Why play Oblivion? (I am just a newbie)

[sasuke245]

Hello guys!

 

I just bought oblivion yesterday. I started playing the game as a Breton Mage. I just exit the sewer. I found that the game's camera is a pure first person. in the third person view there is no corsair which made my fireball impossible to target. Also I just don't understand the "eye" picture in the NPC. By clicking it something come up. Like this - "Bribe 10G" and 4 options which have different reactions from the NPC.

Would someone explain me this system?

Also is there a way to get a good 3-rd person camera corsair?

Also how could I improve the graphics and FPS of oblivion?

 

My system are as follows -

CPU - ATI Phenom 955 x II (Quad Core ~3.2 GHz)

GPU - GT 520 4GB DDR3 VRAM

RAM - 8 GB

 

Somebody please tell me that how could I improve third person combat and get interest in this game?

Thank you!

[DragonKnightBob]

I'll try to help answer as best as possible, hopefully it'll help. The suggestions I make are all through the use of mods, so if you haven't got OBMM, Wrye Bash and Boss installed, I suggest you look up what they do first.

 

For third person, if all you want is a crosshair then I suggest downloading and installing the DarnifiedUI mod: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10763

 

As it gives you the option to add a crosshair during 3rd person, but doesn't change the perspective of the camera. If you want to pull the camera closer to your character, use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

 

If you don't like the 3rd person camera's perspective, there's another mod called the Ultimate 3rd Person Camera:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=29942

 

It is, I agree, the best 3rd person camera for what you're looking for. The downside to it (and the reasons I don't use it), are that your 1st person camera disappears entirely, and when inside a ruin, fort or other interior location with narrow passageways the camera clips outside the wall and you can see the entire level floating in a grey void, totally breaking your immersion. It's up to you if you're ok with that though.

 

Next, the eye picture with the bribery is Oblivion's persuasion mini-game. NPCs will only talk to you about certain things if they like you enough, or you can haggle with them to lower prices in shops. This is based off their disposition value towards you (out of 100). To raise it using the mini-game, you get 4 persuasion tactics (joking, admiration, boasting and coercion), and you must use each one once before the round is over. So next, there are the different sized wedges; the bigger the wedge is when you click on the conversation topic, the more of an effect your choice will have, both good and bad. Lastly, when you highlight a choice, look at the NPC's face; their expression will change based off whether or not they like that kind of conversation topic, to downright hating it. Each NPC loves one, likes one, dislikes one, and hates one.

 

Now we pull it all together. Say an NPC Loves to be admired, likes jokes, dislikes being coerced, and absolutely hates boasting. When you start the minigame, the goal is to try to get the largest wedge on the wheel onto the admiration and joking slots, while selecting the smallest wedge for boasting and coercion. If you do it right, they will like you a lot more. If you don't, they'll start to dislike you. Beware the NPC that hits a 0 value! They may attack you after you finish talking to them.

 

Last but not least, the one surefire way to make someone like you is to bribe them. For 10 gold you can raise their disposition by a set amount, no chance involved. This is great if, when the minigame is done, you can't get all the information you need out of them. Bribe them to bump their disposition up over the value you need. I'm sure there are more in depth guides to teach you how to do it, but I suggest you just practice. The easiest practice target is a town guard; they respawn, so you can always practice on them, and if they accidentally hit 0 because you've screwed up, they won't attack you (Or at least, I've never gotten them to).

 

Err, ok, next on your list: Increasing the graphics: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1306005

 

This is a massive tutorial on how to make Oblivion more attractive, and is what got me started with modding. It goes step by step through several big name mods that will help you with your goal. I would suggest, and this is just personal preference, that you skip step 6 of the visual section of the overhaul. For someone just starting out with Oblivion, I feel it's good to get an idea for the story the way it was meant to be told, but that's entirely your choice.

 

Definitely do all the sound upgrades; I highly recommend them. Be careful with More Immersive Sounds; there are a few mesh files missing that you'll have to download in another archive and add to your data folder.

 

I HIGHLY (and I can't stress this enough) suggest you skip the entire Gameplay section. I personally play using all the mods there, but I've owned Oblivion for years before I started modding it; Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul greatly ratchets up the difficulty on players, and unless you want to get spanked on your first outing, I think you should score a playthrough without it first. This will make combat far more deadly and exciting, but if you wander off the beaten path and decide to try poking around in a dungeon for kicks, you're liable to get murdered so many times you'll get frustrated and give up. If you do go for it, it's your funeral ;)

 

BUT, on the second playthrough, I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

So, next, increasing FPS: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

this is your one stop FPS shop. It won't make things perfect, but I can hum along at about 30-40 fps at most times. There's also a 4gp patcher out there that'll allow oblivion to use up to 4gb of your ram. Other people suggest a program called Rambooster, that will let you use all 8gb of your ram, but I had issues with it.

 

And to tick the last option off your list, making combat more exciting, I offer you two options:

 

1) Download and install Deadly Reflexes 6. Remember how I told you to avoid the 'Gameplay' section of that tutorial? Well Deadly reflexes is even tougher to install. I've got FCOM running smooth as silk over here, but Deadly reflexes screws everything up. I'm sure other players have it working perfectly, but I've never had any luck with it. So I offer my second suggestion...

 

2) There are animation replacers out there called DMC Stylish, Silver Ranger, Spellsinger and another one called Amazing Jump. Stylish replaces all your attack animations with ones that look like they came outta a Japanese anime; it's very cool, and I like it. Silver ranger is an alternative bow stance, and spellsinger replaces casting animations. Note, both Spellsinger and Silver ranger look best on a female character. Amazing jump replaces your regular stiff jump animation with a fluid forward flip. I use these, and they work great. They also work fine with Deadly Reflexes.

 

I think that's everything. If you have trouble, the best advice I can give is to read the readme files included with every mod you download. And if you can't find the info there, look on the download page; sometimes the contents are clearer. Backup all your files whenever you mess with Oblivion, and test it after every installation to make sure it's not going to crash on you. Best of luck!

[Rennn]

I'm doubting that your 520 is 4GB, especially if it's DDR3. Most likely you're confusing RAM and VRAM. It's a decent older card, but I would be very surprised to find a 4GB model. Not even the latest XFX models of gpu for $800 have that much. With DDR3, it's even more unlikely that they would put that much memory into a card that's otherwise very average.

 

Mods can add a crosshair in 3rd person, as well as a better camera, but all ES games are made to be played in 1st person so you'll probably have limited results.

The Streamline mod reduces stuttering in Oblivion.

 

The eye thing is how you persuade people. By bribing you can raise their disposition (how much they like you) through money. By clicking one of the four options you can try to persuade them to like you. This is all explained in the instruction booklet, btw. Some people like jokes, so if you select that option when it's fullest, they'll like you more. Some people may hate coerce, so you'll want to click on that when it's lowest if you run into someone who hates being coerced, for example. Different people like and hate different things.

 

If they have a higher disposition, they'll react less if you commit a crime (they may not even tell the guards), they'll give you more information, and they'll sell for cheaper if they own a shop.

 

Qarl's Texture Pack 3 is a nice graphical mod, as is Natural Environments. Qarl's Texture Pack will hurt your framerate quite a bit though.

 

EDIT

I would argue against Deadly Reflex 6. It's very buggy and has a lot of conflicts, plus it's hard to install. Try Deadly Reflex 5 first.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Rennn

[ponyboy10]

For other third-person camera options, search on http://www.tesnexus.com/ for "3rd person" or "gears of war" (there are a few options). For the most part though, these different 3rd person camera options take over the 1st person camera, leaving you with 2 of them and no 1st person. I think there are 3rd person crosshair mods as well. Personally, I use DarnUI (http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10763) which has an option to enable it. The only problem is that the way the camera is setup, the crosshair is always right on the back of your character's head, so it's hard to actually fight like that. I usually switch to 3rd person when traveling, and 1st when fighting (currently playing as an archer character).

 

The "eye" icon will show up if you are sneaking. I think it fades when somebody spots you (or maybe it's the other way around). Usually when you're sneaking and you try to interact with someone, you will attempt to pickpocket them rather than talk or fight.

 

FYI, I would also recommend checking out http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion, especially the Controls and First Time Player sections under gameplay: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion#Gameplay_Information

 

There are several threads here and at http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=615 about how to make Oblivion prettier or run smoother. I will add to install the Unofficial Patch(es), then try out the game. If it runs very smoothly, max out the texture & draw distance settings in the ingame options menu. If it's still running smoothly, then go for the big graphics mods (Qarls texture pack, Better or open cities etc). If you experience performance issues, try Oblivion Stutter Remover (OSR).

 

Also, one mod I highly recommend is Companion Vilja (http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977). She can add a lot to the normal, solitary gameplay.

 

Good luck! Oblivion can sometimes take a little while to get into (I played Morrowind years ago and just didn't "get it" at first), but you'll likely get sucked in like everyone else here :)

[ponyboy10]

Wow, I thought I was responding first, then two long replies came in by the time I finished! Good job, guys :)

[DragonKnightBob]

Wow, I thought I was responding first, then two long replies came in by the time I finished! Good job, guys :)

 

Good catch on Vilja though, I didn't think of suggesting that; she's my favorite thus far.

[David Brasher]

Why play Oblivion?

 

If you have to ask this question, then answers people suggest to it will likely be meaningless to you. The fact that you have asked this question suggests that you should not be playing Oblivion. You should go play some video game that you like instead.

 

Some people like fantasy games. Some people like role-playing games. Some people like wide open self directed games without a concrete objective you have to work toward. Some people like first-person games (which is the camera angle you are supposed to use when playing Oblivion.) If you can't figure out why you are playing Oblivion, then give it up and move on. There are other fish in the sea.

[Rennn]

Based on his questions and the general grammar usage so far, perhaps he's asking how to play Oblivion, rather than why? We do get quite a few non-english speakers on the Nexus, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case here. Edited January 11, 2012 by Rennn

[Raffer]

I suggest you just install a few mods instead of the huge list posted above to improve graphics and the interface and start playing. With the exception of gameplay mechanics you can improve most things by installing more mods later if you want. For your first game don't install overhauls since they change the game a lot and it is fine without IMHO. If you want to play a specific race mod you have to install it before you begin the game, of course.

 

I suggest you install at least these:

 

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

Quarls Texture pack 3 redimized

Koldorn noise

darnified UI

 

Better npc, race mod and body replacer of your choice, if necessary.

 

RAEVWD will show buildings and objects that are far away but it will decrease game performance considerably.