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MarkInMKUK

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Posts posted by MarkInMKUK

  1. Re the breaking up of outfits: There is a limit on clothing/armour as far as number of pieces is concerned. You have Footwear, Headgear, Gloves, and then either a one-piece body/leg set, or separate body and leg items. Sadly, one of the ways in which Oblivion was a downgrade from Morrowind is in the reduction of parts to outfits.

     

    Some people manage to add extra items by using amulet, ring or tail slots, but that gets to be awkward if you are playing a character WITH a tail, or want to wear rings or amulets. There are ways to have unlimited rings and/or amulets, but you don't get to SEE the extra items if you do that.

  2. Off-topic, but on the subject of realism, I've recently started watching the "Ancient Discoveries" series of documentaries. I know at various points I've mentioned what is and isn't possible given the apparent look of the game, assuming it was based around a 13th-15th century European model, but I'm beginning to realise what MIGHT have happened if the Greeks and Romans had not fallen from their technological height to the barbarism which followed.

     

    Examples of things which the Greeks and Romans had created (and used)

     

    Magically opening temple doors.

    Machine guns (OK, mechanical, rapid repetitive shot crossbows).

    Accurate water-powered clocks with chimes / bird sounds.

    Steam turbine.

    Cataract surgery, brain surgery and the beginnings of neurosurgery.

    Giant barges larger than two tennis courts with underfloor heating and piped water.

    Astronomical/astrological computers capable of predicting solar, lunar and planetary motion in an easily portable device.

    Accurate odometers capable of measuring roads to place milestones with precision.

    Programmable automata (imagine an entirely automated representation of a Greek play lasting 20 minutes, all operated by a mechanical device).

     

    I'm sure as I watch more of the series I'll learn more, but for now I'm busy revising my opinion of where to place the game date-wise. As the legion appear to be very Romanesque, maybe the "fall" never happened in this gameworld - in which case it could easily be set closer to 6th or seventh century Europe instead of 13th-15th, and with far more advanced medicine and mechanics than Europe would have again until the 19th century.

     

    And what would this do to the kind of mods we consider to be "in keeping" instead of "fun but not really realistic"? Clocks of Cyrodiil, for instance, could easily be re-imagined as being based on water-driven mechanisms - and if you tied that into the "Let the people drink" mod you could have a crisis where all the clocks stopped too. Various timed effects triggered by things you do could be added - such as lighting a sacrificial fire to access a temple several minutes later as the doors automatically opened. You could even argue that the abolition of slavery would force this kind of mechanical upgrade, as the free labour previously relied upon no longer exists. You could also add quests where you have to restore items to Ayleid ruins to access them, as the door mechanisms might rely on water which had later become blocked off.

     

    Hope that sparks some ideas for people.

  3. Let me try and break it down a bit.

     

    If the hairs are original hairs from the Sims 2 game, then they are copyright the developers of the game and you cannot directly convert them and remain legal. You cannot upload those on the Nexus. You could, however, create your own version from scratch rather than importing the original hair meshes, and you CAN upload those to the Nexus.

     

    If they are custom hairs developed by an independent modder for Sims 2, and the modder has given permission for them to be converted to other games FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, you cannot upload those on the Nexus. You could, however, create your own version from scratch rather than importing the original hair meshes, and you CAN upload those to the Nexus.

     

    If they are custom hairs developed by an independent modder for Sims 2, and the modder has given permission for them to be converted to other games AND DISTRIBUTED, you CAN upload those on the Nexus, but the site owner may wish to check the permission from the modder first.

     

    Hopefully that's a simple enough summary.

  4. More off-topic stuff - but of interest to the animators I'm sure - http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/386200-full-attack-combos-in-spears-of-cyrodiil-or-poleweapons/

     

    Now, if I'm reading this correctly, then a "handed" weapon (such as a bow) would only use the animation slots for that specific hand, e.g. Right Hand. Does that mean that if, for instance, you wanted to add a crossbow into the game, then crossbows could be made to use the "other" hand (Left Hand) and thus a new weapon type (or, rather, a model of a different type which became, in-game, a left-handed bow) could be added using those animation slots? Or could you add a left-handed staff to a right-handed sword-wielder instead of a shield, allowing both to be used?

  5. Speaking of thermal compound - one of the UK PC magazines did a bit of its own redneck engineering, and tried the copper-loaded anti-squeal compound (such as Renolit) that you put on brakes on cars. Better conductivity than the silver-based compounds - might be worth comparing
  6. Disease or magic effects/curses will cause temporary/potentially permanent decreases. Or if you WANT to reduce skills, you can use the console to reduce them. You may do better with a levelling mod if that's your aim, though.
  7. Find any place where you are hidden, and then walk into a wall in sneak mode. You can even stand in a street and sneak into a corner, guards will pass and spot you then pass by and stop seeing you, but your sneak will still increase from the times they can't see you but you're still "in range"
  8. On the neck seam issue - if the neck seam can be moved up to the intersection of the jaw and neck, it'll effectively be invisible from many angles. However, I have no idea whether that could be done so I leave that to you 3D moellers.

     

    While you may think the topic has been hijacked, in fact it hasn't - any improvement applicable to ALL races will, of course, be applicable to the Khajiit and Argonian races - and a body seam alteration is related into animation as it would need to be tested to make sure no funny gapping occurred - so I hereby declare this thread officially NOT hijacked :D

     

    ... It's amazing where a simple-looking query can take you - but Oblivion is going to look DAMNED good when you clever people are done with it!

  9. OOO is parttially a replacer. Any changed mesh, or altered behaviour, is by definition a "conflict". Therefore I'd be very worried if it DIDN'T conflict with your installation.

     

    That same conflict, of course, means it's a pain to remove if you want to revert to vanilla Oblivion afterwards. I back up my Vanilla setup with mTES4 manager before I install anything major.

  10. I personally like the mod which means you DON'T know their name until you have talked to them at least once. However, it DOES sometimes show up a few bits of background scripting, where a character is NOT the same person you talked to before...
  11. The one really awkward problem with the head/neck line, from what I have read, is that the rendering engine actually doesn't use the same render settings for the head as the rest of the body parts. Even if you have a single colour, featureless texture overlayed, there is a slight mismatch to the renders. And when you add any more complex information to the texture such as colouring, shading, lumps and bumps or even (if really brave) shininess, then the disparity becomes more obvious.

     

    Having said that, the high-res textures for the HGEC body make quite an improvement, and adding the Neck Seam Concealer mod (which adds a thin necklace just at the critical area) the effect can become considerably less noticeable.

     

    Of course, if some clever person can prove that summary wrong, I (and hundreds of other fans) will give kudos galore to said clever person :)

  12. Assuming you have either a disk release or the Steam version of Oblivion:

     

    (1) Install to C:\Games\Oblivion if you are using Vista or Windows 7

    (2) Install Oblivion, then Shivering Isles. If your version includes the official DLCs from Bethesda, install those too.

    (3) Install JUST the Shivering Isles Patch. Do NOT install the Oblivion patch as that will stop the SI patch working.

     

    Your game should now be at version 1.2.0416

     

    (4) Install the Unofficial Oblivion Patch, and the Unofficial Offical Mods Pack if you have the DLCs installed.

     

    Run the game and test it works ok.

     

    (5) Backup your installation - I use mTES4 which can be found on the Nexus to give me a backed-up installation copy.

    (6) Install mods. Backup entire installation before adding any major mod, so if it goes pear-shaped you can restore.

     

    If you have a D2D version of Oblivion, or a non-legit version, then God help you as no-one else can/will.

  13. Opening doors, you should be in sneak mode anyway. If the crosshairs are bright, then don't do it - someone IS watching you. Even if it's a rat or a mudcrab :)

     

    If you stick with that you'll be ok on the breaking and entering bit. Of course, if you step out of the building again and bump into a guard, you're nabbed!

    Rule one - save before exiting just in case

  14. Further to the above:

     

    If you use OBMM or BAIN to install two mods which both modify the same item, the second one you install will, by default, overwrite the first. You can choose in both cases to not let it overwrite that object, leaving the version from the first mod intact.

     

    HOWEVER, when you UNINSTALL either of the mods, the behaviour changes. OBMM will uninstall the replacement file whether it is the version from the first OR the second mod, leaving either just the Vanilla version (if it was a pre-existing object) or nothing at all and a big yellow "WTF - I'm a missing mesh" label. BAIN, on the other hand, will ensure that the version from the other mod which changes the item is left in place. Score 1 to BAIN!

  15. Any citizen seeing you breaking and entering will, by default, inform the guards too. Only B&E when unobserved by npc's.

     

    ALSO:- by default several animal types notice you break in and the guards know because of that (Shades of Rin-tin-Tin and Champion the Wonder Horse there). In the Wrye Bash "Bashed Patch" build options there is a setting to make animals into "dumb" animals that can's send the guards a sworn written statement and won't testify against you in court, hence the guards don't get informed!

  16. Changing your monitor to a 120Hz one won't make any difference if the game itself isn't producing frames that often.

     

    The two recommendations missing from the above as far as I can see are

     

    (1) defrag the drive completely (I use 'Defraggler' on a daily basis) and

     

    (2) check your antivirus isn't doing an "on file access" scan on the Oblivion and OBSE processs - as they both open dozens of data file this can cause major stutter when hitting a new area or anyplace where activity or animation changes for some reason (switching to combat for instance involves several animation files being opened (and scanned), plus music files opened (and scanned), plus any sound effect files opened (and scanned) - if you are fighting more than one opponent it involves a LOT of scanning).

     

    Finally, as it's Windows 7:

     

    (3) stick a fast pen drive into a slot and use it for Readyboost - that may well help.

     

    (4) Try the 3GB memory patch, as vanilla Oblivion doesn't actually USE memory very well - you may find it makes an improvement.

  17. Double check the BOSS listing for files which are non-compatible. An example that I would check carefully is the combination of Mart's Monster Mod.esm and Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.esm , as it may be that you should only have one of thesze activated at any given time. that kind of thing can cause crashes especially where the two modules both try to do similar things in the same place.
  18. OK, so a summary of my understanding of the recommendations above is: start with whichever mod it is that makes npc's actively search for you if they come across a body (this being the sort of alertness I am after), and trigger that behaviour if they are within a certain radius of the door/gate you open, with a distance modifier based on your stealth rating? Add a time-out for the searching behaviour (basic time-out since noise, plus a random amount to make it less obvious) and it would start to be pretty much what I was aiming for I think.

     

    Now all I have to do is learn enough to work out how to do it. At least no-one said "No, it's impossible"!

     

    BTW, are the "Hello, who's there?" queries just random in the game, or are they specifically triggered by something (proximity + movement + sneaking)?

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