Mod Compilation and resolution question

[MMOHM]

Hi folks. I got a question, can some one upload or give me a link to a compilation of the best actual mods that also don't interfere with each other?

Its like this, I see many mods that have problems with each other and since I am new I might screw up. I am sure that some of you guys have some self made compilation of these mods.

I am looking for the graphic updates, char updates, cities, houses, pets, actually I would like to have everything what could make Oblivion better.

I am running on a good rig , and the game runs on Steam the Deluxe Ed. that includes Shivering Island, Knights of the Nine and more (Just as an info not that it makes a difference).

 

And I also got a question about the resolution of the game. Since my monitor is just a HD Ready TV and it is connected via HDMI, I got a couple of problems with the Resolution of the game. What can I do there? I am able to set other games on 1920x1080 with 58 or 59 HZ, but Oblivion doesn't want to run on these settings, any tips?

 

So I wait kindly for your answers and I wish you a happy gaming ^^

Edited February 13, 2011 by MMOHM

[bben46]

Each player has a completely different idea of what mods are 'best' What you are asking for is an opinion of what is best or what is compatible. I have seen someone take the exact same list of mods from one computer and place it on a different one and constantly crash when they ran fine on the first one.

 

Best: Pick your own mods, install one or two at a time and TEST between installations. The most popular (the ones that most people like the most) and the most stable - the ones that have been tested with the most other mods are the ones in the top 100 list.

[MMOHM]

Each player has a completely different idea of what mods are 'best' What you are asking for is an opinion of what is best or what is compatible. I have seen someone take the exact same list of mods from one computer and place it on a different one and constantly crash when they ran fine on the first one.

 

Best: Pick your own mods, install one or two at a time and TEST between installations. The most popular (the ones that most people like the most) and the most stable - the ones that have been tested with the most other mods are the ones in the top 100 list.

 

 

Thanks for your answer. Indeed it is true that some errors can also come with them. My problem is that I want to add to the game everything what is possible to improve the visual of everything. I have seen it in Morrowind when I added the actual compilation of everything. It was just awesome what huge changes have been added. And I hoped that it would be like that with Oblivion too. I am sure many of you think when they are done with their compilation, "Man this is the best I could have done". So I am looking for this kind of persons who are able to say "Mine is the best" ^^

 

I have added already a lot of mods, but somehow it still doesn't fill in the leaks I have, and I could search for hours to find out what I need. I have seen the detective work you guys are doing on finding what we users need. But the problem is, I as a beginner don't even know what to look for ^^ I do enjoy doing this, but I also want to play the game ^^

So I think it would be great to find a compilation of the best things here on this site.

Edited February 13, 2011 by MMOHM

[Striker879]

This is from Koroush Ghazi's tweak gude for Oblivion (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html). In your Oblivion.ini file find the following entries (they'll be in the Graphics section)

iSize W=1280

iSize H=1024

 

The above two values determine the screen width and height in pixels respectively - you can specify a custom screen resolution (in Windowed mode only) by changing these values.

Note that for this to work you will need to run Oblivion in windowed NOT full screen mode. Maximize the window and the only thing you'll need to live with is the slight borders.

[MMOHM]

This is from Koroush Ghazi's tweak gude for Oblivion (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html). In your Oblivion.ini file find the following entries (they'll be in the Graphics section)

iSize W=1280

iSize H=1024

 

The above two values determine the screen width and height in pixels respectively - you can specify a custom screen resolution (in Windowed mode only) by changing these values.

Note that for this to work you will need to run Oblivion in windowed NOT full screen mode. Maximize the window and the only thing you'll need to live with is the slight borders.

 

 

Ah OK thanks for you help, I hoped it will work in full screen mode but it seems there is no other way, I will have to live with the slight borders ^^.

Thanks again ^^

 

BTW Still searching for mods ^^

[Striker879]

BTW Still searching for mods ^^

I would tend to agree with Bben. Download and install the ones you think you'll like one or two at a time. Try them out, make sure everything's stable then get some more. Sometimes the journey is the best part ... once you've arrived there's naught to do but look for the next road.

[Ferryt]

You can easily find compilations of mods. Google is your friend, there. However, you're going to find that none of them will exactly suit you because, as others have already said, everyone's idea of "good mod ... bad mod" is different. I love some of the things that OOO (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul) does, for instance. On the other hand, I'll never use it because it forces me into some things that I do NOT like in Oblivion. So, I'm pretty much in your boat with respect to picking and choosing and slowly honing Oblivion into something I can really enjoy. In this, individual players are pretty much on their own. I'll give you a few tips, though.

 

First of all ... and I emphasize first: Make a complete backup of your "vanilla" fresh-out-of-the box install. All you probably really need is your Data folder, although I have the disk space to make a total backup of my Oblivion folder. This will make it much easier to roll back if you really screw something up, which is probably inevitable if you do as much experimenting with mods as I do. By "vanilla" I'm including installing all the DLCs you want, and all the Unofficial Patches that are relevant to your particular installation. You don't, for instance, need the Unofficial Shivering Isles patch if you aren't going to install Shivering Isles. All these mods work together, so you won't have any problems with them as long as you pay attention to load order.

 

I'll give you one example why this is important, from my own experience, and the situation that convinced me of the need to have a total backup of Oblivion handy to just copy and paste over. I happen to like Frostcrag Spire (the Wizard's Tower DLC). I read a lot about a mod called "Frostcrag Reborn" and really liked it. I installed it. It had some severe issues, including misplaced teleporter pads, which don't seem to happen to very many other people. I figured I had a borked installation of Frostcrag Reborn, so I uninstalled it, and re-ran the game without it. The original Frostcrag Spire was gone, except for its foundation. Reverting to a prior saved game didn't help. Starting a new game didn't help. Reinstalling the original DLC didn't change anything. I finally uninstalled Oblivion and reinstalled it and the DLC and that was the only thing that got Frostcrag Spire back for me. To this day I have no idea what was going on, here, but I learned my lesson. It's much easier and faster to just copy/paste a backup Oblivion folder than it is to reinstall the game from the CDs.

 

You really need a mod manager. Wrye Bash is probably the best, but it's not very user-friendly for newbies and some people (I'm one of them) simply can't get it to run. OBMM (Oblivion Mod Manager) is pretty much the de facto default for most people. Learn to use it and learn how to convert non-omod-ready mods into omod-ready mods so you can use OBMM exclusively, rather than having a mixed batch of manually and OBMM-installed mods.

 

Be wary of how many mods you install. The game limits you to 256, with one of those being oblivion.esm, which is required to run Oblivion. This means you can install a maximum of 255 other mods. Generally speaking, the more mods you install the greater the chance of making the game unstable. There are ways of merging mods, using various tools which we have available, and you might want to look into that, as well.

 

Browse the file section. Yes, it's going to take a long time, but the mod categories can narrow down your search for something you might like. Read the file descriptions. If you find something you think you might like, then check the comments for that mod. Those are more likely than the description to help you decide whether a mod is a "keeper" or not, since users will comment on difficulties they've had installing/uninstalling or playing a mod.

 

One thing I look for in a mod is whether or not it's in a "finished" state and whether or not an unfinished mod is still being supported by the author. If you see in the description that it's a "beta" or "WIP" or something like that, and the author hasn't replied to questions or comments for three years then it's a good bet that the problems in the mod are never going to be fixed. I will nearly always give priority to a mod with an active author than I will to a mod where the author seems to have disappeared, even if the second one has more features and might do what I want better -- particularly if other users are reporting bugs.

[MMOHM]

You can easily find compilations of mods. Google is your friend, there. However, you're going to find that none of them will exactly suit you because, as others have already said, everyone's idea of "good mod ... bad mod" is different. I love some of the things that OOO (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul) does, for instance. On the other hand, I'll never use it because it forces me into some things that I do NOT like in Oblivion. So, I'm pretty much in your boat with respect to picking and choosing and slowly honing Oblivion into something I can really enjoy. In this, individual players are pretty much on their own. I'll give you a few tips, though.

 

First of all ... and I emphasize first: Make a complete backup of your "vanilla" fresh-out-of-the box install. All you probably really need is your Data folder, although I have the disk space to make a total backup of my Oblivion folder. This will make it much easier to roll back if you really screw something up, which is probably inevitable if you do as much experimenting with mods as I do. By "vanilla" I'm including installing all the DLCs you want, and all the Unofficial Patches that are relevant to your particular installation. You don't, for instance, need the Unofficial Shivering Isles patch if you aren't going to install Shivering Isles. All these mods work together, so you won't have any problems with them as long as you pay attention to load order.

 

I'll give you one example why this is important, from my own experience, and the situation that convinced me of the need to have a total backup of Oblivion handy to just copy and paste over. I happen to like Frostcrag Spire (the Wizard's Tower DLC). I read a lot about a mod called "Frostcrag Reborn" and really liked it. I installed it. It had some severe issues, including misplaced teleporter pads, which don't seem to happen to very many other people. I figured I had a borked installation of Frostcrag Reborn, so I uninstalled it, and re-ran the game without it. The original Frostcrag Spire was gone, except for its foundation. Reverting to a prior saved game didn't help. Starting a new game didn't help. Reinstalling the original DLC didn't change anything. I finally uninstalled Oblivion and reinstalled it and the DLC and that was the only thing that got Frostcrag Spire back for me. To this day I have no idea what was going on, here, but I learned my lesson. It's much easier and faster to just copy/paste a backup Oblivion folder than it is to reinstall the game from the CDs.

 

You really need a mod manager. Wrye Bash is probably the best, but it's not very user-friendly for newbies and some people (I'm one of them) simply can't get it to run. OBMM (Oblivion Mod Manager) is pretty much the de facto default for most people. Learn to use it and learn how to convert non-omod-ready mods into omod-ready mods so you can use OBMM exclusively, rather than having a mixed batch of manually and OBMM-installed mods.

 

Be wary of how many mods you install. The game limits you to 256, with one of those being oblivion.esm, which is required to run Oblivion. This means you can install a maximum of 255 other mods. Generally speaking, the more mods you install the greater the chance of making the game unstable. There are ways of merging mods, using various tools which we have available, and you might want to look into that, as well.

 

Browse the file section. Yes, it's going to take a long time, but the mod categories can narrow down your search for something you might like. Read the file descriptions. If you find something you think you might like, then check the comments for that mod. Those are more likely than the description to help you decide whether a mod is a "keeper" or not, since users will comment on difficulties they've had installing/uninstalling or playing a mod.

 

One thing I look for in a mod is whether or not it's in a "finished" state and whether or not an unfinished mod is still being supported by the author. If you see in the description that it's a "beta" or "WIP" or something like that, and the author hasn't replied to questions or comments for three years then it's a good bet that the problems in the mod are never going to be fixed. I will nearly always give priority to a mod with an active author than I will to a mod where the author seems to have disappeared, even if the second one has more features and might do what I want better -- particularly if other users are reporting bugs.

 

Thanks a lot folks, well you guys convinced me to do so. And I will do so. So your answer was very informative about having mods and I enjoyed it reading. Thanks again and I will let you know in the future what I was able to do ^^

[MarkInMKUK]

This is from Koroush Ghazi's tweak gude for Oblivion (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html). In your Oblivion.ini file find the following entries (they'll be in the Graphics section)

iSize W=1280

iSize H=1024

 

The above two values determine the screen width and height in pixels respectively - you can specify a custom screen resolution (in Windowed mode only) by changing these values.

Note that for this to work you will need to run Oblivion in windowed NOT full screen mode. Maximize the window and the only thing you'll need to live with is the slight borders.

 

 

Ah OK thanks for you help, I hoped it will work in full screen mode but it seems there is no other way, I will have to live with the slight borders ^^.

Thanks again ^^

 

BTW Still searching for mods ^^

 

The settings work fine in non-windowed mode IF it is a resolution your monitor can support. The comment about windowed mode is for setting a non-standard resolution - hope that clarifies things a little

[chaospearl]

How big is your monitor? I play Oblivion on a 42" HD flatscreen television and I've never had any kind of problem with resolution in fullscreen mode. I've never had to use a non-standard; I just picked the one out of the options that made the game look best to me.