How modders saved Oblivion [update 1]
by Ross Miller 
{ Oct 7th 2006 at 5:23PM }
Pixel Rage has compiled a list of user-made modifications for Oblivion that should never have been necessary (i.e. features that should have been in the game out of the box). Oblivion, for all its praise, is strewn with bugs and other maladies that degrade the overall experience. You might find that harsh and overcritical, but we think its warranted to hold a title that spent over three years in development (on an engine the developer had been using for almost eight years) to higher standards.
The modifications listed include:
- More realistic weather patterns, vegetation, and habitat, including the addition of birds and insects.
- Murkier, more transparent / realistic water effects.
- Light that shines through windows at night.
- Adding side effects to drinking too much wine (it's about time we get double vision for dipping to much into Skingrad's finest ... ).
- Inventory list customization.
- Interjections of silence within the constant soundtrack (a clever way to add to the atmosphere).
- Unique icons for spells.
- Various quest-specific fixes.
[via Penny Arcade]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AK @ Oct 7th 2006 5:40PM
7 out of 8 of those mods are cosmetic. I wouldn't really call unmurky water a bug. Seems like nitpicking to me. For a game as deep and engrossing as oblivion, I am sure to overlook trivial complaints about weather patterns, lack of insects and birds, and light not shining through windows at night.
None of these are "bugs" that affect the gameplay (with the 1 exception), but cosmetic complaints.
Einhanderkiller @ Oct 7th 2006 5:42PM
...?
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/05/updated-roundup-of-essential-oblivion-mods/
Spaceboy @ Oct 7th 2006 5:51PM
To #1: I totalally agree. Still, I don't have any problems with PC modders, or others modding their Xbox or PS2 for their own use. What gets me, and other gamers, are those who take their creations online and ruin the game for everyone else.
Ben @ Oct 7th 2006 5:56PM
I don't mean to offend when I say this, but this was frontpage on Digg like 3 days ago, and Engadget had it yesterday. Not to mention that Penny-Arcade had it covered on their front page on Friday as well.
I generally enjoy the news that you guys provide but this is a little late to the table.
rdj75 @ Oct 7th 2006 5:58PM
There was a problem with the vampire cure quest? I enjoyed being a vampire for a little and then when I decided to go on the questfor the cure I completed it with no problems whatsoever. So can someone tell me what the problem was?
carl @ Oct 7th 2006 6:22PM
i was really looking forward to this game but coupled with crashing, dodgy vampire cure quest took its toll on me, having to keep restarting, not good enough! MORAL OF THE STORY DONT RELEASE GAMES IN THIS KIND OF STATE IT JUST PISSES THE GAMER OFF!
FSK405K @ Oct 7th 2006 6:35PM
There was a problem with the vamp quest?
Nacho @ Oct 7th 2006 6:47PM
The problem with the Vampire's quest was that once you retrieved all the items, the npc sometimes wouldn't give you the option to give them to make the potion.
striderhayasa @ Oct 7th 2006 6:59PM
This one of the reasons I decided not to play Oblivion. I loved Morrowind for a while but it had bugs in it that were just flat out ridiculous. Even though some of the listed mods are cosmetic, if a developer is going to go through great efforts to sell a next gen RPG on the merits that it's an immersive world, then those mods should have already been there.
As far as what are the 360 owners to do? Nothing, they're screw unless patches are released for it.
Xavier @ Oct 7th 2006 7:17PM
What a fucking stupid post. Joystiq bloggers are apparently too stupid to read... well, Joystiq.
The post yesterday was well written and intelligent.
The post today is moronic and stupid. It's not "another angle", it's a moron with a blogger access account. After reading Kotaku, this blog is looking worse and worse by the day. Quality control goes a long ways, hopefully Joystiq wises up and gets out of the massive rut it's been in because of posters like this.
Watership @ Oct 7th 2006 8:03PM
This list is pathetic! You can't compare mods made by hundreds people, who work for free, without time constraints, to a game created from scratch that took YEARS to make.
Oblivion is a huge game. Its easy to come after a 3 year project, and say. "I FIXED OBLIVION WITH THIS MOD BECAUSE I DIDN'T LIKE THE MENUS." Saying that mods fixed Oblivion is a completely insult to the people at Bethesda that slaved over it.
The vampire quest is broken? Oh. So I guess doing it myself was a fluke? Without Mods? These are not total conversions. They change things about the game to fix the whimsy of a small group of people. "I never liked the menu in brown! its so earth and boring! Tra la la now it's blue! I fixed Oblivion!"
This post can EAT ME.
Watership @ Oct 7th 2006 8:05PM
#9
"As far as what are the 360 owners to do? Nothing, they're screw unless patches are released for it. "
They can play the game and finish it. How do you think most of them get 1000 points in their gamerscore for Oblvion? They. Finish. The. Game. I guess they're just stupid and don't know that its a buggy unplayable mess and if they knew that they would never be able to finish the game. What misinformed idiocy.
JM Scion @ Oct 7th 2006 11:21PM
Don't worry, you 360 owners will be able to use mods soon. Can't say the same for the PS3 version but we're working for the 360 same way we did for chipped XBox's.
It's flattering to say we "saved" Oblivion, but no we didn't. Oblivion was a great game to begin with. Glitches don't change that unless they bar the player from completing the game, which despite rampant rumors isn't the case for Oblivion. All we did was personalize it.
Brad Lee @ Oct 7th 2006 8:47PM
Although I agree with Ross Miller that Oblivion should have had some bugs ironed out before release, I think most of those listed are inconsequential.
The only 'bug' I ever had trouble with is the game occasionally freezing on me during a load screen. Thats a pain in the ass, yes, but I've learned over the years to save, save, save. Not just in games, but MS Word documents, homework projects, etc.
And while some bugs (like apparently the vampire cure bug) are a pain in the butt, sometimes bugs are fun. Like the multiplying items bug. Man that was one of the most amusing bugs I've ever seen. I'd multiply hundreds of pearls at the top of a mountain just to see how long I can chase after them.
So, despite the multiplying bug, Oblivion certainly could have used some more time in development to iron out irritations and add cosmetic flashes, I'd hardly consider it "strewn with bugs and other maladies that degrade the overall experience."
Brad Lee @ Oct 7th 2006 8:49PM
"So, despite the multiplying bug, Oblivion certainly could have used some more time in development to iron out irritations and add cosmetic flashes, I'd hardly consider it "strewn with bugs and other maladies that degrade the overall experience.""
There should have been a 'but' in there somewhere...
psu @ Dec 5th 2006 5:32AM
It is a fact of life for any piece of software that you have to release in finite time, and you never have time to get things perfect. Even the most apparently minor issues are expensive to fix and qualify... in particular, you have to qualify that the fixes you have qualified haven't broken other things that you qualified earlier.
Anyone who does not believe this and whines about things that "should have been ironed out" in such "long" release cycle (note that the 360 hardware only existed for less than a year of said cycle)
1. Does not fundamentally understand the realities of the software business.
2. Is a brainless stupid whiny child.
That is all.
The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 7th 2006 9:06PM
Yeah. And Metal Gear Solid 2 had all those "Not Solid Snake" bugs that the mod community should have "fixed".
The Oblivion things weren't bug fixes. They were enhancements to the game's aesthetics.
ShortFuse @ Oct 7th 2006 11:09PM
I won't go back and play until all the characters (both male AND female) stop looking like Chief from One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest. What was up with that? Is there a mod to fix that?
bounchfx @ Oct 8th 2006 12:31AM
man you people say the stupidest shit.
yes it had it's share of bugs and glitches, but all games do, it was hardly 'unplayable'.
modders did not save oblivion, and if so, wow, I wonder how the 360 version still managed to be 100+ hours of fun.
yes the mods helped enhance the game, but by no means was it broken to the point where its unplayable.
so many of you guys are just plain fucking crybabies you need to get over it, it was a great game.
onetrueping @ Oct 8th 2006 1:06AM
You know, there IS a difference between getting something to work on a single platform with a single set of controls and a single resolution, and getting the same thing to work on a platform that ISN'T uniform in hardware, controls, or resolution...
Bugs happen. They happen because of software, hardware, and users. It's impossible to expect a company to anticipate every potential setup of every player's computer. Both sides of this argument need to seriously shut the hell up.
Lekko @ Oct 8th 2006 3:26AM
"18. Don't worry, you 360 owners will be able to use mods soon. Can't say the same for the PS3 version but we're working for the 360 same way we did for chipped XBox's."
There was an interview recently where it was stated that UT2k7 for PS3 could have mods you could build on your PC and port over to the PS3. The PS3 being a somewhat more open platform (like the PSP...?), where you can do such things.
But then again, the PS2 was supposed to have AIM and a web browser and Linux, and supposed to support homebrew. So I wouldn't count on it, but would still be cool to build maps on PC, and then play them on PS3.
*sigh* well, PC gaming still has the customization edge over consoles.
Wilky @ Oct 8th 2006 5:05AM
No frigging way. A top 10 of Oblivion mods. How fucking original. Wait, the same list as yesterday, man this blogger is lame as shit.
I mean, I've just changed my desktop background... I FIXED WINDOWS!!!
De Dutch @ Oct 8th 2006 12:27PM
The only thing in Oblivion that needed real fixing was the terrible interface (BT mod took care of it) and the goddamn level scaling (that Francesco's mod tries to fix). As far as "saving" the game goes...forget about it...the thing was a masterpiece out of the box.
ren42 @ Oct 8th 2006 2:21PM
Uh, no. Oblivion was a dumbed down version of every Elder Scrolls games before it. Skills were simplified. Spells had no negative consequence. What little dialogue there was was completely trite and repetitive. The level-scaling was so horribly done, you could complete the game and every quest at level 2. THE GODDAMN COMPASS TELLING HOLDING YOUR HAND FOR EVERY QUEST. Sure you could say "Don't use it then lolz", but when directions are so vague and people wander around more than a lost puppy, you have no choice. Fast-travel. Need I say more? The game was geared towards the console crowd. Bethesda backstabbed their original PC audience when they released this game and continues to do so as they fail to release a second patch or an update to the CS which so many modders need.
This list, however, I agree, sucks. Besides interface improvements, you should have just listed Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul which pretty much is the only gameplay mod that makes Oblivion worth playing.
SuicideNinja @ Oct 9th 2006 1:36PM
Oblivion was definitely not my cup of tea. Knights in armor can go jump off a cliff.
So..what about PS3 owners? Will they get the same crap that the 360 owners got?
Firegirl @ Oct 9th 2006 1:44PM
I've had so many bugs in Oblivion, almost made me quit playing it when my 360 locked up on Oblivion and erased all of my save games! I didn't even think about the things metioned above being missing, but now that I think about it, these would have been nice to see!