As part of the mod wiki project I'm working on, I wanted to include articles comparing the major game-affecting mods. We already have ones for scaling overhauls, magic overhauls, and even body replacers, but I haven't been able to find anything on levelling mods. I know there are quite a few out there, but how to differentiate between them? I've only ever used Realistic Levelling myself, along with OOO's x5 slower, so I know little to nothing of the others.

So... can those of you who actually use them give me a player's description of how they work, why you like them, and why you would recommend them to others?

You might remember there was a thread with a long and detailed discussion regards the different leveling mods people use. If you can find that it could be a great help, but I've a horrible feeling it would have been purged by now.

My input would be my use of realistic levelling and progress together. Both require OBSE, use ini files and come with a degree of customisation via these ini files. They overlap to some degree so certain settings need changing to be the same.
RL: What I like about it is it's install and forget about it-ness. No more micromanaging skills to get your +5 attribute bonuses, just play.
Prog: Allows me to fully alter how each skill develops and alter accordingly. Conj rising too fast, change a number, restoration toooo slow, alter a number.

Remember to include SPAM levelling mod as well, it′s an awesome levelling mod to us who enjoy setting the attribute points by ourselves, but natually need a system that makes more sense than Vanilla.

I wouldn't mind seeing a comprehensive list as well - mainly to list all the mods that are incompatible with Oblivion XP You wouldn't believe how often I get asked...

In short, Oblivion XP replaces the vanilla levelling system with a point reward system like Dungeons & Dragons style games. You earn experience points for doing stuff until you get enough to gain a level. When you level, you increase your attributes and skills as you wish, up to defined limits. The link in my sig has a more detailed description.

Others that I know of are:
nGCD
Realistic Levelling
Wrye Levelling
KCAS
AF
Balor

References:
http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=790175&hl
http://www.gamesas.com/?showtopic=820948
UESP pages on leveling mods:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Level
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Efficient_Leveling
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Under_Leveling
... gosh and I use to have a UESP link for recommended mods that talked a lot about leveling mods - can't find it.

I did a search for "levelling mods" and "leveling mods" (because it can be spelled both ways). You wouldn't believe how many "which levelling mod is the best/should I use?" threads there are... I even found several titled "how do I beat the levelling problem?" (yes, those exact words :tongue: ).

What I did NOT find, sadly, was an in-depth comparison of levelling mods a la bg2408's magic overhaul or scaling overhaul articles. There was one link in a post from last October that linked to what was supposedly a thread with some in-depth discussion, but it's pruned.

I did, however, get a decent sense of the most popular levelling mods: nGCD, RL, and Oblivion XP (the first two are roughly equal and more popular), along with Progress. I wish I'd known what Progress did before starting my latest character... I use Arcane Archery, and it boosts your Destruction skill like mad - I hit Master by L15. Ah well...


I've got: KCAS (outdated), SPAM, Pure Immersion, RL, nGCD, Oblivion XP, AF Leveling (outdated?), and Wrye Levelling. I'm sure I'm missing a few...


Thanks.


bg's base mod list has a decent description of the types of levelling mods, but not really the mods themselves. Still, it's a good start. Thanks.