Oblivion Mod:Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion/Part 3

The third and final part of this guide goes through the post-installation steps preceding After completing this guide, you will have a stable, working modified Oblivion.

Introduction to Post-Installation Management

The actual installation of mods (when using utilities) is fairly trivial when compared with sorting an install order and even moreso when compared to dealing with load ordering, which is why you should probably read Load Order if you are new or uncomfortable with the topic or the related functionality in Wrye Bash. Neither install order or load ordering are something users pick up overnight. Until you have experience dealing with a wide variety of mods, certain types of installation and mod structures will seem entirely new. BOSS is not perfect, but it offers a good starting place. It is nice when it knows where to place a mod you do not.

Right now you have about 30 plugins and couple new BSA files sitting in your Data folder. The game might load. It is time work it into a run-able order. OBMM users, close OBMM and open Wrye Bash; BAIN users, switch to the Mods tab; manual users need to launch Wrye Bash as well.

A Quick Introduction to Your Load-Ordering Tools

The two most useful load order management tools are Wrye Bash and BOSS. The former's interface allows users to quickly and easily see the state of the plugins in your data folder, and it pseudo-extends the definition of an Oblivion load order via its bashed patches. The latter backed by an ordered, community-collected list of mods numbering over 10,000, is sufficient to properly order the many user's load orders in its entirety. However, when it does not recognize some plugins (i.e., plugins you create yourself) and leaves them at the bottom of the load order, you can use Bash to hand position them in a more appropriate location.

Right-click on 'File' in Bash

• Lock Times - Check this to have Bash protect other utilities from modifying your load order. That way, as you install other mods or use other utilities you are not using to manage your load order, your load order will be preserved. When you wish to hand place mods, turn this off temporarily. If you run BOSS from outside Bash (instead of from the shortcut along the bottom of the Bash window) you will have to first disable this option if you want BOSS to reorder your plugins. However, if you leave this feature on when you launch BOSS you can still see what the load order would look like as well as the notes for your plugins in the log that appears at the end.
• List Mods... - This function copies your load order, including version numbers, active state and much other information useful to those who would help you troubleshoot problems with your modded setup. The information provided by this feature is far superior to that available via other methods.

Check Your Load Order

...in the Bash 'Mods' tab.

If you are wondering what the various discolorations mean that you may be seeing in the Mods tab now, keep Wrye Bash's Plugin Status Indicators open while you correct your load order.

Run BOSS via the shortcut along the bottom of Bash's window. When it finishes, the BOSS log will pop up showing the resultant load order and notes pertaining to each plugin. BOSS is more current than many popular mods and, thus, also more current than many mods' documentation. Therefore, to be safe, read the notes in the log whenever you add a new plugin. The log contains information ranging from known conflicts, to installation errors to Bash tag information.

Note: If you run BOSS from outside of Bash (i.e., through the BAT file in the Data folder) you would have to temporarily turn off lock times first.

A Corrected Load Order

This is the load order for all of the mods downloaded earlier in this guide ignoring the Bashed Patch's functionality. Adding the Bashed Patch also means changing the activation status of many of these plugins, but the order of the plugins will not change.Oblivion Mod:Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion/Part 3/Rebuild A Bashed Patch

Conclusion

Closing comments...

What is Left

If you look at your mods' ReadMe files, a number of in-game configurations you can try. For example, you could turn on Denock Arrows in the COBL menu (in miscellaneous inventory) or turn off RBP's retroactive health via the console command StartQuest bgbHealthToggle. Also, if you are not going to start from a fresh save you can also modify your character whenever you wish with the console command ShowRaceMenu.

Opening the Console

Normally users can open the console with the tilde (~) key, but for various hardware and system-related reasons, some users cannot. Those of you who find yourselves in this position can get around this issue by installing Change Console Key, an OBSE plugin that adds a setting in the Oblivion.ini which you can switch to whichever key you want. (See DirectX KeyMap for key codes.) Alternatively, you can install Ring of Console, an OBSE-dependent mod, if you would rather have an object in your menu by which to open the console, but it does cost an additional plugin.

Where to Go from Here

Now that you have successfully built a stable modified setup, feel free to try it out in-game or modify and enhance it more to suit your tastes. Just remember to make changes slowly, test as you go and read documentation. Save yourself trouble by at least avoiding the reported conflicts.

Places to go after finishing this guide:

• Optimize the vanilla meshes and mod-added meshes with PyFFI.
• Further tweak Oblivion for your system with the Oblivion Tweak Guide.
• Search TESNexus for more mods and more types of mods to add.
• If you are going to remove any active plugins from your load order, see Updating Saves.
  • Active plugins are associated with a save file when you save the game. The list of plugins associated with a save is visible in Bash's 'Saves' tab.
  • Sometime mod updates require cleans saves to update the save file properly as well.

Happy Gaming!

See Also

• Running Oblivion
• Basic Plugin Cleaning
• Better Oblivion Sorting Software
• BOSS Masterlist Manager
• Load Order

External Links

• BOSS Masterlist