Any Help with Mod Selection Greatly Appreciated

[MRELB]

Here is my story. I'm thankful for anyone patient enough to read it.

 

I bought Oblivion years ago just after it came out, but I've never managed to finish it. I've made numerous attempts. I don't recall what halted my early games, but I know what stymied my later efforts...I got sucked into the mods. Seeing all those amazing mods and how they enhanced or even redefined Oblivion made me question how I could ever play just a "vanilla" game.

 

The problem was that my mod-installing intentions got the best of me. I spent weeks pouring over "best mod" lists and learning the diverse and complex installation protocols, from Wyre Bash to Oblivion Mod Manager to Better Oblivion Sorting Software to FCOM Convergence. My folder of mods swelled to gigabytes. And it was all too much. Too much work. Too complex. And, most of all, too much time spent on installing mods when I should have been playing a game. Oh, not to mention the fact that when I finally got all the mods installed, my game ran — miraculously — but it was buggy and crashed often; not an experience one endures for long.

 

And so Oblivion sat on my shelf gathering dust. Tens of characters and adventures started, not one finished. Then, some time ago I picked up Fallout 3. And, though I was extremely wary of even perusing the community's mods given my Oblivion experience, I did take a peek at the time. Thankfully — probably because the game was relatively new — there were very few mods available at the time, and of those that were, none seemed essential. I also made a rule that I'd never managed to stick to in the past: no character restarts (a.k.a., "recreating"). So I played a vanilla Fallout 3 game, and I loved it. After many months of casual-yet-enjoyable play, I finished it last night with the very first character I "rolled up." And this, coupled with Skyrim's November release, made me think that I've got to return to Oblivion and actually complete it this time.

 

But, unlike Fallout 3 at the time I began, Oblivion now has thousands of mods of all stripes and colors. I refuse to fall into that trap of mod greed again...more, more, more. I'm just looking for those must-have mods that, by general consensus, the game really shouldn't be played without. That's where, hopefully, this thread and you come in. I need some cool-headed guidance to arrive at a fairly minimalist mod, stable game. This isn't to say I should sidestep an amazing community-crafted-adventure, but it is to say that I don't want to be loading tens of mods. A modest, balanced approach.

 

My primary interest are mods that substantially improve gameplay. Visual enhancements, a cornucopia of new armor and weapons sets, and other neat but ultimately superficial additions aren't my thing, unless we're talking massive, global improvements that are simple to implement. Mainly, I just want to make sure any frustrations of the original game are eliminated (where possible), things like game difficulty balance is optimized (I like a solid challenge and dislike becoming overpowered), and I don't miss any truly special community content (like a quest that absolutely demands to be played).

 

Ideas? Thoughts? Recommendations? Your input would be greatly appreciated. I'm really hoping that this post helps me avoid many hours of time spent not actually playing and lets me enjoy this clearly great game to the end, finally.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

- ELB

[HeyYou]

Unofficial oblivion patches, and FCOM.

 

Granted, it doesn't strictly adhere to your minimalist qualification.... but, it adds a great deal of content, both quests, and items, in my opinion, it DRAMATICALLY improves game play over the vanilla flavor.....

 

What type of character do you like to play?

[MRELB]

Unofficial oblivion patches, and FCOM.

 

Granted, it doesn't strictly adhere to your minimalist qualification.... but, it adds a great deal of content, both quests, and items, in my opinion, it DRAMATICALLY improves game play over the vanilla flavor.....

 

What type of character do you like to play?

 

In the past with my multiple restarts of Oblivion, I've played a mage. Partially, this is because I like magic and magic effects. Partially, this was because vanilla combat is boring, in my opinion.

 

There are a number of things in vanilla Oblivion that I don't care for. Alchemy, with all its gathering and keeping track of ingredients. That's just not fun for me. Gaining favor with NPCs by participating in that mini-game with the wheel was wearisome also. I'm also not a thief at heart, so I don't break the law if I can help it.

 

The types of mods that I'm particularly interested in will make melee combat more fun (ideally, my character would be a fighter-mage hybrid). Also, I like a game that is, as in Goldilocks, "just right" difficulty-wise. Too easy, and you lose interest. Too hard, and you end up doing unrealistic actions like drinking 17 heal potions for a single battle. So, I place a lot of stock in game balance.

 

I also like good AI. It makes combat, and other things, much more fun. Foes that run when seriously wounded. Mages that stay at range and cast spells intelligently. That sort of thing.

 

Mods that are "superficial" with regard to gameplay, like visual enhancements, weather effects, poses for idle characters, more sounds, different soundtracks, armor and weapon models, special lighting, etc., aren't important to me. If there's something that really makes everything globally a lot better, I'd install it. But these things never make my game measurably worse or better...core gameplay does that.

 

I also am not looking for a load of extra content on top of what vanilla offers. Many games are too long for me, and I grow tired of them before I finish. I'm not a 500+ hours player. So, if a community-made quest is can't-miss-fantastic, I'd like to have it. But anything less I don't need.

 

I know that there are tons of mods out there, and many "fix" aspects of the game that most agree weren't well done in the first place. The challenge for me is getting the right number of them so I enjoy the experience without committing many, many hours to installing them and getting them to work without issues. I've been there before, and after weeks of mod managing and not playing, I just soured on the whole experience.

 

I hope this helps and I'd love more advice about a good solution. Perhaps I can arrive at a list of ten or 15 must-have mods that can be installed without much fussing with Wyre bashing and tweaking settings and such. That's what I'm hoping for.

 

Thanks,

 

ELB

[HeyYou]

For magic, have a look at Supreme Magicka, and Less Annoying Magic Experience. (and they play nicely together as well)

 

I know there is a mod out named something akin to "persuasion overhaul", that does away with the minigame. (Yeah, I didn't really care for that either.)

 

There's another one, Morrowind Style Lock picking too. :D

 

Duke Patrick makes some excellent combat mods. (AKA spookfx.com) His threads can be found on the official forums. (watch out for combat geometry though, that one makes multiple opponents DEADLY.)

 

I recommend FCOM mostly to do away with the horrid level scaling in vanilla Oblivion. Yeah, it can be somewhat of a pain to install... but, there are omod installers for Frans, and MMM now, (I think...) and there are a couple excellent guides for installing it too. TomLongs site is an excellent resource, and also has some "real loadlists that work."

 

Then there is deadly reflex, and unnecessary violence. Both combat mods. (that also work together.) both are rather complex though...... so, there may be issues there. I haven't gone there yet. Waiting while they get the rough spots ironed out. DR5 is good though, and fairly stable.

 

This might also be something worth perusing. A list of mod lists. Have wander thru it, there are some interesting resources there for coming up with the load list you want.

Edited April 25, 2011 by HeyYou

[Telyn]

If you want a much lighter overhaul, David Brasher made this one: http://www.tesnexus....le.php?id=37217

 

To improve alchemy, I would suggest you get Cobl, which also improves a lot of other things you can choose to turn on or off. Cobl will allow you to use ingredient sorters and remove ingredients by effect. Makes alchemy a whole new, enjoyable thing. Anything fluffy you don't want, like extra races or the bakery, you can just not install. The aim of Cobl is to make mods work better together, and to be modular.

 

If you get Gather Ye Rosebuds, you can walk around and autoharvest every alchemy plant in a range that depends on your skills. It's not a cheat, since the highest spell will annoy all hostiles in the area, too, it just saves a whole lot of slowly poking individual plants. I happen to enjoy that, but if you just want to get on with the alchemy, Gather Ye Rosebuds will probably make you happy. You will need OBSE for this mod, but you also need OBSE for another file I consider to be absolutely essential, which is Windom Earle's Oblivion Crash Prevention System. If I could only name one file that "improves gameplay" it would be that one.

[MRELB]

HeyYou and Telyn.

 

Great stuff, and consistent with some of the other suggestions I've received. Now it's a matter of listing them out and seeing exactly how much work we're talking about to get all of it to play nicely.

 

Telyn, the Crash Prevention System is new to me, so a special thanks for that.

 

And if anyone has recommendations of especially good community quests that must be experienced, please feel free to share. I heard from someone that Tears of the Fiend demands to be played.

 

Thanks,

 

ELB

[MRELB]

First, thanks again to all the contributors thus far.

 

I compiled the following list (many of which were at least vaguely from my past experiences with Oblivion mods), in no particular order:

 

 

•Enhanced Economy

•Unofficial Patch

•Better Oblivion Sorting Software (BOSS)

•Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE)

•Wyre Bash

•Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM)

•Less Annoying Magicka (LAME)

•Supreme Magicka

•Fearsome Magicka

•Deadly Reflex

•Duke Patrick's Combat Archery

•Reneer's Guard Overhaul

•Dark UI Darnified

•Map Marker Overhaul

•Enhanced Hotkeys

•A to Take All

•Persuasion Overhaul OBSE

•Common Oblivion (COBL)

•Tamriel NPCs Revamped (TNR)

•Oblivion Stutter Remover (OSR)

•FastExit 2

•Hear No Evil

•Realistic Leveling or nGCD

•Quest Award Leveller

•Drop Lit Torches

•Windom Earle's Oblivion Crash Prevention System

 

OPTIONAL

•Race Balancing Project (RBP)

•Stealth Overhaul OBSE

•Enhanced Grabbing

•QZ Easy Menus

•Toggleable Quantity

•All Natural

•Vilja or Ruined Tail (companion)

•Integration

•Lost Spires

•Duke Patrick's Magic You Can Believe In

•Tears of the Fiend

•Tamriel Immersion Experience (TIE)

•FCOM, or just OOO

•Kraegnir's Death Quest

•Unnecessary Violence

•Brashers Oblivion Overhaul

 

Perhaps more than I'd like, but worthy. Eager to hear folks' thoughts on the above. Are they worth it? Known conflicts? Missing items? Mods that do the same thing? Any more quest mods that are truly fantastic?

 

Also, I'd like to hear input on leveling mods. That's one thing that I left out of my early post about preferences and dislikes. The vanilla Oblivion leveling system bothered me. I hated the idea of, for example, casting a spell over and over deliberately just to raise the stat. That's artificial and unfun. Perhaps Realistic Leveling or nGCD will fix that, though it's not that I want to level very slowly, which will likely prolong my game beyond my liking, just that I want the leveling experience to be balanced and not something I have to metagame to suit my tastes.

 

Thanks,

 

ELB

[Telyn]

Something like Galerion's Natural Levelling maybe?

Realistic Leveling is configurable, which is awesome if you feel like configuring but it will take some work to get it how you want it probably. A good option I think.

Or if you really hate worrying about the points, you could try All +5 Attribute Modifiers.

 

There are a ton of mods here that change levelling, most of them with the aim of keeping you from having to cast a spell on yourself some crazy number of times.