Hello all,

Ive been a long time fan of TES games (pushing on 13 years now) and until recently Ive never had a PC capable of playing Oblivion on the PC

Ive researched on how to install mods and everything so I know the basics, any help is appreciated but not needed. What I really want is the mods you guys would recommend.


I'm looking to completely overhaul the game, graphics wise and playability. So far Ive looked at, Better Cities, FCOM, QTP3 Redimized and Unique Landscapes.

What would you guys recommend? Feel free to add your load orders

http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=983734 was the list that really inspired me to start using mods (and modding myself).

So if you're interested in the immersion aspect, check that list - though unfortunately a bit outdated. The link above is not to the latest Delte thread, but to the last where he had the full immersion list.

Then a bit of self-commercial, you may want to look at the link in my signature for a number of interesting gameplay tweaks

Here's the list of mods I use with all my characters.


http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3953 by Oscuro, dev_akm, MadCat221.
Not just a 'creature-adding' mod, not just a 'difficulty' mod, not just a 'gameplay-tweaking' mod, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is actually one of the finest finest roleplaying mods around. http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=1757 by Martigen, Corepc Dev_Akm Shadowborn is the perfect complement to Oscuro, adding much-needed spontaneity to Oscuro's static world. Crank Martigen's mod all the way up and Oblivion will feel as wonderfully unpredictable as an MMO. These mods are so inseparable to me I count them as one.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=2764 by, of course, DarN.
This essential mod goes a long way toward making Oblivion's consolized interface useable. Configurable from within the game via a menu. I modify it with one of Luchaire's re-colorings, either http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16387 or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16897 I also use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14822 by WillieSea and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19063 by Badmagic to enliven the map with color and to replace what I consider to be ugly map markers with more aesthetically pleasing X's.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14065 by tejon, or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13879 bu ABO.
Two excellent character-levelling mods that do away with stat management, excel spreadsheets, visits to Wiki pages, etc, to research "builds". With these mods a player can just play and let a mod handle leveling seamlessly and invisibly in the background. I tend to prefer RL but I am using nGCD in my current game and am very impressed.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14304 by tejon.
This mod allows the player to control the speed of advancement of each skill. Easily configurable via an .ini.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11237 by tejon. Willpower again has an affect on the player's vulnerability to magic, as in previous ES games.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7484 by Deathless Aphrodite.
Makes the player lose fatigue when running. When the player's fatigue hits 0 he starts to walk. Also allows the player to sprint for a brief time.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25078 by TheNiceOne.
Using this mod merchants' gold goes up and down with each trade. Also does away with the haggle slider (what a relief!) Allows the player to specify how much gold they recive from looting containers, enemies, as quest rewards, etc. All configurable via .ini.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12149 by tejon. Attempts to expand on Bethesda's concept of Birthsigns and make them for interesting and fun, at all levels.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35300 by ZenshinZenrei. Introduces three special advantages to each of the predefined Oblivion classes in order to make them more unique. Advantages are similar to special class traits from Arena and Daggerfall. Custom classes pick three Advantages manually.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2037 by Quarn and Dejunai.
Removes flowers from plants after you have picked them. This is a great little visual aid when picking many plants very close together.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1840 by Woodman, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=21 by Tandem, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5138 by Soor, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5919 by b3w4r3, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=129 by Talonhoff and http://morrowind4kids.com/pseronwyrd/PWRunSpeed.zip by Pseron Wyrd are a collection of small tweak mods that I cannot bear to play without. Chase Camera Mod is essential to me because I play exclusively in third person and will quickly become nauseous without it; Bethesda went to great lengths to create the illusion of a seamless worl when they made Oblivion and then went and ruined it by spamming messages onto the player's screen everytime they enter a new cell, and No Load gets rid of that; Initial Glow gets rid of what I consider to be a very ugly 'plastic wrap' enchantment effect; Sleep Rest Wait Any Time, because no game has any business telling me when I can sleep, or where; No Psychic Guards tones down guards' clairvoyance a little bit; Run Speed Tweak slows down the base running/walking speed of the game to Morrowind's running/walking speeds.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16005 by mmmpld'
A fun little 'immersion' mod that allows the player to see their character use the same getting-into and getting-out-of bed animations used by NPCs.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11449 by RamyEnfant.
Adds a collection of new jump animations. The characters execute a cool Night-Elf-style forward roll with weapons sheathed and a variety of other jumps with different weapons drawn. I often jump just to watch these animations. I'm easily pleased.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4387 by CorePC.
Adds much-needed life to Cyrodiil's roads. The merchants are great if you like to spend extended time away from cities as I do. To this I add http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20575 by LazyAltmer. These two mods do a lot to make Cyrodiil a lot less lonely when travelling the roads. They also help fight, too, which has saved my character's life more than once when playing all these overhaul mods.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16513 by Bananasplit, Wolfslady, Reckless, SilentResident, Nernie, Vorians and Ismelda.
The way the cities of Tamriel should have looked. Spend hours wandering around like a tourist, awestruck at how different (and gorgeous) everything looks. Comes in modular form - you can choose to redo all of Cyrodiil's cities or just one. It's your choice. When I'm not using Better Cities I use Arthmoor's http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1019807, which tranfers the vanilla cities into the Cyrodiil worldspace, ala Morrowind. Wonderful for those of us who love to ride horses through town.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2536 by Max Tael.
This is one of the plugins in Max Tael's Natural Environments suite of mods. It adds several non-hostile flying animals such as birds and butterflies.

http://morrowind4kids.com/pseronwyrd/PW_MorrowindFog.zip by Pseron Wyrd.
Oblivion's near-infinite view distance is ugly, in my opinion, and it also makes Cyrodiil feel much smaller than it ought to. This is my attempt to simulate Morrowind's fog. Combined with Run Speed Tweak, Cyrodiil feels as large and wonderfully mysterious as Vvardenfell once did.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=942911 by Arthmoor.
Adds Morrowind-style transport to the game. A nicely immersive touch.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=984109 by XMarksTheSpot, Brumbek & Ismelda.
Another mod I can't play without anymore. It adds windows that turn off and on in synch with day/night cycles and also, optionally, smoke from chimneys. Comes with a nice variety of window color tints too.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977 by Emma.
An Alchemist-oriented companion with a mind of her own (and, as a bonus, dialog voiced by Emma herself).

http://oblivion.brashendeavors.net/bows/ by Brash.
A wonderful mod for anyone who loves light, ranger-ish amror and slightly more natural, non-fantasy-type bows. I also love the ranger camp just outside Weye (conflicts with Weye TICS, but not AFK Weye).

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22828 by afk_dwip - or - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9514 by TamaraVico.
I tend to alternate these two mods, as I love them both. I absolutely and without equivocation adore Tamara's Weye mod - but it does come with a framerate hit. I just love her cramped medieval-looking alleys and its attention to detail. It is quite possibly my favorite town expansion mod for either Morrowind or Oblivion. The area occupied by dwip's mod is smaller and, thus, conflicts with fewer mods and also does not hurt framerates quite as much (in my experience). It comes with some interesting quests though and is also nicely-laid out.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21562 and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30000 by Arthmoor.
Faregyl is a nice little farm south of the Imperial City. Feldscar is a wonderful village north of the Frostcrag area. Both are excellently crafted.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22401 by The Tamriel Rebuilt Team.
Stirk is a small but highly detailed island in the Abecean Sea west of Anvil. Anyone who has seen what the multi-talented folks at Tamriel Rebuilt have done for Morrowind will know this is high-quality modding with an eye towards accuracy in matters of lore.

Wow thank you both so much. I'm busy cooking food at the moment but I'll be back in a bit to check it all out.

Thank!

Top 100
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/top/alltime.php
Files of the months:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/filesofthemonth.php
Hall of fame:
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.HOF

List of topics exactly like yours that have already been answered: (You can also find my favorites in post #4)
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1072579-the-any-mods-list-of-topics/

If you want any further help I suggest you tell us about yourself; what you like and what you're looking for... Here's some questions to get you started:

Have you played Oblivion already?
What sort of things interest you?
What type of Character do you usually play? (good/evil, theif/mage, roleplayer/random-no-story-hack-and-slasher?)
Are there specific types of mods you think would interest you? (Quests, graphic mods, gameplay mods, overhauls, etc.)

One mod I definitely recommend is http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12859. It is an essential mod for me.

Well, pretty much all of the mods I advocate are already listed, so if you don't mind a shameless plug, I'd recommend the three mods listed in my signature.
The first one, WEPON, adds 625 new weapons to Oblivion, including new Amber, Madness, Mithril, Orcish, Rusty Iron, and Fine Iron. At the time this post was written, it was in a three way tie for 4th on the Files of the Month list and so isn't getting displayed...

The second mod, "Enhanced Armory Realism", does several things: weapon and armor enchantments scale based on the condition they're in, broken armor and weapons fall to the ground, a broken or disarmed weapon is automatically replaced in combat, and broken armor is replaced with clothing in combat (making it look like the clothing was being worn underneath). Clothing also gives a tiny armor bonus. It's fully customizable.

The third mod, "Open All the Gates", lets you control how severe the Oblvion Crisis is. It lets you turn random Gates off entirely, causes them to reopen once they're closed, or anywhere in between those extremes. Also customizable.

We're doing signature plugs? I too have a signature.

...and take another peek at TheNiceOne's signature while you're at it. Good work, there.

And if you want to completely scrap the vanilla levelling system and go with a points based system like the D&D games, try Oblivion XP, which is in my sig The other mod in my sig allows you to purchase upper class furniture to decorate your PC's home with.

My sig is much smaller than the previous plugs though

if you want new items on enemies check out my Leveled List overhaul and my favourite city Rimmen. Links in my sig. If you click my released mods theres a few other thing such as new town guard armors and other various weapons i made.

Thanks again everybody.

I'm setting aside the rest of the day to sort out my oblivion mods and get ready to start a new character.

To answer your questions..

Yes I have played Oblivion before, for 100s of hours I should think. Never with mods tho. I played it on the 360.

To be honest I'm mainly looking for mods to fully immerse me in Tamriel. I'm talking visually and with playability. I'd like to make the game more difficult but not so much that it is no longer fun. Many of the realism mods appeal to me.

I'm very interested in things like unique landscapes and things of the sort.


As for which character I normally play. Ive played many variations of characters and I'm not too sure which character I will make this time. I was leaning more towards an illusionist type character.



All in all I'm looking to make the game as visually stunning as my pc will allow (I'll post specs below) and make it as realistic as possible without ruining the fun. Basically I wan't a complete overhaul of the game.



PC specs:

i7 processor


Nvidia GeForce GT 230M with up to 2815MB total graphics memory with1024MB dedicated


500gb HD

Win7

1.7 ghz

In addition to the Unique Landscape mods (and the graphics mods in my other post) here are the graphic-enhancing mods I'm using in my current game.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31293 by Clintmich. I'm using this in place of Better Cities in this game and so far I'm really liking it. It adds an abundance of trees, bushes and flowers to all of the districts, making them seem very inviting. Reworks a bit of architecture as well, here and there.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27500 by Lady Olivia. This is a really stunning, jaw-dropping remodeling of Imperial Isle near the Talos Bridge. The fountain statue, the stalls, the houses, all of it is just wonderful. My character hates to leave and go exploring.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16533 by SonicEther. Adds a wonderful lens flare type of effect to the sun. Looks particularly great when seen through trees in the middle of forests and overlooking water. I just caught a glimpse of one when I was playing a couple of hours ago and, as always, it made me smile.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3774 by LordOverkill. This mod makes the heath bar change colors as enemy health goes down. It's not only kind of pretty, in my opinion, it's also very handy.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9149 by calbar. I stumbled across this mod by accident while searching for new mods to use in my current game. So far I like it a lot. It does what it says: adds new icons in the HUD for dialog.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14545 by Ryu Doppler. The Imperial City was built by Ayleids. This mod attempts to make the IC look slightly more like the Ayleid ruins in the game. The only texture mod I'm using in this game.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23783 by LprMan. All this does is make vegetation larger. It doesn't sond like much on paper but it makes a huge difference, in my opinion. The Great Forest really does look great using this mod. When combined with Clintmish's mod or the Unique Landscape mods that add more vegetation Cyrodiil really begins to feel like a wonderfully lush, verdant place to explore.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=881 and http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=36907&id=897 by Kafei. This replaces the rather humdrum rings and amulets with rings and amulets that won't embarrass your character.

I consider animation to be part of my graphics. Three of the animation replacers I'm using in this game are http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15336 by OWASephirot (all actors do a cool flip back to their feet after being knocked down); http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20459 by amsterdam2019 (a variety of new jumps, including my favorite: a Night-Elf-style forward roll); http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12626 by Qazaaq. Your character can pretend to say, "Don't go there, girlfriend," every time they cast a spell.

Great, thanks!

I'm still deciding which mods to get and which to not get. Theres so many I wan't.

This is taking much longer then I first anticipated.

Still trying to get all these mods up and running.


Also still looking for recommendations!

Glancing through and seeing Pseron's mention of Beaming Sunglare reminded me of a mod I absolutely love but always forget about because it's not actually listed in my load order:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7327

There's a whole pile of options. I use "Circular Expand," which is the last one pictured in the user-uploaded images. Kind of a tunnel-vision effect with a clear center but distorted edges, and if you look at something naturally bright you really can't see anything (it all goes white), which I think is a great way to balance out the obvious advantages of Night-Eye.

I saw a few other replacers on Nexus too, browse around!

Don't suppose you guys could help me with a load order by any chance?

These are all the mods I'm currently using. Disregard the versions number of the mods I'm copy and pasting from a folder. All the mods are updated to their current version.


Bedrolls v1.1 by aaaBors

Real Sleep v1.4 by Dominic Watson
Real Sleep Extended v2.11 by TheNiceOne, based on Real Sleep v1.4 by Dominic Watson, updated by Cipscis

Real Hunger v1.4 by Dominic Watson, updated by Thingamajig, revised by Doomguy.


Realistic Fatigue v1.8 by Donovan Baarda


Reneer's Gold Mod by Reneer

Hammerfist Shiny Gold v1.1 by Hamacek

Bank of Cyrodiil v1.1 by Zarkis

Vaults of Cyrodiil v2.0 by bkrisher-Guiles

Crowded Roads Revamped v2.0 by BkWyrm13, updated by MaXiMiUS

Persuasion Overhaul OBSE v1.2a by Eric Parsons, updated by Strategy Master

Denock Arrow v1.0 by Scruggs

At Home Alchemy v1.1 by Syclonix

Thievery in the Imperial City v1.2 by JOG

Lynge's Thieves Highway v1.0 by Martin Lynge

Stealth Overhaul v1.3 by JOG

No Sneak Eye v1.0 by Felic

Stealth Entrances v1.0 by Marrx

Blind Lockpicking v2.1 by Teenk, updated by Ryan.Likes.Pancakes

Lockpicks v1.5 by Grumblepunk

Immersive Caves v1.4 by addiktive


Darker Dungeons v1.1 by Galcyon

Brighter Drop Lit Torches With Weight v1.0 by Frugal, updated by StarX


SM Plugin Refurbish v1.03 by Strategy Master

Immersive Interface v1.03 by Harfleur


Beautiful IC District Pack Plus

Imperial City Suburbs

Beaming Sunglare

Enhanced Vegetation

DarNified UI

Realistic Leveling

NoLoad

Initial Glow

Sleep Rest Wait Any Time

No Psychic Guards

Run Speed Tweak

Tamriel Travellers

Roads Revisited

Bananasplit Better Cities

Natural Habitat

Morrowind Fog

Cyrodiil Travel Services

Animated Window Lighting System

QTP3 Reduced

FCOM

Improved Doors & Flora (IDF), Improved Trees & Flora 1 (ITF1), and Improved Trees & Flora 2

Better Male Body Textures

Gorier Blood

Vibrant Bodytextures_Femmes

New Face Textures

Natural Environments

Unqiue Landscapes










I think thats it.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1138211-relz-boss-better-oblivion-sorting-software/ is a handy little utility to use for load orders.

You've been given some great suggestions, to which I'd just add the following:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18305 A complete overhaul of the weather system and lightning, must have imo.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34199 You can now see through windows when inside buildings!

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35099 instead of Darker Dungeons.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30054 Great shaders and in-game tool to manage them, for gorgeous additional graphic effects

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35333 My favorite leveling mod.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5977 Makes the behavious of guards way more realistic and interesting.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12331 You want this if you play with QTP3, UL, BC, FCOM without crawling even with a juggernaut rig.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400 A helpful tool to add stability and smoothness to the game.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23208 A recently updated (well, just today!) must-have to smooth and stabilize your playing experience.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyffi/files/ A very easy tool to optimize your Meshes files, making the game more performant (new version just released!)

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22368 Requires some study, but is essential to manage moderately-to-heavily modded Oblivion setups.

Also, check Duke Patrick's mods on TESNexus, there are some must-have gems if you enjoy realism!

Have fun!

Hi Pseron Wyrd,

I've looked at IC Suburbs' screenshots and they are amazing..

Do you know if it's compatible with Better Cities ?

I've asked on official thread and reply was "unless it touces the Waterfront, it's ok".. Now, I'm getting consistent CTDs in that area but that happened even before installing Suburbs..

Also, any idea of compatibility with UL - Imperial City Isle?

Thanks

Sweet dude thanks a bunch.

Ive been working on this all night.

Decided to do more research on Wyre bash and the rest before I give any of this ago. Ive reinstalled everything including oblivion so everything goes smoothly.

Going to give it another go tomorrow.



Modding is god damned stressfull.

If your gonna do FCOM you need Wrye Bash or it wont work. But its well worth it, Wrye bash is probably the best tool ever invented for Oblivion!