Just bought Oblivion

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas

Originally posted by: jwcooper
Is there a mod manager type utility for Oblivion? One that simplifies the downloading, or installing of mods? Seems like it'd be a pretty useful tool.

I just recently found the Mod manager, see below. So the mods I aim to load up before playing are as follows:

Unofficial Oblivion patch (does this work with the latest patch?)

Martigen's Monster Mod

Francesco's leveled creatures/items mod

Nearly every graphical mod on this page of the Tweakguides guide Click

Mod manager

Am I going overboard?

That's pretty much excellent right there. Very similar mod configuration to mine. Those are the basic ones that you should start off the game with. I would say that the game is pretty unpolished without those mods.

For the graphics mods, if your pc is up to it, be sure to get Qarl's Texture pack and the LOD mods to make distant textures much better. Natural Environments is very nice but makes sure you also download this as the regular version without the patch is very buggy.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Anyone know of a good mirror for ABO OMOD that does not require registration like tesnexus?

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
Thanks for the input guys . I can't get my comp up and running till most likely this weekend since it is still in pieces after my adventure to watercooling. I can't wait! Time to read over the manual again . I was reading through the Tweakguides Guide on Oblivion and I think the only Mods I'll Install will be graphical ones, as I want to play through the Vanilla storyline before I start using other mods. I assume the Race/Class one chooses defines how you will play the rest of the game, I am thinking of a stealth Character. What do guilds offer? Quests and spells/ability?

Actually, you can maximize every skill so you can be a bad ass thief, assasin, fighter and mage at the same time. The one part you should know before playing is how the characters level. It is somewhat complicated, so I suggest reading this to understand it: UESP Wiki Leveling

I found that the main quest is somewhat boring, but the side quests are all very well written and in for more depth than I have ever seen side quests be in any game. The main quest for the Shivering Isles is actually very good, but the side quests aren't as good as the main game. So the main game is a very good open ended game, where you can nearly do anything you want, while the expansion is a very good linear game, but lacks some of the polish of the original on it's side quests.

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: ja1484

Start rounding up mods. With the right batch, you can turn it into the game it should've been at launch.

That said, it's still an enjoyable sandbox for a bit.

Ditto.


I was going to make a huge post a long time ago with buttloads of tips but we've already been over this many times. Its been out awhile and I stopped playing it about 1 year ago. I will say that these mods have helped me enjoy the game without actually changing it.
(Most are self-explanatory, but I will make notes for the important ones.)

- All in one basement (I have version 6). It adds an identical basement to each of the official houses in the game. You can put your loot in any of your houses basements and it will always be the same. You can also warp between your houses.
Lots of good storage, and an alchemy item sorter. Nice because you dont have to manually load an unload all your alchemy items one at a time.

- EncumberanceMod by Myxomtosisman.
There is way too much good loot in this game and even a maxed out strength score wont allow you to hold all the goodies you find. If you dont wanna waste hundreds of hours trudging back to town and selling loot, get this mod. You can clear out several Oblivion gates before you have to make a pawn-shop run.
There are a buttload of mods to help you carry more stuff, I like this one because its simple and hasnt caused any issues for me.

- Magicka Regen by Dark Necromancer.
If you are a spell caster you will find there arent nearly enough mana potions in the game. You should probably get some sort of mod that increases your base magicka and/or increases your mana regen. 2x is the minimum, and this guy has a seperate mod for 4x and 8x. You only need to load up one at a time. These still wont allow you to fling magic like Diablo 2, but they do keep you from standing around, waiting. Or sucking down potions CONSTANTLY.

- Any Underwater visibility mod. Its nice to be able to see more than 2 feet in front of you. Lots of good loot and some entrances can be found under the waves.

- Zalors Shop by Destructor. Or any shop mod that lets you sell things for more than 100 gold. This guy can go to 10,000, which is nice because a lot of cool shit you find is worth a great deal. It stinks selling a 10,000 gp item for 200 because thats all the shop keeper can afford.
I like having an add-on shop because its a convenient place to always visit. Its also a good place to add on custom spells.

-Any mod that makes the UI better. In addition to looking nicer it actually helps game play. I have one that makes the characters item list show a lot more, and also shows much more map.

- Custom spells.
Get into the Editor and figure out how to make magic. Anytime you create a spell in the game its underpowered and costs too much. I made myself some 75% protection from everything spells that last a good two minutes and only cost 100 magicka. Normally such a spell costs about 20,000 magicka, and thats ridiculous.
I also made a spell that gives excellent healing and enhancement to a wide range. This is good for those group missions you have to take occasionally. I hate losing my buddies.
Did the same thing with a long term regen spell (1 health per second for 3600 seconds, 2 or 4 points for 1200 or 600 seconds, some with fatigue regen too) and some dungeon crawling spells (like the special elixer but a couple more effects and longer duration).

 

[thraashman]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: ja1484

Start rounding up mods. With the right batch, you can turn it into the game it should've been at launch.

That said, it's still an enjoyable sandbox for a bit.

Ditto.


I was going to make a huge post a long time ago with buttloads of tips but we've already been over this many times. Its been out awhile and I stopped playing it about 1 year ago. I will say that these mods have helped me enjoy the game without actually changing it.
(Most are self-explanatory, but I will make notes for the important ones.)

- All in one basement (I have version 6). It adds an identical basement to each of the official houses in the game. You can put your loot in any of your houses basements and it will always be the same. You can also warp between your houses.
Lots of good storage, and an alchemy item sorter. Nice because you dont have to manually load an unload all your alchemy items one at a time.

- EncumberanceMod by Myxomtosisman.
There is way too much good loot in this game and even a maxed out strength score wont allow you to hold all the goodies you find. If you dont wanna waste hundreds of hours trudging back to town and selling loot, get this mod. You can clear out several Oblivion gates before you have to make a pawn-shop run.
There are a buttload of mods to help you carry more stuff, I like this one because its simple and hasnt caused any issues for me.

- Magicka Regen by Dark Necromancer.
If you are a spell caster you will find there arent nearly enough mana potions in the game. You should probably get some sort of mod that increases your base magicka and/or increases your mana regen. 2x is the minimum, and this guy has a seperate mod for 4x and 8x. You only need to load up one at a time. These still wont allow you to fling magic like Diablo 2, but they do keep you from standing around, waiting. Or sucking down potions CONSTANTLY.

- Any Underwater visibility mod. Its nice to be able to see more than 2 feet in front of you. Lots of good loot and some entrances can be found under the waves.

- Zalors Shop by Destructor. Or any shop mod that lets you sell things for more than 100 gold. This guy can go to 10,000, which is nice because a lot of cool shit you find is worth a great deal. It stinks selling a 10,000 gp item for 200 because thats all the shop keeper can afford.
I like having an add-on shop because its a convenient place to always visit. Its also a good place to add on custom spells.

-Any mod that makes the UI better. In addition to looking nicer it actually helps game play. I have one that makes the characters item list show a lot more, and also shows much more map.

- Custom spells.
Get into the Editor and figure out how to make magic. Anytime you create a spell in the game its underpowered and costs too much. I made myself some 75% protection from everything spells that last a good two minutes and only cost 100 magicka. Normally such a spell costs about 20,000 magicka, and thats ridiculous.
I also made a spell that gives excellent healing and enhancement to a wide range. This is good for those group missions you have to take occasionally. I hate losing my buddies.
Did the same thing with a long term regen spell (1 health per second for 3600 seconds, 2 or 4 points for 1200 or 600 seconds, some with fatigue regen too) and some dungeon crawling spells (like the special elixer but a couple more effects and longer duration).

I don't like alot of these mods. Basically from the way it's described each of these mods succeeds in doing one thing, cheating to make the game simpler. It's like people who use that WoW mod to level up without actually playing, what's the fun in making a game too simple? I've made characters in vanilla Oblivion with no mods that were near undefeatable using the games normal rules. Any mod that makes my spells last alot longer or spells easy as hell to cast or my encumberance super high, that's kinda retarded. There's reasons for things like that in the game, so you don't have these insane god-like abilities. If you have super high encumberance, you're not motivated to get Heavy Armor skill to 100. If you have the ability to cast some ridiculous over-powered spell that shouldn't be castable at all in the game ... well at this point why are you playing? Don't get mods that are intended to let you just munchkin out and make the game too easy.

I'll give you real recommendations as to what you should do. First, when creating a character always custom class. You probably won't care about at least one major skill that's in every premade class, so always make your own. Even if you want a fighter, I recommend at least one magic class. Destruction and Conjuration are amazing magic skills to have at times. Once you get to the part with Oblivion gates and getting the Sigil Stones, it's possible to munchkin here with normal game rules. You can quick save/quick load right there and the abiliites on the stone load as you grab it. Getting abilities like shock-shield (resistance to shock plus armor points) and attacing it to your armor is very useful. Normal max armor rating without spells is 85, I have a character whose armor rating is around 200 using spells attached to my armor. Physical damage is almost nothing to this character now, and that was without cheating my using mods.

 

[fallenangel99]

Originally posted by: thraashman

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: ja1484

Start rounding up mods. With the right batch, you can turn it into the game it should've been at launch.

That said, it's still an enjoyable sandbox for a bit.

Ditto.


I was going to make a huge post a long time ago with buttloads of tips but we've already been over this many times. Its been out awhile and I stopped playing it about 1 year ago. I will say that these mods have helped me enjoy the game without actually changing it.
(Most are self-explanatory, but I will make notes for the important ones.)

- All in one basement (I have version 6). It adds an identical basement to each of the official houses in the game. You can put your loot in any of your houses basements and it will always be the same. You can also warp between your houses.
Lots of good storage, and an alchemy item sorter. Nice because you dont have to manually load an unload all your alchemy items one at a time.

- EncumberanceMod by Myxomtosisman.
There is way too much good loot in this game and even a maxed out strength score wont allow you to hold all the goodies you find. If you dont wanna waste hundreds of hours trudging back to town and selling loot, get this mod. You can clear out several Oblivion gates before you have to make a pawn-shop run.
There are a buttload of mods to help you carry more stuff, I like this one because its simple and hasnt caused any issues for me.

- Magicka Regen by Dark Necromancer.
If you are a spell caster you will find there arent nearly enough mana potions in the game. You should probably get some sort of mod that increases your base magicka and/or increases your mana regen. 2x is the minimum, and this guy has a seperate mod for 4x and 8x. You only need to load up one at a time. These still wont allow you to fling magic like Diablo 2, but they do keep you from standing around, waiting. Or sucking down potions CONSTANTLY.

- Any Underwater visibility mod. Its nice to be able to see more than 2 feet in front of you. Lots of good loot and some entrances can be found under the waves.

- Zalors Shop by Destructor. Or any shop mod that lets you sell things for more than 100 gold. This guy can go to 10,000, which is nice because a lot of cool shit you find is worth a great deal. It stinks selling a 10,000 gp item for 200 because thats all the shop keeper can afford.
I like having an add-on shop because its a convenient place to always visit. Its also a good place to add on custom spells.

-Any mod that makes the UI better. In addition to looking nicer it actually helps game play. I have one that makes the characters item list show a lot more, and also shows much more map.

- Custom spells.
Get into the Editor and figure out how to make magic. Anytime you create a spell in the game its underpowered and costs too much. I made myself some 75% protection from everything spells that last a good two minutes and only cost 100 magicka. Normally such a spell costs about 20,000 magicka, and thats ridiculous.
I also made a spell that gives excellent healing and enhancement to a wide range. This is good for those group missions you have to take occasionally. I hate losing my buddies.
Did the same thing with a long term regen spell (1 health per second for 3600 seconds, 2 or 4 points for 1200 or 600 seconds, some with fatigue regen too) and some dungeon crawling spells (like the special elixer but a couple more effects and longer duration).

I don't like alot of these mods. Basically from the way it's described each of these mods succeeds in doing one thing, cheating to make the game simpler. It's like people who use that WoW mod to level up without actually playing, what's the fun in making a game too simple? I've made characters in vanilla Oblivion with no mods that were near undefeatable using the games normal rules. Any mod that makes my spells last alot longer or spells easy as hell to cast or my encumberance super high, that's kinda retarded. There's reasons for things like that in the game, so you don't have these insane god-like abilities. If you have super high encumberance, you're not motivated to get Heavy Armor skill to 100. If you have the ability to cast some ridiculous over-powered spell that shouldn't be castable at all in the game ... well at this point why are you playing? Don't get mods that are intended to let you just munchkin out and make the game too easy.

I'll give you real recommendations as to what you should do. First, when creating a character always custom class. You probably won't care about at least one major skill that's in every premade class, so always make your own. Even if you want a fighter, I recommend at least one magic class. Destruction and Conjuration are amazing magic skills to have at times. Once you get to the part with Oblivion gates and getting the Sigil Stones, it's possible to munchkin here with normal game rules. You can quick save/quick load right there and the abiliites on the stone load as you grab it. Getting abilities like shock-shield (resistance to shock plus armor points) and attacing it to your armor is very useful. Normal max armor rating without spells is 85, I have a character whose armor rating is around 200 using spells attached to my armor. Physical damage is almost nothing to this character now, and that was without cheating my using mods.

That's what it seems like so far - the mods are out there to make the games easier.

I just got the Oblivion GOTY edition (one of those days where I decided to spend $$ on things I dont really need). MOst are saying the mods will help make the game better/easier/etc.

I guess I should try to play the game without any mods.. and then see if any mods will help the game. I'm not looking to cheat or make the game easier. As long as the mods help the UI/improve load speed/etc, then I'm open to downloading a few of these mods!

 

[EvilComputer92]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99

Originally posted by: thraashman

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: ja1484

Start rounding up mods. With the right batch, you can turn it into the game it should've been at launch.

That said, it's still an enjoyable sandbox for a bit.

Ditto.


I was going to make a huge post a long time ago with buttloads of tips but we've already been over this many times. Its been out awhile and I stopped playing it about 1 year ago. I will say that these mods have helped me enjoy the game without actually changing it.
(Most are self-explanatory, but I will make notes for the important ones.)

- All in one basement (I have version 6). It adds an identical basement to each of the official houses in the game. You can put your loot in any of your houses basements and it will always be the same. You can also warp between your houses.
Lots of good storage, and an alchemy item sorter. Nice because you dont have to manually load an unload all your alchemy items one at a time.

- EncumberanceMod by Myxomtosisman.
There is way too much good loot in this game and even a maxed out strength score wont allow you to hold all the goodies you find. If you dont wanna waste hundreds of hours trudging back to town and selling loot, get this mod. You can clear out several Oblivion gates before you have to make a pawn-shop run.
There are a buttload of mods to help you carry more stuff, I like this one because its simple and hasnt caused any issues for me.

- Magicka Regen by Dark Necromancer.
If you are a spell caster you will find there arent nearly enough mana potions in the game. You should probably get some sort of mod that increases your base magicka and/or increases your mana regen. 2x is the minimum, and this guy has a seperate mod for 4x and 8x. You only need to load up one at a time. These still wont allow you to fling magic like Diablo 2, but they do keep you from standing around, waiting. Or sucking down potions CONSTANTLY.

- Any Underwater visibility mod. Its nice to be able to see more than 2 feet in front of you. Lots of good loot and some entrances can be found under the waves.

- Zalors Shop by Destructor. Or any shop mod that lets you sell things for more than 100 gold. This guy can go to 10,000, which is nice because a lot of cool shit you find is worth a great deal. It stinks selling a 10,000 gp item for 200 because thats all the shop keeper can afford.
I like having an add-on shop because its a convenient place to always visit. Its also a good place to add on custom spells.

-Any mod that makes the UI better. In addition to looking nicer it actually helps game play. I have one that makes the characters item list show a lot more, and also shows much more map.

- Custom spells.
Get into the Editor and figure out how to make magic. Anytime you create a spell in the game its underpowered and costs too much. I made myself some 75% protection from everything spells that last a good two minutes and only cost 100 magicka. Normally such a spell costs about 20,000 magicka, and thats ridiculous.
I also made a spell that gives excellent healing and enhancement to a wide range. This is good for those group missions you have to take occasionally. I hate losing my buddies.
Did the same thing with a long term regen spell (1 health per second for 3600 seconds, 2 or 4 points for 1200 or 600 seconds, some with fatigue regen too) and some dungeon crawling spells (like the special elixer but a couple more effects and longer duration).

I don't like alot of these mods. Basically from the way it's described each of these mods succeeds in doing one thing, cheating to make the game simpler. It's like people who use that WoW mod to level up without actually playing, what's the fun in making a game too simple? I've made characters in vanilla Oblivion with no mods that were near undefeatable using the games normal rules. Any mod that makes my spells last alot longer or spells easy as hell to cast or my encumberance super high, that's kinda retarded. There's reasons for things like that in the game, so you don't have these insane god-like abilities. If you have super high encumberance, you're not motivated to get Heavy Armor skill to 100. If you have the ability to cast some ridiculous over-powered spell that shouldn't be castable at all in the game ... well at this point why are you playing? Don't get mods that are intended to let you just munchkin out and make the game too easy.

I'll give you real recommendations as to what you should do. First, when creating a character always custom class. You probably won't care about at least one major skill that's in every premade class, so always make your own. Even if you want a fighter, I recommend at least one magic class. Destruction and Conjuration are amazing magic skills to have at times. Once you get to the part with Oblivion gates and getting the Sigil Stones, it's possible to munchkin here with normal game rules. You can quick save/quick load right there and the abiliites on the stone load as you grab it. Getting abilities like shock-shield (resistance to shock plus armor points) and attacing it to your armor is very useful. Normal max armor rating without spells is 85, I have a character whose armor rating is around 200 using spells attached to my armor. Physical damage is almost nothing to this character now, and that was without cheating my using mods.

That's what it seems like so far - the mods are out there to make the games easier.

I just got the Oblivion GOTY edition (one of those days where I decided to spend $$ on things I dont really need). MOst are saying the mods will help make the game better/easier/etc.

I guess I should try to play the game without any mods.. and then see if any mods will help the game. I'm not looking to cheat or make the game easier. As long as the mods help the UI/improve load speed/etc, then I'm open to downloading a few of these mods!

I dont know where your getting this idea that mods make the game easier. OOO makes the game twice as hard because the monsters are all at level 20 while your only at level 1, as opposed to the regular game where all the monsters scale with you so you can get through the whole game at level 1.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Mods, mods and more mods. Without them the game is hilariously retarded to play in.

But expect to deal with mod conflicts. Lots of em.

 

[SlowSpyder]

thraashman, I don't think the mods make the game easier, but just get rid of some of the annoyances. The game is pretty easy as it is. I'd like this game a lot if had a more standard level up system, right now I'm playing a lot of Gothic 3, it's everything that Oblivion should have been in my opinion... well, everything except all of the bugs.

 

[skyofavalon]

my best tip would be to turn HDR off

 

[coloumb]

I'd say keep the mod's to a bare minimum - try the vanilla version first for a bit to see how it plays.

 

[Bob Ghengis Khan]

I bought Oblivion when it first came out, and quit after a couple hours because I really didnt like the leveling system and got bored of fighting what seemed like random trash in dungeon after dungeon.

I've decided to give it another try now, though, and am looking at some leveling mods to fix one of my gripes with the game. What would you guys recommend, AF Leveling or Kobu's Character Advancement System?

Going to combine one of these with Oscuro's Oblivion overhaul for now I think

 

[Zenoth]

I tried AF Leveling once, but for some reasons each time I leveled all of my main skills got a +5 bonus to them, making me reach 80+ stats in them within just a few levels. I think that AF Leveling requires manual adjustments during actual game-play, such as typing something in the console to pop-up a user interface which allows you to set your personal preferences. But I'm not 100% certain, I didn't bother with that and I decided to remove it since by default it wasn't satisfying for my tastes.

I cannot comment on Kobu's Character Advancement System though I never tried it. I think that Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul coupled with just a separate plug-in to slow down the default leveling system is doing just a fine job. I'm currently using FCOM with Francesco's Slower Leveling x3 and despite the simplicity of the default leveling system I think that making it you level just slower than usual makes you forget how much of a "power leveling" game Oblivion is by default. I mean it took me four days or so to level just up to level three, and that's with around four or five hours of game-play each days.

If you do try one of those two leveling mods I'd say try both, but if you do try AF Leveling make sure that you adjust some settings because you'll end up with 75+ in Strength and other stats at level 7 or 8, that's ridiculously fast if you ask me.

 

[Dumac]

Mod the crap out of it if you want a playable game.

 

[nova2]

> mod conflicts? I've had very little - but then again I don't use a ton of mods like I have seen some people.


must have mods
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Must_Have_Mods
make sure to get a good GUI/UI mod that you like. (the default one has a far too large text size)

others that should really be considered:

FCOM: Convergence (IT IS best to start a new game with this huge mod)
http://devnull.devakm.googlepages.com/
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:FCOM

Streamline 3
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

Wyre Bash (i prefer this over oblivion mod manager)
http://www.google.com/search?&q=wyre%20bash

No Psychic Guards
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2299

Misc Tracker (bounty, etc, tracker)
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3555

Bag of Holding
http://planetelderscrolls.game...vionMods.Detail&id=861

Menu Escape (Req: OBSE)
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10812

Denock Arrow (Req: OBSE)
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9333

Perception
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2377

 

[fallenangel99]

Thanks nova2. I'm mainly lookign for mods that will help graphics, the UI, etc. After I play the game a bit< I'll see whether I need any mods to "help" me progress

 

[brandonb]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

I cannot comment on Kobu's Character Advancement System though I never tried it.

I reinstalled Oblivion based on this thread plus a ton of mods. I installed this leveling mod. I'm very happy with it. I also bundled it with a 1.5x slower leveling system.

Kobu's does 3 things basically,

1) When running around and getting skill ups, it automatically raises your base attributes (str, int, etc) when you get those skill ups. It takes about 2-3 skill increases to raise your base attributes. So if you get your conjuration up 4 points, you gain an intelligent point which raises your mana on the fly.

2) When getting 10 skill ups in your main skills, it levels you automatically out in the wild, you don't need to sleep or assign points.

3) You can tweak the mod by casting a spell "alter destiny", which brings up a dialog that allows you to modify the settings, max points, etc. Its quite complex so I left it default.

I'm level 4 or 5 now, and its not that out of place, most of my stats are still in the 40's. I find it to be alot better than traditional oblivion leveling system.

 

[NicePants42]

Originally posted by: brandonb

Originally posted by: Zenoth

I cannot comment on Kobu's Character Advancement System though I never tried it.

I reinstalled Oblivion based on this thread plus a ton of mods. I installed this leveling mod. I'm very happy with it. I also bundled it with a 1.5x slower leveling system.

Kobu's does 3 things basically,

1) When running around and getting skill ups, it automatically raises your base attributes (str, int, etc) when you get those skill ups. It takes about 2-3 skill increases to raise your base attributes. So if you get your conjuration up 4 points, you gain an intelligent point which raises your mana on the fly.

2) When getting 10 skill ups in your main skills, it levels you automatically out in the wild, you don't need to sleep or assign points.

3) You can tweak the mod by casting a spell "alter destiny", which brings up a dialog that allows you to modify the settings, max points, etc. Its quite complex so I left it default.

I'm level 4 or 5 now, and its not that out of place, most of my stats are still in the 40's. I find it to be alot better than traditional oblivion leveling system.

I agree that Kobu's Advancement was much better than the vanilla leveling system. Instead of trying to maximize your gains and manage all your skill-ups, everything happens automatically based on the skills you use, and you can control how fast your attributes increase so as to remain close to what you feel is realistic. Plus it's all configurable via in-game menus.

In vanilla, if you just played the way you wanted to, it might take a long time to level-up, during which one or two skills could increase by 20-30 points, but instead of receiving the full benefit of such gains (increased stat multipliers over several level-ups) you'd only be rewarded over the next 1-2 levels. Also, HP is added at every level, and depends on END, so if you wait until level 30 to get END high, you've lost a couple hundred HP that you can never get back.

Kobu's allowed me to completely forget about micromanaging and just play the game. Stats adjust based on skill-ups and HP adjusts based on Stats (mostly, I think). No more leaning on mudcrabs for END early on, just play the game.