Guide to using Mod Organizer with Oblivion

[Melamkish]

We all have our favorite mod management and toolsets that we prefer to use. I am not trying to convince anyone to change over to Mod Organizer, rather, if Mod Organizer (MO) is your prefered management tool, perhaps something I have learned in the past several years may help you get Oblivion and MO running better together.

The primary reasons that I use MO is the Virtual File System (VFS), and the ability to have different character profiles, each with different mods active and different load orders, all in one package. With the VFS, MO installs all mods and character profiles into individual folders outside the Oblivion game directory, so the game "Data" folder is always in a clean install condition. MO then hooks all executables that are properly set up to use the VFS, in essence, making it appear that the mods and programs are actually in the Oblivion Game Folders. This is a significant advantage for resolving mod conflicts as well as creating and troubleshooting your own mods. This is commonly called Mod Isolation.  Makes finding things a whole lot easier.

You may ask why be concerned about multiple player profiles when only one can be played at a time? I generally have about 10 character profiles. Different races, and different personalities. One may be primarily interested in Slaving. Another may want to Hook for a living, etc. One may be set up to test new mods before I add them to other characters.

MO is actually pretty easy to set up and use. There are, however, a couple of things that are extremely important to know and I will discuss them in more detail in the appropriate sections below.

Mod Organizer was initially developed for Skyrim, with some support for other games added as MO matured. Some of the features that MO has were not developed with Oblivion in mind. It has gained more flexibility over the years I have used it. If you have used MO, then you may already know much of what I will cover. If you're somewhat new to using MO with Oblivion, then I hope this material will be useful to you.

Please remember, there is a wealth of knowledge and experience within these forums. Almost everything I have learned in adapting my use of MO, I picked up directly, or indirectly from the veterans by reading everything I could. Sometimes reading a 40 page post 4 times until I picked up on a key point. In addition, the Step Guide to Mod Organizer is important to help understanding how MO works.

Game modding is not plug and play!

You just can't throw a bunch of mods together and hope they will run.

There is a lot of information in this post, so I will try to use spoilers to make things easier to read and find.

Guide to Mod Organizer Step WIKI at  http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Mod_Organizer
Mod Organizer Support Forum  http://forum.step-project.com/forum/62-mod-organizer-support/
Mod Organizer Oblivion Support   http://forum.step-project.com/forum/78-mod-organizer-oblivion-support/

What I intend to cover.

Quick Check Guide
Oblivion.ini
Mod Organizer Basics and the 4 Overwrite Features
Notes for an Existing Install
Archive Invalidation
Basic setup strategies, PART 1- Clean Install
Basic setup strategies, PART 2-Archive Invalidation after a clean install
Basic setup strategies, PART 3-OBSE and the tools
OBMM Omod extraction for MO
Load order, Boss and Loot
Lover's Mods and beyond

One of the key points to getting MO to work properly for Oblivion is Archive Invalidation. Done properly, you will not have to back date anything. Back dating was implemented for Skyrim. Mod install order can also come into play.

I have tried many ways to get this working properly. When I finally realized what was going on, I settled on a clean install to ensure no left over's from my experimentation as the best way to "start over." Why clean install? Although this method may seem a bit tedious, it is a great time saver in the future. On my Win7 platform, I can delete the contents of the Oblivion folder and copy my backup clean install and avoid dragging out the CD's. Alternately, I can do the same thing with an existing backup and have a fully configured game.
 
Quick Check Guide

 

 

I have used MO. What do I need to know or verify.

1. ArchiveInvalidation. It has to be at the very top of the Archive list, above ALL other bsa's, as well as activated. Whether it is done by Obmm, Wrye Bash, or the method I prefer, which is Quarn's old school method of editing the Oblivion.ini, if the ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated.bsa! is not at the top, it won't work correctly. Personally, I did not like Obmm making bsa edits, and at the time I wasn't using Wrye Bash.

2. MO has four ways of over-riding files within mods. Install order can be as important as load order. For more details see the sections on "Mod Organizer and the Overwrite Features" and "Install Order".

3. Some files can be copied between character profiles to save time when you want multiple profiles to use the same install/load order.

4. MO's handling of the Oblivion.ini file. While good to know, part of this is bsa management, the other to simplify getting tweak settings for all the profiles. See the "Oblivion.ini" section.

 

 

Before we begin, the Oblivion.ini

 

 

Whether you decide on the clean install method, or try to modify an existing install, you must know a few things about how the game engine and MO use the Oblivion.ini file. This file is created by the game engine when you run it the first time and set your preferences. It is saved in the default location, "My Documents/My Games/Oblivion". There is one line of interest towards the end of the file in the Archives section, that contains all the BSA information for the default game. This is what it looks like.

SArchiveList=Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa, Oblivion - Sounds.bsa, Oblivion - Voices1.bsa, Oblivion - Voices2.bsa, Oblivion - Misc.bsa

When you run MO for the first time and if you select "Local Save Games" (which I use), MO will create a "Profile" folder within the MO directory and all Character profiles will go into individual folders within "Profiles". The folder in "My Documents" will then remain empty.

Second, MO will copy the Oblivion.ini to the first profile you create. The second time the game is launced, MO recodes the SArchive line to something that looks like this,

sArchiveList=aaa,aab,aac,aad,aae,aaf,aag,aah,aai,aaj,aak,aal,aam,aan,aao,aap,aaq,aar,aas

MO recodes the bsa list because there is a 255 character system limit. Without this feature, if you loaded too many bsa's here, game would not work. With this recode, you can have 8000 bsa's. As more bsa's are loaded, the sArchiveList line gets longer.

This is most important if you decide to try the method I have used for Archive Invalidation with a clean install. If you try to modify this list after installing mods with bsa's, it is very difficult.

If you have ini tweaks that you like to use, tweaking the ini before opening MO can be beneficial. During player profile creation if you copy the Default Save game, then the modified ini will be in the new profile. You could also wait until you have MO running the way you prefer, and copy information from one profile to another. I'll discuss this more in the load order section.

 

 

Mod Organizer Basics and the Overwrite features.

 

 

MO creates 3 folders of interest inside its own directory. Mods, Overwrite, Profiles. I will refer to these folders from time to time. And, incidently, by now I assume most know that Oblivion, as well as MO, should not be installed into the "Program Folders" to prevent UAC issues with Vista, Win7, and later versions of Windows.

Also I will refer to the icons in the upper left corner as "Tool" icons, the left pane, where mods are installed, ordered, and activated, the right pane, for actual load order and ESM/ESP ordering and activation, and the tabs above the right pane by name (ex. Right Pane tab "Archive"). And don't forget the drop down bar next to the "Run" button to select which program to run, and the Profile bar above the left pane. As we go along, I will discuss other MO features and how to use them.

MO has 4 ways of over-riding load order and files.

In the left pane, whether an installed mod has been activated or not, it can be reordered just like ESM/ESP's can be in the traditional sense that later mods overwrite earlier mods. In the left pane you can right click on a mod and select the information to see if the installed mod has any conflicts with those above it and what files are conficted. This will become important if you are looking for mod conflicts or compatibility issues, or just trying to figure out where it might go. To explain a bit further, the left pane uses a Priority system with the top listed mods having a lower priority than those lower in the list. This feature allows you to change non-esm/esp mods to a higher load priority than mods with esm/esp's. What this means is if you have a texture set without an esp or master, you can still change it's priority by moving it up or down in the list. So if a certain mod is overwriting your prefered texture set, you can move it down the list to give it a higher priority. Also priority comes into play depending on how you decide to manage bsa's within MO.

 

Also, in the left pane you may see a +/- sign in the Flags column This warns of a potential conflict. Some of these may be harmless. To explain, if mod author's from two different mods use the same resource package for textures, and these textures are identical, MO will still flag a potential conflict, only because the mod with the higher priority will overwrite the one with lower priority. Since both mods use the same textures, this type of conflict could be ignored. You can right click on the mod in the left pane, select Information, then select the Conflicts tab in the new window that pops up and compare the two mods. Also, in the right pane tab "Data", at the bottom, if you click the "Show only conflicts" checkbox, you can again look at any conflicts and decide whether you need to change anything.

In the right pane, after a mod is checked in the left pane, the ESM/ESP load order is adjusted by the user. When a mod is installed it will be at the bottom of the left pane. When activated, it's corresponding ESM/ESP will also be at the bottom of the right pane. Move esm/esp's up or down to set the load order.

Right Pane Tab "Archive". Here, all the bsa's that will be loaded, are listed. You can attempt to order them yourself, or let MO do it for you. My preferred method is to allow MO to do it. This is also the default setting.

Overwrite folder. If you tweak a mod in the Construction Set (CS), and everything is set up properly, the changed mod will be in the overwrite folder and the original gone from it's individual folder. You can then move the modded file from overwrite to it's respective mod folder. Previous version's would leave the original un-changed file in it's respective mod folder and overwrite with the file in the Overwrite folder.

Another nice feature is in the Right pane tab "Saves"

If you did something you don't like, or want to revert to a Save before a mod was added, just deactivate the mod, go to the "Saves" tab, and mouse over the saves in the list. Any saves with the mod of interest will show "Missing esm/esp Name". When this note no longer appears you will know how many and which saves to delete.

 

 

Notes for an Existing Install

 

 

If you have already set up MO and are having problems, you may be successful if you keep certain things in mind. It has been almost a year since I went with the clean install, but will try to point out the pro's and con's of an existing install.

Some of the data that is stored in the saved game file, may, at some point, require starting a new game if too much is changed. You may have to reorder the left pane mod priorities, depending on how you proceed.

Right pane "Archives" tab. If ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated.bsa! is not at the very top of the list, then ensure the checkbox titled "Let MO manage archive" is checked unless you opted to manage these yourself.

BUT, the biggest negative to doing it this way, is that everytime you load a new mod, you will have to go the this location to see if a bsa is used, activate the bsa and order the bsa manually to ensure it gets loaded in the proper order. This can become very tedious if you install several mods at once, or are unsure of where the bsa should fall in relation to others. If you change left pane mod priority you will have to do the same with any associated bsa. For this reason, I feel you should let MO manage archives. You can do it yourself if you stay alert to what you are doing.

So if Archive Invalidation is not at the top, how do we get it there?

In MO, ensure in the Right pane "Archives" tab, the checkbox titled "Let MO manage archive" is checked. Make sure ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated.bsa is checked, then simply right click and drag it to the very top.

If this doesn't work with whatever method you used to ArchiveInvalidate, then you may have to try a different method.

Examine your install order. Some texture and other asset issues can be solved by reordering the left pane. Generally, I have my install order about the same as my right pane load order. See the sections below on Load order.

You may be able to modify the Archives.txt file, and place ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated.bsa! at the top, but I am not sure if this will work, as I have never tried it. It only occured to me as I was finishing the last few sections of this guide.

 

 

Basic setup strategies, PART 1- Clean Install

 

 

Install Oblivion and then any DLC. Copy the entire folder to a safe location, such as a backup folder or different hard drive. That way you have a clean install to refer to in the event you need to revert a file or the entire folder. I have used this backup to basically start over without having to reinstall the entire game. In fact, during this write up, I zipped up my entire game and MO folders, copied a clean install back, and ran it to verify the information. When I am done, I will restore my old game the same way.

After Oblivion is loaded, and BEFORE using MO, I run the game with no mods, no OBSE, and no patches, from the desktop icon. This allows me to set all my personal preferences for hardware, sound, etc., and allows the game to create the default folders and files in "My Documents/My Games/Oblivion". I then continue to play the game with no mods, no OBSE, and no patches of any kind, until just before exiting the sewer. This is where I do my first save, name the character "Default", and exit the qame. Why? This game save data will be transfered to the MO Default profile, and then copied to each profile I create. After this I never play my default profile. It becomes the starting point if I wish to "start over" and experiment. Also, if new patches or updates, such as the Unoficial Oblivion Patch, etc. come out, you can start from just inside the sewer and after updating, move on without starting a new game from the begining.

 

 

Basic setup strategies, PART 2-Archive Invalidation after a clean install

 

 

Discussion: When I was working on ArchiveInvalidation, I read everything I could find. There were many "this way is better, that way is outdated" discussions, but settled on this method, which if I recall correctly, I read on the Oblivion Wiki. This method relies on the original Oblivion.ini file created the first time the game is run, and is found in My Documents\My Games\Oblivion.

Proceedure:

1. From the Nexus, download Quarn's Archive Invalidation-File #10724, Manual install. http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/10724/?

Unpack and follow Quarn's instructions,

I quote:

"ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated!
Version: 1.1.0 By Quarn

1.) First open your Oblivion.ini which is located in My Documents\My Games\Oblivion and search for SArchiveList, once found add the "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa" to the list before "Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa".

What it looks like before adding the new BSA to the list:
SArchiveList=Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa, Oblivion - Sounds.bsa, Oblivion - Voices1.bsa, Oblivion - Voices2.bsa, Oblivion - Misc.bsa

What it looks like after adding the new BSA to the list:
SArchiveList=Oblivion - Meshes.bsa, ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa, Oblivion - Textures - Compressed.bsa, Oblivion - Sounds.bsa, Oblivion - Voices1.bsa, Oblivion - Voices2.bsa, Oblivion - Misc.bsa

Note: if you use the Construction Set and want to see texture replacers in it then open ConstructionSet.ini which is located in the same folder as Oblivion.ini and do the same thing to it as above but be warned through large texture packs will cause increased loading times).

2.) Place ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa into your Oblivion\Data folder.

3.) Kiss your ArchiveInvalidation.txt goodbye and delete it! If you are using Oblivion Mod Manager's BSA ArchiveInvalidation make sure you use it to remove all BSA edits and disable it from doing ArchiveInvalidation again.

Important Notes

This will work with all versions of Oblivion.
Some mods like "Francesco's leveled creatures/items mod" register its BSA's in the Oblivion.ini, after installing this mod you will lose those BSA entries and will have to add them back in."

End quote.


If you have done a clean install, Quarn's comments about OBMM and the construction set will not yet apply. After installation of the Construction Set (later), modify the ConstructionSet.ini as per Quarn's instructions.

If you have any favorite tweaks to the oblivion.ini, make them now. Why? Once you open MO and create a default player profile, it copies the Oblivion.ini to the player profile folder, with "local save games" set, and that is the one that is used. As each player profile is created, you can copy the default save game data to each profile. settings. Or you can copy another player profile. On the plus side, you can copy these as well as other files from profile to profile, to save time re-editing the default, or have individual settings for each player character.

2. Start MO and even if "Default" is shown at the top left profile bar, create a Default profile and then copy the default save to the new profile. Check "Local Savegames". Do not check "Automatic ArhiveInvalidation".
3. Right Pane tab "Archives", make sure "Let MO manage archives" is checked.
4. In the Right Pane tab "Archives", ensure that "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa" is at the very top of the list above the base Oblivion bsa's. If it is, continue on, and if not, you may have to check the activation box and right click and drag the bsa to the very top of the list, above Oblivion.esm. I cannot over emphasize the importance of this, because without Archive Invalidation at the top of the archives, it won't work properly and will be over-ridden by other bsa's causing problems. You should see "ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa" at the top in normal black lettering and all the Oblivion and DLC bsa's directly below in a greyed out font. Close MO.

You might be wondering, if one of the features of MO is to load tools through the VFS, why not setup OBMM or Wrye Bash to launch from MO and Archive Invalidate that way. Well, been there and done that. Besides, OBMM does bsa edits. This way I control what gets modified.

5. Backup your installation, and ready to move on.

 

 

Basic setup strategies, PART 3-OBSE and the tools

If you already have your toolsets, great! If not, a few tips to get you started.

 

 

Setting up the toolsets is straight forward. I will use OBSE and the Construction Set Extender as examples as the CSE requires some special attention. Since OBSE is practically a requirement these days, we will set it up next.

1. Manually install the OBSE main plugin following the instructions included with the package to the Oblivion game directory.
2. Open MO and at the top left icons open "Configure the executables that can be configured through Mod Organizer"
3. Set up OBSE to launch from MO.

Title: "OBSE" (what I use)
Binary: C:\Games\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\obse_loader.exe
Start in: C:\Games\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion
Ensure that only "Close MO when started" is the only thing with a checkmark

4. Add (or Modify button), and Close MO.

Since I've been doing this for some time, I know what basic tweaks I want and will modify the Obivion ini, Construction Set ini and such to do things like disable borders, performance tweaks, etc. I also add any additonal OBSE plugins that are not added by later mods, such as Elys Silent Voice, Menu Que, Fast Exit, Conscribe, OSR (Oblivion Stutter Remover), etc. After this is done, I back up the default My Games folder in My Documents, and back up the OBSE plugins folder in the game directory.

5. Install all the tool sets and utilities that will typically be used, in accordance with the programs install instructions. I prefer manual installs to a seperate game tools folder, when possible. You may use the executable installers if you wish.

Here is my list.

CS V1.2.404- After installing the CS, I perform Quarn's ArchiveInvalidation procedure to the ConstructionSet.ini, and do any other tweaks before installing the CSE.
CSE V 7.1 (Important notes below to get this to work)
OBMM V 1.1.12
TES4 EDIT V 3.1.2
TES4 Gecko V 15.2f
WryeBash V 295.5
NifSkope V 1.1.3.36
Boss version V 2.3.2

After installing your prefered tools, open MO and run the "Configure the executables..." (upper left corner icons) to set up your executables. You will see:

Oblivion
Oblivion Launcher
Construction Set
Oblivion Mod Manager
OBSE

and these will be greyed out, except OBSE. Add your tools as before, but do not add the base Construction Set, or OBMM. These, being already greyed out and in the list, have been set up by MO. In the small setup window you can drag and drop the executables to order them to your preference in the right drop down bar.

CSE Notes:

When I was trying to get the CSE to run without crashing, I posted to the MO Oblivion Support Forum. I recieved two ways and used both methods together

The Response:

From GrantSp:

Ensure OBSE is installed (obviously)
Manually install the CSE by copying all the files inside the archive to the Oblivion directory
Open the 'Launch CSE.bat' and copy the arguments:
-editor -notimeout
In MO create a new, or modify the existing Construction Kit exe link, and in the 'Binary' field point it to your 'obse_loader.exe'
In the 'Arguments' field, paste the arguments you previously copied
Ensure the exe link is either modified or created anew and close the 'Modify executables' dialog

In otherwords
In MO create a new, or modify the existing Construction Kit exe link

Title: CSE 7.1
Binary: C:\Games\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\obse_loader.exe
Start In: (leave blank)
Arguments: -editor -notimeout
Ensure that only "Close MO when started" is the only thing with a checkmark
Ensure the exe link is either modified or created anew and close the 'Modify executables' dialog

From hishutup:

Open the Configuration and settings window using the tool icon
Select the Workaround tab.
Click on the load mechanism bar and select Script Extender
Close the Configuration and settings window

Otherwise the CS with Extender will not open. Under this same tab, if you check "Display mods installed outside MO" then any official DLC should now show but be greyed out at the top of the left pane.

To run the CSE, the obse loader executable has to have administrative privileges. In Explorer, navigate to the game directory, right click on obse_loader.exe and select properties. Select the compatibility tab and check the Run this as Administrator (near the bottom). Click OK, launch MO, select whatever you named the CSE and hit run.

After closing the Construction Set with Extender, remove administrative privileges or MO will complain and game will not launch.

 

 

OBMM and the Omod

 

 

At one time I was using OBMM thru MO, but had some issues and rather than fight them, I changed my stategy. Since there are still a lot of Omod's out there, this is what I decided to do. Every Omod I use is launched from outside MO. Then I either install or extract the files depending on how the Omod is packaged, copy the files to a safe location, and uninstall the Omod.

1. Run OBMM from the desktop. It will only see the "clean" game folder. Open the Omod of your choice. Now, if you install the Omod and it has options, you can select what you want installed. After that is done, in a working directory, create a folder with the same name as the Omod, navigate to the Game folder and copy all the files and their associated folders (i.e. meshes, etc) that OBMM installed to the new folder. Zip it up. Run OBMM, uninstall the Omod, and repeat for every Omod you want to use. Then move all the new zip files to wherever you will install them from.

2. If you know there are no user selections within the Omod, Run OBMM from the desktop, extract the archive, examine the data structure and zip it up after closing OBMM

I know this can be tedious for large files such as MBP, but believe me, if you want to get a file from one of these after installation, or don't like some changes you made in the CS, or such, real easy to unzip and copy, paste.

Loading mods with no esm-esp's

Many mods, such as texture sets, skeletons for bones, animation sets, and the Unofficial patches, don't have ESM-ESP's. If you have them as Omods, you can just follow the above procedure and convert them to Zip files.

After I am done with this, I keep all the original Omods in one folder, the extracted Omods in another, typically the zipped up version and can easily unzip if needed.

 

 

Load order, Boss and Loot

Much has been written here in the forums about load order, especially when using the Lover's Lab mods. Please take the time to read the relevent read me's and forum posts to get things right.  I will post my own load order at the end of this discussion, but currently it does not include every Lover's mod I have tried. So some may not be listed.

But for a more in-depth look, use this reference as FaJeena has done an excellent write up.

 

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/36443-oblivion-install-gametoolsbodiesbbbmod-sorting-and-cleaningcs-cse-body-stretching/

 

Now we get down and dirty.

 

 

Loot, the version that comes with MO. Loot the full install version. I tried them both. The concept is good, but at the time I didn't like the results. I still had to manually adjust my load order, maybe more so than using Boss. Loot has features you may find useful, but beyond the scope of this discussion

Boss. As most know, Boss will not properly order every mod. There may be hope as development of the Boss Masterlist has recommenced. Last month I notice that Supierce, who is a contributer here, was assisting with the new masterlist. I reordered one of my player profiles as a test, and while many of the Lover's mods were recognized, some Lover's mods were still not in the recommended load order, but the order was much closer and was playable to an extent. Then I reverted to my known stable load order. Boss is useful for flagging mods with dirty edits that require cleaning with TES4Edit. It is still useful to use Boss to sort load order before installing any Lover's mods

If you recall the left pane Priority system, then this will get you started in the right direction.

Many mods, such as texture sets, skeletons for bones, animation sets, and the Unofficial patches, don't have ESM-ESP's. Install where recommended, move if you have to.

Install order.

First, you should see any official DLC

*Unmanaged: Knights
*Unmanaged: DLCShiveringIsles

Install in the following order

1. Any Unofficial patches
2. Female body replacers
3. Any Female body animation replacers, such as BBB
4. Universal Skeleton
5. Animation switcher, if used (ex. WalkAnimSwitcher_v1.0)
6. Female texture sets with no esm/esp's
7. Male body replacers and then Male body texture sets, if any.

After this, I install based on recommended mod groupings.

Alternate Races
A few misc mods with no dependencies
Required mods for subsequent mods, such as COBL
Houses, castles, estates
Companion mods
Clothing mods
Lover's mods in the order I will activate them
2CH and the MCS
Tamago and Hyoko, in the order I will activate them.

Once you have several player profiles created, how do you easily activate and order so many profiles? This is very easy. In each profile created are several files including these four:

loadorder.txt
modlist.txt
oblivion.ini
plugins.txt

You can copy these four files to any profile and they will then use the same install, load order and any ini tweaks you originally set up. Then you can selectively activate and deactivate individual mods per profile. Additionally, the Archives.txt file contains all the installed bsa's, though I have rarely copied it to another profile.

Next, when I finally start a game, I don't want all these mods trying to load at once. Leave the following selected in the left pane.

1. Any Unofficial patches
2. Female body replacers
3. Any FB animation replacers
4. Universal Skeleton
5. Animation switcher if used
6. Female texture sets.
7. Male body replacers and then MB texture sets, if any.

If you are going to play as a custom race ensure it is selected, unless you want to get out of the sewer, and use the console to change races (another incremental save strategy) Typically, to avoid potential conflicts, I will deactivate everything I am not going to use at game start in the left pane. Generally this means you will have to re-sort your right pane load order when activating the installed mods.

By starting your game with only the above active, you can use the copy, paste method with each profile you set up and more easily modify your profiles.

Open MO, ensure the profile you want is active, select OBSE (or whatever you named the OBSE loader on setup) and hit the run button. After Oblivion loads, and you have selected the only save (which should be Default), you will find yourself at the sewer ready to exit. Move forward and change name, race, birthsign as desired and exit the sewer. Once outside, save your game and exit.

Open MO, activate the next set of mods, in my case the misc and other races, perhaps a couple of select house, estate mods, set the load order, and run Oblivion. Save the game and exit.

There are different strategies here and it all depends on what you desire to do. Sometimes I will add all mods (except TC & HC) incrementally and have 5 to 10 saves before jumping off the end of the dock and swimming to my first bandit encounter. Some profiles I may delay loading 2CH to avoid having extra NPC's running around until I am ready for it. TC & HC I generally wait until I'm near level 5 to activate. Before installing Apachii Goddess store you must have a save on the waterfront. I missed this requirement and would occasionally have fast travel crashes.

Incremental loading also gives me time to make sure the mods are configured using the associated spells, if included, before running off to play and fight.

Sometimes I'll go straight to the Imperial City, then set up my mods, other times I'll set them up right after the sewer. I've been doing this long enough, that I know what notices pop up and how long certain mods tend to take on initial deployment.

Many times, I will exit the sewer with only the Unofficial patches and OBSE running, save and exit. Then add what I consider to be my base mods in several increments, copy the 4 files above to each profile, as well as the last save from the default or whatever profile I was using. Then I will use the console to change races for each profile, and when next loaded, each profile is modded, ordered and ready to play. When I feel like adding more mods, I can take similar actions.

And last, with Boss, before loading your Lover's mods, it is still a good idea to run Boss from within MO on at least one profile, verify that the load order is how you want it, ensure no files require cleaning with TES4Edit, and then copy and paste your load order from profile to profile.

 

 

My current install order

 

 

+Unofficial Oblivion Patch-5296-3-5-4
+Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch-10739-1-5-8
+HGEC Body with BBB v1.12 34442
+NoMaaM BBB Animation Replacer-35551
+UniversalSkeletonNIF181-37596-1-81
+WalkAnimSwitcher_v1.0
+Ozma Hi Res HGEC Textures-20022
+Ozma Hi Res Face Textures-20022
+Robert Male V52-40532
+Abriael Human Races Revamped
+The Synx Complete-38471-2-3
+Asharas Sirens And Tritons v30-19103
+No Weight Limit
+Safe Traveling NPC-45401-2-21
+SMYB_1dot3-21687
+MBP Rev2_3-37368
+COBL 172-21104
+Market_District_Opulance-39632-1
+Apachii_Goddess_Store.v.1.6.Full
+Apachii Store BBB
+Red Rose Manor ver 2_3_1-37842-2-3-1
+RedRoseCOBLAddon-37842
+Akaviri_Manor_Updated-41914-v1-1
+Eden Castle Alternate-33249
+Shezrie's Towns Ver Three-46691-3-0
+Tantrivaylia-29081-1-01
+Vaernlor Manor Brought to Life-41715
+FutaPriory MBP
+CM Partners Mod v2-7819
+Abriel's Human Companions
+CM Partner Sandra-38518-1
+CM Partner Isabell-38518-1
+School Partners-37558-1-0
+Companion_Vilja_4_04_ESP-28977
+ViljainRedRoseManorver13-37842
+Sexy Clothes and Armor
+AT2 01-Shiki Armor Set
+v9_3-36883-9-3
+RHH Lovers Edition v1.1
+LAPF - version 1.6a1
+LAPF Supplemental Plugin Pack 1
+LoversRaperS_Wappy_1.80
+LoversRapeSlaveSat_01
+PK Extender for rev96 v5 - LAPF
+LoversHooker2.51 - adjusted for 11-200 bbb animations pack
+LoversAchievements 0-3
+RogueMage's Daily Income Revised 2.0
+Lovers Creatures 2
+fullVanillaCreaturesReplacer
+Lovers Bitch Gone Wild v151fix
+LoversProstitute 1.0
+BudongsNarcolepsySpell_v10-9983
+Secret Sanctuary v1
+LoversSlaveTrader v1.0aFinal
+LSTBravilUnderground-v96v2
+BravilUnderground addon 1.1FIC
+Lovers Immoral Sisters v1.03-1
+Lovers Club Cats SX v1.0c
+LoversClubCats v1.02a
+From2ch Lives 1.4.3
+Mad Companionship Spells v2.5
+MCS extension_v1.15
+TamagoClub115c Rev4 Alpha2
+HiyokoClub V1_10a Rev 2
+LoversTamagoClub104 eng
+HiyokoGeneratorGeneForge v100b
+HGBM 102
+Tamago News V1_03
+Tamago Outlet 1.20
+Tamago Topic V1_02
+Lovers Hiyoko Shooter V1_02
+HiyokoQuestTarget
+HiyokoFutureDream_v1.02
+TamogoSetBody Reboot v202 release candidate 2
+SetBody_Reloaded_Blockhead_Edition_1_46a_Core
+Lovers Modified Contraception v1.0

 

 

My current load order

Before you look at my current load order, I need to mention a couple things. I do not use a bashed patch. Currently i am nowhere near the esp limit. Second, I like to tweak existing mods and would rather not have to deal with bashed patches. My MBP load order is not as recommended, simply because I used MO and TES4Edit to find all the missing and misplaced assets, load order issues and dropped them into my install zip file. During Race creation all textures are present, and the only extra mods I load are Ashera's Sirens and Titans and The Synx, because I was already using them, and prefer the original look. If I can find my notes, I will post them in the MBP forum.

You may notice two mods, Sexy Clothes and Armour, and Eden Slave Castle. These are my tweaks. I loaded every clothing set from the AGS download, as well as several sexy armour sets, decide what I wanted to use, deleted the rest, merged them with TES4Gecko, deleted the locations and set them up in Eden Slave Castle. The Slave castle is a modded version of Eden Castle Alternate to add slave quarters and a few other things.

I used to use Dragonsbane Manor because of the number of companions and slaves I could keep there, but when testing Shezrie's Towns recently, found a large land tear that I may someday try to patch. But, since I like lots of companions, although I seldom take them with me, they are handy to have babies, or club on the head when I need a slave. Since there is no one building, estate, etc. that has a large number of empty beds, I am about half way through creating a new world space for use with the Lover's Lab mods theme. Hope to get started back on it as winter approaches.

 

 

# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
Oblivion.esm
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed.esm
Cobl Main.esm
Lovers with PK.esm
TamagoClub.esm
HiyokoClub.esm
LoversCreature.esm
TantrivayliaChimer.esm
CM Partners.esm
x117race.esm
Chanpon.esm
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp
Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp
NoWeightLimit.esp
MaleBodyReplacerV5.esp
VipCxj_HighHeels.esp
Sexy Clothes and Armor.esp
AT2 01-Shiki Armor Set.esp
Cobl Glue.esp
Cobl Si.esp
Cobl Tweaks.esp
Vaernlor Manor.esp
Eden Slave Castle.esp
EM_RedRoseManor.esp
EMRedRoseAddonCOBL.esp
Abriael_Human.esp
FutaPriory.esp
Market District Opulance.esp
Tantrivaylia.esp
Apachii_Goddess_Store.esp
AkaviriManor.esp
ShezriesTownsMaster.esp
SMYB Love Full.esp
Safe Traveling NPC.esp
Knights.esp
Salmo the Baker, Cobl.esp
TamagoNews.esp
TamagoTopic.esp
LoversTamagoClub.esp
LoversHiyokoShooter.esp
HiyokoQuestTarget.esp
HiyokoFutureDream.esp
HiyokoGenetics.esp
HiyokoGenerator.esp
hggf_hiyokoclub_fix.esp
HiyokoGeneratorGeneForge.esp
HiyokoGeneratorBroodMother.esp
TamagoSetBody.esp
LoversAdultPlayPlusforSSP.esp
LoversVoiceSSPplus.esp
LoversRaperS.esp
LoversBed.esp
LoversPayBandit.esp
666_Modified_Contraception_esp_1_0.esp
Lovers with PK.esp
LoversBitch.esp
LoversCreature.esp
Lovers with PK Extender.esp
LoversHooker.esp
LoversAdultPlayPlusforSSP_HookerPatch.esp
LoversProstitute.esp
LoversEscapeRapeVPlayer.esp
LoversRapeSlave.esp
LoversSlaveTrader.esp
LSTBravilUnderground.esp
LSTaddonInH.esp
LoversImmoralSisters.esp
LoversClubCats.esp
LoversClubCatsSx.esp
BudongsNarcolepsySpell.esp
RMDailyIncomeV2.esp
LoversAchievments.esp
LoversBackup2.esp
LoversLight.esp
Secret Sanctuary v1.esp
CM Partners.esp
AsharasSirensAndTritons.esp
Synx.esp
From2ch Lives.esp
F2L_FaceChange.esp
Ta22's 01Army.esp
117NPCs.esp
F2LHideRaces.esp
F2LAddon_MSElves.esp
CM Partners Special NPCs.esp
CM Partners NPC.esp
CM Partners More NPCs.esp
CM Partners Marker NPCs.esp
CM Partners Extra NPCs.esp
CM Partner Sandra.esp
CM Partner Isabell.esp
Companion_Ab_Human.esp
Companion_Ab_Human_2.esp
Companion_Ab_Human_3.esp
School Partners.esp
1em_Vilja.esp
1em_Vilja_as_Custom_by_Gonzoguns.esp
ViljainRedRoseManor.esp
MadCompanionshipSpells.esp
MCS extension.esp
SetBody.esp
DiabloEF 6 in 1.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Disable BandBlindMask.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Sheogorath Eye.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Vanilla Race.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Merged Hair Modules.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Merged Eye Modules.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Merged SKSRENs Hair Modules.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Merged RoseSims Hair Modules.esp
x117 Merged SKSRENs Hair Modules.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed CustomRace.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Ashara's Sirens and Tritons.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Nec Mystic High Elf Remake.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed MS Elves - NoSc.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed ENG Race.esp
x117race.esp
x117Race ENG Race.esp
Lop-ears Elf.esp
Lop-ears Elf_mini.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Chocolate Elves.esp
Beautiful People 2ch-Ed Cute Elves.esp
WalkAnimSwitcher_v1.0.esp
LoversMB2.esp
LoversIdleAnimsPriority.esp
LoversAnimObjectsPriority.esp

 

 

Lover's and Beyond

The only important thing here is load order. You have to make sure you have reviewed the recommendations of the mod authors and follow them. With all the mods available, it is easy to miss something, some of it is etched in stone, while some is a bit flexible. 

 

Also, some of these mods have spells to change game settings. Experiment and have fun!

 

If I discover something I have missed or is relevant, I will edit any of the above. Comments, feedback, alternate ways that work are also welcome.

[gregathit]

Good Job!

 

Thread Pinned.

[Vaelorian]

Eh, I feel like I'm getting preachy at this stage, but people...

 

Seriously. Switch OBMM to TESMM. It's the same interface. The same functions. The same everything.

But it's faster; faster to boot up; faster to execute functions, faster to do everything with.

 

Guides written now have no excuse to direct new folks to older versions of software (or just mentioning it instead of the new versions) for no adequate reason (given that, again, TESMM is identical to OBMM save for the greatly improved performance).

 

Please, help the new folks out. Save them the frustrations. Switch over to TESMM.

Link for your convenience: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5010/?

[Melamkish]

Gregathit,

Thanks for pinning the thread, and thank you for your work keeping things running!

 

Vaelorian,

Thanks for the input. As mentioned at the end of the thread, comments, feedback, alternate ways that work are also welcome.

[Melamkish]

Also, in the left pane you may see a +/- sign in the Flags column This warns of a potential conflict. Some of these may be harmless. To explain, if mod author's from two different mods use the same resource package for textures, and these textures are identical, MO will still flag a potential conflict, only because the mod with the higher priority will overwrite the one with lower priority. Since both mods use the same textures, this type of conflict could be ignored. You can right click on the mod in the left pane, select Information, then select the Conflicts tab in the new window that pops up and compare the two mods. Also, in the right pane tab "Data", at the bottom, if you click the "Show only conflicts" checkbox, you can again look at any conflicts and decide whether you need to change anything.

Added the above information in the OP,  Section "Mod Organizer Basics and the Overwrite Features" .

For those that may be interested, OBMM information was included, only because there are many that still use it in one way or another. The only reason I have it installed is to extract the occasional Omod I may be want to try and to examine the data structure before converting it to a zip file/

Since there are many questions about Mod Organizer and Oblivion, I used my installation as an example to help anyone who prefers MO to use it more successfully. I have used it since it's pre-version 1 release and it does everything I need it to do. Since I have been modeling (3D) for 14 years, I have a ton of tools that I sometimes use, but to include everything would be overwhelming.

That said, however, if you have successfully integrated another tool to be used from within MO, that required special settings that others may find useful, either post here or PM me and I will look into adding it to the OP.

[Guest]

I know this is a dead topic (is it really?), but I wanted to know if you could have this tutorial for the steam version of Oblivion.

The only way I have found is to launch Steam through ModOrganizer, which seems like a bad thing to do (my intuition, please enlighten me if I am wrong).

I don't even know that method works, I haven't tried it fully with different mods, I have only checked the OBSE Tester.

 

Another thing to know is if I can check if Archive Invalidation is working.

 

Thanks a lot for this, I truly appreciate it.

[Kuロi]

This is pretty old, but I thought I'd add this for anyone having problems with ArchiveInvalidation.

 

If you, like me, followed all the steps in the guide only for it to still not work, open the MO Settings, go to "Workarounds" and click the "Back-date BSAs" button.

 

I'm no expert so I can't explain how or why it works, but I can say that it definitely worked for me.

[PubliusNV]

Thanks very much to the previous poster, back dating the BSAs fixed a few problems for me also.  And sorry for necro'ing this thread, but I found it extremely useful.

 

The only other thing I would add that I couldn't find mentioned before is that since I have the Steam version, I had to configure an executable in MO that I named "Steam", pointed it at Steam.exe, and added "-applaunch 22330" (wiithout the quotes) to the arguments to pass to it.  That way MO calls Steam to start Oblivion, and OBSE gets hooked in when Steam starts it.