ES4: Oblivion - Nehrim Released in English

The English version of the highly regarded Oblivion total conversion, Nehrim: At Fates Edge is now available. The download page offers a torrent and mirrors for the hefty 1.6Gb file.
It's worth mentioning you will need to read the Readme.txt file in the installation directory, because this installs and works differently to most Oblivion mods - and for Steam it's different again. One catch is the default installation folder will need to be changed for Vista and Windows 7 users away from c:\program files (or similar), because these are protected directories. You'll also need to disable your other mods, and I had to delete the old .ini file. Bottom line: read the readme. For those not familiar, here's some information.

What exactly is this "Nehrim"? How does it fit into Oblivion? And what the fudge does "Total Conversion" mean???
Well:
Our project Nehrim does not fit into Oblivion at all. What we did is build an entirely new, discrete world that has nothing to do with Tamriel and the TES-Universe. This is characteristic of a total conversion: It works independently of the main game. Moreover, in a way Nehrim is a genuine, new game.

So much for the basics. But what is so special about Nehrim? Why should I download and play it?

Let's just give a few reasons:

1.) Nehrim is a game focusing both on story and classical RPG gameplay. You solve quests, earn experience points, collect better equipment. Although this sounds rather conventional, Nehrim finds a perfect balance between a stunning presentation and the actual game. If you are not motivated to proceed playing once you have started, you are probably doing something wrong.

2.) There is something to discover at every corner in Nehrim. Monotonous woods and impassionately designed dungeons? Not here! And honestly: Who wants to wander through landscapes you can find outside your own home? Nehrim includes sets of landscapes that have never been implemented in any game before.

3.) There is more to the story than "Go save the world". Much more. The characters have deep personalities, they change throughout the game. And who knows, there may even be some romance…

4.) There is going to be a new soundtrack. Our team musicians Simon W. Autenrieth and Lukas Deschel have been industrious so even acoustics freaks will be comfortable in the new world. Aside from these compositions there will also be a gig by Schandmaul, a popular Folk-Rock band, who kindly have provided a song for the project.

5.) Nehrim has an elaborate synchronization. And when we say elaborate, we?re talking no less than 56 professional voice actors and a recording studio from Berlin that got our backs. Regarding this, Nehrim may just be one of the biggest synchronization projects ever having been undergone for a fan project.

6.) Nehrim is free. All you need is a copy of TES IV: Oblivion.

Thanks to crpgnut and Daniel, plus the others who emailed us in the weeks leading up to the release.
More information.

Has anyone played this? Would be interested to see how it's turned out, the description makes it sound very promising.

I downloaded this yesterday, and I'll try it out today - if I get the time.

Looks really interesting.

Originally Posted by Benedict
Has anyone played this? Would be interested to see how it's turned out, the description makes it sound very promising.

I played the starting dungeon and a bit into the open world in the german version. Its great. They included a lot of ideas from Gothic in the gameplay, and they use a lot of scripted events that remind me a lot of Half-Life. The starting dungeon alone is worth the download, one of the best dungeons in a long time, for me. The outside world has some performance issues on my aging rig, system requirements are definitely higher than for Oblivion itself. But I will definitely keep playing. I really recommend giving it a try.

I must admit - this looks really cool Now, if only I could find the time… looks like a huge game.

I like their (quite bold) statement " If you are not motivated to proceed playing once you have started, you are probably doing something wrong."

Heh, they make it sound like it's completely unthinkable that there could be *anything* wrong with their game. For that statement alone I'll simply have to try it out..

Originally Posted by KasperFauerby
"If you are not motivated to proceed playing once you have started, you are probably doing something wrong."

I'll commit that statement to memory. I can use it in the Morrowind Revisited discussion.

Originally Posted by KasperFauerby
Heh, they make it sound like it's completely unthinkable that there could be *anything* wrong with their game. For that statement alone I'll simply have to try it out..

Sure , the fact that they invested tones of work through the years and probably paid money to make a mod based in oblivion makes it unthinkable that there is something wrong with them.

The torrent is pretty well seeded. About 400 seeders and 1000 leechers yesterday. I downloaded in speeds between 1 and 2 Mbit/s. Took about 30 minutes to download it.

Originally Posted by Tragos
based in oblivion.

I think there's something you misunderstood.

The game - as far as I understood it - has NOTHING to do with Oblivion.

Like the recent Ultima project had to do with Dungeon Siege - they only used its engine.

Originally Posted by Tragos
Sure , the fact that they invested tones of work through the years and probably paid money to make a mod based in oblivion makes it unthinkable that there is something wrong with them.

Who said nothing could be wrong with them?

He said it was a bold statement, and that's what made him curious about the mod.

I was confused about the word "in".

Alrik Fassbauer: Yes it has nothing to do with OB , i remember when they first announced their project in TES forums , i followed the development for quite some time.

*Sorry for the "in" , English are nor my first language , should use "at"

DArtagnan : My comment was intended as a joke

I am bitter because i scratched my OB CD while serving cafe on it and i hate to donwload it .

If you are not motivated to proceed playing once you have started, you are probably doing something wrong.

I admire anyone who produces a product, then tells everyone if they don't enjoy it it's their own fault.

Maybe Brad Wardell is involved?

So far it's a cutscene masterpiece. There's been very little to actually do in the first dungeon except flip levers and watch cutscenes. No branching paths to speak about and very few monsters or loot. Hoping that it picks up because it's been a little dull so far. I've had as many cutscenes as I've had battles and the cutscenes were much longer.

There's only 3 classes and you can't pick your skills at the beginning of the game. Oblivion skills are still in the game, along with learning points from Gothic for things like crafting. The game crashes consistently when reloading a save, but that may be because I need to blow away the original ini file and let it recreate a fresh one.

It kind of annoys me when I see people putting so much effort into creating something that they can't even claim the intellectual rights for.

Originally Posted by holeraw
It kind of annoys me when I see people putting so much effort into creating something that they can't even claim the intellectual rights for.

It's no big deal, really.

Putting forth an effort gets noticed, no matter if you got paid or not.

If this is good, they already have their foot in the industry - if they want to jump into the greed driven mess that it has become

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Putting forth an effort gets noticed, no matter if you got paid or not.

The annoying part is not that they don't get paid for their work - it's that Bethesda does.
— and the more notice they get, the more Bethesda benefits…

Originally Posted by holeraw
It kind of annoys me when I see people putting so much effort into creating something that they can't even claim the intellectual rights for.

I kind of agree.

But a thing like a "total conversion" is like this : Neither side can actually claim total intellectual properties on it … Because although the engine is used, the world as such is the team's IP, and on the other hand, the team cannot say "this is an Bethesda game", regarding the whole concept of the world.

Don't know if I managed to make myself clear, though. I'm a bit dizzy in my head right now.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Neither side can actually claim total intellectual properties on it … Because although the engine is used, the world as such is the team's IP, and on the other hand, the team cannot say "this is an Bethesda game", regarding the whole concept of the world.

Neither side can be forced to officially claim responsibility certainly

But is it certain that Bethesda doesn't legally have the intellectual rights of any mod for their games?
(I haven't bothered to 'research' that… but I remember back when I was a student at the university we were told that Adobe can legally claim intellectual rights of any work one does with Photoshop - or something along these lines)