AF Leveling Mod

From Oblivion Mod Wiki

Authors:	Auryn and Fraktyl
Thread(s):	Official Forums
Version:	2.8.7 (latest beta 2.9b6)
Last Updated:	May 12th, 2006
Download(s):	TES Nexus, Author's homepage

Note: This mod was formerly named Auryn's Leveling Mod

[edit] What this mod does

The intention of this mod is to fix the annoying parts about Oblivion's Player leveling and keep intact as much as possible in the spirit of the original game.

[edit] Attributes

Attribute growth : each based on 3 skills
Attribute cap : 100 + racial, favored attribute, and birthsign modifiers

Instead of micromanaging your character to get X5 multipliers, all you need to do now is play the game naturally; your skill ups from normal activities will affect your Attributes on a weighted basis determined by skill type (Major or Minor.) Each skill only affects 1 attribute, much like original Oblivion. The more major skills you have for an attribute, the faster it will go up and cap, but you can still cap attributes with no majors. Only one weapon skill is needed to raise your strength, as my mod finds your chosen weapon and multiplies its influence X3 so that it acts as if its all 3 for the purpose of raising Attributes. Keep in mind this mod will favor weapon skills you have set as major when determining your chosen weapon (by a factor of .52 to .26)

Luck calculation : There are several possible methods for calculating luck within this mod, and the player is free to choose between them. The standard suggested method is a luck increase of between 0 and 2 at each level. This averages to 1 a level and the average will max your luck at level 50 - if this number is less than the average of your other attributes, than that number will be used instead. Also, luck will be uncapped

And Birthsigns that raise Attributes are actually useful now, they allow you to exceed 100 (as well as racial and favored attribute modifiers )

[edit] Skills

Skill growth : same as original
Skill caps : same as original

Skill level and rate of growth are exactly the same as original Oblivion. Racial skill mods do not allow one to exceed 100 in a skill. You receive perks at the same level you do in regular Oblivion. You may use skill rate slowdown mods in conjuction with this mod wil no ill effects. ( changes to weapon skill rates will be overwritten however)

[edit] Level

Leveling is determined by one of 6 ways, which you may choose by equiping the Ring of Choice that is placed into your inventory shortly after you leave the Imperial Sewers (this is also the time when the mod scripts start processing):

NOTE: you only need to equip the ring once, you may take it off after choosing.

Based on skills you have as Major Skills - with 10 skills per level and 50 levels max
Based on skills you have as Major Skills - with 15 skills per level and 35 levels max
- For these 2 modes you go up a level when skills you have chosen as Major skills change by the listed amount
Based on skills you have as Specialization Skills - with 10 skills per level and 50 levels max
Based on skills you have as Specialization Skills - with 15 skills per level and 35 levels max
- For these 2 modes you go up a level when skills you have chosen as Specilization skills change by the listed amount
Based on your attribute gains(except luck) - with 7 gains per level and soft cap of lvl 52ish (hard cap of 50 applies
Based on your attribute gains(except luck) - with 9 gains per level and a soft cap of lvl 42ish
- For these 2 modes you go up a level when your attributes go up by the listed amount

You can change methods whenever you want to by re-equiping the Ring of Choice. Keep in mind though that you can NEVER DE-LEVEL by changing. So you may be lvl 18 by spec standards and lvl 4 by major standards, if you change from major to spec and then back to major, you will be stuck at lvl 18 till you your major skills catch up to your spec skills.

Regardless of which method you pick, minor skills also play a VERY minor role in the level of your character (approx 10% that of a major skill)

[edit] Derived Stats

Magicka & Stamina are calculated the same as original Oblivion. Health uses a formula that causes it to be your Endurance multiplied by 2 at level 1 and approximately 650 at level 50 with 100 Endurance. This works out to be very much like the original Oblivion

[edit] Other Notes

This mod does not require that you make a new character, although you most likely be unable to undo the changes once you have loaded your character into the mod and saved your game. It is compatible with all former versions of my mod , 1.73 and 1.74 MAY give you a unexpected results though.

[edit] Installation

Place the esp file in your "data" directory, place the xml file in your "Oblivion\Data\menus" directory

[edit] What this mod doesn't do

Affect monster levels, leveling rates, scaling, loot tables, etc. You may use other mods to manage these issues with Oblivion, such as Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul or other mods affecting game mechanics.

Add any content for character creation (Races, birthsigns, classes, etc)

[edit] Compatibility with other mods

For such a comprehensive mod as this, it is actually playes very *nice* with other Oblivion mods. It is fully compatible with mods that change vampirism, mods that change monster scaling, loot scaling, monster level, spawning, etc. It works with mods that change the rate of skill growth. It works with mods that add weapons and armor and pretty much anything you can think of.

[edit] Limitations

Not Compatible with mods that add "Ability" type skill fortification spells (these spells are quite rare, there are only 3 in the original Oblivion)

NOTE: Existing Ability Skill fortification spells in the game are OK.

Not compatible with other mods that overhaul the leveling system of the game, like Kobu's or Digizens
Not compatible with mods that alter the start of the game, unless they set the tutorial quest stages correctly.

[edit] Known Issues

Level up bar on standard bar doesnt move (you still level up when you should though).
Shivering Isles Felldew-effects during associated quest will mess up character stats until you gain new skill point. Mod automatically calculates correct character scores after gaining new skill point.
Gaining skill bonus from watching Arena Hopefuls might cause "level up"-icon to show, depending your current progress. To avoid this watch Arena Hopefuls just after leveling up. Same applies when watching Blades to train.

[edit] Revision History

[edit] 2.8.7

Fixed stat calculations so decimal points weren't dropped. This should fix the issue with gaining stats too quickly

Modified Race and Birthsign setup. You are now asked if you are using a Modified Race or Birthsign. If you are not, then it will skip right to setting your caps. If you are, it will attempt to figure out your initial starting values.

Modified Major Skill detection. If it finds 7 Major skills, it will skip the display menu allowing you to confirm. If it finds any other number of Major skills it will display the menus letting you choose.

Both the above changes should eliminate some of the menu choices letting newer players use the mod without requiring a PHD in Fraktyl Code.. (IMG:style_emoticons/2/smile.gif)

Added a new option to the Ring of Choice. Display Real Stats. This will show you your current stats with the Decimal in place. Note, this does not take into account equipment worn, or fortifications on your characters.

[edit] 2.8.6

Fixed initial stat calculation for characters affected with Vampirism, Night Mothers Blessing, Grey Princes Training, or having the Skeleton key. This will also work with people resetting their rings.

Fixed Choosing your Own majors, so you can unselect a skill if you mis-click.

[edit] 2.8.5

Changed Attribute Levelling start points to be a characters Racial base plus Birthsigns. This should eliminate the confusion with why they haven't levelled, and when they should level. Will also eliminate the issue with gaining one attribute point gives a new level.

[edit] 2.8.4

Fixed one attribute getting you to level 2 for both 7 Attributes, and 9 Attributes per level.

Fixed issue where strength could be calculated wrong if two or more weapon skills were the same level

[edit] 2.8.3

Fixed issue with players using Attribute levelling getting their luck set to 0

Fixed detection for Breton starting endurance, should now display 30.

[edit] 2.8.2

Fixed Looping Ring issue

Modified Luck Fix, let me know if this works.

[edit] 2.8.1

Fixed issue with level 50+'s getting dropped to level 1

Started tracking Luck seperately, this SHOULD fix the issues with people who take Luck as a Preferred attribute

Modified scripts so they could run when menus are up, this means you will get Attribute increases during the minigames, or reading a book

Modified scripts so they would shut down when they weren't needed. (Thanks to Seoman007 for the tip)

Default Birthsigns that don't add to your stats should now show 0's for the bonus

[edit] 2.8.0

Now compatable with ANY mod that modifies Races or Birthsigns

Added more control to the user. You can now, set your starting Rcial stats, you can adjust your skill caps. It will also verify your Major skills.

Added Uninstallation instructions. DO NOT USE AFUninstall.esp at the same time as AFLevelMod.esp

[edit] 2.7.9

You will no longer receive a free level at lvl 1 if using Attribute leveling
message "All new attribute gains will now count towards your level." changed

[edit] 2.7.8

You should no longer get a free level when you first equip the ring using spec leveling

[edit] 2.7.7

Fixed issue with not being able to level unless you had EXACTLY the correct number of skills or attributes to advance.

[edit] 2.7.6b

You should no longer get a free level when you first equip the ring.

[edit] 2.7.6

.esp renamed to AFLevelMod.esp - This will be the final name, unless we change our minds

You now need 10 Major Skills or 100 Minor Skills to level using the 10 Major or Spec Method. 15 Major, 150 Minor for the 15 method

RoC now shows the correct number of Major/Minor skills needed to level.

Resetting the Ring, or using it for the first time on an existing character will relevel you now depending on your choices. Unfortunately, using the attributes method on an existing character will not change your level. But changing from skills based to attributes will function correctly.

Hopefully ALL luck bugs squished.

[edit] 2.075

.esp name unchanged so players don't have to requip the ring for small bug fixes
Added a message to let players know when new skill or stat gains will begin to affect their levels.
Fixed Ring of Choice to display number of skills or stats needed for level up. Minor skills are slightly off, Major skills should be correct.

[edit] 2.074

Fixed level jump if your luck was higher than your current level. (Gottaquit using so many temp variables)

[edit] 2.073

Choosing Luck as a primary stat will no longer make you lose 5 luck every stat gain
Luck based on skill averages is now actually based on finallized skills once Race Bonuses, Birthsigns, and Vampirism has been added back on.
Resetting the Ring of Choice will now actually reset it, instead of just pretending to.

I was unable to reproduce two of the reported bugs:

Health suddenly jumping up when resting or waiting. If you have a save file with this active please email it to me.
Not being able to level up. I tested all 6 options on a new and existing character and was able to level up with no issues. If you have a character that is stuck, please email me a save game.

[edit] 2.06

There was a slight bug with vampire ATTRIBUTES not being added properly - it wasnt affecting level or skills, but was kinda annoying because you werent quite as powerful of a vamp as you should be. This has been fixed. As an added positive side effect, vampire attribute bonuses are added onto your computed attributes (like race, favored attributes, and birthsign) and like the rest of these allow you to exceed 100 on attributes

Also fixed a slight bug with you being able to see the twin that is created for stat comparison

[edit] 2.05

made luck EITHER be an average of your other attributes or the random number from before (whichever is higher), this will make sure you can max it

Reduced skill up rates on blade / blunt / hand to hand to 1/3rd their old value so that weapon up rates wouldnt raise your strength too quickly. This change will be overwritten by mods that change skill up rates (not a big problem)

changed Attrib / 6 mode to attrib / 7 - It will now softcap at around 52 ish

[edit] 2.04

Added Attribute(except luck) / 6 and Attribute(except luck) / 9 Leveling modes, these should be considered beta until everyone is satisifed they dont level you too fast

[edit] 2.031

"Level Method: 10 skills per Specialization Level" fixed

[edit] 2.03

Now fully compatible with all of Oscuro's birthsign additions

Will have a new luck calculation : Every level your luck will go up between 0 and 2. This averages to 1 a level and the average will max your luck at level 50 - or you could be unlucky and never max it, or be lucky and max it early, who knows. Also, luck will be uncapped and there was a bug causeing luck to always being reported as a Favored Attribute that will be fixed

Complete overhaul in the resource intensisty of the whole mod. During normal operation, only 5 lines of code will be running. When you skill up, the game will show a message that calculations are being made and the rest of the script will run.

Fix to make sure you get the ring ONLY after you leave the sewer and if you have a high level character that never did the tutorial you will get the ring and start the quest properly (prior versions might have resulted in negative stats because they got the ring too early)

Level up screen will no longer let you pick luck or have erroneous stat info, this will also fix the 2 second god mode after leveling

More redundancy in making sure skill ups are from you skilling up and not equiping an item

[edit] Reviews

[edit] Review by Kal Choedan

This mod addresses the one aspect of Oblivion that many consider a fundamental problem with the vanilla game's play: the player character levelling system. In the vanilla game, micromanaging your character's development has a tremendous impact on the eventual "power" of the character. Micromanaging skillups to ensure you get 5x attribute bonuses, ensuring you increase your endurance attribute early as health gains from endurance increases are not retroactive, and so on, all lead to a sense that you have to be very careful what skills you level up for fear you will end up with a "gimped" character. Some people might be able to ignore this, but just knowing the massive difference that can result, I find myself having to pay more attention to my skillups than I would otherwise desire. A big part of the reason I enjoy playing Oblivion is for the immersion, and I found the default levelling system very disruptive to this.

There are a number of levelling mods out there that address these issues, I have tried several and liked the AF Levelling mod most. With AF installed, the mod manages your attribute growth as you increase your skills, and completely removes the need to pay close attention to your skillups. The mod is also heavily customiseable, allowing you to choose various methods of levelling criteria (e.g. based on your Major skills, based on your Specialisation skills, or even based purely on your attribute growth) and can be "tweaked" to taste for more of a power gaming feel (where eventually you can max everything) or a less "min-max" playstyle (where you won't be able to max everything, but you'll still max the important stuff for that character.)

Essentially, with this mod installed, you can simply play however you like and never worry about what skills you are training, safe in the knowledge that your character will grow appropriately and never end up "gimped".

[edit] Note by Lex

I had a *lot* of trouble uninstalling this mod. The idea sounded nice, but it didn't seem too intuitive when I saw it in the actual game, so I changed my mind and wanted to uninstall it. To do this you have to quit the game, deactivate the levelling mod and activate it's uninstall mod. Then you load your game, level your character once, re-save it, quit out again, deactivate the uninstall mod, then reload. (Sound long winded? :P)

On reloading my game, levelling didn't seem to work, so I just restarted with a new character. When that character reached level two, I was told I was level two, but didn't get to alter or upgrade my stats. Everything was a total mess, I had to delete the entire Oblivion Directory and reinstall from scratch to fix it.

If you're sure you want it and you understand it, then by all means, plug it in. If you just want to take a look and see how it affects things, I wouldn't bother, was far more trouble than it was worth for me.