hyralux

Except Maiq the Liar says that he was once soul-trapped and it wasn't pleasant. Even in a "white gem" the animal apparently is still conscious. Still sounds cruel if I think about it; yet I do use enchanted items if I come across them. But what I really would like to do is play a game without any enchanted items whatsoever*. Would have to get a powerful sword and some tactics. I already don't use armor (most looks like an insect) and use regular clothes...except for now getting into Frostfall then the Hypothermia mods, where fur armor rules for the warmth. _______________ *Would still have to absorb dragon souls, as critical to the game. However, I/we are much more passive in that as not setting out to absorb dragon souls. Kill a dragon in self-defense, and its soul is automatic. EDIT: Upon further reflextion, and on what Maiq said about once being soul-trapped, I can see that using an enchanted weapon both helps fight a greater evil AND eventually releases the soul upon the weapon's depletion. So I guess using enchanted weapons and picking-up already filled soul gems is a means of releasing trapped souls. I no longer kill animals for souls, or at all except perhaps in self-defense. Yet, I even try to avoid cats, bears and wolves if possible. Even dodged dragons, but usually not looking for a fight at that time. Unless it looks like the dragon will be an immediate danger to others...same with beasts. Heck, I even sometimes think that fighting the Forsworn is not good. They usually don't come looking for me and are just trying to hold onto their native lands. Is there a thread on that? :smile: Ha, I'm not sure about the Forsworn thread but I certainly sympathize and even share your views on many aspects of your play-style. I really find an interest regarding the customs in Tamriel that we may have thought was strange at first, but eventually started to think nothing of it, soul gems in particular. I remember picking Oblivion up for the first time and being revolted at the idea of soul trapping something to use as a battery but it never was mentioned as something remotely wrong and no one seemed to mind except in Black Soul gems. This is something I hope they actually address in later titles. In my view that's just plan silly, you wont be able to sympathize with a lot of complicated people in skyrim, even the whiterun jarl has a court wizard if no real magic himself, and every starting character gets two spells by default. I'm sure the jarl could set someones butt on fire, put them out, then heal them if he really wanted to. The storm cloak guy? Forget about it. If your having problems with this, enchanting, then what about serana? Not being rude, just curios...any moral judgments on her for being a daughter of cold whatever? Prob wont be down loading the marriageable serana mod will you? I know that's assuming much but I don't think a paladin in many games would have a problem enchanting there stuff or wearing stuff that is, same difference really. Hmmm, not sure I understand exactly what you mean here. My character, would definitely not feel disdain for those who use magic or even use soul gems, but choose to not partake in the use or creation of soul gems himself. A moral dilemma regarding Serana is simply crushed under the weight that the ritual was either pushed upon her or was pressured by her family, so my character would have problems trying to see her as a monster. Also, on your paladin note, I agree whole-heartedly but this is the only series I have came across that requires the harm of another to create so it isn't as simple.

I really like those ideas! Will definitely try that out next game!

I can only speak for myself on this subject and state my view that the only difference between humans and animals is that we reached the level of intelligence to claim we have souls before everything else. This, in my opinion, does not justify inflicting unecessary suffering because "we can". I can see where you are coming from but I personally feel there is difference between regretfully killing for survival and harvesting souls.

Terribly sorry for what undoubtedly is some form of necro, but it must be stated for those having the problem that this issue has been solved and the culprit found: DovahBling Jewelry The Original Poster has also found the culprit, but failed to report the fix so here I am. I'm currently reinstalling Skyrim over Ctds on Saving and have lost over 150+ hours over the course of three characters over this issue so I hope those that see this will have better fortune than I.

Try a couple of things for me. 1) If you are using the steam version of Oblivion try Verifying the Integrity of the Game Cache that can be found by right clicking Oblivion in your library, clicking properties, and navigating to the Local files. 2 )Back up your Oblivion folder in My Documents/My Games/ Oblivion and then remove them. Relaunch and see if you have any issue. 3) Navigate to your Oblivion directory and remove the files within the Video folder located in Oblivion/Data/Videos 4) If number three succeeds then repeat step 1 to reacquire the intro videos.

If you are encountering a crash to the desktop after exiting the sewers then you might have a conflicting mod that conflicts with the exterior of the sewer. Try disabling Unique Landscapes if you have it installed and see if that changes anything for you.

Hey everybody, been dealing with an issue for the past week now and figured I would ask here to see if anyone has had any similar issues. I've been having an aggravating issue involving my computer just flat out turning off and restarting at random intervals while playing oblivion. After countless game reinstalls and mod deactivations I believe that it is the Enb causing the issue. I've sat my character idle with the enb on and off and it seems that the crashes only occur with it installed. Obviously I could just unistall the enb but I'm rather fond of it so if any of you have had a problem with this and resolved it or any advice I would love to hear it. Obviously I have googled the issue and I DO NOT have any issues regarding heat or power as I can run Skyrim with almost full 2-4k textures and an extremely high powered enb. Cinematic Enb for Oblivion http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45483/? UPDATE: Uninstalled all Enb files and did a test run without for the hell of it and it did indeed crash after about an hour. Have to admit that this isn't actually grave news to me as I feel I may be able to figure out a solution easier now. Regardless if anyone has a solution or not I will be posting whatever fix I find as an archive for any brave adventurer who runs into this beast. Though I regret the title of this thread since it seems Enb is not at fault and this thread be moved out of the Mod issue forum. Operating System Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit CPU Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz 79 °F Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology RAM 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 800MHz (11-11-11-28) Motherboard ASRock Z77 OC Formula (CPUSocket) 76 °F Graphics E500i-A1 (1920x1080@60Hz) Intel HD Graphics 3000 (ASRock) 3072MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series (XFX Pine Group) 79 °F Hard Drives 112GB INTEL SSDSC2BW120A4 (SSD) 72 °F 932GB Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (SATA) 85 °F Optical Drives DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device HP DVD Writer 1260t Audio AMD High Definition Audio Device

Absolutely awesome work Soolie. Can't wait to be able to wield a spear again.

Okay. I'm not familiar with that performance monitor so I overlooked it. You could use a decent upgrade on the gpu as the video ram is a bit low.

What videocard are you using?

wow, that looks awesome!!

Oh you know, the kind of good that jumps from building to building in a batsuit

Well it's like that in reality too. Ask an expert on why we sleep. like precisely why. and they cannot tell you. The fact we sleep is just accepted without even knowing why by the world at large. It could be the same way with the soul gems everyone pretty much knows what they "can" do. maybe not to a full extent, but no one truly understands why or the how. Now for the fun part :3 You say you are making a "kind" hearted mage. but that does not mean he is good. You see a bear cub who's basically dying slowly and painfully and there is no way to save it. Do you A. Put it out of its misery? That would be the kind gesture but you would be killing it so it's not a sense "good" B. Leave it alone? the "good" choice Next sample. You see a group of people fighting a bear, and the bear is obviously going to win and kill them. A. Save them? That would be the "kind" choice but remember the "kind" choice does not mean it's the right or "good" choice B. Leave it alone? that is the "good choice" why you may ask, well you don't know the situation it could be they are hunters who just killed the cubs and the mother is trying to protect itself or anything along those lines~ Just remember in your travels The Good Character is not always the right or kindest character. ( depending on your view ofc ) ( idk why i keep choosiing bears ) That's kind of the problem with the term good isn't it? I feel like we have an option to perform in a negative way but that isn't always the case with good. I mean I could always say I heal the bear and cure his afflictions that are ailing him. Or I could say I use my alteration magics to intervene in the fight between the humans and the bear and cease the fight. I understand how sooner or later though I will be put into a situation that has hurts despite good intentions and there's not gonna be an option C. I suppose its how we handle those intentions that define whether or not we tried our best to preserve good. I'm starting to think you just hate bears ;) Thanks for the great post! I got ya. Well looking at it that way, it would appear that most do not know how it actually works. I think it is sort of like automobiles or planes or whatever. Most people that use them have no idea as to how they actually work... or should I say lack a significant understanding as to how they work. They might be able to tell you some basics, but beyond that they have no idea as to what is happening on the inside. I think it is like that for soul gems and enchantments that they are unaware as and or don't think deeply on the subject matter kind of like most people who eat meat have never been a part of the slaughter process despite knowing that an animal died for the burger (I still eat meat because it tastes too freakin good). I hope this isn't considered a spoiler of any kind but I just don't think most people are even aware of the Soul Cairn. So the question is, do you want your mage to be aware and with a high moral compass in which case they would possess an even greater uniqueness than they already have being a Nord Mage by abstaining from the use of enchantments and soul gems as the price is too steep... or will they justify the taking of the most prized thing of existence and using it for personal gain? The third option is just to do it and just not think too deeply about it as I've made good characters and used soul gems without blinking an eye (no black soul gems though) but it is because they just didn't think about it... OR, or you could just RP that your mage uses a different process to enchant items. Of course game wise you'd be doing the same thing, but you could RP that somehow your mage uses him or herself to enchant rather than another? I dunno. Great thread by the way (in my opinion anyway) as I find the topic of the use of the enchantments interesting and have never thought about it too deeply before now. Thanks! I figured I would see what other people thought so I could use their opinions to help weigh down my own. I find myself wanting to use the power of enchanting completely for its practical uses instead of using it as a moral mask, so to speak. I believe you're options you gave me are great ones and I'll have to decide whether or not the power is worth the cost of losing both uniqueness and a sense of my moral compass.

I'll get down to the gritty details. I was planning on making a kindhearted Nord mage that wasn't raised in Skyrim so he doesn't have the inherent prejudices of the rest of his kin. You can see from in game that soul gems are a pretty normal part of life in Tamriel, laying in people's houses or sold by vendors. I can't really remember anyone abstaining from their use except maybe the Redguard in the Cheydinhal mage's guild. Now that comes across to me that they are either too stupid to know how they work (which baffles me that entire continent wouldn't know by now), or there is more to their use than what is previously stated. I guess it would be considered normal by anyone who doesn't believe anything carrying a white soul deserves to have it taken it away. The Thalmor being soul trapped is a joke lol.. Well that would only work based on your view of "abominations" such as the undead, it's not their choice to be undead they just are but why does that make them an abomination? so does that make it evil or good when you take their soul. btw why are Thalmor on that list? o.o I guess when he says Abomination, we truly mean something that has some kind of spark keeping it moving. Skeletons for example feel no pain and are just puppets yet they produce a soul when soul trapped. I definitely see where you're coming from though, two wrongs don't make a right. It just comes down to whether your character would believe that he could use soul trapping as a punishing mechanism.

Thank you both for the insightful posts! I do find it strange that the Hagravens and the Falmer both have lost the requirement for a black soul gem. Very odd indeed. Perhaps Bethesda believed they both had lost the right to be soul trapped without any heavy moral consequences? Abominations would be a great idea for soul trapping for sure. A loading screen states that the skeletons no longer feel any pain or remorse which leads me to believe that they might be just soulless puppets held together by magic. I understand that even scholars do not know why enchants on armor don't lose strength over time and that raises a question regarding if the soul is permanently attached or if it is released upon enchantment. It would also be fun to go around smashing some soul gems for some extra good guy points : )

Yes, depending on your role play. It basically comes down to whether or not you believe destruction of the soul can be justified no matter what crime is committed.

It runs much deeper than that. Taking a soul isn't the same as killing. Many people believe that if you take a living beings soul you will completely erase it's entire existence. That bear could be attacking you for many different reasons, maybe he should be attacking you if you encroached or attacked him. It really just comes down to your beliefs, which is a discussion for somewhere else.

I absolutely agree with you. I don't fast travel because I feel it takes away from so much of what makes Skyrim a living, breathing place. I feel like things should be about what you choose is fun and always having an option to take a turn down a different path. I've had plenty of characters that would have nothing to do with the Daedra, good or bad. Meridia stands for a lot of things a good character would absolutely agree with. On the other hand, she also aided Umeril the Unfeathered along with the ayleids in their fight against Pelinal and Allesia. It all comes down to what the individual would call good or bad. I could see a good aligned Altmer revering Meridia as a chief deity without question. A human may feel that her devout ways against necromancy would outweigh her negatives. Molag Bal, on the other hand, will never get anything out of me other than an axe in his face... I guess what it really comes down to is that there are very few souls my character would want to expend just for the sake of a fiery effect on a sword. I think Bethesda meant to have white and black soul gems be a complete contrast from each other. One having a purely academic benefit, the other having a easier, more powerful, sinister use. I feel they unfortunately blur together when it comes to morality to me. I would much rather have an option of what you said about the temple blessings. If there was another form of enchantment through the use of a divine or elemental force, like the fire I spout from my hand or divine influence, it would be a great way to give more options.

I really like this insightful responses, thank you! It seems strange that "Soul trapping" doesn't seem to have as much negative weight in a conversation as necromancy in most parts of Tamriel. I feel like the meat and hides argument can be a very strong point until we come upon the discussion of an animals "Soul". That subject does not have a place here and is based more upon personal beliefs rather than general consensus. I personally understand killing an animal in self defense, that makes sense, but I've never been the type to shoot down a passive animal for sport. I feel like I'm blurring the lines between myself and my character, but I guess that's what video games are about: portraying ourselves in a more artistic, fantastical manner. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that a soul gem doesn't actually capture a soul, per se, but rather an energy that binds the soul and the body. On the other hand, I've been told that the souls that are used in enchanting are released and return back to the Aetherius or "Immortal plane" to achieve eternal piece, reincarnation, or many other possibilities. I'm not sure if either of these theories are correct though. It's exciting how vague some of this stuff is. Bethesda keeps us thinking! @mightymuffin007, I really like your ideas of improvisation! I actually thought about obtaining already filled soul gems and not soul trapping anything at all by either purchasing them or finding them in my travels. Thus, I'm releasing a soul from its containment and at least doing some good. I also miss sigil stones! @RatcatcherofKvatch, Thalmor would do well for some black soul gems! They make themselves really hard to like..

Hey guys, I was planning on making a new character and like many of you, started planning ahead on his skill development. I myself haven't ever attempted to play a "dark" character, preferring to be somewhere in between Good and Neutral. I had decided to go for a Nord battlemage and found myself reaching a brick wall when it came to what profession skill I wanted to spend my time on. I find myself being a bit hesitant on enchanting purely for its "Soul Consumption". What do you guys think? I would also love to hear more of the process of soul gems. Do you think that it pushes the boundaries to take an animal or human's life energy?

Definitely the coolest looking armor in the series. I've been hoping for a mod that introduces this to skyrim for quite some time.

I second this, been looking for a mod that does this for a while

Yea oblivion for sure. Dawnguard is a great Dlc that is easily worth four or five adventures. Oblivion is worth hundreds ^_^ Skyrim is a wonderfully great game, but Oblivion just holds a special place in my heart that Skyrim won't ever compete against.

Hey guys! Looking for a mod adding various wands to the world of skyrim! I can sit back and imagine my mage character in dark robes wielding his wand in the intense rain. Vast amounts of bandits charge upon him only to be shot down with my wand of Chain lightning. With the bandits vanquished in only a few moments, I slip my wand back into my robes and disappear into the cold ominous night. Staffs are cool, but It's just not what I'm looking for. Now there is already a wand mod, but it is just harry potter copies. I'm looking for a mod that has customization and originality in it. I was thinking of multiple types of wands all using firewood as a primary crafting ingredient.Maybe Firewood + Troll fat + Vampire dust = A wand with a higher level "Flames" spell seeing as it would be strong against those specific monsters. Even adding a soul gem to the mix of ingredients would be great too. Each wand has a "Spell" attached too it. Basically each wand is just like a smaller staff game play wise. Some would have frost/fire/lightning or even the vampires drain life ability. I would almost prefer the wands to drain magic instead of charge allowing you to use stronger version of spells without using as much mana. That would mean that the wand would typically be used in one hand for your main spell you use and your off-hand being used for utility abilities you don't use as much. Not sure if you could directly make a wand use mana as a resource I would understand if it was charged with soul gems though. Not as cool, but definitely still awesome :) Thanks for your consideration!

Yeah won't work for me either, i'll try not using google chrome