Oblivion Mod:Downloading and Extracting Files

Intro

The following tips and instructions are for those of you who have not had to really know where your downloads went or do not really know what an archive is. Picking this up takes little to no time. If you find you already know how to do some part, skip down to the next section.

Downloading

Your internet browser (probably IE, Firefox, Chrome or Safari) downloads files to your Downloads folder. This folder can be found in your My Documents or Documents folder, depending on your OS. Often when you download or try to save a file from the net, you are prompted with two options "save..." and "open..." Most mods are packed in archives, compressed files. The formats supported by most Oblivion utilities are .7z, .rar or .zip. (See the Intro to Mods for more information about mod packing.) In order to be able to open 7-zip (.7z) archives and other compressed files, you should download the fast and free utility 7-zip.

Unless you are using the manual installation method, there is often no reason to unpack the archives yourself. If you use BAIN, simply move (or download) the archives into your Bash Installers folder. OBMM users need to convert the mods into OMODs, and that conversion can be done directly from an archive. Aside from restructuring a package or manually installing a mod, there is rarely a reason to unpack a mod archive.

To change the default download location or make your browser give you the option to choose the location each time...

• Chrome: Wrench icon > Options > Under the Hood > in the "Downloads" section select "Ask where to save each file before downloading"
• Firefox: Tools > Options > select "Always ask me where to save files"
• IE:
• Safari:

Extracting/Unarchiving

Once you have installed 7-Zip (or your preferred compression utility) you will be able to extract files via some sort of console (file manager) or, most commonly, through the context menu that pops up when you right-click on a file.