I realize this topic may have been up before, and yes, it may be weary for some of you veterans, and yes, I will probably be asked to go check out various websites and be told that it's personal preference and dependent on what my system can handle etc., etc. BUT! With literally thousands of mods out there and restricted to a limited number installed, which mods do you have installed, which are your favorite mods, and why?

I have currently restricted myself to mods that add a little flavor to the game without altering the game play or the original storyline. The ones I've tried out so far and currently have installed are:

Male and Female body replacers (Exnem, RAIAR)
Eyelashes for Vanilla races
Apachii Goddess Store
Colored world map
More gloves
More robes
Ren's Beauty Pack

Strongly considering these:
Streamline
Quiet Feet MAX

I would like more suggestions on good mods which can help spice things up a bit and make the game look and run better.

What's in your mod folder??

I imagine this will be moved very shortly.

See my sig for favorites. As you noted, theres a lot of mods, a lot of lists, and a lot of personal preferences.

If you're going to use Streamline, use it with OSR (Oblivion Stutter Remover).

~ Dani ~

Shouldn't this be in the mods forums?

Oh god, that might break the internet.

But I can name some (of *my*) "must haves", if you like:

FCOM, baby. F. COM!
A magic mod or two (or three...)
A race balancing/fixing mod, and probably birthsigns as well, etc.
Lotsa quest mods (there's a thread for these, I believe)
A leveling mod or two (like nGCD + Progress, say)
New textures all over the place, for people, creatures, world...
Entirely new areas to explore (like Elsweyr)


Eh, I lose track. Seriously, no need to break the internet!

Sorry, this was more for general discussion, but I suppose it belongs in the mod forum.

I will look for OSR, as I could definitely use less stuttering.

Which mods have you used for this > "New textures all over the place, for people, creatures, world..." ?
And this > "Entirely new areas to explore (like Elsweyr)"

Weapons: My own Carsomyr: v2 and Jojjo's Frostmourne
Armor: My personal edit of Lost Paladin's and the Helmet I made for it.
Combat: Unneccesary Violence, and hopefully v2.

Misc:
MMM.
Akatosh Mounts, and my soon to be personal edit.
Several companion mods.
One of the hotkey mods, can't remember which, but I suspect I'll be switching to NiceOnes once I test it.

Overhaul = OOO
Body mod = TGND (The Girl Next Door), Roberts for the lads
Weapons/Armor. A Lot of Nico's excellent stuff and Adonnay's. Also StarX & Insanity Sorrow's new stuff "The Arsenal" is going in my LO shortly.
Race Balancing Project
LAME Magic Overhaul.
Ayleid Steps (Quest)
Integration the Stranded Light (Quests)
Kvatch Rebuilt
Immersive Interiors
All Natural Weather
Tamriel Travelers
Open Cities
TNR all races final
Enhanced Economy
Vilja companion mod
Slof's horses
Homes = all of WhoGuru's homes are in my LO and a few of Korana's and Emma's.

This is the list of mods I use with every character.


http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3953 by Oscuro, dev_akm, MadCat221.
Not just a 'creature-adding' mod, not just a 'difficulty' mod, not just a 'gameplay-tweaking' mod, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul is actually one of the finest finest roleplaying mods around. http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=1757 by Martigen, Corepc Dev_Akm Shadowborn is the perfect complement to Oscuro, adding much-needed spontaneity to Oscuro's static world. Crank Martigen's mod all the way up and Oblivion will feel as wonderfully unpredictable as an MMO. These mods are so inseparable to me I count them as one.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=2764 by, of course, DarN.
This essential mod goes a long way toward making Oblivion's consolized interface useable. Configurable from within the game via a menu. I modify it with one of Luchaire's re-colorings, either http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16387 or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16897 I also use http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14822 by WillieSea and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19063 by Badmagic to enliven the map with color and to replace what I consider to be ugly map markers with more aesthetically pleasing X's.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14065 by tejon, or http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13879 bu ABO.
Two excellent character-levelling mods that do away with stat management, excel spreadsheets, visits to Wiki pages, etc, to research "builds". With these mods a player can just play and let a mod handle leveling seamlessly and invisibly in the background. I tend to prefer RL but I am using nGCD in my current game and am very impressed.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14304 by tejon.
This mod allows the player to control the speed of advancement of each skill. Easily configurable via an .ini.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11237 by tejon. Willpower again has an affect on the player's vulnerability to magic, as in previous ES games.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=7484 by Deathless Aphrodite.
Makes the player lose fatigue when running. When the player's fatigue hits 0 he starts to walk. Also allows the player to sprint for a brief time.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25078 by TheNiceOne.
Using this mod merchants' gold goes up and down with each trade. Also does away with the haggle slider (what a relief!) Allows the player to specify how much gold they recive from looting containers, enemies, as quest rewards, etc. All configurable via .ini.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2037 by Quarn and Dejunai.
Removes flowers from plants after you have picked them. This is a great little visual aid when picking many plants very close together.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1840 by Woodman, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=21 by Tandem, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5138 by Soor, http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5919 by b3w4r3, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=129 by Talonhoff and http://morrowind4kids.com/pseronwyrd/PWRunSpeed.zip by Pseron Wyrd are a collection of small tweak mods that I cannot bear to play without. Chase Camera Mod is essential to me because I play exclusively in third person and will quickly become nauseous without it; Bethesda went to great lengths to create the illusion of a seamless worl when they made Oblivion and then went and ruined it by spamming messages onto the player's screen everytime they enter a new cell, and No Load gets rid of that; Initial Glow gets rid of what I consider to be a very ugly 'plastic wrap' enchantment effect; Sleep Rest Wait Any Time, because no game has any business telling me when I can sleep, or where; No Psychic Guards tones down guards' clairvoyance a little bit; Run Speed Tweak slows down the base running/walking speed of the game to Morrowind's running/walking speeds.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16005 by mmmpld'
A fun little 'immersion' mod that allows the player to see their character use the same getting-into and getting-out-of bed animations used by NPCs.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11449 by RamyEnfant.
Adds a collection of new jump animations. The characters execute a cool Night-Elf-style forward roll with weapons sheathed and a variety of other jumps with different weapons drawn. I often jump just to watch these animations. I'm easily pleased.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4387 by CorePC.
Adds much-needed life to Cyrodiil's roads. The merchants are great if you like to spend extended time away from cities as I do. To this I add http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=20575 by LazyAltmer. These two mods do a lot to make Cyrodiil a lot less lonely when travelling the roads. They also help fight, too, which has saved my character's life more than once when playing all these overhaul mods.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16513 by Bananasplit, Wolfslady, Reckless, SilentResident, Nernie, Vorians and Ismelda.
The way the cities of Tamriel should have looked. Spend hours wandering around like a tourist, awestruck at how different (and gorgeous) everything looks. Comes in modular form - you can choose to redo all of Cyrodiil's cities or just one. It's your choice. When I'm not using Better Cities I use Arthmoor's http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1019807, which tranfers the vanilla cities into the Cyrodiil worldspace, ala Morrowind. Wonderful for those of us who love to ride horses through town.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2536 by Max Tael.
This is one plugin in Max Tael's Natural Environments suite of mods. It adds several non-hostile flying animals such as birds and butterflies.

http://morrowind4kids.com/pseronwyrd/PW_MorrowindFog.zip by Pseron Wyrd.
Oblivion's near-infinite view distance is ugly, in my opinion, and it also makes Cyrodiil feel much smaller than it ought to. This is my attempt to simulate Morrowind's fog. Combined with Run Speed Tweak, Cyrodiil feels as large and wonderfully mysterious as Vvardenfell once did.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=942911 by Arthmoor.
Adds Morrowind-style transport to the game. A nicely immersive touch.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13099 by WillieSea.
This little mod adds spectators (and tweaks their animations and clothes), allows the player to loot equipment, adds a bone clock, new posters and keeps the place open all night. I added a smith in my version, the only thing the mod lacked.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=984109 by XMarksTheSpot, Brumbek & Ismelda.
Another mod I can't play without anymore. It adds windows that turn off and on in synch with day/night cycles and also, optionally, smoke from chimneys. Comes with a nice variety of window color tints too.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977 by Emma.
An Alchemist-oriented companion with a mind of her own (and, as a bonus, dialog voiced by Emma herself).

http://oblivion.brashendeavors.net/bows/ by Brash.
A wonderful mod for anyone who loves light, ranger-ish amror and slightly more natural, non-fantasy-type bows. I also love the ranger camp just outside Weye (conflicts with Weye TICS, but not AFK Weye).

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22828 by afk_dwip - or - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9514 by TamaraVico.
I tend to alternate these two mods, as I love them both. I absolutely and without equivocation adore Tamara's Weye mod - but it does come with a framerate hit. I just love her cramped medieval-looking alleys and its attention to detail. It is quite possibly my favorite town expansion mod for either Morrowind or Oblivion. The area occupied by dwip's mod is smaller and, thus, conflicts with fewer mods and also does not hurt framerates quite as much (in my experience). It comes with some interesting quests though and is also nicely-laid out.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=21562 and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30000 by Arthmoor.
Faregyl is a nice little farm south of the Imperial City. Feldscar is a wonderful village north of the Frostcrag area. Both are excellently crafted.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22401 by The Tamriel Rebuilt Team.
Stirk is a small but highly detailed island in the Abecean Sea west of Anvil. Anyone who has seen what the multi-talented folks at Tamriel Rebuilt have done for Morrowind will know this is high-quality modding with an eye towards accuracy in matters of lore.

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1073491 by onra.
If you like to explore, this is the mod series for you. Replaces the 'placeholder' landscape of Valenwood and Elseweyre, Summerset Isles and Black Marsh with fully-realized, detailed terrain with pathgrids, ready to be modded. Which goes perfectly with:

http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1072969 by Side777.
Adds seven ships of varying sizes you can pilot around all this new coastline.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25023 by Iliana.
An ambitious project whose aim is to recreate the province of Elseweyr, home to Khajiits and, of course, Moon Sugar. Compatible with Tamriel Heightmaps.

My faves?

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul
Hammerfell the Eastern Grasslands
Elsweyr the Deserts of Anequina
Elsweyr's Kingdom of Rimmen
Hemingwey's Capes
Roberts Male and Female Body Replacers
Corepc's vibrant textures
Slofs Horses
The Arsenal
Vvardenfell Imports
Frostcrag Spire
Battlehorn Castle
The Lost Spires
Less Annoying Magic Experience
Race Balancing project
Integration: The Stranded Light
Darnified UI
TehBuddhas Cyrodil Map
Tamriel Height Maps
KSTN Stylized Stances and 2Handed Animation Replacer

:hugs: Thanks Lady!

Mods I never play without?
All of the Unique Landscapes - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search§ion=search&do=search&fromsearch=1
Open Cities Classic - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/109-open-cities-classic-354/
New Roads and Bridges Revised - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/52-new-roads-bridges-revised/
Ayleid Steps - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/292-the-ayleid-steps-3/
Beaming Sunglare (just a nice little touch) - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16533
Jog's Stealth Overhaul - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6359
Molapi - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/567-molapi/
Faregyl - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/50-faregyl-village/
Feldscar - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/244-feldscar/
Vergayun - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/112-vergayun/
Wellspring Vale - http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/594-wellspring-vale/
Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys (AWLSaC) - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19628
Shivering Isles Door Useable - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14739

and of course if you wanted houses, click the "My Mods" link in my sig. :lmao: Got a few to choose from.

Thanks guys, this is great reading! I'm definitely going to try out a few of these. It's pretty hard to get an idea of what would be sweet to add with the plethora of mods out there.

I appreciate this list too. I'm still fiddling around w/ the basic game for a bit before I overhaul it too much, but I've added some files to my mod folder. Thanks team.

Well, like I said... I mean, my BAIN installation folder has hundreds (yes, literally) of archives in it, and a good many of those are for textures only. Or tex + mesh, in some cases...

But OK, I'll try to list some of the absolute must haves from among them, though it's difficult, as I love them all.

AmpolX's textures (every one of them)
QTP3R (some of it)
Mikall33's stuff too (a fair bit of it)
Vibrant Textures (some of them)
Vurt's Landscape and Tree Textures (some of them)
Hi Res Oblivion Realm Textures
Bomret's SI Texture Pack
Diverse Grasses
Hi res LOD stuff for QTP, more or less
etc.

OTUP Armour
MEAT
Hi Res Iron Weapons (and Armour too)
etc.

Dall's Creatures
Mythic Creatures
etc.

EVE and Robert's for bodies, simply because so much other stuff I use works well with them both (or even requires them, in a few cases)
Improved Facial Textures
New Face Textures
Khajiit Face Textures
AFT
IABT
etc.

(etc., etc. !!!) No, really.



Elsweyr: Deserts of Anequina is the one in question there. They're all pretty much a WiP right now (except Nehrim, but that's a separate game altogether, basically) so I'm not sure how keen you might be on any of them, including Elsweyr... but I guess Unique Landscapes qualify, to some extent. I recommend all of those, thoroughly, as well. And whatever new dungeons, etc., appeal - for these, there's Adense Epic, OOO, and many others.

Every time one of these questions is posted I find something great I did not know about. WOOHOO!

This. I've been reading so much about OOO, MMM, Frans and FCOM and it sounds totally awesome and I feel like I can't live without it. Unfortunately you also have to be a friggin hacker to make this work. I've done the readmes and tried to comprehend which order to do the installation in and which files you need to get and I still don't get it. It seems you need to install all the individual mods and then tie them all together with FCOM to avoid conflicts. Is that about right?

Yes.

Good luck...it will likely take some time to figure it all out...but when you do an amazing and practically limitless gaming experience awaits. Advice...if you haven't already...once you become comfortable adding a few mods...obtain, install and learn to use B.O.S.S. and Wrye Bash...these are among the essential tools needed to unleash and discover the full potential of modded Oblivion.

Happy modding! :foodndrink:

Regards,

Hem

If FCOM sounds intimidating use only OOO or OOO+MMM instead.