Ok, first of all, I'm not a super experienced mod user, I just recently learned to make bashed patches and I have only done some basic edits in the CS. So I apologize if some of this sounds silly or basic, but I honestly searched all day and still haven't found the answers to these questions.

Here is my issue: I love ROM for the races, the birthsigns, the more significant stats, and other realism tweaks that I find almost impossible to live without. I just really wish I could play without being level 20 to do anything. Even duke patrick's combat mod, which makes it very hard not to die, at least made it possible to kill something at an early level in a reasonable amount of time if you were lucky. The TIE tweaks achieved almost the same thing. ROM tries to make all fights epic which is an interesting concept, but it is the only aspect of the mod I really wish was modular since it doesn't fit my taste at all.

So here is what I was thinking:

ROM only has a few combat scripts, one that controls PC blocking and another that controls enemy target blocking, so could I delete those in the CS and then it would be compatible with DP melee combat? Maybe also remove ROM fatigue if that will conflict?

Another option is merge it with TIE, which I have read others do, but I'm not sure how this is done safely. Anyone tried this?

My last question is about the CS. I used to use a disk version of Oblivion, but now that I am using Steam the OBSE loader -edit application wont work so I can't edit scripts with OBSE functions. The OBSE readme said steam copies only needed this application for the construction set, but it didn't say how to use it to launch the construction set. Anybody use steam with the CS and OBSE? How do you launch the CS with OBSE functions? (I have tried obse_loader-edit.exe and it says "you are using a steam version, etc...")

Also, any suggestions for handling this in a less messy way would be greatly appreciated as well.

The proper command line to launch the editor with the loader is:

obse_loader -editor

Make sure the editor, Oblivion.exe + related files, and obse_loader + related files are all in the same folder (probably c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\oblivion\).

I extracted everything from OBSE v20 into my Oblivion folder (the exact path you said) and I used obse_loader -editor.exe and it isn't working. I have the CS installed there also... Do I need to do something to obse_steam_loader.dll first? The regular CS opens fine and obse works fine in my steam game, it is just the obse_loader -editor.exe that is not working.

Btw, do I have to do this through the command prompt window? I was just renaming the application to obse_loader -editor.exe since I am bad at the command prompt navigation and such.

Another option is to download http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=32651 and try it out... maybe even alongside Kuertee's http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23062. I'm currently putting together a ROM setup as the readme intrigued me and the combat issues are one of the things that I wish was modular. I don't like how NPC's have so much health and I'm hoping the above 2 mods could decrease the length of the fight's.

I'm also trying to revert the OOO, MMM, and Knights of the Nine armor and weapon stat changes back to a MOBS setup for better compatibility with the Shivering Isles and custom mods. I guess I could just add ROM stats to the SI weapons/armor but I'm sure there are quite a few in the expansion and changing every one of them would be a pain.

Yes. Renaming the application will do nothing. Alternatively, create a shortcut to obse_loader, then edit the "target" field in the properties window so it ends with " -editor" (no quotes, space in between obse_loader.exe and -editor). Alternatively, use one of the many frontends that launch OBSE for you (OBMM, Wrye Bash, etc).