I hope before new Elder Scrolls, someone will take many of these great mods and put them together into one simple install.

I know some don't like this idea, and others think it impossible/impractical etc - but a person can hope right?

I have been frustrated many times when trying to install some popular mods for this game. I imagine many people experienced same as I did and for us, it would be so nice to be able to see all these wonderful mods work smoothly.

Anyhow, just wanted to share my thoughts.

You could always, oh I don't know... read the instructions and follow them.

I assume this is mainly aimed at FCOM, since it's a bit complicated to install. Many have suggested this but it's impractical because of constant updates, small changes and tweaking required as no two Oblivion setups are same.

It's already one simple install - it just has a lot of steps. Inbetween BAIN and BOSS, mod installation has never been easier.

The idea of a compilation that bundled some of the more popular mods (and not just FCOM) is attractive and was suggested before, but the problem is: who defines what should go in and what should stay out of the package? There are many mods that address the same parts of the game (weather mods, for instance) and to choose one over the others is mostly a matter of personal preference.

Just to give an example, I don't like big overhauls such as FCOM, but others would consider it essential in any mod list, so how do you decide if it should be a part of the package?

It's complicated. :ahhh:

That is one problem. Another problems is that most popular mods are still under more or less constant development, and the authors are therefore reluctant to allow their mods into packages where they cannot update the mods themselves. Also, when mods are included as one big package and something goes wrong (it always does for some players), it is harder to find the problem and at all decide which modder that should look into it.

I guess it quite much boils down to the fact that most modders are reluctant to give away control of their babies, (for quite good reasons).

Oh, I can totally understand that. But I think that there must be a moment when the modder will say "ok, this mod is pretty much finished, there is nothing else I'd like to implement". Or "this mod is working good and does what it says it does. I can keep adding things to it, but it basically works as I originally envisioned it".

I wouldn't know, because I never did any modding, so maybe I'm totally wrong here.

Another problem is that historically, I can count the number of compilation 'authors' who have gotten permission to use and redistribute the mods they've compiled on one hand. With several fingers left over...

Hell, I'll expand that. I can count the number of compilation authors who had no permission to redistribute others' work, and then when confronted about it didn't get all indignant and insulting, on that same hand. Probably about out of fingers, though.

Seriously, with very few exceptions, mod compilation 'authors' have historically had absolutely no regard for the rights and responsibilities of a mod author.

This thread is full of thruths I won't deny, but I still find it curious that after so many time each component of FCOM is still developed separatedly. I know all this stuff about the advantadges of modularity and all, but sincerely if I could install a mod that would let me choose wich parts I'd like to add instead of downloading and installing them separatedly and then patching them together I'd do it that way. I understand that maybe 5 years ago internet bandwith was a serious issue to limit packages size, but nowadays I don't think that's a problem anymore, or if it's still, it's only for a minority (let me know if I'm wrong, maybe it's not that way everywhere). But in my opinion the problem is of a very different nature, as The Nice One says, in general, modders are quite fond of their creations that want to keep them on their own, neglecting the fact that in some cases their mods would beneffit from synergies that would mean packing them together with others mods (just think how much rewarding it could be if some mod-added items would be earned as a reward for completeing modd-added quests, or simply big packages of weapons and armor with several "tweak" mod options so one could install the whole pack and then choose they all behave a la OMOBS, etc, without having to manually check it all out, etc. I'm not saying that modders should allow anyone to repack their work (I understand there's strong reasons to not do so) but rather that those moodders should be the firsts interested in packing their mods altogether with others that could beneffit the final result.

On a side note, IMHO it all would be easier if there were not so many mods that go off of scope, I mean, mods that are intended to do something and that in addition so something else, expected or not, so I really value mods that get stick to it's purpouse and do not mess with extra stuff. It's quite the opposite as what I've been saying as you end up with lots of mods but those use to be really easy to un/install so unexpected behaviours is less likely to happen, so it's not that a problem.

wow, I feel like I've smashed down all the grammar principles, I hope you could get what I mean

Mods that are required for FCOM are standalone mods in first place. They are being developed as standalone mods with support for FCOM, they aren't developed specifically for FCOM. While there are many people who enjoy FCOM, there's as much those who enjoy just OOO or MMM or combination of two and that is why they are developed separately.

Eventually many people will move on from Oblivion. I hope that before too many do, a few compilation mods will be made.
I know some people do not like this suggestion, and I understand their concerns, but if some basic rules of respect are followed when creating compilation mods then what harm can come from this?

I am only suggesting giving players an option to download compilation mods.
I really believe that this would be a win-win scenario for the mod makers and players.

More options are always a good thing I think, not bad.
Maybe I am wrong, but I am still hoping people will get together and do this.

yes, i am still dreaming

The thing is people do this stuff for fun and for free, and everyone's going to have a slightly different vision of how they'd like to experience the game.

Besides, between BAIN and BOSS, things have never been easier.

The thing about this is, there are different kinds of mods. New weapons and armor are unlikely to see updates: most of the work is the model and texture, and there's not much that's likely to change once those are finished. Quest mods generally have a plot that's written in advance, so they can hit that "does what I want it to" state and be feature-complete, though they might require bug fixes or compatibility patches in the future. Landscape mods fit somewhere in the middle; again, yes, they can definitely be "essentially finished."

But once you get into mods that change the rules of gameplay, rather than just what you're playing with, all bets are off. I thought I would be done with nGCD years ago, but a new version with some huge changes came out in November, and I've got another set of revisions planned fairly soon. New options open up as modding technology develops, and old mods frequently need to be updated for compatibility with new stuff, or can directly take advantage of the new tools themselves.

You know how the games which show up on a console near the end of its life cycle are often extremely superior in both graphics and framerate to those which came out at release? It's basically the same thing. People figure out new ways to use the available resources, and can get Just Plain Better results. Because of this, a gameplay-altering mod is usually only "done" when the modder leaves the community... and even then, chances are good someone else will pick it up soon enough, either obtaining permission to continue the original or simply making it obsolete with something new.

By the way, while I've got the console metaphor up: you know they're still releasing new games for the PS2, right? The Oblivion modding community will not be killed by Skyrim, just as Morrowind modding remains healthy to this day.

Some mods (such as the UL mods, for instance) already have compilations available. Better Cities is also a compilation in many respects as well. So its hard to say that there aren't very popular mods and widely used mods that don't have compilations available.