mod requirments and useful mods

[gunslinger6792]

im new to oblivion and don't know what mods for this game require. i play nv so i know that nv mods usually need NVSE to opperate but i don't know if thats true for oblivion. i've looked at the mods before and some of the requriments seem confusing so if anyone could help me out i would very much appreciate it.

[jamochawoke]

First question.

 

What do YOU want in your game?

 

Second question.

 

What do YOU feel Oblivion lacks?

 

Answer those two questions and I can help you out :P

[gunslinger6792]

i would like better looking character nothing sluty persay but better than humans with potato faces. more life outside the cities monster bandits traders those types of things if possible and any thing that adds exploring or quest mods. and is there a oblivion equivalent to f3 and fv underground hideout house mods? thanks for the help.

[jamochawoke]

Oblivion has so many house mods it's almost impossible to direct you where to go. There's plenty of caves that have been turned in to hideouts and a few mods that let you take over some known villains' places when you kill them. I personally like the treehouse type houses but if you want underground you won't be able to beat Bravil Sea Domes Expanded.

 

If you want something sinister there really is nothing to beat the utility and feel of the Official Vile Lair plugin from Bethesda although I've seen some good tries.

 

As for characters there's not that many mods out there, but the most popular one is Tamriel NPCs Revamped.

 

I personally don't like it, as you can see here, it often makes the people look even more strange and disturbing:

 

 

There's also several other mods that makes the NPCs "more beautiful" but all it does is push all the NPC age sliders to 15 so nobody has any of the paunchy faces or scars or wrinkles or really anything that makes them look unique. It all becomes a sea of bland.

 

A lot of the "cool looking" images you see uploaded are people using custom races (which have their own meshes and textures) for their characters and companion mods and then taking screenshots.

 

This is why I've been spending countless months myself working on a mod to fix this (as well as many many many other things and add a few 100% lore correct additions of my own that fits Bethesda's vision). The mod's not done yet though and won't be out until late December for a beta-only release.

 

 

If you just want more traders and things outside of the cities you can try Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. I personally hate this mod due to several of the directions it took, but it's one of the most popular ones out there so you may very well enjoy it quite a bit.

 

There's also Francesco's which just generally makes the game a LOT harder and changes the levelled lists quite a bit:

 

http://francesco823.tripod.com/

 

 

There's tons and TONS of quest mods out there. But kind of hard to know what you want. Do you want fantastical new places? Do you want 100% lore correct add-ons? Do you want additions to things like the Fighter's and Mage's guilds?

[gunslinger6792]

new places and or cities are always fun new villions things like that. thanks for the help by the way.

[Deleted2783630User]

There's also Francesco's which just generally makes the game a LOT harder and changes the levelled lists quite a bit:

 

http://francesco823.tripod.com/

 

There's a newer version of Francesco's mod right here at tesnexus. It now comes as a proper BAIN installer and removed some old cruft. It's been out since last August and I discovered it just last night.

 

If you don't know what a BAIN installer is, look into the mod manager Wrye Bash. It lets you use many complex mods together by creating a "Bashed Patch" mod file which can import data from other certain mods (like the overhaul mods) into itself so that those mods don't trample on each other. This guide will help you learn Wrye Bash.

 

A mod that works well with Francesco (as long as you're using Wrye Bash) is Martigen's Monster Mod, which adds a bunch of new monsters and NPC types (new types of bandits, etc.).

 

Making the NPCs look better is something I've been looking into myself (and will probably want advice on later). Your best bet is likely a simple face texture replacement. There are many to choose from:

 

Natural Faces

New Face Textures

 

And for the beast races:

 

Khajiit Face Retexture

IAFT Improved Argonian Facial Textures

New Argonian Face Textures

 

(I haven't tried any of these texture replacements yet.)

[jamochawoke]

I've tried most of them and they are tricky to get working properly.

 

However, the "New Face Textures" you linked was my favorite when I was using it.

 

For a quest "starter kit" I would highly recommend:

 

Mages Guild Quests

 

and

 

Fighters Guild Quests

 

and

 

The Well Diver

 

 

They add so so much to the game and hours of fun!