Jovias

Yeah, the x15 multiplier for sneak needs to go. Even if the AI weren't so stupid it would still be ridiculously overpowered, but with the AI it's just asinine. I'd make it x5, maybe just x3; It was usually just x2 in F3/NV depending on your weapons crit damage, and it seemed fine there.

I don't really like these. The magicka tweak only effects destruction; It would be useless to a mage who opts for one of the weapon skills instead. The other two just seem unnecessary at best and a bit overpowering at worst. Don't halve the magicka cost. Instead just increase spell damage; dramatically in the case of master level spells. Mages should very, very powerful as long as they manage their magicka level properly. If they don't, they're boned. As for new spells: - Corrode spells have no purpose as equipment no longer degrades. Instead add a single new spell, disintegrate, which has a chance to immediately vaporize the target's weapon (not armor). - Merge all the bound armor pieces into one spell, but make multiple variations of the bound armor. For example: Bound armor of magic resistance, armor of increased health, armor of magicka regeneration etc. - Add drain stamina to destruction. Add swift swim, water walking, and jump (maybe) to alteration. Add summon draugr, summon draugr wizard, and summon centurion sphere (not purchasable, must be found like in morrowind) to conjuration. Add a sustained invisibility spell to illusion (rapid magicka drain). Add cure disease to restoration (expert level spell). I don't like the lesser, greater, legendary thing; not all spells need multiple variants. Just make tiered varients of the low level spells that don't already have a more powerful version. For example: flames (novice), firestream (adept), volcanic spray (master) and so on. I would also change enchanting; make the individual enchantments more powerful and increase (through perks) the max number of enchantments per item to three or four. I do like the familiar. Everything sounds great except the last one. I don't think I understand what you are talking about there. Don't increase the skill cap. It would be extremely hard to balance correctly and would require an overhaul of way more than just the perks. I don't like the changes to armor and clothing at all. It seems unnecessary and implausible to me. Better to keep it simple and common sense. Heavy armor could drain stamina while running, light armor could slightly increase attack speed, or maybe heavy armor could slow attack speed and light armor increase running speed, or something. Basic clothing should not do anything at all; but mage robes could have slight magic resistance. ---- I think you are looking at several mods here. A basic rebalance mod, which would be as minimalist and non-intrusive as possible and only includes the most necessary changes (increased magic damage, new variants of existing spells, some light perk tweaks but not a full overhaul). A perk overhaul mod, a new spell mod, a social/marriage overhaul mod and the equipment mod. I don't have the CK, but assuming it's just as or more flexible as the CS, the rebalance mod would take just a week or two to make, and that includes all testing and polishing. The equipment mod could be done in a similar time frame, depending on how much scripting you have to do, but the perk, new spells, and social mods would take a very long time. You'd have to make a ton of quests (for the social mod) new VFX (spells) alter the flash based perk menus and do a metric butt-ton of scripting. It could all be done I think, but god damn would it be a lot of work.

If your using an Nvidia GPU, it's probably the infamous Nvidia black screen bug. You probably have the near, far, and clip fog all set to 0.0000 in your new cell; try setting near fog to 0.0001 and see if that works. If not, disable HDR and set interior shadows to 0.

This should be in Mod Troubleshooting; even if you are new that should have been obvious if you had taken the time to look. As for your problem, it's probably because you haven't updated oblivion; and if there is some reason you can't update, and you think you know what it is, there's no harm in telling us; otherwise we don't have sufficient information to help you correct the problem. Edit: Rhiana is right, posting the load order is very important for mod related issues. I have told several people the same and I somehow forgot this time. Ugh...

Something else I forgot to add: Have you tried starting a new character to see if it's a universal problem, so to speak?

Doubtful. But no one can help you if you don't give us more information. Post your load order so I can see if you have a mod that might be causing your problem. Also, did you try attacking with different kinds of weapons? What about in 3rd person perspective? Have you been screwing with the attack animations at all?

:thanks: New staff animations and the promise of more? Sir, this post has lifted me from the abyssal pit of anguish and despair that the Staff Crises had plunged me into. Let it never be said that the citizens of the United Kingdom, and of Great Britain in particular, are not both generous and talented. Thank you.

Elys Uncapper + Grandmaster of Alchemy + Alchemy Advanced; Especially that last one. COBL adds more ingredients than you can possibly use; plus ingredient sorters, gem and metal grinders, and numerous other things. Tamrielic Ingredients gives you all the ingredients from both Morrowind and Daggerfall, but it's included in COBL (do not use both).

Close but no cigar. You actually need to create an OMOD in this case, sort of. All you need to do is launch Oblivion Mod Manager, and then click "Create"; a new window will appear. In the the new window, click "Add Archive" and then find and click on the unzipped COBL archive; it should pause for a few seconds and then give you a warning about multiple .Esp files or something, just ignore it and click "Yes". Then it should read "OMOD conversion data available. Do you want to import it?" click "Yes" obviously. After it compresses, it will be added to your list of OMODs where all you have to do is activate it and follow the on-screen instructions. Of course, you still need Wrye bash. Wrye bash comes with a readme, and you need to read it, all of it, until you understand it. Especially the part about the bashed patch.

I suppose I was working from the idea that Pineapplerum wanted a full (in the fullest sense of the word) COBL installation. But you're right, COBL cosmetics and races are not required for a normal installation; but COBL Cosmetics is required if you want to use COBL TNR.

I have good news and bad news; the good news is, as far as I can tell, you have nothing that would conflict with COBL that I know of. Ren's beauty pack is completely redundant however, as it's included in COBL Cosmetics. The bad news is that you have a few other redundancies, specifically Natural Weather, (use either the HDR version or the base version) Natural Habitat, (200% or base, not both) and ImpeREAL City (You only need the merged plugin and the visible towers plugin, but check the readme). As for COBL, you need Wrye Bash, with the Bashed patch, or your game will crash on start up. I also recommend the Better Oblivion Sorting Software for all your load ordering needs. Once you have that set up, install everything you find in the Cobl Core folder, then everything in Cobl Cosmetics, (Cobl Cosmetics is a separate download) and then optionally Balanced Races, Salmo the Baker, Cobl TNR, the patches (if you need them) and Item Interchange-Extraction and Item Interchange-Placement; all of which is included in cobl. Also, you need OBSE v.17 or higher, but you already have that; right? It might be a good idea to install COBL as an OMOD, just to make installation easier and help with uninstallation if something goes horribly, tragically wrong.

There is a mod that swaps animations for weapon-type staves, maybe I could edit that script to effect shields instead; just swapping out Idle.nif for Torchidle.nif. As for the 'only staves' condition, I know Unnecessary Violence uses a script that can detect whether a weapon has "spear" in it's name, I'm not sure how it works exactly, but it might be useful.

Wrye Musings, The COBL home page, seems to be down. but I use COBL, so maybe I could help with installation. First though, you need to post your entire load order, in the correct order, to see if there are any complications.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/5664/shieldstaff01.th.jpg This is a defensive staff used with the default shield idle animation. (possibly the same as Onehandidle.nif) http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4262/shieldstaff02.th.jpg This is an illumination (torch) staff presumably using Torchidle.nif. This is very close to what I want, if the staff were touching the ground it would be pretty much perfect. It's not really the blocking animation that needs to go, it's the idle animation. The specific animations are (I think) Onehandidle.nif when a weapon is drawn and Idle.nif when a weapon is sheathed. But it would effect all shields and/or off-hand weapons just the same. See above. Come to think of it, if Idle.nif was changed in such a way, the PC would look as if he is holding an invisible staff even with nothing equipped; so scripting is probably necessary. Does UK47 (or any one else) take requests of this sort?

I say semi-competent because I think this would be a very simple project; but then again, I don't know, I'm not a semi-competent animator. In fact, I'm an incompetent animator, so incompetent that every time I open up NifSkope to do me some animatin' I end up mind-wandering until I forget what I wanted to animate in the first place. Wait, what was I going to say? ...That's right, the project. Chapter 2: Concerning The Project You ever heard of Defensive Staves? Ya know, the mod that adds a bunch of staves you use as shields (and torches) instead of weapons? You know which mod I'm talking about right? New models, custom textures, integrated with OOO. No? What am I saying, of course you've heard of it, you probably use it; and as someone who uses it you are undoubtedly aware of it's setbacks. Specifically, the animations aren't staffy enough; too shield-ish; staves should be held upright like a staff, not sideways (sideright?) like a shield; no self-respecting wizard would hold a staff sideright; and if you're not a wizard, why do you carry a staff? So what I want you to do, my eager animators, is replace the shield (staff) idle animation with something more appropriate. If you want specifics, and who doesn't, I want the staff held upright with the bottom touching the ground, preferably only when the currently equipped weapon is put away (not unequipped), but whatever is easier is fine with me. Double points goes to the intrepid young modsman that rigs the PC's arm to move as if He or She is using the staff as a walking stick, you know, like a staff. That is your mission my semi-competent, fully-competent, or semi-final-competent animators; and may glory and good fortune come to the artisan who completes this herculean task. Good luck gentlemen; and godspeed. (dramatic music plays in the background) (end of scene 4)