i know direct2drive version of oblivion cant use obse which is starting to hurt more and more. i just recently learned that steam users that downloaded oblivion from steam can use obse mods and there site is selling the game of the year addition for 20 which is pretty cheap but im scared that the steam version will have drawbacks like direct2drive. if anyone has the steam version of oblivion and can give me facts concerning mods please help me with some info.

Get the Steam deluxe version. It has GOTY plus all the DLC. It's only a few dollars more. There are no problems with the Steam version. You can use all mods and all player made content with no problems. I've been using this version for months...it's excellent.

In my experience, the Steam version works great with mods. I've played 400+ hours of Oblivion on Steam with around 40 - 50 mods installed, made use of Wrye Bash, BOSS, etc. with no problems. And that was on Vista, no less.

There were two problems I ran across with the Steam version: one, it doesn't come with the Construction Set. Though at least with Oblivion you can download it from Bethesda's ES site. Second, the Oblivion .esm and .bsa files are dated to sometime in 2009 when they were uploaded to Steam's servers (IIRC), which is problematic when using mods with a datestamp of, say, 2008, as they'll try to load before the master .esms. I just used Wrye Bash to re-date the .esms and went on my merry way. I never did figure out how to re-date the .bsas, but as I wasn't using too many texture replacers it wasn't a problem. What replacers I did have I used the Archive Invalidation file for. :shrug:

Basically, aside from those two hiccups, having the Steam version plays like having the retail version, just without the physical CD.

The disc versions don't include the CS either, so you'd get that hiccup regardless.

OBMM apparently has a function to correct the datestamps on the BSAs

You can also just google and download a program called "file date changer" or similar and do it yourself.

Steam has a new version of their program in testing, part of their expansion into the Mac market. Has anyone tested it with OBSE and Oblivion? Would it make any difference, or is the loading for OBSE done somewhere else?

You can get the retail GOTY for 10 € from many shops.

thanks ive decided to get the steam version and ill be using obse by tommarow. ive had so much grief with the d2d version. i see a mod i like and then damn its obse and i even try using them to see what i can scavage from the mod. thankfully to steam now theres a way to enjoy every mod.

How did the OBSE guys get it to work on steam? Isn't the exe encrypted?

Doh. I was assuming the CS came with the disc, like it does with the GotY of Morrowind.



Hmm. Never used OBMM (I've spent too much time with Morrowind, so I'm happier manually installing my mods), but I might have to get it just for that, the next time I play Oblivion. As for a file date changer...I looked around for one, but all the ones people recommended were for a 32-bit OS, and I'm on 64-bit. :shrug: I survived all the same, though.



IIRC, Steam/Valve staff spent some time working with the OBSE guys to come up a version that would play nice with Steam's encryption.

yes obse works with the steam version

Just of course don't forget that you -do not- need to have Steam running to play Steam games. Especially useless if you
need all the resources you can get. Steam is just an interface to access the same shortcuts, 'cept their stashed away in
a folder that I've since forgotten.