OBLIVION - MooSe's Essential Links/mods & Tips

maybe Vista has a different location? do you have program files?
either way they should default to your oblivion directory.

which oblivion.ini have you edited? should be the one in my documents > my games > oblivion (XP) NOT the .ini in your oblivion directory.
the line is "ballowscreenshots=1"make sure its set to "1".
when you take a screeny do you get a message "sceenshot01.bmp created" in the top left of your screen?
 
New armour mod and mini quest I've just completed.

LOST PALADINS OF THE DIVINES

Available at the usual place HERE

The mod involves a mini quest into an Ayleid ruin at a hidden location. Its easy enough to find but I won't give the game away.
Beware though the ruin is guarded.......
It made my pants go brown :eek:
The armour is stunning and its probably the best armour mod i've used.
get it now!

check out the site for screenies. I'll update this and post a couple but need to convert them from .bmp first.

This is a 10/10 mod!

some of the official screenies

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"Oh F........... *parp*!"

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"Don't mess with da firey sword again dumb mutt"

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There's an open face hoplite type helmet and light armour too.

also if you have no infamy points when you reach the tomb you'll get awarded a steed from the divine gods. not bad for free eh?


and yes that is a werewolf from this mod. yes it's hard as nails. yes there are lots of 'em and by god when you hear them howl your hoop puckers.... :eek:
 
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Been testing a performance enhancing mod. Its called STREAMLINE and basically works by purging cell buffers and managing memory.

its available HERE .

Whilst it does'nt completely erradicate stutter it does make a BIG improvement. there are several modes you can run it in. I use the standard mode. There's a post about it at bethesdas mods forum and its getting good reviews.

highly recommended. note it won't increase your fps (only a very high end gfx card will do that!), but it does reduce the cell loading stutter and smooth things out nicely.
 
It is!
the enchants are slightly underpowered if anything but you can always fix that in construction set ;)
the sword is always alight with fire. it is utterly awesome to behold! it gives a constant light effect and is great in dark dungeons. )causes a bit of tearing now and again as you slash away with it, only sometimes though. a better gfx card may not suffer as much as mine).
 
LoL :D
don't give the location away.... it's part of the quest!
if you wait to level up more the werewolves will be tougher :eek:
Hint- try powerfull touchspells with fire, an enchanted sword or silver and summon a Dremora Lord for assistance. only take them on one at a time and keep the toilet roll next to your chair :D
The shiny armour is worth it!

Behold. Shiny Armour :D

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If you're looking for robes you need to look under clothing sections of TESS.
try THIS one.
HERE
some nice staffs HERE
You probably won't find staffs or robes etc with the exact enchants you are looking for. scan thru TESS for what you like the look of, download and install it then use construction set to apply the enchants you want.
If you don't know how to do that I'll write a guide here as it's really usefull. as you know in game at the alter of enchantment you can only apply one effect to clothing which is permanent, and multiple enchants to weapons.... but obviously the charge runs down quickly. CS can give you any effects you want.
 
yep they are the ones I use, so all the screenies you see (excluding the modders own armour pics) show off those texture mods.

go HERE which will show you current texture mods and comparisons.

unless you have a highly clocked C2D and 88000GTX or even SLI don't bother with Qarls Texture pack 3. I've heard nothing but poor performance reports.
the above linky is good.

to get better grass tiling make sure you read the "readme" with the mod as you must add a line to the "ArchiveInvalidation.txt" folder to make the game see and use the texture fix.

They do make a tremendous amount of difference as you travel around and sightsee.
if you want more "vibrancy" and mood use the "Natural Enviroments" mod HERE
 
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*MODS and LINKS update*

OK time for a bit of an update on whats new and whats worth downloading.

PERFORMANCE and TROUBLESHOOTING

Still plenty of Oblivion woes rolling in so lets see if we can cast some more light.

firstly if you are experiencing any problems, look at the Bethesda hardware forum section first. Here is an unofficial FAQ which gives causes and solutions to most problems you will encounter. FAQ Here

A promblem some people encounter, not related to stutter or low fps is big pauses and lag. This is caused by software codecs already installed on your machine. The FAQ above has a chapter on this and gives links to utilities to fix it.
(one of the lads here had this problem and found out the cause was a codec called "Vodei.". Thanks to Loadsamoney, whom had had this issue the problem was resolved and highlighted)

After 3/4 to an hour of gaming you may find Oblivion starts to noticeably slow down. unexpected pauses and general feet in custard syndrome.
This is a known software issue related to your inventories. It seems the more you dive into your inventory to swap out weapons & potions etc the quicker it starts playing up. If you use "Bag of holding" and a companion mod, with access to companions inventory. Then slowdown can happen in half an hour.
I don't know the technical cause but to combat this simply restart Oblivion when the slowdown happens.

Some people might have encountered a new "Black Screen of Death" since patch 1.2. it's not the nvidia 7*** series card BSOD. This one usually happens as you enter a door. you'll get a complete black screen (no tool bar) and a sound loop.
It would appear to be a Oblivion.ini config commmand problem.
If you go into the .ini file locate the command -
iShadowMapResolution=256. the value 256 was changed in the 1.2 patch.
change the value to its pre 1.2 value of 1024 ie -
iShadowMapResolution=1024
I had this problem and this fixed it.

Now time for a couple of goodies.
Performance mods that I've been testing. firstly -

STREAMLINE
This utility works to an intelligent schedule to actively clear the cell buffer and video RAM cache. Upon install it adds a signet ring to your inventory. activate this and you get a choice of how aggressive you want the buffers purged. the readme is informative and guides you accordingly to your pc spec.
Streamline is now version 2.1 (was 2.0) Simply download both versions, install 2.0 the delete the Streamline 2.0 plugin and replace with the 2.1 plugin.
I've been using this performance mod for a couple of weeks now. There IS a noticeable improvement on reduced cell buffer stutter.
Recommended.

OPERATION OPTIMIZATION
This mod optimizes large meshes in the game. it claims to give a fps increase of up to 30 fps in some areas!!
In practice you get a small increase DEPENDANT on where you are ingame. Some locations are heavily optimized such as Sheogoraths palace, other locations you may not notice.
The mod is a self installer, click it and off it goes. Don't worry about the readme's instruction about the archiveinvalidation file entry. The 1.1 version (this link) does'nt need it.
I use this in conjunction with Streamline and have found my fps consistantly smoother with less stutter. They do not conflict and its well worth running them both.
(if you want to find out more there's a topic at bethesdas mods forum)

LOW POLY GRASS
If you find no matter what, when running around in the wilderness you still get low fps try this. Instead of clumps of grass you get "X" shaped clumps. These look fine from the side but if you're on a horse and look down you see lots of X clumpage!!
It does help in busy grassy areas at the cost of those X's.
In practice you don't notice them really and grass still looks good.
There are several variatants in the mod, choose which suits your machine best.
Im running this at present to test it but will get rid of it soon. By using the TWEAKGUIDE .ini alterations to grass density you can achieve the same purpose.

MODS

For an up to date list of mod links go here:
Mods A-List
It's a compendium of recommended mods which is regularly updated.
An ESSENTIAL bookmark.

The Oblivion Texture Overhaul
I think i've linked this elsewhere but The Oblivion Texture Overhaul site collects most of the texture mods in one place and gives advice comparisons etc.
(note. I think his mention on Jarrods textures (below) is obsolete and applies to Jarrods first texture pack not new one)


Lanscape Texture Mod
I've recently installed this new one -
Jarrods Oblivion New Texture Mod
Screenies for it HERE
A bit subjective as there are no comparisons. However I can state it's a great texture mod. does'nt kill your pc like Quarls but you can instantly see the landscape texture looks better.
This is compatible with the borders and distant lands LOD fixes linked at first post.

Koldorns Ayleid Ruins Textures
These textures replace the interior of vanillas Ayleid ruins. Much more detailed and lovely.

Koldorns Cave Textures
Just like the Ayleid ruins, this one makes caves lovely.

Koldorns Improved Lava
Does what it sez on *** tin! makes lava more lava'ry!

Improved Trees and Flora
check out the link, makes tree bark look exceptional. Im downloading this fella now as it looks so good.

Female charachter enhancements

Since in Oblivion we deal with many npc's it's important they look right. Unfortunately the standard Cyrodiil female is a tad unflattering. There are tons of mods to make npc's and female characters more appealing. There's also tons of mods for clothing etc. Im going to list a female body replacer and associated clothing/armour plus beauty mods to make faces better.
As Oblivion is primarily an adult game there are many scantily clad armour sets and also naked mods. im not going to link anything naked as it's against forum rules. (you can find them yourselves....) I'll post some pics that portray female characters in the spirit of the mods.
I have'nt got any male body enhancers as it's against my man mind to do that sort of thing!

Female eye Candy Body Replacer

this is a female body replacer by an author called Exnem. Whilst it can't change the underlying skeletal structure it can replace Bethesdas questionable body textures and shape. As you can see from the pic it gives females a more pronounced hourglass Barbydoll look and improves muscle tone. there are new clothing and armour mods coming out almost daily for this body. i think it's going to be the most popular by far.

femaleeyecandybodyreplabo4.jpg


There is a version minus the undies..............

Here's link from UESP wiki which displays all the body replacers available. (no nudity)
UESP body comparison

To get faces looking better we ned to use several mods.
Firstly here's a facial texture replacer. It increases resolution so you don't get blockyness and smooths out features.
Improved Facial Textures

Now we need to get rid of vanillas dire hairstyles.
first up is - Rens Beauty Pack
This adds hairstyles that suit Elvish type characters. There is also another race "Mystic Elves" which is popular with modders as the female version lends herself to the creation of a beautiful character.
There's a lot of hairstyles and some clip with modded armour etc. you have to experiment.

Another popular hair replacer is - Soya 4 Hair pack
The screenies (in link) look a bit poor but if you look at the body replacer hair on the mystic elf lady thats a Soya hairdo.

Now we need to have better eyes.
Beautiful People
This contains many eyes of varying colours etc. It also packs Rens hairs and Mystic Elves. There's other versions that merge Soya hair as well.

Here's a character, Sia by a well named chap called Floydian1. It shows what can be achieved facially wise using above mods. (body not Exnems)

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Here's a Mystic Elf called Niennor I've recently created. Uses all of the above mods (Go easy it's my first ever lady character!)

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If you want to change your characters appearance any time in game. IE you've downloaded these mods but don't want to start a new character, go to the console and type "showracemenu". hear you can change race, apearance, birthsign etc etc. you also get the full construction set options of face editing so you have more options. when done, don't hit return. hit savegame then exit from the console to main menu. load up savergame and job's done. If you changed race then obviously all your attributes/skills etc will be different.

If you want to start a new game you'll need - Custom Race Fix
The prisoner opposite you in the cells only has set dialogue for in game races. install this and you get a dialogue for any custom race such as Rens Mystic Elves.

Its worth pointing out if you want to start a new character, but want a completely different mod set than your standard character, you can install a second instance of Oblivion. you need another hdd or partition. simply create another program files/bethesda/ folder route on your drive which does not have your first oblivion on. then copy the whole oblivion folder. now paste it in your new location. (it's best if you have an unadulterated non modded backup to do so). now just create shortcuts from the oblivion.exe, oblivion mod manager and construction set. It uses the same Oblivion.ini and saved game folder so you don't need to edit the .ini again. you can also create a couple of folders in savegames to neatly keep each character in, just move out the save game you want. the only problem i've had is mod manger. because both instances of oblivion have different mods i find some mods are deactivated on one version if i've been playing with the other mod manager version. you just have to make sure you enter the respective mod manager before game and activate what you want. (probably to do with shared registry entries)

*Continued post 187*


More to come very soon.......

To be added:


Associated Clothing replacer
Associated Armour
The Quest "Damarask" once I complete it!
How to create an Omod simple guide
How to make powerful Enchants in Construction Set guide

If you have been using any great new mods don't hesitate to add here ;)
 
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Ah the map...............
I can't give the game away but check out the map and compare it with your map of cyrodiil.
Hint. find the Daedric shrine of Peryite and head east.
look for the Ayleid ruin of Wendelbek.
if you want to cheat here's a helpful link - Cyrodiil map
The ruins quest are great and the prize awsome!
The enchants are weak to say the least but you can create your own and apply them to the armour in CS. Im going to do a "How to" for that soon.

I think I did give the game away for the location...... Meh :D
 
there are seasons ingame and if you are somewhere like the Jerral mountains and around Bruma etc it tends to snow more.
should'nt get snow in IC all the time though.
 
have you got the specular slider at minimum? this controls the reflection. the higher the slider the greater the distance you'll see reflective textures.
mine is set about 1/2 way on the scale.
if you get no joy leave a feedback message for authors at TESS.
 
well after scanning thru the TESS feedback I found this:-

"That's no excuse...get to modding! I started small and it's taken me almost a year to reach this point and I'm far from being where I want to be modding-wise. You can have both shiny and non-shiny. Simply pick the shiny one during the reward script and go to the store to purchase the non-shiny replica."

and scanning further I found you get the choice of shiny or non-shiny when you open the crypt. the readme does'nt state this.
there are replicas at Best Defence but you'll have to check if they are shiny or not.
otherwise its reload last save game before you opened the crypt job........... :(
 
UPDATES CONTINUED FROM POST 169

Where did we get too?
ah yes replacement bodies and how to make faces pretty etc.
If you use a replacement body such as Exnems eyecandy you'll want associated clothes/armour to take advantage of the shape. Otherwise your npc's/character remain vanilla bodied until you strip them.

Here's some of the best purely for Exnems Eyecandy body replacer.

*None of these screenies are mine - all from modmakers*

Amazon Armour

displayed on a Mystic Elf. nice eh?

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Stock Oblivion Clothing replacer

This replaces all standard female clothing with modded meshes to suit Exnems. Makes a big difference.

stockoblivionclothingremr2.jpg


Shivering Isles Stock Clothing replacer

As above but for S.I.

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