So, I guess I'm a game behind the release cycle.... but I just picked up Oblivion for $6.24 at Steam, GOTY Deluxe All-DLC etc etc etc edition. As silly as this sounds, my biggest fear is going into Oblivion not knowing which critical fan-based patches I need to install to make it a 'safe' gaming experience. With MW, we have the Morrowind Patch Project and the Morrowind Code Patch. To play without those patches is an absolute sin these days.

Yes, I'm sure you're saying, why don't you go post in the Oblivion section? Two reasons - 1. The MW board feels like home, and it's where I'm comfortable. I know the folks, and more importantly, the types of folks that hang around this board; 2. I know a LOT of you play or have played Oblivion.

So, my question - which are the essential fan-based patches that fix the bugs? I can't seem to find and MCP-esque code patch, perhaps none is required (or possible?). I did find the 3 "Unofficial Oblivion/Official-Mods/Shivering-Isles" patches. These seem to be all I need? I really want my first experience to be vanilla, but IMHO, vanilla ain't vanilla anymore without the fan-made patches on PC.

Thanks, and if this gets booted to another forum, I'll understand....

You found all the fan-made patches, that's good. Now, some other mods you might want are NoLoad and Spell Delete. The spell delete in particular is quite the essential imo and NoLoad simply eliminate useless loading bars while in the wilderness. If I think of anything else I'll be sure to edit my post.

Unique Landscapes goes 1st. There are lots of fun quest mods aswell, you'll eventually get into it.

Unofficial Oblivion patch sounds like the right one. I'm assuming this got moved from the Morrowind forum?
I think you should play the vanilla game first without adding any more mods (the patch mods are okay, since they don't alter how the game was intended to play, just bug fixes), it really is great.

Oh and don't worry, we're a friendly bunch over here on the Oblivion forums. Feel free to stick around awhile! I'm sure we'd all love to hear about your character's adventures. :wavey:

You are correct, Lady Mara.


My thoughts (well, assumptions, really) exactly!


Thanks for the welcome. I, uh, I guess you don't, uh, have any fishysticks around here? No? Well, [ahem] anyway...

I'm sure I'll find it to be quite nice once I get the hang of things. My last MW character hung around in the city for 15-20 levels before venturing out into the run-n-gun world. I understand that's a very, er, BAD idea in Oblivion. What, with all the leveled areas and monsters and such. I doubt super high mercantile will allow me to talk my way out of a fight with a Golden Saint?...

I just picked it up too and added some mods to update the graphics a bit before I even played it the first time. I used mods I knew didn't conflict with each other and so far it has played pretty smoothly.

I followed this for a baseline: http://youtu.be/9DfrB1nGPRY

They are not so much mods, but mod utilities that are good to add are http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37952 and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097 OBSE adds a lot of scripting that is not possible in the regular game, and many mods require it, such as http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3409 - which is invaluable for organizing your keys. OBMM is as the name implies, a mod manager. It allows you to not only control the order in which your mods load, but even more importantly it allows you to create .omod files. Each .omod is a single archive file with every file a mod uses. The advantage of these archive files is that most mods will put dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands, of individual files and folders in your Oblivion install directory. With OBMM you can simply create a single .omod file from the zip file you download. That saves lots of clutter on your hard drive, and a huge amount of time if you find you don't like the mod and want to remove it. Tracking down every single file a mod installs and deleting it can be a pain. Not to mention you can delete the wrong ones. :facepalm: It also makes it easier reinstalling later, or on another computer, so long as you save your .obmm files.

There is no Oblivion equivalent to the Morrowind Code Patch. I'm not sure why, I guess, as you say, it wasn't needed. Modders have been able to achieve really remarkable things using the Oblivion Script Extender so I guess it wasn't necessary.

You're correct that hanging around the Imerpial City doesn't achieve the same thing as hanging around Seyda Neen. This can be either good or bad, depending on your point of view. It eliminates the need to "grind" levels, but it does cause problems and annoy some people, especially at higher levels.

My advice is to make a "test" character and play for a few hours, just to get the feel of the game. It only took me four or five hours before I began to know what I wanted to change with mods. We can recommend mods for you then, if you want.

Much like the OP I've been playing Morrowind for awhile, now going to start playing Oblivion - hello everyone!
In fact I'll be installing it today! Got the GOTY version and the 3 unofficial patch essentials - (as far as I can see).

This has been a thread for me too actually, I've got a fairly heavily modded version of MW but I wanted to go relatively Vanilla on Oblivion at least for a while. Think I'll go for the script extender though and see where I get to after that.

One thing I am curious about though - Spell Delete? Is there a problem with Spells?

Cheers!
Mat

Kmelch: Welcome to Cyrodiil! I think you are wise to start with a pretty vanilla game just as you say, then gradually add mods to change what you find you think needs changing. I would certainly start with the Unofficial Oblvion Patch (UOP) as Lady Mara recommends. It fixes tons of objective bugs. There are versions for the main game, SI and the DLCs. More info here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:Unofficial_Oblivion_Patch

PhonAntiPhon: A warm welcome to you as well. The problem with spells is that once they are in your ‘spell book’, you can’t delete them in the vanilla game except via the command console. Many of the spells become obsolete as you get stronger ones and since you can make your own, your spell book can quickly get very cumbersome. The simplest fix is a small mod like spell delete where you can simply delete them in game. Using the command console requires codes that are not too bad to look up in wiki, but quite a bit more cumbersome to find for custom spells. I use one of the features of Wrye Bash to delete spells (outside my game sessions). For those with none of those abilities, the best you can do is creatively name your custom spells so they are at the top of your spell book. The game positions them alphabetically preceded by any numbers or special characters.

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Yeah, playing the game without any major mods, at least, is a good way for you to appreciate and understand the mods.