Just Bought Oblivion - What to get?

[lemonfan1]

Hey all! I bought the package deal on Steam and am now the proud owner of Morrowind and Oblivion, two games I've been wanting for a while. I'm gonna start by playing Oblivion, first.

 

What mods do you guys think would be good for my first run-through of the game? One thing I'd want, if I can find it, is something to pretty up some of the characters in the game. I've seen the way some of the NPCs look and they're not all that great looking, except for quest-related NPCs. :P

 

So, throw at me your suggestions! Adult, non-adult, it doesn't matter. So long as it'll increase my experience and enjoyment. I still have a day or so before Steam finishes the download. My internet is a tad slow at times. >.>;

[Flintlockecole]

Play the main quest through first even before trying to look for mods. Then you'll know what to look for.

[AurianaValoria1]

Qarl's Texture Pack III is good if your system can handle it. For NPC's, I use Natural Faces, but some people prefer IFT.

 

Flint is right, though. Before getting into any major mods, I would play the game relatively vanilla. Same goes for Morrowind.

[MarkInMKUK]

I'd go with the basic fixits - the unofficial patches to fix the bugged bits of the vanilla game.

 

If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7and are thinking of modding, do yourself (and us, because you'd no doubt be asking for help with it later) a BIG favour and use Bben46's guide here to move the game from the default install position to C:\Games\Oblivion. That stops the UAC from mucking up just about every mod you try to use, including (sometimes) official patches.

 

Many mods will require you to be patched to version 1.2.0416, and a lot will require the Shivering Isles expansion - if you don't already have Shivering Isles, buy it and add it to the game, THEN patch it (otherwise you'll need to uninstall and reinstall from scratch to add Shivering Isles later).

 

I strongly suggest adding the Unofficial Oblivion Patch (UOP), the Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch (UOSP), and (if you have Knights of the Nine and/or any of the official downloadable content files, the Unofficial Official Mods Patch (UOMP), plus the Unofficial Patch Supplementals and the UOP Dark Sister Voice Fix. They between them bugfix several thousand bugs and errors, and make the game much better to play.

 

Other "essential" mods are Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE), and then Fast Exit and Windom Earle's Oblivion Crash Prevention System (weOCPS) - the pair of those greatly aid stability and stop many of the more common crash scenarios from wrecking your game.

[monster0mash]

I would agree that before a big overhaul, give it some time but you could get OBMM and do Qarls TP and Illuminated Windows, Natural Everything, Natural Faces and the Unofficial Patches and DarnUI. I think atmosphere is important and these all help in that direction without changing the core game.

[bben46]

If you are too impatient to play the entire game without mods, at least play without them until you have reached third level at a minimum. Then you will have a much better idea of what you want in the game - and making the game what you want is what mods are all about. :thumbsup:

 

Please don't make the noob mistake of installing a bunch of game changing mods all at once then panic when the game crashes. Start with a simple mod that changes one thing. A weapon, armor or piece of clothing. Install that and test to be sure it works like you expect. then try a more advanced mod, anything game changing should be after you have mastered installing mods and understand what to do when they don't work instantly.

 

Mods work by changing the content of the Oblivion.esm and bsa files. But they don't make permanent changes - they must load and make those changes every time you start the game. Only those mods with an esp will show in the data list. any mod that changes only textures or meshes will not show, but will always load anyway if it is installed properly. Many mods don't show up instantly, especially those with a quest - you must find the start of the quest for it to start. :yes: