Newbie Mod Questions

[Koopie1]

I apologize in advance for the length of this message. Thanks for reading and for any help you can give me.

 

I just purchased Oblivion, and just joined this forum. When looking on-line for game info, I was amazed at the number of mods available. It became a bit overwhelming trying to read, understand and download what I wanted. I'm looking for a true RPG experience. I want to use attributes and skills my character (most likely stealth based) actually needs, not do any sort of "power level-ups" or choosing major skills I won't use to counter act the game's reverse leveling system. Of course, I will also use a few "eye-candy" mods, but I am more interested in the actual game play, not appearance. What am I looking for? What do I need? Any suggestions are appreciated. I would also appreciate finding out what mods are compatible. I think I understand the install process, but haven't done it yet.

 

Again, thanks for your time, and thanks to all of you who spent so much effort on your modding creations. Happy Gaming!

[exanimis]

Personally I refuse to play Oblivion without the Purse of Wonder. It allows the player to carry all the loot they find. I know it's a cheat but I never liked the weight limitations. I couldn't recommend and weapons or armor because I don't use any of them other than what vanilla oblivion has to offer. The mods I use are more for looks than for gameplay. Some mods like the all in one basement are for convenience it allows a player to enter the basement in a player owned home and exit in another town in the players home. It's another cheat I guess but for those of us who really don't like to fast travel it adds another option. It does make traveling from place to place a little too easy though. I'll soon release a mod that will remedy that little problem and offer a third option to the fast travel problem.

 

Most mods I believe to be a matter of personal tastes. As far as loading them to your game. With most mods it's a simple matter of placing the esp in your C/Program Files/Bethesda Software/Oblivion/Data. then click on your desktop Oblivion icon and choose data click on the mod to add it and start your game.

 

Welcome to Cyrodiil, to mods and to the best and friendliest forum on the internet.

[myrmaad]

Personally I refuse to play Oblivion without the Purse of Wonder. It allows the player to carry all the loot they find. I know it's a cheat but I never liked the weight limitations. I couldn't recommend and weapons or armor because I don't use any of them other than what vanilla oblivion has to offer. The mods I use are more for looks than for gameplay. Some mods like the all in one basement are for convenience it allows a player to enter the basement in a player owned home and exit in another town in the players home. It's another cheat I guess but for those of us who really don't like to fast travel it adds another option. It does make traveling from place to place a little too easy though. I'll soon release a mod that will remedy that little problem and offer a third option to the fast travel problem.

 

Most mods I believe to be a matter of personal tastes. As far as loading them to your game. With most mods it's a simple matter of placing the esp in your C/Program Files/Bethesda Software/Oblivion/Data. then click on your desktop Oblivion icon and choose data click on the mod to add it and start your game.

 

Welcome to Cyrodiil, to mods and to the best and friendliest forum on the internet.

 

 

For another wonderful loot bag, I love my Bag of Holding!

I don't use the all in one basement, but it's good for keeping all your loot organized and in one space instead of traveling from town to town to retrieve your items.

 

I actually keep extra clothing, armor and favorite weapons, and supplies in my bag of holding, that way I don't have to run home.

 

If you plan to be a mage type character, I would recommend the awesome and indispensable "Advanced Magecraft". I didn't put add any power-mods until I'd passed level 20 though. All you have to do to power up quickly is get the amulet to Jauffre and start closing gates. Save right before you snatch the Sigil Stone, so that you can try again to get the one you really want. I lucked out and got one that fortifies health on my first gate. Happened to figure out how to use it, and I was in business! Gateclosin' Mothafatha.

[dezdimona]

its not Oblivion without MMM, bartholm or exnem's Rune Skulls

[Varus Torvyn]

For another wonderful loot bag, I love my Bag of Holding!

I don't use the all in one basement, but it's good for keeping all your loot organized and in one space instead of traveling from town to town to retrieve your items.

 

I actually keep extra clothing, armor and favorite weapons, and supplies in my bag of holding, that way I don't have to run home.

 

If you plan to be a mage type character, I would recommend the awesome and indispensable "Advanced Magecraft". I didn't put add any power-mods until I'd passed level 20 though. All you have to do to power up quickly is get the amulet to Jauffre and start closing gates. Save right before you snatch the Sigil Stone, so that you can try again to get the one you really want. I lucked out and got one that fortifies health on my first gate. Happened to figure out how to use it, and I was in business! Gateclosin' Mothafatha.

Agreed. The Bag of Holding is a great mod.

 

If you're looking for mods that advance your character and gameplay, then you would want to focus on adding quest-mods. The best ones have a lot to accomplish; however, they are large downloads and their position in your load-order is critical.

 

The first mods I downloaded were the Unofficial Patches. I followed that with utilities from other websites: OBMM, Wrye Bash, and FCOM Helper (a load-order utility).

 

For quest-mods, I like "Midas Magic", "Haunted House", "The Lost Spires", and "Malevolent".

[tcwleblanc]

wait isnt Deadly Reflexes one of the less stable mods as there are so many help topics and whatnot about it here and its number 4 on the top 100?

[Koopie1]

Thanks for all of your suggestions - looks like I'll be busy for a while sorting mods out. Of all of these, which are the ones that actually let me just play the game, w/o worrying about major/minor skills? In other words, I'd like to build my character using major skills he'll actually use, and let those skills (and the linked attributes) increase accordingly, w/o disrupting the normal progression of the game. Thanks.

[Varus Torvyn]

"Midas Magic", "Haunted House", "The Lost Spires", and "Malevolent". All except for "Lost Spires" you can download from TESNexus. That one is programmed to be a challenge for Level 20+ characters. You can download it from here: Lost Spires Download

[Koopie1]

Welcome to the Tesnexus

 

Check out the top 100. These are the most popular as well as the most stable mods. There is an assortment, weapons, clothing, bodies, quests, houses and more there.

 

Thanks for your help. I don't know where to find the "Top 100" list. I did a search, but couldn't locate it (I am not real savvy about navigating forums). Also, since my original post wasn't really about "troubleshooting mods", but more along the lines of which mods to use, I am curious why you locked the post in Oblivion Mods, but left it in Mod Troubleshooting?