Oblivion:Version 1

Version 1 of the Oblivion 100% Speedrun was conceptualized and routed throughout the Summer of 2017 by MeemawHustlin, and performed by PRCLive starting July 21st, 2017. A final time of 79:17:32 was achieved. This run is notable for being the first ever single-segment 100% speedrun of Oblivion, as well as the first run to achieve 100% completion without the use of mods or console commands. Version 1 is infamous for utilizing very few time saving glitches, as well as having poor Route Communication, making the run extremely punishing. Version 1 was performed without fully testing the route beforehand. Borked Toddd was the name given to the player at the recommendation of chat, who noted that his large nose made him resemble the infamous Bork'd Shlong character.

The original guide was completed on July 8th, 2017, with an updated version being made to account for errors in route logic discovered during the run. This article covers the original version of the route, with a few notes about things that PRCLive changed mid-route.

Due to a lack of technical knowledge, the original run took over 9 months to be fully rendered and uploaded to YouTube, with several parts of the end of the run having large audio desync issues.

Requirements

Version 1 was experimental in nature, with the requirements containing many things that were eventually deemed subjective or unverifiable in later route revisions. The following requirements vary from the current category definition:

• 199 Quests Completed instead of 208 due to the Blood Price exploit not being discovered yet.
• Shadowmere and Prior Maborel's Paint Horse being part of the Horses Owned requirement despite not being counted in the stats page.
• Initially 368 Places Found was listed until it was discovered mid-run that Weynon Priory was erroneously counted as discoverable. The requirement was changed to 367 upon realizing this.
• Grand Champion of the Arena was listed, but Max Faction Ranks was not in the requirements despite being automatically obtained.
• Defeat All Unique Enemies was required, which included seven enemies:
  • Uderfrykte Matron
  • Erandur-Vangaril
  • Ghost of Perennia Draconis
  • Spectral Mud Crab
  • Giant Slaughterfish
  • The Rat in Lazare Milvan's House, which is uniquely high leveled.
  • Giant Mud Crab
• 7 Non-Journal Quests were included, using the names and descriptions from the UESP:
  • Attack on Fort Sutch
  • The Forgotten Chests of Pale Pass
  • The Horror of Dive Rock
  • Black Bow Bandits
  • Lich of Lost Boy Cavern
  • The Unbeaten Path
  • Illegal Cargo
• Unlocking Master Training for every skill was required, meaning that Trainers could not be murdered to complete their Master Training quest.

Splits

Character Build

Since skill farming largely had to be performed manually, the character build was entirely focused on optimizing the amount of training that could be acquired in addition to minimizing the more tedious skill grinds. Here is a summary of the character build:

• Race — Imperial was selected due to them having +10 to Mercantile and Speechcraft (two high tedium skills), as well as +5 to Blade, Blunt, Hand to Hand, and Heavy Armor, most of which were medium tedium skills. This makes Imperial the race with the most bonuses to the most tedious skills.
• Gender — Male Imperial has 10 more Speed than Female Imperial, so Male was chosen.
• Birthsign — The Steed was chosen for additional movement speed.
• Class — A custom class was created with the following:
  • Specialization — Combat was chosen since it would give a bonus to one high tedium skill, and five medium tedium skills. Since specialization makes the grind for those skills faster, this was determined to be best since it would make all of the weapon/armor grinds much shorter.
  • Favored Attributes — Strength and Speed were chosen to speed up combat and movement throughout the run.
  • Major Skills — Armorer, Athletics, Blade, Blunt, Marksman, Mercantile, and Speechcraft were chosen. These are the four high tedium skills, and several of the worst medium tedium skills. Getting +20 bonuses to each of these made the amount of training required for each much lower, making it possible to never have to grind any of the high tedium skills, with stats left over to put into medium tedium skills.

At the time, it was not known that glitches could be used to increase the player's level higher than normal, resulting in a max player level of 42 with the character build. Each level, the player gets 5 levels of training for a total of 210 training purchases in V1, and the rest manually farmed.

Tutorial

Time: 0:13:39

Due to the lack of knowledge related to Save Clipping and Load Warping, the Tutorial was played entirely normal. Acrobatics and Restoration were farmed throughout. Items acquired included one of each type of weapon and armor and a mortar and pestle for skill farming later. Mort Flesh, a lockpick, and Wrist Irons were acquired as well. Wrist Irons were incorrectly thought to be a unique clothing type that could be added on top of gauntlets. They are used in this run to enchant with Disintegrate Armor later for Armorer farming. The player is instructed to wear a full set of Light Armor and wield a dagger for the majority of the run. In the updated version of the guide, a note was added to inform the player about holding block to attack faster, which was taught to PRCLive during their run by chat.

Unexpected Voyage

Time: 0:04:23

An Unexpected Voyage levels your character up twice due to two instances of forced sleep to advance the quest, which would cost the player five training levels. Due to this, An Unexpected Voyage is done at the very start of the run before the player can even level up. This section provides no other instructions other than to simply do the quest, setting a precedent for the lack of explanation of quest steps and workarounds to bugs.

Imperial City Market District

Time: 0:09:53

At this point in the run, the player is instructed to spam Acrobatics and Restoration farming everywhere they go. Duping is one of the only glitches utilized in the run and was prioritized in the routing. This meant that scrolls needed to be acquired as early as possible to be able to dupe other items. Scrolls were acquired from Three Brothers Trade Goods, and a Jeweled Amulet was purchased from Red Diamond Jewelry, which was then sold to the store owner until 10,000 Gold was acquired. Additionally, various spell effects were purchased from Mystic Emporium for creating farming spells.

Conceptually, this part of the route is largely unchanged from later route revisions. Although the locations and quantity of items has since been adjusted, prioritizing scrolls for duping and getting preliminary Gold is still the first post-Tutorial goal.