How do you prefer to play Oblivion with mods?

[OnyxNightBlack]

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I like to play very realistic: no fast travel, drinking/sleeping/bathing mods and a rather hard setting. But sometimes I just want to relax a little, ejoy different quests and not worry about anything at all. Then I fast travel a lot, don't use realistic mods and tend to just enjoy the story without having to worry about being slain by 2 skeleton archers.

[jojo man]

I like to add alot of quest based mods to my game(i.e., Glenvar castle, Hoarfrost castle, Bloodlines, Lost Spires, etc...)to give the game a greater story. And the only gameplay element i've changed is vamparism. Also I like to get new armor, weapons and equipment.(but nothing that really changes gameplay)

[Thanodai]

I'm with jojo, I love adding quest lines, the bigger and deeper the story, the better. The only gameplay altering mod I use is Toaster's Legendary Mastery/Stats and Skills mods. I also have countless weapon, armor and clothing mods across multiple body mods. Yes, I'm vain, even in a video game ;)

[eiworld]

Mods would not use... :(

[doomjockey]

Before making gameplay altering changes I always play through a vanilla game first; it's a habit leftover from console RPGs which naturally lack a (command line) console.

 

AFter that it's usually some minor mods like new arms/armours, skins, etc. The famous Exnem's did visit my game. Although I was a bit disappointed to find few clothing options for my male Dunmer and too many for my female Dunmer. I also went with a bald hairstyle mod early on since I'm not used to flowing hair.

 

Overall though, I tend to become enamoured with the prospect of new lands, so I installed a lot of cthulu314's Unique Landscapes like the Imperial Isle and Ancient Yews. I'm a bit of a junky for exploration.

 

I never install those game-breaking 1-hit kill kind of mods or "Final Fantasy blah blah" mods since they utterly castrate the gameplay and lore respectively.

[hoots7]

I'm the kind of hardcore RPG gamer who loves to play Oblivion in original gameplay system without altering the basic gameplay too much so I think OOO mod is too much for me since it changes the original gameplay alot. I like to add a lot of new armors without overpowering my characters so mods like Shadow Ranger, Real Sword (Low stats - Some NPC sells them), Cyros Cyrodiil Armor. New environmental changes are also tolerable since they just add new buildings and so on (I tried to pick houses/building that does not offer some godly services). The leveling system I'm using is the default system which I think is good enough already.

I'm kind of the same way.

I mainly just use aesthetic mods like clear water, harvest containers & flora and some companion, house, clothes (pirate) / armor and the awesome Thieves Arsenal mod.

I will admit to downloading some lore breaking mods also just for fun like light sabers (plasma sword) and a Honda RC motorcycle (couldn’t resist).

[Alaisiagae]

I mostly use cosmetic mods. I also have some mods that target very specific aspects of gameplay. I enjoy and respect the TES style of RPG and leveling and so on. I'm not a magic user, so I don't use any mods that change the magic system. My character uses stealth, so I don't have any combat-changing mods (character is level 49, so sneak attacks usually kill the target in one shot. I capped out at level 46, but the Ohgma Infinium boosted me to level 49). I do use Nighteye Shader Replacer (I use the "Very Bright" shader), Light Spell Recolor (omod), and Chameleon-NoRefraction mods. I also use Natural Magic Skills Improvement, Leveling Systems Compatible because my character does use magic -- just not for combat, and Friendlier Summons for the SI Greater Powers that summon units. I played vanilla for the entire Oblivion Main Quest, the SI MQ, all the OB factions, and the DLC (I took a run through KotN, but was disatisfied with it, so reverted to an earlier save game). I play with the difficulty slider on easiest, because I like my stealth kills to kill. If I do increases the difficulty, I'll add on a mod that increases the backstab multiplier. But I don't really play Oblivion for the combat. I delayed playing the Main Quest until I was level 36 or something. I leveled up by doing the Darkbrotherhood quests, but mostly by just roaming the wilderness and hunting the flora. I didn't even enter a cave/ruin/fort until sometime after or during the Main Quest. I enjoy Alchemy, and I'm getting a kick out of the ingredients from Tamrielic Ingredients and Salmo the Baker, and I might reinstall Q More and Moldy Ingredients (I want to make sure I have the max chance to find Tamrielic/Salmo Ingredients). I'm sort of waiting for things to happen; I'm using Kvatch Rebuilt, and so I'm trying to kill time between quests. I'd like to try Damarask again, but I'm not sure if I don't want to wait for a new release (yes, Polycrates is back!). I'm also sort of waiting for the Dark Brotherhood Chronicles.

 

Many of my major mods focus on changing the cities -- ICExpand, Better Cities of Bananasplit, Fellan's Cities of Cyrodiil, Arcane University 300, Dirtier Waterfront, More Skingrad, Imperial City Waterfront Tunnel Entrance, Let the People Drink!, Jadrax Imperial City Apartments (1, 2, and 3), Imperial City Moth Priests, Dark Club, Cyrodiil Inns, and TLBElderCouncilsChambers (an upgrade to the Elder Council Plugin mod).

 

Cosmetic mods include: Kafei's Better Amulet and Ring Replacers, Ceano's Azura's Star and Better Looking Tools, Potable Pastiche (with Better Wine SI), Gorier Blood, Book Jackets Oblivion and SI, Mikes Clothes Replacer, VA's Better Gold with No Menu Icon (original mod here), Darker Daedric Armor and Weapons ASH, Morrowind Style Dremora, Ebony Retexture, SpewBoy's Amber Armor, Golden Elven Armor and Weapons, Improved Facial Texture, Slaughterfish Retexture, Dunbarrow Pirate Flag Reskin, Improved Fruits Vegetables and Meats, Imperial Legion Ethereal Armor, kalikut's Green Glass Retexture, ReSkinned Hound, Real Lava, Color Map Mod and nONatees colored Shivering Isles map, Painted Paintings Textures, Styxs cooler Mehrunes Razor, Darker Scales of Pitiliess Justice, Improved Signs, Leviathan Soulgems, SonicEthers Beaming Sunglare, Spell Icon Replace 1 Final with some icons from Diverse Effect Icons, Coloured Enemy Health Desaturated, DarkbrotherHood Hood Replacer, and Retextured Witsplinter. I also use Spartan VIs Diverse City Guards, MCs Staff Pack (I use it for the retextures of Mankar Camoran's and the Archmage's staves), Mud Crabs, Magic Effect Dim, Elaborate Eyes, Slofs Dogs, Backstab (animation replacer), Ambient Town Sounds Edited, More Immersive Sound (I prefer this one to Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul), Atmospheric Weather System, Rainbows in Tamriel, Quiet Feet MAX, LowPoly Grass, Short Grass v3, and Darker Dungeons. I, too, use the Harvest Containers and Harvest Flora mods.

 

I also have mods that add content, mostly armor and weapons, but a few other things as well, such as Reznod Mannequins (with Better or White Marble textures), JQ - Display Pedestals, and Kickbans House of Wonders (positionable lights and display cases). I don't like god items.

 

Some of my mods are sort of "utility" mods: SIA Stolen Item Alert + Fame, Infamy, etc, Reset Your Status Page, Combat Alarm, and Crystal Calendar. Similar mods include Levelled Spell Names w SpellTomes Support. I also use Realistic Physics and Force Package (there are so many choices, it is a bit overwhelming. I just use the two esps the mod author recommends in the readme), and RD Better Book Collision. Some OBSE-required mods: Denock Arrow, Keychain (and KeyChain Shivering Isles Compatibility Addon), and Robes Over.