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Simbacca

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Simbacca

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About this mod

Adds a Sigil Stone like enchanting effect to all standard Gems. These weapon and armor enchantments are well balanced for low to mid level characters.

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Enchanting Gems

a mod for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
created by Simbacca
version 3


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Table of Contents
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{1} - What Does This Do?
{2} - Who Is This For?
{3} - How Do I Use This?
{4} - Installation
{5} - How Did You Make This?
{6} - Version History
{7} - Known Issues, Bugs, & Conflicts
{8} - Credits & Usage
{9} - Contact Me

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{1} - What Does This Do?
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Primarily Enchanting Gems adds a Sigil-Stone-like Enchanting effect to Gems. All the default Gems are affected; Pearls, Topazes, Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Diamonds and their Flawed and Flawless variations (no silver and gold nuggets are not affected because they are not Gems).

Generally, Gems will have only one effect when enchanting a weapon. These weapon effects are very weak when compared to weapon effects found on Sigil Stones and custom made at an Altar of Enchantment. However they do hold one distinct advantage over all other weapon enchantments, Infinite Uses! The enchantment will never wear down; it will never need a soul-gem to recharge! To achieve this effect, the great Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) was used and is therefore required to use this mod. There was not a better way, to the best of knowledge, to achieve infinite charge enchantments without OBSE, so sorry those of you that do not want to use it.

All the Gems feature three effects when enchanting armor and clothing. Of these three effects, two are beneficial, while one is detrimental. In an effort to remain balanced, some of the random magical gear you find could potentially be better, but that is offset by the fact that these allow you to enchant whatever you want, as well as the fact that there are two positive effects.

I prefer not to disclose the exact enchantments on each stone here. To find out what the enchantments are, you will have to select 'Enchant'. More info on this in section {3}.

Also note in the Gem Dust compatible version (as well as the Geomancy compatible version), I improved one small tiny little thing that annoyed me with the GemDust mod; that fact that as soon as you click on a Gem or Nugget, you grind it to dust whether you meant to or not. Now every Gem and Nugget, yes this means Silver and Gold Nuggets too, will give you the option to back out of any action once clicked on. No more accidental grinding.

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{2} - Who Is This For?
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All the enchantments are, IMHO, very balanced. I did not want to create anything overpowered here, but still wanted to create something that would be useful. Where so many mods are focused on providing new stuff for all the level 30 or higher characters, these items will be perfect for low to mid-level characters. However don't let that deceive you, just because they are perfect for low to mid-level characters does not mean they will not have their uses for higher level characters. High level players that do not like to camp out and re-run the same sigil keep in an attempt to gather the perfect sigil stones, and instead like to play the game using only what they find in any location the first time through, will have definite uses for these armor enchantments.

This mod is also great for those characters that never use enchanted weapons because they find that soul-trapping and recharging are too much of a hassle. With this mod, the weapon enchantments the Gems can bestow never run out of charge. Now those warriors that would not be caught dead carrying soul-gems can use enchanted weapons without the need to do so.

And finally, this mod is for people who do not even want Enchanted Gems but do use Gem Dust. What am I talking about? Well if you use GemDust and you have ever accidentally clicked on a Gem, only to see it grinded to dust when you do not need any more freaking Pearl Dust, then just having the option Message Box this mod brings up will be great for you!

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{3} - How Do I Use This?
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Pick up and gather Gems just as you normally would. The loot lists have not been changed. Actually, it is because of this fact that the Gems will not have their enchantments displayed next to them in your inventory.

When a Gem is in your inventory, click on it. A message box will pop-up asking you what you would like to do with the Gem. If you use the regular version, your options will be 'Enchant' and 'Nothing'. If you use the GemDust-compatible or Geomancy-compatible versions, your options will be 'Grind', 'Enchant', and 'Nothing'. Upon selecting 'Enchant' a skill check will be run on your character. First it will see which skill your character has higher, Armorer or Mysticism. Then it take the higher of the two and determine what rank your character has achieved in it; Master, Expert, Journeyman, Apprentice, or Novice. Depending on that rank, your percent chance to successfully use the Gem for enchanting is determined (more on these percentages in a minute). If you fail, a message will display stating so and you will lose the Gem. If you succeed, you will be immediately brought to the enchanting screen, the same screen Sigil Stones use when they are clicked on. The enchanting process works exactly the same!

Do note: There is a second thing that happens when you succeed and are being brought to the enchanting screen. In the background the Gem is removed from your 'Misc' inventory and a new enchanting version of that Gem is added to your 'Stones' inventory. This is important because if you click on 'Exit' on the enchanting screen, you will now find your Gem under 'Stones'. This new enchanting version of the Gem will no longer bring up the Message Box when clicked on, but instead immediately bring you to the enchanting screen. Remember in section {1} when I said to find out what the enchantments are, you will have to click 'Enchant'? That is true, you will find out what the enchantments are, but you will also be committing that particular Gem to be an enchanting Gem permanently.

Now this should not be an issue to the users of the regular version, but users of the Gem Dust compatible or Geomancy compatible versions will have lost their chance to grind that particular Gem forever. Now I could have written a script that would put the original gem back in your inventory but I chose not to. Why? Because I want you to make that choice. When the message box asks "What shall become of this gem?", I want that choice to be permanent for that Gem. Besides, it is not like you can turn the Gem Dust back into a Gem after grinding, right? Same thing with enchanting.

I think this adds, however so slightly, some much need consequence for your choices in this game. However, for those of you that do not like my idea, and still want to know what the enchantments are ahead of time, search for the hidden section {10} - Spoilers (which can only be found in the download's included ReadMe).

By default trying to use a Gem for enchanting has success rates of 33% for a character that is a Novice in both Armorer and Mysticism, 66% for a character that is an Apprentice in either Armorer or Mysticism, and 100% for a character that is at least a Journeyman in either Armorer or Mysticism. This skill check was added for those that felt having access to these Gem enchantments at very early levels was a bit overpowering. Still I wanted people to have access to these enchantments while their characters were in their teen levels. However for those that feel that my percentages are not harsh enough, as well as for those that wish there were no skill checks at all, I have included an Enchanted Gems Configuration Menu.

To launch the configuration menu, simply bring up the console by hitting the ~ key, type "startquest EnchantedGemsMenu", hit the Enter key, and then hit the ~ key one more time to close the console. You will see the menu on screen now with four settings plus a Help button and the Exit button. The first setting, "1. 33%-66%-100%", is the default setting I described above. The second setting, "2. 25%-50%-75%-100%", has slightly tougher requirements, not allowing a character to have a 100% success rate until he/she is at least an Expert in either Armorer or Mysticism. The third setting, "3. 20%-40%-60%-80%-100%", has the the harshest requirements, not allowing a character to have a 100% success rate until he/she is at least a Master in either Armorer or Mysticism. The fourth setting, "4. 100%", basically disables the skill checks altogether, allowing a 100% success rate all characters, even those that are Novices in both Armorer and Mysticism (just like how Enchanted Gems was before version 3). After selecting the option for you, click the Exit button and your all set!

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{4} - Installation
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If you have never installed a mod before, you should thoroughly read this:

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Oblivion_Mods_FAQ

To use this mod, you must first install v0009a or newer of the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE). This can be found here:

http://obse.silverlock.org/

It is also highly recommed that you install the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (UOP). Though I do not believe it is mandatory for this mod to work, the UOP made some changes to the meshes for the gems, and I created this mod with those changes in mind. This can be found here:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5296

A quick note for those that already have a previous version of Enchanted Gems installed: You should completely uninstall the old version of Enchanted Gems before installing this new version. Also, you should get rid of any items you enchanted with the gems from the previous version as they will no longer work with this new version of Enchanted Gems. I apologize for this but due to the nature of this update I felt it was necessary.

There are 3 esp files included in this mod. You must choose one and only one to use. Put the chosen esp in your Oblivion\Data folder and then activate it on your Oblivion Launcher menu under "Data Files". Your choices are:

EnchantedGems.esp
- Use this one if you do NOT use the Gem Dust mod, a Gem Dust included mod, the Geomancy mod, or a Geomancy included mod.

EnchantedGems_GemDust.esp
- Use this one if you already use the Gem Dust mod or a Gem Dust included mod (such as MMM). Make sure the EnchantedGems_GemDust.esp is loaded after those mods esps.

EnchantedGems_Geomancy.esp
- Use this one if you already use the Geomancy mod (which also includes Gem Dust) or a Geomancy included mod (such as OOO). Make sure the EnchantedGems_Geomancy.esp is loaded after those mods esps.

Note: Unfortunately there are no compatibility esps made specifically just for MMM, OOO, nor Tamriel's Glittering Geology included with this mod at this time. What this means is that though you can still use one of the above listed esps with those mods, Enchanted Gems will only affect the 18 default gems (rubies, sapphires, topazes, emeralds, pearls, diamonds, and their flawed and flawless variations). Prices for those gems will also be set to what Enchanted Gems has them as, which I chose based on the Geomancy mod's pricing. If the modder's responsible for MMM or OOO wish to integrate Enchanted Gems more thoroughly into the respective gems portions of said mods, they have my blessing to do so, with the proper credit given of course.

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{5} - How Did You Make This?
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This mod attaches scripts to the vanilla Gems but it does NOT change any loot lists. I added brand new objects, under the sigil stone item branch, which are only ever called into existence by the scripts attached to the vanilla Gems.

As far as the infinite-charges go, that works by adding a new scripted enchantment that has no visual effect, but causes the weapon's charge to be set to 9999 upon every successful strike.

(Also note: I have been getting many comments from various sites asking why did I simply not just set the charges to zero for infinite charges. I do not do it because it does not work. I tried it, I tested it, and it never worked. Maybe it works with already enchanted weapons, I don't know. But with objects that have to transfer enchantments, such as Sigil Stones and these Gems in this mod, setting uses/charges to zero does not work.)

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{6} - Version History
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Version 3
- Added skill checks and percent chances of success
- Added configure menu to configure said percentages
- Reduced number of base charges to lower the value of weapons enchanted with gems
- Changed the gem sets' weapon enchantments to have a 100% - 100% power increase (previous version had 100% - 66%)

Version 2
- Greatly improved the functioning of the infinite charge scripts
- Created a seperate GemDust Compatible version esp for those that don't use Geomancy
- Increase number of base charges to give bow users more chances to "hit"

Version 1

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{7} - Known Issues, Bugs, & Conflicts
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There is a very slight issue with Bows when it comes to the infinite charges. Since, unlike enchanted melee weapons where charges are not used unless they hit a living creature, enchanted Bows use a charge every time an arrow is fired, no matter if it hits a living creature or not. Because of this, when enchanting a Bow with these Gems, your charges will only be infinite if you always hit a living target with every shot. The moment you miss, a single usage will decrease and continue to decrease with each shot until you hit a living target. You have 7 shots to hit a living target before the Bow will run out of charge. Once you hit a living target again, the bow will recharge once again to remain seemingly infinite. If the Bow happens to run out of charge, just recharge it either at a merchant or with a soul gem and you will be good to go! The infinite charges will still work just as always!

Though this conflicts with any mod that alters the default Oblivion Gems, you should still be able to get Enchanted Gems features to work if you just set it to load after those other mods.

As I said above, I did not alter any loot lists, so Enchanted Gems is perfect compatible with loot list altering mods.

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{8} - Credits & Usage
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I would like to thank pwijnands, Phitt, and TheTalkieToaster, all three of whom answered my numerous questions on the General TES Construction Set -- Oblivion forum. You three were a huge help to me when creating the first version of Enchanted Gems.

I would like to thank Ian Patterson (ianpatt) and Stephen Abel (behippo) for creating the OBSE. What a great tool it is!

I would like to thank TimeSlip for his contributions to OBSE, and for creating the OBMM.

And finally I would like to thank Momaw for creating the Geomancy mod and Turgothh for creating the Gem Dust mod.

If you would like to incorporate any part of my Enchanted Gems mod into a mod you are working on, please contact me first. It is fairly easy to get a hold of me; details in the next section. More than likely I will give you my blessing, but I will like to know Enchanted Gems is to be used before I do so.

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{9} - Contact Me
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You can post your questions or comments in the Enchanted Gems thread on the Official Elder Scrolls Oblivion Mod forum, found here:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=821793

Or you can send me a private message directly on the Official Elder Scrolls Forums. Here is my profile:

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showuser=286335

I go on the forums pretty much daily, so I will see your message and/or post.

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