About to mod oblivion for the first time

[peahead]

Hi guys, recently got the oblivion goty edition, all correctly installed and im ready to mod (already ran game once and saved to create ini file etc). I have an i5 4670k cpu and gtx 770

 

From what ive been able to gather reading though the hundreds of posts about modding, I need wrye bash, and BOSS to sort load order (is Oblivion mod manager also needed, I read that wyre bash can handle omods like OMM, but I read somewhere ele that there are some mods that require OMM?)

 

I need to download the 4gb patch, so firstly, whicj exe do I patch? the standard oblivion.exe? or the oblivionlauncher.exe? also, I wil be obviously using OBSE (ive read that you need to launch oblivion through this for many mods) so does the obse.exe need to have the 4gb patch as well, or just the oblivion.exe?

 

Secondly, oblivion stutter remover, ive looked at this on this website, and it seems complicated (such as changing a lot of the ini files), will just installing it not do the trick or must I mess about with settings (due to my cpu and graphics card)?

 

also, any other performance mods? such as fast exit (although I haven't experienced any crashing upon exiting the game) or craph prevention mod, or anything to help out with my quad core? not sure if oblivion can utilise them so...

 

obviously going to install the unofficial patches, and know to install them, then the quals texture pack and then something else to do with the unofficial patches to make them compatible with the mod (cant remember fully without looking but ill have the instructions up when im dabbling about with that).

 

Now to graphics, I was going to be using the quals texture pack, and was originally going to use OBGE until I came across the oblivion reloaded mod, so I may go with that unless obge is better? however this changes a lot of things, so wondering if it would still be compatible with mods such as all natural weather? natural envrtionments, inproved trees and flora etc.?

 

im pretty sure im going to have ALOT more questions during my quest to mod oblivion, so thanks in advance for all the help, and please bare with me as im a noob to modding (by oblivion standards anyway, I thought modding was easy, this looks bloody daunting!!)

[bben46]

Right off, you don't 'need' anything except a mod to mod. Everything else is to make it easier.

 

I prefer to use the older Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) for Oblivion. That covers most of what you will be doing. The newer Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) will work, but some older mods can give it problems. Use one or the other and not both as that can confuse things. There is a steeper learning curve for OBMM, but I believe the results justify the time spent learning it.

 

OBSE is NOT a mod and does not install like a mod - so be sure to read the documentation before installing it. The 4G (LAA) patch is not needed for it.

 

BOSS has been supplanted by LOOT - by the exact same team that made BOSS. It works fine with Oblivion. Both are used to set load order, which can be very important for some mods, and doesn't even matter for others. :blush:

 

Don't try to pile on a bunch of mods all at once as that is a sure way to become frustrated and quit. :pinch:

 

You won't need Wrye Bash right away - when you start having problems that LOOT can't handle will be soon enough. Trying to learn LOOT (or BOSS), Wrye Bash, OBMM and several other programs all at the same time will lead to confusion - tackle them one at a time as you need them.

 

Modding is not an exact science. It is an art. If something doesn't work you try something else. Not every mod is going to work no matter what you do.

 

READ -and read some more - read the documentation on Whichever mod manager you decide to use. Read the documentation on every mod you want to add. Read the documentation on LOOT, Wrye Bash and any other programs you think you need. Failure to read is the biggest cause for failure of mods to work. :thumbsup: