I've been thinking lately about replaying Oblivion (heck, I never even got to see the Shivering Isles!), and I'd like to mod it this time, but I could easily spend dozens of hours doing mod research ... 0.o I'm hoping you all can help me out instead please!

What I'd like, in order of importance:

1. To be able to get ahead of the difficulty curve. If a monster is causing me trouble, I want to be able to come back later and cackle as I obliterate it mightily. I'm assuming FCOM is the way to go there?

2. Very powerful magic; I grew up with Raistlin and Milamber, so IMO a high-level mage should be able to level cities. If my magic-using enemies have access to the same powers, so much the better.

3. Lots of content. I don't want to install dozens of quest mods, but if there are a few that add significant stuff-to-do, I'm interested.

4. A reduction to UI and realism annoyances; having to hoof it back to town every 20 minutes is not fun for me, for example. Nor are super-giant fonts so I have to scroll constantly to find anything.

5. Visually and auditorily pretty (last because I've heard that simply installing FCOM means that a graphics mod is right out unless you're on an uber system).

I have a decent modern machine but it's not uber; video card is an ATI 4890, for example, so getting everything here may not be reasonable; please let me know if I'm overstretching.

In case it matters, I have Knights Of The Nine, Shivering Isles, and some of the DLCs (I honestly can't remember which, except that I'm sure I have the wizard's tower; mmmmm, teleporters).

Thank you so much!

-Robin

1: yeah FCOM or just OOO will cover this

2: Less annoying magic experience, fearsome magicka, midas magic, Supreme magicka, audacious magery, conduit magic, chargeable spells, enhanced magic system etc. And all of these mods can be used together.

3: I'm personally very fond of Integration. It properly integrates 80+ quests into the world 3-5 guilds that you can join and has a very interesting and unique gameplay and story that no other mod can match. (24+ hours of silent dialogue, multiple solutions, skill/race/rank/situation checks, bosses with a multitude of ways to deal with them, very fleshed out characters, A lore correct questline offering a different view on Daedra.)

4: DARN UI is the most popular ui mod. there are also companion mods, backpack mods, and stuff like that to help you deal with the annoyance of carry weight. Midas Magic and LAME both have an astral chest spell which allows you to store items in a chest whenever you want.

5: I'm not very familar with graphics mods... theres Godrays, OBGE(graphics extender), TOTO (Likely outdated), unique landscapes, there some new "hot" mod on tesnexus having to do with water.

Generic copy/pastes for these topics... some of it is likely outdated.

5. (adding on pheonix1213's list): http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37825. That's the water mod he's implying, I'm sure
It's very nice.

1. Get OOO, much less of a hassle to install than FCOM is, and does the exact the same thing. It's the base of FCOM
2. Less Annoying Magic Experience is pretty good, as is Midas Magic.
3. The Lost Spires is a really good quest mod, and so is Heart of the Dead. The Sundered Keep is pretty good to. Knights of the Nine DLC is also pretty good as well.
4. DarN UI is IMO the best UI mod out there and does exactly what your asking for.
5. You might look at AmpolX's available textures, they are outstanding and not nearly as demanding as Qarls. Corepc's Vibrant Oblivion Textures and pretty good as well and have no performance hit. OBGE is a amazing as well, makes Oblivions graphics look outstanding! The OBGE Liquid Water project is pretty cool to, its definitely the best water project available!

This is great stuff! Thank you all!

One last question: I seem to recall that the levelling system was a bit silly, in as much as to be really badass you had to level up the things you didn't actually use, or something?

Do any of the mods mentioned (OOO, FCOM, Race Balance, ...?) solve that? If not, is solving it worth the trouble? I don't care about realism, I only care about not accidentally ending up with a crippled character.

Thanks!

-Robin

Doesn't FCOM additionally add a bunch of items and monsters and monster behaviour, though?

Given that, is it your opinion that that stuff is uninteresting to you, not worth the trouble of FCOM, or something else?

Just curious; I was under the impression that FCOM was the new hotness, so to speak, all the kiddies are using it, etc.

-Robin

:whistling: New? The first beta (FRANOOOMMM) was released in the fall of 2007

For thoses new to the modded game OOO is a great starting point if you wish to use an overhaul mod. Mart's Monster Mod also compliments it exceptionally well.
FCOM is perhaps something you may want to avoid until your used to installing and troubleshooting mods. It's not really complicated to install, but can be confusing if your new to all of this.

Of the current crop of leveling mods nGCD, Realistic Leveling and Oblivion XP are the most popular.
Qarl's textures pack is excellent, but very demanding if your system isn't up to the task. Vibrant Textures mentioned already is decent and performance friendly, as too is Bomret's (all mods mentioned can be found on TESNexus.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30973 is one of the options you have. Watch out for telekinetic goblins, though. They've already traumatized me



Well, if you don't mind that the descriptions are in spanish, I've here http://www.clandlan.net/foros/index.php?/topic/48562-base-perfecta-para-pasarselo-aun-mejor-con-el-oblivion/, which I've just updated fixing all the links.

Check my signature if you want some high res retextures. Mythic Animals and Mythic creatures are a good place to start.

I just realeased a new mod that rewrites stealth and detection, eliminating the need for about 5-6 other stealth mods. It's fairly comprehensive. Check it out and see if it is something you're interested in. It's called SDR - Sneak Detection Recalibrated.
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37385

OK, the results of all my work are this page listing http://teddyb.org/gaming/tiki-index.php?page=Oblivion+Rebuild&no_bl=y

Not very interesting to y'all, except for one thing: I've uploaded all the BAIN packages I used, or created, including all the ones for FCOM, to my dropbox, and they are listed from that page; this makes them extremely easy to download. Just my way of giving back.

-Robin

I hate to burst your bubble, but quite a few mod authors don't like people re-uploading their work, for a multitude of reasons, most sensible. I didn't spot anything of mine there, but I question the need to re-upload mods in BAIN packages that are already BAIN friendly. I also think that you've failed to abide by the licensing terms of the mods as stated either in them or on TES Nexus, where you no doubt got most of them from. This kind of thing, while well intentioned and helpful for some users, actually tends to make things more difficult for modders.

If you've managed to convert a mod into a BAIN compatible format where it wasn't previously possible, I would instead advise that you create Bain Conversion Files for those mods and distribute them, which avoids any issue of re-uploading assets you don't have the permission to re-upload. Even better would be to contact the mod authors and offer them your conversions so that they may be incorporated to a future release of the mod itself.