Already??? Didn't you just start that last week?

:D

Actually, my total game time was just over 20 hours, and that included becoming Grand Champion of the Arena, ascending the Mage Guild ranks, and doing some other random quests … so it wasn't too bad ;)

Looking at my saves, I started on the 12th … so about 12 days.

Ok, I understand now. You went straight to the KotN quest pretty much. I thought you had played through the whole game again.

I did start from scratch … but had no desire to take on the whole 100+ hours again - too much other stuff to do!

JDR13
" I thought you had played through the whole game again."

Hehe, no one has that high of consititution, well no PC gamer.
Much less even playing it one time with no mods, not sure anyone could put up with the 150 hours worth of console crap popups every 5 miniutes, if any "PC only gamer" had completed everything without a mod, I owe them a beer. ;)

The No Popup mod maybe the greatest mod ever made. :)

What do you mean by "popups"?

Hey - you owe me a beer! My original play-through for my review was mod-free :)

Here you go - expect to see about a hundred of these during 'Knights of the Nine' …

http://txa1265.spymac.com/pictures/Obliv_KotN_8.jpg

…and, yes, it really does occupy about 1/3 or the screen real estate.

Aha! So what does the no-popup mod do? Reduce it to just letters?

Total Removal actually. A must have.
http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=3394

You should really check the description on alot of these. Some great stuff:
http://betteroblivion.com/alist.php

I'm careful not to go overboard with too many mods. I've already decided that when I finally get around to seriously playing Oblivion I'll probably try one of those texture mods to sharpen the distant graphics, but not much else. I don't like it when mods change so many things that it becomes a different game altogether.

I was thinking about trying that "Obscuro" mod because I've heard a lot of positive thing about it, but it just changes too much. I would like to find a mod that does away with the auto-scaling for enemies and loot but not much else. An "Obscuro-lite" anyone?

I also refuse to use any mod that actually adds\changes any objects, enemies, spells, quest, etc. At least until I've played through the entire game and experienced it the way the Devs intended it to be.

A wise decision. The no pop-up mod is certainly not required. In fact, there are a few quests that are very hard to solve without the guidance (I can't wait for the first person to quote that statement to let us all know that they were oh-so uber hardcore to figure every single quest all out by themselves… OMG, I'm sooo proud of you! No. Really. I am! :biggrin: ).
Anyway, you will occasionally (maybe on about a half dozen to a dozen quests) be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystick without the pop-up pointers.
I'd keep pop-ups turned on for your first play-through. You can always just click on "continue" as you can see in the screenie above (i.e. without actually reading the help text) if you feel like your hand is being held too much. And then -if you should happen to get stuck- you can just check your journal (where the pop-up pointers will all be listed) if you require help.

I prefer not to change the gameplay with mods until I played throught the game once however there are are a lot of performance, and grahpics enhancement mods you really should install for this game….. not that it makes it any better…. but at least you'll get to look at very pretty graphics while playing :D

Francesco's levelled creatures is lighter. I've played it myself - it mixes things up well and keeps it challenging without throwing extra creatures at you (which Obscuro's does). More importantly, the installer allows you to deselect all extra creatures and items if you wish, leaving you with just the leveling tweaks. Obscuro's approach to leveling AND extra enemies can play havok with your framerate so be forwarned.

I plan on playing Obscuro's more extensively but my machine cannot handle 8-12 enemies on the screen at once which can happen with Obscuro's.

I am a bit puzzled about some of these folks who are anti mod and then turn around and complain about the handholding? Maybe SOME quests are particularly difficult without the compass and popups but so what? There are countless quests in the game and you can turn the handholding back on at any point???

I'm actually kind of surprised that Bethesda didn't release a patch to give users the option of turning off the auto-scaling. I mean considering all the negative backlash they've received because of it.

My guess is that they don't give a sh*t because they've already made their millions off the game.

[QUOTE=ToddMcF2002;17263]Francesco's levelled creatures is lighter. I've played it myself - it mixes things up well and keeps it challenging without throwing extra creatures at you (which Obscuro's does). More importantly, the installer allows you to deselect all extra creatures and items if you wish, leaving you with just the leveling tweaks. Obscuro's approach to leveling AND extra enemies can play havok with your framerate so be forwarned.
QUOTE]


Does Obscuro's mod actually add new creatures, or just increase the number of existing creatures? I also heard that Obscuro adds some new graphics(icons, effects, etc.) can you confirm that?

You couldn't just turn off the auto-scaling. It would mean going through and setting the level of every wilderness area, dungeon, and quest. You'd have to balance those for different builds and different paths through the game, which means some degree of QA cycle. Lots of little details, like movement rates and enemy tenacity, were decided under the assumption that you can handle anything you meet, so they'd have to be reexamined. Loot availability would also require your attention, to keep a sprint through Xylywyld from netting the player a full suit of glass. In short, they'd have to address all of the issues that drove them to auto-scaling in the first place - and God help them if they messed it up. You can give a sh*t about the concerns of your most vocal customers and still not have the luxury of redesigning the game to appease them.

Of course, they may not care. I wouldn't. :)

My complaints with Oblivion, which I can't find mods to address:

• You can win every fight with block, slash slash. If a power attack automatically broke a block, and your opponents knew it, then that might stop you from sleepwalking through every encounter, but it might also expose a different pattern for you to exploit. I suspect that the enemies simply don't have enough options to behave unpredictably in combat.
• You can't get a higher-res texture pack that doesn't stomp all over Bethesda's art style. Texture artists have to leave every surface crawling with kenophobic "detail".

"Of course, they may not care. I wouldn't."

I guess it's a good thing that you're not a game designer:)

txa1265
"Hey - you owe me a beer! My original play-through for my review was mod-free"
Done. :)
How many hours did it take to finsih every quest and dungeon once, since the dungeons respawn?

JDR13
"I'm careful not to go overboard with too many mods."
"I was thinking about trying that "Obscuro" mod"
Just incase you didn't know for sure, these two statments are completly opposites, since
Obscuro changes almost everything.

Moriendor
"A wise decision. The no pop-up mod is certainly not required. In fact, there are a few quests that are very hard to solve without the guidance "
Are you sure your talking about popups?
The mod ToddMcF2002 and I are talking about has no effect on quest and/or log entries, not to mention as you sugeest leaving a popup up for guidence would be totally nutz, look at the size example txa1265 posted.
The quest log is uneffected, so if you get lost all you need to do is look normally where you would look, this mod just removes the in your face console unnecessary nonsence.
I can't help think you are talking about something esle.

JDR13
"I'm actually kind of surprised "
Oh you will be surprised at many things once you play it, guarnteed. ;)

" Does Obscuro's mod actually"
Nothing really worng with ooo but it changes core pricipal (i.e. gameplay) on all levels, though I am not sure about adding new mobs.
One thing for certian you won't get any thing close to the original game experience, I am not saying that is a bad thing.

Btw Quarks texture mod work is execellent overall, others are good too but if you were going for one complete work his is best overall, well last time I checked.

As I've said before, I believe Bethsoft sees the scaling as a huge success and therefore would have no reason or interest to switch it off (assuming that was feasible, anyway).