So i have decided to give this a try on my PC for all the great mods that seem to be out there but All of a sudden i feel overwhelmed by the fact there is just SO many of them!!

Can anyone point me to a few decent mods that can help to get me started?

Thanks

first off get fcom, its lets you use several of the best overhaul mods together, completely revamps the game. heres the page for it read through it and the quickstart http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/convergence.htm

deadly reflex and unnecessary violence are both very good mods that overhaul combat mechanics, use them both together you can get them off tes nexus

for magic overhauls i prefer supreme magicka, makes it so that you can play a pure mag and actually be as effective in combat as a pure warrior

rens guard overhaul is a must in my opinion, makes it so the guards are no loner omnipresent telepaths =P

darns ui is an excellent ui overhaul, i cant play without it

better cities give alot of life to the game, or if you have a powerful system open better cities, it makes it so all the cities are in the main worldspace instead of their own.

unique landscapes makes the game look completely different, adds massive amounts of atmosphere, i cant tell you how many hours ive lost just wandering around and admiring the beautiful changes this mod makes.

anything specific your looking for as i might have more suggestions i cant think of off the top of my head

Well for quest mods

Gates to Aesgaard
The Lost Spires
Tears of the Fiend
Lost Sword of the Ayleids
Bartholm
Ruined-Tail's Tale
Fort Akatosh

And for stuff you should generally check out

OOO
Deadly Reflex
WAC
Elsweyr: Deserts of Anequia

First maybe watch trailer with deadly reflexes; it has gore

get OBMM
get one big big mod( ooo, or MMM, or FCOM ) if you are a hardcoe player
get Unique landscapes compilation( only 1 ommod.)
get QTP3 redimized

find few mods for game optimization:
oblivion script optimization; queet feet!!! ; operation optimization; purge cell buffers? -

find few mods for game cuteness:
few houses, quest award leveling, realistic ragdolls and force, deadlier sneaking, dungeon actor ave torches, beautiful books, bodies, faces, alternative start(like morrowind) Darknified UI; adnys mapIcons; etc.
RPG blackdragons ATI3.0 shaders( didnt noticed any difference )

And if you like RPG; you will spend a lot of time creating your fav character, searching for mods.. reading stuff

and remember if your going to install mods and you have crashes, dont be afraid to post on the forums for help :laugh:

No, do not get Oblivion Script Optimization. Not only is it buggy but it does virtually nothing towards improving your performance. You might gain .1 FPS, I think that's what the author mentioned at some point. Not worth it to run the risk of a crash now and then. And Operation Optimization is marginal as well. It only handles a few meshes here and there and isn't going to make a big difference. You're better off getting thr PyFFI utility and optimizing your meshes yourself. And purging cell buffers is better done through Streamline, which also does much more.

And why are you telling him to use Quiet Feet when you don't even know what his system specs are? He may not need that one at all if his computer is good enough. He may not need any performance mods in fact. And if there was no difference with Black Dragon's shaders, why bother recommending them? You can really mess up your graphics by not installing shaders properly, so if there's no good reason for it, don't bother.

It would help if you mentioned what kinds of things you'd like to see in the game, and what it was about the default game that you didn't like. Also some system specs would be useful as well.

Recommending FCOM to a first time mod user that's already overwhelmed by choices? :facepalm:

Save that for later.

If you want to try an overhaul mod, I'd start with either OOO or TIE.

Other mods I'd recommend:
OBSE - Required for many of the mods listed here. Not actually a mod.
Unofficial Oblivion Patch - Fixes bugs
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch (assuming you have SI as well) - Fixes bugs
Unofficial Official Mods Patch (assuming you have the DLCs) - Fixes bugs
Toggleable Quantity Prompt - Updated - Makes buying/selling/dropping items more convenient.
Cobl - Doesn't do too much on its own, but required by many mods.
Enhanced Economy - Makes buying/selling more realistic
Harvest [Flora] - There's a newer version than what is bundled with OOO. Allows you to see what's been harvested.
DarN UI - Makes the user interface less console-y.
The Ayleid Steps - More dungeons to explore
Super Hotkeys - Adds more customizable hotkeys. There are other hotkey mods that you may prefer to this one.
RAEVWD - Makes more objects visible from a distance. May not want to use it if your system can't handle it.
QTP3 Redimized - Makes the game look better. There are other texture mods that you may prefer.
Map Marker Overhaul - Allows you to manage the map markers.
Display Stats - Shows extended information about items in your inventory
Custom Spell Icons - Allows spells to have unique spell icons instead of sharing the same icon per school.
ALEX - Adds hidden chests / items to ayleid ruins. A treasure hunt of sorts.
Mountain Tower - A home. Plenty of other homes to choose from, but this is one of my favorites.
Better Book Collision - Makes books less likely to fly out of bookcases.
Book Jackets - Makes books look better and more unique.
TNR - Makes npc faces look more varied. Some don't like it, but many do.
Any body mod - Many to choose from, down to personal taste. Makes males / females look nicer.
Keychain - Keeps keys from cluttering your inventory.
Art of Speedy Depositing - Makes it easier to stash items in containers by automatically moving them based on your preferences.
Better Letters - Adds a little flavor to the game by adding text to blank notes.
Gather ye Rosebuds - Makes harvesting ingredients easier.
VAs Better Gold - Makes septims look better.
MiniMap - Adds a minimap to the game.
Glory of Cyrodiil - Replaces the startup background to something a little more interesting.

That should give you a good starting place. If you don't care for one of the mods listed, but like its concept, you can always look for a similar mod. Most of these mods have a number of possible alternatives.

For somebody new to mods FCOM is a downright terrible place to start. Start off small. Browse TESNexus top 100 and see what strikes your fancy. Learn some of the tools such as OBMM, BOSS, and then Wrye Bash if you are feeling adventurous.

ok yeah i wasnt thinking when i said that, ive gotten so used to mods from morrowind and oblivion that its kind of become second nature to me, and i forget how confusing it can be when just starting out. id go with OOO and see what happens from there :hehe:

Fran's is a good alternative to OOO, in my opinion. If you're wanting a honkin' great overhaul in the first place, that is.

But yeah, it can seem overwhelming, even to those who've been using this stuff for a while now.

There are some great lists of lists and the like, some of them stickied (or links to them) at the top of this forum, I believe. http://tesivpositive.animolious.com/ is also an excellent place to start looking.

If you like the standard (i.e., vanilla) world textures in the game and/or if your PC isn't up to tackling hi-res options, you could try "Bomret's Detailed Normals for Vanilla", which gives a lot more detail, but at no (or virtually no) cost in frames per second (FPS). Alternatively, but along similar lines, there's Vibrant Textures too, that can also be matched with Bomret's Detailed Normals, should you prefer a, well, more "vibrant" aesthetic - and still with more detail than the standard game. All of this only applies if you're not happy with how landscape, architecture, etc., looks in game. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of other things you can add or change to make these things even more impressive / different, but it's very much a matter of taste.

I think Waruddar's implied advice is excellent, by the way: start with small but very noticeable (and, arguably, necessary) gameplay tweaks, for the most part. Very little "work" required, for some kind of immediate benefit. A nice way to begin, I would say.

If you get tired of the Vanilla landscapes...try out the Unique Landscapes...right now there are 24 of them.

I must, of course, recommend everything under the first link in my signature.

nGCD in particular... or pretty much any level system overhaul, for that matter. One of the most broken things in the original game, IMO.