Duplicate Items
This glitch allows the player to produce multiple copies of an item in their inventory. It works by bypassing the normal amount-detection when dropping items, thus making it possible to drop more of an item than the player actually possesses. Normally the game chooses the amount of items by either dropping a single one, if the player has less than three of it, or explicitly asking \"How Many\", if they have three or more. However, if one attempts to unequip an equipped stack of arrows at a time when this is not possible (in the middle of an attack), then the number of arrows will \"stick\" and dropping an item immediately afterwards will cause the game to drop exactly that amount of the item, even if the player possesses less.
Note: This has been corrected by the Oblivion 1.2 patch, but if you do not update or delete the updates from your xbox 360 this still works.
Step-by-Step Guide
This assumes that you wish to duplicate a single item. Using the glitch on an entire stack of one item will work as well, but entails some complications; see below under "Exact Calculations".
1. You need an instance of a droppable item (i.e. non-quest item) and a stack of arrows in your inventory.
2. Equip the arrows.
3. Perform an attack, such as:
* Throwing a punch.
* Swinging a blunt or blade weapon.
* Firing a staff.
* Casting a spell.
* Drawing an arrow on a bow.
4. While the attack is still in motion, quickly enter the journal.
5. Attempt to unequip the arrows (not drop, unequip: click on the PC, A on the Xbox 360). You should get a message that "You cannot change weapons while attacking". (Otherwise go back to Step 2 and try again.)
6. Drop the item you wish to duplicate from your inventory. (shift+click on the PC, X on the Xbox 360)
7. Either leave the journal or repeat steps 5 and 6 for other items you wish to duplicate.
Once you leave the journal, as many duplicates of the item will be dropped into the world as there are arrows in the equipped stack.
Exact Calculations
If this glitch is used on a stack of items, things become slightly more complex. The game will still drop as many items into the world as there are equipped arrows, but they will be grouped in stacks and, depending on the circumstances, a smaller stack may remain in the inventory.
Most of the stacks will contain as many copies of the item as were in the player's inventory (including any equipped copy), but unless the amount of arrows was an exact multiple of that number, the last stack dropped will contain a smaller number, namely the remainder needed to fill the exact number of arrows. The content of the last stack, whether it is smaller or identical to the others, is what will be removed from the player's inventory. Thus the process in the Step-by-Step Guide is really a special case with stacks of size 1.
If the last stack is not a smaller remainder, all copies of the item will be removed from the player's inventory immediately, even if one of the is equipped at the time and should be unequipped first. This can be exploited as well, to gain permanent effects from enchanted items.
Examples:
Amount of arrows equipped: 50
Items in Inventory: 60 Daedra hearts
Items dropped: 1 × 50 Daedra hearts
Left in Inventory: 10 Daedra hearts (=60-50)
(Note that no duplication takes place. This is the same as dropping an item normally and answering "50" to the question "How Many".)
Arrows: 50
Items: 1 Ring of Perfection
Dropped: 50 × 1 Ring of Perfection
Left: nothing (=1-1)
Arrows: 50
Items: 10 potions
Dropped: 5 × 10 potions
Left: nothing (=10-10)
Arrows: 50
Items: 6 Hammers
Dropped: 8 × 6 Hammers + 1 × 2 Hammers (=50)
Left: 4 Hammers (=6-2)
Notes
* Instead of trying to unequip the arrows, you can also attempt to equip a different stack of arrows, which has the same effect.
* Weapons and Armor need to be at 100% health to be duplicated. Items at 125% will not duplicate.
* A video of this trick is available.
* If the quantity of cloned items is very large (over 100) the game is very likely to freeze and not recover. It is safer to use a smaller number of arrows and simply repeat the cloning multiple times - or duplicate a stack, as described under "Exact Calculations".
* Good items to clone are those that are expensive but lightweight. Examples: Varla Stones (1000 gold, weight 1), Poisoned Apples (300 gold, weight 0), filled Grand Soul Gems (500 gold, weight 0.5).
* Duping a lot of Sigil Stones may cause mass lag. (Because they flash and glow, so a lot of them at once will make the game lag a lot.) Also when you drop them inside they tend to disappear.
* Black Soul Gems have a unique reaction to the duplication trick. When you duplicate them, they tend to flip out and take off, bouncing off what they hit; try this indoors.
* This trick can be used to duplicate paint brushes, which can be later used with the floating paint brushes glitch.
* Cloning will only work with some enchanted items. Enchanted rings that have been cloned include the Ring of Khajiiti, the Ring of Sunfire, and the Jewel of the Rumare
* Items that can not be cloned include Nirnroot.
* Sometimes if an item will not clone, sell it to a shop, buy it back again then try again. This usually works.
Duplicate Items Using Scrolls
This duplication glitch will still work even after installing the version 1.2 patch (or on the PS3 version, which comes with the version 1.2 patch installed).
1. Acquire two or more copies of the same scroll. The number of identical scrolls that you have will determine the number of duplicate items you create.
2. Open your inventory.
3. Equip the stack of scrolls.
4. Highlight (but do not equip) a single item (not a stack) that you wish to duplicate, and drop it.
5. Close your inventory and on the floor will be multiple copies of the item that you dropped.
Acquiring a large number of identical scrolls can be difficult. However, as long as you can find two identical scrolls to start with, you can initially use the exploit repeatedly to duplicate scrolls. Once you have a large number of duplicated scrolls, you can then start duplicating other items.