MGSO Troubles

[OblivionDuruza]

Okay, so I've been trying for quite a while to get MGSO to work on my new PC,, but at every turn I get hit with a new problem.

At I was having problems with the classic, 'could not load snowflake', before I even tried to get MGSO working, so I edited the .ini and copied the relevant files from the CD to the Data Files folder, and I was able to play the vanilla game with both expansions installed.

I then had troubles with the autosave feature, which I disabled, although I did not play much of the game afterwards, due to school and other commitments taking the majority of my time away from me.

Yesterday I finally resolved to finish the setup process for Morrowind with MGSO installed, for good, so I downloaded the Overhaul and went about it.

First, I downloaded it in parts (over a period of weeks/days) but when I tried to extract the files, I ran into problems because I was getting a 'broken or unrecognised archive' warning. So I downloaded the full 1.1 GB file and was able to extract it without a problem.

I ran into problems because the Morrowind Script Extender wouldn't patch properly, apparently because my game wasn't properly patched, even though it was the GOTY. So I downloaded the latest Bloodmoon patch and did a reinstall as well, and it worked fine after that.

I then hit another roadblock as I was hit with 'missing .ddl' messages, so I downloaded and installed DirectX9.0c again, and was able to solve the problem.

Then MGEgui would not work, but I finally managed to fix this problem, although I'm not exactly sure how. I think it was because I started from scratch again, uninstalling everything and starting over, probably because I made some mistake with the first installation of MGSO, due to one of the other errors.

Finally, after 3 or 4 restarts, I got everything installed as it should have been, but when I went to play the game, I got a black screen when I tried to play, and it didn't work. I thought it may have been because I patched the .exe for a 64-bt system, which mine is (although Morrowind is in the (x86) program files), but it turns out its the same problem I started with at the very start. The damned snowflake mesh. So I edited the .ini file and copied the files, and I got the game working for a little while, with MGSO, but as soon as I tried to enter the Census and Excise Office on Char Gen, it crashed and I'm now getting error messages again.

I'll have another look again tomorrow, but this has really started to get on my nerves. The game just doesn't seem to want to work, even though I've been sure to apply Admin permissions throughout. Any advice or help would be much, much appreciated.

[OblivionDuruza]

Yep, Win 7. I have downloaded and installed the 1.0 release of MGSO, and downloaded all three patches, although that reminds me that I haven't installed them yet. I'll look into it.

[OblivionDuruza]

I watched and followed (as I went) the installation guide on the website, as well as taking a quick look at the PDF on the website. I'm running it as the Administrator user of the PC, although I'll try turning UAC off. It might be because I haven't patched it, but that doesn't quite make sense. I wonder if patching the Morrowind.exe file for a 64-bit system has caused any issues. I am running a 64-bit OS, but I do know there are two Program File directories, and I know Morrowind is in the (x86) one. It probably isn't the cause, but I can't quite think what the problem might be at the moment.

[OblivionDuruza]

I had checked this FAQ out, which I believe is the same. I have encountered the "Failed to load snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow_01.nif" error before, and fixed it, but this time updating the .ini file and copying the Bloodmoon files haven't fixed the problem.

I'll report back tomorrow, hopefully with a huge smile on my face for finally getting things sorted.

[Svetlonio]

I have a different sort of (minor) problem with the overhaul, hope you don't mind if I post it here.

Basically, due to a corrupt download, I am missing some textures: some jewels (those with fancy names, like "blue sapphire ring") and the "picked" versions of some plants. I no longer have the option of redownloading the corrupt 1.1 patch file, because my internet is much worse, so I'd like to reinstall the single mods that give problems. Do you know what they are called? I can't find out from the overhaul files. Thanks!

[OblivionDuruza]

Not a problem Svetlonio, I'll look into your problem for you, although I'm not sure. Alternatively, if you list the files you're missing, I might be able to send you them.

[Svetlonio]

I don't get any errors, so I don't know which files are missing. the inventory icon for jewels is simply not there but I get the name tooltip if I hover the mouse. For the plants, some turn a bright white instead of the "spent" version you should get when once you harvested them. It's just a bit annoying and playable anyway.

Another problem I have is simple but convoluted to explain. With the vanilla UI books are variable in size when I read them, and often take less than half my screen. With the dark UI they are always fullscreen and much easier to read. However, with the dark UI I get a white box instead of the mouse pointer in menu mode (crosshair works fine), I assume because of a missing/corrupt file. I downloaded and installed the dark ui mod separately, the mouse pointer is fixed, but the books are the same as in vanilla. What is the file to copypaste? does this behaviour make sense? I suspect there is another mod, or setting, that takes care of the book size, but I can't find it and can't figure out why it would be activated by MSGO only with the dark UI.

[OblivionDuruza]

Just an update, I've gotten it working, almost, and it's looking great. Only problem is that it basically crashes when I rest or wait. I think I might know what's causing it though, so I'll try one more thing, but I thought I'd keep you guys in the loop, on the off chance anyone has any ideas.

[OblivionDuruza]

I had to disable autosaves on wait/rest, and for some reason I'm still missing a couple of meshes, e.g. Dark Brotherhood Armour, but at least the game is playing now, in beautiful MGSO quality.

I'm not exactly sure what I did to get it work, as I don't think that the 1.3 patch installed correctly. If I do figure out how I solved it, I'll post again here for future reference.

[Trelares]

I have installed it yesterday in one rush and it worked fine so far, nice graphic changes, the moving water is really nice. Strange is that you can see Vivec very good from Seyda Neen .

Another question to this mod compilation, is there a way to solve the crashing on exit, I don't like the task manger thing to do every play time.

[OblivionDuruza]

That's happened a couple of times for me, although not all the time. I've actually been dealing with that sort of thing with Morrowind for a while now, and have never known exactly why, although I do have theories. I'll let you know if I come up with anything.

[Trelares]

I know that a modded oblivion will have similar crashes but for Oblivion there is a small plugin which can solve this.

[Svetlonio]

included with msgo there is a utility called "exe optimizer" which is supposed to solve/reduce the CTD problems, however I was never able to get it to work. The faq for msgo itself says that the crash on exit is normal.

[OblivionDuruza]

Well I guess it isn't really a problem, and it's not even happening all the time for me, so I'm not too phased. I did notice however, that loading screens show a very light imprint of the last thing on my screen before going into them (e.g. quickloading), but again, not really a problem. Anyone else have this happen to them?