Optimising Oblivion v3.0: Into Modblivion

Optimising Oblivion Part 3: Into Modblivion

This feature is Part 3 of our Optimising Oblivion v2.0 guide (be sure to read and follow this so the game runs smoothly and beautifully), but is posted seperately because it's just so darn big. In fact, this piece has been in production since Oblivion was released, and we've been holding off posting it until the modding community was well underway.

And now is just about right.

The art of Oblivion modding
Just to set the scene for what mods are and what they can do for you: it's been just over a month since Oblivion was released, and there are already over 500 mods available. That's an average of 17 a day, produced by a legion of fans with nothing but the game and the official Construction Set in hand.

This modding community comprises talented, intelligent, passionate gamers who each bring to the game their own specialty and style. It goes without saying that not all mods appeal to everyone - some are just a bit of fun, some are a matter of taste, but many of them are carefully constructed additions to the game that enhance the visuals, performance, or gameplay of Oblivion. So much so, in fact, that playing without them is to miss a more enjoyable experience of the the game.

If you're a passionate, play-it-as-pure type of gamer who doesn't want to mess with Bethesda's release by tainting it with mods, you are in fact the perfect candidate to use them - many of the mods covered here fix known bugs, enhance the original experience in line with the vision of the game, or add to it in ways that even a lobotomised zombie (and that's saying something) could see changes it for the better.

Why mods?
First up, an introduction to mods for those new to the concept. The biggest question you're probably wondering is what all the hoohah on mods is all about. Do they really make a difference?

Consider this: the ability to modify game content is now essential to a game's success. If you chart the path of any game in the history of, well, the entire universe you'll note that those that have allowed players to tweak and add their own content have prospered way beyond their creator's dreams.

Valve did the right thing with Half Life by making tools and SDKs available to let others create their own games, but we'd wager even this landmark company didn't expect the success mods helped the game achieve. Half Life is still played today, and not because it's fun to run around as Gordon time and again. Counter Strike started as, and remains, a mod for Half Life. And its public success has culminated in a monetary return for Valve.

Games only have so much replayability before they are put down and forgotten. Developers who release tools to allow gamers to change or create their own content extend the life of their game, their brand, and ultimately their company.

Bethesda, like Valve, has seen the value in allowing gamers to create content for their games. The precursor to Oblivion, Morrowind, was so wonderfully open to modding that we daresay it's the most modded game in existence. There are thousands of mods available for Morrowind and, like Half Life, it's still played today even with Oblivion on the shelves.

So in this day and age of Shader Model 3.0 cards and mutli-gigabyte games, why do people still play these older games and their mods? They do so because it's all about the gameplay, and there are no greater experts on gameplay than the gamers themselves. Give them the tools to create, and you're guaranteed to be amazed.

That's the why, now let's get onto the how. And, of course, the Atomic recommended mods list!

About this guide
This guide is a tribute and acknoweldgement to the talented lads and lassess responsible for giving their own free time to making Oblivion a better place. The guide is broken down into three parts:

1) Oblivion mods and how to use them (if you're 1337, you can skip this)
2) A collection of the best, most brilliant mods, categorised by type
3) Atomic's recommend mod configuration, including levelled list mods

Further, this guide will be dynamic. We will update this almost on a daily basis as new, exciting, mods come out to play, so check back often!

Oblivion mods and how to use them
Let's get the basics out of the way first:

* Mods for Oblivion are (optionally) built with Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Construction Set (download), and made freely available on a variety of fan sites.
* Mods can be installed and used by anyone with the original game.
* Mods come in the form of .esp files when they modify game data, or raw content in the case of textures and sounds.

Mods that come as .esp files need to be placed in your Oblivion/Data directory. Mods that come as textures or alter other raw files need to be installed in your Oblivion/Data directory as is, keeping their directory structure. Then, simply start the Olivion launcher, click on 'Data Files', and tick the mods you want to load.

A quick discussion about levelled lists
In v2.0 of the Optimsing Oblivion guide we touched on the most important and beneficial of mods: those that enhance the core gameplay experience itself. For better or for worse, Bethesda has tailored the game world of Oblivion to pander to the player, with creatures and items levelling in tandem with the player, resulting in a fun but ultimately un-rewarding experience that gets boring quickly. To this end the very first mods, and the most highly developed mods, are those that aim to fix this. They can be broken down into three neat categories:

* Player levelling
* Creature levelling
* Item levelling

Player levelling mods change how and when you raise in skills and levels. Many players don't mind the default Oblivion player levelling system, and alternative systems from mods usually revolve around automatically raising both attributes and level based solely on the player skills and how they use them. The result is a smoother levelling curve that is directly reflective of how the player plays. Some of the best include Auryn's levelling mod, Kobu's levelling mod, Vehem's mod and more.

Creature levelling and Item levelling mods are two sides of the one coin - how Oblivion adapts to the player. Generally these mods provide a rewarding gameplay expeirence by ensuring the player is actually able to develp and become powerful within the world, whilst still maintaing a challenge. Items that should be rare are made rare, and the drops from creatures and loot are more appropriately scaled. Because these two sides are closely linked, some levelling mods now deal with fixing both sides in the one package. Some of the best include Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Sagebliv's Creature Balance + G_'s Loot Mod, Francesco's levelling and more.

All of these mods can be found on the following page. So speaking of which, onto the mods!

Levelling mods
Like American Express and Mastercard, all these mods are priceless and no gamer should leave their game without one.

[ thread : download ] - Osucro's Oblivion Overhaul - UPDATED
Creature + Item. Aims to fix everything from creature and item levelled lists to general gameplay balance through a wholistic approach. Read the README.

[ thread : thread : download ] - Sagerbliv's Creature Balance + G_'s Loot Mod - UPDATED
Creature + Item. Now integrated, these two massive works fix Oblivion's greatest gameplay faults. Also integrates Combat Behaviour, Wilderness Creatures and more.

[ thread : download ] - Francesco's levelled creatures and items - UPDATED
Creature + Item. Modular balance changes and fixes designed by Francesco, who appears to be a mathematic genius. Now multi-language!

[ thread : download ] - Adventurers - UPDATED
Creature + Item. In the vein of Adventurers for Morrowind, Adam has returned to turn his balancing talents to Oblivion.

[ thread : download ] - Auryn's Levelling mod - UPDATED
Player. The most well developed and comprehensive player levelling mod to date.

[ thread : download ] - DigiZen's Smooth Levelling system
Player. Digizen's simple but effective player levelling system.

[ thread : download ] - Kobu's Character Advancement System - UPDATED
Player. Kobu's is a highly respected alternative to Auryn's.

A note on these mods: Mods that address both level lists are mutually exclusive. Install Osucro's Oblivion Overhaul OR Sagerbliv's Creature Balance + G_'s Loot Mod. Similarly, if you find you like Tom Servo's Rare Items over G_'s Loot Mod, use one or the other. Just let common sense prevail and you'll be set.

Clicky clicky note: It's highly recommended to click on the 'thread' links for these mods to learn more about them.

Essential mods
Every Oblivion player needs these installed! No, seriously. This list covers mods in all categories.

[ thread : download ] - Jarrod's texture replacements
Essential. Vastly superior lanscape textures. Be sure to grab the 'complete' download.

[ no thread : download ] - Shaja's landscape LOD replacements
Essential. Replaces the distant land 'soup' with much better looking, higher-resolution textures.

[ thread : download ] - Bluesteel's Landscape normal map fix
Essential. Much improved normal map detail for better landscape visuals with no impact on performance. Jarrod's + Shaja's + Bluesteel's work perfectly together to create a vastly improved visual experience.

[ thread : download : patch ] - Qarl's texture replacements, 1024x1024 - NEW
Essential. As with Jarrod's, vastly improved textures. Higher resolution than Jarrod's, but uses entirely new textures in some places which may be to taste.

[ thread : download : patch ] - Qarl's texture replacements, 2048x2048 - NEW
Essential. As above, as the insanely high quality 2048x2048 version. This will max and surpass 500M of video memory, even before tweaking with uGridsToLoad.

[ thread : download ] - Level Rates Modified
Essential. An enhanced and superseding version of Level Slow. Slows the ridicuously fast rate of skill learning and allows you to enjoy your game.

[ thread : thread download ] - Darnified BTMod configs - UPDATED
Essential. Go now, and download all the modules at once.

[ thread : homepage : download ] - BTMod
Essential. Every PC gamer needs this vastly improved UI upgrade.

[ thread : download ] - Advanced Water Modification
Essential. Water as it should have been from the start.

[ thread : download ] - Natural Environments
Essential. Makes the world of Oblivion a far more stunning place.

[ no thread : download ] - Seasonal Weather for More Sky Climates
Essential. Includes all the new weather types from More Sky Climates (found below), and makes them transitional by seasons.

[ thread : download ] - Hunters mod
Essential. Balances and improves all wildlife spawning and AI as well as their drops. Now includes Natural Wildlife (found seperately in the Must-have category).

[ thread : download ] - No Psychic Guards
Essential. Stops guards from seemingly knowing what you do and when you do it.

[ thread : download ] - Combat Behaviour
Essential. Vastly improved AI for NPC combat. Note: now included in both Sagerbliv's Creature Balance and Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.

[ thread : download ] - TF_Timemod
Essential. One of the first mods and one of the best. Alters the speed at which days pass. So necessary most levelling mods include a form of this.

[ thread : download : patch ] - Illumination Within - NEW
Essential. ModMan's Window Lights from Morrowind have returned for Oblivion. Has to be seen to be believed! Check the thread for screenshots.

[ thread : download ] - Foxmaiden's Rebalancing - NEW
Great and comprehensive mod for rebalancing of combat, melee, magic and items.

Next, Must-have mods!

Must-have mods
Not quite as essential as, well, the Essential list but none-the-less great mods that you're sure to find a few favourites among.

[ thread : download ] - Adrenaline
A well balanced version of Action Oblivion, this great mod increases spawn limits and makes every dungeon crawl an awesome adventure. Really should be 'Essential' but is in this category because not everyone likes the increased pace.

[ no thread : download ] - Life
Adds a ton of life to Oblivion with over 100 NPCs added including children, militia, pets and more.

[ thread : download ] - Harvest - UPDATED
Awesome. Changes world texture models as alchemic items are harvested. Credit goes to mmmpld for the meshes that made this mod possible.

[ thread : weapon download : armor download ] - Steel hurts
Realistically and intelligently balances weapon and armor abilities.

[ thread : download ] - Combat Balance Mod
An enhanced version of Steel Hurts, and will eventually incorporate and replace it. Highly recommended!

[ thread : download ] - Turn off lights
Allows most candles to be snuffed, and even adds water arrows that can do it. Thief fans rejoice!

[ no thread : download ] - Generic Dungeon Drones
Brilliant sound replacement mod for dungeon music. Adds extra spookyness!

[ thread : download ] - Level Slow
Slows the ridicuously fast rate of skill learning and allows you to enjoy your game. Now superseded by 'Level Rates Modified', see 'Essential' list.

[ thread : download ] - Vendor all armor and weapons
Enables vendors to sell their full range of equipment, still levelled for balance.

[ thread : download ] - Short Grass
Makes the grass look shorter, for you short folk. Also improves framerate.

[ thread : download ] - Attack and Hide
No more enemies with a seemingly built-in X-Ray and radar automagically finding you.

[ thread : download ] - Reduced Backward Speed
"Because it's just not fun to outrun everyone backwards." Agreed!

[ thread : download ] - Tougher regen settings
Fixes the broken implementation of fatigue. Must have plus a fix.

[ thread : download ] - ReBalance Mod
Great collection of common sense, small, tweaks to the game. Note conflicts with most balance mods.

[ thread : homepage : download ] - ModMan's Custom Plugins
Excellent selection of modular, clever game-enhancing plugins.

[ thread : download ] - Imperial Guard Horse Armor
Adds the official Bethesda Steel Armor mod to all patrolling Imperial Guards.

[ thread : download ] - Elven Cartographers
New map and map icons, leagues better than the default

[ thread : download ] - Inebriation - Booze has drunk effects! - UPDATED
As the the title says, booze has physical and visual effects, including passing out!

[ thread : download ] - Realistic sneaking + throat slitting
Like playing a stealthy char? This mod is for you.

[ thread : download ] - XiDragon's Advanced Inns
Advanced room renting + bug fixes for all inns.

[ thread : download ] - Mighty Bows
Mixture of good tweaks marksmen will appreciate.

[ thread : download ] - Mighty Magick - UPDATED
Makes magic a potent force in the game. Must have.

[ no thread : download ] - Flak's Complete Names Project
Replaces generic titled NPCs with unique, semi-lore inspired names.

[ thread : download ] - Rain inside
Find it odd how you can't hear rain when inside? You can now!

[ thread : download ] - Kalikut's much improved green glass
Greatly improves the look of glass armor and weapons.

[ thread : download ] - Natural Faces - UPDATED
Tired of the blotchy face textures? Make them beauitful with this.

[ thread : download ] - High-res faces
Similar mod to Natural Faces, greatly improves face textures.

[ thread : download ] - Smooth faces
Similar to Natural Faces and High-res faces, but a little more extensive at the moment. Must have!

[ thread : download ] - Natural Wildlife
Brillaint mod to give wildlife more realistic reactions to the player. Now included in Hunters mod.

[ thread : download ] - Realistic encumbrance
No more 'just a wafer thin mint' syndrome for encumbrance.

[ thread : download ] - Security Rebalance
Brilliant mod adds disarmable traps, lock bash, better skilled thievery and more.

[ thread : download ] - Visually Enchanted
Enchanted weapons of fire, frost, shock and more now animate with their power.

[ thread : download ] - Improved Barter Gold
Allows you to better sell items for what they are worth, based on your Mercantile.

[ thread : download ] - OE Enhanced Races
Integrates a colleciton of common, good, mods that provide greater variety to character creation. Includes Natural Faces.

[ thread : download ] - Wilderness Creatures
Alters wilderness spawn lists to allow animal packs. Now included in Sagerbliv's mod.

[ thread : download ] - Weapons 300
Balances weapon damage (similar to Steel Hurts) and adds a blackjack to knock people out.

[ thread : download ] - Wilderness Creatures List
Makes wilderness creatres behave like them. Now included in most levelling mods.

[ thread : download ] - Horse AI
Gives the player ownership of successfully stolen horses.

[ thread : download ] - Bigger Dremora
Makes Dremora a touch larger and formidable in size.

[ thread : download ] - More Arena Spectators
The Arena is a bit bare isn't it? No more!

[ thread : download ] - More Sky Climates
Adds many more weather types made from high-resolution textures.

[ thread : download ] - Bounty reduction over time
Causes bounties to decrease over time, based on level of bounty.

[ thread : download ] - Lighter Alchemy Ingredients - UPDATED
Makes ingredients lighter and, optionally, aparatus too.

[ thread : download ] - Durable Equipment & Harder Repairs
If you use action mods like Adrenaline, this will come in handy!

[ thread : download ] - Marksman velocity
Increases speed of arrows based on material.

[ thread : download ] - Arcane Velocity
Makes direct magic faster, harder for your and enemies to avoid.

[ thread : download ] - Alchemy Perks
Adjusts the maximum number of quaffable potions depending on skill.

[ thread : download ] - Chase Camera
Improves the handling of the chase camera. Must have.

[ thread : download ] - Horses turn faster - UPDATED
As the title, horses turn faster while mounted!

[ thread : download ] - Spears, Polearms and Off-Hand Mage Staffs
Look like Gandalf, sword in one hand and staff in the other.

[ thread : download ] - Drop lit torch in combat - UPDATED
Automatically drop your lit torch to the floor when you draw your weapon. No more fumbling or fighting in the dark in dungeons. Now hotkey-able!

[ thread : download ] - Regional Bounties - UPDATED
Smash the global telepathic guard network and have bounties tied to regions. Use in place of 'Bounty reduction over time'.

[ thread : download ] - Evantal's Dual Wield - UPDATED
Adds over 30 off-hand weapons for dual-wielding that look awesome and act as shields in combat.

[ thread : download ] - Larger wildlife, a mod for Natural Wildlife - UPDATED
Expands upon Tag's Natural Wildlife with varying sizes of beasts. Bears are now truly to be feared! Now comes with compatible version for Hunters!

[ thread : download ] - Warrior Bandages - NEW
'I don't need no stinkin' magic!' here here!

[ thread : download ] - Horse Commands - NEW
Great mod lets your horse follow you and be called on demand.

[ thread : download ] - Guiding Beacons - NEW
Place lighted beacons and notes anywhere in the game world.

[ thread : download ] - Lock Bash - NEW
Why are big fat tough fighters expected to play with picks or learn wimpy spells? Open locks the He-Man way, with brute force.

Next, Interface mods.

Interface mods
Make your game interface prettier, easier to use, and more functional. The most important mods have already been included in the Essential list.

[ thread : download ] - Magic Words - UPDATED
Yegads, voice recognition for Oblivion. Control your spells in game with your headset mic!

[ no thread : download ] - Scroll Renamer
Neat little plugin gives scrolls more fantastic names similar to Morrowind.

[ thread : download ] - Landmarks & map markers
Markers for Doomstones, Runestones & Wayshrhines on your map.

[ thread : download ] - Cats Eyes
Improved, automatic, night vision for Khajitt.

[ thread : download ] - Menu loop replacement - Scenery
Beautiful movie of Oblivion's scenery for the main menu.

[ thread : download ] - Menu loop replacement - Broken Warrior
Another nice background movie for the main menu.

[ thread : download ] - Rational Potion names and potion sorter
Renames potions in a more intelligent way, and automatically sorts them.

[ thread : download ] - Easy drop
Allows you to drop stacked items instantly.

[ thread : download ] - Cyrodiil Terrain Map
Mini-map generated from the actual terrain, Google Earth style.

[ thread : download ] - Skill bonuses
Re-writes race descriptions to list actual stat changes they provide.

[ thread : download ] - Font generator
Generates fonts comaptible with Oblivion from Windows fonts.

[ thread : download ] - Borderless Icons
Removes the black box around map marker icons. Much better!

[ thread : download ] - Hotkey Scroll
Nifty external program to allow your mouse wheel to scroll spells in-game.

[ thread : download ] - New colored world map
Much improved color version of the in-game map.

[ thread : download ] - New Nighteye
Don't like the blue wash of Nighteye? This is a more pleasing alternative.

[ thread : download ] - Chargen with numbers
Adds value numbers to all sliders for face generation.

[ thread : download ] - True unarmoured
Adds an entirely new 'unarmoured' skill for monks, wizards and kick-arse ninjas.

[ thread : download ] - Custom Nighteye Shaders - NEW
A great collection of much improved Nighteye shaders, including a form of infra-red. Be sure to read the README for installation.

[ thread : download ] - New Detect Life Shader - NEW
Muchly enhanced version of Detect Life.

[ thread : download ] - Blind lockpicking - NEW
Find the security mini-game a walk in the park? Try this.

[ thread : download ] - Realistic Persuasion - NEW
Makes the persuasion mini-game more harder and realistic, imposes new limits on disposition, and makes bribery a last resort.

[ thread : download ] - Dark UI - NEW
An alternative darker-themed interface using BTMod as a base. Darnified BTMod configs also available for Dark UI (see Darnified BTMod under 'Essential').

[ thread : download ] - Immersive HUD - NEW
Extension of Darn's great work to create an even less intrusive interface.

Next, Visual enhancements.

Visual enhancements
Mods to enhance, improve, or outright replace the game's impressive graphics.

[ thread : download ] - Slof's Horses - NEW
Incredible texture replacement mod for horses in the game. Be sure to grab the Mesh Fix [ download ] and the Armoured Horse fix [ download ] if you have the official Horse Armor plugin.

[ thread : download ] - Better Gold
Vastly superior higher polygon gold coins.

[ thread : download ] - No persistent enchantment effects
If the odd enchantment player glow isn't for you, then this mod is for you.

[ thread : download ] - Chamelion change
Disables light refraction on chameleon. Also boosts FPS as a result.

[ thread : download ] - Shipyard textures
Replaces textures on ships with higher quality alternatives.

[ thread : download ] - Faster grass & trees
Why would you want this? If you slow down time, this fixes sway animations.

[ thread : download ] - Lightning Strikes
Causes lightning to physically strike during storms.

[ thread : download ] - Everlasting corpses
Tired of the bloody trail you leave behind disappearing forever? No more!

[ thread : download ] - Get Wet
Brilliant mod that causes raindrops to appear on the player, NPCs, and creatures.

[ thread : download ] - Funky's Slinky Female Groin
To quote "Say Bye, Bye to the chunky Nappys !!!"

[ thread : download : download ] - Reduced polygon faces and landscape
Optimised (reduced polygon) models for faces and, importantly, landscape.

[ thread : download ] - Dark Brotherhood hood replacer
Gives you a hood that's actually fit for the brotherhood.

[ thread : download ] - Better staff textures - UPDATED
Much improved, higher-resolution, textures for staffs.

[ thread : download ] - Larger Ogres and Trolls - UPDATED
Makes both as formidably sized as they should be. Now built into Sagerbliv's Creature Balance mod.

[ thread : download ] - Kal's fun with lightning effects
Turns the shock spell into something more visually... shocking.

[ thread : download ] - Badder Spell FX
Visual enhancement that makes magic what it should be - much more impressive.

[ thread : download ] - New Nebular
Replaces the night sky nebula with a substantially better image and texture.

[ thread : download ] - Improved Lava
Makes the original red soup look more like the real deal.

[ thread : download ] - Beautiful Stars
More beautiful stars, replete with Tamarilic lore, for your night sky.

[ thread : download ] - Emperors Face Redone
Great mod makes the Emperor in game look more like his intro video.

[ thread : download ] - Darker nights + Darker Dungeons - UPDATED
Makes nights and dungeons more atmospherically darker. Also includes Burning Kvatch mod, to make Kvatch visibly burn from the outside.

[ thread : download ] - Better Night Sky
Vastly improved, higher quality moons to rise in the night sky.

[ thread : download ] - De-Parallaxer
Removes parallax shaders from 650 models in the game to improve performance.

[ thread : download1 : download2 ] - Bulky Orcs and Nords  - NEW
Bulks out the Orcs and Nords to be taller and a tad fatter!

[ thread : download ] - University Cosmetics - NEW
Give the Arcane University a magical facelift.

[ thread : download ] - More Gory Blood - NEW
Replaces the default blood textures with better ones.

[ thread : download ] - Kafeid's Better Quality Rings - NEW
Replacement higher-quality textures for rings! Schwing!

[ thread : download ] - Kafeid's Better Quality Amulets - NEW
Replacement higher-quality textures for amulets! Must-see!

Next, New content.

New content
Mods that add entirely new content to the game world. All of these are brilliant.

[ thread : download ] - The Sentient Weapon - UPDATED
You ain't hearing things - this is a talking sword! Quests, humor, and more. Hundreds of lines of new speech included!

[ thread : download ] - Bank of Cyrodiil
You betchya -- a place for your money, earns interest too!

[ thread : download ] - Oblivion Cats
Brilliant mod that adds kitty cats to towns and cities.

[ thread : download ] - Quarterstaff & Straight Mage Staffs
Tired of the knarly tree staff? Fight with a Bo!

[ thread : download ] - Unique armor
Adds eight unique armor sets complete with new textures to the world.

[ thread : download ] - Cid's Multitude of Magecraft - UPDATED
Adds an excellent collection of new and varied spells to the game.

[ thread : download ] - Female Paladin Armor
A more stylish suit for the fairer sex

[ thread : download ] - Goblin War Party
Take control of a Goblin tribe and wrek havok on Cyrodiil.

[ thread : download ] - More shields
Adds swanky re-textured, new shields to the game.

[ thread : download ] - Arrow crafting and imbueing
Create and enchant arrows out of elements in the Oblivion world.

[ thread : download ] - Freelance fences
Adds a number of freelance fences to the world, sell your stolen goodies!

[ thread : download ] - Katana mod
Add a selection of Katanas to the game world.

[ thread : download ] - Unarmoured
Provides a protection bonus based on unarmoured skill sets (aka monks

[ thread : download ] - Ethereal Summonable Horses
Provides three elemental horses as mounts for the malleable mage.

[ thread : download ] - CallSteed + Saddlebags
Lost your horse? Call it to your side with this mod. Also adds horse 'storage'.

[ thread : download ] - Artifacts of Tamriel
Powerful items tied into tough quests.

[ thread : download ] - Platinum armor and weapons
A complete set to replace Daedric for the 'good' guys.

[ thread : download ] - Updated Kiyoshi's New Vampires
Like playing a vampire? Get this.

[ thread : download ] - The Golden Arrow archery shop
Neat and complete shop mod for those of the marksman persuasion.

[ thread : download ] - Unfinished staffs
Allows you to enchant your own staffs!

[ thread : download ] - Cheydinhal Petshop
Want a new companion? Dogs, bears, cougars, imps and more!

[ thread : download ] - More Skingrad
Adds more houses and NPCs to make a bigger and more livlier Skingrad.

[ thread : download ] - Dark Leather Armor
Stylish upgrade for thieves and assassins.

[ thread : download ] - Veshnakar's Mysticism Spellpack
Adds some potent spells to the somewhat neglected Mysticism line.

[ thread : download ] - Custom Paintings
Adds 30 custom paintings to the game, and allows you to insert your own.

[ thread : download ] - Battledress
Incredible set of armor for battlemages and ilk, both sexes.

[ thread : download ] - Archmage Battle Armor
Very impressive armor set for you magey types.

[ thread : download ] - Dark Rose Armor
An incredible armor set for female adventurers. True work of art.

[ thread : download ] - Lanterns
Bored of torches? Try a carryable, longer-lasting, lantern!

[ thread : download ] - Goblin Tribal Shields
Gives each Goblin clan unique, high-resolution, shields.

[ thread : download ] - Real Rats
Adds non-aggressive normal sized rats to towns and dungeons, for that extra touch of ambience.

[ thread : download ] - Katanas made of other materials - NEW
Great selection of the swordsman's favourite blade.

[ thread : download ] - Gem Dust - NEW
Great mod allows you to grind gems into alchemical ingredients as with Morrowind.

[ thread : download ] - The Complete Ranger - UPDATED
A brilliant, comprehensive new class replete with levelled spells, commandable companion. character development and more.

[ thread : download ] - Growing plants - NEW
Buy seeds, plant them, watch your herb garden grow!

[ thread : download ] - Historical weapons - NEW
Adds 30 historical weapons to the game, in addition to balancing weapon and armor.

[ thread : download ] - Advanced Alchemy Apparatus - NEW
Provides some unique, rare, apparatus for the alchemically inclined.

[ thread : download ] - Noble Plate Armor- NEW
Impressive heavy armor set for both make and female fighters.

[ thread : download ] - Female heavy armor pack- NEW
Updates and improves heavy armor texture to be friendlier to the feminine form.

[ thread : download ] - Stealth Entrances - NEW
Provides stealthy entrances to cities for the, er, stealthier characters among you.

[ thread : download ] - Arena Sparring - NEW
Great mod that allows you to practice combat with a trainer.

Companions
Getting lonely in your travels? Take along a friend. These are but three of the best.

[ thread : download ] - Ariana Trudeaux
Impressive, complete, funny and helpful Ranger and Paladin companion complete with relationship development, new speech, and more.

[ thread : download ] - Ruined Tail's Tale - UPDATED
Argonian Battlemage with quest-driven storyline. Go on, say hello to Ruined Tail.

[ thread : download ] - Companion Gabrielle - UPDATED
There's nothing quite like a pirate to spice things up when the going gets tough.

Next, Fun stuff and Fixes.

Fun stuff
Not so true to the cause but fun to use mods.

[ thread : download ] - Action Oblivion
Turns Oblivion into a John Woo film. Well, almost.

[ thread : download ] - Ride wild horses
Allows you to tame a wild horse to be your mount.

[ thread : download ] - Random Oblivion
Makes all encounters and loot completely random. Inspired Action and Adrenaline mods.

[ thread : download ] - BoneGrind
What to do with all those bones? Grind them into bonemeal!

[ thread : download ] - Mark and Recall
As the title. Not for everyone, but if you want it here it is!

[ thread : download ] - Dual Wielding
As if not want this. Not a true implementation, but the best that is possible given the game engine.

[ thread : download ] - Delayed Respawn
Changes the default respawn timer for world entities with various options to suit your style.

[ thread : download ] - No obsolete loot and enemies
One of the first mods to fix Oblivion's levelling flaws. Basic, use as alternative to Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul or Sagerbliv's Creature Balance mods.

[ thread : download ] - Sparring mod
Adds a sparring partner NPC who will fight with you for a small fee.

[ thread : download ] - Movable bodies
Allows you to more easily drag, er, dead people around. Yay!

Fixes
Fixes for flaws or bugs in the game.

[ thread : download ] - Guild Item Ownership
Fixes items belonging to guilds to be accessible by rank. Stops you robbing your guild blind.

[ thread : download ] - Lion pelt fix
Fixes the problem with the lion pelt mesh being invisible in the game world.

[ thread : download ] - Better Female Elf fighting sounds
No longer should your girl sound like a man! Applies to all elves.

[ thread : download ] - Quiet feet
Silences four-legged friends in Oblivion, a performance fix for low-end machines.

[ thread : download ] - Faster mercantile levelling
Fixes the horribly broken mercantile level rates in Oblivion.

[ thread : download ] - Fathis Fix
Fixes Fathis the Thieves Guild fence, bugged in the original release of Oblivion.

[ thread : download ] - Mages Guild Quest Fixes
Fixes numerous critical flaws with Mage Guild quests.

[ thread : download ] - No Replicas
Gives purpose to picking the locks on display cases.

[ thread : download ] - Umbra scabbard
Wondering why Umbra has no scabbard? Us too. Fix it with this.

[ thread : download ] - Less Frequent Oblivion Gates - NEW
What they hey? Gates damn well everywhere. No more!

[ thread : download ] - Dousing the flames - NEW
Fixes certain quest related locations that continue to burn when they shouldn't.

Utilities
Handy tools to help you make the most of mods.

[ thread : download ] - AutoValidator - NEW
This excellent prog generates an ArchiveInvalidation.txt file based on your installed mods.

[ homepage : download ] - Oblivion Mod Manager
All in one program to manage mods, their conflicts, and load order.

[ homepage : download ] - Conflict Catcher
Lists conflicts of one mod with every other mod, if any. Helps to determine compatibility.

[ homepage : download ] - TESsnip
Lists the data structures of .esp files and allows basic modifications.

[ thread : download ] - TES4 mod merger
Mods conflicting? Merge them with this. Still requires a careful hand.

Next, Atomic's faves and the secrets of mod management.

Atomic's Recommended
This is a comprehensive list of the mods the author of this piece uses to play, raw and in the flesh listed as their native filenames, and the order in which they are loaded first (top left) to last (bottom right). Generally, the load order doesn't matter for most mods, with exception to the last fifteen or so which are ordered to work with Auryn's Levelling Mod and Sagerbliv's Creature Balance + G_'s Loot Mod - the two most important mods that balance Oblivion to be a better game (see the specific ordering following these mods below).

All of this is of course a personal opinion, and you'll have your selection in mind as you read this guide. Still, this gives you an idea of the type of mods that make Oblivion a much more enjoyable game, and if you think this is an rather large list, keep in mind it's still a hand-picked selection from the over 500 mods currently available!

UPDATED
Now using mod selection plus ordering below:

The aesthetic touch
This is purely a cosmetic tip, but if you don't like to see your load bars slowed from loading your mods, this tweak goes somewhat to making it a tad zippier. In your Oblivion.ini make the following changes under [LoadingBar]:

iMoveBarWaitingMilliseconds=2   (default 10)
iMoveBarChaseMilliseconds=10   (default 100)
iMoveBarMaxMilliseconds=2000   (default 2500)

Finally, on the last page we cover some final points worth knowing about using mods in Oblivion.

Boring things you need to know
All this mod goodness does come at a price: a little education. If you decide to use a number of mods, and chances are you will, there are two things you should be aware of and how to handle them. And because we like you, we'll show you :)

1) Mod ordering
It's inevitable that the more mods you use, the greater the chances some of them will clash. While mods that address different areas of the game are, for the most part, clearly compatible it's not so simple for mods of similar intentions, due to the way the game handles its data structures.

For example, if you want to use Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul but prefer a different rate of skill levelling as provided by the Level Rates Modified mod - so how does Oblivion handle the conflict?

Quite simply actually - the last mod loaded takes precedence. So if you did want to use the skill rates Level Rates Modified provides, simply ensure it's loaded after Oscuro's. And how do you do this? Glad you asked.

Setting the load order
Oblivion loads mods by order of date. Ensuring a mod is 'newer' than another causes it be loaded last, and thus take priority. It's worth noting the mod selector under 'Data files' in the Oblivion launcher lists mods alphabetically - good to find and choose the mods you want to use, but doesn't tell you the order they are loaded in.

The best way to see the load order - and more importantly, re-order them - is with the excellent Oblivion Mod Manager tool (download). You'll need .NET installed, but it's well worth it. From here you can simply click the 'Load order' view and then 'Move up' or 'Move down' on mods to re-order them.

Using the same tool you can also test to see which mods have conflicts - simply click Utilities -> Mod Conflict Report and look at the list. Don't worry about 'green' or 'yellow' warnings, mods crossing data entities here are compatible unless they edit the exact same object (such as a location on a map), which is rare. The conflicts to look for are those in red - these are the ones where only one mod or the other can have its changes go through, and again the mod loaded last will stick.

If it looks a little overwhelming, follow this guide: as the levelled list mods like Osucro's or Sagerbliv's are the most important with regards to balance, load these mods last with the exception of specific changes you want to make to them - as with the example, using a mod like Level Rates Modified to set skill rates or the TF_time mod to makes days last longer. This way you get the best of both worlds.

2) ArchiveInvalidation.txt
This is an odd title, and it also happens to be a file. It doesn't exist by default, but Oblivion will look for it in your Oblivion directory and use the contents of the file as a guide to which files 'invalidate' the original archive .bsa files. In other words, which files to load from your directory instead of from the compressed .bsa files.

It only comes into play when you install a mod that's anything more than a simple .esp - for example texture mods, or mods that add new content like armors and swords. When you do it's important that the ArchiveInvalidation.txt lists every new file that you want Oblivion to look for. Which could obviously be a pain in the bum to keep updated.

So there's two easy ways of creating and keeping this file up-to-date as you install new mods.

a) The first is simply to load up the Oblivion Mod Manager (see above). Not only does this let you re-order the load order of mods but by default when you quit it will automatically create the 'ArchiveInvalidation.txt' file for you. So there you go! Load OMM, then quit. Done.
Hoepfully.
OBMM is still under development and if, after launching Oblivion, you see gigantic yellow diamonds in the game, or entirely missing textures, it's because Oblivion went to load something it couldn't find. If this occurs, use method b).

b) Grab the AutoArchiveInvalidation tool (download), put it in your Oblivion/data directory, and run it. It's a very simple tool that recursively lists directories in your 'data' directory and pipes the output to a new file called 'NewArchiveInvalidation.txt'. All you need to do now is:

* Rename the file to 'ArchiveInvalidation.txt'
* Move it up a level to your Oblivion directory
* Edit the file and move anything that shouldn't be there

By way of example for the latter you can remove the 'Shader' entries or 'thumbs.db' entries. These shouldn't be a problem, as Oblivion isn't looking for these entries as replacements, but it's good just to keep the file clean.

And that's it for our guide. Suggestions, additions, and offers of septims send to amills@atomicmpc.com.au