The scripting language used by the original Oblivion game has a rather limited vocabulary and there are a lot of things it can’t do. So Oblivion Script Extender, or OBSE for short, extends the scripting capabilities of the game. OBSE allows many new commands and techniques. Mods that change the game greatly with advanced scripting usually use this tool, and will not work right if you don’t have a new enough version of OBSE installed. Credits: Ian Patterson, Stephen Abel, Paul Connelly and Madeesh Kannan (ianpatt, behippo, scruggsywuggsy the ferret, shadeMe). Additional contributions from Timeslip, The J, DragoonWraith, SkyRanger-1, badhair, JRoush and kyoma.
Description
The Oblivion Script Extender, or OBSE expands the scripting capabilities of Oblivion. It doesn’t make any modifications to oblivion.exe, TESConstructionSet.exe, or any other files in your oblivion install, so don’t worry about permanent side effects. It is compatible with the 1.2.0.416 Oblivion patch, as well as the 1.2 version of the Construction Set. Versions of Oblivion downloaded via Steam are supported as well.
0021 ver. release adds
Support for user-defined events
Ability to turn off certain compiler warnings
Fixes for various vanilla bugs
New events: OnSoulTrap, OnSaveIni, OnMagicEffectHit2, OnQuestComplete, OnMagicCast, OnMagicApply, OnWaterDive, OnWaterSurface
Quest stage, combat style and cell related commands
New loader injection method for the editor
Misc commands and bug-fixes
Installation
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:
Do not attempt to install OBSE with a mod manager – it won’t work!
You need to have DirectX 9.0c for OBSE to work (If you have issues with OBSE on a freshly installed OS, try downloading and installing the DirectX 9.0c End-User Runtime).
The instructions for installing and running OBSE differ based on whether you are using a retail or Steam version of the game.
IF YOU PURCHASED A RETAIL (NON-STEAM) VERSION OF OBLIVION
Unpack “OBSE_v0021.7z” archive anywhere you want.
Go to the directory where you unpacked. Copy obse_1_2_416.dll, obse_editor_1_2.dll, obse_loader.exe and the Data folder to your Oblivion directory. This is usually in your Program Files folder, and should contain files called “Oblivion.exe” and “OblivionLauncher.exe”.
Run oblivion by running obse_loader.exe from the Oblivion directory. If you use a desktop shortcut to launch Oblivion normally, just update the shortcut to point to obse_loader.exe instead of oblivion.exe.
IF YOU ARE USING THE STEAM VERSION OF OBLIVION
Extract “OBSE_v0021.7z” archive anywhere you want.
Go to the directory where you unpacked. Copy obse_1_2_416.dll, obse_editor_1_2.dll, obse_steam_loader.dll and the Data folder to your Oblivion directory. This is usually “C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\common\oblivion”.
Ensure you have enabled the Steam community in-game, or OBSE will fail to load. Go to Steam > Settings > In-Game and check the box marked “Enable Steam Community In-Game”.
Launch Oblivion via Steam or by running Oblivion.exe. OBSE will automatically be run along with Oblivion when launched. To disable this, rename or move obse_steam_loader.dll. You do not need to use obse_loader.exe unless you are running the editor.
Direct2Drive or GameStop App (Impulse) version
Not possible.
Troubleshooting / FAQ
Oblivion doesn’t launch after running obse_loader.exe:
Make sure you’ve copied the OBSE files to your oblivion folder. That folder should also contain oblivion.exe.
Check the file obse_loader.log in your oblivion folder for errors.
obse_loader.log tells me it couldn’t find a checksum:
You may have a version of Oblivion that isn’t supported. The English official patch v1.2.0.416 is the one used by the Team. Localized versions with different executables or different patches may not work, but many have been successful.
Your Oblivion install may be corrupt. Hacks or no-cd patches may also change the checksum of the game, making it impossible to detect the installed version.
The OBSE loader tells me I need to use the autopatcher:
Go to the OBSE website and download autopatcher, which will walk you through the update process. You will need the latest patch from Bethesda, as well as your original Oblivion DVD.
OBSE doesn’t launch with the Direct2Drive version:
The Direct2Drive version of the Oblivion executable has additional DRM applied, which would be illegal for us to bypass. We cannot support this version. If you own a retail version of Oblivion, please use the autopatcher to extract a usable executable.
Note that if you are interested in buying a digitally distributed version of Oblivion, the Steam version is supported.
Xbox 360 or PS3 version?
Impossible.
Running OBSE and Oldblivion at the same time:
Copy your oldblivion support files in to the Oblivion folder (oldblivion.dll, oldblivion.cfg, shaders.sdp), then run the loader with the -old command argument.
I’m using Windows 2000 and some mods (specifically mods using IsKeyPressed) don’t work correctly. What should I do?
Open your Oblivion.ini (found in My Documents/My Games/Oblivion) and change the “bBackground Keyboard=0” line to “bBackground Keyboard=1”.
What is the ‘src’ folder for?
The ‘src’ folder contains the source code for OBSE. Feel free to delete or ignore it if you are not a programmer interested in contributing to the project.
I’m using the Steam version of Oblivion and OBSE doesn’t seem to be working:
Go to your Steam Settings page, pick the “In-game” tab, and make sure the “Enable Steam Community In-Game” box is checked.
