Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul 1.3 Readme

Dear adventurer of TES IV: Oblivion, I am Oscuro, the designer of Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. This game-play modification to TES IV: Oblivion is the most popular to date, with over 120,000 downloads in North American servers since April, 2006. Now in its sixth version, this plug-in is set to revolutionize the way you experience TES IV: Oblivion. Although I am the main person responsible for its design and implementation, I could never have achieved this level of quality, sophistication and variety without the help and support of many excellent contributors. In their name, and with great pleasure, I welcome you to Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul!

I am sure that you feel excited and ready to begin immediately your adventures in the province of Cyrodiil as only Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul makes possible. However, I strongly recommend that you take some time to review the readme files here included so that you can better understand how to customize your TES IV: Oblivion experience and resolve any installation questions that you may encounter.

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is a very complex and extensive modification to TES IV: Oblivion. It changes thousands of variables of this excellent game and also merges into it several very popular third party modifications. It is vital that you review the information written below so that you can quickly begin your game without any set-backs.

In the event of encountering a problem which has no answer in the information I provided here, please refer to the Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul Homepage. There you will find a detailed Frequently Asked Questions page that will help you find an answer to your questions. Also, you can visit the TES Forums and find the latest thread dedicated to Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, where I can personally answer your concerns.

Before starting up your game with OOO 1.3, it is absolutely imperative to keep in mind that:

If you plan to install OOO 1.3 to play with an already existing savegame then I strongly recommend that you do two things:

Wrye Bash can accomplish the fix that the above procedure intends in a different way, which is much cleaner and elegant. With Wrye Bash, you can tell your existing savegame to consider the new “Oscuro’s_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp” as its parent Plug-In (esp) file, rather than the older 1.23 Plug-In file. This will fix all the references in your savegame that search for their parent by the name of the old esp.

This step is absolutely necessary to play 1.3 with an older OOO savegame. (Now, after adopting a single naming convention in 1.3 for all future releases, this procedure will not be necessary when updating from 1.3 to newer versions)

However, if you are starting a new game with OOO 1.3 then you do not need to do steps 1 and 2 written above.

Installation of OOO 1.3 occurs differently depending on the type of file that you have downloaded.

If you have downloaded the non-installer version, then you need to extract the contents found inside the compressed OOO 1.3 file into the \Data folder of your TES IV: Oblivion directory.

For example, if you have installed Oblivion in C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion then you would need to extract all files into C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data

This will unpack four folders into your \Oblivion\Data directory. These folders are:

If, while unpacking the files, you receive a warning about overwriting existing files, click “YES” to continue—OOO 1.3 updates several of the default third-party mod resource files that it uses.

The unpacking procedure will create these folders in your \Oblivion\Data directory. If you have already a “meshes”, “textures” or “sounds” folders, then their contents will remain untouched and OOO’s resource files will simply get added onto your existing folders. Again, remember to click “YES” when prompted in order to overwrite any previous’ files that may have the same name.

Now, you are ready to select the type of OOO 1.3 version that you want to use. Below, in “Customizability Options for OOO 1.3” I outline the choices available to you.

If you have downloaded the version of OOO 1.3 that comes as a self-extracting installer, then you need to simply click on the OOO 1.3 icon and the installer will prompt you to choose a folder where to install the files. Navigate the browser and point the installer to your Oblivion\Data folder. Unpack the files and folders there. Refer to the section “Customizability Options for OOO 1.3” in order to understand what the different versions of OOO 1.3 can do for you.

OOO 1.3 has two main Plug-In files: Full and Lite. It also comes with many optional Plug-In files.

There are several optional modules that you may use to upgrade the OOO LITE version. The following is a list of them, specifying what they do:

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul is a massive mod. It changes a staggering amount of things in the world of Cyrodiil. These changes are bound to overlap with changes performed by other mods that also affect the same thing found in default Oblivion (overlaps do not occur with user made new things, like NPCS, Creatures, Lists, Dungeons, Quests, etc)

This means that you will have to ascertain what changes you are willing to let go should they overlap with OOO’s changes. You can easily choose which change to keep by altering the load order of the mod. Altering the load order is very simple while using programs such as Oblivion Mod Manager.

Also, you should consider the nature of the overlap itself. Many overlaps are not bad in any way (some of the optional mods I provided overlap with each other, but they will not cause any errors or deviations if they are used in conjunction, for example)

Generally, I would avoid using any mods that change leveled lists, whether they change items, creatures or NPCs, with OOO, unless you know exactly the extent and effect of the resulting mixture.

OOO already develops to great extent what some other popular level-lists mods do. OOO has leveled list tweaks for Items, Creatures, NPCs, Spells and so forth. Also, OOO aims to create a balanced static world whereas most other mods that change default lists rely on and emphasize leveling features (Leveling in this context means that content remains locked, veiled, unavailable to the player until he or she reaches a specific level). Unless you prefer another mod’s changes, and you know exactly what you miss in the trade, I would be very cautious in using them with OOO.

The following link directs you to a list of mods tested by Bo Straightarrow, who painstakingly went through a huge list of popular mods and wrote a list of compatibility reports. Keep in mind that just because a mod appears in the “conflict” list that does not mean that it is incompatible. It means that there is an overlap, somewhere, with default Oblivion items, NPCs, creatures, spells, scripts, world-cells, etc. Understanding where the overlaps occur is crucial to decide what mod’s changes you rather keep. Alter the load order and you will readily get the changes that you desire.

OOO 1.3 has several third-party Plug-Ins merged into its core. I have explicit permission from the authors of these mods to use their work to enhance the world of Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul. You should not use the stand-alone versions of the following list whenever playing with OOO 1.3

Note: (M):Merged in Full and Lite - (MF):Merged in Full - (B):Bundled - (P):Pending

OOO 1.3 features several new content mods by third parties and uses this content to enhance the variety and balance of OOO’s world

The information in this text is presented with as little explicit revelations of the underlying mechanics of the mod’s design for a reason: I do not wish to reveal the inner-workings of every single change here documented because that, in my mind, simply detracts from the degree of immersion after which I designed this work. My intention has been, all along, to help this excellent game become as immersive, rewarding, deeper and exciting as I could. To me, focusing too much on boring and repetitive statistics is a sure recipe to detract from this goal. To be sure, these statistics may clearly represent what one can expect of the mod’s changes, but often times this detracts from becoming immersed in the game and instead prompt you to keep an eye out for things that “should-not-be-there”. My design-philosophy aims at bracketing the author of the mod, or the authors of the game itself, as far away as possible when you adventure within the world.

Some may say that I am less focused, or less rigorous, or less complex, because I am not providing you with statistics for every single thing here developed. That is, I think, a rather hasty judgment. I assure you that I have put extreme care in balancing all the elements of this work. Everything here changed has been carefully balanced with every other gameplay structure in mind. If things are sometimes not symmetrical, that is a purposeful design choice (despite what some may say, or try to create, life is everything but symmetrical and constant).

This mod has been an immense task. Four months in the making, plus the almost one month of prior work in the first versions of OOO, have given me time to change the way TES IV: Oblivion plays and enhance its gameplay, in my opinion, to great degree. I hope that you understand my reasons, and can tolerate my fastidiousness, in presenting the information below with certain reservation from me.

With that said, I plan on working in future versions of Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul and continue to support the existing ones. Should you need to ask questions about the mod’s features, please feel free to visit the Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul web-page or pass by the official Bethesda Software forums and look for OOO threads where to discuss your experiences, questions, criticisms or whatever you would like to bring to my attention.

Thank you very much for your interest and for choosing Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul.

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul, also commonly called OOO, changes the ways in which the core gameplay elements of TES IV: Oblivion relate to each other. The aim of these changes is to create a more immersive, rewarding, believable and enriching experience as you adventure in the world of Tamriel.

We could divide the structures responsible for gameplay into several areas. The lines separating them are somewhat arbitrary, and we could be more specific and nuanced, but first it is important to define these areas in general terms. OOO considers them in the following blocks:

Each of these areas has sub-classes, and each subclass can appear as the sum of lower rank classes. For example, the PC Abilities include the Statistics System, the Skill System, the Combat System, the Magic System and Faction System. Likewise, Environment is built by smaller resources, like sounds, music, architecture, flora, weather, etc.

OOO does not change every single variable responsible for gameplay, but it does affect many of the ones I listed above. I have carefully measured these changes against every other modification to the gameplay structures in order to enhance the ultimate goal of gameplay: to absorb you into an exciting experience that entices you to overcome the challenges posed by the “game-world” through rewarding your skill, ingenuity and exploration.

In the following sections, I will give you a summary of how OOO 1.3 sets out to accomplish this goal in each of the general areas of gameplay. I will also mention how each change relates to other facets of the game and why the connection is important for your best game-experience.

In Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, PC changes affect the defining characteristics of your Avatars. These are: Vital Statistics (simulation of physical or mental characteristics), Skills (how PCs use their Vital Statistics to affect the world and themselves), Combat Abilities (how Skills interrelate with actors and items in action-oriented challenges), Factions (how the PCs interrelate with NPCs and Creatures), and, finally, Magic Abilities (how Vital Statistics, Skills, Combat Abilities and Factions interrelate with the PCs’ selves, actors and items through Magic).

Note: OOO is not a mod that focuses on changing the mechanics of how PCs increase their defining characteristics. It is not a so called “leveling mod” like AF’s or KCAS mods, which handle the mechanics behind your avatar’s level-up progression. OOO is compatible with these kinds of mods.

OOO changes how vital statistics, skills and combat abilities work mainly through the tweaking of “gamesettings.” These gamesettings are hard-coded variables that specify a range of possible actions and their results. For example, the gamesetting fPCMagickaReturnBase governs how fast the PC regains used magical energy.

Special attacks are less tiresome to use than in default Oblivion. This is a balance tweak because of the higher weight of some weapons, and helps you to keep up with the now deadlier combat gameplay. Range of weapon’s reach is a bit shorter than in default Oblivion—close quarters combat is the norm for melee players. This change encourages the use of the slower but stronger special attacks in melee.

Fatigue costs for ranged attacks are a bit higher, however. It was previously too easy to use bows and backwards-running to avoid damage while peppering the enemies with arrows. The power of bows is higher, but their reload time slower. These changes help to turn Marksmanship into a more tactical and involved combat skill.

PCs have a lower starting health than default. No changes are made to maximum health gained per level. Avatars started with a large health-pool advantage over enemies in default Oblivion. This change balances the difference and makes it more risky to engage in heavy combat right away. That is something you will have to earn, and not be given right-off the bat as it happened previously.

Magicka’s rate of regeneration is slower than default but avatars focusing in Willpower will gain magicka faster than before. This change encourages players to focus on magical skills and attributes if they wish to be much more effective in situations where a lot of magicka will be needed. It also balances out those classes who did not specialize in magic and previously could rival a mages’ casting power without any drawbacks characteristic of spellcasters (like having to use light armor, having usually poor health rating, or having to forsake training in practical skills and attributes of combat and stealth in order to gain an edge as spellcasters)

Magicka’s pool is also larger than before. Expect to gain more than 20 points of magicka for every 10 of intelligence. This change will help casters use more costly spells, with more complex, lengthy or devastating effects. This change is designed to allow casters to keep up with the increased lethality of melee and ranged weapon combat.

Magic spells, effects and physics are also different. Generally, offensive spells cost less, it is easier to cast ranged versions of them, and having them explode in an Area of Effect is also less costly. Finally, the speed of magic attacks is significantly higher than before. These changes will let you cast better offensive and defensive magic with a greater range of tactical options. They make it worthy to spend the extra energy in casting targeted, AOE, spells. This also means that it is easier for the inhabitants of Cyrodiil to cast powerful spells against their foes.

Note: Changes to spells, potions and enchantments are described below, in their appropriate section.

Birthsigns have changed. I have kept the original spirit of each constellation but I have modified their effects, and added new ones, to balance them out.

Armor skill perks have changed a little. No longer does mastery in Heavy Armor completely negate the movement penalties associated with wearing large and cumbersome armor pieces. This change serves to balance the otherwise obvious choice of Heavy Armor over Light Armor. Previously, you could wear a full suit of the heaviest of armors and remain unencumbered if you were a master of this skill. Now, a small penalty remains event at mastery. The same is true of the perk gained in expert level of Heavy Armor.

Light Armor does not give a 50% extra damage protection at master level. This was reduced to avoid making Light Armor a potentially more defensive skill than Heavy Armor. Otherwise, the benefits of faster speed, less weight and lesser penalty to spell-casting gained by using light armors really skewed the benefits away from heavy armors.

Weapon perks usually add a new special attack type to the player’s repertoire. These attacks have, aside from increased damage, other bonuses (like disarm, knockdown or paralyze). The chance of a successful bonus effect per hit has gone up. It is now easier to disarm, knockdown or paralyze enemies (but so it is for them to do the same to you!) This change helps to make combat more tactical. It encourages the use of special attacks, but it ties in with the greater risk of leaving your guard open because now, as I mentioned, weapons are slower than in default Oblivion. The relative speed of these attacks is a bit higher to compensate for the overall slower speed of weapons in general. These changes apply also to range attacks.

Damage has increased for the backwards special attack perk, for all weapon skills. This is an important change because in default Oblivion it was much more difficult to connect back-attacks. This change will encourage their use (off-set the risk vs. the reward of using it)

Hand to hand, already stronger in previous versions, has had its range lowered and its damage to enemies’ fatigue increased. Its damage to health remains the same, as do the chances to successfully block attacks and stagger opponents during a successful block. Its rate is lowest of all other weapons, but slightly increased from default Oblivion.

Note: The following explanation is taken from the 1.23 readme. These changes are conserved in 1.3, and expanded:

“The skills of Hand to Hand and Sneak have some modifications. Hand to Hand was sorely lacking at release. Its range is very short, its damage can't hold a candle to powerful weapons, its rate of block was half of wielded weapons and the player cannot use gauntlets to add offensive on-hit spell effects as with every other weapon. Now, hand to hand damage max is higher, its rate of block also went up (although still lower than that for weapons), it has a longer reach and its staggering chance while blocking was adjusted upwards. “

The range and speed of arrows is greater now than in previous OOO versions. Not only this change balances out with the slower rate of fire and fatigue burn of bows, but it enhances the realism of ranged combat.

Sneak attacks now do slightly higher damage at Journeyman and Expert ranks, x7 and x8 respectively. Marksman Sneak attacks in the same ranks are x3.5 (displays just as the normal x3) and x4 respectively. This change encourages players to specialize in Sneak and makes stealth-tactics much more desirable.

The number of potions that you can use at once as changed. The progression follows your skill in Alchemy. Previously, there was always a limit of four effects at once. Now, the progression is scaled upwards (3 for Novice skill in Alchemy, 3 for Apprentice skill in Alchemy, 4 for Journeyman skill in Alchemy, 4 for Expert skill in Alchemy and 5 for Master skill in Alchemy)

3a - Miscellaneous Game Setting Changes:

Note: These changes, while not pertaining to specific skills, per se, have a direct impact in how gameplay structures relate to skill usage and viability. Some are, however, independent, and their function serve other purposes

The chance of finding used arrows in fallen bodies and the maximum number of arrows allowed to remain on the ground have increased.

Arrow physics have been slightly tweaked to better reflect the changes in speed and range.

The overall damage done by weapons and creatures is higher, across the board.

The rate at which weapons and armors wear down is 30% the value of default Oblivion settings. This change is needed due to the much higher and deadlier incidence of combat.

The cost of armor and weapon repairs at shops is much higher.

The cost of skill training at specialized trainers is higher.

Every message pertinent to in-game actions about the player and the environment are now changed from the default second person tense to first person tense. This change is conducive to higher immersion in the game, for you are not constantly reminded that your actions are being viewed from the “outside.”

The maximum jump height threshold is slightly higher than in default Oblivion.

Descriptions for the notices of Mastery achievement in-game are re-written now to reflect a higher sense of pride and accomplishment, rather than the same old text used in the prior perks' notices. Descriptions of Birthsigns differ so as to include the changes and additions. Finally, changes to the perks of Sneak also appear in the notices brought up when a player reaches a new rank.

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul introduces more than two dozen new factions. Most of these are creature factions but there are also some additions to NPC factions. It is possible to gain the favor of some of the new NPC factions. The changes to the NPC faction system are not as global as I would like. This is something that will get tackled in future releases. The creature faction system, on the other hand, is an exciting development that will completely change how you perceive the relations among the creatures of Cyrodiil. Here I outline a small summary of what you can generally expect out of the new factions:

New NPC factions interact with existing NPC and creature factions in unique ways. “Good” factions may be allied with the governing factions of Cyrodiil’s regions or remain neutral. “Evil” factions may also be allied with other existing evil factions or tend towards neutrality. In all cases, they interact distinctively with the new creature factions. For example, the sylvan rangers from Valenwood tend to be friendly towards many types of creatures, whereas their enemies, rangers corrupted by Molag Bal, have gained faction with the new evil creature types.

The player may gain faction with some of the new NPC factions if they accomplish deeds that would please them, but in turn will lose faction with the opposing groups. Gaining faction with some of these groups will grant special boons to the player.

It is now possible, thanks to an involved new quest, to gain faction with all “neutral” creature factions. This means that the player may be accepted among animals and even befriend them, so that they will follow and assist against threats.

Finally, the diversity of faction interactions allows you to develop different tactics based on them. For example, the hatred of Ogres and Minotaurs towards each other could work in your favor, were you to lure either one into the opposing faction’s lairs. Also, should you run into battles carried out by creature or NPC factions, you can chose which side to support and hope that the survivors will remain friendly to you—some faction’s hatred is strong enough to prompt them to attack even the mightiest fortresses of their foes.

Note: Below, in the section dedicated to changes to creature AI I explain in more depth what you can expect out of their interrelations, actions and dispositions towards your avatar.

The magic system in Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul 1.3 has changed significantly. Almost every spell effect, default spells, enchantments and potions have been tweaked to enhance gameplay options and flow.

Generally, you can expect spells to be easier to cast (require less magicka) but also much more expensive to enchant into weapons and armor. Most offensive spell effects’ base costs are lower, and will allow you to deliver more deadly attacks at a cheaper cost of magicka than in default Oblivion. Most defensive spells are also easier to cast, increasing the duration and magnitude of their effects per point of magicka spent. In both cases, enchanting items with them is much more expensive, both in terms of magnitude and money costs—that is, custom enchants will spend the Soul Gem’s enchanting points quickly in proportion to increased magnitude, and the monetary cost is also much higher.

1 - Spells

Some spells, due to the ease with which they could be exploited, cannot any longer be made into custom spells or enchantments. The notable case here is Drain Health. It was extremely easy to abuse. Now it is not possible to create new spells or enchantments with the Drain Health effect. To compensate, new spells using this effect are available in merchants and treasures across Cyrodiil. The new line is set to instantly kill creatures below a certain threshold of health. The spells are Kill (weak), Kill (moderate), Kill (potent), Kill (superior) and Kill (master).

In a similar light, but in the defensive-spells camp, it is much more expensive to enchant items with chameleon effects. Also, the enchantments have a lower magnitude cap. Spells of Chameleon are very magicka-intensive now. The same is true of Invisibility. The potency and duration of Invisibility is now reduced to 25% of the original’s effectivity. This means that the player will have to be extremely skilled in Illusion in order to cast long-lasting invisibility spells, and that this will be done at an increased cost. The changes to these effects were necessary because they could previously be exploited severely (they would render consequences to the player’s actions irrelevant because they could always escape or avoid detection by the repeated use of these spell effects.

Every other spell effect is now actually easier to cast, including defensive spells such as reflect spell, shield, resist magic, summons, etc. The changes are conservative. Do not expect to be able to run around with 60 sec shield spells at magnitude 100 anytime soon.

Every default spell has changed to reflect the stronger potency of their associated governing effects. This means that you could have access to stronger spells as soon as you visit your local spells’ store. It also means that NPCs will instantly have access to stronger spells than what they had in default Oblivion.

2 - Enchantments

Many default enchantments associated with the changed effects are now changed. Defensive enchantment effects have been toned down, while offensive enchantments are left as they were by default. The higher costs of enchanting items make the default enchanted gear found while adventuring or thieving more attractive. This was a necessary change because, previously, enchanted items were mere vendor fodder. Now you will actually find them useful until you can afford to enchant better items on your own. The enchanting capacity of Grand Soul Gems is now much higher, as it is the enchanting power of Grand Souls. This will allow you to craft some of the most powerful enchantments available, but only if you earn that right through ingenuity and skill.

3 - Potions

Potion effects remain the same except in a few special cases.

Health, Fatigue and Magicka potions are now based on regeneration rather than instant effects. This means that you will not be able to pause the game in mid fight and heal immediately to your maximum limit of health, fatigue or magicka. The regenerative power of these potions encourages more tactical approaches to combat and leaves less room to exploit their use.

To compensate for the loss of instant healing while on paused-games, potion effects are overall stronger—their magnitude is greater although dispensed over time. There are now several new types of these potions. Each increases its power significantly over the previous in line, but also become more expensive. Finally, there is one type of potion for each of these effects that acts immediately—it replenishes health, fatigue or magicka instantly. These potions are prized and very expensive, but are also the best that can be afforded when you face the strongest of challenges. The savvy and experienced adventurer always keeps some of these potions in stock, for those situations that require that last push to victory.

As it has become earmark of OOO, the changes in 1.3 aim for a more static world, where NPCs do not constantly get stronger alongside the player’s progression in skills and power. The features of “leveling”, as it is often called, are not completely taken away. These features are actually very useful in providing variety and diversity of challenges. I have used them to enhance the believability, immersion and unpredictability of the Cyrodiil’s inhabitants. OOO 1.3 changes most of the default NPCs to make them more static in terms of how strong they may become or be right at the start of your game. This applies not only to their abilities but also to their equipment (no lowly bandits with glass armors and mighty enemies with worn iron swords)

The changes in 1.3 are sweeping. I have kept the changes of previous versions, generally, but many of them have been tweaked, enhanced and, in some cases, completely turned around. I have also introduced a lot of new exciting features to old and new NPCs. The goal—to transform Cyrodiil’s NPCs into more alive, more believable, more challenging and unique beings—has been taken to extremes in this new version of Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul.

Default types of NPCs, including citizens, characters of the main quest, guards, bandits, marauders, necromancers, conjurers, vampires and dremoras are now much more unique than ever before. With the addition of thousands of new armor and item types, the variety of looks and possessions that NPCs boast increases immensely. Every type of NPC has now much more unique items, abilities and spells that are proper to their profession and status. These features belong to them whether you are a fledgling adventurer or an acclaimed hero. This step was the first in creating a much more static and realistic world.

Listing every change here would spoil the sense of discovery that you will get when encountering all of these old NPCs in their new settings and apparels. The changes here are massive. Every type of default NPC has their own loot lists, with items designed, named and balanced to fit their role and relative power. These changes apply to all almost all NPCs without exception.

All of the additions and changes were made with other concerns in mind. Specially, with the new changes to their homes, their backgrounds, default quests and interrelation with the new NPCs, locales, stories and quests introduced by OOO 1.3.

Another important feature of OOO 1.3 is the perfection of the fleeing scripts included responsible for the fleeing of enemy NPCs. Previously, these scripts were very simple and prone to overly unrealistic behaviors. I modified and enhanced these scripts dramatically soon after the release of 1.23, but they have been dormant, waiting for this release, to see the light of the day. Now, NPCs take into account their remaining health, the level difference between them and the player and the fame or infamy of the player, in order to determine the chance of fleeing when they get hit by a player’s weapon or spells. (So, if you are several levels over an enemy, and have a lot of fame, then the enemy may run away more readily than if the level difference was the same but you had very little fame—level difference also changes the percentage.)

Infamy has a greater impact than fame in making enemies cower in fear away from you. Moreover, when they run away, depending on how low their health may be, they will lose speed and become easy prey for your blows. However, beware, they will not sit idly and let you whack them while they run. Should you hit them enough times, they will turn again on you! This behavior is one of the most realistic available

These NPCs are capped, their loot lists adjusted and spread at variety of level ranges so that some difference between them is apparent. Bandits can be very low level and reach early twenties. Some exceptions are the bandit bosses and the infamous Black Bow Bandit crew. Marauders tend to be slightly more powerful. Necromancers and Conjurers will give some trouble to the inexperienced adventurer, but later on they will easily become cannon-fodder. However, the boss versions are rather powerful. The expulsion of necromancers from the Mages Guild has bred resentment. Necromancers of Tamriel, under the guide of the experienced Fayth Noor, gather in Cyrodiil to plot against the Archmage.

However, new players in this game of betrayal and revenge have appeared in the scene. Now there are even more factions vying for power that clash directly with these default Oblivion factions. It is up to you to discover the nature of their intended plans and the locations from whence their power flows.

NPC vampires are very different now. There are four different types of vampires: regular, fearsome, deadly and ancient. They all have an interval where they will appear in the usual vampire havens and dungeons. The space between the intervals allows the player to experience both challenge and a good ol’ fashioned vampire-killing spree. However, many lairs house extremely powerful vampires that appear at any level. They are, of course, geared accordingly and guard treasures of great value.

Vampires have special abilities and equipment depending on their type and class. Deadly and Ancient vampires have, naturally, very powerful skills that will unleash upon all who dare enter their havens.

Rumor has it that a very powerful vampire lord has brought to Cyrodiil a feared relic in order to cleanse it of its power with the aid of other elder buddies of his kin. Now, he is aided by even more special vampires, who have their own unique items and treasures after centuries of un-life.

Dremoras are now significantly more powerful. Markynaz and Valkynaz have their levels capped but with a range where they keep up with the player. Every leveled list that included dremoras is now updated, even quest ones. This means that some quests, especially the main quest, will be more difficult and the player will not be able to complete them at low levels. Roughly, a level 20-25 will stand a chance, anything below that and it will be a world of hurt. At a player level of 40+ almost all dremoras will be lower than the player, with the exception of some special cases. At lvl 50 the player should be able to mop the floor with just about every creature in Cyrodiil. (Example: Kynval are lvl 12, in most cases they will not spawn unless the player is level 13--the intervals of Dremora reach near lvl 40)

Also, new dremoras now guard special items and stages of the Main Quest. These terrible new foes have very unique Daedric items of amazing power. Be ready, saving Cyrodiil from the threat of the Daedra will be a very challenging task.

All guards in the game are now level-capped. They are not lowly beginners, but you will not get the feeling that they are so powerful that your presence in Cyrodiil is a nuisance. At high levels you will be able to school most guards. Some towns have stronger regiments, others are weaker. Guards in the stages of the main quest are leveled appropriately, stocked with some healing potions and ready to rumble. Still, powerful enemies will take them down more easily than they can do the same to you. This also applies to the blades and the imperial guards.

Guards in the wilderness are battle-hardened and will usually be stronger than those found in the comfort of cities.

Without fail, the Imperial Legion has the strongest of members. The Imperial City houses several types of ranks. Each guard has their own distinctive armor and attire to distinguish their position in the hierarchy of the Legion. Their armors are the best kept of the entire Legion, to honor the privilege of guarding the Imperial Capital. Legion’s soldiers that patrol the wilderness have suffered many years of harsh living. So, in contrast, their armor shows the ravages of time and climate. The further away from civilization that they may patrol, and the deeper into the wild that they may venture to root out evil, the more worn and ragged will their attires look.

The number of patrols in the wilderness is now doubled. Some guards will patrol in pairs, and others will do so alone, but their numbers are certainly much higher—which is a blessing to those who need to travel the often-times dangerous wilderness of Cyrodiil.

And, lastly, and most importantly, now there are many guards who are female. They were sorely unrepresented in the original Oblivion. I have sought to bring them back a more rightful position within the lore of TES. Their strengths and power have nothing to envy to those of men.

All citizens of Cyrodiil, friendly or not, are level capped, when possible, in-synch with the difficulty of the quests with which they are associated. I have tried to give them a generous level range so as not to stifle or demean the quest progression. With that said, a lot of NPCs involved in quests have minimum level caps which means that you may not be able to finish the hard guild quests early on. A great feature of this change is that you will no longer get your ass handed down to you by a hoe wielding punk of a farmer after you pilfer his house clean or take his daughter to the "barn."

Those citizens involved in the stages of the Main quest and Guild’s quests are now progressively harder to beat, when possible. This change is part of the re-balance of important quests done by OOO 1.3.

Citizens have had their personal belongings adjusted and tailored to their status and nature. Each citizen’s house now holds items suited to reflect their role. Moreover, every citizen’s home of middle, upper, noble classes has special containers that safe-keep items appropriate to their status.

The progression of strength and skill in the Arena ranks is revamped in OOO 1.3 over what was in previous versions. The difficulty is much higher the greater the rank. The Champion of the Arena has also grown in power considerably and now carries even more unique items.

There are several new types of NPCs in Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul V. 1.3. These NPCs not only bring diversity and life to the province of Tamriel, but they are crucial for the new gameplay structures. The very static nature of rewards and challenges in OOO creates a need for more variety of NPC encounters and NPC factions. The additions are tailored to mesh seamlessly with the world of Nirn and with the lore of the TES Series. They also have their own unique dungeons, items, lore and association to existing stories and quests.

Raiders are heavily armored and prefer to fight with blades, although they will resort to other means whenever they do not have a trusted edge at hand. They are more powerful than Marauders and will crush the inexperienced player. However, they are also better equipped than most lowly Bandits and Marauders, so if you can take them down then you can expect some decent rewards for your efforts! Raiders count among them not just those experienced in melee combat, but also ranged fighters and magic users. Their elite ranks will make short work of you without hesitation--better be prepared for a fight if you venture within a raider stronghold. Their leader is a mighty Nord known as The Arctic Bear. However, he is getting ready to pass on the leadership of this mighty force down to a suitable replacement before the coming tide of strife about to ravage the lands of Cyrodiil, brought about by the discovery of ancient artifacts of undead power, creates a void in the existing power structures of the Imperial Province.

Amazons are female warriors specialized in nimble and agile combat. They prefer blunt weapons but they are also skilled in archery and swordsmanship. A few among them are fierce priestess, with the power to heal their clan members and bring destruction upon their foes. Amazons do not like to fight encumbered, and rarely if ever wear heavy armor. Some posses very fine light armors, which are crafted by their wearers with skills learned only by members of their rank in the Amazon hierarchy. Some prefer to fight almost naked. However, they have a long tradition of adorning their bodies with jewelry, which makes of them an attractive target to those inclined to thievery. Amazons do not share space with men,,, unless they are dead! They will not give those females outside of their clan any quarter either. The priestess of the Amazon clan of Cyrodiil is secretive and not many know what she looks like, or even what her name is.

Guardians of Oblivion are Conjurers of great skill and power. They specialize in Summoning magic, though they have learned a few tricks beyond what the usual Summoners of Cyrodiil can muster. These enemies are dangerous magic users, even if unarmored and weak to physical attacks, they can conjure very powerful Daedra to aid them in battle, using them as shields while they hurl magic from safe distance. These Conjurers are much more powerful than their lesser brethren. It is rumored that a woman of great skill and presence commands these outcasts from the community of the Mage's Guild. However, she may not be the only leader of these fearsome Daedra-worshippers.

Necromancers of the Putrid Hand are very skilled in the dark arts of magic. Resenting their imposed exile from the Mage's Guild, they have formed their own enclave where to expand their knowledge and power. Since they are officially considered enemies of the ruling Mage class in the Imperial City, they do not take kindly to those that intrude on their new-found lairs. Renowned for his skill in commanding the occult forces of life and death, Master Lien Valeth quickly became the leader of this rising sect of fearsome necromancers. Their now secretive existence has forced them to become acquainted with those schools of magic that would aid them in remaining unseen and unheard. Recently, Master Valeth discovered the trace of ancient relics of undead power that, if found and harnessed, may change the future of Cyrodiil itself.

The region of the Gold Coast has recently been subject to unusual numbers of rangers from the forests of Valenwood, who have set camps in the wilderness and occupied ruins and caves. It is not clear what the purpose of the ranger’s occupation of the Gold Coast means, but local authorities have issued warnings to citizens and travelers alike. Rangers, often loosely associated to Druidic Grove Circles, rarely seem as organized as some of the invading Bosmer appear. This suggests that there is a common cause, or a common leadership, behind their activities. Interested adventurers would do well to seek information and clues in Anvil before venturing near these skilled and powerful inhabitants of the wild.

The northern lands of the Imperial Province, covered in snow and ice, have for many years dealt with the threat of marauding bands of pillagers and bandits. As of late, more organized than usually, clans of Skyrim bandits have set encampments in the whereabouts of Bruma and all along the steep walls of the Jerall Mountains. These bandits have proven to be a greater source of danger than any previous band of thieves Captain Burd has had to face during his years at the head of the Bruma Guard. Perhaps eradicating the source of union among these otherwise hostile clans would help to prevent further damage to the citizens of Bruma and to the travelers of the northern mountains.

After the events that took place in the Isle of Vvanderfell thanks to the intervention the Nerevarine, the authorities of the province of Morrowind banned the custom of slave-trade. Without other recourse than to change their ways of life drastically, many slavers continued their trade illegally, in a veil of secrecy. This black-market of slaves has spilled its activities onto the eastern regions of Cyrodiil. Slave traders have set up encampments, headquarters and supply routes that reach into the marshes of the Blackwood. There they hunt for Argonians, who traditionally used this region as a sanctuary, due to its remote location and humid climate. Slave traders are in no friendly terms with the local authorities, but they will not be aggressive outright to most citizens of the province—provided that they do not belong to one of the races which they seek to enslave! Should one gain favor with the traders, they may be willing to offer their services and goods to even the most unlikely folk.

Argonians from the black marsh have created smuggling lines for contraband trade into the Imperial Province, supplying its citizens with hard to find, and often forbidden, goods. These Argonians inhabit some of the most remote and hidden caves in the marshes, often choosing underwater caverns to gain extra security and cover. These smugglers have little reason to be outright aggressive against citizens of Cyrodiil and travelers, since they depend on them for trading. However, they will not take kindly upon those that aid the newly-arrived Slave Traders, nor to those that harm the leaders of their smuggling groups. Should one aid these Argonian smugglers against those who threaten them then it is possible that they may decide to engage in trade directly, bypassing their usual suppliers and contacts.

This is one of the most exciting developments in OOO 1.3. Creatures are now extremely unique and particular. I can confidently say that there is nothing, to date, that resembles what OOO 1.3 has done with creatures. Now only are there now many more sizes, items, special behaviors and characteristics to all old creatures, but OOO 1.3 adds many new ones into the world, each with their own specific behaviors, items, lairs and spawn lists.

As usual, the additions are not limited to new models, like the ones above, only, but also include many other types of creatures that are slight variations of existing types (for example, prowler wolves, which are highly aggressive and tend to travel on packs, or Ravenous ogres, who are solitary, although at times gregarious, ogres of great power and might; and many, many more!)

The following is a list of the most important changes given with the addition of these new creatures:

There are now more than 24 creature factions. There is one for each of the creature types and several new ones for OOO-added creatures. Each faction interacts differently with every other faction. Some are friendly to each other, some are neutral and some are aggressive. Even within each faction, some of its members, which may be a bit more aggressive than the rest, will react aggressively against members of an otherwise friendly faction. For example, some Crazed Imps are violent enough to dislike shadow wolves, and they will attack them on sight even if most crazed imps will not. This applies to all faction relations.

Generally, however, there are two main groups of factions: “Neutral” and “Evil”. Each group is generally on friendly terms with creatures from the same group and in unfriendly terms with creatures from the opposing group.

Shadow wolves, ogres, goblins and trolls, for example, will tolerate each other in most cases, and will dislike animals, minotaurs, land dreughs and even spriggans.

Animals are usually neutral to each other, although some may tolerate, and even have a liking for, members of a different faction within the general “animal-faction” group more than others. For example, bears generally tolerate boars, and vice versa. Only a few bears, from time to time, if hungry or inexperienced, may be aggressive enough to attack boars, whereas they would be much more suspicious of wolves. Lions will be aggressive against horses or boars a lot more readily than they would ever be aggressive against bears.

Of course, this change meant that the creature spawns could not remain as they were set in default Oblivion. Previously, all creatures would be on the same faction, and all of them could appear together, clumped, inside a creature lair. This is no longer the case. This leads to the second big change.

Some dungeons have “Evil” group factions. These dungeons are highly dangerous and difficult, with the corpses of brave adventurers littering the floors. Great treasures await those that can defeat these dark places.

Other dungeons are now home to specific faction types. In default Oblivion, all animals would appear together in dungeons like a happy family. Wolves, bears, lions and boars would share living space. This is not the case any more.

I have changed every animal dungeon to belong to one type of animal faction. Now there are wolf dens, tundra wolf dens, bear dens, boar dens and feline (lions, snow lions, jaguars, snow leopard) dens. Some of these dens may have very old and powerful animal “bosses” who command the rest of their pack and herd.

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul no longer uses Tag’s excellent Natural Wildlife mod to change the behavior of creatures towards the player. Instead, I have heavily modified the original script, to the point that it has become a completely new script with many distinctive and unique functions.

This script is probably the most sophisticated animal behavior enhancement for Oblivion to-date. Not only it is prepared to handle many more response types, dynamically, than older wildlife scripts, but it is perfected to work in tandem with several of the new features introduced in OOO 1.3, such as the greatly expanded creature faction diversity and the possibility of gaining creature faction through a quest (see below)

Now, animals may respond to the player in several ways. They may be outright aggressive, cautious, shy or even friendly. Each of these responses depends on many factors. These take into account the creatures aggression rating (remember, creatures of the same type may be more or less aggressive, confident, strong, fast, etc, than others of their kin), the creature’s confidence, the player’s personality, the players willpower, the demeanor of the player (weapon sheathed or unsheathed), the actions of the player (pestering the animal by getting too close, attacking it from a distance, etc) and they calculate their reactions dynamically, as the situations change around them.

This means that you could approach an animal, and it may decide to run away from you. Then you could try to chase it, and if you get too close to it (depending on their aggression and confidence they will consider you as “too close for comfort” differently) it will try to defend itself and attack you. Now, you could decide to run away. If you make enough distance in between you and the beast, it will stop chasing you and will try to get on with its own business. But, of course, you may decide to go chasing after it again, at which point you may fire an arrow and provoke the beast, which decides to run instead of fight (or may decide to fight instead).

Now, imagine the possibilities this opens when seen in light of the other changes pertaining creatures. The beast, the second time you go looking for it, may decide to run after you instead, right on sight, and without giving you time to draw the bow. Then, as you try to run again, a different animal appears nearby, this new animal may be aggressive to the creature chasing you more than to you, so it would try to attack it and save your hide in the process. Literally, the possible gameplay scenarios are multiplied several fold thanks to OOO’s changes to creatures.

Last, but not least, every creature has now different behavior types that suit their nature. For example, wolves will routinely hunt for preys, like boars, deer and so forth. Bears and other vegetarian animals will graze and search for ingredients with which to feed themselves. All animals will seek water to drink, especially at dawn and dusk.

It is now possible, thanks to an involved new quest, to eventually gain faction with animals. This will allow the player to befriend most animals, except maybe the most aggressive of their kind, and of course depending on the player’s Personality, Willpower and aggressive demeanor (like approaching creatures with a weapon unsheathed) Should the player gain faction with the natural world, many new possibilities will open up for the player, who would be able to summon animals to aid in battle, and also pick up a few along the way, were they to be found near places of need.

Creatures have great variety and clear differences even within each species, or “type”. They may come in different sizes, with different values for their aggression and confidence ratings, with different items and statistics.

Also, now, every creature type has magical weaknesses assigned to them that match their specific nature. For example, Clannfears are cold-blooded daedra of lizard-like qualities, they are thus more susceptible to frost-based magic, however, they are, by the same token, more resistant to potions (for they do not act as efficiently in slow-moving and cold bloodstreams.) Minotaurs are somewhat opposite, they resist cold very well, but their hot-blood makes them weaker against poison attacks. Every creature has similarly assigned weaknesses and strengths.

Now there is life to be found in the previously rather “dead” looking underwater environments of default Oblivion. These fishes will wander around and do their own thing. They can be killed, and they may also follow the player, curious. However, they may also get a little alarmed should you approach them quickly. This change is paired with many fixes to the underwater world (floating rocks, etc) and with the inclusion of water reeds, weeds and other underwater “grass”

Note: Should you want to turn fishes off, go to console and type, without quotations: “Set OOOFishSpawn to 0” This may be necessary if you experience slow-downs when near water-bodies. Change the 0 for 1 if you wish to re-enable fishes.

This is a massive change. I have edited almost every single pertinent dungeon in the Cyrodiil to adjust the type of encounters one finds. The difficulty grows proportionally to the depth to which one may adventure—the same is true of the quality of treasures that may lie deep into the darkest corners of the land.

Not only are enemies more difficult and rewarding as you progress down the levels of a dungeon, but the form in which you encounter them is also very different. Previously, most dungeons had enemy spawn points placed at regular intervals—you would end up fighting most of the time you entered a dungeon also at regular intervals (every-other room or hallway). I have changed the location and orientation of most of the spawns for every dungeon tweaked. Now, encounters are more unpredictable. They lend themselves to better experience of exploration and suspense. It is never clear whether enemies may lie in the next corridor or only at the end of the dungeon. This change will force you to stay alert and engaged with your surroundings while adventuring in-doors, rather than disinterested because of the obvious patterns with which encounters were previously found.

There are some dungeons that remain unaffected by this change. Usually these may be quest-related locations. I have purposely left some of the Main Quest locales untouched, or only tweaked slightly to provide rewards after special occasions. In this version of OOO, planes are largely untouched. In the future, they will also go through an in-depth transformation.

I have done some significant changes in this area of the Overhaul. Now, when adventuring both in the wilderness and indoors, you are bound to find more creatures/NPCs than before. Instead of only finding a single Actor per SpawnPoint in the world, now you may see several. The maximum number of creatures differs among types. Weaker creatures will appear in higher numbers than strong ones. Rarely will you see more than four creatures in a single spot, if ever. Usually between one and three is much more likely. I did not want more Actors than that for two reasons:

Many dungeons and enemies have a fairly static degree of difficulty. As with everything else in OOO, this is somewhat fluid, for all types of enemies and locations, so that a sense of unpredictability, variety and realism are enhanced. Even within the same types of enemies, it is possible to find both powerful and weak instances of them. For example, a group of bandits may have members that could be 10 or even 16 levels above the weakest members, depending on the level of the player. The way this works is by using off-set flags in the level data of NPCs. What it means is that some NPCs may be a number of levels above you (governed by the offset) up to a max cap that they will never pass (a bandit will never be over level 22, for example) or they may be a number of levels below you (again governed by offset) down to a minimum cap under which they can never go (for example, an Amazon Raging Priestess will never be lower than level 14 or 16, even if her offset is set to go 8 levels below the player)

Guild quests—those that define the main thread of each guild’s story—are now scaled in progressive difficulty. Early guild quests remain largely untouched, except for hand placed rewards in the locations where they take place and except for the capping of their difficulty at a suitable level. Once you complete those beginning quests, and as soon as the main quest of each guild begins, you can expect the difficulty to increase progressively—culminating in dangerous and epic battles that will offer great rewards.

The minimum levels necessary to receive Daedra Lord’s Quests at their shrines are now almost completely changed. No longer do you need a high level to begin some of these quests. You can start them at any time. Whether you succeed or not will not depend on the abstract measure of your “level” but on your skill, ingenuity and creativity. Now, in order to be a worthy champion, you are going to need to know how to skin some beast other than sheep!

There is much more variety now between region’s inhabitants than before. As I listed above, there are now several new types of creatures that are specific to each region. The northern lands of Cyrodiil are home to the “arctic” variety of creatures, such as polar bears, tundra wolves, snow mountain lions, snow leopards and frost titans. The marshes near Blackwood and other areas along the eastern border of Cyrodiil are inhabited by bog ogres and jaguars.

Also, each region has more or less percentages of each animal type. Boars, for example, are much more common in humid, forested areas than in plains. The same is true of Will-o-the-Wisp and trolls. These are just a couple of examples, every creature type, and every class within each type has much more specific homes. These changes really help to make the regions more distinct and special.

The difficulty of wilderness areas is proportional to their climate’s harshness and their distance to urban centers. This is also no mere trick of leveled lists’ editing. I have added many special spawnspoints to the world, by hand, in several areas that before lacked specificity. For example, I have placed snow-creature spawnpoints in the northern mountains, from one end to the other. This is also the case in the eastern borders, near the marshes and rainforests, where proper spawnpoints were lacking severely.

Roads are now much safer to travel. Spawnpoints around roads have been removed, displaced or changed, so that they might offer safer passage. Also, patrols in the roads have doubled—this should help those who run into trouble while traveling on road.

“Bosses”, traditionally NPCs of great power, are a staple of OOO. The current version expands on this feature more than ever before. Now, not only NPCs, but even Creatures have greatly increased their numbers of bosses. These special characters have unique names and homes. They are also keepers of very special items of power.

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul 1.3 revamps every “boss” found in default Oblivion and in previous versions of the mod. Now they are deadlier, hardier, diverse and unique, with dozens of very high-level rewards.

A major change in V. 1.3 is that now not only NPCs and creatures carry items appropriate to their level range, but that containers around the world also have items appropriate to the status or difficulty of their locations. Now you can get rewarded as you deserve for defeating a powerful enemy and looting their chests, or by stealing the wealthy coffers of a local noble. Previously, in the original version of Oblivion as well as in some instances of the first releases of OOO, you would not get this kind of satisfaction often, because even if they managed to defeat a powerful foe, its loot tables, and its guarded treasures’ loot tables, were adjusted according to the level of the player, thus rewarding less than what the challenge was worth. Now many NPCs carry items suitable to the challenge which they pose. I have not made every single enemy, or container, always carry items proper to their level or status, however, because that is also rather predictable. The goal was to keep the sense of expectation and uncertainty pretty high, so that surprises can keep you entertained and intrigued. Also, keep your eyes peeled for stashes of long forgotten very powerful goodies while you explore wilderness, dungeons, caverns and any other remote location.

Vendors, as in previous versions of OOO, may have mid-end items in their stores’ stock at any given point. They will have many more items of basic and low quality, but often they will have acquired much nicer items that adventurers may purchase whenever they can afford them.

All “Dwarven” items are renamed now to the more Lore-appropriate “Dwemer”

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul includes fantastic new types of armor that can be found both in NPCs and in merchant's stores. The current additions are listed at the top of this readme. There are, literally, thousands of new weapons, armors, ingredients, pelts, house-wares, scrolls and books.

These items are not only placed in loot lists for NPCs and containers, but are also placed as part of the world. I have edited hundreds of world cells individually and placed items in them (several thousand items by hand total)--this was done for several reasons. The most important of them is that it helps to create a more static and believable world. Another important reason is that it would make thievery and adventuring a lot more interesting because it is always guaranteed that you will find appropriate rewards to the difficulty of the challenge and magnitude of deed. The last very special reason for this change is that it renders locales more uniquely—it makes them less generic. This is ideal for building back-stories that rely on context—a context that is impossible to convey by the default appearance of the world cells I modified.

Items statistics, names, owners, spell-effects and value have changed drastically from where they might have been found in the original stand alone mods. You will not find them lying around in a chest in the middle of a plaza, or for sale at your local store. As I mention above, all items have new special owners, stories, resting places and meaning within the global design of OOO 1.3.

Item statistics are all re-designed to take into account every other included item. This was done to achieve balance across every single new item addition. It also serves one of the main goals of the mod: to make the world more static, varied, balanced and unique all at once.

If you are using already any of the here included item mods, I strongly suggest that you discontinue their use unless you are willing to live with the incongruence of having items that look the same but are found in radically different places, with radically different stats and significance in the overall scheme of things.

Note: I specially recommend you to de-install DagothBalls’ Ethereal: Imperial Legion Armor mod. Otherwise, this will have a tremendous impact in the presentation of the new hierarchy of the Legion’s ranks. Dagoth’s mod, with its excellent work, replaces every guard’s armor. OOO still uses the default model of guard’s armor, but introduces several new ones to distinguish the higher ranked members of the legion. If you currently use Dagoth’s armor’s mod, you should find the folders that Dagoth’s mod installs (found in meshes\armor\legion\ , in meshes\armor\legionhorseback\ and in textures\armor\legion\, and textures\armor\legionhorseback\ and delete them if you want to experience the full range of diversity of looks for OOO’s Legion Soldiers)

I have added more than 2,200 hand-placed containers to the world. These are found in dungeons and dwellings, both of enemies and friends. These containers have items that are designed for the difficulty and status of the locations where they are found. Their contents are not utterly static. They are chanced—not leveled. That means that you could be a very fledgling thief, sneak into a lord’s manor, and steal very valuable items, should you make it out without alerting the guard. It also means that you could be a very powerful warrior who happens to find a container in the depths of an easy dungeon and its contents will not suddenly become uber, just because you are lvl 40, for example.

These containers have a special characteristic. They never respawn their contents once you have opened them and stolen whatever was inside them. This feature should be self-explanatory. Some of the containers I added have chances of granting very powerful items—if they respawned their contents then they would become an endless well of wealth and exploits. You have one chance with them, and then it is time to move on.

There are now many special jewelry boxes hidden in homes. Over 60 of these can only be opened by unique keys that are found somewhere in the homes or in possession of the container’s owners. These boxes are, of course, highly sought after by skilled thieves. (These keys are compatible with the excellent KeyChain mod by mmmpld)

OOO 1.3 has its own weapon rebalance. The values and general feel of the rebalance are very close to what is specified by MOBS. MOBS is a system developed by Jaga Teleslin and Francesco, to which I had the privilege of providing input, and that expands the concepts introduced by Kalamar’s and Neilius’ weapon rebalance mods. (shorter ranges, slower speeds, more weapon-material differentiation, higher damage for 2-H weapons, etc)

OOO uses similar values to MOBS in many instances, but it also departs from it in several other ways. Generally, the shorter range and slower speed of weapons is conserved as it was in MOBS (although claymores are made faster, but less damaging, whereas BattleAxes are made slower and more damaging—there are other important differences, specially in regards the new items) A few other differences are found in the speed of weapons that border 1.0 in MOBS, I made some of those reach 1.0 in order for the faster swing sound to be used by the engine.

Notably, dwemer weapons are now as damaging as elven weapons, but much heavier and cumbersome to use. Finally, the relative brittleness of glass weapons was increased even more—they wear faster down, because they represented a rather large upgrade from elven and dwemer weapons in MOBS.

All in all, you can expect the weapons to handle very similarly to MOBS excellently developed values. Jaga and Francesco really did an amazing job in expanding upon the already excellent mods by Kalamar and Neilius.

OOO 1.3 does not include parts of MOBS, however, having to do with modified backwards speeds when using weapons. This mod can be acquired as a stand alone and it is perfectly compatible with OOO. I do recommend its use, but its effects may be very drastic considering the much higher challenge that OOO presents compared to default Oblivion and most other gameplay mods.

As it is custom of OOO, prices are now very different than in default Oblivion. Generally, their values are higher, especially for certain item types (like fine clothes, fine house-wares, jewels, armors, and so forth—these items are not cheap to make with a medieval material production’s system, you know?)

The increase in prices will be balanced with the money sinks introduced by enchanting costs, repair costs and training costs. Also, the excellent mod by CreepyFellow, Living Economy, is bundled with OOO 1.3—I strongly suggest using it in tandem with OOO. In fact, my intention was to merge it with the Full version, but in order to allow easier updating of CreepyFellow’s mod, I decided to bundle it instead. Should you use it, (which, you should), you would like to know that any of its changes to economy’s prices and general features can be easily turned on and off through an in-game menu called up by a simple console command.

Please take some time to review the bundled Living Economy folder, found inside your \Data\Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul\ADD-ONS\ folder. You will see several files that will help you understand the power of Living Economy’s flexible scripts. This mod is an outstanding addition to any game.

Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul adds over 60 new texts to the game. Some of these are as small as a few lines or a couple of paragraphs, others are many pages long. All of them are tied to previous TES lore or are made with that lore in mind, plus whatever additions to the lore contributors, or I, have added by their inclusion in OOO’s world. Several authors have contributed to the new texts. Some of them are already named above since their mods included text. For example, Momaw’s Geomancy mod included texts, so did Gristle’s TGG and Madcat/RDJeke’s meteoric weapons.

In addition, there are contributions by Eikona, Xui’al and Praetorio. If you are interested in knowing who wrote what, feel free to contact me so that I may ask them if they would like their names to be made public.

I have merged TGG and Geomancy/Gem Dust mods into a unique blend that greatly expands the use of gems. These excellent mods, previously incompatible, are now enhanced into a single package that also partakes of other changes specific to OOO, such as the updated price-ranges. TGG adds several new kinds of precious stones and metals, as well as transforming their icons and models into what real gems of valued beauty and rarity deserve. Geomancy/Gem Dust scripts every default Oblivion gem to give them arcane forces that the player may unlock. I have expanded on their concept, after rebalancing its effects in view of the mod’s gameplay as a whole, to include all the additions made by TGG.

In order to gain geomantic powers, you must find and acquire a copy of a study on Ayleid Geomancy. It is advised that you search in the whereabouts of magic user’s homes or associations in order to find one its copies.

Container’s now can be bashed if locked. Of course, this applies only to certain containers. Bags, for example, cannot be bashed open, if there is such thing as a locked bag (I have not found any... B) )

Containers may also be trapped. Whether they are trapped or not is not random. I have specified which ones are trapped and which ones are not. Very few respawnable containers will be trapped, so, you can usually be sure that once a trap is disarmed, or fired, then it will not be active again.

Here’s how this new functionality works (which is based off Scruggswussy the Ferret’s great LockBash 1.1 mod and Lap’s excellent Security Rebalance mod)

You can bash any lock, provided that you meet certain criteria. You must first activate the container, as you normally would to open or lockpick them, with a weapon drawn. This weapon may be any kind of weapon, except bows. You can bash with your fists too, although it will not be as effective as bashing with a 2-hand hammer, for example. When you activate a locked container with a weapon drawn, then the container will begin to glow. This tells you that it is targeted for bashing.

Then, you need to use special attacks on the container until the lock breaks. The formula responsible for the damage calculations takes your strength, skill, weapon type and lock difficulty into account. Every time you hit the container, a loud noise will be made, which could potentially alert guards or enemies of your nearby presence and mischief. Also, every time you hit a container your weapons will suffer slight wear.

Once you hit the lock enough times, it will break and the container will open for you. (You can change the difficulty of the lock by using a number from 1 to 100 with the following format in console “Set LapBashLockDifficulty to X”—where X is a number between 1 and 100. Higher number means the locks will be harder to break. Default setting is 30)

Now, if you get attacked while bashing a lock, the targeted container will reset to normal and you will not be able to continue until the threat is gone. The same is true of lock-picking; you will not be able to lock-pick a container if you are engaged in combat at the same time. Note that you can change this feature by typing in console “Set LapNoCombatLock to 0”

The container will also get un-targeted should you lose it from sight or move too far away from it while it is targeted for bashing.

If you want to lockpick a container with a weapon drawn, get on sneak mode and that will let you switch straight into lockpick mode, rather than bashing mode.

Traps: These are pretty self-explanatory. Containers can have traps. These traps can be detected by the use of Detect traps spells, which you may find in the form of scrolls or as spells that you may learn. When using any of the spells of the Detect Traps line, trapped containers will glow red, letting you know that they hold a trap.

You may also detect traps immediately, upon activating a container. This may happen if your skill in security is high enough, although of course there is an element of randomness. There is also a second check performed, should you fail the first, in which luck also enters the equation.

If you detect a trap, you will be given the option to open the container (risking setting off the trap) or leaving it alone. If chose to disarm the trap, you would go through a new check. This check again calculates an equation with your security skill number and luck attributes in mind in order to determine whether the trap is successfully disarmed. In addition, you may even be able to extract a poison from the trap itself and add it to your inventory. Finally, if the trap is set off, you may get blasted by it, or you may dodge its spell! (that is, only if a check against your luck and agility is successful)

That, in a nutshell, is how traps and bashing work for locked containers in OOO.

Tandem’s very popular mod changes the objects inside guilds to belong to different ranks in the faction. This means that certain items of the guild will be available to you only if you are sufficiently high in the Guild’s hierarchy. Otherwise taking possession of such items will be considered a crime. I have kept Tandem’s features intact, but I have expanded the work to include all the new items that I included in the existing guilds.

Lap’s mod turns alcoholic beverages into drinks that will get you drunk. This was not possible in default Oblivion. It also allows the player to craft alcoholic beverages. There are instructions on how to use the new brewing barrels in the form of books on the subject. (Perhaps a certain manual can be found somewhere in those fertile vineyards of Skingrad…)

I have bundled Dejunai and DragonFireSG’s excellent [Harvest] Flora. This great mod has several customizability options. I suggest that you look into the readmes included with this mod, which I placed in the folder \Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul\ADD-ONS\Harvest_Flora.

At the moment, the inclusion of this mod is pending. In the near future, I will offer a separate bundled esp that will make HC fully functional with OOO’s container scripts

Drop Lit Torches is a mod that allows you to drop lit torches on the ground as you adventure in dungeons. The version here included has a special torch added to your inventory whenever you start a new game (or update from an existing savegame) that can be linked to a hotkey so that you will not have to reset hotkeys every time that torches are dropped on the ground. I have included also an optional add-on that is set to work for most immersion possible. This add-on deletes the name of torches altogether, and you will not be bothered by their swapping as the mod’s scripts work their magic.

This section is last, but to do the contributors justice, for their level of dedication, help, passion, skill and ingenuity, it should be right on top. However, that would be too distracting for those of you with too much eagerness to get the game started. I hope, my dear contributors, that you understand why I left you at this last spot in the list. As they say, the best is better saved for last! So, without further ado, let me mention a list of special thanks:

First and foremost, I would like to thank the extremely dedicated beta test team for their incredibly hard work. They have given me an amazing amount of help and support for the almost six weeks that we have been testing and perfecting the functions of these mods. OOO 1.3 is a creation of my stubbornness and passion for games, but by now it is also a creation with many more parents. This group of beta testers are right on top of the list, for their efforts have synthesized, changed, suggested and perfected many of the features that you will find in OOO 1.3.

So, with all my thanks and gratitude, I’d like to praise the efforts of this great group of people! :

5hakes, Addikt, Baksheesh, Bo Straightarrow, BradRinWI, creepyfellow, dev_akm, doofdilla, ElementalNimbus, Elhoim, iron golem, Josef K., Kal Choedan, Lyrondor, Madcat, Natalia, OmegaRED, osprey15, Praetorio, Soor and ubik

I would also like to make special mention to the help given by Praetorio and Elhoim, whose excellent texturing and modeling skills have made it possible to have exciting features such as the tailored guard capes, the new imperial tarnished armor and many other items that have been added to the world. Moreover, they were always available and ready to fix any oversights or problems with the resources used by OOO 1.3. Thank you guys!

Also very importantly I would like thank Bo Straightarrow, Dev_akm, Dejunai and Lyrondor for their constant administrative help and counsel in technical matters. These guys have gone to great lengths to help support OOO 1.3 and to solve problems of the most diverse nature as they arrived--not only during beta, but since the very beginning.

The next mention goes to OmegaRED, whose work as a master editor created two of the most exciting trailers made for any Oblivion production. Thank you Omega, also for your tireless support and help in getting things done in the forums and in the beta-process.

And, of course, I’d like to thank very much the gameplay nuts who so often prodded me for changes and reminded me of where the good gameplay rules. You know who you are, right, 5hakes, Baksheesh, Brad, Creepy, Doof, Elemental, Kal, Madcat, and specially, Ubik and Natalia (these last two are high maintenance! Very good pair to keep me on my toes!) Thank you all!

JosefK, who helped me very much with the addition of a lot of AI packages upon which I built a very large base of new unique AI behaviors, deserves a big mention! Thanks Josef! I look forward to work with you more in future releases and do with behaviors all those fantastic ideas we discussed.

But really, every single one of you guys and gals from the team has given me a lot of help and support. It is hard to make any serious distinctions after so much work together. The people who will enjoy OOO 1.3 owe your work for it.

Next in line are those contributors of content. Thank you very much everyone for your permission and support in using your fine works as part of the OOO experience! I look forward to more fruitful collaborations. These fine contributors are:

Adeliedreams, Bofra, Ceano, Creepyfellow, Daeger, Dejunai, Dheer, Doofdilla, Eikona, Frugal, Gristle, Hero2014, Lap, Laurinque, Lyrondor, mmmpld, Momaw, Scruggswussy, Stabbey, phoenixamon, Tandem, Turgothh, XMarksTheSpot, and Xui’ al.

Adonnay, Aleanne, AshLad, Atronarch, Axeface, Belenos, Cethegus, Chiz, DagothBalls, Daeger, Demonizzer, DieterWeb, Elhoim, Eyren, Gosu, Growlf, Jounks, Kafeid, Kearsage, Mark Quinn, Mealmoran, NorrabMaster, Oriphier, Perditio44, Phitt, Praetorio, Rdjeke, Razkhul, Severian, Silverthorn, Sin, Sleeper25, Someone1074, tda, Tegeal, TemplarGFX, ThrottleKitty, Ulath, VagabondAngel, Vine-Au, Winter, Zardalu

And, finally, thank you, dear player, for downloading and playing Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul 1.3!