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Hello All, This will be a REALLY long post / thread so let me start with some background so you understand where I am coming from. Ironically enough, I have spent 3 days typing this post into a word doc lol I have been planning the most concise way to explain my needs in an orderly fashion. I will most likely use LOTS of ordered lists, line breaks etc. I am a gamer with very mild OCD. I do wash my hands 30 times a day and use over 2 gallons of alcohol sanitizer a month. But thankfully that is the only “physical†issues I have. My MAIN obsessive behavior is in PLANNING crap. Examples: I put a shelf up last week and I spent 4 days planning, measuring, etc before I even bought the materials. Then I put the shelf brackets on the wall with temporary glue and put the shelf on to check and make sure it is level. Finally after all that I drill the holes, sink the screws etc. Ironically, even with all that if I put a damn marble on that sucker it still rolls about a foot and then stops lol. I have spent WEEKS planning my oblivion install and modification. I have watched YouTube videos, read and bookmarked hundreds of pages including many on this site. I have not even installed vanilla version because in my planning I came up with questions regarding even that lol Secondary obsessive behaviors include “ordering of items†and perfection complex. Examples: I can’t tolerate things out of order ESPECIALLY chronologically. Deus Ex : HR was a real problem for me cause it was a prequel lol. My mind has an immense problem handling stuff out of order. Spoilers. They kill me as well because of the chronologic damage they do. Like a Morrowind mod that didn’t include a readme file accidentally ruined a plot point for me in the main story later on. I almost quit playing Morrowind for this reason lol The add on quest was MEANT to be played after the ending of vanilla game. Without the readme or a warning I did not know. Lol Heck if I am at a theater and I have to go pee, I will literally leave the movie, cause my mind can’t accept missing 5 freaking minutes. Perfection. If I PLAN something in my head, my mind needs to come off without a hitch. Thief was horrible for this lol I once had to replay a thief Metal Age mission about 100 times, because I had planned it to come off without a single detection. Of course I kept making just slightly too much noise or a guard would turn or notice I put a torch out etc. You get the idea, even if I was 10 feet away from the end of the mission and got detected I would reload my last save. I am planning this oblivion install / modification and I hope to avoid errors because that will probably make me start all over. Please don't think I am just trying to be lazy and wanting all answers given to me. I have not "failed to use the search button" or failed to "just google it dude". I have 5 folders in my bookmarks just for oblivion, each with 50 to 100 bookmarks in them of forum posts, YouTube videos etc. Right now alone I have over 69 tabs open in chrome with Oblivion stuff. Tutorials from here, tutorials from Tescosi etc. One of the problems I face is that the more I "google" and plan the more OPTIONS and paths I see for my oblivion install. This info gives me MORE aspects to plan thus compounding and exacerbating the issue. Basically, I have a software “glitch†and my programmers (mum and dad) nor mod tweakers (Doctors) have yet been able come up with a patch to fix me lol ***NOTE*** I do not make light of OCD. I joke about it cause they say laughter is the best medicine lol So if you have OCD or have a loved one with OCD I mean no offense. I joke about my little “glitch†to cope with it. I have seen a grown woman crying at a kitchen sink with bloody hands because her baby is hungry and she can’t bring herself to touch the baby’s bottle without sanitizing. The dad is gone to pick up a movie and she has to wash her hands 15 strokes in each direction and if she even THINKS she messed up or miscounted she starts all over again. The whole while she wants nothing more than to cuddle and feed the baby. The shame she feels is even worse than the pain caused by the bleeding hands. I earn bottom rung middle class wages, yet spend a lot of money because of my OCD and as such I am right above the poverty line. However I know a lawyer who makes mid 6 figures. He is POORER than me. He cannot wear clothes longer than a month. And he is a lawyer at a prestigious firm who doesn’t wear 30 dollar jeans or even 200 dollar suits. He buys designer crap. EVERY MONTH he does this. He also hoards, so he doesn’t sell his “old†suits for at least a year. He recoups very little when he does sell them. His wife and child left him, the judge attaches his bank account so that the child support, alimony etc comes out immediately. He drives a junker, because the 24,000 he used to spend on a luxury car lease every year can buy him “X†amount of suits etc a year. He is mocked by his own co-workers at the law firm. And of course I can’t forget soldiers. Brave men and women who come back from honorably defending their country with mental demons of their own. And possibly they can’t even play Oblivion let alone hold their loved ones because they are missing limbs, paralyzed etc I know I am terribly lucky to have such mild obsessive behaviors. I also don’t intend this info to be viewed as a “pity party†for myself either. I only list the above background info because there may come a time when: You will offer me what seems to be the most SIMPLE solution to my question and I will not take it. Please understand, I mean no offense. I truly truly appreciate the time you give towards helping me, but your simple solution may be something near on impossible for me. Imagine for a moment me asking you to molest, or kill a child. Your brain would be so revolted and STUNNED by such a suggestion that you kind of have a brain freeze. That is *sort of* what it is like I guess. I can rationally, and logically agree with your answer, but IMPLEMENTING your perfect, generously given answer is just not doable in my head. I will ask a question that seems so ridiculous to you, but yet in my head is like an insurmountable obstacle. I am not being stubborn, and please believe I am not trying to “waste your time†either. So that kind of lets you know where my questions will come from. **************************************************************************************************************** FAQ Section: Now some questions you might have or some comments to get out of the way immediately. Q. Why don’t you play the first time through on Vanilla and worry about mods later? A. Please understand that while this makes perfect sense, it takes me a LONG time to play any game. You might beat a game in a month. It might take me a month just to beat ONE mission if I have to keep replaying it etc. I am 7 years BEHIND on Oblivion. God knows how many years behind on Morrowind I was. On the plus side, I never have to worry about not having powerful enough hardware. On the downside, I have to avoid spoilers and what not for years lol Q. Why don’t you play Oblivion on a console to take the modding out of the equation? A. Because Mods often help me finish a game easier. Take Levelling in Morrowind. A lot of sane folks used spread sheets and very elaborate tactics to maximize level ups. For someone like me? I don’t think I could have finished the game. (Which technically I still play Morrowind because there is some hoarding and achievements I still want perfect lol) But because an auto levelling mod was available from some generous person in the community, I didn’t have to watch my stats etc. Because I do OFTEN play a mission / quest over and over I get tired of the vanilla graphics quickly. But with an overhaul or texture pack, often the scenery becomes so awesome that repeating quests doesn’t drag as bad. Also if I can use a mod to add new ways of killing (aside from button mashing and spell cast spamming) then each time I repeat a mission I can at least have a slightly different flavor to it. I am DEATHLY allergic to consoles. For some reason after spending any time on a console I have an urge to beat up 12 year old kids who SWEAR they are SEAL operators yet their voice is so high you know their nuts haven’t even dropped yet lol I also after spending ANY time on the Xbox want to punch Bill Gates in the nutz as well…HARD. And to be perfectly blunt, I go by good ole Charles DARWIN. If consoles were MEANT to be included in mankind’s life then “the ascent of man†would have stopped at 2 index fingers and 2 thumbs. Mother Nature wanted me to have 10 digits so that I might use a keyboard and mouse instead of having to press the circle, while tapping the freaking triangle, while slowly rotating the joystick left, and then finishing with a light tap of the stupid square. Lol Q. Why don’t you have a sane person come over and do this for you? Lol A. Very logical question. Normally, I have a nephew who plays the game first for me. I buy two copies, and he uses his copy to get my copy ready lol He will go through vanilla and take a guess on what issues I will have with it. (Some things are a given, such as inventory hoarding, levelling up etc) He will then find and add and test mods etc until they all work and have no issues. Then he clones that to my installation. For whatever reason he LOATHES oblivion. He uninstalled it, apologized to me and went back to Daggerfall emulation and Morrowind. Lol Of course he won’t tell me WHAT set him off because that would probably be a spoiler for me and ruin my chance at the game. He did mention two things in general: Radiant AI. He said it is horrible to the extreme. He said it isn’t intelligence at all but merely a preprogrammed and pre scheduled route. That the biggest difference was having to find a person at a specific time on a specific route. The voice acting. He absolutely HATED the no voice acting of Morrowind (Aside from main players of course), he thought he would love being able to turn off subtitles for a more immersive experience. But he said the constant repeating of mundane, poorly voiced junk just ruined the voice dialog he so long had craved. For these same two reasons he says he is also passing on Skyrim too. Anyway, I have had to go solo on only 2 occasions because he bailed on the game lol. Thankfully each time there was an awesome community to help. And when it comes to communities you don’t get better than Elder Scrolls. So that’s about it for setting the stage. I will edit my post after I have overcome each obstacle and present a new question. **************************************************************************************************************** Subscription Question: My first question is slightly off topic. On subscriptions, if I get say the 3 year VIP but later want to participate in a mod or something can you upgrade or change a subscription that still has time left? Or is it better to go with a month to month deal so you have flexibility? I know you’re thinking “This guy would never be able to make a mod with his OCD lol†And you are right. By the time I could even plan it out Oblivion would be twenty years old lol But unfortunately, I like to support communities I get help from, especially open source stuff like Linux or Game Mods J Once I make the decision to support a community I have to freaking PLAN how to do that. I will most likely NEVER EVER need an L1 or L2 subscription lol But my OCD voice says: “But what if one day you do? And you’re stuck in a 3 year VIP subscription?†I also know that logically I could just sign up for the L2 subscription as I would only eat 100 bucks or however much time is left out of three years. But that would mean I have TWO subscriptions going at the same time and my mind simply can’t allow that. Lol Welcome to my world **************************************************************************************************************** Question 1: Steam (Question added 02/14/2014 at 2:45 PM MST) : So the first Oblivion question I have is about steam. In my PLANNING phase for Oblivion I found an auction seller who had what he called the “Anniversary Deluxe†version that included “Official DLC Add ONSâ€. I had bought games from this seller before such as Deus Ex : HR and inside the package were codes for DLC’s etc. So I took this to be: Fighter's Stronghold Expansion Spell Tome Treasures Vile Lair Mehrune's Razor The Thieves Den Wizard's Tower Orrery Horse Armor Pack There was not time to submit a question as he only had 3 left and I was buying two, the auction was ending in 8 hours so I figured I would get em while the getting was good. However, once it arrived I quickly realized this version was no different than anywhere else. Purchase was “AS IS†so I am screwed. Thankfully they were cheap I got both for like 15 bucks New In The Box. My questions are: Are the DLC’s worth rebuying Oblivion Deluxe on Steam? I will be heavily modding the game, are there any great mods that DON’T run good on the steam version? Does anyone know of any LEGAL way to get the DLC’s anymore other than steam? ( I read somewhere that if you bought a certain version of the Knights of Nine disc you get all the DLC's?) (If the question 3 above is answered YES,) I do see some Knights of the Nine retail discs for cheap on Amazon and Ebay. Could I START the vanilla install and then add the DLC stuff once the disc arrives in a week or so? Please understand I LOATHE steam with a passion. I can’t get over how chaotic their folder organization is etc. I also don’t like being told exactly where I have to store something either. **************************************************************************************************************** Question 2: Vanilla Install Order (Question added 02/14/2014 at 10:12 PM MST) : Alright I am going to install vanilla oblivion, Shivering Isles, and Knights of the Nine. I am using two sites to plan this: I. http://tescosi.com/wiki/Complete_Installation_Guide_for_Oblivion/Part_1#tab=Install_Oblivion Their steps are: Run Oblivion's setup. (Even if you have GOTY!!) Install the latest official patch for Oblivion (not SI) of the appropriate language. 2a. The SI v1.2.0416 patch does not patch the original textures BSA or OblivionLauncher.exe. Only use the v1.2.0416 patch for Oblivion. 2b. If you have trouble installing the official patch, read the Unofficial Technical FAQ's patches section. 2c. Many mods require Shivering Isles, so it may be worth installing even if you never go to the SI worldspace. Its instrusion into the main worldspace is very small. (Shivering Isles) Run SI's setup. For GOTY users, can do this by installing disc 2 II. http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Oblivion_reinstall_procedure Their steps about patching are: Before adding any mods, patches, helper programs, Shivering Isles or anything else, start the game and make a save. This initializes some stuff that needs to be initialized, such as your monitor resolution, and creates a new Oblivion.ini file. If you are using the Game of the Year (GOTY) version of Oblivion you should not need any patches, skip the patching part. Now, If you DO NOT use Shivering Isles, patch the game using ONLY the latest Oblivion patch. All of the stuff from the earlier patches is included. If you use Shivering Isles, Install it now. DO NOT install the Oblivion patch. Install Shivering Isles, then ONLY the latest Shivering Isles patch only IF you do not have the GOTY version. All of the updates for Oblivion are included. Now the anniversary deluxe or whatever I bought two copies of says it is GOTY edition. Questions: So which tutorial is most accurate? Is there a better or newer tutorial somewhere I have missed? Should I install Oblivion only, no SI or KoTn and make a save. Then start patching? Do I install official patches anyway even though I have GOTY? Do I install both Oblivion and SI patches or just SI patch? So opinions please folks. I have to decide on this before I can post other questions. As always, THANK YOU for your time folks. It is truly appreciated!! Scott

At this rate, I'm feeling more like the "village drunk" than a contributing member of the community. [[good thing I'm in Detroit, I guess]] While desperately attempting to collect my much needed programs (& corresponding files) and put EVERYTHING in one stinking place (not spread out over 4 different system-program directories) in order to get things working as well as they should be... Something went up with --- as far as I can tell right now --- the Bethesda Launcher...which I'm convinced now is hindering any plugin uploading for XB1. And.... I mean... I no-sooner click on XB1 and it's immediately done with me. Not Responding....no matter how long I wait, or how little I have running. This has never happened previously, not even so much as a crash. Sure it might hiccup and stop responding, but, not for more than 2 or 3 minutes; at which time it corrects itself and that's the end of it. Now even tho I have the Launcher installed as well as the Creation Kit... which is working (up to that XB1 toot) and loads everything/logs me into BethNet without problems. If I click that button that should say "Play" but instead says "Install", I get the spinny-BethNet-box of foreverness....well...forever. Until I end the program from the Task Manager... I can't get it to blink otherwise. I guess I don't know what to do from here. I uninstalled and reinstalled BL, no difference. I tried the Updater and Helper. Nothing but the ususal "Install". I don't know if this could be a Steam issue --- tho I doubt it since the game seems to be working fine, and so does Steam when I boot her up --- or if I'd be able to just do what I need to without the BL all together. SAVE ME BATMAN!

Hello people, i don't know if this is the right place to post these kind of stuff, but i need some help! I recently downloaded the Centaur mod for Oblivion. I also downloaded the Oblivion Unofficial patch, and some Custom Races fix. I got Oblivion Mod Manager and this is my "Setup": -TOCP .esm - Oblivion .esm -Unofficial Oblivion Patch .esp -KT_CustomRacesFix .esp -TOCP - Playable Centaur .esp -UOPS Additional Changes .esp The Centaur mod contains TOCP .esm, TOCP - Playable Centaur .esp and a Meshes folder. I copy pasted them into my BethesdaSoftworks/Oblivion/Data But when i try to begin a new game i cannot find the Centaur race. I only get the default ones. I don't know if i did something wrong, because in the Meshes folder there is a folder named 'DMCentaur' with in all the Armour, characters, clothing, Creatures. I don't know if i need to put the DMCentaur folder in the Meshes folder or the content of the DMCentaur. If this is a little bit confusing, i understand. I was never that good at modding... If someone could explain this to make, make a tutorial video or something...THAT WOULD BE GREAT! Deems (And again, i don't know if this is the right place to post it, i already posted it on the author's mod page (Da Mage) But i don't get a respond, which i understand because his last post on the mod was in like 2009/2011 [sadface])