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Nehrim

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
In the Newz:

Too bad that the recent "I like Oblivion" thread was retardoed. Because on page number 4 or so, someone brought up the recently released "Nehrim" TC. I figured I'd give it a shot and so far I'm quite impressed. Well, I'm still in the starter dungeon, but if it keeps going like that, I'll not be disappointed.

It is basically just what Oblivion needed: A total conversion that has nothing to do with Oblivion anymore except the engine. Everything else is new. They actually use the engine properly, too:

For example, in the starter dungeon (which is actually a huge ass abandoned mine - and while this sounds like Oblivion, it actually IS a mine with wooden paths, rope systems, water reservoirs etc) you'll face a bad ass troll at some point which will own you if you try to fight him to the death. So, instead, you need to "totally avoid combat" and start running towards a point where there is a switch on the wall - when activated, a gate will ram down between you and the troll, and next a bunch of rocks come crumbling down on the dude, burying him. While this felt a bit like artificially set up (and yeah, you also get a pop-up note with the corresponding hint, but this is the tutorial dungeon...), I got the impression that this will not be the last time you can use a trap like that. At least the note said something along those lines.

There are also things like taking a cogwheel up from the ground to connect it to a system so that a disabled lift is working again. I've really only been playing the game for about an hour so far, and I'm still in the dungeon, mostly because it is almost totally dark on my old crappy monitor and I can't see shit, which makes finding the proper path a bit difficult, especially since you can fall to your death if you don't watch it - the only torch you get in the beginning is long gone, and I didn't find any new ones. Gamma is already maxed out, and I need to cheat a bit by pressing ESC from time to time, which makes the background image go brighter.

From what I've read, experience system seems to be similar to the Gothic games: You gain exp by completing quests and killing things, and you need to invest gold and learning points in trainers if you want to up certain skills etc. There is still some increase by using the skills, but VERY slow they say.
It says it also has some kind of crafting system that allows you to - well, craft armor and shit.
The developer's concept is pretty much "Oblivion sucked, bland story, generic dungeons / landscape / random shit", so pretty much what people around here think of it. With "Nehrim" they build a totally new game, with a story and a big fucking world where everything is hand placed.

Anyway, this is just a heads up that if you didn't eat your Oblivion DVD already, you might want to think about a reinstall or not removing it from an inventory if you did. From what I've seen so far, Nehrim could at least be as good as Morrowind, i.e., a good hiking simulator. But what I've seen so far, it might actually be more than that.
Now for the bad newz: So far only the German version is out. English version is expected for the month of August. Voice will stay German however (with subs).

I probably won't post any updates here of my progress with more details from the game, because I can't be arsed. I'm not an avid poster, you see.
So, you gotta go from here and give it a try. If it turns out shit - cry me a river. But I doubt it - it seems like a really professionally made Indie-RPG using the engine of a game that doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence.


http://www.nehrim.de/startEV.html
 

Turisas

Arch Devil
Patron
Joined
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Messages
9,926
Skills are all the same? What about spells, are the spell schools changed? And is there phat lewtz?

The FAQ could use some work but it does seem promising.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
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Messages
121
Well, since I'm still in the starter dungeon, I can't really tell you about the magic. So far I only have found some healing potions and 1 or 2 scrolls. I think the character creation aspect is not even finished yet (gameplay, not developement-wise), since I could only choose from a race so far - not class. I guess I can complete it once I leave the dungeon or so. Or, rather, I guess it works just like in Gothic, seeing that you need to spent learning points on trainers. So there probably are no classes per se.

But I'm pretty sure that magic etc. changed. Because, as I said, it has *nothing* to do with Oblivion except for the engine. Or in other words: They built a totally independent RPG, and the only reason you need the Oblivion DVD is because it uses its engine. There are only 3 races to choose from for example, and they ain't from Cyrodill. "We're not in Kansas anymore" was the line that kept popping up in my head during play.

Maybe visit their forums to find out about some more details. They also have an English section:

http://www.sureai.de/forum/viewforum.php?f=81

It's still a bit quiet there because the English version is not out yet. But you can check out the News section, it has a translated review for example. And an interview with the devs.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
OK, I played some more yesterday. I'm still in the starter dungeon. (It is fucking huge and dark and I don't like rushing things, anyway). It is really done very well. There were only few enemies so far, but some very powerful ones in between. Keeps the tension up. It's not like in Oblivion where every dungeon felt filled like a Hotel and you would meet monsters at the same regular intervals just to hack your way through. It is much more atmospheric and interestingly done. Example:

I ran into another "Black Troll", and this time, there was no pop up info like with the first. So, I ran past him and he kept chasing me, until I ran into a gate and I figured I better close that one behind me. Voila, he couldn't re-open it because when I shut it, it was (automatically) closed with a bar on my side (you get a message which says so when you close it).
When I looked around, I saw that I was in some kind of "room", and on the other side was another gate which was locked however. There was also a table in that room, and on it I found a written note from a miner from when the mine was still running. In it, he complains about the trolls that recently infiltrated the mine. Especially the black one (of which he seemingly only met a single specimen, while for me it was already the second one). He figured out however that the black troll is afraid of fire and its flesh literally starts to burn when near fire. So, he figured he would place a trap for the troll, and mentions that he placed four torch mounts in the small cave the black troll was occasionally seen in by his co-workers. Next, he was going to place 4 torches in them once the troll was sleeping in its cave, to trap and burn him. He also writes he put the torches on top of a cabinet.

Once you close that note, you get a pop-up saying you probably will have to kill the troll to continue, and you wonder what kind of things you might find in that troll cave, maybe the key to the door (I could have lived without the pop-up, yeah...)

Looking around, you will see a casing with the torches atop that cabinet, but the structure below it has collapsed, so you cannot just take them. There are however a bunch of wooden crates in the room. You must pick them up and build yourself some "stairs" to reach the torches. Once you got them, you need to find the cave of the troll (he has meanwhile disappeared from the gate he chased you to). The cave was rather easy to find, which was a bit disappointing, but I liked the nice touch of finding some dead (smaller, green trolls) along the way - because the miner's note was also talking about how the Black Troll doesn't seem to think too highly of his smaller brethren, either...

First, I tried sneaking past the troll to place the torches into their mounts, but he would see me everytime. Probably because his cave is rather small and there's only one entrance, which he seems to be looking at...
So I just tried to avoid him and ran to the 4 different positions, which worked and once all four torches were in place, sure enough, he burned up allright after a few seconds. Troll BBQ! Needless to say you will also find a human skeleton in that cave - probably the miner that has written the note and failed on his mission.

Now, this "quest" wasn't very hard, but keep in mind this mine is the "starter dungeon", and this was only the second serious encounter. I really liked the atmosphere that came with it. It's much better than just running through the place, beating someone down every 50 meters or so.
And there are many more nice little things which makes the whole thing very atmospheric: At one point, you jump on a cablecar which is activated by a switch, to cross a water reservoir. While you're riding along, a man comes running up (you were one of several fools who followed an anonymous letter to meet up at that abandoned mine, at which point you were beaten down and fell down the mine), and he shouts to wait for him. Well, you can't stop that cablecar (and you also cannot move, it is a scripted event once you activate the switch, but you couldn't have done anything either, since there doesn't seem to be a point to climb up the bank on the other side). So, you watch how a troll that was chasing him comes around the corner, screaming. You won't see the killing, because at this point you lose line of sight on your way, but you hear the screams.
Nicely done.

The levelling is indeed similar to Gothic: You can up your attributes when you level up (which seem to be the same as in Oblivion), but the skills you need to improve with a trainer. But they increase very slowly over time, too. And the skills are different (there's things like hunting, etc).
The three races available are de facto: Human, Half-Elf, Nord. They got different names, but I don't remember them now. But don't take it as copy-paste from Oblivion, because they are not.

Here's an excerpt from an interview with the devs:


Where did you get inspired from when creating this new world? Countries, movies, other games? We have spotted the word for the game-series ‘Gothic’ a few times

Dennis:

I get inspired by everything I go through my life. Even this interview inspired me — thank you interviewer for making me thing about thinks! Okay, back to topic – it is hard to tell, because in the 4 year of development you get inspired by so many small things. And when I look back at things, I worked in the game a long time ago, it is like: “What the hell have I though when I build this in.” Mostly I have no idea.

Benni:

The style of Nehrim has much of the sytel of the “Gothic” sires, indeed. I suppose one reason for this is that Gothic’s landscape and cities are among the most beautiful ones ever created in computer games. Other inspiration I receive mostly originates from books and movies. For instance, readers of the Terry Goodkind novel “Faith of the Fallen” will notice some similarities with the Southreal of Nehrim.

From one of the videos we could notice that a lot of levelled areas and heights could be seen (massive rocks and depths). Is this something you missed in oblivion?

Benni:

You see, this is an important reason why “Gothic” landscapes look so beautiful, they aren’t a plane with hills on it. There are real cliffs, the depth of the tress often varies so you don’t have the slightes bit of idea how it will look like behind the next corner. Oblivion’s engine can create vast landscapes, but it also has to live with all the disadvantages of a sandbox editor. In Morrowind, where Bethesda built all the world by hand without generators, they were able to hide these disadvantages because the continent was so interesting I think the Nehrim world is something like Morrowind plus Gothic.

Besides new landscapes, models, animations, textures and quests that you would expect from a TC….what was one of the mayor changes you’ve made?

Dennis:

We have Achievements!

Benni:

Probably the skill system based on experience points. It gives you a completely new gameplay feeling. there is absolutely no “Oh well, this is somehow reminds me of Oblivion”

This Dennis guy seems a bit of a 'tard, but other than that, it sounds pretty good. And so far it kept its promise.

Can't say much about the story yet, but I like the beginning so far (mysterious letter leading you to the mine - reminded me a bit of Daggerfall) and here's sub'd trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zmeYRxwngM&feature=player_embedded

Too bad that the English version will only be subtitled, since the voice overs in German are excellent so far. I mean, they hired ppl from a professional tone studio in Berlin... Maybe it's actually better to stay in German instead of getting some subpar English voices.


tl;dr: Try it, at least once the English version is out. It seems pretty awesome so far.
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2009
Messages
91
Sounds surprisingly interesting. Keep the impressions coming (I'm not quite convinced yet it's worth reinstalling Oblivion for, lol).
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
So I guess it's worth doing a secondary install of Oblivion besides the one with about 50 mods added to it, just to try this out.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
JarlFrank said:
So I guess it's worth doing a secondary install of Oblivion besides the one with about 50 mods added to it, just to try this out.

My guess is that you will delete your Oblivion install once you tried out this TC. Hell, if you could stomach playing Oblivion even with a ton of mods, there is no reason not to try Nehrim.

OK dudes, I've created an imageshack account and will upload a few screens in a while. I will only be able to go from a few saves I have, but I'll try to trace some steps back, to give you a good impression of the mine. I will also have to figure out how to up the brightness on the pictures though, otherwise you might not be able to see much.
 

SoupNazi

Guest
This does look slightly interesting. Looking forward to more impressions.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
OK guys, I've now figured out how to properly enhance the screenshots brightness wise so that you'll actually be able to see shit without having the colors all washed out. If I wouldn't brighten them, you wouldn't be able to get a proper impression from the mine like you do when you move through it. Especially as long as you have a torch with you.

I'll edit all of them now and will then load them up.

Wish me luck.
 

TheApostate

Novice
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Messages
9
Holy shit, they actually finished it?

I saw this a few years back when it was announced, but figured it would go the way of most TCs.
 

Luzur

Good Sir
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
41,395
Location
Swedish Empire
and once again Bethesda is put to shame by unpaid modders.

hopefully the world is big, the engine can handle big worlds (one of the world builders on Tamriel Rebuilt assured me that, he had done his own tests on that Hammerfell mod.), so why Bethesda shrunk Cyrodiil like they did is still unknown to me, but consoles prob have something to do with it.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
OK, uploading now, 9 MB. Imageshit is pretty slow on upload.

Edit: OK, imageshit only shows 7 of my screenshots, even though I uploaded a lot more. WTF is this shit. I'm not familiar with imageshack. I need to figure out how to post them here, and the others as well. Standby.

Edit2: I can't upload all of them. So I will now only choose the very best (I wanted to post a short semi-LP, oh well. And now worries, there wouldn't have been any more spoilers than what I posted above, btw. Also, it iis only the very beginning of the game.)
 

coldcrow

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Messages
1,650
Actually there is no need to spoil the fun. Without going further into it (didn't finish the starting dungeon) I can honestly say that this is as good as ARPGs go. Gothic.

Worth installing Oblivion for sure.
 

Mangoose

Arcane
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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity
Alt, when you get far enough in the game, can you give a list of the improvements that it makes over Oblivion?
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
OK, with imagecrap I can only post clickable thumbnails. Sry guys. Here goes:


The main menu. Oblivion? What's that? (The Total Conversion also installs in a separate folder from Oblivion or Bethesda).



The rocks that came down crumbling unto the Black Troll after I triggered the switch.



We move deeper into the mine.


Badly enhanced shot to show some details.


Note the water running down on the left hand side.



A water wheel! (Yes, it's turning)

Crap, getting time outs with image*SHIT* indeed.
To be continued...


Continued:


Yes, these are boats. Obviously used by the workers to traverse the water reservoirs. Now out of comission.



Someone got pwned.


Massively brightened up shot to "show you the way".



"Like a bridge over troubled water..."


All the shots are brightened up some, including this one.




Traversing doesn't seem all that safe around these corners...
 

OuterSpace

Scholar
Joined
Apr 5, 2010
Messages
155
If its a lot like Gothic that would be perfect. I like it when everything can kill you and your armor and combat skillz dictate how far you can adventure.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
OK, figured out how to load up more than 7. It seems you just have to load them up one by one, if you load up all at once, it only saves 7 or so.

Be aware that all the above pictures also go with excellent and atmospheric sound effects where appropriate: Water running, water drops, creaking wood etc.
I got another bunch of awesome pics, but they might be slight semi-spoilers, so I won't post them.

Instead, check this out:


An example of the hunting skill tree:

Hunting Skills: 0/6

Skinning / Extract Heart / Sever Horn / Sever Claws / Sever Clutch / Pull teeth

There are similar trees for crafting for example. Magic has degrees from 1 - 6.

And on another page it says "Bank account: 0. Interest Rate: 2"


Btw, keep in mind that I'll not post an actual review. I'll leave that to the pros. I'm not as familiar with some other RPGs as most around here. I played some of the classics a bit at some point or another, but I'm not a die hard. I'm more of a flightsimmer / general simulation fan. Oh and btw: Skyway is right about ArmA2. :P

Nonetheless I'm bored to death with RPGs these days when I play one, for the reasons well known. I remember when I first played Oblivion. I was running out into the mountains, seeing how far I could go before some badass creature is going to pwn me. But nothing happened. I crossed half of Cyrodill and all I saw were some wolves...and mudcrabs. Awesome.

It is much the same as with flightsims: The last proper ones came out in '99 / 2000, Falcon 4.0 (400 page manual ftw!) and Jane's F/A-18. Aside from some 2 notable exceptions, everything else since then has been dumbed down shit.
The decline is not limited to RPGs.
 

Rohit_N

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Serpent in the Staglands Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
(The Total Conversion also installs in a separate folder from Oblivion or Bethesda)
Does this mean you can delete Oblivion after installing the mod, sort of like deleting BG1 after installing EasyTutu?
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
Rohit_N said:
(The Total Conversion also installs in a separate folder from Oblivion or Bethesda)
Does this mean you can delete Oblivion after installing the mod, sort of like deleting BG1 after installing EasyTutu?

I think so. The installer basically copies the whole content of the Oblivion folder, places it somewhere else, renames it and changes the files. There will also be a separate entry in your start -> program list. It also has its own uninstall option. And its own launcher. I'm pretty sure you can just uninstall Oblivion then, however right now I don't want to risk fucking up my install just to prove it. But I tried renaming the Oblivion folder and Nehrim still worked. I'm just not totally sure about any registry entries. So try uninstalling Oblivion at your own risk or ask the devs.
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Imma downloadan.
Hope the German version of the mod will work with the English version of Oblivion.
Which it should, since it doesn't rely on original language files and also most Germans bought the English version back when it came out because the translation sucked horrible horrible donkey balls.
 

Alt

Augur
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
121
JarlFrank said:
Imma downloadan.
Hope the German version of the mod will work with the English version of Oblivion.
Which it should, since it doesn't rely on original language files and also most Germans bought the English version back when it came out because the translation sucked horrible horrible donkey balls.

Yes it does. I didn't remove the English version of Oblivion from an inventory back then. Most German translations of US games suck cock. Especially bad in flightsims, when all the NATO brevity code - which only exists in English even iRL - goes right out the window and is replaced with senseless babble. Total disaster.

Take note though that Oblivion needs to be updated to the latest version and mods must be deactivated. Check out the install guide on Nehrim's site.

http://www.sureai.de/forum/viewforum.php?f=76

http://www.nehrim.de/dataEV.html
-pdf version, also goes into some features.

Additionally, download the latest patch to Nehrim (only some 60 MB). It is a cumulative one. I advise against trying to auto d/l it via the Nehrim launcher. It didn't work for me. Just download it manually and run the .exe. Take note though that you give the proper path to the Nehrim folder, so that it doesn't do c: /.../Nehrim/Nehrim.

Oh, and heed the advise the devs give: Save often. I only had one CTD so far, right in the beginning. Otherwise it ran stable. But at one point I somehow got stuck between some rocks (*Daggerfall Flashback*) and had to reload. There are also some occasions where you will definitely get owned if you don't watch your steps...
The game will also autosave for you at some points (which you can disable though).
The devs also say that in some certain huge, deep forest, the framerate might bog down, and they advise you to disable the distant landscape if it does. Kinda sucks, but then again, it won't really hurt I guess, since the forest is reportedly so thick that you can't see far, anyway.
 

tetsuo

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Apr 20, 2006
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Deutschland
Alt said:
Rohit_N said:
(The Total Conversion also installs in a separate folder from Oblivion or Bethesda)
Does this mean you can delete Oblivion after installing the mod, sort of like deleting BG1 after installing EasyTutu?

I think so. The installer basically copies the whole content of the Oblivion folder, places it somewhere else, renames it and changes the files. There will also be a separate entry in your start -> program list. It also has its own uninstall option. And its own launcher. I'm pretty sure you can just uninstall Oblivion then, however right now I don't want to risk fucking up my install just to prove it. But I tried renaming the Oblivion folder and Nehrim still worked. I'm just not totally sure about any registry entries. So try uninstalling Oblivion at your own risk or ask the devs.

You can uninstall oblivion safely the installer copies everything it needs from the oblivion folder, i even cracked the exe and it works flawless with it,
so far i really like it, its plays well enough (did some ini tweaking the usual stuff) and it really reminds me of gothic i would even go as far and say its way better then risen or gothic 3 (i dont mention oblivion itself this mod is miles ahead of it). This Mod or TC however you want to call it definitely puts some commercial game developers to shame.
 

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