Lock picking is broken

[Zachshock]

I lift the lock up like I am suppose to but it breaks when it shouldn't be breaking.

[Death Approaches]

Sure it is Zach, or, you know, your understanding of how it works is what's broken. One of those things. 250,000 to 1. Hmm. Guess what one we know it is? :-) It's actually cute how many frustrated people come say something similar. This thing cheats! I definitely had it that time but it's stealing and breaking my lockpicks and won't let me in! Etc.

What makes you think it shouldn't be breaking? Have you picked a lock successfully? Do you have the slightest idea what you're doing? Have you watched a video? Are you playing with headphones so you can hear the differences between the sound of good and bad picking? Did you hear the secondary "latch" sound? Did you time it perfectly, and by perfectly I mean within 200ms or so? It's literally that precise, about 1/5th of a second.

It's extremely hard to do it right, not because it's 'hard' difficult, it's tedious. imagine 5-pins, no skill so if you pop one, all 5 close, and the repeat pattern is 11 on this one, and you are watching TV while gaming and get distracted and think it's 9 when it's 8... there's 6 actual minutes SIX MINUTES, gone, reset, do it again... it's exceptionally 'hard'.

Twitchy people, nervous people. anyone with any motor skills damage or disease, this mini-game is not for you, just use the scroll/spell to open locks, and always buy lockpicks every single opportunity you can, so you can just click auto-pick, you'll lose all of them early on, but as your skill gets good, you'll rarely break more than a couple...

[Zachshock]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

Sure it is Zach, or, you know, your understanding of how it works is what's broken. One of those things. 250,000 to 1. Hmm. Guess what one we know it is? :-) It's actually cute how many frustrated people come say something similar. This thing cheats! I definitely had it that time but it's stealing and breaking my lockpicks and won't let me in! Etc.

What makes you think it shouldn't be breaking? Have you picked a lock successfully? Do you have the slightest idea what you're doing? Have you watched a video? Are you playing with headphones so you can hear the differences between the sound of good and bad picking? Did you hear the secondary "latch" sound? Did you time it perfectly, and by perfectly I mean within 200ms or so? It's literally that precise, about 1/5th of a second.

It's extremely hard to do it right, not because it's 'hard' difficult, it's tedious. imagine 5-pins, no skill so if you pop one, all 5 close, and the repeat pattern is 11 on this one, and you are watching TV while gaming and get distracted and think it's 9 when it's 8... there's 6 actual minutes SIX MINUTES, gone, reset, do it again... it's exceptionally 'hard'.

Twitchy people, nervous people. anyone with any motor skills damage or disease, this mini-game is not for you, just use the scroll/spell to open locks, and always buy lockpicks every single opportunity you can, so you can just click auto-pick, you'll lose all of them early on, but as your skill gets good, you'll rarely break more than a couple...

Yeah sometimes I have done it right but I am talking about when i do it right but it breaks anyways.

[Iceira]

and i can claim same, then people fail its always game never own skill or lagg, and i try tell people before in other lockpick thread avarage lock and lesser is a dumb down version and can can actual brake lockpick, timeing is off, compare to hard and very hard.
they call it easier , but end up with off-timing.

point is i have lesser issue with hardest lock then avarage lockbox , and that is odd.

you need a mod that actual change this to look at skill and then its impossible to pick a high end chest without right skill range.

and i cant be the only player that notice this.
this seem to apply to skyrim asweel even fallout average lock seem be a mix of easy and hardest but rules change and sweet spot seem to change fallout do this.

same with hack a terminal word have change, and that why you get it all wrong.
i cant proof this, but i have notice average locked chest dont follow same logic and thats my point.

[Yawb]

I think it can also be broken if your fps is uncapped? I believe this can make lockpicking much harder. Cap fps to 60 if you can.

[Death Approaches]

Everytime back in the day we've asked people make a video to prove they were "doing it right", 100% of the time, they were doing it wrong. So I don't know you're doing it wrong Zach, but it's quite likely.

The main newbie trouble usually is going by the pin falling speed, and not listening for the "it's latchable" sound. Once you get this down, you can slam-pick a lock very fast, flick the pin up and click immediately, takes very precise timing, but no one who can do that has ever came and posted re: lockpicking is broken. ^.^

If it really bothers you, maybe just cheat a little? Give yourself lots of lockpicks, That's not really cheating, you're just "pre-finding" them. player.additem a 5000

Then you can spam auto-pick on every lock; your Security skill will still increase as though you bothered picking it, but no stress about only having 3 lockpicks left, and no wasting 3:00 real time doing the lock mini-game if you don't find it fun. (did you know you gain Security from breaking picks? you do!)

[Rithm Fluffderg]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

Everytime back in the day we've asked people make a video to prove they were "doing it right", 100% of the time, they were doing it wrong. So I don't know you're doing it wrong Zach, but it's quite likely.

The main newbie trouble usually is going by the pin falling speed, and not listening for the "it's latchable" sound. Once you get this down, you can slam-pick a lock very fast, flick the pin up and click immediately, takes very precise timing, but no one who can do that has ever came and posted re: lockpicking is broken. ^.^

If it really bothers you, maybe just cheat a little? Give yourself lots of lockpicks, That's not really cheating, you're just "pre-finding" them. player.additem a 5000

Then you can spam auto-pick on every lock; your Security skill will still increase as though you bothered picking it, but no stress about only having 3 lockpicks left, and no wasting 3:00 real time doing the lock mini-game if you don't find it fun. (did you know you gain Security from breaking picks? you do!)

Jesus H. Christ, what is your problem???????

Tone down on the insufferable attitude a bit, it's entirely unwarranted and it isn't producing the effect you desire.

[Buldor]

... There is a hidden skill check to stop non-brain dead people from completely overshadowing the skill line. So even if you got it in the right place, hit the switch etc. there is still a percentage chance it will break. Much lower than the auto resolve etc. but still present. A relic of Morrowind it appears.

Sadly, this produces the effect that some people make-up rules or excuses - "newbie problem" or "it must be when you hear the click". Sadly, this is the product of connecting unrelated events together.

That said, he system isn't broken or bugged. And for those saying "it must be your fps"... I have spreadsheets with higher requirements to run than Oblivion now. Please remember that this game has lower requirements than a browser game made today. No one is having performance issues that aren't related to the fact the game is so old it literally is becoming unsupported.

Just stick with it, and once you get your skill up you will be fine. There is also the Skeleton Key for an immortal pick, and magic replaces everything on this game anyways.