I feel this might be a bit unncessary, but this is to let everyone know who was part of the 'Why don't modders use microsoft sam" thread know that the mod is up and ready to be watched!
how? just start a new game but don't skip the intro video.

Download it here from http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31905

and...here's the readme:

this mod is not meant to be taken seriously, and is a complete and utter joke. The idea came from the topic that was started by reallybigjohnson asking why modders do not use Microsoft Sam as their voice actor. Seeing as how funny the idea was I set out to make an example off why we don't use Microsoft Sam. My challenge to you is to watch this intro and take it completely serious and see if it conveys the same emotions that the Voice Actor who did Uriel Septim did. If it does, I will make a second version with a Microsoft speech voice of your choice!

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Index
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*1* Installation/Uninstallation
*2* Description on Quality
*3* Compatibility
*4* Usage & Contact

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*1* Installation and Uninstallation
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I cannot stress this enough: MAKE A BACK UP OF THE ORIGINAL "OblivionIntro.bik" FILE!!! I cannot host original files as it is against the terms of service. If you overwrite, either re-attain it (which in a sense is illegal) or reinstall.
Drop the "video" folder into your data directory and when asked to Overwrite the OblivionIntro.bik file, say yes AFTER YOU HAVE BACKED UP THE ORIGINAL FILE!!!!

To uninstall take the back up file and replace the Oblivilol.

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*2* Description on Quality
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I am familiar with video editing - strongly familiar. However I am use to playing around with much more common formats of videos. While my program accepts nearly every possible format, .bik video is not. I did my best to retain original quality, however, this video has gone through a total of 3 conversions and each one reduced the quality even slightly, thus, the quality of it has significantly diminished from the original opening sequence. It is still in a widescreen format, but the pixel ratio is no long a "HD" quality.

I started out by converting the .bik on a semi compression ration to a .avi file. This is a file that has the least compression - and can have up to no compression - to help retain all possible quality. Due to my converter, I could not convert files larger than 2 gb, and an complete uncompressed version of this 1 minute 30 second long clip exceeded that limit by 4 gigabytes. So I converted it to a .avi1 (Microsoft Video) format at an 85% compression level. I took the newly uncompressed file (as I have learned .bik is EXTREMELY compressed format but is amazingly powerful at retaining quality of both sound and audio) and imported it into Sony Vegas (Pro 9e) where I made some small edits - this took approsimately 5 minutes to do - and afterwards I rendered it to a uncompressed .avi file to retain as much as possible, however, there was still a loss in quality here as well. I then took the completed file and recompressed it to a .bik file to that it was now a usuable format for Oblivion to read. It was during the last conversion a lot of the data was lost causing it to loose a lot of quality.

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*3* Compatibility
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None - unless you get another mod that replaces OblvionIntro.bik...but in that case it will just replace this video rather than cause any real problem.

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*4*Usage & Contact
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This mod is not to be redistributed without my permision no matter what - unless Bethesda themselves say you can use it. I check my email everyday so if you wish to use it - god only knows why - then contact me at [snip - download to see contact].

***Oh, I recommend uninstalling this mod after you are done getting you giggles out of it. Why would you want to keep this in?

Lol, gonna give this a try. :hehe:

can we get a youtube video? i don't have access to OB atm, and would love to see this

woot........thanks.......

Wow this is something that should of been in vanilla Oblivion,they really should higher you at Bethsada for the next Elder Scrolls!! Maybe it can be incorporated into UOP for the time being then? That is untill an official patch comes out to include this....... :unsure: :rofl:

lol seriously tho, im going to dl right now, i gotta see this.

as soon as i watched this i just deleted my backup file. this is now the official intro to my game.

lol yeah I was at the thread, this is a amazing prank mod to be sure. just sneak it onto a *trust* mod compendium you give to your local friends who are new to this game XD

I will get a copy of the video up on youtube as soon as I can...but I am probably going to make a few changes to it just to entire peopel to actually download it :ninja: .

Anyways I am glad so many people like it. When I woke up this morning to check if it was done uplaoding or not - before I even posted this - it already had 44 downloads! Which is outstanding in comparison to all my other mods. Glad to see so many people liked this pointless mod.

Downloading now. I saw that mentioned in the other thread.
I'm eager to hear it now.

Haha brilliant.

He didn't seem to care much about it being the final hours of his life.

Think of all the money Bethesda could've saved by using microsoft sam for everything instead of hiring voice actors...

Yeah but that original voice actor for Uriel Septim - he shows talent - he should get more work.

Really funny ntom. I loved it!



:D

Thank you everyone who has enjoyed this mod! It makes me really happy to see the number of downloads and friendly comments!

:tops:
:rofl:
ADD the paperclip guy next!! :rofl:

some of my favorite mods that never leave my must have list are "pointless" mods. in fact im going to put back in that snail racing and gambling machine mod in honor of this mod.

I really feel honored by you putting the snail mod back in...I....guess...

I will see what I can do about putting the paperclip guy in...I was thinking of making him part of the players HUD, only problem is keeping his animations and timing him...so maybe not, that is a bit too complicated. I might add it to the beginning intro though, but I don''t know what I would make him say.

it appears that you havent heard of it. it was probably the first pointless mod at least as far as i can remember. give it a whirl its actually kind of fun. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4596

as for the paperclip guy could you just have a menu pop up at random times offering to help. lots of mods have pop up menus. youll have to make it so that it appears at really inconvenient times such as in the middle of battle or something........im not sure how you would add an pic of him though since all ive seen is text menus. :shrug:

edit: you know i actually kind of miss clippit now.

well it would be a bit more of task to make paper clip come up at certain times than just altering some voice lines. Believe me, the mod took 5 minutes to make, what really took the most time was learning a little about a .bik file, converting it, and then converting it back to a .bik file. The actual work was near to nothing.
Paperclip, I was thinking of leaving the animations he has in, so basically I could render him as a .bik with the background keyed out, but then when it played in oblivion it would be a cut scene, not a HUD element. I am not entirely sure how to make him pop up like a message box while still having the animation + I don't know how to script it to come up at inconvenient times. I could see about replacing the existing message box popup, even then I would need to educate myself a little on how to mod the Oblivion UI. Not to mention if I did this, all the DarNified users (including myself) wouldn't be able to use this mod...well...then again...I could just replace DarN's text box with the paperclip...but that would require permission - I think - and that is too much work for a mod that is just suppose to be a joke.

I don't mind making the little voice-change mod because it is easy. But when it comes to actually HAVING to put effort into the mod...then...I am a little more reluctant.

no problem, the sam video was awesome in and of itself............this thread inspired me to try and find some sort of clippy plugin unfortunately so far the only one of found is registered as an attack site by my norton thingy.

That brings back some memories!

Someone should make the paperclip guy a companion, seeing as Microsoft are killing him off, it looks like he needs a lease of new life.

This is epic. No way I'm restoring backup of that video .

Lol, finally got around to installing the mod, awesome work Sam! Oh and don't think I missed that very last frame....

Lol...I think people can tell I was taking my work very seriously :rolleyes:.

I think it's ironic this rubbish - or in my eyes rubbish - is so much more highly prefered over some other mods. Nonetheless, it makes me very very happy to know people love my work...er...well atleast love this work.