Old list of underdog mods from Bethsoft forums

[nisen]

Disclaimer: This is Jubjuby3's list of recommended underdog mods posted in the the Bethsoft thread Underdog Mods [thread 2] back in April 08. All of these are from just one post which is pretty impressive and ive been reading thru it the last couple days finding aton of interesting stuff, but frustratingly the bbcode formatting isnt activated on that post making it hard to follow, so figured it could use a reposting here, more as a historical reference.

 

Ive only cleaned up the layout abit and changed the urls to the newer oblivion.nexusmods to be easier recognizing. Havent confirmed which mod pages arent active anymore, and some will be redundant if included or improved on in newer overhaul mods. Also cause none of the old bethsoft.com/bgsforums... links work anymore, removed a couple of those, as they werent labeled

 

Have also been looking thru Wrye/A's List of Recommended Mods with some useful stuff there too. - Ovcouse feel free to add your own list of underdogs here if you want, would keep the thread alive, but dont expect any replys, just wanted to repost here for easier reference, short of adding it as a wiki entry

 

 

ok, so this is a bump for this thread, but heres the list so far with the new entries

 

Cavalry Customization - A new favorite of mine, this mod adds various options for personalizing any owned mounts in hopes of making them a whole more interesting. With this mod, you can name your mounts, tweak their attributes, summon them and more. A very light weight plug-in for immersionists and horse lovers.

 

More Books Teach - This mod simply makes several more books in the game teach skill to the character. It's simple and effective and actually makes a lot of sense. Some might consider it unbalancing when used with Vanilla, but combined with OOO or FCOM, it's a much needed boost.

 

Qazaaq's Finger Snap replacer - can replace several casting animations to a very cool snap of your fingers

 

NPC Static Level - limites the levelscaling and prevents bandits from wearing glass etc. Just like OOO but without all the quests and armors.

 

Bulky Orcs, Bulky Nords - Orcs and Nords look more bulky

 

Birthsigns Expanded - This changes all the birthsigns to much more in-depth, balanced(so I think,) and lore-based versions. The default birthsigns drive me crazy, but with this one I actually have a use for birthsigns other than Thief and Atronach.

 

Enchantment Restore Over Time(OBSE Required) - This mod makes your weapon enchantments recharge as you walk. Every 10 steps gives you 1 point back to all enchantmented weapons you're carrying. I would never play without this.

 

Enhanced Mercantile Progress(OBSE Required) - This is a new mod that makes Mercantile level depending on the value of items that you sell instead of the quantity. I've been using this one since it came out, but if you don't like OBSE there's always Smarter Mercantile Leveling.

 

Fiery Fists - I LOVE this mod. It adds spells to different Mages Guild NPCs that will enchant your fists with elements when fighting unarmed. They give a modest damage increase and allow you to take advantage of elements using your fists. I never play without this.

 

Get Wet and the Update - I haven't been using this mod for too long, but it's quickly become one of my favorites. I like going out in the rain just to see my character and other NPCs being rained on with this.

 

Let the People Drink! - This mod adds aqueducts running from Charcoal Cave to the Imperial City and adds water fountains to all the districts. I'm not sure about its popularity, but I love it.

 

Louder Nirnroots - I think this one is pretty popular. I don't play without it, though. It makes the sound coming from Nirnroot plants much louder, whereas originally it was unnoticeable unless you really paid attention. Sometimes I discover them by accident now.

 

Mero Trading - This is a neat little mod that adds a ship to Anvil(with accompanying fast travel point) where you can sell your wares indefinitely using an enchanted container. It never runs out of money, unlike merchants. It also adds a small questline where you have to gather different items to increase your profits from using the container.

 

Multiple Enchantments(OBSE Required) - Another mod that's quickly becoming one of my favorites. This adds a hammer and forge that you can use to add multiple enchantments to your equipment. The hammer can also be used as an infinite source of repair hammers(this is optional for those who don't like the idea.) It has a number of other options, mostly configurable through a menu that pops up when you create a new character or add this mod to an existing one, that I can't remember at the moment(I haven't played in a while.)

 

Natural Wildlife - If you're not running Martigen's Monster Mod then this is a must. It makes animals act.. more like animals. They'll flee from you if they sense you nearby, if you get too close or back them into a corner then they'll attack you. It also makes some animals more passive and docile, as they arguably should be.

 

Spell Delete(OBSE Required) - This allows you to delete unwanted spells from your spell menu by selecting them and pressing Shift+Delete. A definite must-have.

 

Stat Restore - Occasionally your stats will get messed up for one reason or another. This mod adds a ring to your inventory that you can use to restore them to their original values.

 

Stop Dark Brotherhood(OBSE Required) - Sometimes you'll kill NPCs that you didn't mean to kill, or ones that you didn't think would count towards the Dark Brotherhood. This adds a dialog box that pops up when you go to sleep, allowing you to reflect upon your actions; are you a cold blooded murderer, or were you simply defending yourself?

 

Galerion Unarmored Acrobatics. This is a mod I never play without. It adds several effects that depend upon your acrobatics skill. These effects only take place when wearing less armor, starting with the cuirass. The effects increase with the less armor you wear. Armor includes both light and heavy armor types, but not clothing. The effects include resistance to normal weapons, shield effects, and possibly some others that I don't remember right now. They take effect as long as you don't wear armor.

 

Willful Resistance - This mod gives you resistance(or weakness) to magic depending on your willpower stat. The higher it is, the more you'll be able to resist magic damage, and the lower it is, the weaker you become to it.

 

Dousing The Flames - a simple yet brilliant mod that gets rid of the eternal fires in Kvatch, inside Bruma Mages Guild and in the remains of closed Oblivion Gates. Best of all: it just kicks in after you've completed the respective quest lines (or have closed a gate, in the case of Oblivion gates in the wilderness).

 

Merchant Chest Fix. Now you can loot them at night too. Helps if you install a mod adding guards to the shops, like TIE.

 

Update My Statue. Allows you to change how your statue looks in Bruma.

 

Reason to go exploring other than loot.

Adds a random chance for dungeons to have female NPC in need of rescuing. Been using it for a long time and it's one of my favorite mods.

Damsels In Distress

 

I'm naturally lazy so this is a no brainer.

When placing books you can add them to the shelf through an inventory screen and select the order the appear.

Auto Bookplacer

 

Lighting is a huge part of Oblivion so any that add get downloaded and tried. Worth a download for sure.

Adds a light effect to the Flame Atronachs or any creature that uses the effect.

 

Shining Flame Atronachs

 

Crypts of Cyrodiil - A very nice concept which add depth to Cyrodiil without cluttering the landscape with countless new forts/inns/ruins. The crypts are nice with some interesting background stories. One of those mod you -just- want to see improved upon.

 

The Dungeons of Ivellon - Not really a small mod, for this thing is quite huge. A great quest mod who unfortunately doesn't have the visibility it deserves.

 

Guiding Beacons - It's just neat, hehe. Had some concerns about bloat with it, I never did track down where all those Nul Ref's were coming from...

 

Regrowing Nirnroot I suppose if you were hard up for some crappy reward potions or an excruciatingly slow gold farming exploit this could be considered a cheat. I just like them for the poison effects. Also I like the plants, sucks when they're gone.

 

Rune Stones! The Rune Stones now give runes to the Player that can be used when needed to conjure bound armor and weapons rather than having a bound spell cast on the Player at the Rune Stone.

 

Poison FX Adds the missing effect to the poison spell category as well as new sounds for it. The result is when hit with a poison you will see a greenish cloud envelope you, as it will when you hit an opponent with a poisoned weapon.

 

Fatigue Penalties Introduces penalties to the game for allowing your fatigue level to fall below 25% of your base fatigue and adds an additional penalty for having your fatigue go to zero: collaspe. If this happens during combat you will helpless against your enemies. The effect lasts only a few seconds, but in combat those seconds could become the difference between life and death for your character.

 

Oblivion Wound Effects & Penalties (OWEP) The Oblivion version of Shoujo's Morrowind mod: Wound Effects & Penalties. Makes it so that a player near death will fight less effectively than at full health by applying penalties as the Player's health decreases. Also, there is a random chance that the player will suffer a grievous wound while in battle, and he/she will start to suffer from blood loss. The loss of blood progressively drains health, fatigue and magicka away until the blood loss can be stopped. Restore Health potions and spells will not stem the loss of blood, though they may give the player the needed time to apply the remedy: bandages. While they stop the effects of blood loss, bandages do not restore health. That remains the "job" of potions, spells and/or rest. Also, bandages may not be applied during combat. All of which makes combat much more interesting, and challenging.

 

Distant Trees x1.5 - This mod makes distant trees 1.5 (the same size as Natural Vegetation) times larger, making distant forests appear a bit closer too.

 

Consequences of Evil - This mod makes being good and evil have consequences.

 

Better Letters - Changes all of the generic letters, notes, and recipes into unique ones.

 

Jump Adjustment - Removes moon gravity and makes jump height realistic.

 

took some detective work, but thanks to Buddah's List o' Links I was able to find perhaps the only place it's hosted, but Immersive Wait is amazing.

 

well, there's a readme, but yeah, I'll bite. Basically instead of hitting the "T" button to wait (or whatever you've got your wait button defaulted to) you hit your hotkey for your Stool of Waiting. That way instead of watching a boring progress bar decrease to show the passing of time--you watch the world fly by you. It's really cool and sometimes I just TM (toggle menus) and let it sit indefinitely (one of the options is sit until you hit a button, instead of waiting like a normal amount of time) and sit in a place with lots of traffic (like the IC Trade District) and watch everything happen around me.

 

Denock Arrow: Allows you to do exactly what it says. Why this feature wasn't included in the vanilla game is beyond me.

 

Forgotten Tomb: A nice little new dungeon. Nothing fancy or special, just a pleasant little romp.

 

Cane of Sheogorath: Disappointed that Sheogorath has an awesome cane and all you get is a regular staff? This fixes that.

 

Better Bell Sounds: Changes the chapel bell volume to something more realistic, and makes bells audible inside the chapels.

 

Going through my OMOD folder some of my never-deactivated are:

 

Xero's Fame Indicator - Continuously watches for changes in fame or infamy levels and displays an appropriate message. Handy when using with Ren's Guard Overhaul

 

Candles for Kleptos - Being a collector of anything not bolted down I love this mod. Plus any downloaded house mods that don't have quite enough lighting these come in pretty handy, although not all of them cast light.

 

Message Remover Pack - Can be used independantly of each other. I was sick of being told where my horse was being stabled, that I hadn't successfully harvested that plant, or that I had, and my enchanted item had run out of charge among other messages.

 

Beaming Sunglare - Makes for some really nice sunset/sunrise screenshots, and (IMO) the sun is more realistic instead of a glowing white/yellow orb in the sky.

 

Fuse's Fruit Machine - Quirky little mod. Adds a poker machine-type thing to the Skingrad West Weald Inn where you can waste your gold just like the real thing

 

Mr Frosty the Snowman - One of my own creations. Places four snowmen around the north of the map, and recently a Sandman down at Anvil. Updates are in progress to add a small quest or something. I've plenty of ideas

 

Talk With Your Hands - 'Unlocks the conversation animations for NPCs when they're talking to the player.'

 

Underdog mods... well how about my mods. They are small mods that change one minor things that are extremely important to me.

Better Cities Skingrad Reduced makes Skingrad bigger and more impressing without making everything too flowery.

 

Morrowind Style Dremora makes dremora look like the ones from Morrowind.

 

Every mod that changes Oblivion to look more like Morrowind is awesome in my opinion.

Hel Borne's MW Style Dwemer Weapons adds MW Style Dwemer Weapons to the game.

 

Jjiinx's MW Style Argonians changes the race settings for Argonians to make their face more like those of... well, dinosaurs or something. MW Style.

 

I also couldn't live without:

Magicka Based Skill Progression (which is now obviously part of the mod "Progress".)

 

Replacer for the Blade of Woe

...and does the Race Balancing Project still count as an underdog?

 

http://theelderscrolls.info/?go=dlfile&fileid=219

 

I love this mod L.A.M.E. It makes minor changes to the magic system (Not near as much as the bigger magic mods). Has a lot of fun and useful spells. Clearly my favorite Magic Use mod

 

Another one of my favorites Hear Me Not (surely I do not make that much noise when sneaking)

 

AS Better Magic & Mercantile Progression - I just use the Mercantile part of this mod, was the 1st one of it's kind from what i remember and have used it since it's release, never had an issue with it. Increases Mercantile based on the value of an item...nuff said.

 

Bone Grind - Use a Mortar and Pestle to grind bones you find into Bone Dust...Genius!

 

Khajiit Night-Eye Toggle - This is a simple mod that changes the Khajiit racial Eye of Night lesser power. Rather than having a duration, the night eye is now toggled on and off when the lesser power is cast.

 

Chase Camera Mod - This mod changes the behavior of the camera when in 3rd person view. Essentialy, the 3rd person camera now works like it did in Morrowind.

 

Dimensional Pocket - This mod provides a very handy and spell which when casts creates a door which you can use to travel to another location which contains places for you to store items you've found. I'm still using version 2.3 without issues. Has a handy storage thing right next to the portal door so if you are encumbered you can off-load yours items without having to move.

 

AF Level Mod - Death to the default character progression system, this is the one i use and couldn't play without it!

 

Lighter Alchemy Ingredients & Apparatus - Makes it viable for my low strenght chars to carry a Mortar and Pestle around for use with the Bone Grind mod

 

Keychain - Keeps all your keys nice and tidy.

 

Axebanes Hunters Mod 2.0 - I have stopped using this though as it has some conflicts with T.I.E, but if you don't use T.I.E then this is very awesome. Here is also the 2.5 version of this mod for those interested as it add's Fletching and Leatherworking Axebane Hunters 25 + Axebane RealHunger 25 I kept using 2.0 instead of 2.5 as i think some items were increased in weight for 2.5.

 

Phinix Waterfix - Sexier looking water! More vibrant water colour which matches better the lush green environment around IC etc...disable the water component for NE if you have that installed.

 

Better horse eyes - fixes the creepy eyes from vanilla horses.

 

x-ray detect life - I can't go back to the cloud effect of Detect Life after using this mod.

 

Stumble when running backwards - ahhh the thrill of tripping over while running backwards away from an Ogre.... priceless...

 

More realistic encumbrance - gradual penalty as you carry more and more stuff. I always hated being unable to move as soon as you pick up a straberry while you are at your weight limit.

 

Kals lightning mods - Very much improves the appearance of shock effects. The effects are different in the two versions, and I personally like the single green bolt option of V11. There is also V20, with different effects.

 

Agar Varied Spell Sounds - Extremely good replacer for the stock spell sounds. Very much recommended.

 

RPGBlackDragons LowTripolyGrass

 

and Diverse Grass / alternate grass mods by HTF are musts for me, also Frostcrag extensions and Personality Idles 4

 

More poisoned food - 32 brilliant alterations on the poisoned apple.

 

Street gangs - adds Khajit gangs to cities. They have the same AI as highwaymen. Don't ya just love getting mugged by skooma addicts short on cash?

 

Unsafe streets - the 'father' of the mod above. This adds highwaymen to cities.

 

Bow Sway - One of the my all time favorites - makes your crosshair sway when aiming with the bow, according to your skill.

Sneaking makes the bow more steady - in effect, no matter if its realistic or not, that makes a char with poor marksmanship to stop and focus (crouch) to aim his shot, even in the mids of all the dodging of the enemy arrows. Priceless!

 

Even though there are quite a few similar mods out there, and could be classed as a bit of a cheat, after leaving the sewers I automatically look on the ground for a scroll called Adventurer's Spells.

It has Mark, Recall, Sleep and Magic Storage. I only use the storage as even in real life I can't sleep standing up and Mark/Recall is a bit buggy.

 

Quick Char - The only tutorial dungeon-skipper I use. Plants you at the sewer exit with 100 gold, 20 lockpicks and 10 torches...plus an undocumented assassin who follows you everywhere until you kill him or have him killed by using him as a shield

 

Vim and Vigor Adds eat/drink/sleep to Oblivion. A little finicky sometimes, but I love the natural 'cycle' you get into with it.

 

Toggleable Quantity Prompt Just what it says - no more sliders and confirmation boxes. Just sell the damn stuff!

 

Daedric Cartographer's Invasion Map Pure awesomeness.

 

Borderless Map Icons Such a simple change, and they look SO good.

 

And of course, the usuals: Dark Darn UI, Immersive Interface, Spell Hotkeys... everyone uses those, right?

 

Chittin Lonsword

 

A great thread idea. And I was happy to see one of mine make the list (more books teach).

 

One mod I really like is Welkynd Cluster Treasure. A good source for free gear enchantments and soul gems if you're willing to do a LOT of jumping around, grabbing at crystals in Alyed Temples hoping to get a treat. Nice extra scavenger hunt.

 

A mod I love but have rarely heard anybody speak of is WillieSea's Arena Alive. The mod adds many nice cosmetic touches like new lights, more spectators, leveled earnings, a cool bone clock in the arena bloodworks (of course!), new poster art, lootable combatants and, best of all, the arena is open 24 hours a day.

 

Ronyn' sRealistic and Fun Acrobatics is another mod I hear little about. You start out the game like a complete klutz, barely able to hop over a log but with time and perseverance you can, if you apply yourself, eventually acquire ninja-like abilities.

 

I went looking for new armor for my heavy armor-wearing warrior the other day. My anal search took me through every single armor listing on PES and TESNexus (a 4-hour job). One of these is going to be my character's next armor: LHammonds Dragonbone Armor Set (the Fantasy Figure/Robert version by Petrovich). LHammonds is well known but I don't recall hearing about this specific armor much. I made a new version for my character that is unenchanted, has an AR a little higher than steel and is sold by Varnado. The only problem is, I boosted the price so high that my character can't afford it yet, lol.

 

Not to shamelessly self promote, but my fireball replacer was well liked before it sank into the sea of files at TESNexus.

 

the mysteries of the dulan cult

 

alines in cyrodil (unsure weather this is right or not)

 

oblivion infarmundo was unable to find english version

 

crypt of decay

 

first person messages

 

role playing dialouges

 

skeletal horses

 

wolf pelt armour

 

helmet fov

 

Diverse Effect Icons - Adds unique icons for most of the magic effects which was previously sharing icons with other effects.

 

Educational Magicka - Introduces a new system where your total amount of magicka is affected by multiple factors such as your race and skills, not just your Intelligence.

 

Optimized distant terrains - a very good fps booster. The fps gains from using the optimized meshes far outweigh the minor visual issues introduced by the mod.

 

Dynamic crosshair - makes the crosshair smarter and less 'in your face'. Should be a good companion for Bow Sway (which I am going to try tonight thanks to this thread).

 

I recently downloaded those and can't play without them, though oddly haven't accidentally killed anyone yet to try out the Dark Brotherhood one. Maybe I'll just kill a random person in the street :P

 

A couple more I use that I didn't think of before.

 

Get Up Animation Replacer - I love watching that one. I don't play in third person and rarely get knocked down so haven't seen my character do it, but while escorting to Cloud Ruler Temple saw it plenty of times.

Like Amazing Jump I laugh every time I watch them in action.

 

Enhanced Campfire Behaviour - Campfires can be stomped out, unlit ones can be lit by holding a torch, and they can go out in bad weather. I haven't stomped out a fire yet for fear of being burned alive

 

Hilarity: This mod adds many spells designed to amuse the player and cause havok in the world. You can get the spells from the "Fun With Magic" book on a small table in Edgar Vautrine's Discount Spell Shop in the Imperial Market.

 

PJs Disco Spell - Adds a ring to the players inventory that when equipped grants the player the Disco spell. This spell will set those around the player dancing complete with disco lights and music. Or cast the Disco Party spell and dance along with them!

 

Dude Wheres My Horse FINAL: This plugin provides you with a quest marker pointing directly to your last ridden horse, any time you need it.

 

CallSteed: Adds lesser powers that allow the player to summon one of three saved steeds.

 

ChaseCameraMod: This mod changes the behavior of the camera when in 3rd person view. Essentialy, the 3rd person camera now works like it did in Morrowind.

 

Finders Keepers: This mod provides many varied detection spells for your convenience.

 

House Map Markers: Adds the locations of the houses you buy throughout the game to your world map, allowing you to fast travel directly to them. You will appear just outside the house facing the door.

 

Oblivion Afterlife

 

Major Danger Skills

 

Another mod that I don't see getting mentioned much is Dung Beetles, Alternate Start mod that allows you to start the game in any of the player houses and with different lvls of wealth, great for roleplaying.

 

Also there is one called "NPC's Eat More" I think its available at tesnexus. It makes all NPC's ..... eat more, and when they run out of food in their immediate area they will start looking for it elsewhere which can bring about many interesting situations.

 

Funny to see that this thread has decayed into a "I have done these mods!" list .

 

Well, speaking of real underdogs in my understanding. Hm. There are two kinds: One which aren't widely known, because they were never that great advertised. Most others are forgotten. Despite all prophecies there were some good mods in 2006 ;).

 

These are less known mods I'm using and enjoying:

Galerion's true unarmored skill: While it has it's problems with wz-style inventories, and it's default values are too high (I set it to 25 max, instead of 45), it is imho a really good integration of an unarmored skill.

 

Landmarks with wells: While I think a mod can't be more basic, nevertheless I like it.

 

Elven Map Redux: My favorite map. Especially the new symbols.

 

Nascosto Island: I see this mod rarely appearing in mod lists, despite having one of the most beaufiful environments I saw to this date (only some ULs are a match for it).

 

Capucine's Character Expansion: For some reason I like these eyes most of all available.

 

Primary Needs - my nod to roleplay and immersion.

 

Robes Over is one of my must haves! I miss not being able to wear armor and robes at the same time, or clothes and robes, and this allows me to, w/o clipping.

 

A new beginning - my favorite alternate start mod. You arrive on the docks of Anvil after two quick questions on your boat. The main quest doesn't exist until you get arrested and jailed in the Imperial prison.

 

Sarkandar Fishing Mod- Go fishing for SlaughterFish works with Alivewater's also..

 

Creature Alive - Vanilla Creature Overhaul that modifes creature aipackage's to make them find flora, find food, ingredients, drink water..roam in packs...This is what is used in Francesco, Maritgen Monster Mod, and OOO has it own type...

 

Npcs Alive - MOdifes Aipackages and Behaviors for some Npcs in the game orge's, Legion forester, Beggers..and more...

 

YOUNGER HOTTER NPC's version 1.0 - Women by nenina- Makes the women of OBLIVION more younger and good looking.

 

Eldrac's Armory Version 1 by Eldrac- One of the first gothic clothes/armor/weapons mod to have come out in the early days of OBLIVION while still having a medieval look to it. This is version 1 and I believe there were probably a few more.

 

Daggerfall Music and Here in the music section - Music from Daggerfall remastered for MORROWIND but sounds great with OBLIVION too. Note the link Jubyjuby3 added was dead but 3 or the 4 authors are linked above: Karl Christmas, Zenogias, Cupelix, and Freddo (the last one meant to be a moderator on bethsoft forums)

 

This is one I found earlier while looking for a mod to improve the environment - Improved Trees and Flora 2 check out the pictures, wow! Now I just need to figure out how to get it working. Need to do something about invalidate something-or-other lol

 

Oblivion Symphonic Variations Music Suite is a great addition to the games soundtrack. The best third party music I've heard so far, fits right in with the original score.

 

Binoculars Because gadgets are fun.

 

Echo Chapel Chant Adds a very nice touch of audio ambience to Chapels.

 

Haldurs Alternate Skeleton Key Makes the effect a toggle.

 

Q More and Moldy Ingredients I hardly ever see this in load order threads, but it is a great mod, and very logical--and I heart poisons. I'd like to see it in COBL, actually, it's only logical to extend the concept to all COBL foods. Moldy Blueberry Pie, mmm mmm good!

And now to head off the trail. I've seen More Books Teach come up a number of times, I myself used to use it. However, I disabled it as it doesn't seem to work, regardless of its place in the LO, with Book Jackets/Darnified Books/Book Placement. Has anyone gotten these to work together? I looked at the files in TES4VIEW and there does not seem to be a way to fix this without editing something.

 

Q More and Moldy Ingredients I hardly ever see this in load order threads, but it is a great mod, and very logical--and I heart poisons. I'd like to see it in COBL, actually, it's only logical to extend the concept to all COBL foods. Moldy Blueberry Pie, mmm mmm good!

 

More Vegetables - This is a great yet simple mod. It adds 14 new foods into the game, as well as new plants to harvest. There have been plans to include it into COBL, but Wrye said he is busy with other things to include it, and would rather have someone else include it in and he can merge. Hint hint.

 

Qarl's Harvest and the Add-on for it

Another great mod. Adds fruit trees and harvestable logs and hay bundles to the game. The addon I like as well, as it reduces the chance of finding huge gold and mushroom stacks, and adds new ingredients.

 

Happyhannah's Wines - This mod simply adds new wines. Goes great with Tarnsman's Beer mod, and like More Vegetables, there have been talks of including it into COBL.

 

 

Landmarks with Wells - All kinds of buildings/special-places are now placed on map when they are found.

 

Ayleid Wells - It changes the way Ayleid Wells work: now every well give small but permament boost to player's magicka [one well means one bonus and well cannot be used again]. Finally it is rewarding to go and find every last one of those structures because finding all means getting additional bonus which is a quite nice one.

 

Cloth Gloves - Nice looking, elegant gloves for characters who do not wear armor all the time or simply prefer clothes. Gloves are available for purchase in Divine Elegance, IC Market.

 

Cyrodiil Inns - This mod adds four nice inns to the gameworld. They provide place to sleep and some merchants with food and spells. One of them also has storage boxes for rent. Mod is modular so you can choose which inn you wish to have in game and this is very useful feature - for example: using 'The Pine Peak Lodge' while OOO is turned on may not be very good idea because near this inn a bandit's camp from OOO is placed and some inhabitants of inn can end slaughtered in notime.

 

Well, the first one that comes to mind is Danger Sense - it's a mod that I worked on with Addiktive way back when. It had some brief popularity but due to several unresolved bugs in the quest, that faded. And there are some pretty serious bugs.

 

However, if you can get through the entire quest, either by getting lucky and not encountering any bugs, or by working your way through them, it is easily the best quest I have played for Oblivion. I haven't really played the game in over a year, so there could easily be things that beat it now, but for the time it was incredible.

 

Still the only mod that uses cutscenes, as far as I know.

 

And I'm not really tooting my own horn, since I only scripted the special ability you get at the end of all the quests. I'm reasonably happy with the way that turned out, but really it's not that impressive. Nifty, but nothing incredible. The mod is worthwhile for the quest.

 

Anyway, other things...

 

Not unknown, really, since I'm pretty sure everyone has it, but a mod that people don't talk about much and just really makes me happy: Phoenix Amon's Book Jackets. It's just wonderfully done and I would not play Oblivion without it.

 

Also, Rusty Items by Wind Surfer just adds a really nice touch of detail, I think.

 

Horse Armour Revamped - Don't remember anyone adding this one, which is surprising actually.

 

Adds new armour types for your horses, you can preview armour and sell it back when you want to change types. Has a small quest with it.

 

Tried this one out and went through it to make sure my current (90+ hour) game didn't have issues. With the latest OBMM this is simple to install and really does make the pretty meh official plugin so much better. The dark steel on the legion horses is nice and the glass armour shine is quite impressive.

 

Fletching & Imbueing lets you make your own arrows from reasily available sources. There's also the possibility of creating enchanted arrows (makes more sense with the *balanced* version of the mod, though)

 

Potions recolored and Leviathan Soul Gems are two visual mods that make great improvements to potions and soulgems.

 

Less creepy guild porters - It always pissed me off the fighters guild porter was so suspicious of me even though I was a member.

 

Exterior NCPs have torches - add this with the window lights and other night mods, and after dark is very realistic

 

Oblivion Gate Map Marker Remover - Really helps when trying to close all the gates

 

Lightning Speed & replacer - After using this you will NEVER go back to bethesda's pathetic attempt at making lightning spells.

 

While not a mod, just more of a setting in the ini file. I would like to suggest colored local maps: search for blocalmapshader in the ini and change the 1 to a 0. This makes the local maps so much better with added color and detail (IMO.)

 

 

For users of "Varied Spell Sounds"

 

Someone already mentioned "Less Creepy Guild Porters", but its excellence cannot be stated enough!

 

And because I like to decorate- I'm enjoying Merilia's Blue and White Porcelain . Lovely.

 

I would also like to add Spewboy's excellent Cyrodiil Map. While not for everyone, I would at least recommend trying it. link

 

I've just dug up these gems (with some help from greenwarden):

 

Shdw Armor Pack01

Shdw Armor pack02

 

And for a good reason to swim... Ship Wrecks.

 

28 Days and a Bit - A Zombie Mod

 

This mod is incredible since it in itself is almost a complete game redo. Fun for awhile and to see how long you can last but is a overall great mod imo.

 

Dirennis Advanced Alchemy Apparatus - Need something expensive to buy? Like shiny stuff?

 

Yes, at 125% it sure will create some MASSIVE poisons and potions. Need some justification for balance, don't buy it until you have a master set already. Simple enough.

 

Thanks Jubjuby3. I really appreciate. :goodjob:

And it's twin brother: Dungeon Actors Have Torches.

 

These two have been in my download folder for a while now, but I never actually installed them. I understand the technicalities, but not how they really work in-game, what they do. Does anyone have any experience with them?

 

CDM - Wanted Criminals adds 10 contracts for wanted criminals to the Imperial City Prison. Great for bounty hunter characters.

 

Cinematic Dialog -I just love it.

 

I'd also like to add another one to the list: Bedrolls. A very simple mod that makes bedrolls an item you can carry in your inventory, allowing you, for instance, to sleep in the wilderness if there are no bedrolls around. Plus you can buy them at merchants. Great for immersionist players.

 

ANB A Bobbing Motion - This adds a really immersive bobbing motion whiles moving around Tamriel, standing still and breathing, the more damage you take the deeper your breathing will become!

 

Forward Motion Blur - Adds a subtle blur whiles running, getting hit and riding horses. Another small touch that adds a lot.

 

I like Reneer's Notes mod. It adds words to all those "crumpled papers" you see in various parts of the world.

 

I also like Essential Trainers. It's really handy for when a mod messes with a faction and/or the master trainers decide they are uber enough to rid the world of every monster. With this mod, since the master trainers are all marked essential, you'll never find them dead.

 

I thought Settimanefasto's Italian Gothic Castle was quite pretty. It's a little empty, but certainly a nice piece of work.

 

Gather Ye Rosebuds for all the herboholics

 

Enchant Ripper wear what you want with enchantments of you choice

 

Django's Unique Features -- scars, tattoos, piercings, even pimples for you and NPCs

 

Useful Telekinesis by TheFlyingBuddha. Telekinesis as it ought to be - a useful utility spell. It still allows you to grab objects (as in the vanilla version of the spell, and push/pull enemies (as with most other TK mods - but in addition, this mod let's you use TK to activate activators, open or close doors, open and loot containers, loot bodies - all from a distance. For sheer usefulness, this is the best of the TK mods, and it's truly a shame that it is so unknown.

 

Another Mod to add: Essence Extracter - Really extends Alchemy past lvl 100 combined with

 

Legendary Mastery - Another mod for those with monster graphics cards:

 

MTAEVWD (More than almost everything visible when distant) - The screenshots look utterly amazing. Once I get my ATI 3870 I'm installing this.

 

Ely's Uncapper is another to add. It raises the level limit from 100 to 200 without any workarounds. Shame more people don't use it.

 

The Nexus - This mod disables fast travel but adds ''Nexus Stones'' in each city. You can use this stones to travel between the City's, no villages. But to use them you first need to activate the Nexus stone in the city's.

 

Light Spell Recolor - Finally you can choose which colour of light spell you would like to have!

 

City of Sunev - A nice city for some exploring, unfortunately there are no quest (yet) .

 

Cinderella - It adds a sort of miniature ship to a inn that you can obtain as a house!

 

Screenie - I haven't got the chance to test this mod myself but it looks great.

 

Fake Motion Blur - This is is different then Forward Motion Blur, this blurs when you rotate the camera around you, not when you're running/walking.

 

NPC Water Sink - This is especially usefully when people float on lava... <.<

 

Reneer's Knock Out Arrows - Usefull for the stealth type of characters.

 

Reneers's Training Mod - Now you can use dummy's for training, hitting them will increase your skills.

 

Better Summon Bear Effect - Changes the visuals if you summon a bear. Because a bear is no daedra creature. It is now more nature-ish.

 

Better Summon Undead - This looks so much better if you compare it with the original! If you don't have this mod, download! I'm serious!

 

Bullet Time Mod - Use a hotkey or lesser power to active focus. It's still beta but I never had problems with it.

Usefull in battles with multiple enemy. But I wouldn't use to long because dodging and hitting enemy's with a bow may become to easy.

 

So far I've found: EternalsLeveledChanges;

NPC Leveled Equipment with Obsidian Armor; and

 

Jarol's NPC Leveled Equipment Mod

 

One of my new favorites See You Sleep -- no more weired sleep while standing

 

Attack and hide - no more bright sniper eye after you hide from the enemy.

 

A Simple Ring - I call that a moderate cheat necessary for survival with FCOM +.

Scrugsywiggsy, Thieves Arsenal's daddy told me that TA was created in pre-FCOM era, when a careful sneak could remain unnoticed... Try it with FCOM - last task from TA was to loot a chest in a room with 12 NPC and 5 beasts.

 

Keychain - an absolute must!

 

Enhanced Mercantile Leveling (Requires OBSE)

 

This is a good alternative to the already popular Smarter Mercantile.

 

I had experience with both mods and here is a comparison.

 

- Both mods level up Mercantile based on the size of transactions you make.

- Both are highly customizable. Both defaults give you too fast progress especially after mid-level. I had to seriously slow them down.

- "Enhanced" is based on the skill use system supplied in the game. "Smarter" uses its own little formula, therefore does not give you any indication on the skill xp progress bar (as for now).

 

I also wish to recoomend Ely's Invest More. This little mod allows you to invest 1000 more to a shop owner at Mercantile level 85, and 2000 more (to a total now of 3500 more) at level 95.

 

I believe people already mentioend Ely's Uncapper (requires OBSE). Simpler than Legendary Mastery and won't potentially screw up your character. However, the H2H bonus in Ely's uncapper doesn't work properly (possibly due to Fran's & OOO), so you end up getting only 17 damage per punch max, not 40+ as indicated in the formula.

 

If you are using Ely's uncapper you may want to try out Legendary Alchemy for Ely's Uncapper. I personally tweaked & simplified the formula so it linearly scales the effect of increass in Alchemy points assuming master equipment. (dividing the excess alchemy points by 25, not 100, and took out the influence of intelligence).

Edited January 7, 2013 by nisen

[mechatech]

Thank you very much! How many of these neat little mods have been lost to time. There are many here I have used, lost and couldn't find because I couldn't remember the name.

This should be a sticky, so people could add to it.

[nisen]

Your welcome, what good are good mods if theyre ignored for ageism

 

been looking around and found a ton more worthy of this thread but a couple come to mind first by the modder CLShade

 

CLS Classy Clothes OBSE (from Jan08 only 9 endorsments)

Asigns clothing and armor class ratings so npcs and your pc are viewed respectively as belonging to the class of what you wear, and npcs treat you accordingly. Allways wanted a mod to do something like this, looking forward to try it out

 

CLS Old Friend OBSE (fromJan09 26 endorsements)

A mod that tracks the usage of specially selected weapons and armor and makes the player better at using them the more they are used. Eventually the weapon or armor itself becomes better, even magical, as well. - So iiuc means theres bonus' added to items the more theyre used, giving an incentive to change out of stuff to to see how different things level. might be worth a go

 

CLS Object Renamer OBSE (from Aug08 12 endorsments)

Provides an easy interface to rename just about any inventory object. Awsome, and for kicks its not only a permanent rename but they remain even after uninstalling it

 

will be back with other stuff later later

Edited January 7, 2013 by nisen