# Oblivion : Late to the Party **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 21, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647 "2011-11-21T15:21:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/62 "2011-11-29T21:31:43Z")
FFS. I finally got OOO to work correctly, but I noticed that if I don’t modify all my save files with Wrye Bash, everything will be super-wonky. So I downloaded the two different sets of files to run Wrye Bash, and so far I’ve put nearly two hours into trying to get them to work, but I’m still getting an error: > [@](#): > > Found Python at ‘C:\Python27\python.exe’ > Launching Wrye Bash in debug mode > Wrye Bash starting > Python version: 2.7.1 > wxPython version: 2.8.12.1 (msw-ansi) > input encoding: cp437; output encoding: None; locale: (‘en\_US’, ‘cp1252’) > bosh.py 8428 **init** : Missing master file; Neither Oblivion.esm or Nehrim.esm exists in an unghosted state in C:\Documents and Settings\Myk\Desktop\Oblivion\Data - presuming that Oblivion.esm is the correct masterfile. > basher.py 4808 **init** : Wrye Bash in ANSI Mode If any of y’all are familiar with this (and better yet how to fix it–Myk is one of Wrye Bash’s writers, so somewhere there should be a path with his name in it in some ini or something, but I can’t find it for the life of me), I’d love some help! It’s driving me crazy. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/63 "2011-11-29T23:18:04Z")
I use Oblivion Mod Manager (it was only one download rather than two) rather than Wrye Bash so I’m not really much help. I just started a new game in OOO, as it seemed easier than fiddling around with old saves. This line: > [@](#): > > bosh.py 8428 **init** : Missing master file; Neither Oblivion.esm or Nehrim.esm exists in an unghosted state in C:\Documents and Settings\Myk\Desktop\Oblivion\Data - presuming that Oblivion.esm is the correct masterfile. makes me think WryeBash is looking for Oblivion in this path. And it seems a pretty strange place to be looking. Where do you have WryeBash installed? I _think_ it needs to be in the Oblivion data folder, check the readme. What was it about Oblivion that bored you in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/64 "2011-11-30T11:55:33Z")
At long last I got everything working together. Yay! “Bored” may not be the right word for it. “Frustrated” figures pretty heavily in. Last time I played Oblivion, I leveled too quickly and reached that unplayable point where I was really good at sneaking and jumping and opening locks, but couldn’t handle the swarms of Daedric-armor-equipped vampires or whatever that kept washing over me. So this time I read all those leveling guides and created a class with one major skill from each ability–and now leveling is going really slowly, and I’m still worrying about my numbers and wondering whether I need to stand in a dark room letting rats bite me so that I’ll level up enough. Hopefully getting all these mods installed will take that worry away. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/65 "2011-11-30T14:20:23Z")
I’ve been playing with a leveling mod that makes my old game style useless. No more using a skill to level it. it is good and bad. I can put they skills I use into major, but no maxing alchemy and alteration at level 5. Also, no buying skills from trainers, though you still needs to meet they trainer requirements for going above 75. Worst part for meet is low sneak. As for handling Daedra, lots off Damage Health and Damage Magicka poisons. I havent been able to make strong enough Burden poisons for them yet. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/66 "2011-11-30T18:59:53Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > At long last I got everything working together. Yay! > > “Bored” may not be the right word for it. “Frustrated” figures pretty heavily in. Last time I played Oblivion, I leveled too quickly and reached that unplayable point where I was really good at sneaking and jumping and opening locks, but couldn’t handle the swarms of Daedric-armor-equipped vampires or whatever that kept washing over me. So this time I read all those leveling guides and created a class with one major skill from each ability–and now leveling is going really slowly, and I’m still worrying about my numbers and wondering whether I need to stand in a dark room letting rats bite me so that I’ll level up enough. > > Hopefully getting all these mods installed will take that worry away. You might want to change the levelling in OOO then, it’s default setting is about 3 times slower than Vanilla. Here’s the OOO readme bit on changing to vanilla speed levelling: > [@](#): > > OOO-Level\_Stock.esp > Resides in Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul\OOO-ADD-ONS\ Use with: Full and Lite Not recommended (unless you want to make your own skill rates or do not have much time to play the game) > This plugin uses the stock (fast) leveling rates of vanilla Oblivion. You can use this option with the Full version to regain the standard Oblivion level rates without losing the new OOO skill perk descriptions. In addition, you can use it with the Lite version to add the OOO skill perk descriptions while keeping the standard leveling rate. Since this plugin contains the proper skill perk descriptions, this is the plugin that should be used should you want to make your own leveling rates using the Construction Set. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/67 "2011-11-30T19:38:05Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’ve got a leveling guide that requires me to put a checkmark in the appropriate box every single time I have a skill go up, to prevent leveling up too fast from killing me. > > That, to me, is the most important thing to know about Oblivion. The deadliest threat in the game is improper leveling. . > [@madmonk28](#): > > It fixes the leveling problem with the game. > [@lisiate](#): > > despite the ‘levelling problem’. > > If you’re not using a levelling mod you need to be a little careful when picking your major skills. > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Honestly, if you want to be a stealthy backstabber, put things like Restoration, Alteration, Armorer, Heavy Armor. Yes, things you’d never use. . And probably others I didn’t quote. Huh! I played Oblivion quite a lot (even though I never finished any game, in good part because clearing repeatedly those areas got tiring. Anybody who has played the game will know what I mean, I gues. I’m just trying not to spoil the game for the OP) but never realized or read that leveling too fast might have been the cause of one of my main issue with the game : always facing too powerful creatures. Not sure I’ll give the game a second try, and I’m now on Skyrim, but still good to know just in case. Also, like a previous poster, I would have advised to play Morrowind first. Not only because of the chronology, but because it’s IMHO better than Oblivion, and because you might not find Morrowind attractive enough after being spoiled by Oblivion’s obviously better graphisms. I assume Morrowind must be dirt cheap to buy nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/68 "2011-11-30T19:49:01Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Can anyone recommend a good mod for making the NPC faces look less God awful? I tried looking (briefly) but the sheer number of mods was overwhelming and many didn’t even show what the results would be. Or else I’d find mods which would only change one specific race or add in two hair styles or something. I’d really prefer a single mod to change things than dinking around with a dozen different mods, each changing a single race/gender. > . I can’t remember which mod I used for faces (more because everybody has mostly the same face than because they’re ugly), unfortunately. Like a previous poster, I’d advise you to sort the mods by category and descending number of endorsements, which should leave you with the best ones. Though you might end up having to download a mod to run the mod required to use the mod you want, but the result was worth it, IMO. Sometimes I wonder how comes that amateurs are doing such a better job than the actual designers of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/69 "2011-11-30T19:58:36Z")
Two things I’ve noticed about OOO: 1. I freakin’ love the fact that when I pick plants, they look picked. It makes harvesting plants so much easier, and since it’s one of my favorite things to do in games like this (I always played herbalists/alchemists in WoW, for example), I approve. 2. The graphics do look better. I’m not the most visual of people, so I normally don’t notice stuff like that, but I’m seeing more cool graphics on floors, paintings on walls, etc. I’m pretty sure they weren’t there before. As for the leveling, I’m not sure if I’ll change the stock leveling or not. Given how many hours I’ve already put into tweaking the game, and given the fact that I only have about an hour a day of gametime, I’ll just play it as is. If I get bored, I can return to Far Cry (which I quit a third of the way through when I realized I was a third of the way through), or start Portal 2 or Civ 5. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/70 "2011-11-30T23:19:08Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > … > Also, like a previous poster, I would have advised to play Morrowind first. Not only because of the chronology, but because it’s IMHO better than Oblivion, and because you might not find Morrowind attractive enough after being spoiled by Oblivion’s obviously better graphisms. I assume Morrowind must be dirt cheap to buy nowadays. I was the previous poster I think, but sometimes I wonder whether it’s just nostalgia. Vvardenfell certainly felt more alien and wonderous than Cyrodiil (I stil recall first coming across the silt strider in the first village and thinking WTF!), and I found the main quest more interesting on the whole. > [@clairobscur](#): > > … > Sometimes I wonder how comes that amateurs are doing such a better job than the actual designers of the game. I think its because the modders aren’t constrained by the limitations of consoles so they can use things that just wouldn’t work on a PS3 or Xbox. It’s quite staggering the amount of unpaid effort that’s been put in by modders. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Two things I’ve noticed about OOO: > > 1. I freakin’ love the fact that when I pick plants, they look picked. It makes harvesting plants so much easier, and since it’s one of my favorite things to do in games like this (I always played herbalists/alchemists in WoW, for example), I approve. > 2. The graphics do look better. I’m not the most visual of people, so I normally don’t notice stuff like that, but I’m seeing more cool graphics on floors, paintings on walls, etc. I’m pretty sure they weren’t there before. > > As for the leveling, I’m not sure if I’ll change the stock leveling or not. Given how many hours I’ve already put into tweaking the game, and given the fact that I only have about an hour a day of gametime, I’ll just play it as is. If I get bored, I can return to Far Cry (which I quit a third of the way through when I realized I was a third of the way through), or start Portal 2 or Civ 5. The Harvesting mod was a massive plus for me too, I’m a compulsive flower picker as well. I don’t know how much landscaping is in OOO, and didn’t notice much difference there. I’ve got Unique Landscapes installed as well but I’m currently playing through the Shivering Isles at the moment so haven’t really explored them enough to comment yet. As for levelling I’m about 10 hours in and still on level 3, which means I don’t see all the fancy loot at all. Which doesn’t really bother me. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/71 "2011-11-30T23:33:45Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Also, like a previous poster, I would have advised to play Morrowind first. Not only because of the chronology, but because it’s IMHO better than Oblivion, and because you might not find Morrowind attractive enough after being spoiled by Oblivion’s obviously better graphisms. I assume Morrowind must be dirt cheap to buy nowadays. $19.99 on Steam, and well worth every penny. It’s also in a pack with Oblivion and Fallout 3 for $69.99, if you don’t have any of the games and have a couple months free time. 🙂 Having put a lot of playing time into both games, i’ll have to say by far that Morrowind is the better one. The world of Morrowind is, as the previous poster noted, just so _alien_ - there’s nothing that you would recognize as a real-world plant and animal, and a lot of the fun comes from exploring the world and finding out how Dunmer society works and functions in a world of lava flows and ash storms, sacred necromancy, and living god-kings. Monsters are all of a fixed level which makes the leveling problem in Oblivion nonexistant (though it becomes therefore easier to break the game by making yourself ungodly powerful.) Overall it plays more like a PC game should play, since it was designed for the PC rather than for the consoles. The lack of a fast travel system like Oblivion means you’ll be doing more walking around, but there’s plenty to discover off the beaten path, and there are about half a dozen different transport networks to get you from city to city. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/72 "2011-12-01T01:21:47Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > It’s quite staggering the amount of unpaid effort that’s been put in by modders. Find the key word in this sentence. It’s no mystery. If some guy out there wants to spend 300 hours on just faces, or just tree textures, or what have you, there’s nothing stopping them from doing it. They’re only out their own time. Actually producing a whole game, on the other hand, means there’s a lot of work to be done and budget and time constraints to do it in. You don’t get to spend 300 hours on just faces when 15 is “good enough” and you also have to get those lizard tails animating, produce 50 more shapes of generic rock, and on and on endlessly. Modders have the luxury of being able to focus exclusively on what they’re interested in and/or skilled at. It’s a recipe for producing great results, as long as you’re content with a narrow scope. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/73 "2011-12-01T02:33:50Z")
That’s a very good point, incidentally that’s one of the reasons I won’t be shelling out for _Skyrim_ for at least another year or so. I figure I might as well wait until the enthusiasts have made their improvements stable before jumping into the ice and snow. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647/74 "2011-12-01T15:06:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Having put a lot of playing time into both games, i’ll have to say by far that Morrowind is the better one. I wouldn’t say that, or at least the “by far” piece. I’ve also put far too many (or few, depending on one’s point of view) hours into both games. Personally, I prefer the lush and vibrant colors in most of Oblivion. After about 1/2 through the first playthru, like everyone else, I had to tame those damn cliffracers. The ability to fly almost broke the game, but on the fourth or so playthru, when one is just trying to find every nook and cranny, it’s not so bad. While calling the graphics dated would be a gross understatement, I still prefer Daggerfall over both. I liked the mouse gestures combat system. The factions were done much better. I personally liked the random, sprawling dungeons (designed by Dwemers on acid and speed). And I liked the story better than Oblivion and Morrowind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oblivion-late-to-the-party/603647.md?page=3)