Bloodmoon patch trouble

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:19 pm

I've installed MW, Tribunal and Bloodmoon. After that I installed the Bloodmoon patch. I got the following error message while doing that: Old file not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No update done since file contents do not match.
I clicked OK, after that, the message says that the update was successful.
When I try to start a game, I get the following error message: Failed to load snowflake:Meshes\BM_snow_01.nifThe game won't start.
I did a search and the problem seems to be related to whether or not the Bloodmoon patch is installed. Which, on my pc, it apparently isn't.
One site I found said the problem was solved with installing the European Bloodmoon patch instead of the USA one, but that didn't solve my problem.
Could this have anything to do with Vista? I've activated the compatible-with-XP option.

EDIT: I should mention that I uninstalled the whole bunch, deleted the MW directory, restarted, reinstalled and then installed the european patch. The installation of the eurpean patch didn't give any errors, but starting MW gave the same snowflake error.

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:10 pm

Can you find the file from the directory where you installed Morrowind? Also, have you tried to start the game between installations, in other words after installing Morrowind, again after installing Tribunal and after installing Bloodmoon without patching?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:32 pm

Do you mean the nif file? No, I can't. As a matter of fact, the meshes folder was absolutely empty. It's not supposed to be, is it?

I've started MW after I installed MW without Trib, BM or the patch and it started up OK.

I've just encountered something else which has me gnawing at my desk: I'm having real trouble uninstalling MW. I'm not sure about the right translation in English, but there's a Windows option to uninstall software. You know, where there's a screen with all your software listed. With XP I never had problems with that, but with Vista it seems to be difficult. There's no error messages but MW just wouldn't go. After that, I just threw everything out manually.
The problem is, after deleting the whole Bethesda directory, restarting the PC and reinstalling everything (and doing all of that twice) I could still see my saved games... from two de-installations ago. Also, the new MW-icon on my desktop was still set for compatibility with Windows XP.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I figure if I can uninstall MW properly, the european patch solution might actually work. So far, I've searched my PC inch by inch and deleted every MW and Bethesda file I could find.
Is there simething about Vista I'm missing?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:02 pm

Well, I finally managed to reinstall MW and play it. Then Trib, which played fine as well. Then Bloodmoon and I got the snowflake error message. I didn't install the patch, but that shouldn't prevent MW from starting.
I get no error messages while installing Bloodmoon. I installed it two or three times on my old PC (Windows XP) with no trouble at all. If I understand correctly, did Bloodmoon not install the proper meshes? The Meshes folder is empty. So is the Icons and Bookart folder. Are they supposed to be? the Bloodmoon Cd is filled with lots of Bloodmoon meshes. The textures directory has one tga file.
I've no idea what to try next. Also, installing mods should be fun as well

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:32 pm

My last remark notwithstanding, I reinstalled both Trib and Blood and kept an eye on what was being installed. Sound and video was copied from the cd's, but meshes, textures, icons and bookart were not. That explains the snowflake error message. I manually copied meshes, textures, icons and bookart and the game started fine. I don't know if there would be problems later on, of course.
I'm thinking this is Vista related - every time you try to install something Vista asks you if you trust the software (which XP does as well), but Vista also says I need to give administrators permission (= perhaps not adequately translated from Dutch?) to continue and user account permission to continue. I figure it's these safety procedures that muck things up, because during the installation these questions don't appear on screen and therefore many files are not copied.
Does anyone know how to prevent this from happening in the future? I can live without MW but I don't want to run into these problems while installing software for work.
I remember working with MS-DOS 5.1. These were simpler times.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:54 pm

"Old file not found. However, a file of the same name was found. No update done since file contents do not match."

That's just for updating the readme it has nothing to do with the exe.

I don't know anything about Vista apart from that it's trouble. Have you tried the official forums. It's usually all over the place.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:46 pm

Well, I fixed it without fully understanding what I did. Apparently it had to do with administrator and user account settings. These include Vista safety protocols to prevent unwanted programs from starting (like worms) and wreak havoc on your pc. In principle, that's a good thing but it gave me migraines.
At least some problems I overcame by right-clicking and choosing "run as administrator", including starting up MW.
After that I had a lot of trouble installing some mods. Meshes and textures especially had a tendency of not being copied partly or at all. That resulted in predictable error messages, which I had to google for and do a lot of manual fixes.
So far I've been able to install Better Bodies, Real Signposts, Vibrant Morrowind, Children of Morrowind and some town expansions. I'm able to start a game - but I haven't left Seyda Neen yet.
Hey, Magelord, at least I'll be able to try your Uvirith mod!

My MW problems are the least of my worries. I've had problems getting an internet connection, opening and saving documents and installing other programs. So far, I'm not loving Vista.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:39 am

It's good that you've got it fixed.

The computer I have now could have had a free Vista upgrade to home Premium which I nearly did. The amount of people having problems with Morrowind was what put me off. From what I've heard the security on Vista is so tight that it fails and stops you using your programs while Viruses have 24/7 parties in your Hard Drive.

As for Uvirith Awakes. I've just resumed work on it so it'll be some time yet. So you have plenty of time to get your mod installation perfected.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:55 am

Well, I guess it's a good thing that Vista is trying to protect itself but it's obvious that you still need your anti-virus, spyware and firewall programs. I don't particularly blame Microsoft for that. No matter what locks you put on your door at night, if someone really wants to break in, they'll almost always succeed. And virus developers seem to be a persistent lot. But didn't any of the Vista testers feel that those security restrictions were as much help as hindrance?

I finally got Children of Morrowind to work. The BSAReg program just wouldn't do a proper job. It's probably for the same reason that I can't seem to make changes in the Morrowind.ini file. I have to copy MW.ini, save it, then move it back to the MW directory where it will overwrite the previous MW.ini.

Magelord648 · Post by **Magelord648** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:20 pm

Really Microsoft should leave it to the anti-virus companies. Who has actually ever used windows firewall for more than a week while you're looking for the best program.

If the BSA register doesn't work go into the ini and put it in manually. There's a section for it and it's all pretty obvious. Finding it is the hard bit.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:27 pm

Magelord648 wrote:If the BSA register doesn't work go into the ini and put it in manually. There's a section for it and it's all pretty obvious.

Right now I'm trying to install the Scissors_Thimbles mod which uses the BSAReg program too. With Children of Morrowind I was able to do the job myself but with this mod I can't seem to make it happen.