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So I decided to break out Oblivion and replay it. I burned through vanilla before the mods came out and kinda lost interest. However since then I formatted the drive which had my install, and I'm kinda in the mood to play it again.

I was looking over Fileplanet and there are a lot of mods that look really, really, good. So... what mods should I go after to really get the most out of my replay. I like to go spell heavy, but I'm thinking of trying a Spellsword type character so stuff that enhances magic and conventional combat would be nice

You may as well ask what's best in life (waits for it...).

For starters, lets look at the major gameplay overhauls (and no, I'm taking the time to link - Google is your friend):

- Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO) rebalances the entire game, and adds in a ton of new monstors, quests, items and locations. It makes the game a lot harder to start out, but lets you kick ass and take names at high levels (where you only have a few high level NPCs to fear). This is the mod I run, and I enjoy the hell out of it, and makes the game feel more like Morrowind.

- Francesco's mod also does a lot of rebalancing, but it limits itself to the level lists and items. I've found it to be easier than OOO. The community is mostly split between OOO and Frans; some like OOO's more radical changes, others prefer Fran's more limited approach, which is more compatible (although I've only had two compatibility problem with OOO).

- Martigan's Monster Mod (MMM) has versions that work with both OOO (not sure if its released) and Frans (for several versions now). It adds in whole bunch of monster spawns (1000+, IIRC), and lots of brand new monsters (far more than OOO or Frans). You'll know fear when two dozen pissed off wolves decide your level five ass is lunch. I played this mod once, but I haven't gotten back to it since I switched back to OOO (it was incompatible at the time).

- OOOFransMMM (I think I got right) tries to combine the best of all three. It was in beta last I check. All of these have some dedicated developers and lots of testers.

- Warcry makes the game more like Diablo, with lots of action. It conflicts with the above mods, but it has a loyal following (especially in Germany, and it does look cool).

Now, if you want to change the PC leveling system to something more realistic and in the background, I'd suggest checking out Kubo's Character Advancement System (KCAS). It looks hard to use at first glance, but you can install it and run with default options with no problems.

To spruce up the graphics, look no further than TOTO. It has the best texture overhauls, with different versions to fit your machine. Also, the site contains pages dedicated to quest mods, as well.

For better environments, look up the Unique Landscapes project on the official Elder Scrolls forums. They do good work, and I have all but two of the current releases (I didn't like the themes for the two I didn't download). Just ignore the couple of posters that like to spam the thread...

Weather gets a nice overhaul with the Atmospheric Weather System (AWS), which also adds in weather sounds in doors. Another modder has made several extensions for it, as well (lightning, rainbows, etc).

For magic, you might want to check Mighty Magic. And there's another mod, PJ's something or other (hey, I'm a sword and heavy armor guy...).

Also, there are tons of character mods, which upgrade the NPCs looks and add in new races. Beautiful People, Improved Facial Textures, Cosmetic Compilation, and others. And you can find adult content mods as well, if you go looking (you won't find those on the official forum).

That's all the major ones I can think of at the moment.

BTmod makes the menus good. I.E. you can see more than 6 things at once.

Which mod would one advocate for increased creature spawn?

For me, the only grip of the game is that it just gets too easy fighting one v one.. An easy way to balance the game would be one that increases creature spawn or the spawn rate, so that dungeons would always remain dangerous.

Any suggestions?

PainRack wrote:Which mod would one advocate for increased creature spawn?

For me, the only grip of the game is that it just gets too easy fighting one v one.. An easy way to balance the game would be one that increases creature spawn or the spawn rate, so that dungeons would always remain dangerous.

Any suggestions?

Oscuro's will have you getting your arse kicked for many levels agianst everything but bandits. Heck until level eight is not a bright idea to wander around... Wolfs like to hunt in packs after all...

OOOFransMMM adds the most however, you get the thousand and one minimods of OOO with the tougher combat and slower leveling. Frans gives you the much more diverse and interesting loot, and MMM adds in the hundred and one new enemy's.

Mr Bean wrote:OOOFransMMM adds the most however, you get the thousand and one minimods of OOO with the tougher combat and slower leveling. Frans gives you the much more diverse and interesting loot, and MMM adds in the hundred and one new enemy's.

Ok, now I got to try that!

Also, I forgot to mention Open Cities, which makes the city exteriors part of the main world space (no loading when entering, and you can run your horse right down main street). Just forget about using it with Qarl's Texture Pack 3, unless you've got an R600 or NDA'ed Nvidia drivers than can handle paging from system memory, because both mods together will eat your video ram for breakfast.

Also, there's Almost Everything Visible When Distant, which adds in reduced polygon models of all the structures in the game to the LOD meshes, so buildings no longer pop-up as you move through the world. Its the predecessor mod to the on Bean posted in the Beg for Mercy GPU's! (56k Beware) thread, and it runs a lot better. You'll still need a beefy CPU, because of the overhead the mod involved with the mod (and it will make your outdoor frame rates CPU limited, not GPU limited).

Uh, where can I find this OOOFransMMM mod? A search on Google reveals . . . this thread.

Sorry, we got the letters mixed up: FranOOOMMM Beta 5. Ok, I didn't know this one was dev_akm's baby; this guy is probably involved in no less than ten major Oblivion projects.

Also, here's another mod to keep your eyes on: Forgotten Lands. Its a going to be a incredi-fuckin-huge dungeon. Here's the official forum thread for it.

What about Kudo's? My google foo is weak today.

Kubo's Character Advancement System on Planet Elder Scrolls and on TES Source. I had to search by "Oblivion KCAS" to get it to show in Google.

Is there a mod that totally kills the scaled item/enemy system and makes it the same as Morrowind's?

Seggybop wrote:Is there a mod that totally kills the scaled item/enemy system and makes it the same as Morrowind's?

OOO is as good as it gets, I think. You'll certainly find nothing as comprehensive, anyway.

Seggybop wrote:Is there a mod that totally kills the scaled item/enemy system and makes it the same as Morrowind's?

Yeah, the first two I listed right under the OP. There is another mod that makes everything complete static, but its been a long time since I've seen mention of it.

Mr Bean wrote: Oscuro's will have you getting your arse kicked for many levels agianst everything but bandits. Heck until level eight is not a bright idea to wander around... Wolfs like to hunt in packs after all...

OOOFransMMM adds the most however, you get the thousand and one minimods of OOO with the tougher combat and slower leveling. Frans gives you the much more diverse and interesting loot, and MMM adds in the hundred and one new enemy's.

Both of them remove the leveled aspects though, making the game too difficult at the begining:D. Especially when I read the stats of the new creatures........

Still, since I fought dungeons at max difficulty before, shouldn't be too much of a leap........... I hope:D

PainRack wrote:

Mr Bean wrote: Oscuro's will have you getting your arse kicked for many levels agianst everything but bandits. Heck until level eight is not a bright idea to wander around... Wolfs like to hunt in packs after all...

OOOFransMMM adds the most however, you get the thousand and one minimods of OOO with the tougher combat and slower leveling. Frans gives you the much more diverse and interesting loot, and MMM adds in the hundred and one new enemy's.

Both of them remove the leveled aspects though, making the game too difficult at the begining:D. Especially when I read the stats of the new creatures........

Still, since I fought dungeons at max difficulty before, shouldn't be too much of a leap........... I hope:D

Don't let the ruins across from the prison sewer exit scare you off. They're purposely designed to beat the shit out of OOO noobs. And the last section WILL kill you unless you have silver or magical weaposn.

Arrow wrote: For magic, you might want to check Mighty Magic. And there's another mod, PJ's something or other (hey, I'm a sword and heavy armor guy...).

Found it. The complete name is "PJ's Spell Compendium".

video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7GALnkk8Hk

download: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/V ... ail&id=923

I didn't like OOO. It both slowed down levelling and made required levels to beat quests too high. This encourages grinding, which is retarded. Also, it took the 'Boss' aesthetic/aspect WAYYYY too far ( you have a stupid dungeon filled with mediocre bandits who wny stealth character can one-shot, then an impossible warlord, or an Oblivion gate filled with with pussy churls and scamps, then the invincible 'Lord of Sigilum Sanguis'.

Also, it made all the houses cost 10X as much, for no goddamn reason. Those places aren't even useful! They're just supposed to be nice little immersion things. I'm not spending 20,000 to do the 'Where Spirits have Lease' quests, and Rosethorn Hall was already hard to save up for before they made it over 125,000$.

Overall, lame.

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba wrote:I didn't like OOO. It both slowed down levelling and made required levels to beat quests too high. This encourages grinding, which is retarded. Also, it took the 'Boss' aesthetic/aspect WAYYYY too far ( you have a stupid dungeon filled with mediocre bandits who wny stealth character can one-shot, then an impossible warlord, or an Oblivion gate filled with with pussy churls and scamps, then the invincible 'Lord of Sigilum Sanguis'.

Also, it made all the houses cost 10X as much, for no goddamn reason. Those places aren't even useful! They're just supposed to be nice little immersion things. I'm not spending 20,000 to do the 'Where Spirits have Lease' quests, and Rosethorn Hall was already hard to save up for before they made it over 125,000$.

Overall, lame.

I don't know what how you play your characters, but I had very little problem making money, and I didn't find the bosses to be that hard to kill.