| 24 DEC 2009 at 9:35pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 593
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | Well I bought and installed it. I'm waiting for the end of the Christmas holidays before I start playing it.
Stupid question but is it worth installing the expansion pack now (Shivering Isles) or just start the regular game?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 24 DEC 2009 at 9:41pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | I would install it because it adds some models and textures to the game that some great mods use .... but you can ignore that part of the game until later ...it is quite diffent from the wonderful main world. If you got the Knights of the Nine expansion in that pack, you can put that on and do it too, but i would start the main quest and then after seeing the first important person on that quest, to get the flavour ...stop and explore and visit the cities and do some of the side quests, like the Mages Guild...and enjoy the world ...if you dive into the main quest right away some major changes and really hard battling happen and it is nicer to get to know the world first. imho.
there are several mods to look at and consider too, Passive Wildlife makes the natural creatures much more realistic in that they dont attack you all the time, it gets boring to be fighitng every single living thing..there are enough foes in there. we have a Oblivion Mod thread here you can find out about some of the mods on and we can help with any questions, several of us are in there with you including me
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| 24 DEC 2009 at 10:47pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 593
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | Passive Wildlife sounds great! I am not mad on loads of fighting in RPGs. Where do I get it?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 12:01am |
HalcyonSchattenjger
Posts : 1652
Joined: 17 NOV 2006
Status : Offline | Look through the thread "newbie in Oblivion." Chris links us to a bunch of mods. My computer has BIG trouble handling them, but the passive wildlife works...and it's great.
Both Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine require a lot of fighting. I don't like Shivering Isles too much, but Knights of the Nine is a great, noble quest.
Have fun!
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 3:54am |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | http://www.filefront.com/15111083/passive_wildlife-1945.zip/
passive wildlife there you go
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 1:56pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 593
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | Interesting Halcyon. The reviews I read said Shivering Isles was terrific, Knights of the Nine not so much.
Thanks for the mod Cris. How does it work exactly? Just download and install or do I need to move the file to the game files? Can you tell I've never used a mod or expansion pack in my life...?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 6:00pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | in my very humble opinion, Shivering Isles is lousy, too much weirdness, it is very very dark. Knights of the Nine on the other hand is wonderful, very fun and encouraging and good feeling, modern reviewers seem addicted the dark and sinster in life and to have become very cynical. I on the other hand revel in fun and lightness and appreciating life
ok, just put the one file in the download into your data folder of the main Oblvion install.Then start up the Oblvion Launcher and you will see Play and then right under it, an option called Data Files. This is where you turn on and off the parts of the game. Click on that and a list will open of the main game files, and a veritcial column of boxes. Check the check box next to the mod you just installed, in this case, Passive Wildlife, and it is ON. now close that window and fire up the game and you are good to go.
Now you can enjoy the beautifully crafted and alive wildlife of Cyrodil and you get to see deer and bears and wolves and cougars.... happily doing their daily tasks ...the bears are esp ful as they are very meditative and spend time sometimes just watching the view. The wolves are nice too. And you may see herds of deer or loners... but they are beautiful to watch.
You are now a Modder! whooot!
welcome to the fun.
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 8:48pm |
KarstenSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 347
Joined: 23 SEP 2006
Location: DK
Status : Offline | If both Maum and Camaroboy has the GOTY edition of Oblivion, then I do believe they have the latest patch for the game? There's some unofficial patches for Oblivion (can be found on tesnexus.com, I think?) As for Bioshock being cold game, it should be; it takes place under water in the cold cold waters of King Neptune
As for the Ogre in the tower in Dragon Age: Origins, just have one of you guys run around him, and everyone else use ranged attack on him. And try to get a few melee hits in as well.
As for Oblivion and the 6600 card it can be done. Just tone down the grass slider (distant land slider) in the game's options menu. Set everything to middle or low.
Just be aware of two things - a) there's a glitch in Oblivion so when you close the game, the game will crash to desktop (ctd), but since you're quitting anyway, this isn't a big deal and b) remember to check if the side arrows next to an npc is yellow/gold. This means there's more options down below what you can read in screen. Just click the arrow, and scroll down; you'll see the dialogue options. [This is from personal experience...]
Since I like weirdness, I think I'd rather like Shivering Isles
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 8:57pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | Low Poly Grass for Oblvion - OB and OB + SI versions
http://www.filefront.com/15215801/Oblvion-Low-Poly-Grass.zip/
This mod reduces many of the grass meshes down from 20 triangles to 8 triangles. The effect this has depends on your computer, but for most it is a sizeable increase in FPS.
low poly grass will help with low end cards, I had a 6600 and it helped a lot. just pop it into the Data file and activate on the Data file list. It changes the grass which has a LOT Of verticies to a low poly version that really does look nice ..and helps a lot with the load on systems. Most computers and cards now run Oblvion very well.
and yes the GOTY is patched up, i would NOT use the unoffical patches they have some stuff that is just not that useful. I would suggest an improved GUI but that is for a bit later i think. If you mod up the game too much with unofficial patches it can get buggy fast. The basic game is very stable and strong if left clean and carefully modded.
Shivering Isles is not just weird, it is dark and almost overly forced in its abuse. Just my take on it, everyone has their opinion.
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| 25 DEC 2009 at 9:14pm |
| Deleted User | Yes, I also generally much prefer weirdness to boring conventionality, especially in my games - otherwise, why bother if everything is the same as in RL.. However, I will give Chris that Shivering Isles does have a rather discomfiting dark side to some of the "disorders" featured in it.
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| 26 DEC 2009 at 4:28am |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By Karsten (25 DEC 2009 8:48pm)
If both Maum and Camaroboy has the GOTY edition of Oblivion, then I do believe they have the latest patch for the game? There's some unofficial patches for Oblivion (can be found on tesnexus.com, I think?)
No. I just have the original game, however it is the Collector's Edition version. Do I need a (official) patch? Forget what I said earlier. After fifty hours of hack and slash I need to reflect on my options and my sanity.
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| 26 DEC 2009 at 4:59am |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | http://static.bethsoft.com/Oblivion/Oblivion_v1.2.0416English.exe
Oblivion 1.2.0416 English North American Edition Patch
http://static.bethsoft.com/isles/FIGS/ob/Oblivion_v1.2.0416UK.exe
Oblvion 1.2.0415 UK and Australian Edition
there are also Italian, French and German edition patches.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_patches.htm
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| 3 JAN 2010 at 8:58pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 593
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | ok, just put the one file in the download into your data folder of the main Oblvion install.Then start up the Oblvion Launcher and you will see Play and then right under it, an option called Data Files. This is where you turn on and off the parts of the game. Click on that and a list will open of the main game files, and a veritcial column of boxes. Check the check box next to the mod you just installed, in this case, Passive Wildlife, and it is ON. now close that window and fire up the game and you are good to go.
OK one last time because I am really dim and as I mentioned I have never used add-ons before. I've downloaded 2 add-ons (passive wildlife and one of the natural environment files). Do I run the files or just dump them in the data folder of the Oblivion install? Do I do that before I run the main Oblivion install?
Am I making any sense?
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 3 JAN 2010 at 9:10pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | passive wildlife will be one file.
Put that file INTO the data folder of your Oblvion install.
THEN start up the Oblvion Launcher and look for the entry under PLAY that says Data Files, click on that.
then find the list of check boxes and find the one for Passive Wildlilfe, and check it..
now close that and start the game
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| 3 JAN 2010 at 9:11pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By maum (3 JAN 2010 8:57pm)
ok, just put the one file in the download into your data folder of the main Oblvion install.Then start up the Oblvion Launcher and you will see Play and then right under it, an option called Data Files. This is where you turn on and off the parts of the game. Click on that and a list will open of the main game files, and a veritcial column of boxes. Check the check box next to the mod you just installed, in this case, Passive Wildlife, and it is ON. now close that window and fire up the game and you are good to go.
OK one last time because I am really dim and as I mentioned I have never used add-ons before. I've downloaded 2 add-ons (passive wildlife and one of the natural environment files). Do I run the files or just dump them in the data folder of the Oblivion install? Do I do that before I run the main Oblivion install?
Am I making any sense?
Ok, different mods actually work slightly differently..-some you need to unpack to a certain game folder (Chris would know off the top of his head, if he is around) -if he doesn't tell u soon, i'll look it up 4 u.
Other mods have their own installers- and as you unzip those, you will see that they will be an .exe file that you can just open and they will install themselves to the right place in Oblivion. Are you on top of all that?
EDIT: heh- Chris is always faster than myself... anyway, the file you need to unpack it to would be (if your game is installed on your C-drive - otherwise the drive that it's installed on, of course) C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\ Data files - is that right, Chris?
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| 3 JAN 2010 at 10:50pm |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | Yes Oblvion lives here:
C:/Program Files/Bethesda/Oblvion
and inside it you will see a Data folder
the esm (the main file for each mod) plops right into the data folder
IF there are Texture folders and Meshes Folders or Icon Folders in the Mod package their contents go INTO that folder with the same name INSIDE the data folder. You must get each of those specific file sets in the right place.
You will generally see the following folders in the data folder:
Icons
Meshes
Textures
Menus
Music
Shaders
Sound
Textures
when you open up a mod package, if there are any folders with these names just be sure to put whatever is in those folders for the mod in the right place.
THEN, you fire up the Oblivon Launcher, you will see a menu that lists things ...under Play it will say DATA FILES...click on that option and it opens up the llist of esm's for the game (esm stands for Elder Scroll Master file)....
each one will have a check box next to it, your new mod shoould show up there and you have to click on the empty check box to make a mark and activate it. Then close that window and play the game.
There ARE more complex installations and some other factors involved, pls PM me with any questions and we can walk thru the installment and any questions.
As Traveller says, some have Execs that load it all for you, some but not many. Others use a system called OMOD that is a mod installer, it is pretty easy to use but needs files to be prepared for it specially.
Start with the most simple mods, houses, for example are usuallyl just one esm as they use the default textures and meshes most of them.
here are two that are fun and easy, one is an appartment in the Imperial city and one is a lovely home on the road to Cheryndah ..that has a great deck and a view of waterfalls, Waterfall Cottage:
Princess Stompers Imperial City Appartment
(just to the left of the main gate as you enter the Imperial City, look for morning glories over a doorway)
http://www.filefront.com/15111897/PrincessICApartmentv1pt1.zip/
and Waterfall Cottage, take the road around the lake surrounding the Imperial city ...to the east, and then take the road to Cheryndal, and the house is to the left of the road up some stairs, there should appear a icon for it on your map once you find it.
http://www.filefront.com/15111813/Waterfall_Cottage-7717.rar/
and here is one more, a bit more of a retreat a spiritual place, but one of the most beautiful mods made for the game yet, you willl see when you find it....
the Monastary of Eru
http://www.filefront.com/15111811/Monastery_of_Eru-7534.zip/
most are wrapped in a ZIP which you can right click and open others may be in RAR form, a free download here for the program to open them:
http://www.rarlab.com/
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| 4 JAN 2010 at 3:58am |
HalcyonSchattenjger
Posts : 1652
Joined: 17 NOV 2006
Status : Offline | Still, the mods are crashing me. I have the MM and doing it all right. I think there's a conflict between the mods and my GOTY edition DVD. It's fine--I love the game as it is.
Passive wildlife works, tho, which is great! If you want to fight them, just taunt them and you're on.
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| 4 JAN 2010 at 5:31am |
CrisGerSchattenjger
Posts : 2539
Joined: 28 APR 2007
Location: US
Status : Offline | You can only use the MM to load mods that are prepared for it, the simiple ones i just posted dont need it at all, just need to be activated and they work ......
some of the more complex ones like Open Cities that open the city gates do need the MM and are more apt to cause problems.
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| 4 JAN 2010 at 3:05pm |
InesrocksPrivate Detective
Posts : 682
Joined: 16 OCT 2008
Location: PT
Status : Offline | if you want infinite hours of endless fun then you should buy it.
Playing: Skyrim (ongoing)
Last Finished: can't recall, been too long.
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