it is):
PFN_List_Corrupt 0x0000004E (0x00000099, 0x000B7F16, 0x00000002, 0x0003633D) -------------------- |
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