what a mess

[lolgive]

I have no idea what to do with these mods, in never winter nights there was never much of a problem because people updated their files, but in the database at least as far as cosmetic mods go, there are way too many versions of the same mods and i have no idea which ones the latest, poor descriptions dont say which mods contain only that they are related by name to another set of similar mods, another gameplay changing mod deadly reflexes hot fix link came up dead.

 

is there anyone here who can recommend me the latest mods for character creation that are desirable, or any other mods i guess? I cant spend days trying every single duplicate mod out there for compatability and if they are the latest.

 

I would like to reiterate that I'm totally new, I've used mods for other games but not oblivion.

[dezdimona]

Body mods: Roberts male body and HGEC for female

[LFact]

Currently most supported body replacers:

 

Robert's Body Replacers:

- The lastest male body replacer version is v4, but there's v5 beta, and some clothing/armor mod uses v5 as base.

- Although female body replacer does not have many clothing items as other body mods, due to its 'WIP status', but you can find items for this.

 

Exnem's EyeCandy Female Body/HGEC

- HGEC uses 'cleaned up' ExnemEC UV mapping, so if you don't mind shape-changing, you can use ExnemEC items on HGEC.

 

Fantasy Figure

[lolgive]

err, what about ren's beauty mod pack?

do the body mods come with sliders?

are these really all you guys recommend?

[xoxSugah]

Well. "Best" is completely subjective. Just look around until you find what looks best to you. It doesn't matter if it's the most current as long as it works. Robert's Male and HGEC are easiest to find custom clothes for. I don't care for HGEC myself. I use Robert's female instead. Beauty packs, hairs, eyes, etc are completely different. You don't have to worry about what clothes you can get for it or anything. So, there's nothing to consider there except "Do I like it?".

You just have to look and see what suits you.

 

The body mods don't come with sliders. It'd be pretty sweet if they did, but nope.

[dezdimona]

HGEC will allow you to pick a body type and breast size. Something the others do not!

[binaryme]

I personally couldn't recommend HGEC more. You get so many options for changing your shape, e.g. chest size, hip size, muscular, etc. While some other replacers might cater to specific tastes, HGEC stands far out from the crowd. Especially when combined with one of the high-rez texture packs such as Ozmo's or navetsea's.

 

Other than the body replacer, you'll have to be a bit more specific to what kind of mods you want for recommendations.

[Shayaryn]

Oblivion modding is very different than NWN modding. Even modded hair in NWN2 is rigged, but the only rigged hair for Oblivion is in wig form, and I've never seen a wig that doesn't make ears disappear.

 

For cosmetic mods, I like Beautiful People. It's a bit outdated, but it has a bunch of races, hair styles, and hair colors, and works just fine for me. The Corean, Sulwha, and Saram races by idkrr have some very nice hair styles. There's a ton of race mods out there, but if you want the best, Nexus has a feature that lets you view mods in order of downloads. If a mod has a ton of downloads, it's probably good. I'd also suggest the Lattamer race. You should also install Improved Facial Textures, and if you want, Enayla's Facial Textures on top of it. It makes faces look much better. MUCH better.

 

Now, for body mods, HGEC is great if you're fine with thick wrists and man-hands, as well as freaky shoulders. Sure, there's a lot of variants, but they all have massive, ugly hands and low-poly feet. If you want a female body that has attention to detail, try Robert's Female of Fantasy Figures. FF has much more support. HGEC has a ton of variants, but it doesn't really matter, since as soon as you put a top on that character, it will replace her upper body mesh. Say you install the c-cup variant, and you put on an outfit for, say e-cup. Instant boob-job. It's rather strange. Robert's Female and Fantasy Figures don't have that problem, since they come in only one size. They also have much more feminine hands, and normal, non-freakish shoulders. If you don't like shoulders that sit at a 90-degree angle, with the HGEC normal body, or huge bulky shoulders, like the HGEC fighter body, try Robert's Female or Fantasy Figures. They're both closer to the female bodies in NWN2, as well. HGEC is by far the most popular body replacer, but RF and FF have more accurate anatomy. Normally I'd be quiet about this, but he asked about cosmetic and game-play changing mods and the responses are mostly saying "get HGEC!" Seriously, I don't give a crap about what body mod other people use, but this is a guy asking about basic mods, not just body replacers. He might as well know that HGEC isn't the only female body replacer out there, and there are alternatives that have better anatomy, which is important to some people.

 

If you like NWN, there's an Underdark mod in the works, and several drow races. If you're a fan of the Baldur's Gate series, there's a romancable Viconia companion mod. There's an arcane archery mod, too. LAME (less annoying magic experience) and Supreme Magicka makes mages a lot more useful, though spellcasting still isn't as fun as NWN2. There aren't all that many mods that make it similar to the NWN games, though.

 

Oh, you'll also want to download some utilities. Oblivion Mod Manager, BOSS (better Oblivion sorting software), and Wrye Bash can get your mods working together without conflicts.

[binaryme]

I'm guessing you aren't a big fan of HGEC Shayaryn :biggrin:

 

It's a fair point though. It's very much about personal taste, and you won't know what you prefer until you try them all out. As you say, downloads and ratings are the best way to pick some out to try. Don't always rule others out though, as some of the better mods sometimes aren't as popular.

[bben46]

Oblivion is not NWN. Don't expect the mods to work the same way. They may actually be similar enough to cause problems.

 

Sometimes the descriptions are a little cryptic because the author does not speak English well. Others are by kiddies who don't know to give a good description of their work those are usually easy to pickup on, for example, "i made this kewl mod check itout'. will almost always be a turkey.

 

Read through the top 100 lists to find the better mods. They allow you to select a category, such as 'Most endorsed of all time' Then look in the categories section where mods are broken down into 46 categories, then sorted by 7 criteria, including endorsements, downloads, date, author etc.