Oblivion DRM-free and mods.

[bevilex]

Hi,

 

Oblivion is now available for purchase as a DMR - free game.

 

https://www.gog.com/game/the_elder_scrolls_iv_oblivion_game_of_the_year_edition_deluxe

 

I am just wondering if they were any potential improvements in terms of stability/performance compared to the Steam version?

 

As a modder and player is there any advantages using one version or the other?

 

I always modded the game on Steam and it works fine but if this version is better I might actually buy it too.

 

Thanks ;)

[Striker879]

Another question is will the GOG version work with OBSE?

 

- Edit - Something else I've thought of ... many mods require Shivering Isles. I'm under the impression that the GOG version is just the base game, no SI or DLCs.

 

- Edit 2 - Looking at the GOG site page for Oblivion it's called the Game of the Year Deluxe ... all of the small DLCs are listed with individual descriptions but the only mention of Shivering Isles is down in the general description of the game, where there is the mention of Shivering Isles in a couple of sections:

 

"New Lands to Explore

In the Shivering Isles expansion, see a world created in Sheogorath's own image, one divided between Mania and Dementia and unlike anything you've experienced in Oblivion."

and

"Challenging new foes

Battle the denizens of Shivering Isles, a land filled with hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites, and many more."

Still haven't had any confirmation from anybody on whether or not they've been successful at getting OBSE working using the GOG version of obse_loader.exe found on the Silverlock site.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Striker879

[DrakeTheDragon]

Oblivion has been DRM-free already long before it first went up on Steam. I'm still using the disc version myself as of today.

 

With regards to mod-ability Steam Oblivion has always been a nightmare compared to the disc version, thanks to the multiple additional pitfalls the distribution platform knowingly or unknowingly added into the process but never told anybody about:

- BSA archives with a date of around today? Forget about replacement-type mods ever working, Archive Invalidation applied or not. Unless, of course, you re-date the BSA files back to where the disc version's files have been, something-something-2006.

- And for OBSE to work back then the devs of OBSE and Steam had to sit together and create the obse_steam_loader.dll in cooperation specifically, and you had to enable the Steam Overlay ingame first, later not anymore, sometimes still again, but not always... pretty much random and confusing to every new user now.

 

 

As for the mod-ability of GOG's release, you'd first have to know how exactly this one works. But the closer it is to the regular disc version's way, the less hassle it will be.

 

But Striker's raising a very important question. Considering how many high-class/must-have mods of today require OBSE to work, it'll decide about making or breaking the deal whether OBSE's loader means can still hook into the game's binaries in memory depending on if GOG altered anything about them or not. Direct-2-Drive versions of the game, for example, aren't known as completely impossible to make work with OBSE for no reason. The reason obviously being their encryption here, but you get the idea.

[Striker879]

If I remember correctly, when Direct2Drive users have tried starting their game using obse-loader.exe the error reported was a CRC not matching type error (i.e. not matching the CRC of the disk version Oblivion.exe I would guess). Could be that if the GOG version Oblivion.exe doesn't match the disk version CRC we can get the OBSE team to add the GOG version to the approved CRC list (I believe I read somewhere that some work on OBSE was happening).

[DrakeTheDragon]

According to reports among the authors forums at least FOSE and NVSE would be working completely fine with the GOG way of distribution. I haven't yet read confirmation of OBSE working as well though, but chances accordingly are quite high.

[Surilindur]

The OBSE page has the GOG version (named "GOG build 1.2.0.416" ) listed as compatible, with a link to an updated loader to download. I do not have the GOG version to test, but it it is listed in the compatible versions section now. :ermm:

 

Edit: The Steam version has consistently been working fine with the Steam overlay disabled for as long as I have had the Steam version. I always keep the whole overlay thing globally disabled anyway.

 

Edit 2: Is the "updated loader" actually the old one... ? The 'current' updated loader? :huh:

Edited June 3, 2017 by Contrathetix

[PumpOfWallStreet]

Hi all, I recently got Oblivion on GOG and am having a tough time trying to get the mods to work. I got the GOG obse loader but I cant seem to get it to work. Ive done loads of obse testers and what not. All I want to run is the oblivion reloaded nexus mod and it just doesnt take. Any ideas?

[Surilindur]

Odd. At least it is listed as compatible. :huh: If you open the console in-game, select an NPC, and type in something like

SetRefEssential 1
GetRefEssential
SetRefEssential 0
GetRefEssential

does it output errors or does it work? The commands should be from OBSE, so if OBSE is working, the commands should also work (remember to have an NPC selected when typing them in).

 

Also, the latest version of Oblivion Reloaded on Nexus only contains a text file that tells people to find it on another site. Not what I would have wanted, but that is how it is for now. So the Nexus download, if you installed that one, only contains a text file and does not do anything. Could that be it?

[Searis]

I also have the GOG version of Oblivion, and when the OBSE_Loader is launched, It stated that the Oblivion it detects is an unknown version (despite being version 1.2.0.416 is there any way to force it to launch since it's still the right version and should work fine?

[Striker879]

OK, now keep in mind I don't have the GOG version so I can't confirm that this works, but this is how I would do the GOG version install.

 

At the Official OBSE web page click on the download link for the Current Stable version and save that to a folder you have named OBSE_ver_21 (or whatever name you prefer). Next click on the download link for GOG build 1.2.0.416 a bit further down the page and save to a folder named GOG_Loader.

 

Extract the download in your OBSE_ver_21 folder to that same folder. You will now find seven files and two folders, one folder named Data and one named src. Copy the files obse_1_2_416.dll and obse_editor_1_2.dll to your game's Oblivion folder (the same one that contains Oblivion_Loader.exe and Oblivion.exe). Next copy the extracted download's Data folder and paste that in the game's Oblivion folder (so the final path for the operation will result in you having Oblivion\Data\OBSE\obse.ini).

 

Then extract the download in the GOG_Loader folder and you will now find a single folder named obse_loader and in that folder a file named obse_loader.exe ... copy that obse_loader.exe file and paste it into your game's Oblivion folder (same place as you pasted the other two OBSE files).

 

Finish by either creating a new desktop shortcut that points to obse_loader.exe or edit your current desktop shortcut to start with obse_loader.exe instead of Oblivion_Loader.exe (you could also test by just double left clicking on the obse_loader.exe once it is copied to your game's Oblivion folder).

 

I would suggest that you delete all previous OBSE files from your first attempt before you start.