I've just merged these topics, but I would include a plea to stay on topic.

No, a mod with 18 thousand downloads is not an underdog! Yeesh, I've never had that many downloads for anything I've done in my life! Kids these days ... !

Shall we make it a new rule that nobody is allowed to recommend their own mod?

I wouldn't make that rule as I don't mind who recommends me the mod, as long the mod is worth it.

Yes please. Everything else just doesn't make sense. An underdog is something like an unknown gem, but the first iteration of this thread showed that some modders are not that able to differentiate between a gem and "my first buggy lines of code".

Or to put it more bluntly: If no one else is willing to speak for your mod, then it may have it's reasons making it not an underdog, because likely it's not a gem.

I concur: the best way to be sure it's worth getting is that someone *other* than the maker thinks it's worth getting. Relz topics are for advertising your own mod.

So in an effort to keep this on topic: ever thought that vanilla staffs wre pretty useless? Me too, so try http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18509 and find staffs *so* much more useful than before: they really are worth using with this mod.

Vac

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6407:
I don't actually use the esp and price revisions, but I do like the item name distinctions. I exported the names with Bash, and used it as the base of my personal item renaming scheme.

Don't even know what the heck is the above post is going on but ah well.

Anyways, I recommend http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11083 as a good underdog mod. Its functionable (makes sure the player does not become a vampire, still get the disease but no vamp change). It great for vampire hunters or those who want to explore WITHOUT unexpectly turn into a vampire just because they forgot to check the effect menu after they clear a dungeon. Its an underdog mod mainly the fact people downgraded the mod for simply what it does, remove the player ability to become a vampire. They come with lame comeback like "use a potion" or "visit a temple". Morons.

The description isn't telling much. Does this allow to smack someone on the head with staff?

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13320

Basically, it's a stock market.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14739

Let's your companions go through the SI door with you.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2854

Despite it saying it's for Kiyoshi's Vampires, it works just fine with vanilla vampirism. Makes human blood potions reset the feed counter, and adds a way to get a good supply of them.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18169

Shameless self promo. Fixes the price of some worn/unfinished armor pieces so that they aren't worth more then they're better cousins with Living economy and OOO.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't read the last few posts. But, with only 228 downloads, and not involving any code at all it isn't buggy, and I know of several people who view it as essential.

I know of lots of others, but we keep them alive over on Delte's thread of Immersion mods.

That is an EXCELLENT mod. You can find Roberts Male and UFF meshes for the mod (actually a whole different version) on the Nexus called "UFF The Unrepentant Archer." The armor is amazing, as they all look like something a hunter or archer might actually wear. They can also be mixed and matched for more fun. The bows are also very nice and there is a large selection to suit your needs. The camp is outside of Weye and is compatible with the massive Weye township mod.

I need a longer description? :mellow: OK!

Sorry, here we go: two major changes are made in staff skill. Firstly, using staves will now train the appropriate magic skill for the spell you're casting, so if you're casting fireballs out of a staff you'll train your destruction skill. Secondly, when using the staff, if your skill in the appropriate magic skill is high enough a portion of the mana used will be drawn from your own mana pool.

Essentially this means that you can find a staff with a powerful spell and use it, with your own energies and the staff's energies complementing each other (it also means the power in the staff lasts a lot longer). As you use the staff you'll train your skills and the staff lasts much longer than before because it's drawing part of the power from your mana.

Is that a good enough description this time?

Vac

Well I'll add one to the list, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22197

I kind of missed the sort of underbelly atmosphere from Morrowind of the Vivec cantons (particularly the Wasteworks) and the mod Suran Underworld.

This mod adds that sort of flavor to Oblivion. It adds a sewer tunnel where thieves have taken refuge and made a makeshift city. It was made to add ambiance and to blend in with the game but without any overpowering items. There are quests and the author tried to set them up so you have to think a little rather than use map markers. The other nice thing about this mod is since it adds most of its content in new interiors, there aren't any serious compatibility issues.

Note that if you are not a member of the Thieves Guild and have no intention of joining this mod is probably not for you as it does require membership to enter the grotto and also adds more Thieves Guild quests.

The creator just released a new update that adds an underworld to Bravil and notes that she's added more quests and a (retextured) dog companion you can get as a reward. Definitely worth checking out.

Since there's not a RELZ thread for it here I thought it was appropriate to plug it here as I've played and enjoyed the mod and am off to play the new updated areas for Bravil!

Reduced Life Detect
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2447

Of all the mods I love the most. This is the least well-known.

Yep! Actually I was aiming on that description on TESNexus.
Thank you for the info!

====

Although I haven't tried latest two or three versions, I think that this mod doesn't get the attention that it deserves. What it does is that if you have parchment, quill, inkwell and powergem (it used soulgems in previous versions, but there was an issue with user made soulgems that didn't work), you can scribe any spell that you know and create a spell scroll. If you fail, you face penalties. http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21447

Here's another old but very good one I've never seen mentioned in any forum. The http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4744 is, IMO, the best of all "Bag of Holding" mods I know. It gives you, in one item, a sack for items you'd like to keep (Purse of Wonders), one for items you'd like to sell (Box of Junk) and one for Alchemical Ingredients, and it includes a function for moving all ingredients into it. Its only flaw is that it's too old to recognize OOO, MMM and COBL ingredients. If someone would upgrade this, you'd never need another bag.

Eh, I just noticed it has 9000+ downloads, so maybe it's not an "underdog" at all. Still only 14 ratings...or 15 five minutes from now.

Or you can use something like my http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21424 that gives a visual color fade/shiver effect that gradually increases in intensity when you have a disease so that you never fail to notice when you are not feeling well... also gives a fade-to-black low health warning and gives diseases tiny fatigue and health burns so you get tired and unhealthy if you continue to ignore the disease.

Naw, No Vampirism does what I want, and I don't really care if I get status damage or disease, I just don't want to unexpectedly turn in to a freaken vampire! I bet your mod is good, but not to my taste.

Great great thread. Thanks for starting this. I already found 3 mods to suit my taste. yay!

Yeah, great thread indeed. :tops:

Some of these obviously are no longer "underdogs", so perhaps the thread worked well?

Found a few that sound really promising already, such as Crypt of Decay and Daedric Wargames, and I haven't even finished checking the entire list.

Would http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=914015 qualify? Only 1680 downloads. :rolleyes:

Seems like http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4596 might deserve an entry even though it got quite a few downloads in the early days. Fun stuff.

=========



Yeah, that does sound really awesome. I'll have to give it a shot, so to speak. Thanks!

Merged your descriptions and link together:

Wow, a lot of good mods here...

I really can't believe this one isnt on here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7327

By the creator of OBMM, and only works with OBMM, this Night-eye Shader Replacement is awesome, and has many optional shaders to choose from. Give it a try!

Hm. I guess I toss a mod in which I'm using for ages now, couldn't imagine playing without - yet it seems to have dropped off the radar for a while now.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12709 - a bit odd at first, but very beautiful. Still my favorite when it comes to night sky textures.

As the Underdog thread started, back a year ago, it was still somehwat "fresh", but today? It must have been somewhere in the middle of 08 since I've last heard it mentioned somewhere.

It's still beautiful and worth a look .

The Storyteller's Brother - a short quest for low-level characters

Don't forget thehttp://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7809...

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19383 :foodndrink:

I love this little addition to the Bravil Mages Guild. It adds four vendors, items, some weaponry, armor, potions and other mage like goodies giving the fourth floor of the guild a use at last! The goods for sale up there are better suited to higher level characters so no complaining about over powered goodies. You have been warned.

I love this store and it deserves a little more notice.

One of my new favorite for my archer

Poison Arrows - Lets you poison a whole stack of arrows instead of doing it one by one. Number of arrows poisoned is based on the weight of the poison potion stack.
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18360

Also, this has to be the most useful spell out there

Egrress - teleports you to the entrace of any building, cave, ruin, ect without markers
http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15523

How about a rule that you're only allowed to recommend your own mod if you think it deserves it from a mod user's point of view?

For example, if you make a small quest mod where the player needs to deliver something, or solve a small riddle or whatever, then you probably won't be playing it yourself a lot. It might be a mod you're proud of, but you couldn't say "I can't imagine playing the game without this mod", simply because for you as the one who made it and knows the solution and everything, it is not as interesting anymore. So it would not be okay to recommend it here, because this thread is about recommendations from mod users to mod users, and as a mod user and if you're honest with yourself, you could not really recommend it.
However, if you were the one that made (taking an example from the thread) the Poison Arrows mod, which improves your gameplay a lot and you like to use it because you find it practical, then you should also be allowed to recommend it to others.

After all, this is a thread about underdog mods, not about mods that are just well-known enough to be mentioned here. If I recommend a mod here that is made by someone else, I don't check if some people already know about, if it's popular or if the people reading this thread may like it; I just check whether I like it (again, as a mod user) and whether it's well-known or not. And that is exactly what I should do when I mention my own mods here as well, nothing more and nothing less.