Cheats (Oblivion)

In addition to playing the game through "as intended", many players also enjoy pushing the game engine to its limits, or taking advantage of bugs or other unintended effects to play "outside the box". Besides outright cheating, there are also a number of ways to exploit the game's rules to speed up progress or gain a more powerful character.

The cheats listed here fall into three basic categories: exploting known bugs, using internal console commands, and means to abuse the game engine without actually "breaking" any rules.

Console Commands

 * For a full list of console commands, see Console commands.
 * For a list of IDs, see Item IDs and NPC IDs.

The PC version of the game gives players access to the debugging console, which is typically used by employees when playtesting the game. As such, the console allows you to directly manipulate the game world in ways not normally intended. To access the console, press the tilde key, '~' (usually, next to the 1 key). This will pause the game and display the console cursor, and any recent commands you may have run.

Some users may have trouble bringing up the console. It is said that in such cases the ' or @ key may work, or the key directly left of the 1 (assuming that's not the ~ key.) Also, there is a known issue with Windows Media Center edition, when the infrared unit is connected to the USB port when you boot your system, you cannot access the console (or, apparently, use the ~ key at all) until you unplug the unit and reboot.

Beat Oblivion in 20 minutes
To Beat Oblivion in twenty minutes, you will need lots of paint brushes.
 * Make a ladder outside of the Temple of the One using your paint brushes.
 * Climb up to the top of the Temple of the One (Preferably above the door.)
 * Fall down onto the door portal (remember to heal: THERE WILL BE DAEDRA LATER)
 * Go through the door. You will see that the Temple is in its destroyed state. If not, wait an hour.


 * The door is lodged in the ground and it can only be seen from one side.
 * Go out, you will find the minor Oblivion Gates with Daedra pouring out.
 * Kill a scamp and walk around a bit until you get a Journal entry saying that Dagon is here.
 * Go back into the Temple and wait 24 hours. Martin should be there in the temple with you.
 * Talk to Martin.

After this, the game has been completed and the ending of the game will be shown.

Gold and Items
The AddItem console command allows you to add any number of any item in the game directly to your inventory. (Technically, you can add items to any characters inventory, but adding them to your own is most useful.) The command looks like this:

actor.AddItem itemid amount

The term actor here just means an object that represents some character in the game. The word also appears in many of the commands that affect NPCs, but for our purposes, the global actor name player always refers to your player character. The ItemID for gold is 0000000F; item IDs for most other items can be found in the list mentioned above. So, to give yourself an additional 1000 gold, the command to enter is:

player.additem 0000000F 1000

Note that calling AddItem with no parameters will make a complete copy of the player character itself. DO NOT attack this clone of you, as it belongs to all of your guilds and you will get kicked out of them all.

Skills and Attributes
Several commands exists that let you alter the skills and attributes on your character. The ModPCAttribute and MODPCSkill command (abbreviated modpca and modpcs) allow you to increase an attribute or skill on the player character. Set SetActorValue function (abbreviated setav), when called on the player object, allows you to directly set the value of an attribute or skill. (Note that SetActorValue can also edit other information about your player, such as your bounty, chameleon level, magic resistances, etc.)

The difference between the two methods for changing your skills involves the levelling process. When you use ModPCSkill to raise a skill, it doesn't actually advance your "usage count" to the minimum needed for that level. This technically gives you negative progress towards your next skill increase. Using completely made-up numbers, if you needed to cast 50 spells to raise Destruction, and you had already cast 25 of them, using ModPCSkill to raise Destruction would mean you had -25 uses. This means you'd need to cast 25 more spells just to get your progress meter back to 0. Using SetActorValue in this same case would leave you with 25 uses out of whatever the new total needed was. On the other hand, ModPCSkill increases count towards your character level, while SetActorValue increases do not.

A word of warning: Trying to set values over 255 will roll them back to zero. Negative numbers also work, though they may cause unstable behavior (especially if you lower a skill or attribute below the minimum requirements for your current skill level, class, etc.)

These commands are used like so:

ModPCAttribute attribute increase ModPCSkill skill increase actor.SetActorValue valuename newvalue

For example, to raise your Strength by 10, your Marksman by 25, make yourself a master in security, and give yourself a permanent 200 foot Detect Life condition:

modpca Strength 10 modpcs Marksman 25 player.setav Security 100 player.setav DetectLifeRange 200

Targetted Commands
In some cases, you can execute commands on other objects in the world. The easiest way to do this is to enter the console while the object (item, corpse, NPC, etc.) is on screen, and while the game is paused, click on them. The item's name and ID will appear across the top of the screen. Certain commands will automatically affect the targetted item, such as:


 * : Brings the targetted corpse back to life
 * : Instantly kills the targetted creature or NPC
 * : Remove targetted object from the game, permanently.

Miscellaneous Commands
A number of other console commands can be used to alter the basic game behavior. The most frequently used commands are:


 * or : Enable "God Mode"
 * or : Add all spells to your spellbook.
 * or : Reveal (or hide) all map location markers
 * or : Turn collision detection (what makes you fall and makes walls solid) on or off. Useful for fixing bugs where a quest is rendered unfinishable because a character has become stuck in a place where he/she cannot be conversed with or killed.
 * or : Disable all AI processing, making everything but you freeze.

Known bugs

 * The full list of known bugs has been moved here.

Some bugs commonly used to cheat are:

Note that bugs are constantly being fixed by Bethesda, so these cheats may not always work on the latest patch. See the bugs article for more details.
 * Cloning items with arrows
 * Cloning items with scrolls
 * Cloning items with melee attacks
 * Infinite money from Dorian
 * Infinite money from the Vampire Cure quest
 * Selling items from horseback

Exploits
Exploits are degenerate strategies that tend to emerge out of complex systems. Whether or not a strategy can be considered an exploit can be a bit of a judgment call, since exploits are not, strictly speaking, cheats: they are part and parcel of the rules of the game.

Some strategies will seem "unrealistic" when compared to the theme of the game, but still be balanced within the abstract scope of the game mechanics. Other exploits will make total perceivable sense, but undermine the balance of the game.

Leveling

 * For general skill leveling tips, see skill leveling tips.

There are a number of techniques for levelling specific skills without using them in any productive manner. Some of these techniques are obviously against the "spirit" of the game, while others may be completely reasonable for your character. One word of warning: some of these exploits can allow you to level your skills unattended. If you raise a skill too many levels at once, you will effectively be wasting attribute bonus points on your next character level, since those max out at +5.


 * Athletics: Use the "auto-run" command to have your character run into a wall, mountain, boulder, or other obstruction. Even more effective is finding a place where you can swim into a wall.  As long as your character is trying to move forward, his or her Athletics skill will increase.


 * Acrobatics: Head to Cloud Ruler Temple and move to the massive fireplace in the main room. Get close to the fire and jump while moving forward. If this is done correctly you shouldn't ever land, instead you simply hover in one place above the fire continously until you move away or stop jumping.


 * Sneak: Locate an NPC that doesn't move, such as a city guard, preferrably near a corner. Begin sneaking behind the NPC, out of his or her field of vision.  Using the "auto-run" command to start moving forward into the wall.  As long as you keep moving, near the NPC but not noticed by them, your Sneak skill will continue to improve.


 * Sneak: Continually pickpocket NPCs that are travelling as your companions, such as the adoring fan from the Arena. These NPCs, and a few others you may run into (such as Armand Christophe), won't care how often you pickpocket them, as long as no one else sees you.  Your companions will continue to obey your direction, even if they begin to strongly dislike you.


 * Schools of Magic: Repeatedly cast low-cost spells that target yourself, such as Shield (Alteration), Detect Life (Mysticism), Light (Illusion), or Heal (Restoration). Even if the spell has no real effect, if it sucessfully hits its target (you), you get credit. You can also cast low-level Conjurations repeatedly, as they always succeed. Note that Restoration skill tends to level much more slowly that others.


 * More Schools of Magic: Even better, use the spell creator to create multiple spell effects that cancel each other out, such as a spell that simultaneously does 5 damage to you and heals you for 5 damage.


 * Conjuration: Summon a bound weapon and sheathe it. The spell ends immediately and can be re-cast.


 * Extended Casting: You can use the table in the Arena Bloodworks to extend the above processes. After you win an Arena match, the table will replenish your magicka fully when you activate it.  Thus, you can cast a string of spells until your magicka is gone, replenish immediately, and cast again.  Ayleid Wells, Essence Wells on the Oblivion planes, and Welkynd Stones can also be used, but aren't as easily replenished.


 * Security: Use the skeleton key from the Shrine of Nocturnal on a Very Hard level lock (such as one to the sleeping quarters of a count). Just keep on failing to unlock the lock.

The following techniques can also be used to rapidly raise skill levels, but arguably fall within the realm of expected behavior for a player character. As such, they are not always considered exploits:


 * Infinite Casting: Use a spell that does "Fortify Magicka" (x) points, then add an effect you want, making sure that the total cost of the spell is half of (x) or less. Select the spell and then just keep "c" pressed down.


 * Mercantile: Whenever selling items to any vendor, find a vendor with a low mercantile skill. Use a combination of persuasion and Charm spells to raise their disposition as high as possible.  Then, begin selling your items, one at a time, starting with the least expensive.  Each time, attempt to haggle the price up one step higher, until you are rejected.  Then back down and continue selling items.  Selling at the maximum possible haggling level will raise your mercantile skill, at which point you can haggle even higher and keep going.


 * Alchemy, Mercantile and Big Money: Alchemy is a good way to make some fast gold, while simultaneously raising your skill. Gather every alchemy ingredient you can find, including taking crops from farms and small gardens.  You can also buy ingredients from alchemists, innkeepers, and other merchants at fairly low prices.  Use these ingredients to make a large volume of potions, even if they are useless, to raise your Alchemy skill.  Alchemists and traders will then buy back these potions at a substantial profit.  The Imperial City, for example, has two alchemy shops, plus two inns that sell food, in the same district.


 * Alchemy, Mercantile, and Big Money, Part Two: At high enough levels, you can obtain an arbitrarily large amount of alchemy ingredients from your own properties. Eyja from Rosethorn Hall will give you Shepherd's Pies upon request; if you are a Master Alchemist, you can make potions from this single ingredient.  In addition, Frostcrag Spire and Deepscorn Hollow both have gardens; Frostcrag also has an Alchemy-enhancing altar in the next room for more valuable potions.


 * Blade and Block: Go to the Cloud Ruler Temple watch the Blades train for a few mintues and it will soon increase your Blade and Block skill up 2 points.


 * Acrobatics In the Bruma mages guild up by the "head mages" room, there is a beam on the roof right above a railing. Jump onto the beam and hold the forward button and repeatedly press the jump button as fast as you can. You can do this forever because you can't fall.

Killing by Blocking
If you have a high disposition with someone that you would like to attack, you can yield to them immediately after attacking them (hold "Block", and press (A) or "Activate" while facing the character).

The character will say something like "I accept your yield" and go back to passive behaviour. Both their health and disposition will have been lowered due to your attack, so make sure you persuade or bribe them to stay in their good books.

If you attack them at under a certain disposition, they will refuse your yield. The yield was introduced so that accidental attacks on friends could be "un-done", rather than having to reload due to a simple mistake.

It's a nice feature to have, but unfortunately it introduces an exploit: You can keep attacking and then yeilding to a friendly/neutral NPC until they are dead! Couple this with sneak attacks to drain their health faster. Note that if you do this in cities, the city guard will inevitably try to find you as it counts as an assault. You should have enough time to kill most people within their houses with this method, though.

Killing by Summoning
If you need to kill an NPC, especially guards, without getting a penalty, a quick way is to summon a high level daedra and make it go rogue. Dremora work especially well, as they are strong, use both melee and magical attacks, and are universally considered 'evil' by NPCs. Simply summon the dremora near a guard and punch it three times. It will go rogue, and the guard will run in to help. You can then step back and let the dremora wear the guard down, and repeat as needed. Note that not all creatures are considered evil by all NPCs.

Free Daedric Equipment
There are at least two known methods for getting "free" high-level Daedric equipment. Both methods involve tricking the game into allowing you to drop a bound item. Under normal circumstances, the game will not allow you to drop conjured equipment, or even unequip it. Attempting to drop the item fails with a message that it cannot be dropped; even simply sheathing the weapon causes it to vanish. However, using one of the following techniques, you will be allowed to drop the item onto the ground. When the spell ends, the game attempts to remove the item from your inventory, but it is no longer where it should be, and so it is never removed from the game.

The first method requires access to an Altar of Spellmaking, such as the one at the Arcane University. This technique only works for creating permanent weapons, as follows:


 * First, learn two or more Conjuration spells to summon weapons.
 * Create a spell with two Bound Weapon effects, with a short duration.
 * Cast the spell, causing the first item in the effects list to be equipped.
 * The second weapon will be in your inventory, but not equipped, and you are free to drop it.
 * Wait until the spell effect ends, and pick up the weapon.

The second technique works for both weapons or armor, you can do it at any Armorer skill. The process is as follows:


 * Cast any single bound weapon or armor spell.
 * Cause the item to take damage.
 * Repair the item with a Repair Hammer
 * Once the item is repaired, you will be allowed to drop it.
 * Wait until the spell effect ends, and pick up the item.

Damaging the equipment may be a bit tricky, as you are presumably not creating these items in the middle of combat. Since you are already a Conjurer, one easy solution is to use a summoned creature. If you can create spells, a custom Disintegrate Weapon/Armor On Self spell also works well.

Both techniques have the added benefit of increaseing your Conjuration skill in the process. Also, if you are an expert in armorer and want to easily increase this skill, repairing these permanent items from 100% to 125% will help significantly. Repairing Daedric equipment has a larger effect than 'normal' equipment, because they have more health points than any other.

These items are not only very powerful weapons or armor, but unlike physical Daedric equipment, the bound items have no weight (though the armor will still affect your spellcasting effectiveness). However, keep in mind that the summoned versions of Daedric equipment are somewhat inferior to their real counterparts. They armor is a mixture of Light and Heavy, and are more fragile that physical Daedric items. When they inevitably break, you can repair them at any Armorer skill and its a quick way to level it up. (You can carry multiple weapons, as they are weightless.)

Tainted Magic
Potentially providing unlimited power, 'Tainted Magic' can be incredible if used correctly.

This was tested using an "as good as it gets" character - meaning level 53, with all skills Mastered, have bought/discovered all the spells in the game. Bearing this in mind, using Tainted Magic as explained here might not work for you, or just not as well as it could until you max out your character.

The method is as follows:


 * Firstly, gain access to the Arcane University.
 * Buy several new spells because you will need lots of spell effects to use
 * Level your Restoration skill to Master level.
 * Go to the University and find the Altar of Spellmaking.

For me I wanted the order for the spells easy to remember so they work properly.

Your first spell could go something like this:


 * Have the main effect as Burden for 3 points for 1 second on Touch.
 * Add the Tainting effects:
 * Fortify Intelligence 100 points for 30 seconds on Self
 * Weakness to Magicka 100 points for 30 seconds on Self.

This completes your first Tainted spell. It should cost about 250 Magicka.

Name this spell something simple like 'G1'.

For your next foray into the world of Tainted Magic, do the same as before, only you must use something other than Burden as your starter spell.


 * Start with Charm 3 points for 1 second on Touch.
 * Add the Tainting effects:
 * Fortify Intelligence 100 points for 60 seconds on Self.
 * Fortify Magicka 100 pts for 60 sec on Self.
 * Weakness to Magicka 100 pts for 60 sec on Self.

Using our previous convention, name it 'G2'. This will cost much more magicka. However, if you cast G1 before this and use Welkynd Stone or a potion to regain magicka you can cast it.

For argument's sake, say we are a Breton, who naturally regains magicka based on Willpower.

Therefore the third spell will be:


 * Chameleon 3 points for 1 second on Touch.
 * Add the Tainting effects:
 * Fortify Willpower 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.
 * Fortify Magicka 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.
 * Weakness to Magicka 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.

Name this spell 'G3'.

For subsequent spells, chain yet more effects onto these spells, but make sure they're something other that Charm, Burden and Chameleon.

Simply go right down the list of your known effects and pick a spell that is either on Touch or Target like
 * Light 3 points for 1 second on Touch, then
 * Fortify Intelligence 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.
 * Fortify Magicka 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.
 * Weakness to Magicka 100 points for 120 seconds on Self.

The mechanics of the game dictate that when spells stack in this manner, their effects multiply exponentially. For example I made ten spells, and after the tenth spell my Magicka was at 695,324. Also, my Intelligence was 11,278 for 120 seconds.

It is also possible to Taint more magic, that Fortify one's attributes; say Strength or Health, to counteract the Weakness to Magicka. However, after these ten spells with the multiplier the Fortify Strength 100 points for 120 seconds on Self resulted in 12,749 points for 120 seconds, thus being even higher than than my Intelligence of 'only' 11,278.

You need to be very careful casting these magnitudes of spell; for one, say you increased attribute Athletics as your 11th spell. This would give you a skill level of 12,749. Then you tapped a move key. You would be on the other side of Tamriel in approximately one second, but this raises pontential crashes and/or lock-ups due to loadzones. Or perhaps you hit an obstacle or jumped you will be looking down on Cyrodiil - from a very great height.

It will also take you a very long time to land and if the game doesn't freeze up due to the multiple loadzones you just went through, you will die on landing.

This has all been tested. And no, if you raise your Blade skill to 10,000-odd you will not send someone flying into the next country. Increased Blade points only determine the types of power attacks your character can pull off. And no, Strength doesn't do this either.

This only works for Magicka: if this is all done correctly, you can cast some incredibly powerful Fire; Shock; Frost; Summoning; Shield; Restore Health/Fatigue; Fortify Health/Fatigue; Light; Feather etc. spells that each last for 120 seconds.

100% Chameleon
Join the Arcane University. Enchant 5 clothing/armor items with 20% Chameleon. Wear them all at once. Because of effect stacking you now have 100% Chameleon. Now you can attack monsters all day and they will never see you or counter attack. You can also steal anything you want. If the guards do catch you, you can just "Resist arrest" and walk away.

Another way of doing this, is enter a Plane of Oblivion, get to the Sigil Stone, save, then keep getting the stone. if you get silence for x secs on target/Chameleon 30% on self, then all you have to do is use the item duping cheat. Then use the sigil stones on four un-enchanted items that are wearable, and you will be fully invisible.

Cheap, Instant Kills
It is necessary to have access to the Arcane University for this, but it will work for either an enchanted weapon or a created spell.

Enter the University, and find the Altar of Spellmaking or Enchanting and create a spell with the effect Drain 100 Health for 1 second. A Destruction skill of 25 is all that is necessary for this to work.

Under level 30, this will kill anything. After this level, it is likely that targets will not be instantly killed anymore. This can be worked around by adding some more damaging effects (Damage health, fatigue, etc).

If this is made as an enchantment rather than a spell, the same Destruction and magicka requirement applies, and the final weapon won't require much magic to recharge.

To kill stronger enemies, try creating a spell with the same effect as above, though with Drain 80-90 Health for 2-3 seconds. This will be more costly, but you will be able to kill much stronger creatures.

Permanent Boosts
To gain several permanent stat/skill boosts, gain any quest item that has a constant boosting effect on it and cannot be removed (e.g. the Boots of Springheel Jak). Equip this item and either get yourself arrested or do a quest in which all your items are removed. When you get out of jail (or get your items back), you will see that the boost is still in effect but you are not wearing the quest item. You can now equip any other item in place of the quest one, but you will not be able to wear the quest item again (though the boost will remain permanently).

This can be done with the latest patch using scrolls:
 * Pick any enchanted item in your inventory, even ones that you made yourself. Then duplicate *Double click on any two scrolls
 * Drop the item you wish to duplicate.
 * Pick up the enchanted item and its duplicate.
 * Equip either one.
 * Double click on five scrolls.
 * Drop the duplicated item that is not equipped.

You can no longer wear the item, but the effect remains on you permanently. This has not been verified on the PC version of the game.

Near Invincible Stats
Your character should preferably be beyond level 25 to do this!

One method to become nearly invincible is as follows:

Collect the following items:


 * 1) Spellbreaker - Reflect Spell 30% on Self (acquired in the Daedric quest: Peryite).
 * 2) Bladeturn Hood - Resist Normal Weapons 11% on Self, Reflect Damage 10% on Self, Shield 12% on Self (acquired through the Unearthing Mehrunes' Razor Quest).
 * 3) Either the Necklace of Swords or the Amulet of Axes - Fortify sword/blunt skill 25 pts on Self, Reflect Damage 33% on Self.
 * 4) Raiment of the Crimson Scar - Fortify Agility and Speed 15 pts on Self, Fortify Sneak, Marksman and Blade 25 pts on Self, and Reflect Damage 35% on Self (in a closet after purchasing all items for the Vile Lair).
 * 5) Ring of Namira - Reflect Damage 12% on Self, Reflect Spell 10% on Self (reward for the Namira's daedric quest).
 * 6) Mundane Ring - Reflect Spell 35% on Self, Resist Magic 50% on Self (randomly generated loot).

Final Stats (plus any racial modifiers)

 * Resist Magic 50
 * Resist Normal Weapons 10
 * Shield 12
 * Reflect Damage 90
 * Reflect Spell 75

Another method is as follows:

With a high enough Alchemy skill you can make your own Reflect Damage and Spell potions.


 * At Journeyman level, you can make Reflect Damage potions by combining Green Stain Cups and Scamp Skin.


 * At Expert Level you can make Reflect Spell potions by combining Glow Dust and Cinnabar Polypore Yellow Cap.

As always, the strength of these potions is determined by both your Alchemy level and the level of the equipment used.

Add Shield spells and you're invincible, nothing can touch you!

Permanent bound armour and weapons
There is a way to make bound armor permanent. Assuming you have a bound armour spell and the required conjuration skill to cast bound armour spells, set the difficulty down to minimum, since you will need to kill the creatures that attack you quickly before the bound armour spell wears out. Cast the bound armour when you see a creature coming towards you (block if you are doing bound weapons). After you get attacked, go to the inventory screen to make sure the armour or weapon has received damage, if it is, quickly slay the creature(s) attacking you. Use a repair hammer on the bound item and drop the bound item. Do not pick it up yet. Wait for the bound spell to wear off, then cast it again and wait for it to wear off the second time. After the second spell has worn off, pick up your bound item. Now you have a weightless bound armor that you are free to enchant with any enchantment you desire.

Quick Sneak skill training
If you have not killed Rufio for the Dark Brotherhood quest "A Knife in the Dark" travel to the Inn of Ill Omen where he lives. Go to his room and go into sneak mode. Because he sleeps most of the time you can sneak around the room and increase your sneak skill. A really easy way is to position yourself between the candle and the corner of the room behind his bed, go into sneak mode. PC users can activate "auto-run", which will cause you to run into the wall and because of the candle and the corner of the wall you won't move anywhere increasing your sneak skill. When he wakes up, you can open the door to his room and go behind it and keep sneaking until he goes back to sleep which shouldn't take more than 2 in-game hours.