Oblivion

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EggDropSoap

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EggDropSoap

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About this mod

Vampire Face Bug Fix, as the name implies, fixes the bug in which a vampire PC\'s face will be reset to the racial default shape or the male default (for female vampires) after loading a saved game.

Permissions and credits
Uninstall instructions have been updated to correct a problem with being unable to feed after uninstalling VFBF. (March 13, 2008)

** Note: scanti is working on an OBSE plugin that will soon make VFBF obsolete. I've never been more excited by a mod that was going to crush one of my own. I am likely to halt work on VFBF when scanti's plugin is no longer in beta. For WIP information, see that link. **

Vampire Face Bug Fix, as the name implies, fixes the bug in which a vampire PC's face will be reset to the racial default shape or the male default (for female vampires) after loading a saved game.


Details
=======
One workaround for the Vampire Face Bug is to set the PC's vampirism level to zero just before saving. VFBF automates this workaround by setting the PC's vampirism to zero while in any "dangerous" menu where you can save your game or Oblivion might make an autosave. Vampirism level is restored when you leave dangerous menus and when you load a saved game.

Protected saves include normal saves made through the Save menu; fast-travel autosaves; sleep/wait autosaves; some door autosaves; and level-up autosaves. Some door saves and all console saves are not protected: see the Known Issues or Bugs section for details.

Quicksave protection is included in an optional plugin as of version 0.4.

VFBF will enable the fix for existing vampires and as soon as a PC becomes a vampire. A message box will pop up to let you know when the fix is enabled. This may take up to five seconds to appear after becoming a vampire. Once the message has appeared and you've clicked "OK", the fix is enabled and new saves will be protected from the face bug.

Also included in this archive is a modified version of Streamline v3.0 - Open Beta 4 that is compatible with VFBF.

Note that VFBF does not fix existing savegames that suffer from the face bug. To enjoy the protection of VFBF, you must continue from a vampire save that does not show the face bug or from a pre-vampire save.

Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) is required for VFBF to work. OBSE is available at http://obse.silverlock.org/ and is easy to install.

This release is also OMOD-ready.

NOTE: This is a BETA release and meant for testing. It works fine on my install, but may have unknown incompatibilities with your mod list. Read the Incompatibility and Known Issues or Bugs sections for vital information and details on how to test whether VFBF is actually working for you.


Install
=======
1. Extract the files to a temporary location.
2. Copy VampireFaceBugFix.esm to your Oblivion data folder.
3. (optional) Copy VFBF Quicksave.esp to your Oblivion data folder.
4. If you are using Streamline v3.0 - Open Beta 4 and want to have your Streamsaves protected from the face bug:

a. backup your existing Streamline 3.0.esp, either using Wrye Bash's backup feature or simply renaming the esp to something convenient like "Streamline 3.0 backup.esp".
b. Copy the modified Streamline 3.0.esp file included in this archive to your Oblivion data folder.

4. Start Oblivion Launcher, click 'Data Files', place a checkmark beside VampireFaceBugFix.esm (and optionally Streamline 3.0.esp and/or VFBF Quicksave.esp as well).


Upgrading
=========
- From v0.1: install as usual. The firt time that you load a savegame that was using VFBF v0.1 you will have to enter the Save, Wait, or Sleep menu (but you don't need to save, wait, or sleep) in order for VFBF v0.3 to begin working correctly.

- From v0.3: install as usual. No special action is necessary. If you have also installed VFBF Quicksave.esp, it may take up to five seconds for Quicksave protection to become active. A message will alert you when VFBF Quicksave support has been enabled.


Uninstall
=========
After uninstalling, you will be unable to feed as a vampire. Steps 4+ below fixes this.

1. Start Oblivion Launcher, click Data Files, uncheck the .esp file(s).
2. Delete the files/folders associated with the mod.
3. (optionally) Restore your backed-up copy of Streamline v3.0.esp.
4. Load your vampire savegame, then open the Journal and go to the Magic screen. Open the Active Effects tab (that's the one on the far right) and look for "Vampirism". Mouse over this effect and take note of its value: it will probably be 25, 50, 75, or 100 for vanilla vampires, and it could be any positive number for modded vampires. You'll need this number in a minute.
5. Close your Journal and then open the console by pressing "~" (below the Esc key on most keyboards).
6. Enter this command without quotation marks in the console, and press Enter: "player.setav vampirism XX", but replace XX with the number from Step 4.
7. Check that you can feed again. If you are not near anyone to feed on, don't worry. You can do Steps 4-6 at any time after uninstalling VFBF. Sooner is better, of course.


Incompatibility
===============

Being a BETA release, there very well may be incompatibilities with other mods. Let me know if you find any. Thanks!

Togglable vampirism mods
------------------------

In particular, VFBF may interact strangely with Vampirism mods that allow you to toggle your vampirism or your appearance of being a vampire on and off. As of version 0.3, initial support for togglable vampirism/appearance has been incorporated and initial testing shows no bugs. If you're feeling brave and want to help test compatibility with VFBF and any such vampirism mod, please do! I'm using Aznar's Vampires, which does not have a toggle feature.

Scripted saves
--------------

Due to the way VFBF is implemented, any script-made saves cannot be protected from the face bug. Mods that use scripted saves such as Streamline and Kyoma's Fast Save will continue to save properly, but VFBF will not protect the saves made by these mods.

Save scripts in other mods can be made compatible with VFBF by making them depend on VampireFaceBugFix.esm and adding the following code just before the con_save function is called:

; begin patch for VampireFaceBugFix support
if VampireFaceBugFix.initMod == 1
player.setav vampirism 0
set VampireFaceBugFix.pleaseRestore to 1
endif
; end patch for VampireFaceBugFix support

A modified version of Streamline 3.0.esp (specifically, "Streamline v3.0 - Open Beta 4") is included for testing purposes since both I and nick_op use Streamline's Streamsaves instead of Quicksaves. This modified version depends on the VFBF master file and includes the compatibility code above. No other changes have been made to Streamline 3.0.esp.

Load order should not matter.


Known Issues or Bugs
====================

BETA status
-----------

Since this is a BETA release for testing purposes, there are some important details to be aware of.

As soon as the message box appears announcing that Vampire Face Bug Fix is enabled, open the console and type "player.getav vampirism". Note the value: this is what VFBF is saving, zeroing, and restoring, so knowing what the value is supposed to be is important for testing and for bug reports. If you know how vampirism works in your game (i.e., how any vampirism mods change the player's vampirism actorvalue), then you can skip this. (For reference, vampires in vanilla Oblivion alway have a value of 25, 50, 75, or 100, corresponding to each of the four stages of vampirism.)

Two messages will appear during operation. (As of version 0.4, these messages no longer appear during normal play, only in the console and debugging output. Enter "tdt" in the console to toggle debugging messages on and off.) One will let you know that the PC's vampirism level has been saved and zeroed, another will let you know that the vampirism level has been restored to the saved level. Due to the way Oblivion handles messages, these will often appear several seconds after the mod has actually done these things. Sometimes they will get lost under a stack of other messages and not appear at all. This is normal.

There are two ways to check that VFBF is working correctly. To test whether a particular save was propertly protected, look at the PC's face right after loading to make sure it is not suffering from the face bug. To test whether the PC's vampirism is being saved and restored properly, open the console and type "player.getav vampirism"; the value returned should be 1 or higher, depending on the specific details of your mod list. (E.g., vanilla Oblivion's vampires have vampirism levels of 25, 50, 75, or 100 depending on what state the vampire is in. Vampirism mods may have any number depending on how they work.)

If the PC's vampirism is not being restored properly (i.e., something caused a value of zero to be saved by VFBF and now it will never automatically restore the correct vampirism level), the fix is simple if you know what the number is supposed to be. Open the console (press the ~ key, to the left of "1" on North-American keyboards), and enter the command "player.setav vampirism NUMBER" where NUMBER is the value that the PC should have.

BETA testers are kindly requested to compare their FPS with and without VFBF installed, and with and without the optional VFBF Quicksave.esp installed. If you are experiencing slowdowns of more than a couple FPS, please let me know so I can make it run better on all our systems.

Autosaves
---------

Currently, autosaves made when going through a door cannot be detected reliably. Because VFBF relies on Oblivion showing the "Loading..." screen when going through a door to detect the autosave, only autosaves made when entering a cell that is not in memory will be protected. For example, going into the IC Shack for the first time will cause a loading screen to appear and VFBF to propertly protect the autosave Oblivion makes. However, quick going in and out of the Shack will only cause Oblivion to do a "fast" cell load with no "Loading..." screen and VFBF's save protection will not trigger for the resulting autosave. Autosaves made under these conditions are almost certainly unsafe!

Always check that the PC's face is not affected by the face bug after loading an autosave, and if so, load a different save instead before continuing. VFBF cannot fix the face bug if you continue from a bugged save. If you don't care about door autosaves, you might consider turning them off in Oblivion's options menu. With door autosaves turned off, your autosave file will always be protected.

Quicksaves
----------

Quicksaves are not protected in the basic VampireFaceBugFix.esm. An optional .esp that adds Quicksave protection is included as of version 0.4. As with the basic Vampire Face Bug Fix mod, VFBF Quicksave will only be active for vampire characters.

Your Quicksave key is detected when you load a saved game. Although there is currently code to detect changes to your Quicksave key made in the Controls menu, it doesn't seem to be working. Until this is fixed, avoid changing your Quicksave key after enabling VFBF Quicksave support. If you must change your Quicksave key, be aware that reloading a save is currently not enough to properly detect your Quicksave key due to this bug. To change your Quicksave key:

1. Change your Quicksave key in the Controls menu as normal.
2. Save your game using the Save menu. Do not save using a Quicksave as it will be unprotected from the Vampire Face Bug!
3. Quit and restart Oblivion and load your saved game. Your Quicksave key will now be properly detected.
4. Really, avoid doing this very often.

This procedure may also be necessary when switching between characters with different Quicksave keys set. Oblivion appears to save the Quicksave key in the save file. If you switch between characters frequently, make sure all your characters are using the same Quicksave key before making new Quicksaves.

Console saves
-------------

Saves made in the console are easy to protect but are not protected in this BETA release to allow for testing. Since opening the console is required to check the state of the PC's vampirism level, protecting console saves would make it impossible to determine if VFBF is working correctly. The release version will include console-save protection as a configurable feature.

Side effects
------------
There is a bug in this version that causes the wrinkles and red eyes caused by becoming a vampire to be removed from the PC when protected saves are loaded. This will last until the PC's vampirism is changed (i.e., by waiting a day without feeding, or aging in mods based on Kiyoshi's Vampirism mod). The face mesh is still altered according to the extra age added. As soon as I figure out (or someone tells me) why this happens, I'll squash this bug. Future versions should be able to correct this in existing savegames using VFBF.


History
=======
0.4, 2008/01/01 - Happy New Year! Quicksave support added in an optional .esp file. Some code cleanup of the main scripts done. Debugging messages are now only visible in the console and debugging messages: open the console and enter "tdt" to toggle debugging messages on during normal play, enter it again to toggle debugging messages off.

0.3, 2007/12/31 - BETA testing release. Now requires OBSE. Fixed incompatibility with vampirism mods that allow the Vampirism level of a vampire to be zero (e.g., Vampirism Tweaks, Togglable Vampirism, and others). When restoring after a save or a game load, the vampirism level is directly determined by looking at the list of active effects that include vampirism.

0.2, 2007/12/30 - Internal testing only. Not released.

0.1, 2007/12/29 - First BETA release for testing.


Contact
=======

You can find me on TESNexus and the official Bethesda Oblivion forums as 'EggDropSoap', or send me an email here: eggdropsoap@removethispart_pipemaze.com (remove the obvious bit and the underscore)


Credits
=======
Special thanks to ndervish at the Bethsoft forums for inspiring this mod.
Thanks to nick_op at the Bethsoft forums for first offering to beta test.
Thanks to behippo, scruggs, and haama of OBSE for just oozing expertise and helpfulness everywhere they go.
Thanks to Jaga for making Streamline.
Thanks to Kiyoshi, ParasiteX, and Aznar for making vampirism work how I think it should.
Thanks to LHammonds for the Readme Generator this file was based on.
Thanks to TESNexus.com for the a one-stop-shop resource for authors and players.
Thanks to Bethesda for creating Oblivion.


Tools Used
==========
Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) - http://obse.silverlock.org/
TESsnip - http://timeslip.chorrol.com/TESsnip.html
TES Construction Set - http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_utilities.htm
Readme Generator - http://lhammonds.game-host.org/obmm/tools_readme_generator1.asp
Wrye Bash - http://wrye.ufrealms.net/Wrye%20Bash.html


Licensing/Legal
===============
You can do whatever you want with this mod but don't complain to me if it doesn't work or your PC blows up. And of course, Bethesda Softworks owns all changes to their intellectual property anyway.