OBLIVION!!! Any One Getting This???

[Deagle]

I'm sure some of you know that Oblivion was released yesterday. For those that don't, or want to know what the heck it is, go here (http://www.morrowind.com/home/home.htm). Can't wait till I get one.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[madad2005]

YUP!!

MY copy will arrive in the post (hopefully) tomorrow morning!! YESSSSSSSS!! 6 months of pain for d-day to have finally arrived!! I had mine pre-ordered for a month and got £5 knocked off it. I just hope it runs with nice graphics on my system (P4 3Ghz, 6800xt (unlocked, o'clocked, 2GB RAM) - I'm essentially matching if not slightly bettering the recommend system. I've been active in the forum and it seems uber cards from the 6800gs upwards will only be able to play it with max settings enabled. I'll see what i get anyway - might need to overclock a bit more.

For my first character, I don't know whether to stick with my usual wizard or go for a warrior first time. Just to check out the combat system. I'll end up in necromancy, anyway.

My biggest problem is that the game arrives the same day as my girlfriends birthday. She isn't best pleased! :D

[i an not a nerd]

YES i intend to get asap. Unfourtuantly the local shops arn't carrying it and futureshop is out of the game. I'm gonna have to order online...

[saphalline]

My friend Orion here pre-bought the Collector's Edition and picked it up yesterday, along with a nice 20% off the guide book. It looks pretty, and he's actually been getting very nice performance with his A64 Venice 3000+, 2 x 6600 GT's in SLI, 1GB DDR400 RAM system.

Been playing it at 1280 x 1024 with medium detail settings, 2x AS, and somewhat low shadows. So far so good, but the two 6600 GT's in SLI are fairly powerful in general. I wouldn't suggest anyone running these settings with a single 6600 GT. But anyone with a 6800 GS or better, or a Radeon X800 GT/XL or better, can start at these settings. We'll be spending the next few days tweaking some of the remaining settings to see what his system can pump out. Oh, and if you have a high-end vid card, like a 7800/7900 or X1800/X1900, try the HDR setting! ;)

The intro is pretty cool - starts out sort of like a movie. Uriel Septim is talking about the things he's been dreaming about, and then there's some awesome aerial shots of the capital city, then it flies around to the prison tower and zooms in on a barred window at the base. All this time, there's title words, just like a movie! :D "Bethesda presents" and all that. Anyway, that's how the game starts, and anyone who has downloaded the public movies has a good idea of how the gameplay works. We even got to re-enact the bucket with arrows scene! :D It was so cool!

The Collector's Edition is well worth it. Comes with a sleeved case and a Septim coin! :cool: The back cover of the manual has a map of the basic keyboard and mouse functions you need, so we actually haven't read a single word of the manual or guidebook as of yet. I've skimmed through the guidebook, however, and it looks even better than the old Morrowind one. Color photos and an overall better editing job. And to answer your next obvious question - YES! The sheep has a higher attack than the rat (3 vs 2) but the rat has a higher attack skill (20 vs 10). I know that one kept me up at night! :eek:

[Deagle]

ALRITE, glad to see some fellow gamers responding. I still waiting for my local CompUSA to stock the game with a promised price of $39.99 which is a good price considering it's $49.99 online.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Let's just hope they don't realize it and change the price at the last minute.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Deagle]

Hehe found it on ebay for $35 free 2nd day shipped. Now I just need to find a 7800GT for ~$200 and we're in business.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[saphalline]

You know, I liked Morrowind. It was the best first-person RPG I ever played. But I just never got into the whole quest thing - the world just wasn't "alive" enough to get me interested in any of the problems that people were having.

Oblivion, on the other hand, is true bliss... Morrowind looks like a cardboard cut-out compared to the might of Oblivion!! Once you've got the controls learned, the interface is very smooth, and the combat is to die for! The integration of sneaking, spells, and sword & shield gameplay is truly impressive. The best game moment I've had so far (not much, I just got out of the sewers) was doing 6x damage to a rat while sneaking! :D That was awesome! I think the best part about all of this is that everything is so intuitive and easy to operate. With Morrowind, I always felt like I was planning my strategies by which keys to press on the keyboard. With Oblivion, I feel like I'm planning my strategies in terms of the world around me, not the keyboard in front of me. It all melds so nicely, and while the changes are small (sneak is now a toggle, not a button you have to hold down) they really make the leap from the peripherals into the world.

And that world is alive, too! I feel much more connected to the plights of the people because I can control so much more. Just like blocking in combat has been put into the hands of the player, so have things like picking locks (you get to jimmy the tumblers on-screen) and persuasion (a ring with colored sections, very visually-oriented). Penalties have also been reduced. In the heat of battle, my friend Orion accidentally slashed a guard with his sword. That would have gotten him attacked and perhaps killed in Morrowind! But the guard in Oblivion simply said "it's a good thing I like you so much". Much less harsh for a small mistake in a harried battle. This carries on to other interactions, such as being able to attempt to persuade people multiple times in a row, as long as they'll stand your presence. And of course those rumours about the NPC AI are completely true. They stop and talk if two of them walk by each other, and there's more people out and about during the day. Shop doors are locked at night (which you can pick if you so desire) and unlock for open business in the morning (8am or 9am as far as we can tell so far). Every person speaks instead of just text, and the voices so far are varied enough to avoid immediate boredom. They putter around and do things inside buildings, and their responses to you are sometimes tailored to your gender and/or race.

The menu system this time around is outstanding once you learn how it works. Tabs and clickable regions of your status bar are all you'll need to do everything. The way quests are organized is much easier to read at a glance, and finished quests are given their own tab. Equipping armor and weapons and using items is even easier than it was in Morrowind, but be careful about which type of menu you are in. When looting, clicking transfers items between your inventory and the container/corpse. When not looting, clicking items uses them or equips them.

Finally, a big round of applause to Bethesda for making the beginning tutorial so frickin' useful! You can do everything in the beginning. You have two starter spells: a healing spell and an attack spell. You get access to various weapons right away: sword, bow, battle axe, and war hammer. You get a couple shields for practicing your blocking then attack combos. You get a few pieces of both light armor and heavy armor. You get tons of lockpicks and about 10 locks to pick to get used to the idea of lockpicking. You get a smithy hammer to repair items. You get tons of arrows if marksman is your thing. You get a mortar & pestle plus many many ingredients, so you can start making potions right away. About halfway through the tutorial sewers, I was making poisons and applying them to my sword, giving me a poisoned weapon for extra bonus damage in combat! You can also spring some traps and watch the included Havok physics engine at work for an RPG! :cool: You get exposure to just about everything in the beginning, and I think that really opens it up for players of all types and makes it just as easy to start the game as a thief or a warrior or a mage. So far, I had to custom-class my character because I'm actually using a bit from all 3 of those. That's how intuitive and integrated the combat system really is. Sneaking, doing backstabbing damage, hitting an enemy with a spell, blocking an enemy's attack with your shield, and killing them with a swipe of your sword can all be done within 30 seconds in Oblivion. In Morrowind, that would have meant careful preparation and timing with a good dose of keyboard mashing. In Oblivion, it was as easy as turning a corner. I'm not kidding, I did that exact series of combat maneuvers just 45 minutes after starting a new game, including the cut-scenes. Truly outstanding.

[Jason1971]

You guys sold me..... I am getting it ASAP

[jlreich]

Yeah me too. I'm getting it as soon as I can. :cool:

[i an not a nerd]

BTW, is it true that the PC version cannot do AA and HDR at the same time???

[Deagle]

Oblivion does allow a user to run HDR and AA at the same. It is what vid card you possessed that will determine whether you can do it or not. In your case i an not a nerd you have a x1900 so you can run it both at the same time.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif However I have heard and read that with Nvidia(even newest 7900 series) you can't due to its outdated architecture.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/frown.gif

[Deagle]

This is a note to anyone that's planning on getting this. Please look at the system requirements BEFORE purchasing because I've seen a lot of folks buying the game then ended up selling it because their system is not up to specs. Link for Bethesda (http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm) official post.

Recommended:




3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
1 GB System RAM
ATI X800 series, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card
Minimum System Requirements:


Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit
512MB System RAM
2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
128MB Direct3D compatible video card
and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver;
8x DVD-ROM drive
4.6 GB free hard disk space
DirectX 9.0c (included)
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Keyboard, Mouse
Supported Video Card Chipsets:


ATI X1900 series
ATI X1800 series
ATI X1600 series
ATI X1300 series
ATI X850 series
ATI x800 series
ATI x700 series
ATI x600 series
ATI Radeon 9800 series
ATI Radeon 9700 series
ATI Radeon 9600 series
ATI Radeon 9500 series
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series
NVIDIA GeForce 6200 series
NVIDIA GeForce FX series

[madad2005]

Saphalline, have you had any problems with crashing so far? All I am reading on the oblivion forum is complaints over game crashes every 10 minutes, and some of these people have good systems. I have a feeling, though, that most of them aren't completely computer-savvy.

I was hoping the game would arrive yesterday, so I could use it this weekend. It didn't! :-( Got to wait till Monday now. Buggah!

[Deagle]

I also saw those threads at elderscrolls forum. It is a new game so there will be patches release later on to fix the bugs. Same thing happen with Morrowind so I'm not too concern.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/cool.gif
I found some cool Oblivion actual gameplay videos over at Anandtech made by someone who played the game with his x1900xtx at 1680x1050 16xAF, all max setting with HDR on(no self shadow). You will need divx to play it.
Link 1 (http://www.clan786.com/files/videos/OblivionXTX.avi) (outdoor)
Link 2 (http://www.clan786.com/files/videos/OblivionXTX2.avi) (indoor)
Link 3 (http://www.clan786.com/files/videos/OblivionXTX3.avi) (dungeon)

[saphalline]

It froze once in-game, but that was because the HP printer panel app opened during gameplay and minimized the game (Orion had a similar problem when he was playing). The readme warns that Alt-Tab'ing out of the game causes problems and they were right! It also had a problem quitting once, with that stupid M$ window that says "Send a report?", but I had already quit the game by then. Otherwise it's been a rock-solid experience!

But then again, with the two of us under one roof, we keep Orion's PC pretty healthy and up-to-date, so we know what we're doing. Never had a problem with a game yet that was due to a system issue. I have a feeling people with problems with Oblivion are just not doing something right. Not surprising, really, considering how much knowledge the two of us require to keep our Windows games running smoothly. :rolleyes: There's a right way to do things and a not-so-good way to do things. ;)

[jlreich]

I have been checking out some screen shots and the videos Deagle linked to. It looks really really good. :cool:

I am going to have wait a little while though since I just spent $160 on a new PSU and UPS last week. :rolleyes:

It's top on my list of things to get though. Can't wait. :D

[beerbelly]

Mine is on its way, 3-day, that's way too long!

[saphalline]

Performance update: 1280 x 1024 was a bit too strenuous on Orion's system during outdoor battles. The trees and foliage are procedurally rendered, and the shadows added a whole other layer of rendering demands. The outdoor battles were reduced to slide-shows, so we did a bit of tweaking. Lowered the resolution to 1024 x 768, and compensated by increasing the overall draw distance and keeping self-shadows and object shadows (for NPC's and creatures) - all other shadows are turned off. This increased the minimum performance in outdoor battles to roughly 30 fps while incurring a negligible hit to image quality from a lower resolution. The increased draw distance more than makes up for the potential loss in resolution by improving the game's playability and significantly reducing those annoying "tree pops" (procedurally rendered trees that pop in and out of existence when turning). So far, we are quite happy with the tweaks.

Some more experimentation with the actual gameplay has led us to the discovery that the difficulty slider is quite potent! :eek: For the first time around, we slid it all the way to super-easy then forgot about it. Until we started realizing that all our enemies were just pathetic! One hit to kill a mud crab? Ok, that's believable since Oblivion makes you much more capable out-of-the-gates, but one hit for a wolf? Slid the difficulty back to the middle (default) and the battles are much more enjoyable! :D Nothing dies in one hit anymore, which lets us really have fun with the new battle strategy elements that Oblivion provides. So when the rest of you get the game, remember - leave the slider where it is because Oblivion doesn't force you to kill just rats for your character's first 3 levels like Morrowind did. :rolleyes: And the battles are oh so sweet in comparison.

Deagle - "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded"! :eek: Do we have to wait until next month to get those videos again?

[madad2005]

What kind of system are you using? I was planning on playing in 1024x768 mode anyway, and it'd be nice to see what frame rates others are getting with similar setups.

[saphalline]

Only my friend Orion has the game thus far, so we use his system. Asus A8N SLI Deluxe mobo, Athlon 64 Venice 3000+, two GeForce 6600 GT's in SLI, 1GB dual-channel DDR400 RAM (2 x 512MB sticks) - everything at stock speeds.

[madad2005]

Cheers for the info.

My copy has arrived this morning. It has coincided with some a good appraisal from my boss, so it will be serious gaming this evening! :-D

I'll let you know my final video settings. It should be interesting since I have a creative audigy 2 zs sound card - lots of people seem to be having probs with it.

[LadyGrey]

Same here, mine's on the way!!! Be waiting with baited breath for this!!!

Still playing Morrowind after 4 years more or less, I've beaten it four times from the main quest but there is still so much to see and do and find. Didn't like Tribunal to well but Bloodmoon was fun. My computer is on the low end for the system specs but as long as I can at least play I'll be happy. I'll work on upgrades for the computer to enhance the graphics and fps when I can but for now I just want to see it and check it out, been so excited about getting it!http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Do you suppose it would be possible to have a second instance of W2K on a different partition but with just the basics, updates and such, no other programs or junk and to run Oblivion from there? How would I go about doing that, if it's even possible?
LGhttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[madad2005]

Game has just been installed without a glitch. Exciting stuff!

[i an not a nerd]

Okey game arrived, setting auto-detected to "Ultra High Quality" :) . Resolution is at 1280x1024. My two complaints about the graphics are: 1. No AA and HDR at the same time! The options just say "HDR is enabled, disabling AntiAliasing" or "AntiAliasing enabled, disabling HDR". (Maby this will be fixed in a patch?) 2. The self-shadows screw up. (I'll post a screenshot later).

In terms of technical quality, I found alot of bugs with the AI and some charecter positioning. For example, I attacked a guard, then whent into the water. The guard refused to come after me.Another was when I was going with the undercover Blades guy in the sewers to get the fourth volume of the commentary, and at one point he would fall through a bridge into the water. He would repeatly try and cross the bridge and fall even though there was a staircase out of the water on the other side. Another time, I was just wandering through the imperial city and a guard was walking waist deep inside the concrete.

Another thing, whenever I exit the game, it crashes.....

But in terms of overall amazingness, this game deserves an A!

[saphalline]

Haha! Yep, those problems are consistent with ours. I love that guy in the concrete, though! He's so funny when he tries to crouch! :p

Given that these problems are consistent, I'm betting the patch will fix them right up! ;)

[i an not a nerd]

Given that these problems are consistent, I'm betting the patch will fix them right up!

I just wonder how long Bethesda is gonna take to fix them though, and can they fix them for the Xbox360 version??? Thats one of the PCs advantages.... the ability to patch.

[saphalline]

Oh good point. I don't know how the console versions work. PC users can just patch it, but not all XBox 360's come with a hard drive, which is a given on a PC. Hmmm... how did Morrowind work on XBox? Does anyone know?

[i an not a nerd]

About how consoles work... i have no idea. I have the Nintendo systems, no Xbox. I remember that Halo 2 could DL maps onto the HD... but as far as I know, there have been no patches for console games. It is possible (but very unlikely) that they will release patches for the consoles by simply updating the game DVDs when they are printed.

Does anyone here tried Oblivion on an Xbox360? Does it have the same problems as the PC version???

BTW i was playing around in the Oblivion_Default.ini and found alot of things that people with some ablility to figure out ini files can tweak for lower or higher settings than those that can be done in the settings menu. For example, I increased the amount of shaders in the game. (Man these 48 shader units are showing their powers!)

[Deagle]

Hmm the links to those videos are down, lots of people must have downloaded them. Anyone know where I can upload video for free and doesn't require registration?(like imageshack for image)

[madad2005]

I haven't had a single crash yet. The only error I get is when I double-click the oblivion icon an error message comes up "Cannot detect cd in drive e:", I click continue and we are fine. I am playing with 1024x768 with HDR turned on and I get fps ranging from 16 up to 45 outside, and a bit higher inside.

The RAI isn't too bad though it is getting easier lulling opponents into attacking then counter-attacking (as soon as you stop blocking they try to attack so block-unblock-block immediately-counterattack). The sneak and marksman skills combine very sweatly, however. Drop a goblin in one! I am well impressed in the improvements in the combat system as it is extremely similar to one of my favourite games of all time, Severece: Blade of Darkness (had a different name in US, possibly Blade).

My biggest problem is just learning my way about this place and finding places to buy spells from (infact, a mage's guild would be nice!). Ok, my first biggest problem was actually a stupid one. At the start when the Emperor gets killed, I wasn't paying proper attention so I didn't see the wall slide open when the assassin jumped out. This then resulted in me trying to climb walls and jump up to the other doors (which do not open by the way). It wasn't till I restarted the tutorial that I noticed my mistake - doh!

I've only played for about 4 hours so I don't know any other probs. I think I might do some .ini tweaking - some guy on the elderscrolls forum showed some really good tweaks for a x1600xt.

Also, it doesn't seem as though there is any copy-protection, or they have installed a new type of copy-protection that current detectors can't locate. I haven't been able to confirm this, but I would be extremely surprised if their wasn't any.

[i an not a nerd]

Well, I have been able to burn a fully working backup DVD... So as far as I can tell there is no copy protection.

[saphalline]

The Imperial City's Market District has some spell shops. There's the "Discount Spells" shop, but I'm afraid to go in there. I envision the wand shop from Harry Potter! :eek: :p Other than shops, I don't think there are any guild headquarters within the Imperial City. You might have to travel to Chorrol (next stop anyway) or Cheydinhal. If you go to Chorrol first, that's a good idea, because you get a horse there. It isn't much, but it will speed up your travels on the road significantly. Or you can just fast-travel, I suppose.

Ok, just checked the Bethesda forums for the ini guide and lo and behold, "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded"! Does anyone have that file they could email to me or something? Or better yet, post the text here on the forums (with the proper credits and link of course)?

[madad2005]

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=301118&hl=

This guy has some .ini tweaks, some of which seem quite good. I am going to try the shader model 3.0 and grass tweaks this evening (nothing like an extra few fps!!). Apparently the biggest tweak to get more fps is to reduce the number of frames to render ahead in coolbits from 3 to any of 2, 1, or 0. I haven't tried this yet, but I'll give it a go tonight at some point.

EDIT: http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=23&t=308781

Unofficial technical FAQ.

[saphalline]

Ok, no worries, bandwidth problem fixed. DL'ed the ini guide and will be experimenting. Some interesting stuff there. I especially like the "no head" tweak! :p Who on the design team thought that would be a good feature, though??

[i an not a nerd]

A warning to everyone playing with the ini. Remember to make a backup! Some of the tweaks listed on the elderscrolls forum screwed my ini file up (had to reinstall).

[madad2005]

I'm finding the .ini file tweaks to be ineffective. I am altering the one located in My Documents and keeping it open whilst I play to prevent overwrites. I managed to get outdoor (in amongst lots of trees) fps to 22-35 after reducing the view distance to just over half (didn't notice much difference anyway, though time will tell). I'm getting just over those fps indoors. Reducing the number of frames to render ahead decreased performance for me (made it more jumpy).

[saphalline]

Doesn't keeping the ini file open while you play prevent the game from starting up with it? As in, the changes don't take effect? Or do you open it after the game starts?

i an not a nerd - Haha! Forgot one little step, eh? :p Gotta be careful with those hacks...

[i an not a nerd]

ya.... fortuantly i remembered to backup my charecter before reinstalling!

[madad2005]

Doesn't keeping the ini file open while you play prevent the game from starting up with it? As in, the changes don't take effect? Or do you open it after the game starts?

i an not a nerd - Haha! Forgot one little step, eh? :p Gotta be careful with those hacks...

Well, I think it does. Someone on a forum said that you had to keep it open, but after some tweaking last night I noticed that tweaks were not having any effect on my fps. Now, however, I'm getting between 19-35 fps outside with inside not going below 23fps. 1024x768, HDR on, view distance just over half, and some other stuff turned on. Not too bad for a 6800xt - was well worth the purchase. I am starting to get a bit annoyed with the law system in the game. I've already been arrested 3 times for touching something I shouldn't have - I mean, if you don't have a horse collar on your horse, then how can you definitely say its yours!?!?!?

[saphalline]

I've heard that the QA testers recommended taking out the horse collars because they dropped the frame rate on horseback riding by 10%! :eek:

Haha, just kidding! :D Seriously, though, if you get your sneak skill up you can steal more easily. It won't work all the time, but... Why are you taking stuff anyway? Cyrodiil is the central Imperial region! It has tight security! Not like Morrowind in that way.

[jlreich]

My wife was kind enough to buy the collectors edition for me last night since I am broke at the moment. :cool: :D Good wife! :D

So far it's pretty cool, but I haven't had much time to play it or even figure out the best settings for my 6800GS yet.

Well I'm off to play. :p

[jlreich]

I do really like it now that I have played for awhile. :cool:

Yeah it has crashed on me a few times. :( But the games is good enough that I can live with it for now. :p

This is the first time I have ever bought a game when it first came out. I usually wait about six months for the price to drop down to $20-$30 then buy it. But it is really good. :D

Now I know where everyone has been lately instead of here on the forums. :p

[i an not a nerd]

Saph - I am now the Gray Fox lol.

[saphalline]

Yeah, Orion and everyone else I know has been doing quests. I've been cutting out on my own. I always do - just walk around, check things out, find caves and such. Lots of sneaking opportunities in caves, although you can get your sneak skill up easily in town (follow the guards around at night - gives you something to do while you wait for the shops to open).

[madad2005]

Well, I got my arse kicked by a wolf for the first time! I think I am level 4 now (I can never tell when I am due to level - you don't get a message like you did in morrowind), and although my spells are getting more potent (fry a skeleton with one fireball) the game is getting much tougher, especially in h2h.

The thing about the thefts, I wasn't trying to steal ANYTHING! I just wanted to pick something up to look at it and next thing I know I'm being called a thief with 250 gold fine!! I am now avoiding ALL imperial guards as any time I ask them somethng they arrest me! I got started on the Grey Wolf quest because of that, so I might try and finish it off, like NERD.

Nah, I think I'll concentrate on doing the Mage's Guild quest and finding out about necromancy. If someone manages it before me, please let me know!

[saphalline]

Yes, on the higher levels, you have to be extremely skilled in close quarters combat to be effective. And more importantly, you need magical back-up. The first few quests for the Mage's guild will let you have access to the enchanting doo-hickey, which will enchant items per your specifications (for a price). Also, you'll need potions! Lots of potions! Especially if you try and conquer the Arena at level 5+ as a close quarters warrior (like my character).

Yes, I stole something once, then I had to reload the game. Annoying business that stealing thing. I learned quickly that red icons are BAD. :p

You need help with the Mage's guild quests? Just buy the guide. It's a tremendous value for the money, as they have just about everything in there. It's all organized quite nicely and it includes info that really should have been in the manual. Things like how to recharge magical weapons, basic battle tactics, and just some general info on what you can do. There's a lot of cool things you can do in the game that the tiny manual gives NO hints about. :rolleyes: It's almost like you need the guide or you'll spend weeks just trying to figure out that you can go anywhere at any time because the entire game is leveled with your character.

[i an not a nerd]

Hey Saph, what is the name of the Guide?

[beerbelly]

Got mine!
I'm just beyond the rat killing fest, and have my mission to find the hier.
This game is great so far, but I wish I had a Bigger mouse pad. No, never mind, the mouse pad went away so I could use the whole desk. Sooner or later I'll get a mouse sensitivity that works for me.
So far I've only came across 1 glitch, I had to kill a rat whose head was buried in a wall. However, I did download all of the goodies on the game's homesite.
The best feature I've found so far, is that you can roam all you want, and that red arrow on your compass will always take you where you need to go to further the game.
The thing that I dislike, is that I can't have a visible map while marching, (or can I?). Also I tried hunting the deer frolicking in the field, but they can't be killed with fireballs.

[Deagle]

Hey Saph, what is the name of the Guide?
It's called The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion official guide and here's a link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761552766/002-0443931-4980052?v=glance&n=283155)to it. As for me I'll gladly go with a freeone from Gamefaqs and finding stuff on my own.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[i an not a nerd]

Well I was just interested in the guide for random trivia...

[pinkpig]

right i know u lot know alot about good fast amazing graphic cards but do any of you know how to switch some of my mb's from my ram to boost my graphics card see prob is that i got 64mb graphics card and 768mb's of ram and if possible i want to switch about 196mb's to my graphics card just wondering how to on a graphics card which is built in to the mother board

system running

intel celeron 1.8ghz
trigem computer motherboard
intel i845gl chipset
768 mb ram 1x 256mb pc2100 133mhz 1x 512 pc2100 133mhz
bios is phoenix version 6.00

thx for any help liam- pinkpig

[saphalline]

Your chipset already takes care of that. In the BIOS you can adjust how much RAM is taken up by the onboard video. But there's no way to tell it to use more than the settings that are already there. If 64MB is the max, you can't tell it to use more, and no onboard video yet allows the use of 196MB (128MB is the max currently). You also can't do this in software (as in find a downloadable program to do this) because it all must be done using hardware allocation. So the simple answer is no, you can't do that.

You aren't trying to run Oblivion using onboard video, are you!? :eek:

[jlreich]

You can look in your BIOS to change the AGP aperture to 128MB if it goes that high. AGP aperture specifies how much system ram is allocated to hold textures and such when the ram on the video card runs out. But it isn't realy giving your video card extra ram, just specifying the limit the system ram can be used to hold the overflow. And system ram is considerably slower than any type of video ram.

That might help a little if your aperture is set to low, but certainly won't be enough to play Oblivion if that's what you are doing.

[Deagle]

Update!!!
Where is everyone in the game? As for me, I ditched the main quest and joined fighter/thief/mage guilds.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Thief guild - got up to 1st mission by gray fox. Fighter - rock cave. Mage - still trying to get all recommendations. I also did a lot of sidequests because the game actually makes you care for the problems of the masses. This game is awesome, I could spend months on this lol.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[madad2005]

Well, I am so far on to my 3rd character. I ditched my orc warrior for a high-elf thief-mage, and finally I am now dunmer fighter-thief-mage! I like the sneak -> arrow in the back -> few fireballs -> longsword and shield + cold touch spell in close quarters. Still getting the mage guild reccomendations. Want to aim for dark brotherhood membership rather than thieving (don't have the patience for it). I am aiming to get some necromancy items then go about terrorising little villages. I will slowly work my way up the Arena ladder and then I'll think about completing the final quest (I never did bother doing it in Morrowind - so many other side quests!).

I am a bit disappointed with the level of the various caves and forts. The baddies just seem too easy to dispose of. I've killed mauraders, zombies, skeletons, ghosts, goblins, deadroth's - none seem to be too difficult. I think I need to do some more serious mage guild quests!

[i an not a nerd]

The baddies just seem too easy to dispose of.

Hehe try sliding the difficulty slider all the way to the left.

[i an not a nerd]

OK a warning to eveyone playing Obliv on PC. Make mulitple saves. Obliv crashed on me and corrupted my save file, i've had to start from step 1!

[jlreich]

Thanks for the warning. Now backed up. :)

It will be nice when they release a patch to fix the crashes. :rolleyes: A couple of the ini tweaks did help minimize the crashes, but it's still a pain sometimes.

If it wasn't such a great game I would have thrown it out the window by now. :p :D Seems like they really hurried to get it released, but I am sure they are working hard on a patch. ;)

[i an not a nerd]

It will be nice when they release a patch to fix the crashes.

O ya.... That would be sweet, but I don't expect a patch to come out for at least a month or so.

Seems like they really hurried to get it released

Well if you watch the bonus DVD one of the guys to say that coming up to E3 they had to throw a bunch of stuff together to show...

[LadyGrey]

Whoohooo got mine and oh man how awesome!! I haven't had any trouble at all and I have a really low end system for this game. I'm sure it doesn't look as wonderful as it could but I'm very happy! I haven't had a bit of trouble, install went great, startup was fine, no freezes or crashes and really very little lag between cells loading. Much better than Morrowind. Now if I can only keep from getting killed all the time!!! :D LG;)

[saphalline]

I've got an 80% crash-on-exit issue, but that isn't causing any problems since it only happens when I'm exiting anyway! :p Other than that, no problems. Man, what's wrong with the rest of you!? ;)

Yeah, I pretty much save a new game file every time I save. Had to go through the save folder yesterday and erase about 160 saved games :eek: but it works for me. (Learned about multiple saves with Morrowind, which had more stability problems that we've had with Oblivion so far.)

LadyGrey - Turn the difficulty slider down to easy (all the way to the left) and you'll do a lot better in the game. Enemies are weaker and your loot is better! :cool: I had to turn it back down to easy for this first romp through the game. Maybe as I get better I can start jackin' it up.

Bought that house in Bravil. Loaded it with all sorts of loot that I've gotten. I have plenty of money for now, so I'm saving up my greater loot for now and just selling the lesser stuff. I also moved my Alchemy base of operations to my house, which ended up saving me about 130 pounds of carrying capacity! :eek: Man that stuff adds up!

The Bravil house was only 4000 + 1127 or so for the deed plus a storage set for loot. There's a shack in the Imperial City (docks section by the pirates) that's only 2000 to buy, though, so that's probably a better location and price for those just starting out. Seedy part of town, but the game makes sure that no NPC is allowed to loot your house.

Those Oblivion gates give me the creeps! Just like the H*ll levels in Doom 3. But they do have the advantage of staying open until you pluck the Sigil Stone from the top of the main tower. Which means you can make loot runs back through the gate as many times as you need. Very important for low-Strength characters who need the money. Those Daedric weapons weight a ton! But they are good for selling. 100 gold a pop on average without magical enchantments! My warrior can lug a ton of stuff out of those gates without making runs back, and I routinely come back with over 1500 gold in loot and I still leave stuff behind. A couple gates later and you can buy any of the cheapest 3 houses easily!

[jlreich]

I've got an 80% crash-on-exit issue, but that isn't causing any problems since it only happens when I'm exiting anyway! Other than that, no problems. Man, what's wrong with the rest of you!?
Yeah crashes during exit are probably about 70% of my crashes now. At first it was crashing a lot during game play but after setting a couple of the ini tweaks, like raising the preload size, it is a lot better.

Still though it crashes much more than a finished game ever should.

It never fails if I forget to quick save after traveling half way across the world it will crash on me. :p

I just realized tonight you can click on an already traveled to location in the world map and transport there directly. What a time saver. :p :o :D

[i an not a nerd]

I just realized tonight you can click on an already traveled to location in the world map and transport there directly. What a time saver.

Whao? So you've been walking everywhere??? Yes it is quite a useful feature. lol.

Ya, after I increased the preload size most of my crashes went away. I still crash on exit if I exit from ingame. If i exit to the main menu and then exit there seems to be no problems.

Everyone here prolly knows about the problem with standing on top of a mountain, and in the distance all you see is a blurry texture. Well, lets just say that with a few ini tweaks and a 512 MB vid card, those problems go away :).

Another thing, where in the Arcane University can you make ur own spells? I know where you can enchant items, but I keep hearing NPCs saying that you can make your own spells?

[madad2005]

Yup, I just got my staff and there is an altar you can use to make your own spells now. I've got a feeling it may be in the same room where you get your staff from, actually. I haven't done it yet myself as I have just reached evoker and I'm really still trying to decide what to do with myself in the game.

Doesn't it feel good to drop a necromancer with a single arrow shot? OooOOooOOoo yes it doessss!

[jlreich]

Whao? So you've been walking everywhere??? Yes it is quite a useful feature. lol.
Hehe, yes. Heck I didn't find the map tab for several days, to busy just playing. :p I never even looked at the manual, I suppose that kind of stuff is in there. :p Keep in mind I haven't played any Elder Scrolls games before this, so many of you guys probably know more about the game than I do before it even came out.

I just fired it up and started playing. I'm sure there are oodles of stuff I have no clue about that you guys are already doing. Which is really to my benefit as I keep finding more and more layers to the game as I go, and it just keeps getting better and better. :D :cool:

Without a doubt one could play this game for quite a long time without ever coming to a real end, or ever getting board. Well worth the $$. :cool:

[saphalline]

Yes, I'm starting to wonder what's in the "Special Features" disk that comes with the Collector's Edition. It occurred to us today that we've never even looked at it! :eek: Too busy playing. :D Maybe we'll look at that tomorrow...

jlreich - You need to at least read the part of the manual that details the skill levels. For instance, the Sneak skill is very basic if you are a Novice (1-24) or Apprentice level (25-49) although you still get an attack bonus while sneaking. At Journeyman level (50-74) your boots no longer affect your ability to sneak around, as in they don't make a sound. At Expert level (75-99) you no longer receive a penalty for moving while sneaking. A Master (100) can attack and totally ignore armor while sneaking!

The other skills have the same level break-down, and they each have their own benefits for improving them. Levels in Security determine how many tumblers fall when you break a pick, magic disciplines determine the power of the spells you are able to cast, a Journeyman Armorer can repair magical weapons & armor, and levels in Alchemy determine how many effects of each ingredient you can see and use.

Knowing these skill levels helps you focus on specific skills for your character. My warrior, for instance, needs a good amount of ability in Armorer. I just got to Journeyman so that now I can repair my own magical items (very useful out in the field). I also got to Journeyman Block, so that my shield never gets damaged anymore - my Journeyman Acrobatics lets me attack and cast spells while jumping or falling and do a dodge roll in combat - and my Expert level of sneaking is such that I can move silently and deadly to deliver nice 6x sneak attacks with my Glass Longsword to any creature not directly facing me. Let me tell you - ogres are nothing if you can sneak up on them! :cool: They may be big and strong, but they're also stupid and unaware.

[i an not a nerd]

I've checked out the special features disc and its just a "making of the game" featurette and some artwork... Not extremely exciting...

O and jlreich - i've never played an Elder Scrolls game before either. I was interested in this game purely from word of mouth about how amazing it is.

[saphalline]

I played Morrowind for many hours but never got very far, mostly because I didn't cheat. :p Morrowind was tough compared to Oblivion. I mean like you had to kill rats for the first 4 levels as a warrior in order to stay alive. So the beginning of Morrowind and now Oblivion - that's the only Elder Scrolls experience that I've had. But I will say that getting the guidebooks helps tremendously! ;) Tells you things that aren't in the manual (for some odd reason).

Play through it once. That way you'll have a better idea of what you want to do the second time around.

My warrior is on level 20/21 now. Found two more Oblivion gates, but haven't closed them yet. Just closed the one in Kvatch and another one by a road - so 2 total. The Kvatch gate gave me a Sigil stone for Strength +10 on armor, so I put it on my Ebony Cuirass. The second Sigil stone has frost damage for weapons, or water walking for armor/item. Haven't decided yet what I want to do with that one. I'm on the look-out for a pendant (water walking pendant) but the frost damage is appealing for fighting Daedra inside the gates. Decisions, decisions...

[jlreich]

I will take look through the manual sometime soon. :p

I had already got through Kvatch, then started a new new game. I had a pretty good feel for the game at that point and it didn't take long at all to get back where I was already.

Up until the other night I just kind of followed along with the main quest, but now I am going to start trying to find the finer points of the game. :cool:

I am going to work on getting up the gold to buy a house, then work on getting recommendations from the all the various mage guilds. I just have one from the guild in Bruma right now.

Oh yeah i an not a nerd, exiting to the main menu first does help stop the exit crashes. :)

[saphalline]

If you want an awesome magical shield (Heavy Armor), here's how to get it:

Quest #1

- Visit Chorrol and listen to the rumours that people say. They will mention something about seeing Reynald Jemaine in Cheydinhal, but he was "rude" and didn't recognize them.
- Talk to Reynald Jemaine in The Grey Mare inn/pub to receive the quest to visit Cheydinhal and clear up this mistaken identity mess.
- Go to Cheydinhal and ask people about "Reynald Jemaine". They won't know him, but they will know a Guilbert Jemaine.
- Talk to Guilbert Jemaine in the Newlands Lodge. He'll tell you a story and then set off to visit his long-lost brother back in Chorrol. Now you have to give him a couple days to get there...
- In the mean time, go back to Chorrol and listen to some amusing banter from Reynald Jemaine about not having a brother.

Quest #2

- Once you've reunited the Jemaine brothers, they have another task for you. They want you to find and clear out their old family home: Weatherleah. But they don't know the exact location.
- Ask around town about who might know, or go straight to Sabine at the Chorrol Fighter's Guild house. Talk to her, get the exact location.
- Weatherleah is pretty basic. Just 3 ogres leveled to your character. Hint: take your time and sneak up on them. They're strong, but stupid.
- Once they're dead, feel free to go inside the manor house and look around, loot if you want. Then go back to Chorrol and talk to the Jemaine brothers.
- They're happy about their old home and all that, then ask you to escort them back to it. The pathfinding for the AI is greatly improved here, so feel free to run and jump (and avoid the ruins) along the way.
- Once all 3 of you get there, this part is over and you get a reward. You will then have to wait a few more days to complete the final quest and get the shield...

Quest #3

- Many days later, you will be accosted by a strange fellow on the streets of Chorrol. Tell him what you know about the Jemaine brothers and he'll offer you an intriguing proposition. Take him up on it.
- He'll give you the location of an ogre-infested cave near Weatherleah, where his "treasure" (nature unknown to you) has been taken.
- Again, basic cave. Go there, clear it out (or sneak by the stupid ogres) and take the "treasure". It turns out to be a sword belonging to the Chorrol royal family.
- At this point, you could keep the sword and never finish the quest. Or you could sell it to the shady street thug in Chorrol for a bunch of money. Or you could take it back to Castle Chorrol and turn it in to the steward.
- If you opt for the latter, the steward rewards you with a magical shield. The shield has a leveled enchantment of Reflect Damage. I chose this route because it's always nice when weakened enemies can kill themselves on your shield. But non-front combat characters can also choose the gold. Keeping the sword permanently isn't recommended since it's not that great and you will never finish the quest.
- Once you finish the quest by getting rid of the sword (either way) you can go back to Weatherleah and talk to the Jemaine brothers again. Yes, you get a reward. And a nice surprise as Weatherleah is now all fixed up! Alchemists: feel free to loot the crops for ingredients.

These 3 quests represent quite the investment in time and effort, but the rewards are well worth it. I had to share this little string of events because the shield or the gold are extremely helpful in the game. And it shows you just how many mini-quests there are in the game that have nothing to do with the main quest.

[i an not a nerd]

Ok, for all you who have x1000 series cards, ATI has released a hotfix that allows HDR and AA at the same time for the PC.

You can grab it here: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=21960

BTW it looks reallllly nice!!!

MIkeB

[madad2005]

Ok, I am now Magician in the Mages Guild, Bloodletter in the Arena, Murderer in the Dark Brotherhood, and whatever the starting rank is in the Thieves Guild. I've also been asked to work with some vampire hunters, which will be fun when I get time to do what they ask. I think I'm spreading myself a bit thin here! I've apparently got 20 active quests, but I don't remember agreeing to anything. Bolloxs. And I am still only level 4. How the hell do you guys manage to level so quickly!?

[Deagle]

How the hell do you guys manage to level so quickly!?
I don't know about other people but I don't like leveling up that much. Only did it because of level loot.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif Sap you were right Ogres are dumb!!!. I did the mission you mentioned and killed all 3 of them standing on a high legde so they can't reach me(if they were smarter they'd run around and flank me). Fireball + glass arrows = death.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[saphalline]

How the hell do you guys manage to level so quickly!?Combat. Unless you've got Speechcraft or Mercantile as major skills, you won't gain levels very quickly by talking to people and hanging around town. You'll find a lot of caves and ruins even along the road. Explore some of them. Even if you don't clear them out entirely, just clear out the first room or couple of baddies. It's also beneficial to fight highwaymen and bandits, also along the road. For alchemy, walk out into the middle of the forests and collect any and all ingredients that you can. The game gives you a Novice Mortar & Pestle in the tutorial, so there's no excuse for any character in the game to not be making rudimentary potions early on.

Quests will complete certain portions of the storyline or advance certain non-critical events in the towns and dungeons. They will also increase your fame (usually) or your infamy (if your actions are "ungood"). But leveling by quests alone is a difficult task. At some point, you have to strike out on your own and just... explore. Random Oblivion gates, opened by finding Martin and escorting him to Weynon Priory, also provide quite a bit of opportunity for character advancement. They also provide loot, Daedric weapons & armor, and the all-powerful Sigil Stones for free (albeit random) enchantments. The random Oblivion gates will also re-open eventually meaning you have a nearly unlimited number of such opportunities. A couple of the larger towns also have sewerways under the town proper that you can explore, infested with some pretty dark creatures (that's where I met my first Vampire).

The game populates these areas mostly with creatures/baddies leveled to your character (with a few exceptions) so as long as you save beforehand, don't be afraid to wander off the beaten track and jump into some mines and ruins.

[jlreich]

Yeah combat is the key to leveling. I am at level 6 getting close to 7.

Remember you have to increase any combination of your major skills by "10" points to level up. To improve skills you just have to use them. :) And don't forget you have to sleep in a bed to go through the actual level up process.

BTW, I finally read the manual. Very informative. Who would have guessed? :p :D

[saphalline]

I have yet to do any guild quests. I should really do some of those soon. My warrior is on level 24 now. Maxed out Endurance (100) and Strength is almost there. Fun stuff. The rest of the stats are still quite low, however (60 or lower). Now of course my character is combat-oriented, so dungeon hunting raised levels very quickly. Works with other characters, though, you just have to use your skills. Mages need to cast spells, and Stealth characters need to sneak, lockpick, whatever.

[saphalline]

On level 31 now, doing the Mage's Guild recommendation quests so I can get access to the Arcane University and the enchantment altar. Strength is maxed-out now, Speed and Agility approaching 70, Intelligence and Willpower approaching 50. Once I can enchant my own items, I'm off to find Azura's Star! Found the edge of the game world down by Anvil, bought 4 houses now and soon will buy the rest. Got plenty of money and got to Master level in Sneak. Been picking my Transcedent Sigil stones carefully: Detect Life 180 ft is awesome! :D Going for Chameleon 30%, Feather 125 points, and Resist Fire 35% next (whichever order I get them in). Keep in mind these values are for Transcendent Sigil stones only (level 17 or higher) so lesser Sigil stones will have lower values (but just as helpful for lower level characters). Got a nice complement of high-level Daedric/Ebony Heavy Armor for enchanting, but I will be customizing my own weapons. Sigil stones don't support more than one enchantment per weapon. I want Frost damage + Soul Trap for my weapons, to be used in conjunction with Azura's Star. ;)

So where is everyone else in the game? This thread has been pretty dead lately...

[madad2005]

At Level 11 and a vampire searching for the damned cure. Trying to find ingredients which I hate and is the main reason why I don't bother with alchemy. Apart from that, avoiding daylight is a bit of a nuisance, but the vampire quests have allowed me to get a elven claymore which is now enchanced with soultrap and absorb health 5 pts on strike. Azura's star would be very nice indeed!

I'm Wizard in Mages Guild (v good spells), 2nd level in Thieves Guild, Gladiator in Arena, and Assassin in DB.

[i an not a nerd]

I believe that one of the wizards in the Arcane University can cure it. I personally like being a vampire, except for the constant having to restore health during the sunlit hours (the pro is that i now have 100 restoration).

[madad2005]

Nope, there is a very lengthy quest to find a cure. I had to get rid of it cos I was getting bored feeding. Just became arena grand champion, now I'm planning on becoming arch-mage. Still need to buy a house. Who do you go to see to buy the shack down the waterfront?

[i an not a nerd]

Ok, i'm having this weird thing happen to my computer. All setup wizards (installers, uninstallers, repair wizards, etc.) now use the oblivion screens!

For example, look at this:


http://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=weird1hx.jpg


Weird huh?

Anyone else have this happen to them?

MIkeB

[jlreich]

Uh oh! An oblivion gate must have opened in your computer! LOL! :p :D

[mjc]

Umm...there isn't an Oblivion theme/skin is there?

[Jason1971]

You guys are killing me with all of this Oblivion talk!!!!!! :mad: :D ;)

I am trying not to read this thread so I won't be tempted to buy this game :)

3 weeks of school left...... So no game til then :o

[saphalline]

Who do you go to see to buy the shack down the waterfront?Ohh, that's what's-her-name "Marissae" or whatever, at the Imperial Commerce Office. Market District.

i an not a nerd - That is indeed a very odd problem! :eek: Can't say as I've noticed anything, though, since I haven't installed anything since Oblivion. :p I'll have to check on that...

Jason1971 - Hehe, yeah, I have some things I should probably be working on. Oh well. :D

[mjc]

I need to stop reading this thread...my computer whimpers every time I access it. Before I even think about playing this game, I'd need a completely new system...

[jlreich]

I just bought the shack on the waterfront yesterday. :) It's nice to unload all that stuff I have been carrying. I actually have room to pick up items on my journeys without worrying about being over encumbered. And so close to the Thieves Guild meeting place too. :p

Hey anyone been in the painting world yet? That was unexpected but cool. :cool:

Mjc, if you need an excuse to build a new system Oblivion is a very good one.

Jason1971, don't even buy it yet. You will totally forget you are in school if you start playing. ;)

[madad2005]

I totally agree! Don't buy this game if you are trying to sustain a life outwith of it! I'm now Arch-Mage and Arena Grand Champion! Yeah! I'm going to aim for head of the DB, then move on to the Thieves Guild. I'd suggest everyone completes the Azura's shrine quest. The final baddy has a fantastic sword and the quest item is possibly the most useful item in the game.

[Deagle]

The final baddy has a fantastic sword
That might be a level loot but yeah the azura star pwns. Reusable soul gem lol.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[mjc]

Mjc, if you need an excuse to build a new system Oblivion is a very good one.

Yeah, but for some reason, my wife doesn't think a game qualifies.

Now maybe if I added a robotic arm, some sensors and a controlleer connected to the washing machine, I may be able to convince her...

[LadyGrey]

Finally to level 10, I've joined all the guilds and am just running around doing different things. Just invited to the DB so I'll check that out too. I think it was Saph that told me to slide the difficulty bar to the left some and I did, while not easy at all it does make the game more enjoyable for me, not dying constantly, I love looking for things and figuring out the puzzles, so getting killed all the time was royal pain in touche! I'm havin a blast with this!! You have no life if you've started playing this game!http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/eek.gif http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I was workin on a computer for ARC and suddenly found myself thinking about where a quest item could possibly be, almost stopped working to go start the game to see if I was right! Just terriblehttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/tongue.gif http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I've not gotten real far in the main quest, kinda savin that. I have closed the first gate tho in Kvatch and that was a trip goin into Oblivion!

MJC, my computer will run Oblivion ok, not like some of the high end systems for sure but it does run and looks nice. My system is on the very low end and even below what they recommend but it still runs with no crashes so far.
AMD 2500+ which runs at 1.8 gig. RAM 512MB, Geforce 6200, 256MB, W2K. Are you sure yours won't run it?
LGhttp://www.pcguide.com/ubb/wink.gif

[saphalline]

The vid card makes the biggest impact, and you have a GeForce 6200. While that's not a killer in terms of performance, it's at least much better than the low-end GeForce FX 5200, which is NVidia's bottom vid card for that game. The 512MB of RAM is probably hurting you the most. An AthlonXP 2500+ is more than powerful enough for the game (it only requires a 2000+). Another tip: turn off the grass. Move the grass slider all the way to the left. The grass is pretty, but it was just getting in our way when searching for ingredients and weapons from fallen baddies, so we turned it off. Great boost to outdoor frame rates and we don't really miss it yet.

Yeah, I think we've all ditched the main quest for all the other goodies in the game! :D I'm finally finished with all the Mage's guild recommendations, so tonight is reserved for Azura's Star (Deadric quest not leveled-loot so anyone can get it at level 2 or above) and enchanting my weapons at the Arcane University. I've got a couple full Grand Soul gems and a few more empty ones, so I can always hunt for Minotaur Lords if I need more grand souls. After that, I might go do the Arena or something, then it's off to close more Oblivion gates! I think I've closed 4 or 5 of them now, not including the Kvatch one for the main quest.

[LadyGrey]

Saph, I've got two 256MB sticks of RAM now, I've got one more slot so if I got another 512MB stick would that work ok do ya think?

LG/Delah;)

[beerbelly]

I've hit the ninroot jackpot!

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/592/godzilla41yw.jpg

[i an not a nerd]

Hehehehe! Thats amazing! Imagine, game plants in RL!

P.S. Why is the picture called "godzilla41yw"? Specifically, the Godzilla part?

[beerbelly]

I took it while on a geocaching hike, and "Godzilla" was the name of the cache. That's how I keep track of my pics. Everything after Godzilla 4, Imageshack did.

[i an not a nerd]

I took it while on a geocaching hike, and "Godzilla" was the name of the cache.
Hehe ok.

BTW, has anyone tried to install mods?

I can't figure out how to install ones with custom content because I can't find out where the textures, meshes, etc are supposed to go.

[madad2005]

I've not tried yet, but was going to install some of the custom character races. I'll give it a shot tonight and post if I have any success.

[saphalline]

Saph, I've got two 256MB sticks of RAM now, I've got one more slot so if I got another 512MB stick would that work ok do ya think?Yeah, that would definitely be beneficial for Oblivion. If you do buy a 512 stick, be sure to put it in the first RAM slot and move the first 256 stick to the third slot. It's more efficient that way. A new vid card couldn't hurt, either, but ya gotta keep things under control, right? :D ;)

Haven't tried any mods yet. How do you find the time!? :eek: The game is so big I'm still working through the included content! Probably will be for several years...

Level 34 now. Got my enchanted weapons - at least my first ones. I'm going to experiment with these enchantments to see which ones I like the best. If you ever need to find grand souls (for the max enchantment points) just do Soul Trap on the Minotaurs at a place called "Harcane Grove" - located in the wilderness north of Bravil. I don't know if any of you are at the required level to run into Minotaur Lords, but it's a good place.

Oh, and does anyone else have problems finding helmets?? I've found maybe 4 or 5 helmets in the whole frickin' game so far! What gives? I want a Deadric helmet and a Glass helmet to complete my collections, and for Sigil Stone enchantments. Where are all the helmets being hoarded?? I found an Ebony helmet once, and I found an Elven helmet last night, but I run into Glass and Deadric armor on bandits all the time without getting a single helmet out of them. Are helmets related to the difficulty slider or what? I'm going to experiment with this tonight, but if anyone has an idea or the solution to this, I'm all ears.

[Deagle]

It seems that helmets are rare in Oblivion as opposed to Morrowind. I heard lots of people complaining about it. I know how to get a Glass helm(helmet) but it's already enchanted though:(. Not sure if you'd want it.

[madad2005]

Do the nifty thing and buy a mage's hood and enchant it instead. Wearing a full armour set with a hood looks much harder than your bog-standard helmet! If you haven't done it yet, though, the guys in the Hunter's Run quest in Bravil have at least 1 helm amongst them.

[saphalline]

I did a Google search and came up with this (http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=462). I'm experimenting with it now to see if it really does work. I'll keep you guys updated...

[saphalline]

Yep, it seems to work! Nearly all of the bandits I encounter have helmets now! :D Previous to this mod, I clocked nearly 100 hours into the game, reaching level 34 and only collecting 2 magical helms (which don't help me if I want to enchant my own) and 2 lesser helms (1 Ebony which isn't so bad, and 1 Dwarven which is nearly worthless to my powerful character). Just a couple hours with this mod and I've got 2 Deadric helms, 5 Glass helms, and a Mithril helm! :eek: And that's not including the other enchanted Glass one I got from a bandit boss! :cool:

A truly excellent mod. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting helmets in the game. Makes the bandits look more realistic, too. The Glass helm looks awesome, too! I had never seen one before!

[i an not a nerd]

Heres a fun fact: at the time of my writing this, there have been 6,564 views of this thread! :eek:

[saphalline]

Yeah, when does that view # get updated? I always wondered that...

For this thread, I wonder how many of those views are from people doing searches online for "Oblivion" and stuff like that.

[Jason1971]

Yep, it seems to work! Nearly all of the bandits I encounter have helmets now! :D Previous to this mod, I clocked nearly 100 hours into the game, reaching level 34 and only collecting 2 magical helms (which don't help me if I want to enchant my own) and 2 lesser helms (1 Ebony which isn't so bad, and 1 Dwarven which is nearly worthless to my powerful character). Just a couple hours with this mod and I've got 2 Deadric helms, 5 Glass helms, and a Mithril helm! :eek: And that's not including the other enchanted Glass one I got from a bandit boss! :cool:

A truly excellent mod. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting helmets in the game. Makes the bandits look more realistic, too. The Glass helm looks awesome, too! I had never seen one before!

I have no idea what you are talking about and I love it!!!! Just 2 more weeks of school and the game will be mine!!!!!

This game is going to force me to upgrade. I have to get a new MB with PCI express. The video card I am thing about getting is the GeForce 7600 GT. I used the info provided by saphalline here (http://www.sheaiden.com/GraphCard.php) .

Any ideas or suggestions?

Jason

[jlreich]

Yeah it works. I have been holding off using any of the mods, but it is hard to find a decent helm so I thought I would try this one out. I'm only at level 11 so I am not getting anything spectacular but at least they are there now. :cool:

[madad2005]

Trying to retake the castle in the Battle for Kvatch was near impossible at level 17 and no health potions. I'm afraid I have to thank some AI bugs for my survival and being able to finally complete the quest (they couldn't climb the stairs properly so I picked 'em off from there). I also had to run through at least 1 room without fighting cos there were just too many of them. I've got a few side quests I'm going to finish up, then maybe do some daedric quests (anyone know where you can buy cydrilic brandy?), and then go back to either the main quests or the db quests.

How is everyone else fairing? (70 hours of play so far.. scary stuff)

[Deagle]

Trying to retake the castle in the Battle for Kvatch was near impossible at level 17
That's why I did it at level 1.http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif I also restarted and created new char because I want to power-level and control my leveling.

[saphalline]

Trying to retake the castle in the Battle for Kvatch was near impossible at level 17 and no health potions.That's why I have the game on easy! :p But I did it on level 20-something. It was pretty sad - nearly all of the guards died! :eek: Unfortunately for them, the Daedra for that quest were leveled to my char, so we were fighting Daedroth and Xivilai instead of Scamps. :rolleyes: Ah well, they died bravely.

Even after raising the difficulty again, my level 35 char tears through enemies like tissue paper. I prefer to work alone since anyone who comes with me now is sure to die. Be careful about the power leveling - after level 25, only a handful of enemies (the ones that gain levels with you) even stand a chance against a combat-oriented char. I'm working on Marksman now since my char sucks at it! Still a Novice, so the battles are a bit more challenging, even after I enchanted a Daedric bow with 39 points of Frost damage! :D Plus Soul Trap for 1 second. That plus Azura's star keeps me going forever...

You can buy Cyrodiilic brandy at only one place: The Main Ingredient in the Imperial City. You can also steal some if you want, from a couple shops and homes in the Imperial City. If you want to steal it, I'll let you find it on your own. After all, you should have plenty of money to buy it by now! The Sanguine Daedric quest requires you to be on level 8.

I've logged well over 100 hours by now. I need to cut back. Or maybe not. :D In any case, my char is on level 34 now. I've been hopping about completing little city/town quests and clearing out caves & forts lately. Finally found 6 bottles of Shadowbanish wine, so I'm glad that one is done for now. I could either do some Fighter's Guild quests now or finish the Arena, but I think I'll close some more Oblivion gates first.

[madad2005]

All my guards bar the caption who kept on getting knocked unconscious. There was one room where myself and an imperial legion archer walked into and was full of daedroth's. Hoping to sneak past them I notice that the idiot archer starts shooting at them. They all ran towards him so I ran past them all. Sacrifice for the greater good!

I must admit I actually think that the leveling system in Oblivion is quite good. I remember in the first few days after it came out there were a ton of people bitching over the lack of 'easy kills'. I find it makes the game much more interesting.

A quick question: Has anyone killed that woman decked out in Ebony Armour that is in the tomb (Ver-something) South of the Imperial City? Is she an easy kill or does she kick-arse? I tried at lvl5 and she kicked arse. Is it worth trying to kill her?

[saphalline]

Is she an easy kill or does she kick-arse? I tried at lvl5 and she kicked arse. Is it worth trying to kill her?Everything can be fixed by the difficulty slider! :p But other than that, I don't know. I've found that Aeleid ruin, but I don't think I've cleared it out yet. I'm working on the Arena right now. After that, I'll look in on her. ;)

[saphalline]

In case you've all been too busy playing the game to notice, there's a BETA patch (http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_patches.htm) that just came out. It's only for the English version so far, and it doesn't work with D2D versions, but it's a good start! :D

Fixes a lot of issues that we've all been running into, as well as a few we haven't, so it's fairly comprehensive. I'm going to wait for the final version myself since I haven't experienced any fun-killing bugs yet, but some of you might be interested in testing this patch. For the rest of us. ;)

[jlreich]

I think I will wait as well. You just have to remember to hit the quick save button a lot just in case it decides to crash right after you kill the final guy in a dungeon and find tons of loot. :eek: :p

[jlreich]

Anyone tried out the beta patch yet? If so how is it?

[madad2005]

Well, I've installed it and the crashes when trying to exit directly from the game have stopped. I had a bit of a problem using an iso image and daemon tools, but it has stopped for some reason. Apart from that, I've not noticed a great difference!

[i an not a nerd]

I'm using it right now, but I made a backup save before I installed (just in case). The first time I installed it corrupted the game, so I had to reinstall. Second time it worked. No bugs to report of so far.

[jlreich]

I installed the patch. It seems to have stabilized the game for the most part. I have only had one crash while exiting since I installed it, where I was crashing 70% of the time on exit before.

BTW, how is everyone progressing through the game?

I am Arch-Mage and Listener. Expert at Blade, Illusion, Armorer (really cool, repair to 125%), and something else but can't remember right now. Journeyman at several other things.

Level 26. And just became a vampire. Saved before I slept to make sure I like it. I will post my attributes when I play next time and remember to write them down. :p

[saphalline]

I haven't played my level 36 warrior in awhile, but mostly that char is just messing around with things. Finally got access to the Arcane University for the enchanting and custom spells, but that's about it. Master at Sneak, expert at Acrobatics & Athletics and a couple other things, journeyman at Armorer & Blade & Mercantile.

My second char is a Breton mage at level 2 or 3, but not much is going on there. I don't like the lack of sneak attack multipliers with spell casters, and I hate that whole running backwards while shooting spells thing. Not a big fan of mages for this game. The higher level spells look interesting, but the lack of finesse is difficult to overcome. Not to mention that spells are expensive, whereas armor and weapons are free commodities on the corpses of enemies.

My third char is a Wood Elf based on stealth at level 4. It's fun to be so powerful at sniping. With Sneak and Marksman as major skills, it's not difficult to become a full-blown assasin type of player, regardless of the other major skills. Light Armor is also the best-kept secret of the game. My Wood Elf can't carry all that much (like my warrior) but the focus on long-range sneak attacks is refreshing. I'm getting pretty good at arc-aiming for longer ranges, too.

[jlreich]

Not to mention that spells are expensive, whereas armor and weapons are free commodities on the corpses of enemies.
Spells can be expensive, but as you said you can get armor and weapons from enemies. I take them and sell them. I am sitting on over 35,000 gold right now from doing that, so buying, or rather making my own spells, or enchanting items myself once I gained access to the Arcane University is no problem at all. Once you make Arch-Mage you have your own personal enchanting and spell making alters in the Arch-Mage's personal quarters.

My character is an Orc Battlemage. I have been thinking of starting another character, maybe something along the lines of your Wood Elf.

I am in the process of getting help for Bruma for the main quest right now. Which means closing Oblivion gates around the main towns. I haven't done anything in the main quest for quite some time, so I thought that would be a good idea since I have finished the Mage's Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests.

[saphalline]

I take them and sell them.That's what I've been doing out of necessity, but it's insanely slow! :eek: I spend 20 minutes fighting and over an hour looting (because my mage has low strength). Carry a few items, head to town, sell them, head back, etc. :rolleyes: It's so putzy it drives me crazy! Little to no self-sufficiency for a low-level pure mage. Makes the game go slower in the beginning since I spent roughly 3 times as long getting my pure mage to level 3 as my stealth archer. And my level 36 warrior was even faster.

I'll keep picking away at my mage here and there, but the game should really be streamlined more for those who want to play a pure mage. Granted most chars suck at the lower levels, but my mage is positively frail.

[jlreich]

Yeah it was slow going till I got some strength built up to carry more. It also made a huge difference when I bought the shack on the waterfront and was able to drop off stuff I didn't need to carry all the time. But once I got to maybe level 10 or so things really started to pick up.

Actually I started accumulating gold by taking the alchemy tools from the mages guilds and selling them. :p 50 gold per item adds up after a few trips in and out of the local guild.

But I think that's why I choose an orc battlemage since they have more strength from the get go. Which also means better blade and blunt.

I am going to start a new char soon. Maybe a pure mage, but not sure yet. Hmm...

[saphalline]

My Breton pure mage has a lot of potential at the high end. Able to cast more and better spells at level 3 than my level 36 warrior could ever hope to (although I'm training my warrior in the schools of magic now). I'll post the details of my chars later tonight so you can all see them. I custom-class all my chars - very interesting results.

[saphalline]

Found something... odd tonight. Had to share this one right now, before I go to bed.

Smack between Skingrad and Bravil, there's an abandoned house, out in the middle of nowhere. What's even more strange is that it doesn't show up on the map. It's not a "findable" location. So I'm going to post the location here to see if it's always there for everyone or if it's random.

Right on the line between the cities, above the 't' in "The West Weald", there's a deep but small valley with a house in it. Inside was a single leveled bandit (decked out in full Glass for my main char) but I don't know if the bandit is a one-time deal or if the bandit spawns every few days. Also inside the small 3-level house is a respectable number of containers and two beds. Behind the house on the hill, there's a rock - behind the rock is a Nightshade plant (always useful!). For those who want a free house (with a possible bandit every few days) it's worth checking out.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if that house is there with my other chars...

[jlreich]

I will have to have a look tonight. :cool:

[jlreich]

I just checked it out. No house or anything in that valley at all for me. :( An Oblivion gate is near by but that's about it.

[beerbelly]

I checked it out too, nada on the house. Thanks saph, you cost me a horse. DON'T HIT YOUR HORSE WITH YOUR MAGE STAFF! ooooops!

[saphalline]

Hmmm... very strange. I checked it out on my brother's system with his save file/char - completely independent from my save file/char. The house is there for him. I wonder if it's just a random thing? I still haven't checked with my other chars, though. I'll do that ASAP.

[saphalline]

Checked with my other two chars and it seems to be random in that spot. For one of them, there was an Oblivion gate that opened in the middle of the house, so only a burning husk and two charred corpses were left. For the other one, the house was intact with two leveled bandits inside. I can only assume that the charred corpses in the Oblivion gate one were the bandits.

Sort of an interesting spot, though. I'm going to hunt around for more locations like this. If they exist, I'll find them!

[jlreich]

Have you installed any mods besides the helm mod? That's the only one I have used.

[saphalline]

Nope, that's the only one I've used. But even the non-invasive helm mod doesn't affect things one way or the other because my brother's system is just running the raw Oblivion game (I checked this house thing on his system before I gave him the helm mod). So I guess it's just a random thing in the game.

[jlreich]

Yeah maybe it is just random. I will go back and check periodically to see if it pops up.

[i an not a nerd]

I went and looked... Nothing....I tried with multiple charecters too, and nothing.

You know what would be nice? A screen where you can choose which of your charecters you want to playand see their stats...

[jlreich]

Hey that would be pretty cool. :cool: Just like if you hit the tab key would be awesome.

[madad2005]

Well, so you don't think you are going nuts, Saph, I DID find that house where you said it was, although there was only one bandit inside with mithril armour (I'm lvl18). The house was 3-storey high and had one bandit inside and, as you said, did not show up on the map, although the screen message said something like 'Door to Ramshackled Home' or something. Can't remember, was about 12 hours ago when I went there. But it was there in my version of the game, although I checked after installing the official mods. I tried to take a print screen, but it didn't work. Anyone know the command for print screen in Oblivion? Anyway, I head to San Francisco in 2 weeks so I'd better start finding cash for the holiday! :-D

[Deagle]

Anyone know the command for print screen in Oblivion?
You to edit the .ini file to allow screenshot. Then to take screenshot just hit 'printscreen' on keyboard and a pic will be save in your oblivion directory.

[saphalline]

I think I've found almost all the locations with my main character. Almost... a few more areas to search...

Oh yeah! Watch out for that Udyfrycte thingie if you ever go tromping around in the Jerral Mountains! :eek: Wicked enemy, related to the one from the Morrowind expansion (can't remember which one). D@mn near impossible to fight at night if you don't have Detect Life in some form or another.

How is everyone else doing? Still sucked in? :D

[saphalline]

Been experimenting with making my own mods, as some of you know, and I've come across an interesting... problem? Issue? Feature? I don't know which. :confused:

I've made numerous enchanted items and have been playing with them. I found an interesting side-effect related to Feather/Chameleon/Shield/Reflect Damage (perhaps all) and Deadric creatures. I'm thinking it's either Shield or Reflect Damage. But anyway, with these enchantments on my armor, I actually receive a backlash when doing melee attacks. It doesn't appear to happen with any other creatures - just Deadric so far.

I wonder the deal is with this? Anyone have any ideas? Is this something common in the Elder Scrolls games?

[jlreich]

No I haven't experienced anything like that. Deadric characters are effected just like all the other characters with reflect damage enchanted equipment. Probably just some weird enchantment combination you cooked up that is playing havoc with the games fighting engine. :p :D

[madad2005]

I have just formatted my hard disk and re-installed Xp and Oblivion. Started afresh with a pure wizard character with skills in hand 2 hand and mercantile. Very powerful combination! It would of been nice to have been able to conjure more than one daedra at a time. All I need now is to max out intelligence and willpower and get some magical intelligence boosting robes and I am done!

Anyone else tried for the full wizard character? How have you gotten on?