I require a mod that provides a similar gameplay experience to TIE, has new quests, monsters, weapons, armor and other fun things and doesn't involve spending hours installing (FCOM).

It needs to also be compatible with plenty of mods, especially the unique landscapes!

Let me save you the grief: No such animal exists, and isn't likely to anytime soon.

=(
Well, a nice combination of mods that doesn't make my load order have 100 or so mods in it...

Modding the game... no pain, no gain...

I see, I see.

One last question. Where precisely would you like your pony to be delivered?

Last time someone attempted a compilation like this, it was done in by the several million tons of provisional red tape this community has created for itself (in the form of permissions).

It's not going to happen in Oblivion for a loooong time, if ever. Best brush up on Wrye Bash.

Install Francescos Version 5 and Armamentarium 1.35 Complete. This takes only 15 Minutes and runs stable.

I do have a 100+ Oblivion install and bugs insured, I would just like a decent mod list with below 50 mods...

Why? The hard limit is 255 ESP/ESM files, and with Wrye Bash thats pretty easy to stay under.

The correlation between "number of mods" and "bugginess", while existant, isn't a huge issue.

Hours installing FCOM? It takes more time to download the involved mods than to install it, but whatever.
You've tried OOO as a stand alone mod? http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/OOO/OOO_133_readme.pdf

try OWCND + WAC and better cities and Unique landscapes, then add Qarls redimized textures and "lush and gaudy" textures. you have a level scaler and maybe 8 to 12 GIGS of added content right there.
then ad Integration, lost spires and a few other quest mods.

freestone

First, once you configure your FCOM install in BAIN it takes no more than 10 minutes to install. Set up once and leave it. Just add FCOM patches if you install other mods that may need them.

Second, MMM is the mod to use for adding monsters.

Third, try Alyeid Steps, Kragnir Death Quest, and Integration if you want plenty of quests. This will keep you busy for a couple hundred hours.

Fourth, weapons, try Bobs Armory of Weapon Expansion Pack for Oblivion Enthusiasts.

Mine (see my sig) does all that minus the new quests. It's still in beta form, but it's very very playable. Combine it with Kragenir's Death Quest and Integration: The Stranded Light, and there's your overhaul plus tons of new quests.

Maybe not the right thread for this, but can one start the Ayleid Steps mod if one is NOT a member of the mages guild? If so, how?

Hi, anithinks.

From the walkthrough:

Quest I: The Ayleid Steps

1a. Find and read the book The Ayleid Steps, by Annika Caiole. There is one in each of the Mages Guild halls, except Bruma. The Mystic Archives in the Arcane University have one, too. If you are not a Mages Guild member, you can enter the MG building in Cheydinhal and search its top floor. Or visit the Foaming Flask in the Talos Plaza district. Someone has left his or her book there.
- and -
1b. Find a Step and try to activate it.

2. Travel to the entrance location of Wellspring Cave east of the Imperial City. On the roadside near the Ayleid well lies a murdered Mages Guild Messenger. Take her Report and read it. It mentions an Ayleid Key found in the Vahtacen ruin and sent to the Arcane University some time ago. Travel to the Arcane University's Lobby, and open a small Ayleid Chest on the Counter. Take the key.

You're going to enjoy this one I think. It's one of my alltime favorites.

Thanks for the info garx I did find the dead meassenger earlier, but he had nothing on him. Not sure why, but it seems I'll have to find the formid of that note and add to console now...

iirc, the message is lying next to the messenger on the ground, not in the npc's inventory

Anithinks, aren't you using removal feature of EE? Maybe because of this he "lost" the report? Maybe the report is not marked as a quest item by the mod author, and EE considers it ok to remove? Just guessing though (I'm not too convinced myself that this is the issue).

Your definition of "decent" is unique to you, just as all our "decent" modlists are unique to each of us. Since no two people pretty much agree on which of the 25,000+ Oblivion mods out there really constitute a list we'd especially like, it may be a bit ingenuous to expect someone to put a great deal of time into compiling a massive, single load, all-in-one mod that everybody would be happy with.

And even if somebody wanted to spend all that time for so little use by the community, within months if not weeks several of those mods would experience updates that couldn't be applied to such a mega-mod. Leading the person who created the mega-mod to either a) redo the whole thing, or commit ritualized suicide. It's just not worth the cleanup cost.

Yes its actually almost sad to see how we got here from MW modding days. The argument for owner rights for mods and which mods are "best" by taste can go on all day, but the fact is it would be nice to have some "all in one" compilations ready to install. Opinions galore yes and one players idea of best mods is much different than another, but also a pack with what is considered "some" of the best would be awesome, ya ya ya some May need later need updates if you chose to install the blah blah not the point.

Just look at all the really nice mod compilations for MW, i would give anything for something like Morrowind Overhaul: Sounds and Graphics to be made for Oblivion, and before anyone says it, yes i like almost every modder have made my own " version" of something like that for just about every aspect of oblivion, and sure we have mod lists and threads galore that do basicly the same thing but that's NOT the point.

Link to MO:S&G http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1319942-relz-morrowind-overhaul-sounds-graphics-20/

I love modding and have done it for years and i cant wait for Skyrims CK, but sometimes i wish we had some of the huge compilations like "Salker Complete" which is a huge all in one compilation that was made for ALL 3 stalker games , amazing stuff, 30 sec install and bam your ready to play a fully modded game.

Anyway i got a huge fresh oblivion install to play and Skyrim is calling ...uggg i need more time.

EDit: taken down sorry for the trouble.

I've requested that your link be removed.

I certainly am aware there are rogue sites like the one you linked to. I could link to another four - all totally unauthorised.
From my perspective I've not spent countless hours helping to develop and support some of the bundled mods only for someone to ignore my wishes and upload and then forget about them. The resultant consequences always returns here, regardless of good intentions and claims made by the uploader.
The reasons have been done to death in numerous other threads so I'll leave it there.

lol... I find it funny how this thread went... "it'd be nice to have a compilation" ... "here's a compilation" ... "kill it! kill it with fire!"
I'm not stating ANY opinion at all on the matter of compilations by the way... just my observation on the unintended humor I found in the last few posts.

Im nut sure what you are saying, why should i remove the link? Im sorry for the inconvenience but i don't understand what you are saying.

Because the people assembling and distributing that package do not have the permission of the all authors of the actual mods to be doing so, which is sometimes illegal and always terribly rude.