Essential Mod Suggestions

[FrostWyrmWraith]

I've never played Oblivion for the PC before. In fact, I've never even played it with all DLC. Basically, I have literally no idea where to start with modding Oblivion.

 

So, I figured I'd just ask. What mods are generally considered essential? What mods do you personally love? Overhauls, weapons/armor, retextures, quests, companions, whatever. I'll give anything a look as long as it's not Vilja- I tried the Skyrim version and couldn't stand her, so I'm not interested in the Oblivion version.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Guinefort1]

Try the link below. It has a list of uber-popular/"must-have" mods:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/top/

 

I wholeheartedly recommend Oblivion Character Overhaul by nuska. It makes Oblivion look SO much better. The unofficial patches are, in my mind, essential quality-of-life mods. A good weather overhaul like Natural Environments, Atmospheres, or All Natural are great additions. Last, check out discovery1's Imperial Ecology series, which overhauls the grass and flowers, and looks much better for it.

 

If there are any particular types of mods you are looking for. Please list them. Immersion? Environmental? Overhauls?

[Grogrokl]

Some mods I recommend for better gameplay:

 

Darnified UI

Realistic Leveling

Maskars Oblivion Overhaul
Basic Physical Activities
Harvest Flora
Harvest Containers
Enhanced Economy
Enhanced Hotkeys
Display Stats
HUD Status Bars
Either Basic Primary Needs or Real Sleep Extended + The Drunken Dragon Mod
Camping
Pack Donkeys
Storage Sacks
SM Plugin Refurbish

Higher Independent Thievery Requirements

FormID Finder

Edited April 30, 2015 by Grogrokl

[FrostWyrmWraith]

Sorry, forgot about this post amidst finals week.

 

I'm aware of the top files list. I generally see it as a starting place, but it's really not the end all be all in many cases. I'm sure I have dozens of mods for other games that don't show up on their respective top lists.

 

I'll check out the ones you've mentioned specifically, thanks! Like I said I'm really just looking to flesh out my mod list at the moment. Starting from a fresh slate and all I'll go for most anything.

[Guinefort1]

Glad that your finals are over with. Since you're up for just about anything, some other stuff that I like includes:

 

- any texture work by Lougian

- Brittainy's Lush and Gaudy Series

- Emma's Children of Cyrodiil

- Better Dungeons

- any of Mhahn123's Settlements of Cyrodiil mods

- Real Lava (makes Dagon's realm look way better)

- No Harvest Failure (there is a compatible version with Harvest Flora)

- And, of course, my own stuff *shameless self-promotion*

 

I won't bore you any further with the million and a half texture mods I use. Just let us know if you want more suggestions. Have fun.

[Surilindur]

About the always successful harvesting thing... Wrye Bash also offers the option to set harvest chance to whatever the user wants. I use Harvest Flora with the Wrye Bash option, and harvesting works perfectly. Every plant gives me an ingredient, and animations work, too.

 

So instead of using some separate mod for harvest chance, I would recommend just using Harvest Flora with the harvest chance tweak of Wrye Bash. The tweak can be found in the options presented when rebuilding the Bashed Patch. So Bashed Patch is required, as the tweak is made in it. But I believe everyone is already using Wrye Bash and has Bashed Patch.

[shinobi2008]

About the always successful harvesting thing... Wrye Bash also offers the option to set harvest chance to whatever the user wants. I use Harvest Flora with the Wrye Bash option, and harvesting works perfectly. Every plant gives me an ingredient, and animations work, too.

 

So instead of using some separate mod for harvest chance, I would recommend just using Harvest Flora with the harvest chance tweak of Wrye Bash. The tweak can be found in the options presented when rebuilding the Bashed Patch. So Bashed Patch is required, as the tweak is made in it. But I believe everyone is already using Wrye Bash and has Bashed Patch.

+1. I absolutely agree. Why waste a mod slot when the bashed patch offer the same thing?

Essential mods huh? Exactly what are you looking for? Quests, graphic enhancements, more towns, more NPCs?

 

Harvest Flora that is already mentioned

Harvest Containers

All Natural

AWLS

Immersive Interiors

All villages mods by Arthmoor (some requires the official DLCs)

All villages made by mhahn23

MTC Expanded Villages

Shezries Towns

Roads of Cyrodiil

Fort Akatosh

Guards of Cyrodiil

Integration Stranded Light (a mod with huge numbers of quests to do)

Krageirs Death Quest (another mod with quests)

Fighters Guild Quests

Mages Guild Quests

Guild Advancement (makes it harder for low levels to advance in rank)

DarnUId Darn

Oblivion XP Update (good old leveling mod similar to classic RPGs)

Windfall

Diebella's Watch and its expansion (read the readme to get it to work properly)

Oblivion Character Overhaul v2 (must have all the requirements)

Seamless Equipments and several compatibility mods (no more neck seams but must pay attention with installation order)

Paladin Hand of Arkay (a mod for good guys)

Vampire Hunting Order of Virtuous Blood (a bit buggy but good quest mod)

 

That's about it. There are some more but these are my essential mods.

Edited May 11, 2015 by shinobi2008

[razorpony]

Some basic must-haves for me are

 

Quest Award Leveler - Auto levels any loot you get as you level up so you're not stuck with a garbage artifact later on.

 

AF Level Mod - Removes the level up screen and allows your attributes to level up dynamically with your skills. No more level micro managing.

 

Denock Arrows - Small but important mod that lets you press 'z' to denock an arrow without firing it.

 

Toggleable Quantity Prompt - Allows you to hold shift or ctrl when selling items in shops to sell one or a stack.