Mod that makes dropped items stand out?

Question

One thing that annoys me with Oblivion (even though it is realistic) is that when you kill a mob, and they drop their weapon(s), you have a hard time finding them in, say, tall grass. Especially when you're on a hillside (and Cyrodil seems to be very hilly :D), stuff rolls/slides down, landing sometimes quite far from the actual fight.

So: I'd love it if there was a mod that made them stand out. Maybe (to keep it "realistic") having to quest for a special spell. Or does such a spell exist? Either way, something that made them show up, like "Detect Life".

Asked by Jürgen A. Erhard

Answer

There are a few spell-based mods that do this.

Detect Life adds a spell that puts a particle effect on items, making them obvious on the ground or behind rocks. It's a "beta" quality release and it's been years since, so it's unlikely to get polished up, but it works. Requires OBSE v0017 or later.

Finders Keepers adds a whole lot of spells for detecting different objects by adding shaders/particle effects. It also has spells that can detect different NPC aspects, such as Vampirism, disposition, etc. Some can be used simultaneously, and some will cancel others—so you can, for example, have Detect Weapons and Detect Keys running simultaneously, but casting Detect Alignment will cancel any other Detect spell. Clearly it's not as convenient as a one-size-fits-all Detect Items spell, but this might feel more "realistic" for some players. As a bonus, though, many of the item-detection spells will reveal things inside chests as well as on the ground. Requires OBSE v0013a or later and the latest official patch.

Some of the big magic overhaul mods may also include item-detection spells, but I haven't found a comprehensive guide to their included spells quite yet.

Answered by SevenSidedDie

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Steam download - skip most of the content?

Question

I had oblivion on a disc for a long time. I recently moved and lost the disc. So I decided I'd buy it on steam so I never have this problem again.

Well now I'm on really poor internet, and am looking at a 20 hour download at best for this. I already have MOST of the game (the GOTY edition) installed on my hard drive already. Would it be possible to copy/paste some of the files from my other installation into the steam installation, removing the need for a lot of the download?

Asked by corsiKa

Answer

I've not tried it with oblivion, but I have moved games from one steam install to another this way. It should work similarly, but will probably still have to download a few files, mostly the ones that are steamworks encrypted.

1) start the steam download and pause it once it has begun downloading anything. This will create the directory for the game.

2) close steam

3) Copy the disc installed folder into the steam install. This will be something like /Steam/steamapps/common/oblivion/

4) Inside the steam directory is a ClientRegistry.blob file. This tells steam what games and files you have installed. Delete it (or move it to a different location if you prefer, but steam will recreate it on login).

5) Restart steam. It will verify the files it has, and hopefully most of the art files are the same from the disc version to the steam version.

6) After it's done downloading, right click on oblivion, go into properties and select the local files tab. Press the "Verify Integrity of Game Cache" button. This will force steam to checksum the files and download any that don't match exactly.

I'm not sure how much downloading it will save you, but I would expect the art files and the majority of the resource files won't need downloaded.

Answered by Kexlox

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Technique to kill the painted trolls

Question

I keep getting obliterated by the painted trolls in the painted forest. I blow through the turpentine in no time with little effect. Do they have another weakness? Or is there another trick to killing them?

Asked by squillman

Answer

I found I could find specific spots standing on rocks in the area where I could shoot at them from range and they could not hit me. Finding one of those locations and using ranged attacks might be your best bet if you're having trouble.

Answered by Zxaos

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How do I find Shadowmere again if I lose her?

Question

I dismounted Shadowmere during a fight in the woods and became separated from her. Now I can't find her. Is there any way to find her without wandering aimlessly through the woods?

Asked by squillman

Answer

This is a tricky one as it's possible to actually bug out Shadowmere and have her disappear from the game completely.

A couple of different steps to try:

• Fast Travel to a known location, like a stables. She may appear with you.
• Travel to Shadowmere's "home" at Fort Faragut.
• Enter a town and leave again, have a look in the stables. She may be stabled there.

As I said, it is possible to completely lose Shadowmere. If your on PC there is a console command that will spawn a new instance of her next to you, but I don't know it off the top of my head.

Hope it works for you!

Answered by Alastair Pitts

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Does Sneak Attack count power attack?

Question

The wiki said "Sneak attacks do not "combine" with power attacks: you will only get the sneak bonus. (Otherwise, you would get an 18x damage modifier, which is enough to kill just about anything in the game instantly.)"

Does it mean I don't need to press longer to make the slashing harder because it is meaningless? Should I press the button once quickly?

Asked by gunbuster363

Answer

Yes. Press the button once, quickly. Holding the button to slash harder is meaningless.

Answered by Chris Browne

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Why doesn't my killing trigger the Dark Brotherhood questline?

Question

I've wandered into some dungeon and encountered some necromancers or bandits. I killed some with sneak attack by bow and some turned hostile and they rush to me and I killed them directly. When I sleep, there are no Dark Brotherhood members approaching me. Why?

Asked by gunbuster363

Answer

According to the Elder Scrolls wiki,

you must murder someone in cold blood. In other words, you must murder an innocent without provocation (note that Bandits and the like do not count as the required murder). Once the deed is done, regardless of who is there, the cryptic message "Your killing has been observed by forces unknown..." will appear in the corner of your screen, indicating you will be visited the next time you sleep.

Basically any non-essential NPC will do. (Note that unlike in Morrowind, Oblivion's predecessor, you cannot kill an essential NPC, so you don't have to worry about killing the "wrong" person. If an NPC is involved in a quest you haven't completed, you won't be able to kill them.) If you are looking for a specific set of targets, the wiki has a list of them. I've listed a few of the best targets below:

-- The Skooma Den in Bravil has 4 residents, 3 with 0 responsibility, so your crime will likely go unreported.
-- Camonna Tong Thug: Killing one of the two Camonna Tong thugs at Walker camp will give you no bounty, as they both have low responsibility. If you attack one of them before he attacked you, killing him is counted as a murder, and will allow you to join the Dark Brotherhood. They both respawn in a few days, as well.
-- Alval Uvani has a rather low responsibility, and since he does a lot of traveling (see the Dark Brotherhood mission A Matter of Honor for details) it's rather easy to dispose of him on the road without witnesses. The benefit of killing Alval is that you will have already completed one of the later Brotherhood missions.

Answered by Dave DuPlantis

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Are there alternate ways of opening the console in Oblivion

Question

I recently began playing Oblivion again, after a long hiatus. I'm doing so on my MacBook Pro, in a Parallels Windows Server 2008 VM (6 GB of RAM). The MacBook itself is the late 2011 17" Pro model, upgraded to 16 GB of RAM.

Everything in Oblivion, including the mods I've installed, works great -- except that I cannot bring up the console. The tilde (~) key is nonfunctional. That said, so far Oblivion is the only program on the Windows side to not recognize it. In Notepad, Visual Studio, Wordpad, etc., it works. Just Oblivion. (Admittedly, Oblivion is the only game I have on the Windows side here.)

Is there some way to open the console without the tilde, or failing that rebind the "open console" command via a configuration file, or failing that at least use a config file to display fps? (Which is actually the only reason I want the console right now.)

---

Total aside: The obvious answer to most of us would be to run Oblivion (and Windows in general) in Boot Camp. Not an option. Long story.

---

Update: I should have mentioned two things: 1) bAllowConsole is 1 and 2) I have no idea where to find the § symbol that everyone says is a workaround. (I have a US keyboard layout; that symbol is not on the face of any of my keys.) And again, the tilde works in every Windows app, just not -- I'm guessing -- games.

Answer

It's possible that your bAllowConsole setting in oblivion.ini has been disabled; it should be set to 1 to allow you to use the console.

Failing that, there are mods (of course) that add a spell that opens the console or let you change the console keybinding.

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How do I raise Mysticism when it's too low to cast spells?

Question

Every mysticism spell I've come across requires at least a 25 in the skill in order to be used; however, my mysticism is only 12. I'd like to be able to create a minor spell for training up the ability, but the spell-making table won't allow me to use any spell effect that I can't already cast. How or where do I raise my mysticism enough to be able to practice on my own, and is it possible to do in a way that doesn't cost a ton of money?

Answer

The cheapest mysticism spell that requires no skills to cast is Minor Life Detection. See if you can find yourself a copy of this spell. The shopkeepers that sell them are: Alves Uvenim, Calindil, Edgar Vautrine, and Ita Rienus.

Once you get it, if you already have access to the spell making table, then you can use it to make a even cheaper version that lasts 1 second so you can spam it over and over.

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How to make Spell list in Oblivion smaller?

Question

I have downloaded wz_inventory mod but it only compress the items inventory. How to make the spell list smaller so that i can view more spells without scrolling?

Answer

Darnified UI is the exact solution. It decrease the font size in of all boxes, compresses the size of HUD, enlarges the map, make font and icon of inventory and spell list smaller.... See the two example images below Darnified UI+wz_inventory is also a good combination.

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How can I get the Honorblade of Chorrol back in Oblivion?

Question

I am at level 4 in Oblivion and have completed the canvas of castle quest in Chorrol. The Honorblade is weightless and currently the most powerful sword available to me. If I give it to Fathis, the quest will complete -- but then how can I get it back?

Answer

There is no way to complete the quest without losing the weightless version of the sword. If you want to use it, you may as well go out and complete some more quests -- Fathis will be happy to take the sword down the line when you've found more powerful pieces.

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How large is Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, and is it free?

Question

There is this mod called Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul that I would like to try out. Does anyone know how large it is (in Mb) and where I can download it, and is it free to download or should I first buy it?

I already clocked this game without mods and would like to try something different with it now.

Answer

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is one of the best mods for Oblivion, in my opinion.

You can download it from Oscuro's site, Planet Elder Scrolls or TES Nexus. The initial download size is not that big, only 23 MB for the latest version (1.33), although the installer then downloads the actual mod, which takes up approx. 1 GB of space, from what I remember. Here is an installation and quick-start guide.

I would also recommend installing the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (compatible with OOO), as it fixes thousands of bugs left over from the official patches.

To quote Raven Dreamer:

Don't forget the unofficial oblivion patch supplemental. The UOP introduces a major bug regarding the Fort Sutch Oblivion Gate, but the supplemental fixes this, among other things

Good luck!

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TES4 : Oblivion's OOO Mod

Question

And another game that I would like and play again. There is this mod called Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul that I would like to try out. Does anyone know how large it is (in Mb) and where I can download it, and is it free to download or should I first buy it?

I already clocked this game without mods and would like to try something different with it now.

Answer

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is one of the best mods for Oblivion, in my opinion.

You can download it from Oscuro's site, Planet Elder Scrolls or TES Nexus. The initial download size is not that big, only 23 MB for the latest version (1.33), although the installer then downloads the actual mod, which takes up approx. 1 GB of space, from what I remember. Here is an installation and quick-start guide.

I would also recommend installing the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (compatible with OOO), as it fixes thousands of bugs left over from the official patches.

To quote Raven Dreamer:

Don't forget the unofficial oblivion patch supplemental. The UOP introduces a major bug regarding the Fort Sutch Oblivion Gate, but the supplemental fixes this, among other things

Good luck!

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Why am I dying when I go outside?

Question

I admittedly haven't played Oblivion in a while and may have forgotten something as whenever I go outside, my player starts losing health. I know this wasn't happening to my player before stopping playing.

I completed a mission in a dungeon from my last save, head outside, and my health slowly depletes until I'm dead. I can't fast travel anywhere because of it, and healing potions only delay it.

1. What should I look for?
2. Can it be fixed?

If it matters, I'm playing the Xbox 360 version.

Answer

It's most likely that your character is a vampire. There's a quest you can complete, found on the wiki, that will cure this. It's also possible to cure it using the console. Other than that, you can avoid damage by staying out of the sun, and fast traveling at night.

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In Oblivion is there a 1 to 1 relationship between skill advances and stats at level up?

Question

I know that how many point you can add to your attributes depends on how you leveled up your skills during that level but if I level up 5 strength skills will I get +5 to strength or is it not 1 to 1?

Answer

That's sort of how it works. From the Oblivion FAQ:

When you level you get to raise the values of three attributes. The amount you can raise an attribute by depends on how many skill points you have gained in skills governed by this attribute (major and minor).

0 skill points grants a +1 bonus
1-4 skill points grants a +2 bonus
5-7 skill points grants a +3 bonus
8-9 skill points grants a +4 bonus
10 or more skill points grants a +5 bonus

It is never possible to gain more than a +5 attribute bonus when leveling up. Attribute bonuses not used at one level (or surplus points past 10 in the skills governed by an attribute) do not roll over to the next level.

For example, say a character has the following major skills (seven in total, listed by attribute):

Agility: None
Endurance: Armorer
Intelligence: Conjuration; Mysticism
Personality: Illusion
Speed: None Strength: Blade
Willpower: Destruction; Restoration

Since his previous level-up he has increased some skills (see below, increase in parenthesis after each skill). When he acquired the 10th increase in a major skill, he qualified for a level-up. The attributes offered to him would be as listed to the right in the examples below.

Example 1
Attribute Skill Increases Bonus
Agility Security (2) +2
Endurance None +1
Intelligence Alchemy (10), Conjuration (1), Mysticism (1) +5
Personality None +1
Speed Athletics (5), Acrobatics (5) +5
Strength Blade (4), Blunt (4) +4
Willpower Destruction (4) +2

For those concerned with over-leveling or skill management this is not a "perfect" level-up. An example of a 5/5/5 increase (as mentioned in Efficient Leveling) for this character could be:

Example 2
Attribute Skill Increases Bonus
Agility None +1
Endurance None +1
Intelligence None +1
Personality Illusion (6), Mercantile (4) +5
Speed Athletics (5), Acrobatics (3), Light Armor (2) +5
Strength None +1
Willpower Destruction (4), Alteration (6) +5

Here only 3 attributes have more than the minimum +1 modifier, and they all get the maximum +5. Illusion and Destruction are the only major skills that have been increased (4+6=10), along with a total of 20 minor skills. No skills have been over leveled. Note that the last one of the increased skills has to be a major skill.

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Is there a way to remove level requirement to Oblivion's quests?

Question

Aware of the leveling problem of Oblivion, I decided to create my char aiming to be strong while my enemies are weak, by choosing main skills that I would not normally use. I finished main quest and decided to do all the side quests, and many of them have level requirements.

As I'm low level, it will be hard to grind through high level to do quests like Hermaeus Mora.

Is there a way to remove these quests level requirements?

Answer

You can make your own mini-mod for this. Since this is GameDev, where we develop stuff in preference of using other people's tools ...

1. If not already done so, install The Elder Scrolls Construction Set (version 1.2 is fine; you need the older 1.0 only for few specialised tasks which are broken in the latest version). Optionally, install the Oblivion Script Extender and the Construction Set Extender for significantly easier modding in general.
2. In the TES CS, load the main oblivion.esm by going to the menu item File -> Data, marking the tick to the left side of oblivion.esm, and clicking OK. The loading will take a while.
3. Open the list of quests by picking the menu item Character -> Quests...
4. The quest data window appears, with all the existing quests in the game (even those who aren't "real" quests, or are left-overs from the development) listed.
5. The next step depends on the quest.
   • Some have the level requirements listed right there, in the "quest conditions" part. In such a case, mark the offending line (it has a GetLevel check) with the mouse and hit the [DEL] key on your keyboard to remove it.
   • Other quests have the level check in the topics which start the quest. You'll have to work through the Topics tab and remove such conditions.
   • Finally, some quests have the level condition (again, using player.getLevel) in the quests scripts. Click on the [...] button next to the script name to edit those.

For the lazy and in a hurry, there is a mod which does it for you: No Daedric Quests Level Locks.

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All is gray in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Question

I have a problem with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I think that this screenshot explain it well:

Practically I see only the HUD and all the rest is gray. Both in character creation and when I try to load an old save-game.

I have an ATI 6850 HD video card with the latest AMD drivers and Windows 7 64-bit. I also tried to revalidate the Steam cache for that game but it didn't change the result.

Do you have any idea how can I solve the problem? There are no mods installed except the default DLC things.

Answer

This is mostly caused by some bugs with newer graphic cards and HDR + AA (Anti Aliasing). Either turning HDR or AA off, or setting HDR to Bloom should fix the issue.

I do not know about any patch that fixes this issue. However, there is a few workarounds to get both of them working together:

• Enabling HDR, and disabling AA in the game options, while forcing AA to be enabled via CCC (Catalyst Control Center)
• Editing the "Oblivion.ini" file manually. Find and change the iMultiSample=0 in [Display] to 4 to get 4xAA.

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How do I apply more than one weapon enchantment in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

Question

Is it possible to give a weapon in TES IV more than one enchantment? If so, how do I do it, and what are your personal recommendations for weapon/enchantment combinations for a warrior type character, destinated to apply maximum damage (balanced to hurt magical creatures like ghosts as much as non magical creatures like humans)?

Answer

While you can find (and eventually enchant!) weapons with multiple enchantments, weapons in Oblivion only have two states: enchanted, and unenchanted. Once enchanted, weapons cannot be un-enchanted, and there is no way to add/subtract abilities, charge size, or effect magnitude after the initial enchantment.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest you look into the Enchanting guide at the unofficial elder scrolls wiki. The wiki also contains a list of "Useful Enchantments" which sounds like it might be useful for your purposes.

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What level should I usually be on Oblivion TES4 to enter the first oblivion plane gate?

Question

I just started playing Oblivion TES4 and chose a thief. I'm currently at the tower looking for the prisoner inside the first oblivion gate, but almost any enemy would 1-hit kill me. I'm still level 1. Did I miss something, or is it just the way the game is?

Answer

One of the most quirksome features of Oblivion is that everything scales. It doesn't matter where you are -- whether invading old undead-infested forts, or clearing oblivion gate after oblivion gate; the champion arena matches, or facing off against Manimarco the King of Worms -- all creatures are scaled to give you approximatley the same level of difficulty throughout.

So to answer your question, there is no proper level. However, the game can be a bit brutal at the early levels before you can build up enough of a health buffer to make fights more drawn out affairs. How are you building your character? (Stackexchange has some good questions re: oblivion for these very things!).

You should find these links useful:

Playing a sneaky character in Oblivion

Character Building tips for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion?

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Where can I find Grand Soul Gems on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Question

In order to cure my character's vampirism, I need to find 5 Grand Soul Gems to give to the witch. Where can I find these?

Answer

The walkthrough for the Vampire Cure quest on the UESP Wiki gives locations. Mostly you have to find them while adventuring, but starting this quest places 3 of them in nearby dungeons which would have been previously unavailable prior to starting the Vampire Cure quest.

From the Wiki page, places that always have an empty Grand Soul Gem:

• Calindil at the Mystic Emporium in the Market District has one, which can be bought or pickpocketed.
• With the exception of Skingrad, the merchant in each city's Mages Guild has one which can either be bought or pickpocketed.
• You can steal one from Melisande's basement (accessible through the fireplace next to her bed).
• There is one in the Arch-Mage's Lobby of the Arcane University. It is in a locked display case along with two more Grand Soul Gems that are not empty.
• There is one in a locked display case in the Mage Quarters of the Arcane University at the bottom of the staircase on the left as you enter.
• The Chorrol Mages Guild has an empty one in a locked display case in a room just left of the front door, and another one in a display case beside the stairs. If you are a Guild member, picking the locks and taking the gems will not count as a crime.

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Is it possible to see which Oblivion mods a save relies on?

Question

Having transferred my Oblivion save file from the old computer to the new one, I don't remember all mods I had on the old computer (which I don't have access to anymore).

Apart from guessing, is there any other way of knowing which mods was used with the save file?

P.S. AFAIK, I didn't use Oblivion Mod Manager.

Answer

Yes! Wrye Bash has a savefile browser tab that will show you a save's "master list", which is the list of mod files (and their order) that the save file depends on for all its object IDs.

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