» Sat Jun 14, 2014 11:45 am Hello and thanks for reading.
As some of you know, I've been soliciting guidance and working to refine a mod list for my first complete playthrough of Oblivion since I purchased the game back in 2006 (there have been multiple aborted attempts over the years due to mod choice and installation issues). As I've stated in other threads, my priorities are:
- Game balance and challenge
- Fun, engaging combat and tactics (includes enemy A.I.)
- Convenience mods
- Quests and homes
- Graphics (but never at the expense of smooth performance)
- Sounds
- Other miscellanea
After gathering input from the community here (many thanks to all) and further research, I feel I've arrived at a solid list that I'm nearly prepared to proceed with...I'd just like another round of your feedback first.
Here are the mods I've selected (excluding quest mods, which I'll list separately further down):
Companion: Companion Vilja
Convenience: Fast Exit
Convenience: Horse Commands
Convenience: Inventory is a backpack
Convenience: Journal Mod
Convenience: Quest Log Manager
Convenience: Set Essential Actors
Convenience — Hotkeys: Hotkey Pro
Convenience — Map: Dynamic map
Convenience — Map: Map Marker Overhaul
Convenience — Map: MiniMap - Reboot
Convenience — UI: Darnified UI
Convenience — UI: HUD Status Bars
Core: COBL
Core: MenuQue
Core: NifSE
Core: Oblivion Graphics Extender
Core: Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE)
Core: Pluggy
Enhancement: Better Cities
Enhancement: Better Dungeons
Gameplay: Auto Update Leveled Items And Spells (AULIAS)
Gameplay: More Effective Enchantments
Gameplay: Realistic Ragdolls and Force v3
Gameplay — Economy: Enhanced Economy
Gameplay — Leveling: OblivionXP
Gameplay — Magic: Less Annoying Magicka (LAME)
Gameplay — Magic: Supreme Magicka Update
Gameplay — Overhaul: Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO)
Graphics: A Tweaked ENB
Graphics: All Natural Weather
Graphics: Alluring Potion Bottles v3
Graphics: Ayleid Ruins Retexture
Graphics: Immersive Interiors
Graphics: Koldorns Cave Textures 2
Graphics: Koldorns Sewer Textures 2
Graphics: Let the People Drink
Graphics: OBGE Liquid Water
Graphics: Oblivion Character Overhaul v2
Graphics: Qarl's Texture Pack III
Graphics: Real Lava
Graphics: ScreenEffects (for All Natural Weather)
Graphics: TES4LODGen
Graphics: Unique Signs
Graphics — Lighting: Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys
Graphics — Lighting: Dungeon Actors Have Torches
Graphics — Lighting: Exterior Actors Have Torches
Home: Aleswell Cottage (developed for Vilja)
Home: Lady Stone Villa (developed for Vilja)
Home: Lakeside Home (developed for Vilja)
Home: Millstone Farm
Home: New Sheoth Manor
Home: Red Rose Manor (developed for Vilja)
Home w/Quest: Hoarfrost Castle
Items: Armamentarium Complete
Patch: All Oblivion and SI Patches
Patch: Elys Silent Voice
Patch: OOO 1.34b Patch
Patch: Shivering OOO
Patch: Unofficial Oblivion Patch
Patch: Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
Performance: Clean Up
Performance: Oblivion Stutter Remover
Performance: Streamline
Quest: Shadowfang Keep
Sounds: Atmospheric Oblivion
Sounds: Generic Dungeon Drones
Sounds: Sounds of Cyrodiil
Sounds: Symphony of Violence
And here are the quest mods I've identified or that others have strongly recommended (note that at this point I only intend to install a small number of them — perhaps about three — so I'll have to be selective):
Quest: Ayleid Steps
Quest: Black Horse Courier Expanded
Quest: Blackwood Company
Quest: Bruma Mage Guild Reconstructed
Quest: Cyrodiil Border Regions
Quest: Deepgrave
Quest: Elsweyr, The Desert of Anequina
Quest: Gift of Kynareth
Quest: Hackdirt: The Deep Ones & Hackdirt Alive
Quest: Heart of the Dead
Quest: JQ Assassin Quest
Quest: Kragenir Death Quest
Quest: Kvatch Rebuilt
Quest: Laughing Maw
Quest: Mannimarco Resurrection - Light and Dark
Quest: Mannimarco Revisited
Quest: Mighty Umbra
Quest: Old Crow Inn
Quest: Reclaiming Sancre Tor
Quest: Ruined Tail's Tale
Quest: Shadowfang Keep
Quest: The Dungeons of Ivellon
Quest: The Lost Spires
Quest: Trade and Commerce
Quest: Vampire Hunting - Order of the Virtuous Blood
Of these, I'm particularly interested in: Black Horse Courier Expanded, Kvatch Rebuilt and Dungeons of Ivellon. My main concern is that the quest is compatible and well balanced with OOO.
I'd very much appreciate your thoughts, advice, comments, input, etc. on:
- Potential conflicts
- Redundancies
- Anything that may ruin game balance/challenge
- Glaring omissions (any of your must-have mods absent?)
- Alternative mods I've missed that are superior than ones I've listed
- Can I run it smoothly? (PC specs below)
And, of course, anything else you wish to share.
Because performance is a concern, my PC specs are:
- CPU: Intel QuadCore i5 2500k @ 4.3 GHz
- GPU: MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 Twin Frozr 2GB (modestly overclocked)
- RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3 1600
- OS: Windows 7 home premium (fully updated)
I've also got three hard drives. Provided I have plenty of room, I'd like to run Oblivion exclusive off of my Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB solid state drive (I've got about 70 GB free). If not, I'll be running it off of my WD Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB.
My PC has a bit of mileage on it now, but I keep it streamlined and it runs the latest games quite well @ 1920x1080.
That's it. Thanks again for taking the time to read and hopefully respond to my request.
- ELB
