[HOT NEWS]
2.1.1 - Fixed timber wolf variants having far too much health

2.1.0 is out. This update aims to make melee combat more melee by reducing reach of many weapons. It also tries to differentiate between the different 1H weapon types.
If you're happy with 2.0.3, then do not rush to update.
2.1.0 might be one of the final big updates I do, mainly due to there not being much more I can realistically improve without overhauling the entire game.

[Changelog]
In this section I will be posting the latest changes in a succinct manner. For a more in-depth changelog, check out the DOCS subcategory of this mod.
All updates are save game compatible unless otherwise stated. The only problem will be self-enchanted weapons which will not retroactively change damage values.

2.1.0 -> 2.1.1
Fixed Timber Wolf variants having too much health: From 3x to 1.25x (like most other creatures)
Updated Ascension/OOO patches to the newest versions
Fixed some other patches that also had the wrong health value for timber wolves.

2.0.3 -> 2.1.0
Highly recommend Deadly Daggers (up to 10x version) to further improve daggers.
Check the two newly uploaded mod pictures (excel tables), the numbers section, or the changelog (DOCS subcategory) for a detailed weapon changes. Most of these changes are due to your feedback.

- Weapons:
--> Changes weapon damage calculation to selectively buff daggers/shortswords (due to popular demand) and slightly nerf 2H-weapons
--> Made 1H weapon subtypes more unique by selectively changing reach/damage values
--> Made most weapons have less reach

- Creatures:
--> Gave the minotaur creatures more HP (like the troll)
--> Gave the Will-O-Wisp creatures less HP (wankers)

2.0.2 -> 2.0.3
Fixed bound weapons having weight.

2.0.1 -> 2.0.2
Fixed missing spell effectiveness changes, and fixed missing armor base changes.

2.0.0 -> 2.0.1
2.0.0 was broken on release, this update fixed that & split up the downloads for ease of access with mod managers.

1.1.0 -> 2.0.0
Redone weight calculation, and weapon material damage calculation.
The redone weapon calculation resulted in a nerf of every weapon type except warhammers. (The smaller weapons were hit the hardest, such as the dagger)
Nerfed warhammers: 3.1 -> 2.75x

- Magic:
--> Enchantments (weapons): 2.0x -> 1.25x
--> Enchantments (staves): 2.0x -> 2.0x (stayed the same)
--> Summon Cap: 1 -> 2

- Creatures:
--> Trolls: 2.0x DMG, 1.25x HP -> 2.0x Damage, 3.0x HP
--> Deer: 2.0x DMG, 1.25x HP -> 2.0x Damage, 1.0x HP
--> Summon - Headless Zombie: 0.5x DMG, 1.25x HP -> 0.5x DMG, 1.75x HP

[Short Description]
What this mod does:
- Removes the spongyness from vanilla oblivion combat
- Makes two-handed weapons worth using
- Rebalances classes - conjurers, archers, and destruction mages now are in line with the other classes
- Overhauls weapon damage scaling by material - no more daggers with more DPS than warhammers
- Overhauls weapon weight scaling by material - no more 75lbs glass warhammers
- Provides a massive .pas script for xEdit to easily patch other mods with just a few clicks.
- Changes various settings to provide a more realisitc approach to gameplay.
- Fixes some inconsistencies with Oblivions weapons:
--- Some silver weapons were not able to bypass ghost weapon resistance.
--- Some 2H blunt weapons were incorrectly classified as 2H blade.
--- Some weapons had no enchantments even though they should've.
--- Some weapons had wrong damage values.

If you dislike my approach to the rebalance, check out the linked alternative mods at the bottom of the description.

[Long Description]
Since this mod makes combat extremely deadly, you will need to play to your strengths:
- Warriors need high-quality armor. And many, many repair hammers. Armor has been substantially buffed in the early game, so warriors in heavy armor can take the most punishment. A shield improves survivability extremely. Level endurance as much as you can. Even if you are covered in armor, a clean power attack from a warhammer may still kill you, so you also need to be dodging.
- Rogues need to use stealth. Daggers deal 8x sneak damage in the remaster. Use poisons or illusion magic to improve your odds.
- Mages and battlemages (armored mages) are now distinct, as armored mages now suffer from a higher spell effectiveness reduction. You can not only rely on one school of magic (especially in the early game). Try using illusion (for calm/frenzy), alteration (for shield), conjuration (for meat shields).

Spell Effectiveness
I don't understand how a mage whose movements are hindered by daedric armor can move just as well as a mage in the finest cloth. In vanilla Oblivion there is simply no reason not to use armor as a mage. I changed that.

Base Armor
If you're untrained in heavy armor, then even daedric armor will barely be wet tissue paper between you and the girthy warhammer of your enemy. Same goes for glass armor. I changed that. Now, no matter your armor skill, you gain at least (X% - see numbers section) of the armor value. The remaining (100-X%) are gained as normal through leveling your skill.

Increased low-level enemy health
On my very first character I blasted through the tutorial, as well as the first bandit camp in front of the sewers on Expert without any problems. I then went into the imperial city, helped out a poor shopkeeper involved with grave-robbing, and got my ass handed to me without really being able to fight back in a tomb by two burly nord men.
I'd rather be manhandled from the very start so I know what to expect.

One-Handed
One-handed weapons now deal less DPS than two-handed weapons, because you are able to profit from the massive damage reduction of shields while using smaller weapons. One-handed weapons also have faster animations, which means that it is easier to weave in-and-out of combat, dodging attacks you can not block.

Two-Handed
Two-handed weapons are now worth using. All two-handed weapons had their damage improved drastically relative to one-handed weapons. In vanilla they had less DPS than one-handed weapons for some reason.
Claymores have increased reach to make up for their atrocious animations.
Battle Axes have decreased reach due to their very quick animations.
Warhammers have the highest damage potential in the game, with the slowest animations in the game.

Bows & Ammo
Kiting with bows is not immersive, and also too strong. That is why I've decided to buff them less than everything else. Ammunition on the other hand is a limited resource, which is why they now contribute more to your damage when using ranged weapons.

Magic
A mage is still able to tear through enemies since magic isn't affected by the increased armor ratings of various combatants. Furthermore - as a mage you have access to "Weakness to X" spells, which increase your damage output considerably. And - don't forget other spell schools other than destruction. As a mage you still have access to Paralysis, Charm, Frenzy, and so on, which now actually have at least a bit of a use case in comparison to spamming destruction. Only the following effects have been changed: Fire Damage, Frost Damage, Shock Damage, Absorb Health, Drain Health, Damage Health.

Now, what about spellmaking? It still works as intended! While you won't be able to increase the magnitude to, say, 150, you can still increase the duration of your damaging spell instead, making it deal more damage. The mana costs/skill requirements have been scaled accordingly.

Conjuration magic is not the strongest playstyle anymore - no more summoning a single creature which clears out an entire dungeon for you. Your summons now deal substantially lower damage and die a bit faster - to remedy that pure conjurers are able to summon two creatures at once now.

Enchantments, poisons, and poisonous ingredients
All of the above ignore your selected difficulty setting. This means that while you deal ~0.3x damage on expert, the aforementioned things (as well as summons!) deal 1.0x damage.
Since both enchantments and poisons require "preparation", I decided to buff them anyways - but only by a tiny amount.

Creatures
Creatures sadly don't benefit from my buffs to weapons/armor. That is why I simply increased their attack damage and their health.

Redone weapon damage scaling
Base oblivion weapon calculation is wack.
Daedric material enhances the damage of your warhammer by 14 (the iron warhammer also has 14 damage so that is a 100% increase!).
It also enhances the damage of your dagger by 14 (the iron dagger has 5 damage so that is a... nearly 300% increase.).

That doesn't make any sense. I've now rebalanced weapon damage: Your material (up to daedric) can only buff your base damage (iron damage) by 100%. What does this mean? If the iron damage of a weapon type is 10, then the daedric equivalent of that weapon will now deal 20 damage.

Redone weapon weight
An iron warhammer weights 30 bramble plinths. Alright. A Dwarven warhammer weighs 57. Bit excessive, but OK. A glass warhammer weighs 75. What? A daedric warhammer 93. How? That doesn't make sense. I've redone all weapon weights, and reduced the weight of everything drastically.

Settings
Settings, now in three files? - Yes, sadly they have to be like that. I provided settings
- to fix the increased block fatigue drain (GameSettings.ini),
- to lower player health (UE4SS main.lua),
- to lower player carry weight (GameSettings.ini),
- to disable player health regen (UE4SS main.lua).


[Numbers]

Spell Effectiveness Reduction due to armor (MinimumReduction-MaximumReduction): Vanilla: 5%-15% | Modded: 15-25%
Armor Rating Base: Vanilla: 35% | Modded: 70%

Baseline Damage/Reach Changes:

I recommend checking out the two excel table pictures I've uploaded.

To understand the weapon changes, you will need to know the iron vanilla damage values for each weapon type (excluding bows since they are a simple multiplicator):
-> Dagger: 5
-> Shortsword: 7
-> Longsword: 10
-> War Axe: 8
-> Mace: 10
-> Claymore: 12
-> Battle Axe: 12
-> Warhammer: 14

Bows: 1.75x
Ammunition: 1.5x
Hand-to-Hand: 2.0x

One-Handed weapons:
-> Dagger: 5 -> 15 (+10) Damage | -0.15 Reach
-> Shortsword: 7 -> 18 (+11) Damage | -0.15 Reach
-> Longsword: 10 -> 20 (+10) Damage | No change in reach
-> War Axe: 8 -> 20 (+12) Damage | -0.15 Reach
-> Mace: 10 -> 22 (+12) Damage | -0.1 Reach
Two-Handed weapons:
-> Claymores: 12 -> 32 (+20) Damage | +0.25 Reach
-> Battleaxes: 12 -> 32 (+20) Damage | -0.15 Reach
-> Warhammers: 14 -> 24 (+20) Damage | -0.1 Reach

Destruction Magic: 1.5x DMG
Summoned Creatures: 0.5x DMG, 1.25x HP
Enchantments: 1.25x DMG
Poisons & poisonous ingredients: 1.25x DMG

Creatures (Mudcrabs, ...): 2.0x DMG, 1.25x HP

The above are the new baseline. Below are some exceptions to those rules:

Exceptions:
Summoned Creatures:
- Since summoned skeletons don't actually use their attack damage stat (they use weapons), I've instead nerfed their combat skill & strength to 0.35x
- The far-too-squishy headless zombie summon has been buffed to (baseline damage), and (baseline HP + 0.5x)

Creatures:
- The loathsome timber wolf has been nerfed to (baseline creature DMG - 0.4x, baseline creature HP)
- The weak troll has been buffed to (baseline creature DMG, baseline creature HP + 1.75x)
- The tanky deer has been nerfed to (baseline creature DMG, baseline creature HP - 0.25) HP
- Any and all minotaurs now come with extra beef (baseline creature DMG, baseline creature HP + 1.75x)
- The Will-O-Wisp has been nerfed. No joke here, I hate them. (baseline creature DMG, baseline creature HP - 0.25x)

Other:
Redone weapon weight:
- Base is always iron weight. Modifier by material:
-> IRON = 1.0x
-> STEEL = 1.0x
-> SILVER = 1.35x
-> DWARVEN = 1.1x
-> ELVEN = 0.75x
-> GLASS = 0.5x
-> EBONY = 1.5x
-> DAEDRIC = 2.0x
-> AMBER = 1.25x

Redone weapon damage scaling:
Weapon Damage:
-> New formula: damage =
(<weaponTypeBaseDamage> * <weaponTypeDamageMultiplier>) + ( (<weaponTypeBaseDamage> * <weaponTypeDamageMultiplier>) * (<thisWeaponsMaterialValue> / <daedricMaterialValue> ) )

-> weaponTypeBaseDamage => iron damage of given weapon type (such as iron bow, iron war axe, ...)
-> weaponTypeDamageMultiplier => the multiplier I use for those weapons
(2.0 for one handed weapons, 2.75x for two handed, 1.75x for bows)

In simple words, this means that ...
- a weapons type-base-damage is first multiplied by my weapon type damage multiplier (call this X)
- we get the flat increase that is given by our material: for example, let's use glass (increase of a flat 10 in vanilla)
- we get the flat increase that is given by daedric (14)
- we divide 10 / 14 to get the correct percentage (how many percent is 10 if 14 is 100%)
- finally, we now calculate X + (X * percentage) for a damage value ranging from 100%-200%, based on material

- rusty is negative, and as such reduced the damage value below 100% |
amber is a flat addition of 1 flat modifier to a specific material, and
as such allows to value to go above 200%
- with my current configuration a flat modifier of "1" is equal to "7.14%" of damage.

[Installation Instructions]
I recommend reading the README.txt supplied with the main files. The installation of the core files is very simply, some settings are dependend on other files, though. If you have any questions at all, please first read both the README and this section, and then post a comment here.

GameSettings.ini requires the UE4SS Game Settings Loader, and the UE4SS settings require UE4SS.

Put the MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_GameSettings.ini in your Oblivion Remastered\OblivionRemastered\Binaries\Win64\GameSettings folder (create it yourself) after installing the UE4SS Game Settings Loader.
You can check if this file works by checking if you have any health regen. If you dislike the removed health regen, simply remove the following line:

PlayerHealthRegenMult=0.000000

For the file "More Damage - CCO - UE4SS Settings": This script reduces the player health and, optionally, carry weight. To install this you will need UE4SS. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY, YOU WILL FIND THEM IN THE DOCS SECTION OF THAT MOD.

If you installed the UE4SS Game Settings Loader you should already have it. Simply paste the this folder into your
- \OblivionRemastered\Binaries\Win64\Mods
or, depending on your UE4SS installation
- \OblivionRemastered\Binaries\Win64\UE4SS\Mods
folder.

The correct folder structure after pasting is:
OblivionRemastered\Binaries\Win64\Mods\MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Settings\Scripts\main.lua
or
OblivionRemastered\Binaries\Win64\UE4SS\Mods\MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Settings\Scripts\main.lua

For the carry weight change to work correctly, you...
- need the MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_LessCarryWeight.esp, available as a separate download,
- need to change the provided main.lua file:

SettingInstance.DefaultStrengthEncumbranceMult = 5.0 <-- change this to 3.5!

If you dislike the health changes made bit this file, feel free to revert them. Defaults are provided in the file. Or simply don't use it.
You can check if this file works by checking your health (should be reduced).

(Thanks nest3k!):
For those experiencing crashing with Lower Player Health as a result of adding UE4SS, disabling the following setting in UE4SS-settings.ini has allowed me to play for a few hours and load several times without crashing. Might be luck, but worth a shot before uninstalling entirely.
bUseUObjectArrayCache = false

If you are installing the .esps manually:
Put them into your \OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData\Data folder. In that same folder open the plugins.txt file and add the names of the files there (see downloaded README for recommended load order).

Alternatively, take a look at the collections featuring this mod. Keep in mind that they might be using an older version!

[Compatibility & Patches]
This mod is not very compatible since it changes pretty much every record of creatures, weapons, spells, potions, ingredients, enchantments, and also some game settings and some magic effects. A patch is quite simple if you know what you're doing in xEdit - I supplied my script, pre configured for the current version. You can simply let it run over the records. I recommend this 6:31 video for a quick rundown on xEdit.

Incompatible with...
- This is incompatible with Oblivion Remastered Decompressed Records, and causes the game to freeze on start-up without an error message (thanks to ZeroRemorse for finding that one!). I am sadly unable to determine the cause of the error.

I made patches for the following mods:
- Alchemy Overhaul
- Ascension
- Balanced Unleveled Rewards
- Simple Creature Level Cap
- Dynamic AI Behaviour Animals
- Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul | OOO is a complete overhaul which also changes the weapon damage values. I am not sure if OOO and my mod play well together. Update: Played ~2 hours with OOO. Might be just because I am low level but all fights felt extremely spongy, so I added my mod back in. Liking it.
- Oblivion Unleveled | Like OOO, but more lightweight. Will be testing this both with & without my mod in the coming days.
- Yami's Conjuration Rebalanced

Compatible without a patch:
- Leveled Creature and Item Diversity
- Balanced NPC Level Cap - Remastered
- Unleved Item Rewards
- Auto Upgrade Leveled Items
- More Enemies
- Better Oblivion Crisis
- Unleveled Economy
- Responsive Combat AI
- Rebalanced and Unleveled Quest Gold Rewards

On "Weightless" Mods:
If you really want to use one (not recommended) you can grab a weightless patch from https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivionremastered/mods/269?tab=files. Take the 1.5x-Version (slight nerf) or 2.0x-Version (slight buff) for Ammo. For poisons: I'd recommend either taking the 1.5x patch (slight buff since I have them at 1.25x) you find in the aforementioned link, or simply being content with 1.0x poisons and taking a "normal" weightless mod.

[Recommended Mods]
Since I only make patches for mods I recommend: Take a look at my patches.

My current recommended combat-adjacent mods are:
- Difficulty Slider Fixed (x2.0 version, Master difficulty for masochists like me)
- Deadly Daggers (up to 10x version) for specializing daggers for stealth.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul:
- I overwrote all of the weapon changes from OOO. Why? Because OOO uses the weapon stat "speed" to balance weapons (among other things), which doesn't seem to have an effect in Oblivion: Remastered due to the new animations. If you intend to use OOO and my mod, I also recommend Balanced Unleveled Rewards. Below is my recommended load order for exactly these three mods:

...
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp
Balanced Unleveled Rewards.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Rebalancing.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_LessCarryWeight.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Rebalancing_DeluxeAddOn.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Settings.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Patch_OOO_MyWeapons.esp
MoreDamage_CustomCombatOverhaul_Patch_BalancedUnleveledRewards.esp

If you decide to use OOO with my mod, I recommend NOT playing on Master difficulty with the x2.0 difficulty slider version. You might also want to remove my player health reduction from the main.lua file. Shit's brutal, yo

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Known Problems]
Slower leveling speed for combat skills, since you use them less. I myself find them too fast to level up anyways. If you dislike this, take a look at Faster combat skill leveling.

Faster equipment breakage due to higher damage. Take a look at the corresponding section in [Troubleshooting].

Any weapons you enchanted yourself are stuck at the damage value they had at the time of enchanting. This means that if you enchant a weapon before installing this mod, it will not have its damage increased.
Same goes for the other way around.

[Troubleshooting]
"My game crashes on start-up!"
This is due to one of three known problems:
- OBSE crashes your game (unrelated to my mod) - Solution: Stop using OBSE. This comes with the loss of any OBSE plugins you may use.
- Your drivers may not be up-to-date (unrelated to my mod) - Solution: Update your graphics drivers.
- "Balanced Unleveled Rewards Patch" crashes your game (related to my mod) - Solution: Stop using Balanced Unleveled Rewards, and instead use Auto Upgrade Leveled Items or something similar. I sadly can not find the cause of the crash.


"My game has an infinite black screen on start-up!"
If you use MO2:
(Thanks to v1ld and Silarn for this info):

Heyo. After running into bizarre load issues with this over on the MO2 discord, we discovered there's a specific load order incompatibility
that will result in an infinite black screen.

To avoid this please ensure 'DLCFrostcrag.esp' loads before 'DLCHorseArmor.esp'.

If you use Oblivion Remastered Decompressed Records: My mod is sadly not compatible with that.

If its neither of those, and you use Vortex: Check out your load order! Make sure Vortex didn't accidentally load some mods before your base game plugins!


"I don't seem to deal increased damage!"
Check, once with, and once without the mod the damage values of your weapons and your magic. If they change, you do deal more damage.


"It is too hard! Enemies don't die fast enough! I die in far fewer hits!"
Turn down the difficulty, or remove my changes to health (they can be retroactively removed).


"My stamina is drained extremely fast when blocking!"
This is fixed with the GameSettings.ini file I provided. Check the installation instructions for guidance.


"My carry weight is not actually lowered even though I used LowerCarryWeight.esp!"
The .esp only changes the visual side of carry weight - it only changes the number displayed in your inventory. To actually tell the game to use that lower number you need to change the following line within the UE4SS settings main.lua file:

SettingInstance.DefaultStrengthEncumbranceMult = 5.0 <--- set this to 3.5!

If that doesn't help, try:

You can also try to go to the following folder:
Documents\My Games\Oblivion Remastered\Saved\Config\Windows

and open your altar.ini file and paste the following in there:
[/Script/UE5AltarPairing.VOblivionInitialSettings]
DefaultStrengthEncumbranceMult=3.5

"My health is not regenerating!"
This is a feature of the GameSettings.ini file I provided. You can simply remove the following line there to re-enable regen:

PlayerHealthRegenMult=0.000000

"My equipment breaks far too fast!"
Sadly I was unable to fix this within my settings files. While I myself do not use this due to personal preferences (I don't mind the increased breakage, I actually quite like it since it makes Armorer useful), you can fix it by downloading Configurable Item Degradation and setting the value to 0.333 or using Armor Durability Enhancer
Keep in mind that I've experienced MANY crashes with OBSE. If you suddenly find yourself crashing, this might be a likely culprit.


"My game is crashing when I load saves!"

(Thanks nest3k!):
For those experiencing crashing with Lower Player Health as a result of adding UE4SS, disabling the following setting in UE4SS-settings.ini has allowed me to play for a few hours and load several times without crashing. Might be luck, but worth a shot before uninstalling entirely.
bUseUObjectArrayCache = false

If you truly think something is wrong with your installation of this mod, and you've checked the recommended load order, try the following:
(!this might break some other mods installed through UE4SS or OBSE!)

• backup your .esp-files
• backup your plugins.txt file
• delete your .esp files and your plugins.txt file
• run "Verify game files" on steam (google it if you're unsure how to do that - not sure how to do that on gamepass)
• Start vanilla oblivion and check weapon/magic damage numbers
• re-add the .esp files
• open the newly created plugins.txt file and re-add only my mod.
• Start oblivion again and re-check the weapon/magic damage numbers. they should have increased
• add the rest of the missing plugins.txt file
• Check it once more. If something broke now, then there is an incompatibility.
  

If that still doesn't fix it, then leave a post for me to try and troubleshoot with you!

[Other similar mods]
Below are some similar mods that tackle the same problem in different ways (posting the ones I know & approve of):

- Oblivion Remaster Rebalance another complete overhaul to combat like this mod, made by an author with more balancing experience than me (he created an amazing FO4 total rebalance mod!). Highly recommend this if you think my mod is too simple/straight-forward in its approach.

- Better Difficulty allows you to set your damage received/damage dealt multipliers.

- Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is a complete overhaul which also makes the world static less ridiculous with its level scaling. As far as I've seen it already contains buffs to 2H weapons, various changes to all weapon types to make them unique, changes to magic, and so on. (See my [Compatiblity & Patches] sections for information, and a patch if you want to use both mods.)

- Oblivion Unleveled delevels the world, unlike OOO. It makes every enemy level completely static from what I've gathered. Much more light-weight and compatible since OOO is a complete overhaul while this is, true to its name, an Oblivion-Unleveler.

- Oblivion Unending - a "Comprehensive Overhaul Designed To Increase the Immersion, Realism and Challenges of Oblivion." I haven't yet tried it myself, but it seems quite promising.

- Mother of All Weapon Balance Patches - if you're like my vision but think that I am changing too many different aspects of the game, you'll probably love this.

- Dynamic Damage Rescaler - an extremely light-weight (meaning compatible) alternative for those who simply want to change the damage values during combat and nothing else.