Oblivion Mod:Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion/Part 1

This first part of the guide is applicable for all users, and the goal is to have Oblivion installed in the vanilla state with some basic configurations to improve stability sans mods.

Introduction

This first part of the guide is applicable for all users. The goal of Part 1 is simply to, first, get Oblivion installed in the vanilla state and, two, apply basic configurations to improve stability, sans mods. Users that really wish to start over with their existing setups should uninstall Oblivion before proceeding.

If you landed on this page, instead of Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion, please read the opening recommendations and warnings:

Before proceeding with this guide, it would be helpful to have read or be familiar with the material covered in System Requirements, Intro to Mods and Hardware Analysis pages. Also note that the example mods this guide covers are not exhaustive. If you are wondering what types of mod configurations users have run successfully, check out the RLO Database. Warning! Users of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, whenever you have to run executable (EXE) installers for mods and mod management-related utilities right-click and flag installer to Run as Administrator. Likewise, 64-bit users have to be aware of the fact that some 32-bit installer do not execute properly on 64-bit platforms.

Uninstall Oblivion

This step is only for users that have Oblivion installed and need to move it, or those that, for some reason, feel that completely reinstalling the game is the only way to have it work properly again. The former consideration applies to users Win7 and Vista users that have the game (or Steam) installed in the default foler, Program Files, or those that simply want to move the game. Some of the reasons for the latter motivation might be that Vanilla Oblivion does not seem to work as it should, the game was patched with an official (beta) patch other than the latest official patch (v1.2.0416), such that they are unable to patch the game with the latest patch. Whether the patch was for Oblivion or SI does not matter as the patches apply the same fixes. Installing SI does not change the game's version. If it is patched, it is patched. If none of the above is applicable, it should be safe to skip this step.

Note: 1) The game's version number is shown at the bottom of the screen when launching the game. 2) Users of the GOTY edition have a beta version of the game, until it has been patched with disc 2, which applies the v1.2.0416 patch. 3) GOTY users that do not want to install SI, can stil patch the game with the latest official Oblivion patch.

Terms

• GOTY - Game of the Year Edition
• SI - Shivering Isles
• My Games Oblivion folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion|| - symbol for OR
• modded - has unofficial modifications installed
• Oblivion install folder - (default non-Steam) C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion
• Saves folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves
• OBMM - Oblivion Mod Manager
• TESCS - The Elder Scrolls Construction Set
• Data folder - Oblivion install folder\Data
• Oblivion Mods folder - (BAIN-only) (default) directory above Oblivion Install Folder\Oblivion Mods
• OMODs folder - (OBMM-only) (default) Oblivion Install Folder\obmm\mods

Uninstallation Steps

1. Make sure you are running with administrator privleges.
2. Move your Saves folder to another location (i.e., the Desktop) temporarily.
3. Delete the contents of the My Games Oblivion folder.>> notes: 1) This folder has to be manually removed because the setup process does not touch this folder as the game is uninstalled. 2) After doing hardware upgardes, sometimes even software and driver updates, the Oblivion.ini file in this folder has to be removed to preven crashing on launch from incorect configurations. It may be best to remove the renderinfo.txt file as well, as it also contains hardware configuration information.
4. Move the Saves folder back into the My Games Oblivion folder.
5. (OBMM) Move the OMODs folder onto the Desktop (or another location external to your Oblivion setup.)
6. (BAIN) Move (not copy) the Oblivion Mods folder onto the Desktop (or another location external to your Oblivion setup.)
7. Uninstall all utilities that added entries to the Program Files list and were also installed to the Oblivion install folder (i.e., OBMM, TESCS.)
8. Delete the Oblivion install folder (in order to get rid of leftover files.)
9. (Steam) Steam users, in order to move the game outside of the protected folders, have to reinstall Steam outside of those folders. It will save much effort in the futures, so if you wish to pursue this option, reinstall Steam to a custom folder (i.e., C:\Games) and Oblivion will be uninstalled in the process.
10. (non-Steam) If you are one of the fortunate few, either the Setup option in Oblivion's Programs List menu will start the uninstallation process or going through Add/Remove Programs to uninstall Oblivion will be successful.
11. (non-Steam) Those without as much luck (which includes most that have played the game for some amount of time) run Oblivion's setup and proceed with the reinstallation. Install it on top of the current installation to keep the cleanup to a minimum.
12. (Recommended) Defrag your hard drive to reduce the fragmentation from the setup process and using Oblivion, especially if it was modded.

Alternate instructions can be found in JDFan's uninstallation guide on the BethSoft Hardware and Software Issues forum

Install Oblivion (or Revert to the Vanilla State)

The purpose of this step is to create a fresh setup on which to start building modified Oblivion. Those users whom have never installed Oblivion or have just uninstalled it, need to install it. Those who have installed it, need to make sure it is patched to the latest version. Those who have it installed and patched and added mods need to revert it to the vanilla state. Those users that need to revert to the vanilla state but do not have all of the original files (BSAs and folders) backed up somewhere, should probably go back to the {{#switchtablink:Uninstall Oblivion|previous step}} and uninstall the game. Utilities and other tools will be installed in the next step.

Again, you only need to install the game or revert the game to its vanilla state.

Some Terms

• GOTY - Game of the Year Edition
• SI - Shivering Isles
• My Games Oblivion folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion|| - symbol for OR
• modded - has unofficial modifications installed
• Oblivion install folder - (default non-Steam) C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion
• Oblivion folder - Oblivion install folder
• Saves folder - Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves
• OBMM - Oblivion Mod Manager
• TESCS - The Elder Scrolls Construction Set
• Data folder - Oblivion install folder\Data

If you run into problems with installing or launching the game, see the PCS Library.

Install the Game

1. Run Oblivion's setup. Windows 7 and Vista users should choose an install directory outside of the program files folder to escape the UAC's overprotection. Choose a custom folder, a folder that does not already exist on the drive, to ensure that the UAC does not control it. There is no need to create the folder beforehand because the installation process will create it. For example, if the C drive is the drive on which you want to install Oblivion, you could choose C:\Games\Oblivion. Steam Win7 or Vista users, can achieve the same end by installing Steam to C:\Games or another custom folder and then installing Oblivion, since Oblivion will be installed under the Steam folder.
   • It is normal for the setup to take a while.
   • If problems occur during the installation process see the PCS Library.
2. (Even if you have GOTY!!) Install the latest official patch for Oblivion (not SI) of the appropriate language.>> notes: 1) 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. 2) If you have trouble installing the official patch, read the Unofficial Technical FAQ's patches section. 3) 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.
3. (Shivering Isles) Run SI's setup. For GOTY users, can do this by installing disc 2.
4. Back up all files in the Data folder except for the Textures folder (which contains nothing but a useless duplicate.)
5. (BAIN users that moved the Oblivion Mods folder last step) Move the Oblivion Mods folder from its temporary location to the new directory containing the Oblivion install folder. (For example, if Oblivion has been reinstalled to C:\Games, move it to C:\)
6. (OBMM users that copied the OMODs folder last step) In the new Oblivion folder, create a folder obmm and move the OMODs folder ("mods") into it.
7. (Recommended) Defrag your hard drive to reduce the fragmentation from the setup process.

Revert to Vanilla

1. If you used utilities to install any mods, use those utilities to uninstall them. In OBMM, you can batch deactivate all OMODs with the batch actions option in the sidebar. This step is vital if you have used mods to edit shaders.
2. Delete the Oblivion.ini and renderinfo.txt from the My Games Oblivion folder.
3. In the Oblivion folder, delete all files starting with "obse_" and the OBSE "src" folder.
4. In the Data folder, delete all but any of the following (original) files and folders:
   • Bash Patches (Bash folder)
   • INI Tweaks (Bash folder)
   • Music
   • Shaders
   • Video
   • Docs (Bash/Mod docs folder)
   • DLCShiveringIsles - Meshes.bsa (SI)
   • DLCShiveringIsles - Sound.bsa (SI)
   • DLCShiveringIsles - Textures.bsa (SI)
   • DLCShiveringIsles - Misc.bsa (SI)
   • Oblivion - Meshes.bsa (Vanilla) (SI)
   • Oblivion - Textures (Compressed).bsa (Vanilla)
   • Oblivion - Sound.bsa (Vanilla)
   • Oblivion - Misc.bsa (Vanilla)
   • Oblivion.esm (Vanilla)
   • DLCShiveringIsles.esp (SI)

If you do not have backups of the original files before, do so now.

1. If any of the BSAs had been modified via BSA alteration or BSA repacking, replace those with backups of the originals.

Official System Requirements

From the Official Oblivion FAQ

• Vanilla Oblivion - MIN
  • CPU: 2GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent
  • Sound Card: DirectX 8 compatible (could be on-board)
  • GPU: 128 MB Direct 3D and DirectX 9.0 compatible
  • RAM: 512 MB
• Vanilla Oblivion - REC
  • CPU: 3GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent
  • Soundcard: DirectX 8 compatible (could be on-board)
  • GPU: 256 MB Direct 3D and DirectX 9.0 compatible
  • RAM: 1 GB

Install DirectX

1. Install DirectX 9.0c , if you have not installed already this, specific version.
   • Later versions of DirectX may not contain the 9.0c DLLs.
   • If it is already installed, attempting to install it again has no negative side-effects. The installation only tries to add the missing DLLs.

Install the LAA Patch

Warning! Only users running a 64-bit operating system with at least 3.5GB RAM should try this. Read LAA Patch before attempting the following instructions.

The LAA patch is mentioned here for the sake of those who are already aware of such a patch. Since the point of this patch is to apply it in hopes of extending (modified) gameplay beyond a couple hours--often no longer than two or thee with a fairly modified game--the benefit of the patch (or whether it is working at all) would be easier seen after playing with an established modded setup a for extended sessions. Therefore, it may be best to wait until you have played with the modified setup you build over the course of this guide and apply the patch later.

1. Launch the game, via any method, to test that it is working.
   • Testing should be sufficient once you have rough estimate for how long the game can run without crashing or meeting the unpatched memory cap of ~1.8GB.
     • An typical current (i.e., 2008 or later) gaming system running Windows XP or Windows 7 can run the out-of-the-box game quite well for an unspecified number of hours; so, it is really not worth testing unless your game is already modded.
     • If the vanilla game is crashing within two hours, your hardware is probably on the lower end or a driver conflict may exist. (See the PCS Library for help troubleshooting.)
   • If the game does not launch properly, at this point, that would probably indicate a hardware issue or software incompatibility.
   • See the PCS Library for help troubleshooting.
2. Download the 4GB patch from NTCore
3. Extract the executable to someplace for keeping.
4. Run the executable.
   • Select Oblivion.exe (not the Oblivion launcher or the OBSE launcher).
   • The patcher makes a backup in the same folder should you need to revert to the original.

Install Utilities

Dont's worry about any "beta" tags here. The following utilities all have well-established positions in the mods community.

Since this is a very focused guide, intended to help users build a working setup with as few uncontrolled factors as possible, many important details may be skipped. However, there is a more general page on the site that is directly related to each discussed subject. As for this page, unless you are already familiar with the available mod management utilities reading the first section of Preparing for Mods should prove very worthwhile. After this step, the rest of the guide, up until the last few (modified) setup steps, will be focused using a primary installation tool.

General Terms, Acronyms and Nick Names

• Bash - short for Wrye Bash, a mod management utility and much more
• BOSS - load ordering utility
• CTD - crash to desktop
• "Data files" - This term generally refers to files contained in any of the default folders, BSAs, INI files, or folders that contain INI files. In other words, it refers to all parts of the actual mod (not the doc files) excluding plugins.
• Data folder - Oblivion\Data
• Oblivion folder - the Oblivion installation folder
• Plugins - ESPs and ESMs, does not include OBSE plugins, sometimes is used interchangeably with "mods"
• Load Order (LO) - the order in which your plugins are loaded into the game (which is determined by their "date modified" status)
• OBMM - Oblivion Mods Manager, mod management utility and much more
• Install Order - this has nothing to do with load order, but is the order in which mods should be installed
• TESCS - The Elderscrolls Construction Set, a mod (really plugin) editing and making utility
• "Vanilla" - refers to default, out-of-the-box Oblivion

Utility Installation Steps

The utilities and the configurations for the utilities presented below are not specific to your preferred installation method. More specific instructions will be given later.

Install 7-zip (or another archiving utility)

Many mods are packaged in .7z archives, which WinZIP and non-full version of WinRAR cannot handle, and this file archiver is fast and free.

1. Download 7-zip.
2. Run the executable, which may require a reboot.
   • The installation may prompt you to restart your machine. Do that now, as you will need it in later steps.

Install a C++ Runtime Library Update

This update is required for some utilities and many mods, most notably OBSE.

1. Download Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package .
   • This is a commonly-installed update. If it is already installed, the installer will discover it and abort the installation, which is fine.
2. Run the executable.

(OPTIONAL) Install The Elder Scrolls Construction Set

This is the "official" plugin-editing utility. If you want to make mods or tweak plugins, this is a useful tool.

1. Download TESCS.
2. Run the executable.
   • Windows 7 and Windows Vista users, right-click on TESConstructionSet.exe (in the Oblivion folder) and flag it to 'Run as Administrator'.

Install Oblivion Mod Manager

OBMM, Timeslip's mod managing utility is probably the oldest, most-respected utilities for Oblivion. It is a new mod user's best friend.

1. Download OBMM (executable version).
2. Run the installer.
3. Launch OBMM.
4. Go to "settings" (in the right sidebar).
5. (Still in settings) check "Never modify load order" (unless you have no intention of installing Wrye Bash)>> notes: This step anticipates using BOSS and Wrye Bash to modify your load order
   BAIN users should skip the rest of the OBMM configuration steps.
6. Click on Utilities, in the sidebar.
7. Choose 'Archive Invalidation'.
8. Select 'BSA Redirection'.
9. Close OBMM.

Install TES4Edit

This is a powerful plugin-editing tool. If you want to investigate inter-plugin conflicts or make a quick patch, this is the utility to use. It is not necessary to get your first modified setup running, but later on you will probably hear about its usefulness for cleaning and tweaking plugins.

• Download TES4Edit.
• Extract the archive into the Oblivion folder.

Install Better Oblivion Sorting Software

BOSS is a load ordering utility. Maintaining an organized load order is very important and a non-trivial task.

Note: If you have Microsoft Word 2003 or a later version, you may want to check out BOSS' companion, BOSS Masterlist Manager.

(OPTIONAL) Install TES4LODGen

This application generates distant LOD data based a your mod list.

1. Download TES4LODGen.
2. Extract the archive into the Oblivion folder.

Install OBSE

OBSE and its plugins are not "regular" mods and require a different kind of installation, which is why their installation is covered here. Most of the following are stabilizers, all highly recommended. The two most vital OBSE plugins are Fast Exit V2 and OSR!

The DLLs for all OBSE plugins are installed in Data/OBSE/plugins. Some OBSE plugins have dependencies (DLLs) in subfolders as well.

1. Download Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) to the Oblivion folder
2. Extract it there. (It will add a folder containing the OBSE files.)
3. Copy the following up into the Oblivion folder: "obse_1_2_416.dll", "obse_editor_1_2.dll", and "obse_loader.exe." If you use the Steam version, move "obse_steam_loader.dll" as well. >> note: Steam users do not need the EXE to launch the game with OBSE, but some scripts (primarily OMOD scripts) check for the presence of that files. The presence of the EXE will not break anything.
4. Delete the folder and the archive it added
5. Make a shortcut pointing to obse_loader.exe.
   1. Right-click on the file.
   2. Choose copy from the context menu.
   3. Right-click on the location.
   4. Choose Paste shortcut here from the context menu.

To run the game with OBSE, use the obse_launcher.exe to launch your game; otherwise, if you launching the game with OBSE-dependent plugins (not OBSE plugins) the game will crash. Unless you are troubleshooting there is no harm in always launching through the OBSE launcher.

Note: If upon launching, it errors about needing the latest version of Oblivion installed (1.2.0416), you need to install the latest official patch.

Install OBSE Plugins

Warning! Requires OBSE

Again, the OBSE plugins folder is Data/OBSE/plugins. The following are all recommendations, and they are strongly recommended but not at all necessary.

Download Recommended OBSE plugins

• Elys' Universal Silent Voice (USV) - extends time text is displayed on screen for unvoiced dialog, so that it does not just flash
• Fast Exit v2 - prevents CTD on exit
• Oblivion Stutter Remover (OSR) - manages memory at a low level, reducing stuttering in-game
• Pluggy - extends OBSE, especially for debugging, for mods and the user

Install the archives

Pay attention the folder into which the downloaded archive is extracted because the archives vary in their packaging.

1. Extract Fast Exit and OSR in the Oblivion folder.
2. Extract Elys' USV in the Data folder.
3. Extract Pluggy into the OBSE plugins folder, which you may have to create. All of the DLLs should end up directly in the Plugins folder (except for OSR's component DLLs which should be in their own subfolder.)
   • Find the "Oblivion Stutter Remover" thread on the BethSoft forums before tweaking the INI file.
   • The safest edit you can make is to raise the FPS cap; therefore, if, for example, you have a very good computer, you may want to raise the cap to 60 FPS.
   • If you use Streamline, turn off Streamsmooth or set SL's FPS range inside of OSRs. OSR is more robust, sd they can cause bad conflicts when vying to handling memory management.

Special Mention

Since it's so popular... If you are going to use Elys' Uncapper--uncaps the level for the PC skills and attributes, raising the limit from 100 to 200 or 255) extract it to (or in)--extract the downloaded archive into the OBSE plugins folder.

Configure Oblivion

In this last step you will further stabilize Oblivion by applying some basic configuration changes and checking the environment you will be running it in for compatibility.

Check the Running Environment

1. Delete the Oblivion.ini file (in the My Games Oblivion folder) if it exists, in order to make sure all settings are reset.
2. Launch the game. A new fresh, v1.2.0416, version of the Oblivion.ini is generated upon launch.
   

Note: In general, you have to regenerate the INI after making any hardware upgrades to preven CTDs related to problematic configuration values.

1. If the game crashes immediately, try to clean boot Windows. If that works, the cause is likely a process interference.
   • Try to turn off as many unnecessary processes as possible before playing.
   • Another common issue for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users is UAC interference, which should have been taken care by following steps mentioned earlier in this guide. The UAC protects the default Windows folders, such as: Documents and Program Files.
   • Another common cause of crashes with the vanilla game is codecs incompatibility. Uninstalling them or resetting them would take care of that issues. The most wellknown problematic codecs are the FFDShow codecs. Make sure that Oblivion is on the FFDShow ignore list, video and audio. If you see the FFD icon in the taskbar, as you launch and exit the game, right-click on it and adjust its settings. Afterward, close it. Alternatively, you can remove it and install a compatible codec pack; see the PCS Library for details.
   • Some instability issues and graphical anomalies can be fixed by upgrading your video card drivers; at other times issues, are fixed by downgrading video card drivers.

Do Launcher and in-game Configuration

1. Once you successfully launch the game, in the main menu, change your video, gameplay and other settings as you see fit.
   • In 'Gameplay', be sure to turn off all of the auto-save options. Oblivion's auto-save and quicksave features are known to eventually lead to corrupt save files. There are mods that can provide that same functionality, safely.
   • A number of mods require texture size to be 'Large'.
   • You cannot enable HDR and AA through Oblivion. If you want to use both, enable AA through your GPU's console. Oblivion's AA is not very good, anyway.
   • HDR and Bloom cause various graphics anomalies on different systems, especially when using AA. If you have any color-related issues or things you simply dislike, try turning either of those on or off.
2. Create a new game, without saving, in order to make sure that Obivion loads and the movie sequence and opening sequence proceed without issue.
3. Close the game after playing through the opening scene with the Emporer to the point where your (test) character can move again.

Tweak the Oblivion.ini

1. Open the Oblivion.ini
2. Apply any of the general tweaks (first two sections) shown on Oblivon.ini:Tweaks.
   • You can add comments and backup the default values by inserting a semicolon (;) before the comment.
   • Those saving and shadowmap-related tweaks take care of some of the instability causers
   • The joystick tweak prevents some strafing problems for users using keyboards
   • The border regions tweak is required by many mods. It turns of the invisible walls surrounding Cyrodiil.
   • The other are common tweaks that have no bearing on performance.
3. Test after making changes to the INI file.
   • It might be good to keep a backup of this basically-tweaked INI file, but remember that it may be invalidated if you upgrade your hardware or drivers. If you wish to restore the tweaks, use an editor such as Notepad++ with which you can compare two versions of a file and manually choose which edits to carry over.
4. Now, take the chance to run around the vanilla world to gauge your system's performance. Hit the tilde (~) key to open up the console and enter SDT 2 (Set Debug Text page 2) to see performance stats. Also use TDT to display the debug text as you run around, and type TGM (toggle god mode) to toggle invincibility.
   • Try to get a feel for your performance outside in the open, in interiors, in cities, in battle--try running into an Ayleid ruin--near water, etc. If the cities are empty, hit 'T' to open the wait menu and wait until 9AM or so to have the NPCs come out and make noise.
   • If your system is limited by its CPU (processor) as most systems are when it comes to Oblivion, you will experience the lowest FPS in crowded places, especially when fighting.
5. Make saves of the vanilla (unmodded) game. It is nice to have at least one save before exiting the sewers in the event you want to start building a new modified setup from the beginning.
6. On-board sound card users, which is the case for most users that did not buy or choose one, may want to try applying Oblivion.ini tweaks for on-board sound. Depending on the power of your CPU and motherboard, you may not need to use all of them (i.e., turn sound off). For some, the mod, Quiet Feet MAX, may suffice for all but hardware acceleration issues (i.e., unexpected crackling and popping noises). The greater the load on the CPU, the more obvious the benefits of applying on-board sound tweaks are.

Finish Testing and Applying Tweaks

If you wish to try to really optimize your settings, play with the tweaks mentioned on that page and even those in the Oblivion Tweak Guide. You can do that after applying mods, but test between adding mods and applying tweaks to make troubleshooting potential issues that can arise as a result of using either. Good systems may need a heavier load in order to really see differences. Once mods come into the picture expect whatever FPS you are experiencing will decline greatly, regardless of what system you are running the game on. A heavily modified Oblivion running consistently around 20-30 FPS is very good. If your vanilla game is running around those values, using many mods or heavy mods may not play nicely.

Make sure the game still runs properly after applying any of the aforementioned tweaks before making any further changes to your Oblivion setup.

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→ Complete Installation Guide for Oblivion - Part 2

See Also

• Intro to Mods
• Preparing for Mods
• System Requirements