"Never play without" Mods

[Zaldir]

To those of you who don't use Unique Landscapes, you GOT to download these mods!!

They are so great, and.. well, unique ;p

It's really beautiful! (Takes some fps though..)

And of course, if you got the spec for it, Qarls Texture Pack really brings a new look to the game, and updates the graphics to todays standards as well.

[HeyYou]

To those of you who don't use Unique Landscapes, you GOT to download these mods!!

They are so great, and.. well, unique ;p

It's really beautiful! (Takes some fps though..)

And of course, if you got the spec for it, Qarls Texture Pack really brings a new look to the game, and updates the graphics to todays standards as well.

I don't use unique landscapes, mainly becuase my machine cant really handle the FPS hit, and also, becuase they are so pervasive, fixing conflicts gets to be a real chore. Texture packs are most certainly in the no-no category.

[InsanitySorrow]

I prefer CorePC's Vibrant textures over Quarls, I love the extra colour

[Kitsuneguy]

HGEC

Vanity Camera Smoother

No Psychic Guards

Seph's Dual Wield

Akaviri Imports

Snow Dragon Temple

Toaster says Share

Companion Postal Service

Adventurers Gear

[Running4Cover]

Nice thread! I'm going to divide this into two parts; Must-Haves and quasi-Must-Haves (way too many mods to not mention a bunch of them )

Must Haves:

FCOM

COBL

Armamentarium Complete

Crowded Roads Advanced (yes, that's right, I seriously can't stand Oblivion without the wandering NPC's )

Better Cities

LAME

Stealth Overhaul

quasi-Must-Haves:

Alternative Start - Arrive By Ship

CNRP (all)

Companion SHare & Recruit

ImpeREAL City

Midas Magic - Spells of Aurum

TIE4MODS

Unique Landscapes (all)

UOP/USIP/UOMP

So many mods that aren't on this list, I feel I must mention them all somehow in honor of how greatly they've impacted my game! Must... resist... hyuunnnng...

...

...

CC

[greenwarden]

I voted for "immersion" in the poll, but what I mean by immersion is likely not what many Mod-blivion players mean- ie: hunger, thirst, etc. Actually, few things wreck my sense of being immersed faster than mods of that type. When I say immersion, I mean a detailed, nuanced world that feels like it has history, mystery and depth. To that end, here are the mods that I use, no matter what character I am playing.

All mods by Nernie. That is:

MTCThieves Grotto ver 4

MTCBravil River Shack and Village

MTCExpanded Villages

MTCGalena Tailor

Real Roan Stables

Waterfront Market

Her gift for creating artistically believable, picturesque, grungy, lower-class environments is unmatched. I simply love what her work brings to my game, and how much it informs the backstories of my characters. I cannot imagine walking through the Great Forest and not finding her reimagining of Brindle Home, or stopping in at the Gottlesfont Inn to get out of the rain. They just...belong.

The Unique Landscapes series, with special mentions for Chorrol Hinterlands, River Ethe, and Brena River Ravine. All of the ULs are phenomenal, but I call these three ULs out because they all elicited the rarest of responses from me: awe, followed by a sense of completion. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I almost got teary when I strolled along the River Ethe for the first time- sunlight pierced the forest's canopy and glinted across the water's surface, "Auriel's Ascension" began to play, and there was this sense of stillness and of feeling protected- a feeling I get when I am in a real forest. It just floored me. Works of art, all of them.

New Roads and Bridges Revised, by Ukrr and Arthmoor. Not only are these new roads and bridges highly convenient, they also give the traveler a renewed perspective, by offering fresh vantage points on a very familiar world. To see what is old in a new way is a huge gift.

Race Balancing Project, Less Annoying Magic Experience, and Integration, by bg2408. I've been using RBP and LAME for a long time, but they haven't grown old for me at all. I just deeply value the changes bg made to the races and to magic- they make sense to me on an instinctual level, and I adore seeing the more unique modded races (ie, not typical Barbie Elves types of races) folded into the world in a way that makes them feel...integrated . And I am so appreciative of "Integration"- though I have yet to finish that massive mod- it is well written, highly imaginative, and again, has that elusive quality of just belonging to the world.

And now I'll just try to be brief about the rest because I'm feeling merciful.

Shezrie's Villages- I can't imagine not visiting these wonderful spots.

Pinewood- I can't really stress enough how beautifully crafted this place is, inside and out.

Star's Rest- this house is extremely special to me. I would live here if I could.

Halcyon House- has that "magical place where anything can happen" feel. I live for that feeling.

Vergayun- a newer addition to my game that I now can't play without. It's just right. And the residents are funny.

COBL- Makes the world feel richer, and creates some much needed aesthetic continuity between Oblivion and Morrowind.

Better Letters- finding multiple copies of the exact same letter is boring. This mod makes snooping fun again.

Attack and Hide- sneaking makes sense to me with this mod.

Let There Be Darkness- a fresh coat of inky black, scare-the-pants-off-of-you paint for Cyrodiil's old dungeons.

Leviathan Soulgems- see COBL.

The Ayleid Steps- Intelligent thrill-seeking fun, and it totally fits.

Oblivion Symphonic Variations- these tracks have an elusive blend of majesty and melancholy that I love.

And the Rural Line Additions included with Kragenir's Death Quest(which rocks, btw). Reminiscent of the magnificent LGNPC project for Morrowind- a favorite of mine- this mod adds unique dialog and personalities to the residents of the various settlements of Cyrodiil. It's extremely well done. Individualistic, quirky NPCs... imagine that.

[DsoS]

I can't really play without, well any mod, I must have mods, or I get bored really fast...but if I must choose...

ALL FCOM suite

Lost Spires

COBL

TA Odd Jobs

Ruined Tails Tale

Armamentarium

Artifacts

Better Cities

Qarls Tex. Pack III

ANY Book add-on mod

Oblivion Collectible Cards

TeddyBears

Wyverexs Runes

Milstone Farm

Skooma Lab

Color Map Mod

DarNified UI

Armory Lab

Cheydinhal Petshop

Clocks of Cyrodiil

Decorator Assistant

Purse of Wonders

Supreme Magicka

I have more, but tired of copying and pasting

Dungeons are a big thing for me, I love to explore dungeons whether they are caves, AR, forts, etc. I must have them

[Khettienna]

The mods I love the most change small, very specific things (except Cobl). To be honest, I really quite like a "tweaked" vanilla game, rather than an overhauled one.

Toggleable Quantity Prompt

DarnUI

UOP/S

Improved Facial Textures

navetsea's f-IN Skinset face & body textures

Health & Magicka Overhaul (or some form of retroactive health, this is just the one I landed on first)

No More Annoying Skill Comments

No Psychic Guards

Automagic Bags

Quest Award Leveler

Slof's Horses Base

Better Book Collision

Better Wine

Cobl

Respawning Varla & Welkynd Stones

Regrowing Nirnroot

Elm

[WhoGuru]

Elm

Seconded. Elm is the newest addition to my never play without list. Couldn't imagine a game without her charging off headlong into a dungeon after a Storm atronach and leaving me in the dust while she giggles happily somewhere ahead.

[Khettienna]

Not gonna lie, Aya does occasionally want to tie Elm to a chair at the dungeon entrance so her stealth isn't blown by lighting bolts at every turn.

It keeps things interesting, it does.

[WhoGuru]

She ever go on a killing spree in a city on you? Does that to me all the time! We walk into Bruma and while I'm checking out the hunky guard on the gate, she summons her own atronach and lays waste to the place. Cracks me up and has taught me to save before entering a city with her.

[Khettienna]

She's never done that to me, but I'd pay my last septim to see it happen!

[washington]

Hey Khettiena,

you don't need spell delete mod because that function is in Cobl already. Just enable it in game Options -> spell delete.

[StarX]

Hm, it's been a while. Lets see....

These are an absolute must:

Denock Arrows (a true blessing for archers)

Initial Glow

At home Alchemy

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul

Less Creepy Guild Porters

One of the combat enhancing mods: Deadly Reflex or SCA Combat

And a tool that is litlle known, but works amazingly well:

Oblivion Mod Remover

Makes it so easy to delete a specific crapload of meshes , textures scattered around the data folder. Works for Fallout as well!

Just my 10 eurocents...

[fonger]

First the pre-Musts:

Unofficial patch series

OBMM

OBSE

BOSS

COBL

Wrye Bash

Next the absolute musts:

Black Load

No load

Guild Storage { all ancient mods by Tandem }

Bag of Holding

then comes the must mods:

Midas magic

MMM

Sigil Stone Selector

The Lost Spires

JQ Assassin Quest (neat trick to find this one)

TA Odd Jobs Complete

Feudal Empire 300 1.11 (update version of Knights of the White Stallion)

and the Wanna Haves:

NightEye Glasses

Alchemy Advanced

Dremora Nirnroot Farm (

Herbalism

Increased Training Allowance

Multiple Enchatments

Poison Turds (if only for the comic effect)

skill diary

Shads Coffee

[PetrusOctavianus]

For me OOO is the core mod, although I'd like to try T.I.E. some time.

Other essentials:

The UOPs

COBL

The UL mods

All Natural and AWLS

Choices&Consequenses

Harvest Flora

Let there be Darkness

Progress + nGCD or Realistic Leveling

FF Real Thirst

Realistic Hunger

Real Sleep Extended

Map Marker Overhaul

Duke Patrick's mods that affect NPC beaviour

Oblivion Stutter Remover

For me it's about immersions and exploration.

No body mods, house mods or companions in my mod list, unless someone has invented a companion that can be useful without getting in the way or being immortal.

[Ervvin]

My load order is relatively small. Some mods or mod versions are very outdated, but I keep them because they're reliable and stable. I'll never play without these:

* Unofficial Obl.Patches

* Obl. Stutter Remover

* Cobl

* FCOM

* All Unique Landscapes mods

* Tamriel Travellers

* Ayleid Loot EXtended

* Enhanced Economy

* Hotkey Casting

* Crowded Roads

* Feldscar, Vergayun and Faregyl

* West Roads

* JQ-Fighters Guild United

* Bag of Holding

* Gather Ye Rosebuds

* GG_Valeria Revived (An ancient companion mod, enhanced by some Japanese guys. No frills, very reliable. Yells and curses a lot and tends to shoot me in the back, but I still love her.)

* Lakeview (Very ancient simple house mod with a twist. You have to get the key from a nearly invincible witch that lives in its basement. I always do this as a level 1, and I always crack up when I run for life, dodging the deadly lightning balls, all the way to the IC where she is slain by the guards in a tremendous battle.)

No other quest mods than my own: don't want to be infuenced. No graphics enhancers: computer too old. And never, ever any 'beautiful people' or lingerie mods: they'd ruin my game with their plastic ugliness.

[Ferryt]

I just graduated from Mod Hell -- or, perhaps, escaped it, depending upon your perspective. I think I've downloaded about 500 or so mods, which I think is more than the game can handle, and I'm studying them diligently. My last play through was so glitchy and buggy from all the mods I was using that I finally just decided to wipe everything clean and do a new install of Oblivion. Now I'm in the position of evaluating all the various mods that are getting my attention (and there are new ones on almost a daily basis). Too many to choose from, too little space in the mod order, and too few frames per second on this machine, already ...

Before, my approach was "if some is good then more is better". I don't think I've ever been so wrong. Now, it a matter of fine-tuning the game to my playing style with as few mods as possible, and that's turning out to be pretty difficult.

There's no question that all the official patches and unofficial patches are absolutely necessary, of course. Beyond that, I approach this game as a role-player and someone who loves immersion. I'm not interested in the hack&slash style of gaming that Oblivion was clearly designed to best support. I prefer the freedom to explore, the freedom to make moral/ethical choices that actually affect the world, and, most of all, the freedom to totally ignore a linear, rushed, and totally disappointing main quest. With that in mind, I want to see mods that offer new opportunities to actually role-play, new quests, new factions to join, and that sort of thing. I'm still sorting it all out. That said, there are still just a few mods that I consider essential.

• OBSE and COBL: I honestly can't imagine playing the game without these because so many of the best mods either require them or are at their best with them

• a body replacer: After experimenting with HGEC I've dumped it in favor of Robert's mods for both male and female bodies. I just detest the Vanilla meshes and textures. Female characters with a dude's body? Whatever was Bethesda thinking? Exnem's bodies, upon which HGEC is based, give the option to play an average female with average breasts, which is what I prefer, but the arms and legs are like matchsticks and there are issues with both the meshes and textures. Robert's female body has no such issues.

At this point it becomes a matter of guesswork, so I won't even try. I've tried several different overhauls for stealth-based characters, for instance, and I'm still not sure which one I prefer. I'm avoiding mods that overhaul large parts of the game, like OOO, because most of them contain features that are deal-breakers for me, so I don't expect to get all my fixes in just one or two big mods. I'm less interested in eye candy than I am in fixing problems (like the abysmally-designed leveling system) in this game. I'm still evaluating several hotkey mods, seeing that eight hotkeys aren't sufficient, especially for a mage character. A month ago I'd have a list of about twenty "essential" mods. Having experienced them, and dealt with incompatibilities, I've trimmed that way down, as you can see.

[Peter ID]

I have done may different installs but they all contain:

Unique Landscapes

All Natural + Real Lights

Roads and Bridges

West Roads

Trails of Cyrodiil

AWLS

Arthmoor's Villages

Cyrodiil Transportation Service

The Ayleid Steps

Enhanced Economy

Map Marker Overhaul

Darnified UI

Darker Dungeons

QTP3 (Full and Redimnized depending on how many mods I add)

This alone is enough to keep you questing for 200 hours. Everything else varies.

Latest install has:

TIE

ROM

OOO

MMM

WAC

JLLO

Yeah, seems OK though 10 hours. Just made it to level 2. Stable enough and not crazily unbalanced. Hope to carry this though for a long time.

[LordPalpatine]

These are the mods I couldn't play Oblivion without!

Unique Landscapes (all of them made so far)

The Lost Spires

Nascosto Isles

Elsweyr The Deserts of Anequina

Windfall

Midas Magic Spells of Aurum

The West Roads

TR Stirk

[Consoler]

Race Balancing Project Light

Ethereal Eyes

Realistic fatigue

Deadly Reflex

Locational Damage

The Elder Council

JQ's Fighter's Guild United

Cyrodiil Upgrade Overhaul

CUO Cities

Combat Archery

L.A.M.E.

StarX Vanilla Vampires Revised

StarX Vampire Deaths

RealSwords - Nord (sometimes Orc and Redguard as well)

Realistic Weapon lengths

Bash Locks

Persuasion overhaul

Kayo (punches lower fatigue twice as fast as life energy. increases the likelihood of a knockout)

These are my core mods. I used to use Mighty Magick Reborn with LAME, but is conflicted catastrophically with RBP (CTD every 15 minutes and EVERY save attempt), so I dropped it.

[IxFlashPointxI]

• Crowded Roads
  
• Elven Map Redux
  
• JOG's Stealth Overhaul
  
• Deadly Reflex
  
• Duke Patrick's Combat Archery
  
• Duke Patrick's Near miss alerts NPC's mod
  
• Duke Patrick's Fresh Kills Now Alert NPCs
  

[Excalibuurr]

I cannot ABSOLUTELY play WITHOUT these. I just don't see how it is possible for me.

• COBL
  
• AWLS
  
• The Unique Landscapes
  
• Enhanced Water
  
• Open Cities Leyawiin Reborn
  
• Jog's Stealth Overhaul
  
• The Lost Spires
  
• Darn UI
  
• Mart's Monster Mod
  
• Enhanced Economy
  
• Oblivion XP
  
• Enhanced Grabbing
  
• Hoarfrost Castle
  
• Heart of the Dead
  
• Better Benirus Manor
  
• See You Sleep
  
• Book Tracker
  
• All Natural
  
• Realistic Water
  
• Immersive Interiors