Reinstalling Oblivion, what mods do you recommend?

[BlueShiftSolo]

Heya and thanks for clickin' that link...

 

I've reinstalled Oblivion, and am working on a new mod build before I make my character. Here's what I have so far:

 

FCOM

Qarl's TP3

Frostcrag Reborn

Better Cities

Unique Landscapes

Lost Spires

Blood & Mud

Let the People Drink

TDA's Armory

Aegis of the North

? Natural Weather

? Natural Environments

? ENB Series

? Deadly Reflex

? Unnecessary Violence

 

Mods with a ? next to them have not yet been researched and downloaded.

 

I'd like to find more graphics-enhancing mods, quest mods, armor mods, perhaps body mods (if some exist that actually add to realism instead of detracting from it), more quest mods, and perhaps companions. Quest mods are probably what I need more of most (especially voiced ones), since they actually add to the length of the game. I'd like to use my old bashed patch for FCOM, and I'm hoping that BOSS and OBMM will handle the rest.

 

 

So, what is everyone else enjoying these days? How many mods can I hope to pile into this list before instability sets in? I'd rather have everything semi-finalized before making my new character.

 

Performance should be a nonissue, as this will be running with a Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.4 GHz (overclockable if necessary), 4GB DDR3 memory, and a Radeon HD 5770 (1GB version) on a 1440x900 screen.

[shaklee1]

Hey, I came across this on The Nexus about a week ago. It features some mods that enhance Oblivion's graphics so you may find a few that you like. http://deadendthrills.com/guides/look-good-modded-the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion/ It contains link to mods that enhance the textures to landscapes, the lava in Oblivion worlds, improved water .etc. so it should find something there, I definitely did.

 

As for quests, I highly recommend The Lost Spires. It adds an Archaeological Guild to Cyrodiil and is fully voiced with an excellent questline. Another quest is Kvatch Rebuilt. Though it doesn't come voiced (in which case you'll need Universal Silent MP3s so the voice files go by slower), I still recommend it.

[GrailQuest]

I'm big on utility mods, and the most useful ones for me have been:

 

Display Stats - http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=31855

Portable Sorters - http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25436 (reduced weight is OPTIONAL)

Storage Sacks - http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=25012 (reduced weight is OPTIONAL)

Scouter - http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27141

 

There was a few months back a large collection of texture replacements that covered everything (QTP3 apparently doesn't do SI and people ended up getting Bomrets). But I can't seem to find it now. The quality looked just as good, although they claimed to perform better. Also, QTP3 needed a UOP fix, and that fix caused blackscreen bugs for me.

Anyone else remember seeing this texture pack? I could have sworn I tracked it but maybe it's off TESNexus.

 

My Oblivion mods and reviews

My Oblivion Screenshots

fantasy-art.tel

[BlueShiftSolo]

That dead end thrills guide is epic.

 

Integration, All Natural, RAEVWD, Heart of the Dead, and Auriel's Retreat have now been downloaded. I'm now working on QTP3 Redimized, Bomret's SI textures, and TES4LODGen.Probably COBL, too. I'm shying away from economy mods due to the problem I had with my last build: After every merchant's gold was all spent, there was no one left to sell items to. Realistic, well-made armor mods (non shiny) are always needed, but TDA's "neutral" armor set suits me fairly well. I'm not sure which Magic Enhancement mod would suit me best...

 

In combat, my character (Nord, Atronach birthsign) tends to use a modded-in sceptre to steal magicka from his foes, which he stores up and releases in the form of massive frost attacks. Mods to help with that would be fine, but Oblivion's standard mechanics work well enough.

 

If Robert's male and HGEC female are the only body mods supported by FCOM, then they'll have to do.

 

OBGEv2 looks amazing, and I'll definitely be using it.

 

Thanks for all the help you've given so far. folks! Additional suggestions are still very welcome, since I'm not even close to being finished yet!

[shaklee1]

There's also Apachii Heroes Store and Apachii Goddess Store which provides TONS of new clothing and armor for men and women. Also, Midas Magic provides loads of new, creative spells that requires you to get the ingredients needed for them (which are listed in a book given to you by the shopkeeper of Midas Magic (or something like that. It's located in the Arcane University)). I also recall trying out Supreme Magicka at one point which overhauls the magic system but I think it requires Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) to run (which is easy to install for both retail users and Steam users).

 

That's all I think of, but if I remember any other mods you might like, then I'll post again.

[TodaY]

If I were you, I'd just brose through the top 100, check out some catorogies and sort then by endorsements/descending, and check out the files of the month. If you're a puzzle fan, and like to be scared, I'd recommend Dungeons of Ivellon - it cost me about 10 hours minimum to play through, for human eyecandy try HGEC for female (has underwear versions, chooseable breast and hipsize and easy OBMM install) and robert v5 for male (manual instal, 3 body sizes, underwear options), a lot of clothing and armor mods require those. You should also try COBL (a lot of house mods require it, and it's a great mod on it's own) and OOO (adds tons of new items, plus quests and a lot of other stuff you should really have - search for oscuro's oblivion overhaul), if you use OBMM install COBL after OOO to make sure it installs the compability patch. If you have a highend system, I'd really recommend better cities - it's a great mod that adds a lot to your cities. For the wilderniss, I'd recommend the entire unique landscapes series, it makes you want to disable fast-travel and can also be run on lowerend computers. For enchanting, I'd try conduit magic - it allows you to enchant items at drawback of your own magicka - no more "your weapon's enchantment has worn out" or way underpowered enchants :). You should also really try midas magic, it does not only add a great amount of spells and animations, but a whole new realm to explore too. If you're not a complete loner, check out CM partners basic, it's a great mod that allows you to not only recuit the compagnions added by the mod itself, but also to make our own and requit those added to the site by other users. For mods I'll stop here, for utilities make sure you got your game patches to the latest version (1.2.416) - a lot of mods require it. If you already have one of the mods I mentioned Im sorry - Im unable to read due to a OOOOOHHH SQUIRREL!!! thing -.-"". All the mods I told you about can be found on tesnexus.

[GrailQuest]

There's also Apachii Heroes Store and Apachii Goddess Store which provides TONS of new clothing and armor for men and women. Also, Midas Magic provides loads of new, creative spells that requires you to get the ingredients needed for them (which are listed in a book given to you by the shopkeeper of Midas Magic (or something like that. It's located in the Arcane University)). I also recall trying out Supreme Magicka at one point which overhauls the magic system but I think it requires Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) to run (which is easy to install for both retail users and Steam users).

 

That's all I think of, but if I remember any other mods you might like, then I'll post again.

 

I couldn't get Apachii Heroes to work for me (purple textures and CTDs) but I did try Apachii Goddess, and while SOME of the pieces are very nice, a LOT of them are of _comparatively_ poor quality when you compare them to the items in the store, IMO. You might see some nice hi-res texture pieces, and then something really blurry looking or with flat colour textures. Something it offers is non-standard "non-medieval", and "non-fantasy" clothing, like sunglasses, fingernails, and such.

 

A much nicer (but much smaller selection) armor store is Tona's ( http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=29090 ), but it's more or less for female characters only, though males can still equip the weapons and armor.

 

My Oblivion mods and reviews

My Oblivion Screenshots

fantasy-art.tel

[BlueShiftSolo]

Perhaps I forgot to mention... I'm making a male character using this mod build. Form-revealing armor mods need not apply. Thanks!

[shaklee1]

Perhaps I forgot to mention... I'm making a male character using this mod build. Form-revealing armor mods need not apply. Thanks!

 

Unfortunately there isn't as much male clothing/armor as female clothing. Believe me, I have a male character as well and I've scoured the web. The major ones I've found are Apachii Heroes Store (which provides a good few form-revealing armor pieces so it's probably not appropriate) and male clothing modded by Slof (it glorifies the male form though). This thread I found a few weeks ago... http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=87431 ... it provides male clothing and armor links. You might find something you like there.

[GrailQuest]

Can someone do a comparative of Vibrant Textures ( http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18677 ) versus QTP3 + Bomret's SI?

Vibrant Textures claimed a performance improvement over the latter, but I didn't find it on my PC (then gain, overclocking my graphics card didn't show any FPS improvement either, so I don't know what's going on, really).

 

My Oblivion mods and reviews

My Oblivion Screenshots

fantasy-art.tel