Hey everyone,

I figured I'd ask as I did some searching and just wanted to make sure I was doing it right, as I tried installing before and buggered it up!

I am wanting a proper install order for Oblivion, with the expansions and addons, including all patches and plugins (like the official and the unofficial patches, OBSE, OBMM, etc.) I would also want the install to be used for dropping eye-candy mods and gameplay mods on top of, so that I can finally do it right! If there are any types of mods that I need to install before doing other things, let me know (things like Qarl's, Everything Viewable, body mods, Enhanced Weather, etc.) Or can I put a full clean install of Oblivion, and then add these?

I don't think I want to go with FCOM, as I screwed that up royally already, but I like the added monsters and items, as well as quests, so I'm torn. Can I get an install to a point where I can put the big game changers on after if I decide to do it, or will I have to do a whole new install from scratch? Things like extracting the bsa archives and pffing them: is it necessary for using a large number of mods, and how should I go about doing it properly? Are there certain programs that are necessary? I was using OBMM and OBSE, but I'm not that confident at Wrye bashing yet... The last time I tried was about a year ago, so I don't know what new ones have been added (even a year ago there were so many mods to look through!)

I found a couple of load order guides and install guides, but most were around the 2008 era. I found http://tescosi.com/wiki/Oblivion:Complete_Installation_Guide which was July of this year, but is it complete for doing modding later, or is it good for just the main game and official add-ons? Is there another site that I should look at that is more "up-to-date" in this respect?

Sorry if this question has been asked a million times before, but I was just getting frustrated having wanted to have the "perfect" modded experience and failing. Thanks in advance!

If you don't want FCOM you could try Waalx Creature mod, it has a lot of new items and creatures without any complicated install, I should warn you that some of the content can be a bit mature, certainly caught me off guard the first time.

You could also try the newly released Reclaiming Sancre tor which is like an expansion pack for the game

For load order use BOSS (it sorts you load order for you, just one click and you are ready to go), should solve all problems you could have if you use it together with Wrye Bash

"Is there a site that is more up to date?" Well I'm trying to have one. I have gotten some great feedback and the Oblivion list of recommended tools and mods is becoming more refined every day. I'm not trying to spam the site but this is exactly why I put it up: http://www.espurist.com

Check it out and let me know if it helped you. There are no specific load order lists yet but the order that the mods are in generally follows Tools>Patches/Updates>Visual improvements>other tweaks. Someone put up TOTO yesterday and that was a great guide to find retextures for a lot of things, might want to look further back in the forum for that.

I use tescosi.com as my go-to guide. It might have been a few months out of date, but the core of it is good to go for almost anything.

Check the optimization utilities section (look specifically for OSR) if you want to run a stable game with QTP3, OBGE shaders, and RAEVWD. It does not matter how modern your system is, Oblivion with its bad optimization will bring it down to a crawl. So OSR is a must. You can get away without pyffing your meshes, but it definitely helps a lot to increase your FPS.

Adding mods on to a modded game can get tricky - the key is to read up ahead about any incompatibilities and avoid installing mods that usually end up doing the same things. Wrye Bash's installation method (BAIN) is really useful in troubleshooting in case something goes awry (and something definitely will once you start getting greedy about mods ). Learn to install one mod at a time, check game for stability - don't go on an installation spree (unless you are installing FCOM components etc.), and you should be fine.

PS: Read up on Wrye Bash pictorial guide. Helps ou understand all the aspects, especially the bashed patch you need for FCOM.

Thanks for the great responses!



I will definately check out the ones you've pointed out. I've never heard of either, heh. I used BOSS before, it was a must have, it was just trying to learn to use Wrye Bash properly that was the kicker.



Great site! I'm browsing through it as I speak. I remember TOTO, I believe, as that was the one that originally helped with installing Qarls' if I remember back that far, and I will look for it again, especially if it has been updated.



I do want to run a stable game, and I was interested to learn about the memory limit that causes a CTD. Hopefully I won't add enough to kill it quickly...

As far as installing mods on top of others...that's what I'm worried about. There are so many mods that I want to add just because they are so useful/fun/amazing that it quickly fills up my mod order. As it is, I'm not sure which quest mods are a must have, or if there are certain area mods that should be used over others. Is the Unique Landscapes project still going? And is it worth it to include?

Still going, definitely worth it, and we've got another release coming soon. As in real soon.

Excellent! I'll have to get re-downloading all of my old mods...

One quick question: does anyone know the order for adding in the DLC mods and the Unofficial patches? It wasn't on TESCosi. Am I correct in following:

1. Oblivion
2. Oblivion Official Patch
3. Shivering Isles
4. Shivering Isles Official Patch
5. DLC
6. Unofficial Oblivion Patch
7. Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
8. Unofficial DLC Patches

Then work with the Utility mods and then the texture overhauls and then normal mods? Or should I get the Utility addons like OBSE, OBGE, OBMM and such into action before doing the Unoffical patches and such?

Thanks again!

Utility mods go first, then overhauls, texture mods go last (unless you want some textures overwritten by other mods)

Here is a good guide:
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1232576-complete-modded-oblivion-installation-guide/

Also, I rebuilt my Oblivion game just a couple days ago using OOO and MMM.
Unique Lanscapes, Better Cities, Race Rebalancing, Duke Patricks Melee and Archery, QTP3, and many more mods.
It's working very well for me.
If you are proficient in it, try using Wrye Bash for most of your installations, it really does help.

That's perfect, thank-you! We'll see how long it takes me to get 'er done.

If you use Wrye Bash's BAIN, the question about what order to install mods in becomes moot.

You can change what mod/patch overwrites another mod/component on the fly, without having to do the OMOD install/uninstall monkey business.

That's nice to note. I'm reading up on it so I can re-learn this whole modding business. It'd be nice to not have to worry about overwriting and such.