Hey everyone, I was wondering if you guys could give me a rundown or list of good mos to download for a beginner (more or less). I have played the game countless times, just without mods and finally getting Oblivion for the PC got me excited.

I found a couple of mods that seemed to be necessary:

OBMM - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097
OBSE - http://obse.silverlock.org/

I was looking around the nexus and found things like BOSS and Wrye Bash, and they seem to confusing for me to download, although I found some cool mods that preferred me to install them with such mods like BOSS or Wrye Bash.

Here is a couple of mods that I want to download and was wondering if there were any expansions for them or if you guys have played them before:

Glenvar Castle - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8235 (I remember seeing a voice acting expansion for this or something like that, any help with finding this is greatly appreciated)
Castle Almgard - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14834
AFK_Weye - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22828 (Although installation seems to confusing and seems to require mods that I listed above that I was not capable of even understanding, more less installing them in the first place)
Bank of Cyrodiil - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3172

There were others but that was all I could find ATM.

I was wondering if there were any; water enhancing mods, environmental mods, anything that makes Oblivion's graphics better, towns, small settlements, forts, really "good" quests/adventures, ect.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and help me out! I REALLY appreciate it!

Glenvar lip synch http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19520 but the voices are not that great, I rather run it without them. Nice mod with good quest.
AFK Weye is a simple install, just follow the readme. Only confusing with the patches if you have Lake Rumare.
Bank of Cyrodiil is easy, a great addition, not needed if you use Better Cities as it is included.

Depending on yyopu machine specs and video card check the following:

Unique landscapes mods
Better Cities
Arthmoor villages Sherzies Towns (hope I spelled the name right)
Lost Spires for quest
The Alyeid steps
Enhanced Economy
All Natural
I can go on and on. There are a ton of posts and topics on this question, seems to pop up every two days it seems
Do a search on this forum.

Can't think of any expansions, or mods that do what they do better for the mods you listed, but I don't really follow castle mods so I wouldn't know about the first two.

My generic copy/pastes




For the occasional "What are your must haves?" (Mostly just the "quests" part since that's what you asked for)

AFK weye is best installed using BAIN (which is part of Wrye Bash). Its recommended that you learn how to use Wrye Bash as it is a far more powerful tool than OBMM anyway, and you'll need a bashed patch to be able to run multiple large mods properly. And do get BOSS. Its not acutally complicated and it'll make you (modding) life a LOT easier.

Otherwise I think the two posts above have covered most of the mods you'd like, though you might like to get an overhaul as well. Probably you should have a look at TIE, OOO and Frans and see what you like the sound of most.

If you have a High - Med End computer my top 5 would be.
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16513
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19370
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6914
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18305
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30054 - Quite Possibly my favorite of the 5

Also for a whole new experience you can't beat the quest mod http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31692 the audio is in German but it dose have full English Subtitles!

Edit: Almost forgot to keep things running smoothly Performance Mods!
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10510
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23208
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5434
-http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22410 - if your experiencing crash on exit

Oh, and on the graphics side of things you'll want http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20053. Even if you've got a low end computer, you probably won't have any trouble with the Ayleid Ruins and Fort Ruins part of the pack. Massively valuable for immersion.

Really not recommended these days. Everything else though, looks good.

Operation Optimization has been usurped by PyFFI. It takes a little DIY, but the performance increase is well worth it.

All looks good! My comp. is new and it has really good specs, it set Oblivion to ultra high settings anyways

Yeah, I need to find the search button well if anyone has any other cool mods feel free to post them

I'll try BOSS but I don't think I'm ready for Wrye Bash yet :shrug:

Wrye Bash looks intimidating at first i agree, but ones you know it you do not want to miss it any more. There is this thread that can help you to get to know Wrye Bash.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1123302-wip-wrye-bash-pictorial-guide-for-newbies/

For some of the bigger mods to work correctly together you need Wrye Bash. I think there is a link to a guide with pictures as for what to do. The Wrye team have made the install process pretty simple, running one file to install Python and then you can use 7-zip to extract the Wrye Bash folder. Create a shortcut and you are done.

LoL Yeah and the link is in my post above yours.

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, allowing the player to concentrate on roleplaying. Realistic Leveling tends to be the better mod for the more jack-of-all-trades characters or for characters that change during the course of a game. nGCD tends to be the better mod for characters that fit conventional Dungeon-and-Dragons archetypes and never deviate from that during the course of a game.

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=35908 by Shezrie. A sparkling-new compilation of five of Shezrie's superb villages, all in the Tamriel worldspace (not in interior cells). Lakeland Village (south of Imperial City), Ravenwood Village (north of Chorrol), Woodland Village straddling the road between Imperial City and Skingrad (my favorite up to now), Haven Bay (in Valenwood) and the centerpiece of the mod, a complete makeover and expansion of Pell's Gate. Shezrie has been an excellent house modder since the days of Morrowind and her villages for Oblivion are Bethesda-quality in my opinion.

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. Those who are familiar with Tamriel Rebuilt's work for Morrowind will know that this is high-quality modding with an eye towards accuracy in matters of lore.

I recommended using http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12280 instead

and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34182

I had a few questions (I'm making this thread my support "thread" hehe):

First: What are omods? Are they like the esm, esp, textures, meshes, ect. that you copy into your data folder after extracting or are they different? If different, could you tell me how to install them... mainly with OBMM, since I'm most familiar with programs like that?

Second: Wrye Bash... is that like an alternative to the OBMM?

Third: I found this mod: Alternative Start Arrive by Ship - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11495 seems really cool and I like how it is set up. Anybody try this mod yet?

Fourth: Since I have the GOTY, does that mean I have the latest patch as well?

Thanks for the hasty replies as I can't wait to start roleplaying!

Edit: for the first question, it seems that "For any "OMOD-ready" file, you need to open Oblivion Mod Manager, click the "create" button, and click "add archive". The archive is your zipped file. If it is indeed OMOD-ready, it will ask you if you want to import the data, and you say yes. Then click "create" and that should turn it into an OMOD file."

Does this mean you do not extract omod files with 7-zip?

http://tesivpositive.animolious.com/ <-- See the "New Mod Users Guide to the Site". It goes through all of that.


Edit: Yes, you can use Wrye Bash instead of OBMM, but OBMM cannot replace Wrye Bash. OBMM only really has two major features over Bash, but you probably won't need either of those starting out. Those differences are mentioned on the utilities' respective pages on that site.

An Omod is an archive containing all necessary resources for one Oblivion mod, packed in a format specific for OBMM. To use them, load them in OBMM by clicking on the "Load" button at the bottom. It will then (after some time - quite long time if the mod has lots of resources) pop up in the right-hand-side window in OBMM, ready to be activated. When activated, OBMM will unpack the omod and correctly install the files to your Oblivion/data directory.

Yes, but that's only a small fraction of what WB does. It does almost everything except playing the game for you

It is the most-used alternate start mod and is quite popular, and can safely be used.

Yes

Yes.

Yes. Though you can, but then you need to click "add folder" instead of "add archive", but adding the packed archive is generally better.

Are all those installations really necessary? Such as TESCS and C++ Runtime Library Update and TES4Edit?

I don't know if anyone mentioned them yet...but the OBLIVIFALL mods are excellent.

I disagree with your last point. OBMM has one major feature over Bash that even newcomers may need, and that is the scripted installation. I know WB has got scripted installation too, but one that is inferior to OBMM's scripted installation and therefore cannot do what's most important in my installation scripts.

So anyone trying out my more advanced mods (like Enhanced Economy, Map Marker Overhaul or Real Sleep Extended) should really use OBMM to install them due to the scripted installation.


No, they are not

I wasn't thinking about the scripted installation at all. Some new users go for BAIN. Plus, you just said "more advanced." I don't think scripted installation is necessary, but we'll just disagree there. I have nothing against OBMM. I said Bash "could" replace it. I didn't say that the OP shouldn't use it.



No, but the latter two are highly recommended. The Runtime Library Update won't hurt, and without it you'll run into some random crashes related to various OBSE-dependent mods. I cannot pull them off the top of my head.

TESCS is the most official modding tool. You don't need it if you have absolutely no intention of modding at all. Its only an EXE install.

You don't need TES4Edit, but I think that one is the most useful even if you aren't doing any serious modding.


Edit: I updated the page a bit.

Ok well I'm going to install OBMM and OBSE for now and hopefully will be able to play Alternative Start Arrive by Ship, Better Cities, and such mods.

If you run into a C++ runtime error at some point, install the C++ runtime update.


Happy gaming!
- Tomlong75210


Edit: Install BOSS as well. It will take care of your load order for you, which will save you much trouble. Just throwing the plugins into the Data folder is not enough once you have more than a few.

Ok so I installed OBMM successfully and I just downloaded OBSE and copied the dll files and the obse_loader. When I launch OBMM though, it still says Launch Oblivion. Shouldn't it say Lauch OBSE or something like Fallout 3 (Launch FOSE)?

BOSS is confusing and I'll do it later, but is it necessary if you know how the load order works (sorta) like for example: Oblivion.esm goes at the top, along with offical mods like shivering isles and kinghts of the nine under it them fan made mods with .esm after the offical mods then .esp mods ect.

OBMM is kind of old now, but it does launch Oblivion with OBSE if OBSE is installed. The GUI doesn't change. Create a shortcut pointing to the obse_loader.exe and place it on your desktop.


and don't forget about BOSS.
- Tomlong75210