Oblivion Mod:Mod Installation

Of all the steps in mod installation the most trivial is when you actually use the "activate," "install," or "extract" command that puts the mods' data files and plugins into your data folder. The bulk of the process occurs before that point. You may have already started the first, downloading the mods from the various upload sites. While, doing that, however, you should be considering the next three steps: 1) Does the mod need to be repackaged 2) What is the order in which these mods need to be installed? 3) What configuration should I choose? If you have answers for all of these questions, then you are well on your way to preventing your modded Oblivion setup from blowing up in your face.

Does the mod need to be repackaged?

The ease with which this question can be answered depends on whether or not you are familiar with the download and the method by which you install your mods. If the download is labeled "OMOD," an OBMM user does not have to do much of anything. Other users would have to first convert the OMOD to an archive before having the capacity to do anything with it. If its label is "OMOD-ready," then OBMM users should still have almost zero work to do, but BAIN and manual install users may luck up as well because the file is an archive; however, there is no way to tell whether or not the mod is packaged "nicely." "BAIN-ready" is the equivalent of "OMOD" for BAIN users; however, it is also organized such that writing an OMOD script to install it or manually installing it while reading the ReadMe should be fairly simple. Mods labeled "Manual" or lacking either of the other labels are simply archives that the user may have to repackage. If the mod is simple (only has a single configuration) and is packaged "nicely" then the work for all users is fairly simple. In all other cases, extra steps should or must be taken, and the rest of this section contains guidelines that will help.

Notes

• "Nicely" packaged - The top level only contains a "Data" folder OR the default folders and plugins OR BSAs (default folders) and plugins

  Notes: For OBMM users a single ReadMe (or text file) can be at the top level with the "Data" folder.

• Default mod folders: Menus, Meshes, Music, Shaders, Sound, Textures, Video, a folder that contains INIs, etc.
• Simple package - It contains only one installation configuration. All data files and plugin(s) have to be installed. (i.e., only has one ESP and some data files to install.)

  Notes: Simple packages are "everybody-friendly."

In the case the mod needs to be repackaged...

• Manual installation users must always check the mod's structure before installing the mod. Often, this can be achieved by reading the mod's description or ReadMe on the mod's upload page. Otherwise, extract the mod to a temporary folder and review the ReadMe for instructions on how to install it. If the ReadMe does not include instructions, that is bad on the author's part; however, if you still want to use it, it is not too hard to figure out the archive's structure after having extracted it. Look for the default folders and the plugins because those are what need to be installed at the Data folder level. Even optional or "extras" folders should contain the default folders.
• Modder's Resources are often not packed in a standard format, whether they are separate downloads or contained in a mod's "extras" folder. You should know where the contents go if you downloaded this. If you are not using these files, delete them or ignore them. OBMM users can add a script to stop the folder or file(s) from being installed. BAIN users can, likewise, add "--" to the beginning of the package or subpackage to have BAIN ignore them.
• OMOD files should be downloaded to your OMODs folder. (The default OMODs folder is Oblivion\OBMM\mods.) If you are not an OBMM user, and had the misfortune of having to download one, you need to convert the OMOD to an archive. To do this: 1) Right-click on the target OMOD. 2) Choose "convert to archive." 3) Select the folder in which to place the archive. (BAIN users should choose the Bash Installers folder of course.) 4) Do not bother converting OMOD conversion data when it prompts you.
• OMOD-Ready files are basically normal archives, the only difference being that they include an "omod_conversion_data" folder that contains the information necessary to make OMOD creation and installation easer. (Manual installation users should still follow the "Manual Installation" guidelines.)
• Executables have to be installed before you can do anything with them.
  • OBMM and BAIN users should package the mod into an OBMM or BAIN-friendly package, respectively.
• All other archives need to be checked for "nicely" packaged structure.
  • BAIN users can do much of this from the Installers tab; however, if the package's check box is dark gray (invalid) then the mod needs to be repackaged. If the package is highlighted in gray and the "skipped" section shows important files being skipped, the file needs to be repackaged. Simple packages will have white check boxes when uninstalled; BAIN-Ready packages will have light grey check boxes. Neither of those needs repackaging. See the BAIN page and the BAIN conversion examples pages to learn how to make packages BAIN-Ready or to convert them to simple packages.
  • OBMM users need to review the package's contents before creating the OMOD. You can do that entirely in the mod creation window; however, the space for viewing files is limited, which is especially troublesome if the mod contains many files. If it is a "nicely" packaged mod, and a simple mod, go ahead an pack it in an OMOD. If it is not "nicely" packaged, has multiple configuration options or contains items you do not want installed, you need to repackage or write a script to have the mod installed correctly. (Examples coming soon.)

BSA Loading

Big mods that have many data files sometimes pack them into BSAs. This is common practice for big quest mods, for example. There are two ways to get Oblivion to load BSAs content. The first method is to add BSAs to the sArchiveList in the Oblivion.ini file. Ensuring that the INI-loading method works is tedious due to a character limit for that list, but there are ways around that. Most mods use the second method, plugin name correspondence. Their BSAs are named "<some ESP's name> - <something>.bsa" or "<some ESP's name>.bsa". (See BSAs and Archive Invalidation for more information.) The common BSA naming scheme when you have to do it yourself is to 1) if you have SI, rename BSAs "DLCShiveringIsles - <BSA name>.bsa" 2) if you only need a plugin to load one BSA "<ESP's name>.bsa" 3) create a plugin "Oblivon.esp" and rename BSAs "Oblivion - <BSA name>.bsa."

Examples

• FCOM recommended renaming options
  • MMM BSA: "FCOM_Convergence_Mart'sMonsterMod.bsa"
  • Fran BSA: "FCOM_Convergence_FraNewItems.bsa"

    Notes: The FCOM team recommends renaming this BSA "Oblivion - FraNewItems.bsa" with a dummy plugin. It takes up an extra plugin slot and requires that you create a dummy plugin, but both naming conventions work. The choice is yours.

• MMM recommended renaming options (use name of main MMM plugin)
  Rename "MMM.bsa" to...
  • MMM: "Mart's Monster Mod.bsa"
  • MMM+OOO: "Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.bsa"
  • FCOM: "FCOM_Convergence_Mart'sMonsterMod.bsa"
• Renaming multiple BSAs for forced loading (non-SI)
  1. Copy the blank esp Oblivion\Mopy\Extras\blank.esp
  2. Put the plugin in your Data folder
  3. Rename the plugin "Oblivion.esp"
  4. Rename each BSA to force load "Oblivion - <BSA name>.bsa"
• Renaming multiple BSAs for forced loading (SI)
  • Rename each BSA to force load "DLCShiveringIsles - <BSA name>.bsa"

    Notes: SI users can always use the naming convention above to load BSAs in place of any other naming scheme.

What is the order in which these mods need to be installed?

The importance of load order increases as you add more mods, especially when those mods start overlapping. If you check out the My BAIN Package List page, amongst those packages there may be more than five versions of the same file. However, because BAIN has prioritized installation, you know that the version installed is the one with the higher number in that list. It is a conscious decision on the users part to have that mod "win." It is not as easy to figure out which mod is "winning" with other forms of installation, but the list on that page took days to organize. The following guidelines should help reduce that time for you to part of a one-day modded Oblivion installation, even if you are using the other installation methods. The important thing is to think about, beforehand, which mods should have the last say for different types of files, and which mods contain similar files. The goal of the organization below is to have the fewest logical groupings, while minimizing "exceptions." My BAIN package list is primarily in alphabetical order within subgroups. (Installation order and load order are very different. Plugin interactions are very different. DO NOT base your load order on this ordering.)

General Installation Guidelines

Most mods mentioned in this list are found on Types of Mods . BAIN users, install "later" and "after" means should have higher priority, a bigger number, in the package list. Like wise, mods that should be installed "before" another mod should have lower priority, smaller numbers. The numbers on the following groups match the general priority of installation in the package list.

Note: Most examples mentioned in this list are linked in Types of Mods.

1. Original Files (backups)
   • Content: Video archive, Shaders archive, Music archive
   • Conflicts: every replacer that replaces files in the contained folders
   • This group is useful for restoring the backed up folders after using UI mods, video replacers, etc. This group can go anywhere, but having it installed first (at least in BAIN) may make more sense, as these files are truly installed first (when you install Oblivion from the disc or Steam). Therefore, in BAIN, the package will be green if none of these files have been replaced, and yellow if some files have been overwritten. It makes for a good sanity check.
     

     Note: Remember that the original Meshes, Textures, Sounds and Trees are packed in BSAs, so there should not be a reason to install package containing these original files loose. If you are not seeing the original files, check your BSA Redirection settings in BAIN or OBMM and make sure nothing has been installed overwriting them. (See BSAs and Archive Invalidation for more information about BSAs, and see PyFFI if you have you have not packed or do not know how to pack your loose PyFFI-optimized meshes back into a BSA.)

2. Utilities
   • Contents: plugins, few data files, INIs
   • Conflicts: few to none, not serious
   • These mods rarely have conflicts with other mods. One notable exception is FormID Finder, conflicts with the UOP because they both contain missing mesh marker meshes. If you really want that mesh so badly, install this mod after the UOP (which means giving it a number higher than the UOP in BAIN.)
   • Examples: FormID Finder, Kuertee's Actor Details, Streamline
3. Game Tweaks (Immersion & Special Items)
   • Contents: plugins, few data files (typically custom files), INIs
   • Conflicts: rare, not serious
   • Game Tweaks (and related mods) have few or no data file conflicts. They may contain data files, but they are usually new files. There are some notable exceptions because some game tweaks that truly are not UI mods do include menus to extend certain functionality (i.e., Enchantments Restored over Time, LAME.)
   • Examples: Deadlier Sneaking, Common Oblivion, Harvest Flora
4. New Buildings & Locations
   • Contents: lots of different data files (mostly custom) and plugins
   • Conflicts: few to none, not serious
   • They can contain just about every type of data file, but they usually add only new contents, so there is nothing major to worry about here.
   • Examples: Bank of Cyrodiil, Bartholm, Glenvar Castle, Vaults of Cyrodiil
5. Official Add-ons (DLCs) & Unofficial Official Patches
   • Contents: plugins, data files (replacers), BSAs
   • Conflicts: many, supposed to conflict
   • This category, putting the DLCs aside, contains fixes for the vanilla game. Mods that have higher priority and overwrite these are typically fixed, so both the higher and lower conflicts are expected and safe. There are no real conflicts in this position.
   • Examples: DLCs 1-9, UOP, USIP, UOMPs, UOMPs MOBs, USIP MOBS
6. Quests
   • Contents: plugins, all kinds of data files (often packed in BSAs)
   • Conflicts: cosmetic mods, some other, minor (with an exception)
   • These mods can touch about every aspect of the game. Sometimes they have incorporated other item mods, and often contain files from cosmetic mods. There is no reason that they need to win their conflicts. Most of the important files are custom. The notable exception here is that some (or one) quest mods contain music and video replacers, unlike most of the data folder, the Music and Video folders are not in a BSA, so they are vulnerable to permanent alteration; hence, the initial recommendation to backup the loose original folders.
   • Examples: Blood & Mud, Choices & Consequences, Gates to Aesgaard 1 and 2, The Lost Spires, The Mysteries of the Dulan Cult, Ruin Tail's Tale, Ungarion Memoirs: The Welkynd Sword
7. Companions & NPCs
   • Contents: plugins, cosmetic files, few other types of data files that conflict (usually custom)
   • Conflicts: cosmetic mods or none, not serious
   • The NPCs mods rarely contain overlapping data files; however, companions often include files from existing cosmetic mods (i.e., Ren's hairs) instead of having plugins that depend on the user installing the cosmetic mod itself. There is rarely a reason to have the companion mod overwrite the data files from the original cosmetic mod. Otherwise, there are no file conflicts with this group.
   • Examples: Viconia, Vilja
8. Big Mesh Replacers
   • Contents: meshes, textures
   • Conflicts: many, minor
   • This category in many setups will only include QTP3. It is a huge texture replacer that uses textures which require parallax meshes. The reason why it should be installed early is because the main mods that overwrite it are the unofficial official patches and aesthetic mods that contain support for it (and also require that the meshes be replaced) or individual replacers, which you want to see in the game instead of just Qarl's textures. Incorrect meshes can actually cause serious problems, so it is important that QTP3 is overridden by certain mods (i.e., the higher priority mods it conflicts with in this list, UOP, BC and AWLS.)
   • Examples: QTP3, QTP3 Redimized, QTP3 Redimized Reduced, QTP3 further Reduced
9. Overhauls & Creature-Adding Mods
   • Contents: plugins, all kinds of data files (some packed in BSAs)
   • Conflicts: many, serious (pay attention to the ReadMes and the instructions found on this site)
   • This is probably the only section where alphabetical ordering is practically a worthless effort (though you could alphabetize the patches for an individual overhaul.) There is specific installation order depending on which overhauls you are using. The conflicts that originate outside of this group are found with overhauls and creature-adding mods in this section. This site has the recommended installation order for most of them. (FCOM's recommended installation order applies to most overhaul configurations, even ignoring the overhaul not used in your setup.)
   • Examples: Cyrodiil Upgrade Overhaul, FCOM, Francesco's Leveled Creatures Items mod, Martigen's Monster Mod, Oblivion War Cry, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Tamriel Immersion Experience
10. New Items (Armor & Weapons)
    • Contents: lots of different data files (primarily meshes and textures) and plugins
    • Conflicts: varies, new item compilations, overhauls, quests, not serious
    • If you run an overhaul, it probably includes a number of new items mods, so there are bound to be data conflicts. The reason to load them after the overhauls is because the standalone mod may contain newer files. If that is not the case, then simply do not install the standalone mod. However, it is perfectly reasonable to install these mods when some or all of their data files are overwritten by compilation-type mods because the original plugins may still add the items with an availability and variety not offered in the overhaul.
    • Examples: Bob's Armory, Loth's Blunt Weapons, KD's Circlets, Pure Steel Blade, Slof's Oblivion Goth Shop I, Slof's Oblivion Robe Trader, Xiamara's New Amulets
11. City & World Aesthetics
    • Contents: plugins, all kinds of data files (some packed in BSAs)
    • Conflicts: other mods of this type, big mesh replacers, minor (have support)
    • The mods that have lots of overlap with other popular mods (i.e., QTP3) offer support for it. This group probably has more support modules for other mods than any other group (i.e., Unique Landscapes patches.) This is a great position in your installation order for them because these mods need to win the mesh conflicts, not texture contests. The biggest of these, AWLS and Better Cities, do not conflict with anytexture replacers. Just make sure to download support options when they are available. For those of you using shader replacers and mods that contain shader changes (i.e., some OBSE mods) absolutely must back up the Shaders folder. In fact, everyone should back up that folder. For some reason, they can be warped during installation or in other cases where the user did not deliberately modify them. (There is a link on this site to replacement 1.2.0416 shaders in the event of a mishap.) Bad shaders cause bad problems. (Screen effects users should get the updated version of the OBGE DLL produced by the OGE team.) OBMM is theONLY utility that fully supports shader installation. Even if that is the only mod you use OBMM for, install it. (Although there are many other reasons to have OBMM installed anyway.)
    • Examples: All Natural, Animated Window Lighting System, Better Cities, Enhanced Weather, Let There Be Darkness, Natural Environments, Unique Landscapes
12. User Interface (UI)
    • Contents: fonts, Menus files, Music (has no specific place to be), Textures, Videos
    • Conflicts: other UI mods, other mods that touch menus, serious!!!
    • The mods mainly conflict with one another and certain game tweaks. You musthave support for these conflicts or something will be broken, and the chance that they cause a serious problem with the game is not small. You must also be aware that there are UI mods that do not replace the HUD and main menus (i.e., Keychain, HotKey mods, etc) and their conflicts can be just as serious. This section also contains the menu video replacers. Users of such mods must remember to back up the Video folder. (Many of the serious things to watch out for will be noted in the next section.)
    • Examples: Dark UI, DarN UI, DarkUIdDarN, Immersive Interface, Keychain, Menu Video Replacer Scenery, Toggleable Quantity Prompt, Super Hotkeys
13. UI-Modifying Game Tweaks
    • Contents: plugins, menu files, INIs
    • Conflicts: UI mods
    • These mods almost always conflict with UI mods, but UI mods either include support for these mods or vice versa. Since the leveling mods people use are usually more current, there is a better chance that the leveling mod contains the right compatibility support for the popular UI mods.
    • Examples: Kobu's Character Advancement System, Less Annoying Magic Experience, nGCD, Oblivion XP, Progress, Realistic Leveling, Supreme Magicka
14. Texture Replacers
    • Content: textures (some also contain new meshes or plugins)
    • Conflicts: other texture replacers, minor (users choice which "wins")
    • The installation order of these mods is very important, especially if you plan to install texture replacers that overlap with each other. For example, you want to use Bomret's Normals to cover what Corepc's Vibrant Textures do not. In that case, you should install Bomret's mod first, of course. However, many users use more than ten texture replacers, and sometimes three or more of them may touch certain files, but the user desire one version over the other. Plan this group out first. Beyond special details in ReadMes there is no set order for these. Install them in the order that is most aesthetically pleasing. BAIN users can easily switch the order of the packages in the Installers tab on a whim and fix the change by using the anneal function, but the other installation methods are not as flexible. Making mistakes with the multiple texture mods even a tenth of the size of QTP3 become very frustrating, not to mention, non-BAIN users have no sure way of knowing which version of a file is installed once they start uninstalling mods with overlapping files. The ONLY way to cleanly uninstall mods with overlapping files with the other installation methods is to uninstall every mod that shares that file, or reinstall one of those overlapping mods.
      

      Note: Detailed Terrain contains shaders. Only use OBMM to install at least that part of the mod. BAIN users should add "--" to the beginning of the Shaders folder in the packages so that BAIN ignores it.

    • Examples: Ampolex's Texture Pack, Better Night Sky, Detailed Terrain, FineWeapons, RustyItems, Magic Shields, Real Lava, Real Night Sky, Vanilla Hair Replacer
15. Other Replacers
    • Content: plugins (maybe a mesh or two?)
    • Conflicts: none
    • These mods do not belong in the other groups. Most of these will be graphical shader replacers. They do not actually edit shaders; rather, they modify certain visual effects by tweaking certain plugin records. This section is mainly here for sake of organization, but maybe they can be thrown in with the other "magic" mods because those mods typically contain these types of changes (usually in optional modules.)
    • Examples: Initial Glow, Visually Enchanted Customized Fixed
16. Animation Mods
    • Contents: plugins, KFs (animation or idle pose files, typically found in the "Meshes\_Male")
    • Conflicts: other animation files, minor, quest/companion mods that add custom animations to NPCs
    • Whether talking about data files or plugin records, animation mods usually conflict with other animation mods if there are conflicts. There are many animation mods that add new KFs or replace original KFs (i.e., Seph's H-to-H replacer.) If two animation conflicts replace the same animations, you should know by reading their descriptions. Just make sure the one you want is installed later.
    • Examples: Actors in Emotion, Seph's Hand-to-Hand Animation Replacer
17. Cosmetic Mods & Body Replacers
    • Content: plugins, cosmetic files (meshes and textures)
    • Conflicts: other cosmetic mods, these should override other mods, not serious
    • Generally, if cosmetic mods contain multiple versions of the same files, let the newer one load later, just in case its files are updated in some way. If, for some reason, a cosmetic compilation replaces textures for vanilla races, make sure it either has support for your body replacers or have the body replacers load later. Also, without a Bashed Patch, only one cosmetic mod that overhauls the Vanilla races can be installed at once. For example, Race Balancing Project and Ren's Beauty Pack Hairs Only do not work together on their own; however, with a Bashed Patch the hairs from the Hairs Only version can be imported, while the main plugin, which conflicts with RBP, can remain deactivated. If both mods are more "full" cosmetic compilation packs, meaning they do more than add hairs or eyes to the Vanilla races (i.e., RBP and BP) even a Bashed Patch make them compatible because they contain new records that cannot be imported (i.e., new races.) Keep an eye out for the eye meshes issue as well. A race can only have one eye mesh. Therefore, if Elaborate Eyes (EE) or BP (which contains EE) is installed, quest mods and race mods that add new eyes using the Vanilla eyes mesh (which is the case with most mods of those types, including Ren's) are incompatible with the current setup. They cannot be used together. If you really want to use the other mods, either install a patch, use a version with converted eyes, or look for a different compilation pack. Lastly, many of these types of mods have multiple versions of the main plugin. Only install ONE.
    • Examples: Beautiful People (BP), Race Balancing Project (RBP), Ren's Beauty Pack, Robert's Male Body, Robert's Female Body, Robert's Female, Robert's Female for Mod, Robert OOO Armor, Robert MMM Armor
18. Character Texture Replacers
    • Content: textures
    • Conflicts: cosmetic mods, body replacers, other character texture replacers (users choice)
    • The organization of this section is all up to the user. This section should load last because there is no point in installing a unique facial texture just to have it overwritten. Make sure the body textures support your body, or the textures will not match and appear deformed in-game. Again, these are texture replacers, so there is no required installation order within this group. Choose the order most to your liking.
    • Examples: Enayla's Dremora Face Texture, Enayla's Facial Textures, Enayla's New Face Textures, Improved Facial Textures, Kendo's Orc Textures
19. Your Projects
    • Content: cleaned plugins, (dummy plugin for loading BSAs in the absence of DLCShiveringIsles.esp), tweaked (cleaned) plugins, patches, merges (could also contain data files)
    • Conflicts: things that are patched
    • Patches have to overwrite the mods they patch, and this is the best position from which to do that, last.
      

      Note: Users of the Cyrodiil Terrain Map should have a patched archive of some kind to contain the fixed world map textures. See PCS Library for the fix.

What Configuration Should I Choose?

Many mods contain multiple configurations. Instead of containing "my_mod.esp", they may contain "my_mod_full.esp" and "my_mod_lite.esp", and you have to choose one or the other. Sometimes the distinction is not quite as clear: there could be multiple folders containing "my_mod.esp" where the folder name mean nothing to a new user of the mod or maybe the mod contains "some_other_mod.esp" and no data files because the mod depend's on a different mod which should already have been installed. Often, after the user ignorantly installs the mod, not realizing a choice should have been made, glitches appear the game, and he or she is then wondering if the mod is broken. Reading the mod's ReadMe before installation could have easily prevented such mistakes.

Popular Mods with frequently overlooked multiple configurations

• Vanilla OR SI and FULL OR Part (Choose one or the other!) Ren's Beauty Pack || Ren's Beauty Pack Hair's Only mz_Shields || mz_shields-SI Dark Dungeons || Dark Dungeons - SI
• Vanilla + SI (Install BOTH if you want the SI component) Harvest Flora + Harvest Flora SI
• SI - Vanilla (Install the non-SI option if you do NOT HAVE SI) RBP: add RBPNoSI
• SI ONLY (Do not install if you do NOT HAVE SI) Enhanced Water HDMI: use Enhanced Water HD instead
• Replacers with different names (Uninstall the original plugins, not the entire mod! they do not overwrite the original plugins!) BC: Clocks of Cyrodiiil BC patch, Vaults of Cyrodiil BC patch

Choosing the Right Plugins

...guidelines for what you should do...

• Read ReadMes (may want to check the Online ReadMes page)
• Make sure you install all dependencies. If you do not, the plugin will have red check box next to plugins in Wrye Bash, indicating a missing master (The only exceptions are plugins with the "Filter" Bash tag, as you are not expected to have all of the dependencies.) The game will crash on load if a plugin missing a master is active.

  Notes: many UL patches can be found here: Unique Landscapes Patches@TESNexus

• DO NOT leave unused plugins in your data folder, unless you turn on Wrye Bash's auto-ghosting, which "hides" plugins from the game engine for you.
• Do not install a bunch of custom race mods that your PC or companions are not using. Installing many custom race mods often leads to conflicts among them and various quest mods, not to mention they are wasting plugin slots at that point.

OBMM users should add scripts to any mod that has multiple configurations (multiple main plugins or options) that does not already have an OMOD script. It should help prevent common installation errors, if the scripts do not allow you to make certain mistakes. See OMOD Scripts & Script Templates for templates as well as links to other OMOD scripts, a number of which can be found on TESNexus.

• Do not install multiple version of the same plugin. If two plugin's names only differ by a modifier, there is a good chance that both should not be installed at the same time. If you are unsure, check the mod's ReadMe.

See Common Mod Installation Errors for more examples.

See Also

• BAIN Installation
• Manual Mod Installation
• OMOD Installation

External Links

• BAIN vs. OBMM - UESPWiki
• How To Create an OMOD - TESCSWiki <-- more in-depth description of the OMOD creation process targeted at mod makers