That an underlying cause is the root, is not in question. However, the byte in question appears to have been extensively tested at values ranging from H40 thru H48, all without any discernable impact upon the game. Therefore, a subroutine which would serve to keep that variable within that range, would remedy the dilemma as it currently exists, and essentially buy time to determine the root cause.
That Beth isnt going to do anything about it at this point in time, is also a given. The game is indeed, a legacy one now. That they did nothing about it a year ago or more; is quite discomforting.
I couldn't agree more. I haven't hit the gamebreaker YET (I'm on the 360), but after reading about this am also quite discomforted. I rented Oblivion on a luke this summer while watching my sister's house for a couple of weeks (I hadn't played any video games in 7 or 8 yrs.), and was blown away. Shortly thereafter, I bought the Xbox 360 just to play this game (GOTY). The first time thru, I mostly just burned thru all the quests so only had 200 hrs or so. But every game I've played since, the hours played increase as I RP more. I'm at almost 300 hrs w/ current character and have lots more I wanted to do (very possibly taking another 300 hrs). But after hearing/reading about this gamebreaker, I guess the fun likely won't last a whole lot longer and will hit a wall before I can conclude the RP.
After getting into the forums here a few weeks ago, I was strongly considering getting Morrowind and eventually Fallout 3, let alone salivating over an eventual release of ES5. Now, it's possible, if not likely, that I won't get any of those. The idea that Bethesda won't fix the prob because they'd have to change a boatload of subroutines is crap -- save that for the next game. Not releasing a simple (superficial or dirty, I don't care what it's called) patch to prevent it is a total disregard of their fan base.
How much other software or hardware companies have you stopped supporting over the years because of their lack of support? For me, many (e.g., Dell, Iomega, Norton.... just to name a few). My motto: the only power a consumer has is their wallet. Bethesda's core of sales, it appears to me, are driven, either directly or indirectly via word-of-mouth, by those who want to spend a lot of time RP. Not correcting a known-problem (2 yrs or more old) that completely disrupts that motive, is just B###$### (self-censored).
Edit: I should also mention that besides not likely buying any other of their games, I'm *definitely* not going to buy any of the OB download content -- which I was planning on doing in the next couple of weeks.