Well, at least it's using the hard drive...

Very handy to know. Thanks

um, like crap?

I'm guessing that it must clear the cache (across all games) completely, but who really knows?

If it works like the original Xbox then its one cache for all games. At least its a more elegant way of clearing the cache on the 360, on the Xbox you had to load 3 different games back to back to clear the cache.

I think it's only Oblivion... beacuse, IMO, it is the first game to actually use the HD for cache.

cool! glad to help!

EDIT: Brae, I just saved my own ass with that fix. My game was doing the same thing your was, I did what you said that I said to do and it saved the day!

Very interesting. Does it have the same effect if you just turn the music slider all the way down? If not, those who want to play without the music might try starting a song from the guide and then pausing it. Then you get nothing but environmental sounds plus ths potential load time reduction.

I'll have to play with it myself tonight. Personally, since I absolutely love the music I've been having a hard time letting it go. However, I really like being able to hear the ambient sounds, so I've been playing with the music very, very low. If it really does reduce the load times, however, perhaps I will go with the music off for a while and see if I can live without it.

Skimmer warning: you might not want to skim this post.

Irony is a cruel, cruel mistress. Just yesterday I was telling Fly not to worry too much about breaking quests, and then last night I stumbled upon on of the easily breakable quests myself. The following spoiler regards one of the mage guild recommendation quests, but trust me, you WILL want to read it, especially if you are playing on the 360. On the PC you can unbreak the quest with a simple console command, but 360 users will have to either go back to a previous save game or wait for a patch. Luckily I had a save game that wasn't too far back to revert to, since who knows when the patch will come (it will come though; there is quite an uproar about this on the official boards). Anyway, here goes:

There will always be something like this that will slip through QA, but it is a shame that it is on such a vital quest. Anyway, just be warned, especially if you are playing on the 360. I'm going to go cross-post this on the other Oblivion threads, for those who aren't reading this one.

I don't get it... and is it a Mage Guild quest?

@Zero: Will do... will do...

It plays just fine without a hard drive. I'm 30+ hours in sans hard drive and enjoying the hell out of it.

I found a huge improvement in performance when I started dumping the extraneous inventory items I was hauling around into a chest in my house. Filling your pockets with hundreds of alchemy items and scrolls tend to cause a bit of slowdown, for some reason!

I would also assume that the old Morrowind "sleep for 3 days trick" would help, as all the corpses that you have left in your wake will vanish.

Probably really behind. Doing the Thieves Guild mission where I have to steal the bust of so and so and tell Lex that that one lady has it! Ring a bell. Well, I saved it right outside her shack in case I got caught. I get in, put the bust in her cupboard and tell Lex. Lex arrests her once inside. They tell me to meet Armand at the usual place. Here's my problem. He's on my map I go there no Armand. Reloaded the save, still no. I get kicked out of the Thieves Guild still no armand. He's no where to be found. I went to S'krivva in Bravil and pay the fine to get back in and still no Armand when I come back. Any help? Pretty fired up. Way in to the game Arch-Mage and all. I have gone on and done other missions and whenever I go back to the Thives Guild Quest. It shows Armand on the map but he's just not there. What to Do??

I took a quick look around and found this. Hope it helps:

"A very frustrating bug can occur after you are told to meet Armand in the garden on "the next midnight" and he doesn't show up. Even after multiple midnights he still stays in the land of the missing. Try pickpocketing a beggar near the waterfront so you are "cast out of the thieves guild". Make it your active quest, and this time at midnight Armand is there to collect your fine. Pay the fine and switch back your active quest to The Elven Maiden and speak to him again. You should be advanced."