Making Oblivion Pretty Again

[TrueKam]

I'm coming back to Oblivion after a couple years long hiatus, and I want to mod it up to make it look pretty again. Graphics are really fine for me, but I'm trying to get someone else playing it, and I'm afraid that if it doesn't "look modern" (or whatever the criteria would be) that it "must not be any good."

 

To avoid this, I want to just install a few graphics updates preemptively. I've looked into the following already:

 

• Oblivion Reloaded
• Oblivion Character Overhaul
• HGEC Body Mod (She doesn't mind adult content at all, so generally NSFW mods are fine, within reason. No Estrus, for example; that's just a little bit much.)
• Darnified UI

I'm just a bit confused because (and I'll admit that this was always the case with my modding of Oblivion and even with Skyrim) there are just so many different options, each with different sets of prerequisites, and all with different install instructions. I'm a software engineer by trade, yet still I find myself dumbfounded when seeing instructions that seem to imply I have to use OMM, NMM, Wrye Bash, and manual installation for different mods and that none of them will function/Oblivion will be unplayable/Windows will catch fire/my pet will get the flu if I use the wrong install tool.

 

What I'm hoping to find here is a simple answer to: What list of mods should I install to make the game look as great as I can while still running smoothly? (For reference, I'm running a i7 3.8Ghz (quad-core), 16GB of RAM, a GTX1070, and installed on a solid state drive.) Any help would be appreciated, and I'm willing to field suggestions for mods that would enhance the experience for a first time Elder Scrolls player. The goal is that she'll enjoy herself that I can convince her to try Skyrim next. =)

 

Thanks in advance everyone!

~ TrueKam

[Colovari]

Try this guide:

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47591/?

[dizzy]

Or my guide :p https://medium.com/the-backlog-gog-com-stream-team-blog/an-oblivion-modding-guide-9274b2640231

 

Note that my guide doesn't cover installation of body replacers. That deserves a full guide of its own because you need to know exactly what to get and in which order to install it to do it right and get rid of neck seams and there are about 10 different separate archives to deal with it.

 

Neck seams is pretty much the only reason why I'm playing with body replacers, as I don't care for nudity and it's not like you are going to see undressed characters very often in Oblivion and somehow the way they look vanilla would be too distracting. Neck seams on the other hand are a much more annoying issue as the camera zooms on character's faces by default (tho Oblivion Reloaded disables that by default). But if you or the other person aren't bothered too much with neck seems then don't bother with body replacers IMO, more hassle than it's worth.

[YngvieMalmsteen]

No offense Dizzy, your guide looks good, for people who like the look of a vanilla game, or if people need performance. Its shaders are quite basic compared to bevilex's guide though.