Hey everyone,

I am coming back to Oblivion after a few years hiatus. I am WAY out of date on the current mod situation.

I am looking for help in building a near-comprehensive mod list for this time around.

I have a pretty powerful machine at my disposal. I'm hoping you guys can give me some good advice!

If there are any "recommendation lists" that cover a lot of what I'm discussing, I'd love to hear about those also.

What I'm looking for:

1) OOO or some alternate leveling manager/world changer like it: Last time I played (2008), I had a fantastic time using OOO. Is it still in use, or is it still considered good in relationship to other available mods? Anything but vanilla.

2) Stealth/thievery mods

3) Trading/economy mods

4) Combat improvement/difficulty mods (I like a challenge! Although I assume some of this might conflict with things like OOO?)

5) Utilities (Wyre Bash still in use?)

6) Graphics Changes: like I said, I have a powerful machine now. I know this is a HUGE question. But if you guys could give me the "big ones," I'd really appreciate it.

7) Quest mods: I like big, long, epic quest arcs. Would love to see some recommendations on this one.

8) Immersion mods: background sounds, conversation mods, etc.

9) Expanded World mods: anything to make the world bigger.

That's it for now. I know this is a lot to ask for, but I would REALLY love to hear what you guys have to say.

Thanks!

I'm not at my pc at the moment so I can't provide you with links, but TesNexus and these forums should provide you with what you need.
1) try FCOM- it combines OOO, Franesco's, warcry and Marts Monster Mod.
Requires quite a bit of work to get going but modders have made it easier with tools like BOSS (better oblivion sorting system) and of course Wrye Bash, which is still around and still excellent.

2) I use Jog's Stealth Overhaul - and also use some extra quest mods that work well with it:
Thievery in the Imperial City
Vaults of Cyrodiil

3) Enhanced Economy is great and it's supported by FCOM

4) FCOM will cover the difficulty and leveling for you, however you also might want to try:
Deadly Reflex. Or
Unnecessary Violence.

5)Wyre Bash is a must, also Oblivion Mod Manager, TESIVLODGen, BOSS and of course you'll need OBSE

6)Qarls Texture pack 3 is great, but I have a pretty good rig and it brings it to it's knees. I use Qarls Texture Pack Redimized, better performance.
You'll also want all the Unique Landscapes mods and why not try Better Cities too - looks great. A few other ones you can use here too, like
Arthmoor's New Roads and Bridges, Clocks of Cyrodiil.

7) OOO will add some great new quests, some more include:
A Brotherhood Renewed ( for extra dark brotherhood quests and a fitting end to the db story)
Midas Magic
The Lost Spires
There are many more up on TesNexus, just browse by category and chose quest mods.

8) There's some well endorsed music mods that overhaul the music system, haven't got around to it yet.
Also you might like Enhanced Weather and Enhanced Water. There's a whole category on TesNexus for immersion mods.

9)You can now explore Elsweyr with the Elsweyr: the deserts of Anequina mod. It's awesome.
And now, though I haven't installed it yet, you can roam all over Tamriel with Under the Sign of the Dragon: Tamriel Heightmaps mod. Note that the other provinces have landscapes but no towns or NPCs - although there are teams of modders working to populate the other provinces. Side's Sailing Ships will let you sail around the seas of Tamriel.
Other lands include Pirate Isles, Nacosto Isles, Auriel's Retreat.
You'll need The Shivering Isles expansion for some if these though.
Once again, TesNexus is a great place to shop for mods.

You've got a lot of readmes ahead of you and quite possibly some hair pulling and mod installation frustration, but if you're persistent, patient and read the forums, you'll be in for a treat.

All the best!

-phant

http://tesivpositive.animolious.com/ should bring you up to speed. It even has links to various other sites/threads, etc. So really, I can only recommend checking it out. Can't see a downside, as such.

Going through the first, say, half a dozen pages of threads here can be great for finding about new/updated/popular mods - look for Relz/Wipz/similar title thingies, for the most part.

Also, there's a Mods Detectives thread here for questions about specific mods, or types of mods, you're looking for. Using that is the best way to go, for those purposes.

Getting to know how to use the Nexus search function skillfully can be very handy indeed, too. Try it out - for example, searching (a particular phrase, including partial words, if you like) by downloads / descending, or whatever else seems useful.

If you read the OP for each mod's current thread, for updates, info, etc., and read all readme files that come with mods themselves (plus advice or info at the download pages for them) you can't go too far wrong - I'd say this is the most important thing to remember. YMMV.

Good luck, and happy gaming!

Phant, thanks for the advice, that's very helpful.

Breton, that is an excellent site, very clean and clear. This will help immensely.