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The lost .esp file


Blackmoor
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Good day ladies and gentlemen!

I know how forums work, but if this topic isn't in the correct place, please correct me.

As I've encountered the same problem for the third time in a row I started to search help.

I'm fairly experienced at modding, just adding new content. Not at making new objects and such. But I have a major, major problem!

I've designed a huge castle, incredibly detailed, and when saving the mod, which was called 'The Stronghold of Marghareth', the Construction workshop ran aground.

That isn't that bad, I had many crashes. But the last three times I've lost the .ESP file where I was working on.

Now I'm working for nearly a half year on the same mod. I just had to start all over again, completely! And today it crashed again, and the 'The Stronghold of Marghareth.esp file was gone.

Of course I have backups, but somehow they became corrupt files, and the Construction workshop can't open them.

Even the deepest search on my computer came up with zero results, not even a trace has been found.

The question is, are these .esp files really gone? And what can I do about this? I know the Construction workshop is a fragile program which crashes from time to time, but is it able to remove 120MB files from your system completely?

Modding is the greatest thing I've ever done concerning gaming, but losing months of work three times really discourages me.

Already thanks! :blush:

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I can't say I've ever heard of an esp "disappearing". One would have to assume it's lost in the virtual world that is Windows.

So, a few questions;

- Where is your Oblivion installed? If it's in Program Files then immediately it's a UAC issue or long file name issue.

- Do you use the Construction Set Extender? If not, you should. It's more stable (less crashes) and has error logs to help in situations like this. It could even help determine why your backups won't load but my feeling is what I mentioned above.

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If you're on Vista or Windows 7, check here:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

You might get lucky and find it's just hiding here instead of where you might expect. This folder is where Windows throws things that UAC would have prevented from saving into the Program Files folders. Stuff in this folder often won't turn up on a drive search because Windows is dumb like that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you guys for your replies, and apologies for my absence!

I can't say I've ever heard of an esp "disappearing". One would have to assume it's lost in the virtual world that is Windows.

So, a few questions;

- Where is your Oblivion installed? If it's in Program Files then immediately it's a UAC issue or long file name issue.

- Do you use the Construction Set Extender? If not, you should. It's more stable (less crashes) and has error logs to help in situations like this. It could even help determine why your backups won't load but my feeling is what I mentioned above.

I have installed the CS extender, and no more problems indeed! So thank you for that! :D

The file has also been discovered, hence it's a .tes file now.

If you're on Vista or Windows 7, check here:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

You might get lucky and find it's just hiding here instead of where you might expect. This folder is where Windows throws things that UAC would have prevented from saving into the Program Files folders. Stuff in this folder often won't turn up on a drive search because Windows is dumb like that.

I have found the file in the place you've described, yet it is transformed into a .tes file. And indeed, windows is indeed that dumb, as my previous lost files are there as well, all in .tes format.

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