I haven't played Oblivion since a while back, and I used OOO (1.2x or 1.3. Don't quite remember) and thought it was better, but now it looks like OOO hasn't progressed much since back then and doesn't seem to change anything in Shivering Isles, so I'd like to hear what the general consensus is these days. Which is better, OOO or Francesco's, and why?

Thanks in advance.

I use to use frans till rom came out. Now its Tie, OOO, and rom. It depends on a person prefrence really.

The general consensus says OOO these days; there was a poll not long back that showed that almost unanamously. However, it's all about personal choice really. Whereas OOO is much more static and place-orientated, Frans uses a system similar to vanilla but fixes it considerably. Then again, if you use OOO you can use FCOM. Which is awesome. Not for begginers though.

For people new to the game I'd generally recommend Frans to start off with, but since your not new and have even used OOO before, I'd recommend staying there. Or, you could add MMM to OOO or even try FCOM instead, in which case you'll get OOO, Frans, MMM and Warcry all at once.

Yeah, you can always run both. FCOM.

I didn't even know about FCOM. Definitely gotta try it out. Thanks guys.

If you're new to modding, don't go for FCOM. It's a really tricky one to install. Okay, I think that quite a lot of places over-exagurated it somewhat, it's fairly simple as long as you follow the instructions.

If you're interested in FCOM I'd reccomend starting with OOO and MMM: the two core components of FCOM. You'll want to become confident with three tools: BOSS, OBMM and Wrye Bash.

BOSS is the easiest to learn and probably also the most useful. Grab that straight away. It essentially orders your load order for you, so you don't have to worry, and it provides loads of handy info for getting a working mod setup. Grab that and install OOO. Next you'll probably want to learn to use OBMM. It's a mod manager designed to make installing and unistalling mods easier. Download MMM and its OMOD installer (the format OBMM uses) and install it with OBMM. What that does is give you loads of options as you install MMM so you don't have to move all the stuff from sub-folders and decide which optional esps you run. Run BOSS through that and you have a good install and knowledge with two of the most important tools of modding.

Wrye Bash is a bit trickier to learn, but well worth it. You'll want to start using it when your mod list starts growing or you want to install something like All Natural (highly reccomended) that needs it. Learn to use a Bashed Patch, the main feature of Wrye Bash. Only when you have working knowledge with BOSS, OBMM and Wrye Bash should you consider installing FCOM, but believe me, it's well worth it.

OOO and Frans are quite different so it's impossible to say which of them that is "best" as it depends on what you're looking for. See http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/820948-scaling-overhaul-comparison/ for just that.

Also, http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1112992-relz-zutheskunks-shivering-isles-overhaul-v01/ complements OOO nicely.

you and your consensus are getting on my nerves mate im telling you that.

me personally not a fan of these, feels like killing oblivion or maybe i should try it and comment later umm yess i might meditate on that.

Sorry what?

A+++++++++++ Drink and post.



Thanks for the warning and advice, The Greatness. I've used OBMM and Wrye Bash in the ancient past, so I should be OK. Haven't tried Boss before though, but it seems pretty useful.

If you are going to install FCOM, save yourself some headaches and avoid OBMM.
You will need to use Wrye Bash anyhow and trying to juggle mod installs between both can not only be a hassle but problematic if you make mistakes, sometimes forcing you to reinstall and start over.

OBMM is good when you are starting out at modding, but there comes a point when it's time to increase your control. I'd say that installing FCOM is a pretty good benchmark for this and Wrye Bash's BAIN gives you the control.

To the op:
Better is a matter of preference and in many ways the two can't even be compared.
If you explain what aspects you are interested in, then the choice becomes more tangible.
You might also consider TIE. You can even have FCOM+TIE if you really wanna go for broke.

Good advice. I prefer a more static world, so I would go for OOO if FCOM didn't exist.

On a humorous, semi-related note, when I decided to install Oblivion again, I swore to myself I was just gonna install one overhaul mod and a few other small mods. 12 hours later I've downloaded half of Tesnexus and I'm sitting up at 3 AM reading about Wrye Bash.

:rock:

Just don't, y'know, expect to be able to stop.

Any time.

I disagree. Installing FCOM with OBMM and Wrye Bash together is far easier that using Wrye Bash alone, and it'll save you a lot of trouble if you install MMM, OOO, and the actual FCOM patch parts of FCOM on OBMM because the scripts will select all the right parts for you.
Furthermore, none of the above mentioned parts of FCOM can be found packaged for Wrye bash, so to install them using Wrye Bash you'll have to unpackage the archives, take the bits of the mod you want and move them to a different folder and then repackage them into a new archive. Plus, if you make a mistake doing that you'll have to remove the mod from Wrye bash and do the whole repackaging thing all over again.
You are best off installing WarCry on Wrye Bash though.
And I'm not sure exactly what's meant by 'reinstall and start over', but if you do have to reinstall parts of FCOM because you haven't installed them right, the OBMM scripts will make it a hell of a lot easier reinstalling them.

What separates Francesco's from Oscuro's in my mind is that I believe Oscuro's is a roleplaying mod as much as a gameplay/difficulty mod, whereas I don't get that feel from Francesco's. Oscuro's is a mod made by somebody who cherished Morrowind and wanted very badly to make the experience of playing Oblivion feel as much like playing Morrowind as possible.

Oscuro's mod deepens and extends Oblivion's lore. If you run into a band of Oscuro-added smugglers you can bet you will find a note or book somewhere nearby explaining who these smugglers are and how they got here, often tying it into events happening in Morrowind. Its hand-placed loot and enemies is another means by which it attempts to recapture some of the feel of Morrowind.

Francesco's is not as concerned with lore or roleplaying. It does not attempt to explain why its new monsters and NPCs are there. It does not add quests, notes, books. It throws monsters onto the ground and you fight them. This is neither good nor bad - I often use the mod when I am mainly in a monster-bashing mood. Because Francesco's mod is not quite as static as Oscuro's mod I am not reminded of Morrowind as much when I play Francescos's mod. Again, neither good nor bad.

Both mods are extremely well-made and feature a wide array of new enemies and new loot, including some fantastic weapons and armor. Both mods feature well-thought-out gameplay changes. To me, it boils down to whether one wants to try to push Oblivion closer to the Morrowind experience. If making Oblivion play more like Morrowind is important to a player my advice would be to use Oscuro's mod. If that isn't important to a player they may prefer to use Francesco's mod.