User:Omzy

No longer working with Oblivion

This page is out of date. After a long hiatus I'm back in the modding community but I'm working with Fallout 3 now. See my Fallout 3 Wiki Page for new projects.

About Me

I am a college student majoring in biology. I left the modding community in the middle of last summer because I was struggling to prepare for college and develop better habits for success. During the school year I have little time for anything other than studying. Fortunately, Summer has come and I am back in the game. I started modding at the beginning of June 06 and have learned everything I have needed from this Wiki.

Last summer I was also doing some work with The Imperial Dragon, but I disappeared for the reasons mentioned above. To him I apologize for simply dropping out and not trying to finish my/our projects.

I have almost finished a Spell Pack project with about 9 new animation-based spells including my Meteorain spell. It was actually 90% finished last summer, but I never got around to releasing it. This Spell Pack is very eye-catching and could be compared in awesomeness (by new effects, not by the number of spells) to PJ's Spell Compendium.

My flagship mod is called Spell Deflection 2.0. See below for details.

Mods Released

Spell Deflection 2.1

• NOTES

-Thanks to all the modders at BethSoft forums for the support and advice on this release. -Also, this mod is fully compatible with Skycaptain's Deadly Reflex mod, which adds an additional challenge, as it makes you have to catch incoming spells instead of simply keeping your shield up and waiting for them.

• NEW in 2.1

Added a feature that allows you to increase or decrease your alpha transparency during blocking by using the (+) and (-) keys, respectively.

• NEW in 2.0

Game-Balancing/Realism

-Accuracy rating included. The higher your block skill, the more accurate your aiming. -Not every attempt to block a spell will be successful. This is dependent on your block skill. At around 10 block skill, the chance of success is about 33%. At 100 block skill, it is about 90% -Shield is slightly damaged for each successful deflection. The higher the shield's defense, the less it is damaged. -Basically, if you have low block skill and have a crappy shield, the effect will be out of control and will actually hurt more than help, since you could otherwise evade the spell. As you increase in block skill and shield defense value, the effect will be more under control and will actually begin to help if you have the skills to use it and aim the deflection well. At higher block skill and shield defense values, there is still a chance of failure, but it is minimized and your ability to deflect spells can significantly enhance your chances of survival.

Efficiency

-Persistent references used so as not to create bloated save-games -Cleaned up code a lot by making more stage functions and condensing redundant code

Bug Fixes

-Fixed a bug where the effect didn't work outside of the test cell -Fixed many small things that number too many to remember

Effect Enhancements

-Made it so that your shield turns partially transparent during blocking so that you can better aim deflections. This eliminates the necessity for a specially-sized shield. Now it is easy to use any shield with this mod.

• Q&A (NEW Content for 2.0)

What's inside?

This mod gives the player an ability that allows him/her to use any shield to deflect almost every targeted enemy spell. The player's current screen target (the location of the crosshair) determines the direction that the spell is deflected back. This means that if an enemy casts a spell at you, you could effectively deflect it with your shield back to the same enemy or even a different enemy, depending on where you are looking. Your shield actually becomes a spell mirror.

How do I get this ability after installing the mod?

The ability is automatically added.

Will this unbalance my game?

This mod is meant to remedy something that was originally missing in vanilla Oblivion. I have done everything in my power to make it cool without unbalancing the game and only improving gameplay. I spent many hours on the forums conversing about how to make this mod more balanced, and I believe the finished product is solid. See the v2.0 release notes above to see the game-balancing changes that I have made. If you find any issues about balance, please email me at the email link provided above.

How come the effect doesn't always work and my shields are breaking so fast?

Stop crying. Some of the changes incorporated in v2.0 added these features to improve the realism and balance of gameplay. Without them, there would be no challenge. The effect works better if you have higher block skill and a better shield. I spent considerable time tweaking the functions that determine accuracy and success so that they meet these criteria.

How will this affect the Oblivion experience?

As we all know, Oblivion's open-endedness gives it tremendous replay value. We beat it once and then return and play with mods to make the gameplay more unique and fun for us. This is one of those mods that will completely revamp the combat system by giving the player an additional tactical challenge that will make combat more interesting. If you become skilled with the shield you can actually improve your chances of survival by dispatching enemies more quickly with their own firepower. Suppose you are in a den of goblins that has a fire-casting shaman. You now have the option of hitting the shaman with an arrow from afar and deflecting his ranged spells back onto his companions. Doing this successfully requires good aim and well-placed combat maneuvers.

Any bugs?

You tell me, I fixed everything that I saw. If you find any bugs that actually hinder the effectiveness of the mod, please do report them to my talk page and email. If you see something once in a blue moon that cannot be replicated and does not give reason for concern, consider it an egg and don't bother telling me about it.

Where did you get the idea?

I took the idea from Zelda, Ocarina of Time's Mirror Shield. Don't worry, that doesn't mean this is a 'themed' mod, because it is not. The effect is there without all the advertising and drama. I was really impressed with the idea of the Mirror Shield and was even more impressed with what it might be like in Oblivion.

What was the development process like?

Hell.

Is this an FAQ or something? Are you really that pretentious to ask yourself this many questions?

Don't chastise me, I just felt like typing words instead of script functions for a while.

• Test it for yourself!

The effects of this mod can be tested easily by going to my test cell, which I have so conveniently not deleted for your pleasure. To enter the test cell: 1) Save your game, you cannot get out easily 2) Open the console with the ~ key 3) Type coc SpellDeflectionTESTCell 4) Look around You should see that there are several spells flinging themselves from the walls, just practice deflecting them with any shield.

For more information download the file at the link provided above (the title of this section) and view the SpellDeflection2.0Readme.txt.

Release Date- June 11, 2007

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Underground Blacksmith

UPDATED TO v1.1
A master blacksmith has setup shop southeast of the Imperial City on the Upper Niben. He has big rewards to offer the traveler who is worthy of his trials. Only the accomplished player should pursue the armor of the Underground Blacksmith.

• Includes:

Underground dwelling of the Master Smith

5 newly textured Daedric-style armor sets

A challenging, but concise quest

NPC from Morrowind TES III

Custom dialogue and voices

Story that flows, with lore

• New additions:

Better developed storyline

More texture support

Easier installation procedure

Bug fixes

Lots of aesthetic tweaks

An entirely new option to allow your armors to have shader effects (special :effects like pulsating glow, etc)

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Meteorain

This mod places a powerful spell in the Archmage's quarters upon completing the Mages' Guild quests. While the Meteorain spell commands great force, it does not unbalance the game to any significant degree.

• Includes:

Book 'A Dark Gift'

Awesome Meteorain Spell

A reward when you deserve it most, Archmage!

Upcoming Mods

Spell Pack (BETA)

Can I test it?

You'd better hurry, only a couple weeks left. Just click the link, load the mod, and the spells will automatically be added to your inventory. Post feedback on my Talk page.

What's inside?

This mod contains up to 10 new and highly unique spells (9 are complete) that are given to the player (haven't figured out a method of presentation yet). This mod was actually completed last Summer and is finally being released. These spells aren't simply new versions of old spells that include uninteresting simple effects. They are each hand-crafted with creativity and tested to be stunning. Screenshots will only do them justice, so I will post some later, in the next two weeks.

Will this unbalance my game?

One of my goals as a good modder is to be able to incorporate any of my mods into a game without deteriorating other aspects of gameplay. Unbalancing the game is not something that I would ever attempt to do in a mod. Most Spell Pack mods do unbalance the game by giving the player the ability to cast ridiculously high-powered spells at low-leveled creatures. I will ensure that the power of each spell is given by a leveled list and no single spell unbalances the game.

Will this leave new objects all over the place?

Another one of my goals as a good modder is to be efficient and clean and not leave any traces that the player would be upset with. Therefore, before releasing the mod, I will take utmost care to remove any clutter created by the spell effects.

Release Date- Not sure