Version 2.4b:

An advanced conjuration mod for Oblivion.
(Overhaul -FOR- SI, not of SI. Darn un-editable and misleading thread subtitle!)

I originally built this mod back in 2006. Recently I decided to redesign several features, which include the ability to tell summons to attack specific NPC's, allow targeting of friendlies or only hostiles by a global combat posture toggle, and also the ability to hotkey up to five summons at a time for quick access in a fight.

* Readme file updated, as I realized I'd been packaging the old version all this time. Descriptions added for all new menu commands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBV1UgI5K0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMmAxq7JR8c

Make sure you clean your save game of ANY older version before installing this one. Instructions in the readme, basically unload the old one and load your save, make a new save from it without the old mod loaded, then load this new one.)

See official forum thread below for more info.


What does it do?

Equipping the ring will add a new spell called "Master Summon" to your spell list. Casting this spell lets you choose from a list of creatures to summon. There is an Overworld and Underworld list, for "good" and "evil" creatures.

Not everything will be available at first. The lists both have sub-lists of different creatures for Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master conjuration levels. You can cast anything from the lists at your level and down. These menu's update dynamically and are calculated AFTER buffs, so if you fortify the heck out of your conjuration skill at level 1, you might be able to temporarily unlock the higher lists...

Summoned creatures will follow and defend you like regular summons. They will also follow you through doors, loading areas, portals, and into user-added zones. There are also additional options for commanding them to behave according to your preference:

Combat Posture: You can set the default behavior for how summons handle targeting things they should attack. You can choose either "Allow Friendly Targets" or "Only Target Hostiles." This setting is maintained indefinitely even if you dispel/re-summon, save/reload your game, etc., until you decide to change it. With Only Target Hostiles checked, which is the default, summons will not enter combat with friendly characters (i.e. guards), even if you tell them to. Also, if a friendly accidentally hits them in combat they will stop combat with them and seek a qualifying hostile target.

Favorites List: "Define Hotkeys" option added to the summon menu. Basically this lets you select a summon as you normally would, only instead of summoning it will add this selection as a separate spell. All the same limits as to the number that can be summoned per conjuration level, as well as durations and magic penalties remain the same. You can keep up to five favorites in "memory," and using the same "Define Hotkeys" menu to select a creature already added as a separate spell will remove it. You can still use the main spell and menus to command them, or summon other things you don't have memorized.

*Added in v2.13: There is now an option to "Clear Memory" of all active hotkey summons. You can still remove them one at a time but this is much faster than trying to remember which menus they were from.

Targeting Spell: Equipping the ring now adds a second spell which allows you to target a specific character for summons to attack. The effect is not hostile and can be used at a distance, reaching the target instantly.

If summons are already in combat they will quit attacking their current target and switch to the one hit by the spell. The AOE targeting system is still used to check for any nearby valid targets after exiting combat with a friendly (if combat posture is set to "Only Target Hostiles").


Other Features:

Summons always appear a specific number of game units in front of the player, so pointing your cursor and casting a summon could tell it where to materialize (including the other side of walls, prison doors, etc.)

Each summon has their own activation menu, with options to "Hold Position" (stay where they are), "Follow Me," and "Dispel," as well as an option that allows you to start combat from any of your minions that are within activation range (for use underwater or when the target spell is otherwise unavailable).

There is also an option from the main menu to "Reset Defensive," which effectively ends combat on all your active summons and resets them to follow mode.

Each summon has its own associated magic cost to cast. Once the timer runs out they will enter "sustained" mode, which will apply a constant magic drain to the player, again depending on which creature, and also your conjuration skill level. There are console options to lessen this magic drain or remove it completely, or have the summons dispel when their timer runs out just like the regular game summons (see the readme.)

It is also possible at higher levels to summon multiples of the same creatures. For example if you are a journeyman conjurer, you can summon two of the same of anything from the Apprentice creature list. An expert can summon three of the same Apprentice level creatures, two of the same Journeyman creatures, etc., staggered for all menus. There is no limit to the total number of unique creatures you can summon (aside from available mana.)

Also on the main menu are the options "Astral Recall" and "Dispel All." The second option does just what it says. "Astral Recall" teleports all your active summons back to you, in case they get stuck or need help getting to hard to reach places.


Compatibility:

One minor conflict I imagine might be with mods such as LAME, which change the game's default spell effects (shaders, sounds, etc.). I only use one of these (Z020), and loading my mod after any of these potentially conflicting mods should have no impact on them and resolve any issues, as Z020 is one of the "extra" effects (not overwriting the Summon Flesh Atronach effect anymore) and is not generally used by the game. Loading this mod after LAME will keep the icon and shader effect for the Master Summon spell, otherwise if LAME loads after everything still works, but it uses the shader from that mod instead. (Basically, the spell looks different when you cast it, so not really a conflict.)

I have also noticed that certain of Mart's creatures are not hostile towards the player by default, but will attack your summons. (The giant spiders for example.) A simple way to deal with this is to either temporarily switch your combat posture to allow friendly targets using the main spell (if you want summons to attack them), or alternately Reset Defensive.

This might not even be an issue anymore since I think my version of MMM is out of date, but just something to keep in mind if certain mod-added creatures seem to be starting combat with your summons, and they refuse to fight back.

Since summons won't attack friendlies even with "Allow Friendly Targets" set unless you tell them to, or they attack you or your summons first, it is safe to leave it on when heading back into town. I usually keep it on "Only Target Hostiles" by default though just in case I forget to set it back when entering combat with actual friendlies around.


QUESTIONS:

RE: Concerns some have expressed about summons attacking guards, NPC's, etc. This has been resolved in the 2.0 combat system overhaul. No longer will summons attack friendlies (unless you tell them to.) They'll also end combat if a friendly accidentally targets them, and will do a search for new targets. The friendly attacking them will do the same.

Where is the ring?

As of v2.4b, the ring is automatically added to your inventory the first time you load a save with the mod checked.

Usage:

You are free to use this mod personally as you wish. If you choose to incorporate aspects of it into your own I only ask to be given notification and credit for my work, and a link back to this site. I also request this not be redistributed without permission. Thanks!



Download the latest version:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3954
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=601

First video uploaded... Just some fun in the Market District. =P
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMmAxq7JR8c

First off Merry Christmas to All! =)

I wish to apologize to those who were trying to point out the serious limitation of the summon's AI behavior compared to Oblivion's default spells in that they would frequently end up in combat with friendlies even in defensive mode. I seem to have brushed this aside too hastily when in truth after thinking on it more they were absolutely correct.

I am currently working on a v2.01 release that incorporates a real solution. In the meantime if you are interested in seeing how the scripts work out for this, you can check out the thread in the CS section:

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1064112

EDIT: Success! The new combat AI system has been implemented and a true v2.0 worthy version uploaded! =)

Just a quick post to show how the new menus work in the soon-to-be-released v2.0. The combat AI system Lives! Now you can set an attack "posture" which is kept even when entering/leaving combat. Basically, it determines whether the new target finder system ignores friendly targets or allows them to enter the target pool as well, otherwise the Attack command only triggers targeting hostiles.

This is also used with the new solution that prevents summons from fighting friendly targets, even ones from other mods. When they do they will drop combat and immediately check if there are any true targets matching the criteria of this setting within a certain range, and start attacking them instead, so they will no longer just stand there waiting to be hit after leaving combat with a friendly.

Also, the Attack command (now Begin Combat) should always work to have the creatures attack the character you are closest to when you issue the command, assuming your attack posture is set to include friendlies if they are an otherwise friendly character.

Version 2.0beta uploaded:

New advanced combat AI system has been implemented. Leaving as beta for now being there are many creatures to test all the features for each extensively in all situations, but since it was basically a cut-n-paste job after the final version of the scripts were finished, the only issues should be typos and such. Please let me know if you find one, or a regular old bug... Suggestions too are always welcome, and considered! Right now I am already working on a new Humanoid summoning school as well as some additional console options at the request of the community. =)

Awesome mod! At least - that's my first impression of it, as I've just tried it out for the first time. I like sustained summons a lot and appreciate that it's possible to tweak the settings on it. Also, nice to have some control over them. It's also obvious that a lot of research and testing has gone into it.

The unavoidable downside is that you have to go through menus. Of course, I understand that the features I appreciate (choice of different summons, control) depend on it, so it's rather a necessary evil. Anyway, I wonder if it would be possible to have a "quick key" summon spell, like a favorite summon?

BTW, I noticed that my char got an AOE spell effect (visual restoration effect) - which is easily fixed via UOP's "startquest uop" menu. Might be a good idea to add something about it in the readme as I guess it will turn up in some mod configurations.

Also, microscopic stuff: I'd guess Goblin Berzerker should be Goblin Berserker?

Plus a question: would it be possible to extend/make a variation of this for FCOM monsters?

Anyway, brilliant mod. Thanks for the release!

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback! =)

Strange about the AOE effect; I checked through all the spells I added and none of them are set to PC Start Spell, plus none are resto school. The combat targeting system does use an AOE spell centered on the player, but that should only last 0.5 seconds?

If it crops up again if you could get me the name I'll definitely track it down.

I agree that would be awesome to be able to hot-key certain summons. In fact I've put it on the to-do list. (EDIT: Done list!)

If it does work out though you could hotkey your favorite summon to one, and Master Summon to another, so you could switch and still use the main menus if you needed them (for teleporting summons back to you, etc.)

It's spelled Berserker in the version I'm testing. I'm going to re-upload just to be sure I didn't somehow swap the archives. Thanks again, cool to see my mod files making it around the world! =)

EDIT: One of my favorite bands (The Knife) is from where you are. =)

Yes, The Knife are brilliant. They were neighbors to a friend when starting out - recorded in their apartment just a couple of blocks away. I talked about "the best of the 00's" with a another friend just the other day and they were the first ones who popped up in my mind, both when it comes to best album, best song and best video. They are certainly up there anyway.

Hm, I'll try updating first then. Using Phinix_Master_Summon_v20beta-3954.zip now - it was the Main file on TES yesterday. The effect is a brief flash each 20 seconds.

Personally, I love OBSE but I see your reasoning - plus it would seem unnecessary to have it required just for one thing. The sneak implementation sounds neat.

EDIT: I redownloaded the Main file from TES as well as the current version from PES. The phinix_master_summon.esp's are 2,112 kb in both (as it was in the one I was using). It's Berzerker in both. Also, guess the effect is named #0 Z020? At least that's what the UOP says.

What is this UOP of which you speak? Do you mean the Unofficial Oblivion Patch? I never used that one personally but I didn't realize it gathered such informations... Or is this some other application?

The effect you mention (Z020) is so I can use my custom icons, among other things (like setting the speed of the new targeting spell effect...

By default Oblivion has a fixed list of magic effects, and most are used by the game. A couple that are not used are specifically marked DO NOT USE, so I didn't want to mess with those. There is really only one slot that isn't either used or unadvisable to use, and that is Z020 (used to be Z004 before SI I believe), which is called something like "Extra Summon." (Convenient?) (EDIT: Actually it looks like there were several more added in SI, as "extra bound item" effects.)

What I'm not sure is being reported correctly in UOP however is that this really only deals with visual effects, as you can see here:

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab150/aliendiplomat/tutorials/magic_effect_Z020.jpg

I appreciate you taking the time to track down the ID. At this point I'm not sure if I want to do away with the icon effect, plus I need it to handle speeding up the targeting spell.

EDIT: Will check into the naming stuff. I am actually going through and giving all the sustained summon penalties and active spell names readable titles instead of using the editor IDs, which was sort of silly to begin with.

Yes, the unofficial oblivion patch. Just remove the AOE sounds from your summon effect and be done with it. LAME ran into the same problem.

LAME uses Z020 and put it to use beyond mere icons .

What bg2408 said. The Unoffical Patch has an ingame menu from which you can, among other things, "change the "silent/invisible" AOE spell effect to one that really is if another mod has altered it" and also gives info on which is currently in use.

Hotkey Summons Implemented:

Added a new "Define Hotkeys" option to the main summon menu. Basically, this lets you select a summon as you normally would, only instead of summoning it will add this selection as a separate spell. All the same limits as to the number that can be summoned per conjuration level, as well as durations and magic penalties remain the same.

You can keep up to five favorites in "memory," and using the same menu to select a creature already added as a separate spell will remove it, to make room for more.

EDIT: Current version also adds a "Clear Memory" option which removes all saved summons from the list.

Also some other stuff (like better shader effects) in the revision history of the readme...

bliviongate:

BUMP for 2.0-03... Fixed it so using Dispel magic no longer purges the summon timers.

Just a quick update; on the suggestion of several here I have tested this out with L.A.M.E. and found the compatibility issues to be minimal. Basically if you load my mod first, you will get the icon and visual effects of L.A.M.E.'s "summon imp" spell instead of the milder effect and chaos icon from mine, but everything still works (you still get the summon menu and all the functionality remains the same.

I recommend using Oblivion Mod Manager or similar to make mine load after LAME however, because I also use this extra effect to speed up the target spell. If you load LAME last you might notice it takes too long for the invisible target projectile to reach your target...

Plus loading my mod after LAME doesn't do anything noticeable to that mod.

New version uploaded, now officially out of beta and on to considering possible future additions to the feature list.

If the only reason you're using a magic effect is to have a custom icon, there's a better solution available... http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26196

I see... Definitely an alternative solution, though better would depend on whether you want to have your mod depend on OBSE which, while awesome, I do not at this time. However, it does sound like a good way to deal with the problem where every conjuration class spell by Oblivion default uses the same icon, which I always found to be a little annoying as well.

I don't give everything custom icons, just the main spell, and the spell effect it uses to do that is unused by the game, so no worries. Thanks for the link. =)

Still making minor adjustments... Increased the distance at which hostile targets can be acquired by the "Begin Combat" command significantly.

I would love to try out the new version but non of the 2 sites have the mod at the moment?

Anyway, I can still provide my thoughts on this mod:

I pretty much like everything about this mod. There are many very useful features and the way you've made it handy with hot-key and groupings.
For the final version I would hope you make some really tough Summoner NPC who have the ring on him (or something similar to avoid a new character walking out of the sewer and becoming the master summoner of the world in 2 sec (well sorta, I do realize you have restrictions on the spells).
Perhaps there should be added a bounty of say 200 gold if someone sees you summon a undead?
I would also love to see a cap on summoning "unique" summons and not just on the number of summons of the same type.

Thanks for making this mod and updating it (I used the old version long long ago) and I look forward to testing the new version.

Sounds awesome! I'll gladly test it out if you need a tester.

Thanks, after I get this latest version back up I'll look into possibly doing some of what you suggest.

In the video I noticed that the hotkey spells are set up as Lesser Powers. Will this mean that casting hotkeyed summons won't count as Conjuration skill usage? I don't think Lesser Powers do - but perhaps there are ways around that.

I'll have to look into that too...

OK, I finally managed to resolve the targeting issues...

Equipping the ring now adds a second spell also (actually a lesser power) which allows you to target a specific character for summons to attack. The effect is not hostile and can be used at a distance, reaching the target instantly (with a subtle gold halo effect).

If summons are already in combat they will quit attacking their current target and switch to the one hit by the spell. The AOE targeting system is still used to check for any nearby valid targets after exiting combat with a friendly (if combat posture is set to "Only Target Hostiles").

The existing "Begin Combat" and "Attack" options are still present, and work 99% of the time to begin combat on the closest qualifying target. In certain situations with NPC's added by other mods it seems this can occasionally fail to target the closest qualifying actor as intended, which seems to be an unavoidable vanilla scripting mechanic.

The new remote targeting spell works 100% of the time in these rare cases.

Also, as per Arkngt's observation, casting any summon again goes towards advancing your conjuration skill level (even though they are still technically lesser powers which normally don't, the way the scripts are set up what the player is actually casting is a regular conjuration spell.)

Also, I have noticed that certain of Mart's creatures are not hostile towards the player by default, but will attack your summons. (The giant spiders for example.) A simple way to deal with this is to temporarily switch your combat posture to allow friendly targets using the main spell.

This might not even be an issue anymore since I think my version is out of date, but just something to keep in mind if certain mod-added creatures seem to be starting combat with your summons, and they refuse to fight back. Using Stop Combat can also resolve this.

Since summons won't attack friendlies even with "Allow Friendly Targets" set unless you tell them to, or they attack first, it is safe to leave it on when heading back into town, though I usually keep it on "Only Target Hostiles" by default in case I forget to set it back when entering combat with actual friendlies around.

Just added in v2.13: There is now an option to "Clear Memory" of all active hotkey summons. You can still remove them one at a time but this is much faster than trying to remember which menus they were from.