Oblivion:History of 100%

Version 1: Borked Toddd (7-21-2017)

V1 was run in June 2017 and was completed in 79:17:32.

The goal was to see if 100% in a single segment was even possible, no matter how long it took. The outcome was that it succeeded. A lot of the 79 hours was pain and suffering because of routing errors. The routing process took about 2 months.

playlist here

Version 2: Kirkland Crimson Chin III (9-25-2020)

V2 was run in September 2020 and was completed in 39:27:40.

The goal was to get under 55 hours, shaving at least a day off of the previous run. The focus was to do this by making the route materials more accessible. A lot of the pain and suffering of V1 was vague instructions and not knowing where things were. V2 had much better route materials. Color coding, illustrated maps, and labeling systems were all added.

The result of this effort was that the route was much easier to understand. However, much of the gameplay was still very tedious and suboptimal.

"This is a speedrun that has been three years in the making. Ever since our previous run in June 2017 with a time of 79:17:32, I slowly chipped away at improving the 100% route in every way I could. I learned a ton about the game along the way, and was completely shocked at how much of an improvement this route was over the previous version. Looking forward to Version 3." -MeemawHustlin

Playlist here

Version 3: Keith "Da Baby" Ledger (8-28-2021)

V3 was run in August 2021 and was completed in 21:47:22.

The goal for this run was to make it in under 30 hours, saving around 12 hours. Do this by heavily optimizing the route logic. The materials were similar to V2, with minor optimizations. However, during the run, it turns out that the route was so well optimized that interacting with and managing the guide materials became the bottleneck.

"My long term goal with the Oblivion 100% speedrun project has been to get the run under 24 hours. With our practice data for this run, it really did seem like we would be getting a little over the 24 hour threshold at best. I guess practicing the pilot/co-pilot system over Discord must have resulted in slower timing data than the final result, because we were not expecting a time several hours faster than our data suggested. I'd like to thank everyone in the Oblivion speedrun and PRCLive communities that has contributed to the 100% route, as this run would not have been even close to under the 24 hour goal without the help of everyone involved. I'm very happy that this route is now at a point where it is more accessible to attempt, and that it has become a much more collaborative project that utilizes the skills of many smart and talented contributors. Looking forward to V4" - Ben S. (MeemawHustlin)"

Playlist here

Version 4

Developed for a while, but eventually burned out. Ultrapotassium ran through a v4 blind segmented in a time of ~24 hours.

Shikabane's Route

Using a combination of v3 materials and homegrown routing, Sh1kabanei completed her first 100% on 2025-03-13 with a time of 14:24:39 [1].

She further used the v4 improvements that we have developed to reduce her time to 12:36:49 [2]. Sh1ka used a large amount of memorization in the route and minimal guide materials, even memorizing most of the nirnroot locations.

Further Work

Further time improvements will probably require runners to, as Sh1kabanei did, memorize most of the route. Minor improvements in nirnroute and quest routing may be possible but are minor compared to memorization.

100% with DLC

Sh1ka's comments: [11:13 PM]Shikabane屍

with 100% DLC Edition coming to a close officially i wanted to give some closing thoughts on paper for those who werent there at the end of the stream.

My run went extremely well overall. I really think it is probably the best i've performed in one of these thus far. Jorundr's gold giving me goated RNG, Bear Season giving me the exact book i needed on the 1st try, and managing to maneuver through all the DLC with 0 major issues in addition to no soft locks this time around. with the biggest bump on the road being a skipped oblivion gate location taking me a few minutes to find.

I really dont think my time of 14:40:57 is beatable without serious jumps in routing tech or a complete route overhaul.

While i did make quite a few 'minor mistakes' most of them were easily correctable and only cost me maybe a handful of seconds each time. add in the mistake of the oblivion gate and you maybe have 20 minutes total of timesave due to user error.

HOWEVER this run is over 14 hours long and that timesave is assuming you play PERFECTLY, accompany that by the fact that i just have intrinsic knowledge of nearly everything relevant to the run in my head and minimalist notes for the rest, AND the aformentioned amazing RNG, i actually am slightly saddened to say i dont think its beatable within reason.

Not unless someone puts their nose to the grindstone i think that time will stand for a good while, I wouldnt want to run against that time myself and im the one who made it. [11:22 PM]Shikabane屍

in terms of the run itself... i... didnt enjoy it as much as Base Game 100%.

Frostcrag Spire is great and getting to cut out the nirnroute is convienent. but Shivering Isles devours any timesave you MIGHT have had from those and even drags it on.

what this version of the run also adds alot of... is YAP

Yapping Pelinal in the clouds Yapping Knights as you wait for them to attack you Yapping Adventurers in Xedilian Yapping Sheogorath talking to Thadon Yapping Jyggalag Yapping Gatekeeper Ritual

by the time i hit SI I felt myself physically annoyed by all the unskippable Yapping and sitting around waiting to continue. I was NOT having fun at that point and felt relieved when it was finaly over and was actually LOOKING FORWARD to skillbook grind