Current Top 10 Oblivion Mods

In addition to those, my short list. by semifamous · 2006-04-21 05:18 · Score: 4, Informative

These are some of my favorites here:

Show more places on the map (wayshrines, rune stones)

Those are just the ones that are bookmarked on this computer at work. My home puter has a bunch more.

Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Dachannien · 2006-04-21 05:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

Is this a legitimate /. article or a shill? Gamespy comes up with a list of ten of the "most influential and eye-catching" Oblivion mods, despite the fact that there are hundreds (513, in fact) of mods listed here, not all of which are hosted on Planet Elder Scrolls.

Note that Gamespy only included mods hosted on their website, and that Gamespy is notorious for running interstitial ads that require a Greasemonkey script to bypass. Besides, this wasn't submitted by a Slashdot reader - Zonk posted it himself. The linked article had nothing more than some guy's opinion on what mods were good, so if Zonk is such an Oblivion fan, why not just link us to his favorite mods right there in the Slashdot article, rather than shilling for the ad-ridden IGN network?

Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Jett · 2006-04-21 06:22 · Score: 1, Troll

Zonk is no shill. We went to college together and used to work together - he's a really nice guy and totally honest and trustworthy, he's also not afraid to express his opinion! Even though I hadn't seen him in years he still invited my wife and I to his wedding, it was totally touching and we both feel incredibly guilty about not being able to go. Trying to talk shit about Zonk is total bullshit.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Jett · 2006-04-21 06:27 · Score: 1, Troll

nice mod abuse there - it's assholes like you who are ruining Slashdot.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by LunaticTippy · 2006-04-21 06:42 · Score: 1

I'm guessing you're offended by the Troll mod, but it isn't visible anymore, post is 3, Insightful
Scratched my head a minute wondering what the mod abuse was.

--
Man, you really need that seminar!
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Jett · 2006-04-21 06:53 · Score: 0, Troll

still rated troll from what I can see:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=183745&cid=151 75582

We're treading into OFFTOPIC territory though. I don't care personally since I've got karma to burn but seeing people try and talk shit about someone I know doesn't deserve it pisses me off, and then getting trolled for calling someone out on their BS (which was modded up!) has pissed me off even further.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by electronym · 2006-04-21 07:18 · Score: 1

If it hadn't been modded Troll it should have at least been modded Offtopic. It's great that you're friends with the guy and all, but what does that have to do with anything? The OP has a valid reaction/response to the article and you call him out because you're friends with the guy?

Honestly, the part about you and your wife being disappointed about not being able to go to the wedding... If that doesn't sound like a troll, I don't know what does.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by spyrochaete · 2006-04-21 07:26 · Score: 1

Yep, nothing more disgusting than taking free open source mods, surrounding them with Flash (and\or flashing) ads, making you wait 90 minutes to download them, and extorting you to pay to download them instantly. Fileplanet and Planet* are scumbags.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Jett · 2006-04-21 08:03 · Score: 1

I called him out because he is saying Zonk is some kind of a shill, I have personal knowledge about the subject as I used to know Zonk and can attest to him not being any kind of a shill. Gamespy does have serious issues, that is a valid point - making accusations re:Zonnk which I know to be false is not valid, my comment was intended to point that out. The fact that I have been systematically troll rated for making this point IS mod abuse. Perhaps my initial response WAS off-topic, that I could see as a possibly valid moderation. I was certainly not trolling though, merely pointing out that based on my knowledge of Zonk the allegations made in the OP were false.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by electronym · 2006-04-21 08:11 · Score: 1

Fair enough. In all honesty though, at first it was hard for me to tell if you were really being serious, based on the amount of extraneous personal info. It isn't TOO much of a stretch for someone to think you were trolling in that first post at least.

It does suck that someone apparently spent all their mod points rating your other posts down as well... but I guess it happens.
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-22 03:27 · Score: 0

Learn to use torrents dolt
Re:Slashdot wubs Gamespy by montyzooooma · 2006-04-23 21:46 · Score: 1

The inability to let a thread die is another sign of a troll.
Anyway in a sad attempt to make this post of any merit - Blood and Shadows Oblivion forum has a decent list of tweak mods here:
http://s13.invisionfree.com/Kaleem/index.php?showf orum=16

an almost great game by Jett · 2006-04-21 05:42 · Score: 4, Insightful

I'm excited that we have so many mods already - what is sad is that people have to waste time creating mods that fix the game. Why aren't the developers doing this? They released a buggy as hell game with several glaring design/balancing/"realism" issues - why do we need a mod to make animals behave correctly? Why do we need mods to fix broken quests? Why do we need mods to fix the screwed up UI? Why do we need mods to fix the stupid inventory system? Why do we have to manually edit .ini files to change obvious performance enhancing settings? Why do we need people creating custom shaders to improve performance on low-end cards? Why do we need people to create improved textures for high-end cards? To me all of these issues illustrate that the development team has some serious problems - they've got their own mods out to add content to the game (that they are charging for!) but they have released a seriously flawed game - what the hell is up with that?

That said, I'm not an RPG fan really but Oblivion is one awesome game - and it does run great on my 2.3ghz A64 w/6600GT, minus all the godamn bugs. And fanboys - don't tell me it is my system! I've got a fresh install of XP, fully patched and updated - Oblivion, HL2, and Firefox are the only programs installed on it - the fact that my entire system locks up if I load any of my saved games without first creating an entirely new game on a product that the developer is already releasing paid expansions for instead of patches is BS.

Re:an almost great game by Jett · 2006-04-21 05:48 · Score: 1

I forgot to add:

WTF is up with the crappy key binding system?! I'm sure there is a way to do it via the console or an .ini/.cfg but I shouldn't have to mess with that - this isn't the quake1 era anymore. I should have a menu that lets me bind whatever functions I want to whatever buttons/keys I want - instead I'm artificially limited to only rebinding certain functions to only the keyboard and anything other than the default settings is kind of wack. Also, what the hell is up with mwheeldown beind bound to 3rd person view? It doesn't even toggle it like R does and there is no option (that I can find anyways) to change this. It's totally bizzare - I can only assume it's yet another stupid bug...
Re:an almost great game by electronym · 2006-04-21 08:15 · Score: 2

It looks to me like the crappy key binding system, along with the horrible kindergarden-sized interface, is a byproduct of its simultaneous development as a console game. I really, really hate the way the menus work, although BTMod helps with the size somewhat. I still wish I had separate buttons for my map, character, skills, etc., instead of hitting tab and then clicking 45 times to check my quest and equip a weapon.
Re:an almost great game by jafuser · 2006-04-21 08:58 · Score: 1

Right around the release time there were many posts on the forums that indicated Microsoft required that the PC version be *identical* to the 360 version so that there wouldn't be any contention between the two. Assumign this is true, then I'd say they took the identical requirement quite literally.

It's quite annoying that I can't bind J to journal, I to inventory, etc. =/

--
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
Re:an almost great game by Bieeanda · 2006-04-21 09:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

Let's take a peek at Bethesda's track record:
TES: Arena. Dull-witted and buggy. No major patches.
TES: Daggerfall. Buggier than an ant farm. 'Enjoyed' a litany of patches that didn't actually fix major things like the plotline stopping, quest-critical monsters from falling into the void, or unbelievably awful dungeon design.
TES: Morrowind. Trades the majority of bugs for poor mechanical and art design. Who, seriously, thought it was a good idea to make every enchanted item shine like it was covered in an inch of iridescent plastic? Weird bugs, like NPCs on boats falling through into the water and drowning, remain. Poor design decisions, like the ludicrously expensive assassin armor all but given to the PC after Tribunal is installed, are added after the fact. Internal mechanics are horribly broken, ranging from the infinitely abusable alchemy to the arcane min-maxing that the level advancement and attribute gain system all but demands.
TES: Oblivion. Keeps Morrowind's obnoxious level advancement system, plus adds the insult upon injury of monsters leveling with you. Bandits running around in king's ransoms worth of equipment, 'psychic guards' that punish you for taking too long in completing quests, early quests that are virtual deathtraps (including one that can lock a first level character in a small room with two heavily armed adversaries), and atop all of that, an army of CTD bugs.
Re:an almost great game by Feanturi · 2006-04-21 09:54 · Score: 2, Informative

I still wish I had separate buttons for my map, character, skills, etc., instead of hitting tab and then clicking 45 times

You could always try reading the manual, where you would discover that F1 - F4 gets you at least to the section you want without even hitting tab. You still have to click the sub-section you want though.
Re:an almost great game by RWerp · 2006-04-23 08:15 · Score: 1

TES: Morrowind. Trades the majority of bugs for poor mechanical and art design. Who, seriously, thought it was a good idea to make every enchanted item shine like it was covered in an inch of iridescent plastic? Weird bugs, like NPCs on boats falling through into the water and drowning, remain. Poor design decisions, like the ludicrously expensive assassin armor all but given to the PC after Tribunal is installed, are added after the fact. Internal mechanics are horribly broken, ranging from the infinitely abusable alchemy to the arcane min-maxing that the level advancement and attribute gain system all but demands.

Amen, brother. And yet I love this game.

--
"Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." (John Maynard Keynes)

without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by JeanBaptiste · 2006-04-21 05:48 · Score: 5, Interesting

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul

Does a bunch of good stuff, but most importantly it gets rid of that stupid level scaling thing.

I've been involved in some debates over that, and I still maintain its dumb, mostly as it provides no sense of accomplishment to leveling or getting better items or anything.

Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by Jett · 2006-04-21 05:54 · Score: 1

I've been seriously thinking about installing that, it seems like most people agree it makes the game a lot better and balances out a lot of the bizzareness that starts happening at higher levels - do you have to start a new game for it to take effect? I'm still really early in the game so it's not that big of a deal but I'd really rather not have to begin again...
Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by JeanBaptiste · 2006-04-21 06:02 · Score: 1

yeah, you would have to start a new game. :(

Oscuro says though that he's done updating that part of it and any new updates will not require a new game.
Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by Feanturi · 2006-04-21 10:21 · Score: 2, Funny

I haven't been able to understand why people feel there is no sense of accomplishment with leveling. Because the monsters get harder and have better stuff on them after you level? So what? When I level, I have been developing my character and can do more things better, that is accomplishment. Oh but now the monsters aren't weak little babies compared to me, so that reduces my accomplishment somehow? Why? If the monsters have gotten too hard, you have to start playing smarter. Any game I've enjoyed has made the game get harder as you advance, otherwise where is the challenge? I guess if your goal is just to become some uber one-hit-kill-wonder then Oblivion is not for you.

The version of Oblivion that some people seem to want to play goes something like this pencil-and-paper roleplaying session:

DM: Ok guys, got a good one planned tonight, get out your 15th level characters!

P1: I can't wait to try out my new sword of troll-slaying!

P2: I got a new spell after my last level too, this is going to rock..

DM: Ok, so, you're walking in the forest and you meet 2 kobolds.

P1: ...

P2: Umm, are they really big kobolds or something?

DM: No, they're like, first level.

P1: Ok. Well I swing at one.

DM: He dies.

P2: I swing at the other one.

DM: He dies.

P1: Ok, now what?

DM: You walk along further in the forest, the air is still, you sense danger nearby.

P2: Oh good, here we go now..

DM: You hear a rustle in the bushes and out jumps... A kobold.

P1: I throw a rock at him.

DM: He dies.

P1: You know what? You really suck as a DM.

P2: Leave him alone man, I feel so UBER!!
Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by snuf23 · 2006-04-21 12:22 · Score: 1

I think the point is that in your example while they would still meet the 2 kobolds, Oblivion they would be tough kobolds and yet still be the exactly same kobolds as you fought earlier. So they would be level 15 kobolds in the spot where you fought level 1 kobolds.
I think most games scale the difficulty by moving you to new encounter areas of greater difficulty.
Something like World of Warcraft would be terrible if you had to be afraid of dying running through a low level zone. The point is if you need to go through parts of the game you have already more or less completed you don't need to have it be dangerous the 75th time you run through the zone.
I'm not saying one approach is better than the other, just different takes on it. Although it does seem weird that the entire world levels with you in Oblivion - so even though you gain kick ass abilities those Kobolds are just as tough as they always were. Read the comments under Oscuro's mod for
the thoughts behind why it was implemented. You'll note that he made some of the game actually harder - didn't just make it a easy game.

--
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 20:03 · Score: 0

I think you've missed the point of the mod. As the other reply said, this mod is to actually make it more "realistic" which roughly translates to more difficult. For example, if you are wandering around random wilderness as a first level character, you should be prepared to get your arse kicked.

There should be large chunks of the map where it is too dangerous to go until you've hardened up. When you think you're hard enough, then you can have a go. That's accomplishment.

The current system is like "boost" in racing games. Having assistance like that takes away all sense of achievement. It often comes across as a cop-out instead of balancing the game properly (which I'll agree isn't always easy to do).

Horses for courses, though. I'm certainly glad this mod makes the game more enjoyable for me. YMMV and that's cool with me too ;-)
Re:without this mod I wouldn't still be playing Ob by Voltageaav · 2006-04-22 23:14 · Score: 1

Have you played Oblivion? In the game I've been playing, I'm LVL 23 yet I see rats still. They're the same rats I fought at the begining of the game, only they die in one hit instead of five now. The Creature leveling that's done in Oblivion is that now I see Brown Bears, Liches, and other monsters as well. Things that are still a challenge for my LVL 23 Stealth/Fighter. You see the full range of monsters that you can handle. There are other NPCs that level up with you, but they are usually bosses or something simular. Honestly, I haven't goten very far in the main quest, but I'm Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild, Champion of the Arena, and Master of the Thieves Guild. I've finished many of the normal quests that you get just from talking to people as well. Through all of that, I haven't seen a single bug or glitch. Now I may be incredibly lucky, but I doubt I could do all of that without discovering one of the myrid bugs you have been talking about. I will admit that my current combination of an expert sneak skill, a master blade skill, and a self enchanted set of armor that gives me 120% chamealeon is making things pretty easy for me now. But if I want more of a challenge, I turn the difficulty up or take some of the armor off.

--
Someone save me from this sanity.

The Obvious Question by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 05:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

If a handful of amatures can produce a decent mod in a reasonably short period of time (I think the game was only released last month) why are they charging $2 for a Horse texture or a 10 minute quest?

Re:The Obvious Question by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 06:08 · Score: 0

Because they can?
People that buy these mods for the pc version are fools. They are relaseing these mods for people that have xbox 360's where you can only install 'offical' mods.
Re:The Obvious Question by Synic · 2006-04-21 10:18 · Score: 1

It was stated by one of the developers on a fan games forum that the art required in the Orrey took over a month for a single artist to create. What a terrible use of resources and planning by the producers at Bethesda. Either reduce the art needed for the mod or assign an equivalent amount of manhours to a programmer and/or game scripter to add enough content that this wonderful art can be appreciated as a reward payoff in of itself for unlocking it or give it enough reasons to be experienced repeatedly during further quests that it isn't visited once and then never again.

Incorporate into official patch by Jagasian · 2006-04-21 05:55 · Score: 2, Insightful

If Bethesda is smart, they will keep an eye on these mods, so that ideas from them can be incorporated into an official patch.

Re:Incorporate into official patch by MachDelta · 2006-04-21 06:27 · Score: 1

Will never happen. Too much legal paranoia. In the realm of videogames, almost nothing crosses that sacred developer/publisher - customer line. They (dev/pub) are far too worried about being sued should they dare put someone elses "work" or "intellectual property" (indeed, most developers are completely deaf to specific suggestions, lest someone claim their "idea" was "stolen") into their game.

Its a sad reflection on business and the legal system, really. Fans are willing to bend over backwards to improve their favorite game (see: any healthy mod scene), and developers would love to harness the extra manpower (see: modding competitions). But publishers and developers legal departments would howl and fling poo in all directions should the two ever honestly collaborate (see: EULAs).
Why? Not because some idiot might sue over having their work "stolen" after giving it away... but because some judge might think that idiot is right.
Re:Incorporate into official patch by Saib0t · 2006-04-21 06:29 · Score: 1

Integrating mods in an official patch?
While it may seem an excellent idea, I don't think that's ever going to happen.
The reason is simple, it alienates the very community they're trying to build!
People make efforts to try and build something interesting that adds to the gaming experience, they're proud of the things they build, especially if they're popular.
The popularity of these things pushes them either to better them or to create other mods, potentially interesting ones.
Including their ideas in official patches deprives them of justified popularity and will cause them to quit developing things altogether, I think.
That is the same reason, IMNSHO, that you don't see popular WoW mods included in patches (ArmorCraft, bag thingies, etc. )

--

One shall speak only if what one has to say is more beautiful than silence
Re:Incorporate into official patch by Jaysyn · 2006-04-21 06:50 · Score: 2, Informative

Bioware gets around this for NWN by stating in the games & toolset's ELUA by stating that they reserve the right to use whatever custom content they want for whatever use they want.

Jaysyn

--
There is a war going on for your mind.
Re:Incorporate into official patch by electronym · 2006-04-21 07:28 · Score: 1
That is the same reason, IMNSHO, that you don't see popular WoW mods included in patches (ArmorCraft, bag thingies, etc. )

Except this is exactly what does happen with the better WoW mods. Almost all the real interface improvements in the last year have been inspired by popular mods:
- The improved (still crappy, IMO) raid UI was inspired by CT_Raid Assist
- Detailed numbers and hideable reputation bars
- Additional hotbars on the bottom and side of the screen
- Detailed player and guild notes
- Meeting stones (a failure, but still based on functionality that first came around in a mod)
There are plenty more that I can't even think of right now. Of course I'm not expecting to see anything like Gatherer or ItemRack incorporated into the default UI, but I don't by any means think that incorporating some of the more general-use mods would discourage modders from doing what they do.
Re:Incorporate into official patch by Synic · 2006-04-21 10:11 · Score: 1

With how many copies of the same functionality that you see in the modding community, I don't think that there is much problem in them taking the ideas and reproducing them. As long as they don't take fan created artwork (textures, models) or directly copy dialogue/story that are copyright to the fan and use them as their own in a mod (without express permission or license) then they should be OK, right?
Re:Incorporate into official patch by ShakaUVM · 2006-04-21 12:17 · Score: 1

Not true.

Take WOW for example. The devs watch the most popular mods, and build the most 'requested' features into the game. Everyone was installing Cosmos or GypsyMod to get more toolbars, so they added new toolbars. People were installing CTMOD to watch the health of their raid members, they made it so you can watch the health of anyone in your raid. Etc., etc.

WOW mods are all legally open source, so there's never any issue if they can even steal from the community. Though I do think it would be appropriate to cite their sources, so to speak.
Re:Incorporate into official patch by Doppleganger · 2006-04-22 05:02 · Score: 1

Bioware's good about asking permission from the mod developers too, and making clear what parts were from community modders. Thank goodness they changed the EULA from the horrid one that was floated before release, though.

Yes. by Supurcell · 2006-04-21 05:57 · Score: 0, Redundant

Yes.

TES:III by techpawn · 2006-04-21 05:57 · Score: 0

I'll start putting on TES:IV mods when I'm done with all the TES:III Mods...

--
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you

Re:TES:III by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:33 · Score: 1

There are people porting TES:III items and features to TES:IV already! Such as missing armor types-- certain furs, nordic, chitin, etc, and skills like unarmored!
Re:TES:III by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 18:06 · Score: 0

That's cool. With this sort of community support, I can't see their pay-per-patch money-grabbing scheme lasting too long. Cool programming team, lousy finance/marketing department. Oh, and great modding community.
Re:TES:III by svzurich · 2006-04-21 23:00 · Score: 1

I'd love to see the Daedra Crescent be ported over! It is the coolest looking blade EVER!

So that's the work around by elBart0 · 2006-04-21 06:00 · Score: 1

That damn crashing bug was killing me. I was thinking about just uninstalling the game, as it crashed out, at least once an hour.

Yeah, and releasing paid content before releasing bug fixes is bad form.

--
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Re:So that's the work around by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 06:19 · Score: 0

I was crashing about every 10 mins, and was getting seriously pissed. I completely uninstalled the game and then reinstalled. I installed the supplied Direct X drivers (even though I already had them on my system) first and it worked fine. I didn't crash once after that.

I had the same problem with Civ 4. Installing the provided Direct X seems to fix things, even though it is suppose to be standard.

Re:WoW by electronym · 2006-04-21 06:03 · Score: 1

It's not really the same type of game at all, but I do enjoy playing both of them. It's an open ended, single player RPG, and it offers a lot of innovations for the genre, especially in how the NPC's act. I can't do it justice here, so check out one of the many fansites and decide for yourself. Another big plus is that modding is actively supported, and you can find mods to change just about anything. Honestly, the ones on this list are a pretty poor sample of what's really available, but you're not going to know what kind of mods (if any) you want until you play the game yourself.

My favorite feature is that in Oblivion, the server NEVER goes down... even on Tuesdays.

The mod I REALLY need by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 06:06 · Score: 0

I need a mod that puts levitating in this game, like there was in Morrowind.

I'm a min/maxing, cheating mofo (hey, sue me, that's how I like to play this game) and I loved the ring of constant levitation I made in Morrowind.

But, no flying in Oblivion. :(

Re:The mod I REALLY need by Synic · 2006-04-21 10:08 · Score: 1

With fast travel, why do you need to fly? Just for fun? Pretty sure someone has already made a levitation mod, but not a flying one yet.
Re:The mod I REALLY need by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 19:14 · Score: 0

Dunno about him but for me it's the same reason as why I always pick hover in City of Heroes, sniping from the sky.
Re:The mod I REALLY need by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-24 02:05 · Score: 0

- travel to a city

- press the ` key

- type "tcl"

- notice that city interiors are incomplete from outside, and that the outside world is incomplete when viewed from inside cities; hence, no levitate spell
Re:The mod I REALLY need by MstrFool · 2006-04-29 16:07 · Score: 1

One of the big reasons for no levitation is the cities. Each city is it's own cell or group of cells apart from the rest of the world, what you see from outside is a place holder and not the real city. Fly into a city and you are in a low res graphic that does nothing. You can conferm that by looking down into some of the cities from above on a hill or such. Tha layout is totaly different and most of the buildings aren't even there. An other reason is it would let you bypass a lot of the things they want you to have to encounter.

--
Question reality.

In the spirit of D&D... by empvirus · 2006-04-21 06:20 · Score: 3, Funny

The D&D portable hole! Literally 6 feet wide and 10 feet deep. It's loaded with chests and stuff so you don't have to carry it around on your back. And you can access it whenever you wish.

--
Sometimes I comment just to hear myself typing.

How about ten essential mod download sites by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 06:35 · Score: 0

That don't require you "sign up"?

Re:How about ten essential mod download sites by Gunslinger47 · 2006-04-21 06:58 · Score: 2, Insightful

"That don't require you 'sign up'?"
I believe this site doesn't require login.

10 mods aren't enough by spyrochaete · 2006-04-21 06:37 · Score: 2, Interesting

I blogged pretty thoroughly about many shortcomings of Oblivion. At least 75% of the mods out there are fixes that mould this game into what it should have been out of the box. Oblivion was very obviously designed with the 360 in mind as is made obvious by the horrible UI, enormous font, cryptic icons, tiny buttons, and lack of onscreen information - and that's just for starters. Read for yourselves if you can stand fair criticism of everyone's favourite game.

http://demodulated.blogspot.com/2006/04/elder-scro lls-oblivious.html

Re:10 mods aren't enough by spyrochaete · 2006-04-21 07:32 · Score: 1

Ugh.. I have no idea how I broke that hyperlink.

Working link
Re:10 mods aren't enough by heinousjay · 2006-04-21 11:23 · Score: 1

So yes, I am giving this critically acclaimed game a very hard time, but my criticisms are deserved and mysteriously undervoiced in professional reviews.

Considering you pointed out almost nothing positive, I'd say your 'review' is really just a bitch session. I agree with some of what you said, but overall, you're just proving it's easy to criticize.

--
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Re:10 mods aren't enough by spyrochaete · 2006-04-21 13:28 · Score: 1

Considering you pointed out almost nothing positive, I'd say your 'review' is really just a bitch session. I agree with some of what you said, but overall, you're just proving it's easy to criticize.

You're not the only one who's told me so. Maybe you're right.

I just feel like there's nothing I can say that's positive about the game that hasn't already been said by the 7+ page reviews. I meant to be as much of a stickler on the game as the reviews were generous. I didn't really make it clear that I was reviewing other writers' reviews as much as I was reviewing the game itself. I'm roleplaying the true neutral rogue, I guess.

To Oblivion and back again
Re:10 mods aren't enough by spyrochaete · 2006-04-22 02:46 · Score: 1

Jeez, I swear that hyperlink worked in the preview. Why does /. have to have a different a href convention than the rest of the damn internet?!

http://demodulated.blogspot.com/2006/04/to-oblivio n-and-back-again.html

The ones I'm using. by tukkayoot · 2006-04-21 06:37 · Score: 3, Informative

Natural Wildlife - Instead of all animals (aside from deer) being universally aggressive, this mod adds variable creature behaviors.

Harvest Mod - Makes it so when you harvest fauna, most of it disappears from the environment or is replaced by a "deflowered" version of the model. Makes it much easier to tell which flowers and mushrooms you've already picked.

Stamina/Fatigue Text Switch Mod - Gets rid of the annoying use of the word "fatigue" in the game and replaces instances of that word with "stamina".

Turn Out the Lights - Makes it so you can snuff out various candles, lamps, etc. found in environments.

Re:The ones I'm using. by ToxikFetus · 2006-04-21 09:08 · Score: 1

Does the harvest mod indicate which townsfolk you've deflowered, as well?
Re:The ones I'm using. by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:30 · Score: 1

you'd have to be able to deflower them first :(

seriously, why no sex in these games? you can murder people in an assassin's guild and they been progressively shying away from the topless and/or naked temple priests from Daggerfall, or anything remotely sexual in nature... what's the game's rating, anyway? Teen? It blows, and I hope enterprising modders out there will restore it back to its Mature roots. :)
Re:The ones I'm using. by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 12:23 · Score: 0

Shying away?

All the NPCs in the game are topless, you just have to remove the bikini model they put on top. Search for it, the mod is easy to find.
Re:The ones I'm using. by tukkayoot · 2006-04-21 16:27 · Score: 1

Does the harvest mod indicate which townsfolk you've deflowered, as well?
No, but I just noticed a disturbing vocabulary mistake in my last post, using the word fauna instead of flora. Thus I suppose I was implying that you could keep track of which bears and mudcrabs you violate.
Re:The ones I'm using. by Frozen+Void · 2006-04-22 03:38 · Score: 1

Like every modders obsession is add few lousy textures here and there.Modders shoudl improve mechanics and UI.If you need porn get porn.if you need games play games.
Each is specialised venue(not considering hentai anime games).

Planet Elderscrolls is the core community by DoctaWatson · 2006-04-21 06:57 · Score: 2, Informative

The Planet Elder Scrolls (formerly Morrowind Summit) forums were basically the place to go for Morrowind information a year or two ago, and they hosted the largest library of mods.

Oblivion and the official forums have changed that a bit, though the Elder Scrolls Planet forums are still a breath of fresh air compared to the underage cesspool that is the official boards. And even though fileplanet downloads suck hairy balls, Elder Scrolls Planet has one of the best systems for cataloging and ranking mods, in addition to what is likely the largest collection of mods.

Yay mods by Bungleman · 2006-04-21 07:14 · Score: 5, Informative

100% agree about BTMod... this came out days after Oblivion's release, and it was very needed. I'm not sure what kind of lazy programming left that original UI in the PC version, but it's inexcusable. I'm also using the Natural Environments mod and loving it. Here are some others I'd recommend:

Tom Servo's equipment rarity mod
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1968

Tired of seeing supposedly rare daedric and glass armor drop off common bandits at high levels? Ever wonder why these guys are harassing you for 100 gold when they're wearing tens of thousands of gold worth of armor? Download this... now rare armor stays rare, only dropping from high level creatures, and bandits have more appropriate gear. (I know this is the same as #9 on the list, but this is the one I use personally).

No psychic guards
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2299

It's hard to be a master of crime when the guards are psychic... ever try killing someone and having a guard port up to get you? This mod greatly reduces the guard alert radius when you attempt a crime against someone. No guards hear, no bounty. Yay.

Arrow velocity
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1793

Now a bow actually shoots harder than a plastic Wal-Mart bow... even the lowest quality of arrows will fire harder, and the better ones work much better.

Longer summons
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=1898

The summon length in the game is really low... some only last as long as 20 seconds. This mod can double or triple that value... especially useful for pure mage characters who depend on summons to 'tank' for them.

Re:Yay mods by Jett · 2006-04-21 08:12 · Score: 1

cool - I ran into psychic guards for the first time and it seriously pissed me off, I had robbed a house like 20 minutes earlier - not a single person was around then and I only took like 4 cold coins, then I was outside of a city checking out the stables with a guard suddenly ran up to me and took me away for thievery - it's awesome someone has fixed this already! I still can't figure out why they made the guards so unrealistic...

are there any mods which make sneaking more realistic? I've had situations where an NPC "locks on" and no matter what I do I can't sneak without them knowing where I am after this has happened - even if they can't physically make their way to where I am and I get way out of their realistic area of awareness and then sneak back up on them. I'd like to be able to take off running and lose anyone chasing me by sneaking around.
Re:Yay mods by Bungleman · 2006-04-21 08:32 · Score: 1

Yea, even with this mod you have to be careful about the guards. Always make sure that there's no guards outside the house when you attempt a crime... wait until they walk away and you're good. Also make sure that you're in sneak mode whenever you steal something, as that decreases the likelihood of you being heard.
As for your request about sneaking, this should do the trick... it had some bugs last I checked, but it looks like they've updated to version 2.0 now. But it sounds like what you're looking for...
Attack and Hide v2.0
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2294
Re:Yay mods by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:25 · Score: 1

I recommend using Mighty Magicka in conjunction with a longer summons mod, and the mod to allow you to summon 2 at a time. There is a 10 at a time summons mod but it seems a little too powerful with Mighty Magicka *and* the longer summon time. Mighty Magicka has several components but the conjuration bit makes all the creatures level up with you except for those "made from corpses"... ghosts do but skeletons and zombies don't I guess.

I prefer Francisco's mod to a separate equipment loot list, as I was using the "no obsolete" paired mods before, but I prefer the additional mods included with Francisco's set for randomizing the levels of the guards slightly and capping them out, along with enemies, making randomized bosses in the same level range and capped out, etc. Very cool. :)
Re:Yay mods by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:28 · Score: 1

attack and hide is pretty good except the indicator gets a little wonky when you do the quests where you have to follow someone and not be seen, but still have to overhear them... i think i got bugged because i ended up very close but hidden and the indicator light was bright on, and the quest conversation triggered anyway even though i wasn't hidden at all afterwards...

Re:WoW by spyrochaete · 2006-04-21 07:30 · Score: 1

Yeah, give it a try. It's especially nice to walk around in a beautiful world that isn't mobbed with people shouting about Britney Spears and the Green Bay Packers. Plus the more action-based combat is more involving than hitting buttons to adjust statistics.

Thanks! by elBart0 · 2006-04-21 07:45 · Score: 1

I'll give that a try when I get home tonight.

--
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

Re:Thanks! by tourvil · 2006-04-21 09:13 · Score: 1

Also, uninstall any audio/video codecs you don't need. I was crashing regularly when I got the game, and came across some posts saying the crashes were codec related. I had previously installed a package of several different video codecs and Nero (which has some codecs), and uninstalling them mostly fixed the crashes. (I say mostly because although it never crashes in game now, it does frequently crash when exiting, but that's obviously not as big of a deal.)

OOO? by DarthGreg · 2006-04-21 08:09 · Score: 1

Color me surprised that Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul wasn't even mentioned in that top 10.

Re:OOO? by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:19 · Score: 1

OOO seems good but there are better options elsewhere, IMO.

Slow inventory screens? by allanw · 2006-04-21 08:36 · Score: 1

Has anyone else noticed after installing BTMod (or maybe some other mod..), inventory screens, such as opening containers or shops take about 5-10+ seconds to show up? It's quite a pain in the ass to have to stop playing for 10 seconds when looting bodies. Also, viewing the map (the detailed zone map) also makes the game pause for a pretty long time, but once that area's map is viewed it shows up pretty quickly.

Re:Slow inventory screens? by Synic · 2006-04-21 09:21 · Score: 1

Try defragmenting your hard drive? How about visit one of the tweak site guides on tweaking the Oblivion .ini file? (If so already then maybe you goofed something up?)
Re:Slow inventory screens? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-23 01:21 · Score: 0

I think they fixed that, check that you're using the latest version. I find there's still an anoying delay (not that long though), but it's from the game not the mod.
Re:Slow inventory screens? by semifamous · 2006-05-03 05:41 · Score: 1

I tracked down my problem with that issue:
Too much stuff.
I was carrying some 50 pounds of ingredients, and that slows down any inventory menu loading quite a bit apparently.

Re:WoW by Synic · 2006-04-21 10:15 · Score: 1

Like the others here have said, it isn't the same type of game (other than being fantasy world and an RPG, although WoW is less of a standard rpg in terms of story progression and npcpc interaction and effecting lasting world/plot change) but it is definitely as engrossing. You may even like it better than WoW... With all the mods coming out there is an even higher ability to tweak the game to your own liking beyond the simple UI and macro mods made for WoW.

If you want a game that is exactly like WoW you may want to try EQ2...

Otherwise, onward to Cyrodiil!

Multi Player? is a must! by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 12:39 · Score: 0

I've seen Oblivion, on a friends wide screen 1080i progressive scan display, as well as a high end lcd monitor, it looks fun

however

for me, multiplayer is a must, until Oblivion can formulate a system whereby a small group can act to gether as a team i'm Zero interest in the game, ZERO, replace the cgi with HD film,,, if its single player i've zero interest.

No to accomplish Oblivion Multi player, a simple client server solution may work, where a server keeps track of the world objects/positions, and feeds clients relevent info.

Oblivion Multi Player could be what DDO should have been, DDO asks people to spend ~15 per month to connect, I laugh, now if Oblivion Multiplayer charged shuch i'd agree...

So now OM®© copyright and such gets transfered to Oblivion when they multiplayer, if the dispute the copyright, and as i expect they will have some ammo, then i'll conceed for $.01 so long as a multiplayer mod gets build.

Your Humble Multi Player Servant.

01_lff_09_biq_pol

^code sign.

Best Regards

Re:WoW by toddhunter · 2006-04-21 16:24 · Score: 1

and it offers a lot of innovations for the genre, especially in how the NPC's act
Can you elaborate on this? I'm interested in what actual innovation is shown in this game?

85 comments