Mod recommendations? Skyrim player just now playing Oblivion!

[Pumpkinbot]

I'm considering buying Oblivion, and, naturally, I'm gonna mod it up the wazoo. Any suggestions? I've played Oblivion before, but not too extensively, and I've played the everliving crap out of Skyrim. So based on my likes and dislikes from each game...what Oblivion mods should I get?

What I liked about Skyrim

-Perk trees...sort of. Lets me customize my character and choose perks I want. I like the idea behind this, but...more on this later.

-Graphics. Yeah, graphics don't matter, blah blah blah. But even though Skyrim's three years old now, it still looks fantastic.

-Equipping things in hands...sort of. I can't quite pin down what it is, but I like the idea of putting X weapon in Y hand more than just "EQUIP DIS SWOARD". Funny thing is, I never dual wield, and I don't magic often. *shrug*

-Story. Dragons. Yespls. I'm usually not a fan of the "chosen one" plots, but DRAGONS, MAN.

What I didn't like about Skyrim

-Performance. Less Skyrim's fault and more my computer, but a half a second to a full second input lag? Nopls. A new computer is too expensive right now, so suggesting I should upgrade my computer will get you nowhere. I want to, but I can't.

-Min-maxing mentality. I've always hated min-maxing in games. In Skyrim, if you're going for a warrior archetype, you are GOING to dual-wield swords. It's just the best. Thieving? Sneaking's OP, have fun. Magic? PFFFFF, no, man. Only use Illusion. Thankfully, though, I found mods that make the game much more balanced.

-Perk trees. They're either OP, useless, or flat-out broken. Ties in with min-maxing. Nobody used heavy armor, because light armor is a "better" version of it. Sneaking is ridiculously OP, and Shadow Warrior just makes you unkillable. Again, mods have helped this, and I like the idea. Vanilla perks = bad. Modded perks = good.

-Magic. More of a personal bias, but I don't care much for magic builds, because I don't like messing around in menus to switch spells while playing. In a fight, I generally like to stick with one set of weapons, that's it. Not a fan of switching weapons, and magic does this constantly. The fact that dual-wielding doesn't play nice with keybindings is also a problem.

Things I liked about Oblivion

-Oblivion itself. Neat as s#*!. Nothing else needs to be said.

-Birthsigns. I like the idea of something you can choose, like the Atronach, that changes the way you play completely.

-Weapon variety. I was a bit disappointed that Skyrim only has swords, axes, maces, 2H variants of those, and daggers. But there's a ton more in Oblivion, and that's neat.

-Performance. My computer sucks. Old games run great on it.

-Hand-to-hand.

-Mysticism.

-Athleticism and Acrobatics. Though really, those should be merged into one.

Things I hated about Oblivion

-Mastery levels. In Skyrim, you can choose to spec into dual-wielding, or just using one 1H. In Oblivion, there's no choice, it's just every 25 levels, you can do a thing. And it's usually not even something interesting, it's mostly taking away a restriction. Jumping while casting? Woooo...

-Graphics. Now, I'm not one that needs 1080p to even consider playing a game. I find a lot of charm in graphics of older games, like Morrowind (which I played once), Pokemon GSC, and the PS1 Crash Bandicoot games. But Oblivion seems stuck in the middle for me. It doesn't quite have the charm of Crash Bandicoot because it's a bit more sophisticated, but it doesn't have the resolution that Skyrim has, because it's older. That, and the male human faces remind me of Woll Smoth. Or, uh, Kom Jong On. Probably the easiest to fix.

-More generic landscapes. In Skyrim, you could plop me down almost anywhere, and I could tell you what hold I was in. Each place has a distinct thing about it. But in Oblivion, I got so lost within the Imperial City because every building looked the same.

-Drowning in stats. This is probably the one I'm going to be murdered in my sleep over. I liked the removal of stats in Skyrim. It seemed like an antiquated system that didn't really need to be there, and Skyrim simplified it. They didn't "dumb it down", they removed overcomplicated mechanics. Maybe I just need more time with it. *scratches head*

-UI. What even is the UI? Everything's so tiny and tucked away in the far corners of the screen! Skyrim's UI wasn't the best, but I could at least tell what was what, and didn't have to squint to see my health. Also probably easily fixable.

-Healing. If I get punched, I either a) have to be an alchemist, or b) have to use my Restoration. No passive healing, either. You get poked by a spider, that poke is there forever, no matter how insignificant. If I'm a big-ass Nord that shuns magic, I'm going to die, a lot.

-Fatigue. Or more specifically, the way fatigue influences the damage you deal. If you're out of fatigue, you deal pretty much no damage and are going to die. That's it. It felt less like an offensive thing and more like a secondary health bar. Maybe I'm just expecting it to work like Skyrim and obviously being disappointed?

-Sneaking. Sneaking is just a Yes/No thing in Oblivion. I prefer Skyrim's approach, where it's a "Kinda looking" to "HOLY s#*! THEY'RE ONTO YOU". But in New Vegas, I didn't mind this. It clearly said if they were searching for me, if they saw me, or if I was hidden. Maybe that's just the UI problem, again, with the eyeball not being quite as intuitive as big, bold letters saying [CAUTION]?

-Of course, the "levelling problem". I don't want to have to micromanage my stats just to make sure I don't become comparatively weaker as I level up. Again, probably also easier to fix.

That's...a lot of little things I didn't like. :T But I really didn't hate it as much as that suggests.

So uh, yeah. Any mods you guys think would be right up my alley?

[mysticcro]

Well to be honest, my personal opinion. I found questing in oblivion..sort of...lacking.

 

I mean aside of Main Quest and Guild Quests..over all i found number of quests available to me to be rather short, since i am that type that sort of looks for immersion and likes to roleplay, i mostly started off with additional quest and adventures to spend my time on something aside of usual running around and killing everything i see.

 

So if you like questing, i recommend to download some additional quests mods and what not.

 

-Graphics

 

Concerning graphics, there are number of mods that improve oblivion graphic to some extent of course..you cant expect of anyone to remake entire graphical engine, and make it like skyrim after all as you said its older game, but there are various mods out there that improve graphics in certain ways, and as for human faces..there are also mods that improve human bodies looks and faces. On my own personal taste..i tried various mods that enchance graphical way of character bodies..and faces..but to be honest..those cut lines around the neck like head is chopped of my main char body ..really..annoyed me. So i would recommend rather focusing on World Graphics, instead of character. Then again depends on your personal tastes, do you like character looks more, or world..or both?

 

-More Generic Landscape

 

I sure second that about Skyrim holds and Imperial City as you said in your example..however..i would advise not to ask too much of Oblivion, after all as you said..it is older game and thats a fact you cant change. There are of course mods that improve looks of buildings, textures and what not for Oblivion cities..so it helps at least a bit to find a difference.

 

-Drowning in Stats

 

...Uh..about that..i think il join you in that murdered in sleep thingy. I never was much interested in that..so i dont know if there are any mods that change that. I mostly adapted myself on that

 

-Healing

 

Healing is not that much problematic in oblivion, at least i did not find it to be problematic. Going on adventure? Load yourself up with cures and potions..so you wont be one of those who come to Imperial City later and complain how you got spider bite to the knee, or someone stole your potion-roll

 

-Fatigue

 

I could swear i saw some mods that did something about that, or was it all a dream? Well..you sir should try your best to do ten push ups each day and keep up condition..

 

-Sneaking

 

Hands to yourself, you filthy thief...why would you steal!..stealing is crime!...and we all know tha- ..stop right there criminal scum, you violated my moth--..the law...now pay the f- ..alright, alright..got carried away there..well there are..as far as i am aware myself loads of mods about sneaking..even all those fancy ninja suits ya know.

 

-Leveling

 

A lot of leveling mods out there, that could be of interest to you.

 

 

The End

 

All in all, my good sir..those were sort of my personal opinions on your questions and answers..if you need links to some mods, or you suddenly got lost..on this oblivion mania..journey of yours..feel free to PM me here. And il see if i can locate you mods you desire..as long as you can specify what you need exactly.

 

Also welcome to Oblivion and Good luck! :ninja:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

P.S ..Sheogorath..is always...watching :ninja:

[LFact]

For ever-persistent and annoying neck seams, you need better head/body EGT files to reduce it(just changing skin texture do not eliminate it; even with carefully tweaked color sliders, you can see it). I recommend you to use Optimized Facegen Files(though your guys may wear lipsticks after applying it).

[bben46]

For UI - DarkUld DarN blows away the console centric Skyrim UI. It was made for PC not made for a console then sort of adapted for use on a PC as an afterthought.

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11280/?

 

There are a few recolor mods for this if you don't like the color scheme. And some other mods that change it in various ways.

[YngvieMalmsteen]

Unique Landscapes mod for landscapes. use all of them, they are all great. theres also compatibility patches that you can find for almost any mod that might have an landscape issue with it.

 

For leveling, try oblivion xp. i quite like it. use the updated and maintained version.

 

For getting rid of Woll Smoth face, use oblivion character overhaul v2. requires blockhead.

 

for textures, use http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45666/?

[Surilindur]

You could also try Realistic Leveling (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/13879/?). It removes the need to plan skill increases and I have not yet had any issues with it. It works in the background, and should not require any compatibility patches - unlike some leveling mods that only add experience points when quests are completed. It also comes with an INI file that can be used to customise it. And make sure to check the INI file before playing, because at least the maximum level (when all skills 100) needs to be set before using it - unless you install it as an OMOD.

 

If you would prefer a more Skyrim-like dialogue thing, I would recommend Talk With Your Hands (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/14669/?) together with the NPC features of Kaizits new animations for NPC and player (http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/45197/?), although the latter can look rather odd during animation transitions. You can also make the following INI tweaks to adjust the camera (the upper one changes vertical focus, the lower one the zoom):

 

fDlgLookAdj=-8.500
fDlgFocus=4.2000

 

I do not remember my value for the upper one, but I think it is either -8.5 or -12.5. On a 16:9 monitor, that is.

Edited November 27, 2014 by PhilippePetain

[subtledoctor]

For leveling and stat issues, try AFLevel - I personally use the "level every nine ability score increases" option. Then just choose the seven skills you want to focus on and... just play the game. It makes it really that simple - you do things, you get better at those skills, and your skills/abilities/level just sort themselves out. It's fantastic.

 

For magic: Supreme Magicka, which is fairly mild - one of those things that make things better but you barely notice it in-game. And definitely Hotkey Casting OBSE 3.5. Assign your most-used spells to hotkeys within easy reach, and retain the general "cast" button for using random other spells from menus. For me this made magic use go from a chore to fun and easy.

 

Landscape: Unique Landscapes. All of them. They're hugely popular for a reason. For in-town, Better Cities.

 

Graphics: this gets dicey because you can make your computer explode (well not really, but it might CTD) but some combination of Qarl's Texture Pack, Detailed Terrain, RAEVWD, and either Oblivion Reloaded or an ENB preset (I really like "Cinematic ENB").

 

Fatigue: Realistic Fatigue, and configure it how you like. You have to play around with the .ini settings a bit but it ends up working nicely.

 

UI: DarnUI, or the DarkN version.

 

Dual-wielding, perks, more fine-grained sneaking: there are mods that sort of address these things, but not to my satisfaction. I say, forget these three.

Edited January 7, 2015 by subtledoctor

[Timarot]

First of all get Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. It has major tweaks that make game much more interesting and fast paced, It also remove stupid street-rats with daedric armor and add more realistic NPC interaction(no longer would bandits, wolfs and undead will fight side by side against you)

 

Then there is a Oblivion XP, it does not remove stats but let you actually play the game not thinking about what multiplyer you get to each stat.

 

For magic - OOO is already change magic, but I would still advice Supreme Magicka, since in original oblivion and even in OOO mage is totally useless until he finish mage guild quests and able to make it own spells(or he will stuck with stuff like "Damage health 5 pt for 1 sec on touch". It just painful

 

As for location - Unique Landscapes and it's patches (you will need only one for OOO) are must have. You can also add Better cities to the mix. It is a mixed bag. There is a totally cool things like new Bravil, some ok - like Bruma and some totally weired like Market district in imperial city.

 

For UI use either DarNified UI or DarkUI'd DarN depending on your aesthetic preference.

 

For regeneration try this(through I never used it)

 

And don't forget to run boss to sort things out)

P.S. Also get Oblivion Reloaded. It really pump oblivion graphics.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Timarot

[Guinefort1]

These are some water mod's that I suggest, given that the water effects were among the worst aspects of vanilla Oblivion (at least to me). Water mods go a long way to making a game look better.

 

Improved Water

 

Enhanced Water v20

 

Natural Environments

[subtledoctor]

I have to disagree about OOO. It makes massive and often arbitrary changes to the game. While it is certainly a good collection of work, I wouldn't recommend it for a first time install.

 

Basically OOO is polarizing - half of the people love it and won't play the game without it, while the other half think it goes too far and won't include it in their install. Who knows which camp the OP will fall into? As a first-time player he should play with out OOO so that he has a basis for evaluating whether he likes it.

 

Most of the other stuff - DarN, SM, UL, BC, AFLevel/RL/ObXP etc. - just improve or add things to the game without changing the basic experience too much. IMHO.