All right, i decided to give oblivion another go after a very long time and since then i am not very well informed with mods at all...

Can you recommend a good compilation of mods? Am more than sure there are hundreds, if no thousands of mods so it will be a real pain to search every single one of them to see if i may find it appealing...

Or if that's not possible, please recommend me the most essential and no-brainer mods that would make my gameplay experience good

I use the steam goty version if that is of some importance...

Thanks

Mod compilations are generally frowned upon here for several reasons - and they aren't a good idea for the player either as they often contain old versions of included mods for one thing. Better to create your own "compilation" based on separate, updated releases and exactly what you're looking for rather than what some random dude likes.

What did you like and what didn't you like with the "vanilla" game? Personally, the major things I wanted to "fix" were the leveled world (i.e. Goblins that level with the player etc.) and the general randomness of the world (i.e. you find anything/everything randomly everywhere). Both of which - and much more - were fixed by Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, which I have used ever since. It's a more challenging world (at least for low level chars) but also more rewarding, as you'll find unique items etc. More like how Morrowind is.

I understand

In the vanilla the thing i didn't like the most was the micromanaging of the character leveling system [the random attribute gains]. I mean the 5 attribute points you struggle to get when you level up, sometimes you get only 1 or 2 points, sometimes none. This can pretty much screw the character and make him weak in comparison of the scaled monsters... I saw a mod called AF Leveling and it seems a good alternative. Is it compatible with OOO?

I think with those two mods i will really have good times

FCOM adds variety (more monsters, weapons, armor) to and re-balances the game world for the better. http://www.oblivionmodwiki.com/index.php/FCOM is a handy guide for installing it. Includes OOO and it's fixed leveling system Arkngt mentioned above me, makes the world feel much more static.

Most of the mods I use personally (at least the ones I think are universally easy to recommend) are listed http://knotstheinane.blogspot.com/p/oblivion-modding-guide.html. Not much mention of game stability/optimizers yet, though. Something I plan to build upon.

As for the leveling system itself (the way you gain experience, etc) Oblivion XP is a nice alternative that shakes things up nicely, can provide a fresh experience for the game if you've already played through once or twice and want something 'different'.

FCOM sounds good, does it includes some fix to those attribute gains i mentioned above or is this mod http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=oblivionmods.detail&id=334 compatible with the bundle?


The intention of this mod is to fix the annoying parts about Oblivion's Player leveling / advancement system and keep intact as much as possible in the spirit of the original game. To create a mod where you can play it and have fun and not worry about micromanaging X5 Multipliers, and be able to level up a character and not "GIMP" him by not training the right skills at the right times...

that's exactly what i am looking for

Oblivion Xp sounds fun but it moves it too much for me I like the experience gain in general i just don't like the micromanaging of the attribute multipliers and constantly worry if i get them x5...

nGCD or Realistic Leveling might be what you're looking for. Both remove micromanaging completely, the leveling is seamless and in the background. Both require OBSE, but so does lots of excellent mods. I'd also recommend Progress, which governs at which rate skills level and comes with several neat plugins.

FCOM is great, but rather complicated to set up so perhaps not the best choice if new to mods. OOO and MMM give much of what a complete FCOM install does, but easier to set up. I'd recommend starting out with OOO/MMM if so and then "upgrade" to FCOM perhaps - once you have OOO/MMM installed/running correctly and more experience with installing mods, handling load orders etc.

EDIT: I should also add that I'm a bit partial to OOO/MMM/FCOM as that's what I'm playing, but there are alternatives, such as ROM and Oblivion WarCry New Dimension EV, both of which are even more comprehensive "compilations" than OOO, affecting much of everything (ROM comes with its own version of Realistic Fatigue (which is an excellent mod as well) etc., for example. ).

To get a leveling system close to vanilla, but where there's no micromanagement involved, use Realistic Leveling or nGCD. They are both superb, but have slightly different advantages.

Thanks, will look into these. I might pull it of with FCOM, vaguely remember a thing or two. If it gets way too complicated will go the OOO/MMM route

I'll give em a shot later, need to finish some job first. I already have a clear vanilla version installed on the steam folder, ready to be modded, kekeke!



Will do. Thanks!



Will keep you posted if i encounter any problems!

Thanks again to all you guys.

Some general recommendations:

Use an installer (OBMM and/or Wrye Bash's BAIN) from the start. Much more convenient/safe in the long run.
Use BOSS to sort the load order.
Don't install loads of mods at once - install one or two at a time and check that they work etc. before adding more.