This post is regarding other mods to allow you to read silent dialogue! Like I said in the description proper, I don't want to be recommending any mods that I don't use/am not familiar with because then I can't provide any support if there's problems or anything. So, since a few people (namely nexusmods users Dispensation and LenaWolfBravil) have brought up a few mods that can be used in place of or even alongside Elys - Universal Silent Voice and OBSE, I figured I'd make a post to pin that had these mods in a list :)
first is "Dialogue click to continue", which also requires OBSE. It stops dialogue from continuing automatically and instead makes it so that the player has to click to continue. Some people in the comments say it needs Universal Silent Voice as well to work properly, but I can't confirm that.
second is "Silent Voice Generator", which requires Java and also the Construction Set to use. It generates lip-synching files for each line of dialogue added. LenaWolfBravil explained very well how to use it in a comment, so I'll just copy and paste that explanation here :) "One thing to note about exporting dialogue from the CS - you have to do it from the quest window, per quest, not from the File menu where it says very helpfully "Export dialogue". That's the wrong format. To export dialogue per quest, open the quest window, select a quest and in the first tab "Quest data" you see a button "Export dialogue". That's the one to use. This can take a bit of time if your quest has a lot of dialogue because the CS is checking it against all races (including custom races), so don't worry if it appears to "hang" - it's just busy. Get a drink and some popcorn, if you must. Then once you have a collection of those exports, you can run the Silent Voice Generator on all of them in one batch. The voice files go under Sound/Voice/YourPluginName.esp - that's a folder name, and in there you'll see races, with F and M subfolders in each, but only for those races/sexes that are actually used in your mod. So if you wanted to supply voice files for your mod, you would just need to package up that one folder, and you're done."
third is "Voice File Redirector" (offsite link), which also requires OBSE. It makes it such that NPCs use another races' voice files for lines that their own race lacks voice files for. In order to install it, you place the .dll file in your Data\OBSE\Plugins folder!
like I said, I either don't use or don't have much experience with the mods listed above, so I make no promises and can't provide any help if you have an issue getting one of them to work correctly. Also, the same disclaimer applies to these mods as applies to my own mod and indeed every other mod - that I am not responsible for your game, your computer, or your save file, so read directions carefully and install responsibly!
Hey, I wanted to say...Thanks a very lot for making this. The Shivering Isles are one of my most favourite places and exploring it with new content is always a welcome addition.
I hope that one day you can get inspired to update it again, to add new stuff to Passwall, you know that place deserves it, after all it's the first settlement you'll find in this Game Expansion.
:))))) oh wow!! thank you so much for this very nice comment, I'm so happy you like it!
I actually played a mod some time ago that gave me some insight on how to deal with the Passwall and the Ordered version of Passwall! previously I wasn't sure how the game dealt with NPCs during that part of the main quest, but now that I know, it's definitely possible to expand Passwall! And it's really encouraging to know that someone's interested! :)
Is that so? Would be great to see Passwall be expanded by you then.
Also, if it would be better to make another mod about it and separate it from Cities Expanded for whatever reason (based on what you say, it sounds like changing Passwall is actually more complex than all the others), I myself don't mind, you should do it.
The easier it is for you, the better. Any mod-users that has issues with that will find his way.
By the way, about "New Sheoth Homes by Rhoark"...I have noticed that it is "softly" incompatible, as in, the Crucible house seems to be fine, it is to the left (if you look front of) of Sickly Beatrice's Inn, I see nothing wrong or sticking out, don't think there's any object floating inside it either. However, Bliss house, which is right next to your "A Gnarl's Bloom", conflicts heavily with Sanammasour's house. I'm a bit sad but not too much, the mod is old yet had a great idea.
Say, maybe you can make your own style of player homes? My idea would be...It's a quest-based house acquisition, quest starts when you press on the door, in which case you can either buy a deed from somebody that would make sense (Like the lady at Common Treasures) or you ask the guards and they will tell you some minor lore about it, then give you the key if you pay for it. Of course, would be both houses, one in Bliss and one in Crucible.
But inside the house, there's monsters about and it's very messy, so you have to fight through them until it's all clear. Finally, the house is yours! And then, you get the choice to keep it as is, which would look messy just like in Rhoark's houses but at least now enemies don't spawn and it's a bit less messy...Or upgrade it and make it look moderate, like Del's, and after that further make it even fancier, turning it into a mansion, like ArxVallium's. If you are actually willing to make your own Houses for New Sheoth, please tell me so I may give you more ideas if needed.
actually, a while ago I started making a new town mod located in the Fringe but I sort of set it aside because I wasn't certain it would really be "big" enough to justify releasing it on its own - but your comment has me thinking about maybe retooling it into a general "Fringe overhaul", including an expansion to Passwall and some of the dungeon exteriors too! The thing that makes Passwall more complex is that you have to manually duplicate whatever changes you make to the normal version of the Fringe to the Ordered version of the Fringe - meaning, there's double the opportunity for bugs or glitches to sneak in, lol! At the same time though, it would be easier to deal with compatibility since all of my additions to the Fringe would be in one .esp! You've given me a lot to think about!!
Thank you for the information on Rhoark's New Sheoth Homes mod, I'll add it to the description! :) it's a shame the two mods aren't compatible, but if it conflicts that much, then a patch is probably out of the question since it sounds like it'd practically have to remove the Bliss house altogether :')
oooh I never thought about adding new player houses like that, where you have to clear the house out yourself! I like that idea!! I've only made one player house before, but it was just a bonus in a different mod, so it'll be interesting to make one like these! I'll play around with the CS a bit, see if I can't find some room to add them to SICE (or maybe as a standalone mod, who knows)!
More content in the Fringe sounds fun indeed, I understand it is more complex though, so take your time.
As for the houses mod, I'd instead recommend you separate it, a house you need to fight for is complex itself. Also, some people might already be using one of the two (or three) house mods and they don't want SI Cities Expanded to add one. Of course, you should without a doubt make it fully compatible with this mod.
And please, don't make just one, make two! One for Bliss, one for Crucible. I hope you can make something amazing, I'd love to have a house or two where I can progress it the way I want; default ugly messy place, a good enough place and a proper manor.
ohh yeah that's a good point actually! Yeah, I'll have it be a separate mod, or maybe as an add-on .esp file available in the optional files section of SICE or something! that way, it minimizes the chance of accidentally conflicting with my own mod, lol
sure! if you have TES4Edit yourself, it's an easy change to make :)
open SICitiesExpanded.esp in TES4Edit and click the little plus sign next to "worldspaces" to expand the menu. You should see submenus for SEWorld, SENSBliss, and SENSCrucible. Click on SENSBliss and the pane on the right side of the program should show two columns side-by-side titled "oblivion.esm" and "SICitiesExpanded.esp". At the bottom of these lists is a row called "SNAM - Music" - right click on the SICitiesExpanded column where it says "Public" and click "remove". Then repeat the process for SENSCrucible, save the new version of the .esp, and you're good to go! :)
edited to add: you don't have to type in anything once you remove the Public music type, as the default Oblivion music is the outdoors music!
Hi, is it compatible with OOO Shivering Isles (https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/46508)? Both mods look to edit Vitharn. If not could you do a patch?
Hi there! I've been wondering that myself unfortunately, I have no idea if they are compatible or not because I don't use it! I assume they are incompatible for the reason you said (that it edits Vitharn) but I haven't been able to confirm it myself - though I think someday I will probably download it myself to see about making a patch, since it is a very popular mod!
that is a good point! I suppose it would be good to make a proper non-Vitharn patch, not only for OOOSI but for any other mods that edit Vitharn - although like TheRomans said, the earlier versions also don't have the changes to Vitharn in them! As for the palace, that is good to know that OOOSI edits it too - I'll have to check again to make sure, but fortunately I don't think SICE edits anything in there!
I asked this same question a year ago in this or some other comments section, then checked into it myself, and didn't see anything superficially wrong in Vitharn or anywhere else in SI. But I haven't used OOO SI for quite some time now, so I can't say for sure. I was pissed off at OOO SI at the time because it changes Saints & Seducers everywhere, reverting my numerous changes to them via other mods such as Colourwheel's Sexy Overhaul. Every time I used formID to check where Saints or Seducers anywhere in Tamriel or SI originated from, they were almost all coming from OOO SI, which is not how it should be because then they're all exactly the same, like in vanilla. Same thing was happening with SI weaponry & armor. OOO SI's many bash tags overpoweringly make it win out in the bashed patch on too many things. If I ever install it again, I'm gonna have to be doing some major editing to it in the CSE - or at least remove some tags - to make sure it's not so obnoxiously dominant.
that is good to know there are no superficial issues at least! yes, the edits to things such as the Saints and Seducers is one of the reasons why I've yet to download OOOSI myself to check out any incompatibilities - because it is such a large and overarching mod, I figured it would make it difficult to determine what is conflicts with my own mods vs another mod, not to mention what is an actual conflict vs an intentional change! It's one thing to open up TES4Edit and see what appears as a conflict, but you really have to check it out in-game and see for yourself what needs to actually be fixed - and that's a process that takes a long time even with the smallest and most lightweight of mods, lol!
OOO SI uses almost every bash tag there is. I'm having a look at it now to see if I can remove some of those to make it more compatible with other mods, but this is more up Dispensation's alley than mine. I'm thinking it's way too overreaching for just a mod that should only affect SI weapon, armor, & creature stats along with a few other things. I don't want race changes and all that. I remember thinking last time after I removed it that I was much better off without it, and I'm getting that feeling again this time as I see it uses every bash tag known to mankind. One bad thing I see right away is that it changes & removes stuff from npc/guard inventories, rather than just adding, which usually negates inventory edits I've made myself elsewhere. As far as conflicts with your mods, I just didn't see any last time I checked, but I didn't check everywhere. It might affect your SI clothing mod if it makes changes to clothing, I don't know. But I didn't see any landscaping conflicts.
Regular OOO isn't like this; it's dominating too, but it ADDS guards, weapons, armor, etc instead of replacing them in most cases, which means you keep most changes you've made via other mods.
yeah, that is sort of the downside of the tags, is that it is not always obvious what each one does which makes adding/removing them manually a bit difficult at times - I myself only recently learned the difference between the R.xyz tags and the NPC.xyz tags, lol! Even if you didn't check out every area both/all mods affect, even just knowing there weren't any immediately obvious landscape tears is a great relief - I feel like those are the "worst" conflicts. Sure, they don't mean the mods are totally unplayable together or anything, but landscape tears are just so obvious and hard to ignore, which makes them so annoying to fix! :')
I don't think I've added any of the clothing or armor retextures into NPCs, at least not yet, just into the loot lists - but it's interesting to know OOOSI actually removes some things. I've been trying to determine the best way to distribute the new clothes onto NPCs, and so I think that would indeed cause conflicts with OOOSI if I did do so! fortunately(?), I can't settle on a method for the life of me haha, so at least that won't be a problem for a long while now!
I haven't been able to come up with a solution for getting your Si clothing on npcs either. Dispensation's distributor doesn't work for me since I merge all your mods together into 1 esp. And I don't think there's any other way he can do it, because he'd have to decide which of your mods to merge (if not all), and then it's getting into subjective choices that wouldn't work for everyone. Maybe down the line if you merge all your city mods into one, he could adjust his distributor for that. When you edit cities, it's not that big a deal to merge them again, only takes a few minutes.
yes indeed, it's a tricky situation - the only way I could think of that would allow each mod to continue to be separate was to make the clothing and retexture mod into an .esm file, that way I could just provide alternate versions of some of my other mods that utilize that .esm file, buuuut that would still not work for users like you or Wolf, who merge mods together! ultimately, I think that whenever I make one large merged version, I will include SICR in the merge - that way I can just distribute it all like a normal levelled list of clothes! Indeed, if you look at it in the CS, you can see that I made LLs for the various clothing items, they just sadly are unused at the moment :')
Making an ESM is a good idea. Of course it would not be included into the merge, but at least this way we could all have our own selection of things in our own custom merges. And if you choose to distribute your clothing by script rather than by editing existing leveled lists, you can do it from the ESM file as well. (And it will also make it easier for those of us who don't want it, to disable the distribution.)
thanks for your advice! :) yeah, I thought about learning to distribute them all by script, but to the best of my knowledge, that sort of thing would require using OBSE (or at least, the mods I can think of that dynamically distribute items through script use OBSE) which is something I flat out don't know how to do! :') I think I will go with the .esm route, then! Although that will be a project for a later day, I have a few things in progress to finish first (such as this update to SICE, haha)!
Yes, OBSE is the usual route, however you could also do without and use the standard command "AddItem" to add new items to various vendor containers. For the Shivering Isles it won't be so overwhelming either because there aren't that many shops! (You would have to do it every time the cell resets though because those containers respawn.) Note that you cannot modify existing assets in an ESM, so you cannot add new chests to vendors or modify existing leveled lists in the usual way. This can only be done in an ESP.
Merge Plugins alerted to what it thinks is an error in this new update. I just ignored it when merging all your mods together and I doubt it will cause a problem, but just in case it is a legit error, it's:
Exception copying SELaliacaanoSICERef [ACHR:01037914] (places SELaliacaanoSICE "Laliacaano" [NPC_:01037913] in GRUP Cell Persistent Children of SENSLaliacaanosButchery "Laliacaano's Butchery" [CELL:010378C4]): Target is not persistent
thanks very much for reporting this to me! :) yes indeed, it appears to be a bug - I must've accidentally un-Persistent-ed that while making edits to that cell without even noticing! I think there will be another update very shortly, to re-Persistent whatever is broken as well as add some other things that have come to mind!
ohhh, I didn't know that could cause such a thing but that is good to know! I think I remember noticing that while testing, but deciding it must've been caused by me (over)using console commands in order to test quickly, lol.
Hi, are you still working on this mod or planning to work on it? Just wondering.
Question regarding settlments that you did in version 1 (and 1.05 LITE): did you change or update them in later versions? Or were you really just doing more towns? I mean smaller settlements, not New Sheoth.
Also, I can confirm that this mod is compatible with Sheogorath Palace by cruellae. Cruellae's mod only adds two doors behind the throne - everything else is in its own new cells.
hello! :) I am indeed still working on it! I've had an update in progress for a while, but I haven't finished it yet - it adds a small quest and some unique interactions with some shopkeeper NPCs, so it needs more testing compared to a usual update! That being said, I could probably have it finished soon-ish because it's a relatively small update haha, primarily made to include the new quest (so there could be some purpose to the new NPCs) but also to finally add custom signs!
as to the smaller settlements, there are some changes made to them in later versions beyond version 1/1.05, but they are largely the same? that is to say, most of the changes and updates made to them in later versions were only small cosmetic changes like adding plants or walls, with a few exceptions. off the top of my head, I know Deepwallow received a decently sized update in one of the later versions!
also, thank you for telling me this about Sheogorath Palace! It's always good to be able to add more mods to the confirmed compatibility list :)
I just wanted to put it out there, since you recommend Ely's Silent Voice. Not everyone can use it. It actually crashes my game pretty badly because (I think) it adds a lot of processing that obviously my PC cannot handle for some reason (yet it handles lots of new NPCs without issues). Besides that, it does a lot more than just add silent voice files where they are lacking, and not everyone may want to have that in (subtitles for all stray comments everywhere? No, thanks.).
There are alternatives to that. Firstly is of course to supply silent voice files, that's easily created with Silent Voice Generator - this tool is far better than TES4Gecko for that. I always generate silent voice files for mods that don't have them - all you need is the CS to export the dialogue files and then run the generator on them. I noticed that a lot of people downloaded the silent voice files that I provided with one of my mods as an optional file - so yeah, people still want them.
Second, there is another alternative for the players who use mods lacking silent voice files yet don't want to use Ely's Silent Voice. This alternative is Dialogue click to continue mod - this will make you click on all dialogue, of course, still it does offer a solution. It also helps if you find that subtitles disappear too quickly anyway.
huh, interesting! I didn't know there were problems with Ely's Silent Voice! The main reason I was reluctant to provide silent voice files is because they make the size of the file so large - but providing them as an optional file is an interesting idea. My experience with audio and lip files is extremely limited, though, so I can't provide such a thing any time soon - however I think I'll write up a post to pin to the top of this comment section regarding voice files/silent voices and that will for sure be included so that people can try it out for themselves in the interim if they want :) And that "Dialogue click to continue" mod is such a good idea omg, I'll mention that as well! There are so many voice and subtitle related tools that I had no idea existed, thanks for bringing them up! :)
One thing to note about exporting dialogue from the CS - you have to do it from the quest window, per quest, not from the File menu where it says very helpfully "Export dialogue". That's the wrong format. To export dialogue per quest, open the quest window, select a quest and in the first tab "Quest data" you see a button "Export dialogue". That's the one to use. This can take a bit of time if your quest has a lot of dialogue because the CS is checking it against all races (including custom races), so don't worry if it appears to "hang" - it's just busy. Get a drink and some popcorn, if you must. Then once you have a collection of those exports, you can run the Silent Voice Generator on all of them in one batch. The voice files go under Sound/Voice/YourPluginName.esp - that's a folder name, and in there you'll see races, with F and M subfolders in each, but only for those races/sexes that are actually used in your mod. So if you wanted to supply voice files for your mod, you would just need to package up that one folder, and you're done. For once, it's well organised. It does mean however that if you rename your mod, the voice files will no longer be found! Oh well. But yeah, everyone can do it for themselves, if they want to.
:o wow, thank you so much for the detailed directions!! that is very much appreciated! Actually, do you mind if I copy and paste this explanation in the pinned post I have planned to write about options for voice files and whatnot? It worked no problem for me (well, the exporting dialogue part that is haha, it's the only part I've tried so far)!
Sure, feel free to copy it over! That's why I wrote it. Yeah, the exporting part is the only tricky one here, really. The generator itself is straightforward. I installed it in the same folder where you find Oblivion.exe - this is also where the CS puts the exported dialogue files. Then the generator puts everything in folder "output", so you won't overwrite your existing sound files by mistake.
alright, the stickied post has been written! Thank you so much for all your help, and for letting me use your explanation :) it's incredible how many options there are for dialogue that I had no idea about haha!
I never ever ever had any problem with Elys Silent Voice, ad its rather much better than using dozens of thousands of pregenerated voice files.....and I also use a primitive laptop from 2011....
Well, I don't know what the problem with Ely's Silent Voice is exactly, it keeps crashing my game when there are many NPCs about. May be it is because it's putting subtitles on every stray phrase they are saying in passing ("You look skilled in Alteration..!"), and I don't want subtitles on that. Honestly, how many times do you need to read that? And then I have a problem with what it does within the dialogue - that it is always the same length. Standard is 8sec, or you can have 14sec, I believe. "Hi!". Wait 8 seconds. "Yes." Wait 8 seconds. "Wall of text". Rush through it in 8 seconds. This is the big difference with the dedicated silent voice files - they actually take into account the number of words in the corresponding phrase. And when you are generating them, you can specify how much time per word you want to pick, so whether you are a fast reader or a slow reader, you can have your silent files tailored to your needs. Correct length for every phrase.
I guess my point is that there are alternatives to Ely's Silent Voice, and that no one needs to feel obliged to use it. And that it's Ok to dislike it, too! Tastes differ.
Another interesting dialogue tool is a mod called Protocolled Dialogs which records everything that's been said during a dialogue so that you could read it later. Useful also for voiced files. It was developed for Morroblivion, but does not actually require it and works with plain Oblivion also. Just another option.
I have not had any problem like that, in years of using it, do maybe a conflict in your particular installation. Also I like havintgthe subtitles on the NPC conversations,
Installations will differ, no doubt. I didn't get very far looking at configuration options because of the constant crashes. I basically only had a chance to try it out for a few minutes before the next CTD. But again - considering that half of the people who downloaded my Skyrim mod, also downloaded the optional silent voice files, I feel I am not alone.
Really, I don't get anything like that with Ely's Silent Voice...I do get some lags when many NPCs are speaking with each other, IF I have enabled general subtitles (so, not when an NPC is in a conversation with you, rather when they make comments or are speaking to each other), but it's not Ely's fault, rather Oblivion being what it is. I also don't get the "reading problem", I find 8 seconds are ok for reading, otherwise there's this: https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/44475 which extends the time to 30 seconds, if it's too long you can always left click for skipping the line. There is also this: https://github.com/ponyrider0/voicefile-redirector which change a bit how Elys is working (it substitutes the .dll) And speaking of TWMP Skyrim Alive: you should reorder your masters and clean the plugin ;) (I wanted to give it a try but my laptop almost died after installing the TWMP suite of mods, my xEdit needed something like 1 hour 58 minutes to clean TWMP Skyrim....)
@callistofalling Great mod by the way, a much needed addition to Shivering Isles! :)
Well, clearly our installations are very different. My PC is older than your laptop by the way, it's from 2007 and low end, but running Win10. I think a lot depends on the actual hardware, drivers and Windows version. Oh, and your Oblivion settings, of course!
As for Skyrim Alive... Did you try the latest version? Because it has been cleaned (I may have forgotten to do it in version 1.0, but I've been diligent about it ever since). I've just opened it in xEdit quick clean - cleaned in 45 seconds. There is a handful of errors regarding regions, but they come from Skyrim Improved, that mod is very complex and somewhat messy. May be that's the problem? However, of course if your PC is already choking on the preceding TWMP mods, you don't even get to Skyrim Alive. The order of masters is correct, by the way, and only those masters that are actually used, are included, but obviously the system will load the masters of the masters first.
@callistofalling - apologies for hijacking this thread for unrelated matters!
Guys, I've had enough of arguing. I have an unpopular opinion. So be it. I regret ever voicing it. Forget I ever said anything. Cheese for everyone! Or no cheese, as the Prince used to say. I'm off to the Shivering Isles!
@starlessmao81ac and @LenaWolfBravil - hey thank you both for the kind words!! I appreciate it very much! :) and that's alright that things got a bit off track - it's sort of inevitable in a game as heavily modded as a Bethesda game haha, mods interact with each other in unexpected ways so it makes sense that people sometimes end up discussing them in unexpected places! And I'd just like to say to LenaWolfBravil that I appreciate your opinion as well! The way I see it, even putting aside whether or not it was Universal Silent Voice causing issues in your game, there's always going to be someone out there who just plain can't get OBSE or Universal Silent Voice working quite right for one reason or another, so it's good to know there's alternative options out there and good that you brought them up! Cheese for everyone indeed! :)
Yeah it looks like it might be a resource problem on Ely's Silent Voice, but I never had problem with it on wither my new Desktop or my old Win XP 32bit one.
Maybe it's just my issue but when I use OBSE -Elys- Universal Silent Voice all(!) dialogues in the game become delayed for 8 seconds. For example all replies in the dialogue between the Emperor and his Blades at the very beginning of the game (in prison) are delayed for 8 seconds each(!) and it's extremely unnatural and annoying, because I have to wait an "age" before the Emperor approaches and addresses my player character. Maybe it happens because I've enabled all subtitles in the game settings and the mod delays them too.
Voice File Redirector substitutes the *.dll file from OBSE -Elys- Universal Silent Voice and therefore requires elys_usv.mp3 and elys_usv.lip files from OBSE -Elys- Universal Silent Voice. It means that the dialogues get the same 8 seconds delay. So sadly it's not an option for me (the same issue persists).
Silent Voice Generator seems to be too complicated for me, I'm not sure that I'm able to correctly export all needed dialogue lines from CS.
Dialogue click to continue prevents the dialogue to auto-continue without a mouseclick indeed, but it doesn't work if the dialogue lacks the voice and/or lip-synch files.
So Protocolled Dialogs might be a viable variant for me and I'm going to try it out.
EDIT: It works like magic and is exactly what I needed. You can even adjust the position of the textbox as qwertyasdfg instructed in his comment on Protocolled Dialogs mod's page.
Hello, there are two more things that I can suggest.
When using Ely's Universal Silent Voice or similar, do not enable all subtitles - I found that was what was crashing my game. Only enable subtitles in dialogue. These are the settings in the Oblivion Options menu in-game. This might help.
If you still get the delayed dialogue, there is another way to create silent voice files for any mod: use TES4Gecko. It is a Java application, and as such requires care to set up, but once you've done it, it is only a matter of clicking "Create Silent Voice Files" button and selecting the mod, and Gecko creates all the files you need, and more. "More" is why I didn't mention it from the start: it creates way and way too many unnecessary voice files because it simply makes a voice file for every possible race for each line of dialogue found in the mod. By far most of those files will never be used, but at least you've got also the ones you do need that way. If the wasted disk space is not a problem, this is an easy way to generate silent voice files.
@LenaWolfBravil Thanks for the suggestions, but I think that Protocolled Dialogs is exactly what I needed: it works like magic and you can even adjust the position of the textbox as qwertyasdfg instructed in his comment on Protocolled Dialogs mod's page. But I really appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, thank you! New information will never hurt and your detailed explanation about TES4Gecko may turn to be useful.
For anyone interested in saving a couple load order spaces: I utilized the Construction Set to combine this mod + SINS Outskirts + Whispersins into one esp, and so far, I see no problems at all. I haven't checked every square inch of all the locations, but I see no landscaping problems, and interacting with the npcs & objects is normal. So tentatively, I can recommend combining all 3 mods into 1 esp. I called the new esp "SIExpanded_Outskirts_Whispersins.esp".
:))) that is good to hear! I always assumed they could be merged together but my experience with merging mods is nonexistent, so I'm very glad you can (at least tentatively, haha) confirm that they work together! It was this one and the Outskirts one that I was most worried about (along with the SI Palace Improvements mod) so the fact that these ones specifically work together is great news. If you don't mind, could you explain how to combine .esps using the Construction Set or link to a guide you used or something? When I tried looking it up, it seemed like you needed a separate program to do that, so I'm very curious how you do it using the CS :o
Open up CS, don't open any files, just save the empty esp as a file name with the names of the mods you want to combine. Then close it and open it up again. Now select the esps you want to combine - but don't choose "set as active file", just click ok with no active file. All the esps you selected will open up together in one file. Then choose file/tools/combine loaded plugins. It will open up a window in your Oblivion/Data folder where you choose the empty esp you already named as the 1st step. And you're done - that file now contains all info from the mods you combined. Remember to get rid of the original esps from your load order.
Merging mods works well in a case like your mods, where it's mostly npcs & buildings, in different locations that don't overlap, without BSA's or anything too complicated. Trial & error is how I figure out which mods can be merged. Sometimes it works wonderfully, like I have a file actually named "LampsOfOblivion_FantasyDungeons_ArenaNoWall_DisplayStats_MySecretStorageRoom_MOOLoadingScreens". 6 mods, by different authors, that add totally different things, combined into 1 esp and they all work perfectly! Other times it totally fails, like trying to merge Improved Chests & Isolated Village; some mods demand to run solo and refuse to be combined, like either of those 2. It can be risky so make sure you go in-game and check out every aspect of the merged mods; sometimes it may look like they merged successfully, like if they add spells you might even get their spells in your menu as normal - but when you try to cast those spells, they fail, so you can't combine those mods. And definitely never merge any huge mods like overhauls.
you can also use TES4Gecko or Merge Plugins to (automatically) merge mods...it becomes risky only when there's scripts, or for landscape mods, when they are overlapping each other
ohhhhh so that's how you use the "combined loaded plugins" option!! I could never understand how to use it because I never figured out which file was then meant to be the "active" file - so your method of creating an entirely new esp to become the merged one makes sense! I was under the impression that the way that starlessmao81ac said was the only way to do it i.e. by using TES4Gecko or Merge Plugin, neither of which I have any experience with sadly haha, so thank you very much for leaving this comment! :)
Me either. I only used Gecko 1 time, to try to remove a master from an esp because I can't figure how to do it in the CS. It wasn't my cup of tea so I never used it again.
:) that is very good to hear, thanks for leaving this comment! I still have a few SI-related mods I plan on making (I've got a new town in Dementia I've been working on, and I want to do a dungeon expansion too), but I've been thinking about some day trying to make one big merged version of all of them and just call it "SI Overhaul" or something. So the fact that some of them can be safely merged is a very good sign :)
oh my, I didn't even know about some of those mods! It's good to hear that they can all be safely merged together - that means I can add them to the compatibility list as well!
Thank you for both the comment and for the nice words, Allister, that really means a lot! To hear you even compare my work to that of mods like OOOSI is amazing :) it's funny you bring up the Dementia town mod, because it's finally getting close to being released! Most of the things left to do are quite time consuming (quest testing, bug fixing, finishing AI packages, all that), which has slowed down work on it very much, but I'm still working on it! So it's encouraging you're excited for it :)
I think your SI mods are more popular than you realize. Yes, I am excited about your upcoming Dementia town mod, but don't rush it. I understand how 'sensitive' the Oblivion game engine is... you fix one bug, but that fix creates two new bugs.... etc, so the quest-testing and bug-fixing are always a pain.
it would seem so - I'm still just really happy when I see even 1 new endorsement, so I guess it's just one of those things that's hard to keep in perspective you know?
"fix one bug, but that fix creates two new bugs" that's for sure! indeed, that's exactly what problem I'm having, is I'm having difficulty getting certain dialogue to show up at the right time without also totally breaking the intended sequence of the quest - Oblivion is a great game, but wow, is it temperamental! :')
Tested the mod , worked fine but when i tried to revert to vanilla shivering isles deactivating the esp on Wrye bash or uninstalling the mod results to a black screen upon launching the game. Anyone else experiencing this?
how odd! I'm afraid I can't help you terribly much, because I have no clue exactly why that would happen, but I might have some guesses - did you maybe save your game in an area affected or added by the mod?
I did some testing , i have both your mods SI cities expanded and si new Seoth outskirts. Disabling either of those mods or both results in black screen after the bethesda logo on startup
weird! I can't imagine why they would affect the ini file or any script at all, the Outskirts mod doesn't even have any scripts in it (meaning, there's no way it could edit any default vanilla scripts) and this mod currently only has a single very simple script in it, so I can't imagine how it could be causing problems with scripts. and I certainly don't know how it could be affecting the ini! hmm... did you look at the ini before you deleted it? that is to say, was there anything noticeably wrong with it or did it just look like a normal ini file?
huh! that is really bizarre. every mod I've made it just a simple .esp with its ReadMe, so I can't imagine why the ini file would be affected at all. well, I'm glad the problem was fixed at least, I wish I could help more but I'm pretty much clueless! anyway, if you do figure out what caused it, please let me know! :)
Hey callistofalling, I was just thinking of a random idea for a mod maybe you'd like potentially. What if new citizens occupied the homes of Brithaur, Hirrus Clutumnus, Ma'zaddha, etc, after/if they died? Or you could update SI Cities Expanded with it. BetterInns_and_NewHomeOwners does this for Cyrodiil. Maybe any of the new NPCs you added could be housed in those places, instead of such houses going to waste and being unused.
ohhhh I really like that idea!! I've thought about doing that with the Passwall homes since it really suffers from NPC loss during the main quest, but it never occurred to me to extend that to the other cities - especially for those NPC houses in Crucible, since so many of them get emptied during quests too! Yes, I think I will do this :) it's funny that you mention this now specifically, I recently learned how to do something similar for a new town mod I'm creating, so I actually can do this (hopefully)! I think it'll be a separate mod, to ensure compatibility for players like TheRomans (and indeed, like myself) who use some of those houses for another purpose - or perhaps it will be modular so people can pick and choose which towns they want to have, or there will be some sort of activator option the way BetterInns_and_NewHomeOwners seems to do it. Ah we'll see what happens haha, either way thanks for leaving this comment! :)
good points, both of you! :) I've been thinking about it today and I think, to keep it as simple as possible (and not have any dependencies, since having dependencies on other mods can make things difficult to troubleshoot) I'll implement it similar to the style of the Imperial Real Estate mod by lametrie, where you speak with an in-game NPC to decide what to do about the house in question. That way it will be a lore-friendly way to refill the houses or choose to leave them alone :) basically, my plan is to have it be set up such that you speak with the NPC about XYZHouse and they'll say something like "did you want to claim XYZHouse first, or can I move someone in" and that's when the player decides what'll happen to it! Any thoughts?
I've never been to Vitharn before, but I checked it out with the new update & OOOSI installed. I saw a supernaturally locked door that refused to open, & several angry 'ghost fanatics' outside. Swimming around the structure, the only other thing I saw in the vicinity was a door to an apparently worthless abandoned house. So I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be, but if so, no conflicts yet. As far as OOO making it a player home, hard to imagine how anything you did would conflict with that quest unless you changed ownership or scripts, etc.
:) that is great news, thanks for telling me this! I believe the supernaturally locked door and ghost fanatics are part of the vanilla quest, and disappear when you finish it. And the worthless abandoned house was likely one of the ones added by me, so that is also good to hear! (I thought of adding ghost enemies and stuff in those houses, but decided against it since it seemed like fighting in such close quarters would be annoying?)
My big worry about it maybe conflicting with OOOSI was that I didn't know if OOOSI fixes up the exterior ruins - the screenshots seem to only show the interior and it doesn't seem like the mod's description says anything about the exterior. If it wasn't for the fact OOOSI is such a popular mod, I wouldn't be so worried about it, but I really wanted to avoid getting a lot of comments like "this somehow turns Vitharn inside out and update down when used with OOOSI, why didn't you warn about that" lol!
Still totally ruins. I didn't see any glitches... but of course I didn't go inside the place or do the OOOSI quest. I just made a quick swim around it. I only saw the one abandoned house but didn't look carefully.
btw, I use Willie Sea's Temple of Zealots mod, I've been outside & inside the structure, no problems.
Not every house has to be full of loot and interesting stuff. A derelict abandoned house is in and of itself a great worldbuilding and atmospheric addition even there's nothing in it. Look up the concept of "liminal spaces." Games like STALKER are built around these kinds of atmospheric themes.
![One of the Bliss ponds [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622589747-1649599508.png "One of the Bliss ponds [1.1]")
![Bliss back alley [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622589825-1518232073.png "Bliss back alley [1.1]")
![Crucible back alley [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622589889-1493706687.png "Crucible back alley [1.1]")
![Crucible entrance houses [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622589949-667492188.png "Crucible entrance houses [1.1]")
![Crucible shops [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622590013-1133545717.png "Crucible shops [1.1]")
![Fellmoor bridge [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622590152-254088340.png "Fellmoor bridge [1.1]")
![Fellmoor pond [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622590229-1442861167.png "Fellmoor pond [1.1]")
![Fellmoor small pond [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622590268-1397614568.png "Fellmoor small pond [1.1]")
![Top view of Fellmoor [1.1]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1622590345-108317265.png "Top view of Fellmoor [1.1]")
![Deepwallow Peninsula [1.2]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1629947640-1412149285.png "Deepwallow Peninsula [1.2]")
![Deepwallow Bridge and Guard [1.2]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1629947672-1450574468.png "Deepwallow Bridge and Guard [1.2]")
![Fellmoor Bridge and Guard [1.2]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1629947719-1129915003.png "Fellmoor Bridge and Guard [1.2]")
![Highcross updated [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634562780-52476203.png "Highcross updated [1.3]")
![Split (Dementia) [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634146212-1884127332.png "Split (Dementia) [1.3]")
![Split Entryway [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634146250-579756216.png "Split Entryway [1.3]")
![Split central area (Dementia) [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634562851-1501615745.png "Split central area (Dementia) [1.3]")
![Split archway (Mania) [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634562954-1449385552.png "Split archway (Mania) [1.3]")
![Split central area (Mania) [1.3]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1634563005-1150482187.png "Split central area (Mania) [1.3]")
![Top view of Vitharn [1.5]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1649173015-2050308175.png "Top view of Vitharn [1.5]")
![Vitharn entrance [1.5]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1649173070-1012499683.png "Vitharn entrance [1.5]")
![Vitharn ruins [1.5]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1649173160-1078131065.png "Vitharn ruins [1.5]")
![Custom Signs [1.6]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1683082399-387029341.png "Custom Signs [1.6]")
![Custom Signs [1.6]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1683082480-589386731.png "Custom Signs [1.6]")
![NPC Interactions [1.7]](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51075/51075-1683659083-939881268.png "NPC Interactions [1.7]")
185 comments
first is "Dialogue click to continue", which also requires OBSE. It stops dialogue from continuing automatically and instead makes it so that the player has to click to continue. Some people in the comments say it needs Universal Silent Voice as well to work properly, but I can't confirm that.
second is "Silent Voice Generator", which requires Java and also the Construction Set to use. It generates lip-synching files for each line of dialogue added. LenaWolfBravil explained very well how to use it in a comment, so I'll just copy and paste that explanation here :) "One thing to note about exporting dialogue from the CS - you have to do it from the quest window, per quest, not from the File menu where it says very helpfully "Export dialogue". That's the wrong format. To export dialogue per quest, open the quest window, select a quest and in the first tab "Quest data" you see a button "Export dialogue". That's the one to use. This can take a bit of time if your quest has a lot of dialogue because the CS is checking it against all races (including custom races), so don't worry if it appears to "hang" - it's just busy. Get a drink and some popcorn, if you must. Then once you have a collection of those exports, you can run the Silent Voice Generator on all of them in one batch. The voice files go under Sound/Voice/YourPluginName.esp - that's a folder name, and in there you'll see races, with F and M subfolders in each, but only for those races/sexes that are actually used in your mod. So if you wanted to supply voice files for your mod, you would just need to package up that one folder, and you're done."
third is "Voice File Redirector" (offsite link), which also requires OBSE. It makes it such that NPCs use another races' voice files for lines that their own race lacks voice files for. In order to install it, you place the .dll file in your Data\OBSE\Plugins folder!
like I said, I either don't use or don't have much experience with the mods listed above, so I make no promises and can't provide any help if you have an issue getting one of them to work correctly. Also, the same disclaimer applies to these mods as applies to my own mod and indeed every other mod - that I am not responsible for your game, your computer, or your save file, so read directions carefully and install responsibly!
I hope that one day you can get inspired to update it again, to add new stuff to Passwall, you know that place deserves it, after all it's the first settlement you'll find in this Game Expansion.
Thanks again, and may the Madman bless you.
I actually played a mod some time ago that gave me some insight on how to deal with the Passwall and the Ordered version of Passwall! previously I wasn't sure how the game dealt with NPCs during that part of the main quest, but now that I know, it's definitely possible to expand Passwall! And it's really encouraging to know that someone's interested! :)
Also, if it would be better to make another mod about it and separate it from Cities Expanded for whatever reason (based on what you say, it sounds like changing Passwall is actually more complex than all the others), I myself don't mind, you should do it.
The easier it is for you, the better. Any mod-users that has issues with that will find his way.
However, Bliss house, which is right next to your "A Gnarl's Bloom", conflicts heavily with Sanammasour's house.
I'm a bit sad but not too much, the mod is old yet had a great idea.
Say, maybe you can make your own style of player homes?
My idea would be...It's a quest-based house acquisition, quest starts when you press on the door, in which case you can either buy a deed from somebody that would make sense (Like the lady at Common Treasures) or you ask the guards and they will tell you some minor lore about it, then give you the key if you pay for it. Of course, would be both houses, one in Bliss and one in Crucible.
But inside the house, there's monsters about and it's very messy, so you have to fight through them until it's all clear. Finally, the house is yours!
And then, you get the choice to keep it as is, which would look messy just like in Rhoark's houses but at least now enemies don't spawn and it's a bit less messy...Or upgrade it and make it look moderate, like Del's, and after that further make it even fancier, turning it into a mansion, like ArxVallium's.
If you are actually willing to make your own Houses for New Sheoth, please tell me so I may give you more ideas if needed.
Thank you for the information on Rhoark's New Sheoth Homes mod, I'll add it to the description! :) it's a shame the two mods aren't compatible, but if it conflicts that much, then a patch is probably out of the question since it sounds like it'd practically have to remove the Bliss house altogether :')
oooh I never thought about adding new player houses like that, where you have to clear the house out yourself! I like that idea!! I've only made one player house before, but it was just a bonus in a different mod, so it'll be interesting to make one like these! I'll play around with the CS a bit, see if I can't find some room to add them to SICE (or maybe as a standalone mod, who knows)!
As for the houses mod, I'd instead recommend you separate it, a house you need to fight for is complex itself. Also, some people might already be using one of the two (or three) house mods and they don't want SI Cities Expanded to add one.
Of course, you should without a doubt make it fully compatible with this mod.
And please, don't make just one, make two! One for Bliss, one for Crucible.
I hope you can make something amazing, I'd love to have a house or two where I can progress it the way I want; default ugly messy place, a good enough place and a proper manor.
open SICitiesExpanded.esp in TES4Edit and click the little plus sign next to "worldspaces" to expand the menu. You should see submenus for SEWorld, SENSBliss, and SENSCrucible. Click on SENSBliss and the pane on the right side of the program should show two columns side-by-side titled "oblivion.esm" and "SICitiesExpanded.esp". At the bottom of these lists is a row called "SNAM - Music" - right click on the SICitiesExpanded column where it says "Public" and click "remove". Then repeat the process for SENSCrucible, save the new version of the .esp, and you're good to go! :)
edited to add: you don't have to type in anything once you remove the Public music type, as the default Oblivion music is the outdoors music!
Regular OOO isn't like this; it's dominating too, but it ADDS guards, weapons, armor, etc instead of replacing them in most cases, which means you keep most changes you've made via other mods.
I don't think I've added any of the clothing or armor retextures into NPCs, at least not yet, just into the loot lists - but it's interesting to know OOOSI actually removes some things. I've been trying to determine the best way to distribute the new clothes onto NPCs, and so I think that would indeed cause conflicts with OOOSI if I did do so! fortunately(?), I can't settle on a method for the life of me haha, so at least that won't be a problem for a long while now!
Exception copying SELaliacaanoSICERef [ACHR:01037914] (places SELaliacaanoSICE "Laliacaano" [NPC_:01037913] in GRUP Cell Persistent Children of SENSLaliacaanosButchery "Laliacaano's Butchery" [CELL:010378C4]): Target is not persistent
Question regarding settlments that you did in version 1 (and 1.05 LITE): did you change or update them in later versions? Or were you really just doing more towns? I mean smaller settlements, not New Sheoth.
Also, I can confirm that this mod is compatible with Sheogorath Palace by cruellae. Cruellae's mod only adds two doors behind the throne - everything else is in its own new cells.
as to the smaller settlements, there are some changes made to them in later versions beyond version 1/1.05, but they are largely the same? that is to say, most of the changes and updates made to them in later versions were only small cosmetic changes like adding plants or walls, with a few exceptions. off the top of my head, I know Deepwallow received a decently sized update in one of the later versions!
also, thank you for telling me this about Sheogorath Palace! It's always good to be able to add more mods to the confirmed compatibility list :)
There are alternatives to that. Firstly is of course to supply silent voice files, that's easily created with Silent Voice Generator - this tool is far better than TES4Gecko for that. I always generate silent voice files for mods that don't have them - all you need is the CS to export the dialogue files and then run the generator on them. I noticed that a lot of people downloaded the silent voice files that I provided with one of my mods as an optional file - so yeah, people still want them.
Second, there is another alternative for the players who use mods lacking silent voice files yet don't want to use Ely's Silent Voice. This alternative is Dialogue click to continue mod - this will make you click on all dialogue, of course, still it does offer a solution. It also helps if you find that subtitles disappear too quickly anyway.
Hope this helps some people.
I guess my point is that there are alternatives to Ely's Silent Voice, and that no one needs to feel obliged to use it. And that it's Ok to dislike it, too! Tastes differ.
Another interesting dialogue tool is a mod called Protocolled Dialogs which records everything that's been said during a dialogue so that you could read it later. Useful also for voiced files. It was developed for Morroblivion, but does not actually require it and works with plain Oblivion also. Just another option.
Also I like havintgthe subtitles on the NPC conversations,
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/44475
which extends the time to 30 seconds, if it's too long you can always left click for skipping the line.
There is also this:
https://github.com/ponyrider0/voicefile-redirector
which change a bit how Elys is working (it substitutes the .dll)
And speaking of TWMP Skyrim Alive: you should reorder your masters and clean the plugin ;) (I wanted to give it a try but my laptop almost died after installing the TWMP suite of mods, my xEdit needed something like 1 hour 58 minutes to clean TWMP Skyrim....)
@callistofalling Great mod by the way, a much needed addition to Shivering Isles! :)
As for Skyrim Alive... Did you try the latest version? Because it has been cleaned (I may have forgotten to do it in version 1.0, but I've been diligent about it ever since). I've just opened it in xEdit quick clean - cleaned in 45 seconds. There is a handful of errors regarding regions, but they come from Skyrim Improved, that mod is very complex and somewhat messy. May be that's the problem? However, of course if your PC is already choking on the preceding TWMP mods, you don't even get to Skyrim Alive. The order of masters is correct, by the way, and only those masters that are actually used, are included, but obviously the system will load the masters of the masters first.
@callistofalling - apologies for hijacking this thread for unrelated matters!
Guys, I've had enough of arguing. I have an unpopular opinion. So be it. I regret ever voicing it. Forget I ever said anything. Cheese for everyone! Or no cheese, as the Prince used to say. I'm off to the Shivering Isles!
(quick edit to clarify some words, lol)
Voice File Redirector substitutes the *.dll file from OBSE -Elys- Universal Silent Voice and therefore requires elys_usv.mp3 and elys_usv.lip files from OBSE -Elys- Universal Silent Voice. It means that the dialogues get the same 8 seconds delay. So sadly it's not an option for me (the same issue persists).
Silent Voice Generator seems to be too complicated for me, I'm not sure that I'm able to correctly export all needed dialogue lines from CS.
Dialogue click to continue prevents the dialogue to auto-continue without a mouseclick indeed, but it doesn't work if the dialogue lacks the voice and/or lip-synch files.
So Protocolled Dialogs might be a viable variant for me and I'm going to try it out.
EDIT: It works like magic and is exactly what I needed. You can even adjust the position of the textbox as qwertyasdfg instructed in his comment on Protocolled Dialogs mod's page.
When using Ely's Universal Silent Voice or similar, do not enable all subtitles - I found that was what was crashing my game. Only enable subtitles in dialogue. These are the settings in the Oblivion Options menu in-game. This might help.
If you still get the delayed dialogue, there is another way to create silent voice files for any mod: use TES4Gecko. It is a Java application, and as such requires care to set up, but once you've done it, it is only a matter of clicking "Create Silent Voice Files" button and selecting the mod, and Gecko creates all the files you need, and more. "More" is why I didn't mention it from the start: it creates way and way too many unnecessary voice files because it simply makes a voice file for every possible race for each line of dialogue found in the mod. By far most of those files will never be used, but at least you've got also the ones you do need that way. If the wasted disk space is not a problem, this is an easy way to generate silent voice files.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I think that Protocolled Dialogs is exactly what I needed: it works like magic and you can even adjust the position of the textbox as qwertyasdfg instructed in his comment on Protocolled Dialogs mod's page.
But I really appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, thank you! New information will never hurt and your detailed explanation about TES4Gecko may turn to be useful.
Merging mods works well in a case like your mods, where it's mostly npcs & buildings, in different locations that don't overlap, without BSA's or anything too complicated. Trial & error is how I figure out which mods can be merged. Sometimes it works wonderfully, like I have a file actually named "LampsOfOblivion_FantasyDungeons_ArenaNoWall_DisplayStats_MySecretStorageRoom_MOOLoadingScreens". 6 mods, by different authors, that add totally different things, combined into 1 esp and they all work perfectly! Other times it totally fails, like trying to merge Improved Chests & Isolated Village; some mods demand to run solo and refuse to be combined, like either of those 2. It can be risky so make sure you go in-game and check out every aspect of the merged mods; sometimes it may look like they merged successfully, like if they add spells you might even get their spells in your menu as normal - but when you try to cast those spells, they fail, so you can't combine those mods. And definitely never merge any huge mods like overhauls.
I can also confirm from a friend of mine that the following SI mods are also mergeable :
- Shivering Isles Root System
- Shivering Isles Travelers
- SI Unmarked Locations without markers
- SI Whispersins
- SI Necropolis
- SI Sewers
- SI Torture Museum
- Skooma in the Shivering Isles
- Xkavar's Deep
- Arfiens The Retreat callistofalling> With all your excellent additions to SI, I don't think I will bother using OOOSI now
PS I am looking forward to seeing that new town in Dementia
Thank you for both the comment and for the nice words, Allister, that really means a lot! To hear you even compare my work to that of mods like OOOSI is amazing :) it's funny you bring up the Dementia town mod, because it's finally getting close to being released! Most of the things left to do are quite time consuming (quest testing, bug fixing, finishing AI packages, all that), which has slowed down work on it very much, but I'm still working on it! So it's encouraging you're excited for it :)
Yes, I am excited about your upcoming Dementia town mod, but don't rush it. I understand how 'sensitive' the Oblivion game engine is... you fix one bug, but that fix creates two new bugs.... etc, so the quest-testing and bug-fixing are always a pain.
"fix one bug, but that fix creates two new bugs" that's for sure! indeed, that's exactly what problem I'm having, is I'm having difficulty getting certain dialogue to show up at the right time without also totally breaking the intended sequence of the quest - Oblivion is a great game, but wow, is it temperamental! :')
EDIT : i found that deleting oblivion.ini lets the game start normally. How do either of those 2 mods affect the ini though?
My big worry about it maybe conflicting with OOOSI was that I didn't know if OOOSI fixes up the exterior ruins - the screenshots seem to only show the interior and it doesn't seem like the mod's description says anything about the exterior. If it wasn't for the fact OOOSI is such a popular mod, I wouldn't be so worried about it, but I really wanted to avoid getting a lot of comments like "this somehow turns Vitharn inside out and update down when used with OOOSI, why didn't you warn about that" lol!
btw, I use Willie Sea's Temple of Zealots mod, I've been outside & inside the structure, no problems.
also, very glad to hear that about the Temple of Zealots mod - I'll add it to the "confirmed compatible" list! thanks for leaving a comment :)
Not every house has to be full of loot and interesting stuff. A derelict abandoned house is in and of itself a great worldbuilding and atmospheric addition even there's nothing in it. Look up the concept of "liminal spaces." Games like STALKER are built around these kinds of atmospheric themes.