It seems as though there are numerous leveling mods. Does anybody have any suggestions on the best leveling mods out there and are compatible to FCOM. Pls post a link Thanks in advance

There's no compatibility issues with any leveling mod when using FCOM.
As for the best, that's an individual choice.
Scroll to Leveling Mods on the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:FCOM.
A search at TESNexus will find them all.

Depends on how you like/want to play. For a truer RPG experience Oblivion XP is probably the best fit. This topic is very subjective though....

Something that makes vanilla leveling easier.

I would modify this statement to say: for a truer Dungeons and Dragons/MMO-style leveling experience Oblivion XP is probably the best fit. The MMO model is a perfectly valid system but it not a truer RPG experience. My own opinion is that the skill-based experience gain system used by Elder Scrolls games is a better system for roleplaying. It's purely a matter of choice.

I use two character leveling mods. I choose which one I use based on the character I intend to play. I tend to use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13879 when playing jack-of-all-trades characters and characters who change in some way during play. More and more I find I like to roleplay characters whose behavior is altered by their experiences in the game. Realistic Leveling, in my experience, adapts quickly to player/character decisions like this.

If I plan to play something like a 70's-era Dungeons and Dragons-style "class" I tend to use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14065 NGCD, in my experience, functions best when players stick to defined classes and archetypes.

That said, both mods are very, very configurable if the player wants to take the time to familiarize themselves with the mod's .ini files.

What about Kcas what kind of playstyle uses it?

KCAS has so many pre-set configurations (The Great Wheel, The Nexus, The Two Rings, and 7 more, as well as custom options) that you could probably say it has a little something for everybody. I haven't used it so I'm not qualified to say anything more about it.

But I've read that some of the older mods occasionally have problems computing the correct stats in certain situations. How true that is and what those situations might be I'll leave to someone else to explain. I haven't followed the issue very closely.

Fact is, I tend to play jack-of-all trades characters too... the reason nGCD specifically rewards specialization, is that versatility is its own reward. The idea was to make the decision between focus and diversity a meaningful one, where either direction has its downsides. All the math is retroactive and you don't lose anything by spreading out; it's just that having 50 points in one skill gives more total improvement to your attributes than having 25 points in two. Of course, having 50 points in both is better still!

At this point, I believe the main benefit of KCAS is that it doesn't require OBSE.

I support Pseron Wyrd's and tejon's replies. I have been a Realistic Leveling user for a long time and is very happy with that, but still consider switching to nGCD for the reasons the two mention: That for roleplaying reasons it may make sense that versality comes at a cost - though I'm so used to playing versatile characters that I'm a bit afraid of doing it.

As for KCAS, the main disadvantage is the other side of its main benefit as mentioned by tejon: Since it doesn't require OBSE, it lacks the functionality provided by OBSE too, and will get confused by vampirism and other abilities, as well as custom races and birthsigns. It will discover that your skills have changed, but not discover that it is due to those cases and not normal leveling, and will therefore change the attributes and level as if those changes were due to normal leveling - which may give weird results.

So if you can use OBSE and want natural leveling, choose nGCD or RL.

When I downloaded Realistic Leveling and turned into an OMOD it is displayed as red I also have Kcas but I will deactivate and yet it doesn't work does any body know any fixes? Note I use FCOM.

The reason that RL is displayed as red is that it contains an xml file that you already have installed with another mod (DarnUI?), thus warning you about a resource conflict. This is OK, and even mentioned in RL's readme, and you're supposed to use the xml files that come with RL by letting it overwrite the already-installed xml files.

So I just overwrite Darni's UI for leveling with no problem?

Yes - I use this combo myself.

Thanks What does Verbose leveling do It sounds like vanilla.

It means that you get a the popup menu telling you that you have leveled, and writing some suiting text about how you feel. Unlike vanilla, this will happen immediately and not only when you sleep, and it will of course be without the "choose attributes to level" menu.

Silent leveling means that your level increases silently - you will not notice it unless you check your stats.

I know the discussion is about mods to level, but I just use the command console. I pick the majors I want and play how I want. When I level up, I just use the command console to tweak my three chosen attributes to +5s. I find it works wonderfully for me and solves every complaint I have about the leveling system. Just depends what you want. I use several mods for wonderful things, but I have found I don't need one for leveling. I'm not very sophisticated about using mods so I tend to like a shorter mod list managed by OBMM - I can handle that -

That's why people exploit it so much......

Some people might. I doubt that all do.

But the main thing here is that it's irrelevant whether anyone on the planet exploits it ("it" being vanilla levelling anyway, and so...) It's all about what the levelling system could be intended to reflect, and how well (and in what ways) it apparently does so.

Using skills, then directly receiving *associated* benefits (including increases in the skills themselves) is, to some at least, more "roleplaying-friendly" (or "immersive", or "supportive of verisimilitude" if you prefer ) than using skills, then "shopping" for whatever you as a player might prefer for whatever reasons, all over the place perhaps.


Anyway, I've been using nGCD + Progress (+ FCOM, et al) for a while, and that has worked well for me. One day, I might experiment with Realistic Levelling, just for a[nother] change. Previously, I have also enjoyed KCAS, and a few others. The best way to find out what will work for you, is... to find out what works for you. Really, just try a few (generally, one at a time!) and discover your perfect system.

Well said! The only thing I would do is reiterate what these folks have said about KCAS... besides the issues with vampirism, many items in a heavily modded game change stats/attributes in a number of different ways when equipped. I found that this often would lead to leveling when I should not have, sometimes jumping 2 or more levels at a time. I like the idea behind some of the preset paths of destiny, but the leveling problem was too much for me. Now I use nGCD + Progress and am quite happy with the results, but RL or Oblivion XP might suit your tastes better, and both are highly regarded.

Hope this helps,
veg

Hence my comment about subjectivity. To be more accurate regarding Oblivion XP, it rewards you experience points for (in general) playing the game, not for getting better at a certain set of skills - which you could do without 'playing' the game.......

My major skills increase but the level bar is still the same. For RL

If you're using RL with a new character, that's probably because RL calculated your starting level to be below 1, and it will not start increasing the level bar until it calculates your level to be a fraction above level 1. But ask in ABO's thread for specific questions about his mods.

Thanks.