Striker879

What ... no more Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl ?? So you are aligning with Hey and others ... and I fully understand the allure of that (and ya ... not an exceptionally "original" question to ask, I know). Ha, right. Originality is just burning with this question. But nevermind that, let's blow up a couple more atomic reactors, so Stalker gets more travel options! Mwaha, that would be interesting to see. LOL ... gee Envy, to look at you I'd never in a million years guess you had such a mean streak. How about some virtual nukes enabling virtual travel destinations ... only innocent electrons get harmed, but they have no mass so they can't fight back (hmm ... could lead in "shocking" directions though I suppose ... always a catch!!).

I did pop on-line a couple of times and saw that you were off the site ... did you remember to have fun while you were testing?

Well I have some work to do now with that piece of marine plywood I picked up yesterday. Today I get it sized down until it fits correctly in the transom of the 10 ft dingy I'm repairing. How about I leave you with the Qarls install instructions ... Qarls is a big extra strain on your computer, so I suggest you make another Data backup to make it easy to go back to where you are now if it turns out to be too much of a strain (so maybe make this backup folder name to Post_MOO_Backup). As usual download to a folder (already done I believe) and extract to that same folder. In your download folder you will now have a bunch of readme files, your downloaded QTP3 Redimized 1.0 Patched-45666-1-0.7z and two folders (Meshes and Textures). Let's change up the method just a little this time to save a bit of hard drive space ... Copy the Meshes folder from the extracted download and then paste it into your game's Oblivion\Data folder (saying yes to the folder merge and all file overwrites). Next do the same with the Textures folder (copy from the extracted and paste into Oblivion\Data). Qarls is a pure replacer and so it doesn't have an ESP file, so no need to open OBMM or to run BOSS ... just go into the game and see how it looks, and how the game runs. I will probably be a couple of hours at least as I want to make as much progress as possible (today and tommorrow's weather looks good, then a few days of not so good). Don't be afraid of having a good test session. Any saves you make can be used to continue after more mods are added or not. I have a bunch of saves backed up from when I was setting up my current load order, plus I have saves from later in the game ... they all come in handy for different kinds of mod testing. The added benefit of using those saves is I don't need to worry about something making my current save no good for continuing my guy's game (six years and still going).

Yes I have a lot of fun with stuff Combat Hide allows me to do. Early in the game when I'm weak and any poisons I create aren't very effective, when I spot a bandit I go into sneak before they see me, hit them with a poisoned arrow (so sneak bonus for the arrow plus health damage over the next few seconds). As soon as the arrow hits I go hide behind a tree or something. After the poison has timed out I come back around the tree, and get them with another poisoned arrow. Rinse and repeat until they are dead.

The best part is that you can turn back on anything you want later, and then if you don't really care for it you turn it back off. Kind of like having a set of for your game. So I looked at SM Combat Hide and it will be a simple copy paste install (just two files). Download to a folder and extract to that same folder. Copy SM Combat Hide.esp and SM Combat Hide.ini and then paste them in your game install's Oblivion\Data folder. Open OBMM and put a tick in SM Combat Hide.esp in the left panel and sort with BOSS. A test I often recommend to people trying it is use your outside the sewer exit save and go across to the Vilverin ruin. There are a couple of bandits outside, and if you get the one closest to notice you run behind the big rocks and then go into sneak mode. You can even move in sneak down near the water and then along to the north. As long as the bandit has not caught up to you so that they see you sneaking after you go out of sight, you'll hear them saying stuff that will tell you they don't know where you have gone.

What ... no more Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl ?? So you are aligning with Hey and others ... and I fully understand the allure of that (and ya ... not an exceptionally "original" question to ask, I know).

Did it have lots of things to choose while installing?

Oh Paga ... now that is a harsh Like/No Like system!!

With MOO yes ... and when you go to install the green MOO in OBMM it should start the install script that will ask you what parts you'd like to have enabled (for instance the creatures are all in a single section of the INI file, so I'd guess that you will have a list of creatures you can either put a tick mark on to enable or no tick mark to not enable). If you run into something after installing MOO we can just find it in the INI file and make the change there afterwards. I will look at SM Combat Hide and see which way we should install while you get MOO installed and get back to you.

I'd say it's your call ... MOO can be added to the game later.

And you didn't answer my question ... How much experience do you have playing Oblivion? Oops ... I didn't see your first reply. Sorry!!

I looked at Creature Diversity.esp in TES4Edit and the lowest level ghoul is 10 levels above the player. With CD the only way to change what creatures you encounter is to use the Construction Set and actually change Creature Diversity.esp yourself. With MOO you can stop creatures from appearing by making changes in Maskar's Oblivion Overhaul.ini (in the case of the ghouls you set the line ... set MOO.ini_add_ghouls to 1 to set MOO.ini_add_ghouls to 0 ... and then ghouls don't appear at all. Later in the game when you are at a higher level and more experienced/powerful at fighting/casting magic you just change that line back to it original and continue playing. With MOO almost everything you find in the game that comes from MOO can be customised to how you would like it.

No ... my thinking there was to see how big of a performance hit installing MOO would have ... I have seen some reports that some people think it affects game performance. Looking at the Creature Diversity (CD) mod description and mod comments I'm pretty sure that some of those same creatures you saw in MOO are in CD and they aren't just a retexture (for example you will still find that ghoul that gave you trouble, and it will still be as strong as it was with MOO). Another question I'd like to ask is how much experience do you have playing Oblivion in the past?

So I have a suggestion for the next step ... Maskars Oblivion Overhaul (MOO). I have never installed it myself, but I've been following it's development since it first came out. Six years ago when I set up my current load order I thought about adding MOO but then decided against it at that time. I already had some mods that changed how the game plays (Basic Primary Needs, Basic Physical Activities and Realistic Fatigue) and I didn't want to change too much all at once. I also didn't think I'd be playing the same character 6 years later. In your list you have a note about getting one shotted with MOO. Entirely possible and there are ways to avoid that situation, both using the settings available in the different INI files that MOO has, and a nifty little mod that I do use with my current character ... SM Combat Hide. With SM Combat Hide you can duck behind a rock or large tree or building and the bandit, or creature will often lose track of where you went. With MOO some enemies will be too hard for you to fight when your character is low level, so that will give you a chance to sneak away and live to fight another day. MOO also has a way for you to play dead which may also give you a chance to escape. MOO comes with an installation script that helps you set up it's INI options when you install it with OBMM (it is designed for OBMM installation).

Your winters are quite similar to what we have where I live then. Not really winter, not really any other season though. Cold and wet changes to a bit warmer and not so wet (but damp, so it still has that nice cold feel to it). I shoveled snow twice last winter too, and went out to sweep off a dusting of snow a few times. When I retired 12 years ago I thought maybe I'd take up cross country skiing ... you know something that is not hard on the knees, gives a good workout and maybe would offset the hours spent sitting at the computer. Trouble is I'd need to drive 4 or 6 hours to go skiing each time, so it would never happen.

So I'm just about done supper. Do we attempt Qarls and possibly leave you with a broken game overnight, or make a fresh start in the morning here, lunch time for you? - Edit - Well late lunch time for you ... us retired guys are not known for being early risers (at least this one isn't).

The UESP Wiki page Oblivion:Confront the King has about all that I know of the quest and little about the Colossal Soul Gem (just covering what you have already uncovered). Bethesda has a script that they themselves tend to follow ... it ends with an anti-climatic climax. Once again you find yourself the "head" of something meaningless (oh right ... the Dark Brotherhood ... you get to go listen to the old girl gripe about all the gripes she's had to endure ... very fulfilling and fitting task).

LOL ... but it got me laughing. Do you know a spot where we could escape? Needs good health care, would be nice to have no winter ... but that usually comes with bad storms ... hmm. Besides, what's wrong with dark by 4 pm (depending on where in Norway you may even find that an improvement in a few months). - Edit - Yes I may be more experienced, but that comes at a price ... lots of kilometers on the odometer!!

I worked with a modder from Finland for a while ... was a young guy about the same age as my oldest granddaughter. Haven't heard from him since he finshed college, probably busy working and moving on to things other than making mods and playing games. I've added another of the Nordic countries to my friends around the world list ... cool. :cool: - Edit - Ya you'll be good I would think ... better grphics card with twice my memory, faster CPU (I'm 3.0 GHz) and twice my RAM as well. - Edit 2 - So we are 6 hours apart ... I'm in Ontario Canada right a the south end of Lake Huron.

VRAM is how much memory on your graphics card ... for instance the nVidia Control Panel System Information for my GTX 1050 Ti says it has 4096 MB of dedicated video memory GDDR5 (which is the type of memory chips). I was worried about if your computer could handle Qarls but I think you'll be OK. I need to get busy making supper (no quick prep work tonight like last night ... tonight I need to cook). I see you get an early start compared to my time zone ... is it getting late where you are?

OK ... before we move on to Qarls I'd like to find out a bit about your computer. Laptop or desktop? How fast is the CPU and how much RAM do you have? Which graphic card do you have and how much VRAM does it have?

Awesome! Now would be another good time to make one of those Data folder backups. If you named your first Data folder backup Base_Install_1 then I'd name this one Base_Install_2. This Data folder backup will be the one you will most often use in the future.

OK ... we will leave the OBMM part of the install the way it is and just "repair" with a copy and paste operation. After you extract Vanilla Gear Redux - Reasonable Flavor (Final)-45241-1-0-1581732494.rar to that same folder you downoaded it to you will see two folders ... one named Meshes and one named Textures. Copy that Meshes folder and paste it into the Vanilla_Gear_Redux_Install\Data folder ... then do the same with the Textures folder. You should now have Vanilla_Gear_Redux_Install\Data\Meshes and Vanilla_Gear_Redux_Install\Data\Textures. Next copy the Data folder and then paste it into your game's Oblivion folder. As usual answer yes to the folder merge prompts, plus answer yes to all file overwrite prompts. This is different than the other installs because we are not touching the Vanilla Gear Redux.esp so you can go right into the game and see if we have fixed the clothing and armor problem.

OK then next create a new folder named Vanilla_Gear_Redux_Install and then inside that folder one named Data. Next go to where you downloaded Vanilla Gear Redux, but this time we will extract the download to that same folder you originally downloaded to. Am I remembering correctly that it was the Reasonable Flavour one you installed with OBMM?