Why does OBSE require the Steam overlay?

[vladkornea]

Why does OBSE require the Steam overlay to be enabled? I can't conceive of any legitimate reason.

[QQuix]

if memory serves, all Oblivion copies distributed by downloads are encrypted, which prevents OBSE from integrating itself into the game.

 

At the time, the OBSE and the Steam teams negotiated some way of allowing OBSE to work with the Steam encryption.

 

Since my Oblivion copies are not from Steam, I am not even sure if this is what you asked

[Striker879]

According to Alenet (the authot of Oblivion Reloaded) it isn't required. I'm also a non-Steamer so I have no way to confirm this.

[DrakeTheDragon]

It was required at first when the OBSE and Steam devs came up with the obse_steam_loader.dll for integration, or so I heard.

 

But recently there's been multiple patches to Steam that simply broke it, and the requirements had changed. Nowadays? Seems nobody knows anymore for 100% certain what is required for OBSE to work with Steam, and to further complicate measures it also seems that's different from release type to release type, speaking of Anthology, or GotY or what have you here, a complete mess when you're trying to offer support, if you ask me.

 

But I'm also not a Steam user myself, so... how would I know? :sweat:

[vladkornea]

The nexusmods OBSE page says that OBSE was updated less than 3 months ago, and this is the second step in the Steam installation instructions therein:

2. Ensure you have enabled the Steam community in-game, or OBSE will fail to load. Go to Steam > Settings > In-Game and check the box marked "Enable Steam Overlay".

 

Downloading the current stable version from the official OBSE site and looking at `obse_readme.txt` therein, we see this:

 

2. Ensure you have enabled the Steam community in-game, or OBSE will fail to load. Go to Steam > Settings > In-Game and check the box marked "Enable Steam Community In-Game".

 

If these instructions are incorrect, what's the procedure for getting them corrected?

[Surilindur]

I currently use a Steam version, and have Steam overlay disabled globally in Steam settings, and OBSE still loads for me when I start the game via Steam. Maybe there are some tiny bits to consider, than I just have not thought about, but I do not know. If you paste all the files, including the obse steal loader dll, in the game directory, and launch the thing from Steam, it should work. I have the GotY Deluxe edition, for the small DLC that I just had to have (Horse Armor included... ugh... mainly for Battlehorn Castle and Orrery, Vile Lair, too). :sick:

 

No idea how to get them corrected, and no idea if they are incorrect in the first place, either. Before 'correcting' anything, a thorough examination should be conducted, and knowledgeable parties should be able to communicate freely until a consensus is reached. But that is just my opinion on the matter. Zaldiir has stated in the Nexus upload of OBSE - if I remember correctly - that he is not an official member of the OBSE team, and only maintains the Nexus version. So I would have directed you to ask there, but I am not sure if it would do any good. Whatever Alenet states is probably pretty much correct, however, so at least you could adjust your personal actions in regards to OBSE and Steam overlay accordingly, if nothing else.

 

Just an idea. Hopefully you can get it all sorted out. :smile:

Edited June 11, 2016 by Contrathetix

[Striker879]

When I'm exploring what works and what doesn't work I try things. If I try "A" and it doesn't work then I try "B".

 

In this particular case, being the consevative type that I am, I would try with Steam Overlay on (or Steam Community, or whatever the term of the day for the Steam crowd is). If it works then great ... maybe if I was feeling adventurous I'd do a part 2 test with Steam Overlay off, just to see what happens. If it didn't work with Steam Overlay on then my next test would of course be without.

 

What is the issue that created your need to know about Overlay off/on?

[bben46]

I have the older DVD version of Oblivion. The steam overlay is not required. The Steam overlay was created specifically to allow OBSE to work with the steam version of the game. However you do have to have updated the game from the beth site for the latest version to work.

If you have some other downloaded version, such as the old D2D version, It will not work as D2D had no interest in helping get OBSE working on their encrypted version.

[vladkornea]

When I'm exploring what works and what doesn't work I try things. If I try "A" and it doesn't work then I try "B".

 

In this particular case, being the consevative type that I am, I would try with Steam Overlay on (or Steam Community, or whatever the term of the day for the Steam crowd is). If it works then great ... maybe if I was feeling adventurous I'd do a part 2 test with Steam Overlay off, just to see what happens. If it didn't work with Steam Overlay on then my next test would have course be without.

 

What is the issue that created your need to know about Overlay off/on?

 

The issue is that I don't know whether I should rely on OBSE.

[DrakeTheDragon]

"Rely" in which way?

 

There's multiple things which simply cannot be done "without" OBSE in Oblivion modding. If you're not attempting any of these, OBSE is not needed. It is of no use to you, if you don't need it, and if you need it, there's no way around.

Multiple authors require it for the things they do. Multiple mods require it for what their authors did in them. Not using it means not using these mods. Not using these mods, or wanting to create one yourself, means no need to use OBSE.

 

If you're releasing a mod which does require OBSE, you can rely on it working. OBSE is a thoroughly tested, tried and proven script extending framework used by millions. The only issues I'm hearing about it is people not knowing how to start it, especially when using Steam and one of the more... exotic releases of Oblivion, but for every release "someone" knows how it's done. Other than that OBSE itself is a text book example of reliable.