The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | VR (Vive/PSVR)

[Yuri-G]

I don't know of a really definitive list. I did post a gamefaqs thread wherein I inquired about mods and I got a lot of good options there:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/92436...ivion/59453965

aside from that, try this thread: http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php...vion-mods-faq/ there is a section titled "Where can I find good mods?" that has some links as well as advice.

the only mods that I think are required for everyone no matter what your tastes are:
- Unique Landscapes Compilation. nothing else does what UL Comp does, and the new landscapes are so well-integrated into the old Cyrodiil you won't even realize how much things have changed.
- Oblivion Graphics Extender. a must-have. provides a lot of new shader effects as well as other tweaks for the graphics.
- Oblivion Script Extender. odds are, one of the mods you use will require this - for example, Oblivion Graphics Extender.
- Oblivion XP. this is debatable, since there are other mods that change the leveling system, and to be honest I haven't tried them. I don't feel the need to. this one completely overhauls the leveling system to be XP-based and I can't imagine anything else doing a better job.
- Quick start. I think that's what it's called, anyway - skips the entire beginning dungeon and deposits you right at the sewer gate. oh my god is this ever a time-saver, especially when testing out new mods. must-get! I could recite the beginning dialogue from memory by now, I wish I had discovered this earlier...

there are lots of other mods out there, but there tend to be several major options in each category - I can think of at least four or five magicka mods, for example, and of the most part they will conflict with/overwrite each other so you will need to pick one. experiment, have fun, be prepared to possibly reinstall and start over at least once. I've spent more time modding Oblivion than I care to think about, though I've learned a hell of a lot and have recently installed FCOM, supposedly the most difficult mod to get working correctly. so that's cool.

oh, and piece of advice: install the game to C:/Oblivion. installing into the default directory if you have Vista or windows 7 will just cause headache after headache.

[Doombear]

Head over here Avelle. Yuri has a pretty informative post or two in the 'What are you you playing?' topic - this is one of them: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/592...=1#post4663996

EDIT: I knew that would happen, I am slow like slow.

[Purrrfect]

oh, and piece of advice: install the game to C:/Oblivion. installing into the default directory if you have Vista or windows 7 will just cause headache after headache.

Is there a way to change this after installation? I've already installed off steam. And does steam even let you pick a custom folder?

[Yuri-G]

oh shit, steam. right. I'm not sure about that. I did just move my whole directory over to C:/Oblivion once and it seemed to work fine, but I make no promises - and with steam? I get the feeling that's not a good idea... but I've never modded a game on steam so idk.

man, should have gone for the Bioshock/Oblivion package... it was $8 plus shipping when I got it. so worth it!

[Yuri-G]

as long as I'm on the subject (and as long as I'm bored at work), a little info on the four major overhaul mods and the two major MAJOR overhaul mods...

the four major overhaul mods:
- OOO or Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. the original major overhaul. changes items, adds new quests, rescales difficulty and gets rid of a lot of the scaling encounters (making the game more like Morrowind). makes the game much more challenging.
- MMM or Martigen's Monster mod: mostly adds new monsters. I haven't played this one on my own so I'm not sure what else it adds.
- Francesco's Leveled Items/Creatures: mostly adds new items and monsters. I hear the monsters overlap with MMM a lot.
- Warcry - adds a lot of new stuff, from monsters to items to rebalancing.

those four mostly remain faithful to the original Oblivion while adding tons of new content. all four of them change level scaling and balance to some degree. they are each compatible with each other to one degree or another, depending on which ones you are combining and whether they have compatibility patches, but all four at once is a no-go. unless...

the two major MAJOR overhaul mods:
- FCOM. FCOM combines the above four mods into one. without FCOM, you can only use two of those at a time - if you're lucky. so what is the downside to FCOM? it's really difficult to install and requires some intricate knowledge of how mods work. specifically, you will have to learn to use a program called Wrye Bash that combines the mods, and BOSS which sorts the load order, to make FCOM work. there are step-by-step instructions on the FCOM website, however (http://devnull.sweetdanger.net/convergence.html), so as long as you follow those instructions step-by-step and ignore the extra options for now, it shouldn't be impossible, even for a first-timer. be warned, though - this could get frustrating.

- Warcry: New Dimension. this is the other major MAJOR overhaul mod. it stands separate from all those other mods, and is MUCH easier to install than FCOM. what's the downside, then? it is a LOT less faithful to the original Oblivion, for one - imagine giant dinosaurs eating guards on imperial isle as soon as level one, and other stuff like that. people have described it as more of a "kitchen sink" approach, whereas FCOM is much more refined. also, Warcry: ND was made in German, and I've heard differing reports on how good the various English translations are. but again, it's much easier to install than FCOM, and supposedly adds just about as much new content.

you will want at least one of those first four (probably OOO), or FCOM, or Warcry ND, all depending on your tastes. I have FCOM right now and love it. but read up on them if you want to know more, and pick a setup that fits you.

phew. that burned another twenty minutes of "work"... thanks for listening!

[avelle]

Thanks Yuri. I'll be looking into this stuff asap. I hope the steam install allows modding and such!

[Yuri-G]

no problem. I enjoy geeking out over this stuff. I think Steam will be ok, just not 100% since I haven't done it myself.

[Purrrfect]

oh shit, steam. right. I'm not sure about that. I did just move my whole directory over to C:/Oblivion once and it seemed to work fine, but I make no promises - and with steam? I get the feeling that's not a good idea... but I've never modded a game on steam so idk.

man, should have gone for the Bioshock/Oblivion package... it was $8 plus shipping when I got it. so worth it!

Found this over in the Tech forum, https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...7418-YUBN-8129

Thanks for the big mod info.^^

[Tyr]

mod stuff

awesome stuff - you've pushed me from "oblivion looks ugly as shit and im not touching it" to installing it, and spending the last 2 hours looking up and installing mods.

Question - is XeoSP different than things like Xeo5? I searched specifically for "xeosp" because that was what you mentioned, and the one I dl'ed is "XEOSP_1.0.7z" -- is that the most recent?

Any more suggestions for mods would be much obliged -- things like making the combat better, menu/text related stuff, anything really :D


ps: is xeosp fixing facial textures to make the game look less horrendous (and npcs) -- or is it just making everyone 36-24-36..? I don't care for nudes and whatnot, I'm just looking for the npcs/chars to look less terrible :O

[miokomioko]

I picked up Oblivion and put it right back down because I hated the combat. If there's something that actually makes it not suck, I might reinstall it.

[Cleverness]

There are several combat mods out for it, what specifically didn't you like about it. I enjoyed the combat itself over Morrowind since being able to control shield blocks is nice rather than hoping it procs.

[Yuri-G]

@tyr: one more aboard the modding train awesome. for xeosp, I think that is the right file. here is the link I got it from:
http://bbs.3dmgame.com/showtopic-1353699.html

xeosp updates bodies and NPC faces. the faces look gorgeous, though they are very different - some are close to the original but more anime-styled, and some are completely overhauled (an Emperor that looks like Seymor from FFX's long-lost brother, argonians that have human faces with scales and horns, etc.) the quality level is impeccable, though. if you told me it was done by a professional studio, I'd believe you. it's just a matter of whether you like that style or not (I love it). there are other options, but I have not tried them. oh, and xeosp adds some new races too - I haven't tried them out, but they look cool. think golden saints, dark seducers, and some completely original races.

for text/menu related stuff...

first off, get the "Elven Map Redux." I forgot to mention this earlier. it is one of two or three mods I would recommend to everyone regardless of personal tastes or what you want to do with the game. it's just so nice, and it doesn't conflict with anything else, which is a bonus. here is a screenshot:

Spoiler: show

http://clankiller.com/games/oblivion..._map_redux.png

for combat, I have Supreme Magicka, which is a magic mod. that's the only one - I haven't installed any melee mods so I can't help you there, except to provide a couple of suggestions: Deadly Reflex and Unnecessary Violence. I hear those names tossed around a lot so maybe take a look and see if you want to try them. I don't think they will work together, though.

for other text/menu related stuff, there are a variety of UI updates. the only one I've tried was this one:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=11280

I liked it, but it crashed my game and I wasn't in the mood to figure out why. I might try it again sometime and see if I can get it running because it's very nice. shrinks things down so you can see more than a handful of items at once, changes the spell timers to numerical timers instead of bars, shrinks the health/magicka/fatigue bars and other UI icons to make your screen less cluttered, and probably does more things I'm unaware of. it's also a total stylistic upgrade.

other than that, I've also heard that this one is cool, but haven't tried it:
http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10763

there are probably others but those are the only ones I know.

[avelle]

Yuri, you and others that have modded Oblivion should post some more screenshots! Have you done anything with character models or just environmental type stuff?

[Tyr]

Yuri -- I used Wrye Bash to install pretty much all my mods, but with XEOSP, it says to use OBMM/obse loader -- that means the mods i installed using BAIN won't proc, right?


I installed Xeosp / did everything the readme asks and fired it up using Wrye bash, and my character comes out purple w/ no face but two eyes hovering...blech....

[Yuri-G]

Yuri, you and others that have modded Oblivion should post some more screenshots! Have you done anything with character models or just environmental type stuff?

I will definitely do that - I just need to remember to use FRAPS. or figure out internal screenshots, that might be easier.

I replaced all the character models and also added tons of monsters. it's pretty bitchin'. just got murdered yesterday by a random giant out of nowhere, it was awesome. though the Unique Landscapes is my favorite of all the mods, and that's all environmental scenery. there are tons of other ones I haven't tried yet - immersive interiors (you can actually see the outside through windows), natural environments (I think it puts like, more birds and stuff or something?), realistic seasons, etc. but with mods, the more you add the more likely shit is to crash, so I'm slowly adding things in and playing around with them before I add more.

Yuri -- I used Wrye Bash to install pretty much all my mods, but with XEOSP, it says to use OBMM/obse loader -- that means the mods i installed using BAIN won't proc, right?


I installed Xeosp / did everything the readme asks and fired it up using Wrye bash, and my character comes out purple w/ no face but two eyes hovering...blech....

you know, I've actually never installed anything via BAIN, believe it or not. I do use Wrye Bash, but only for the bashed patch. afaik you can still use obse_loader (or any other method of launching) and every mod you have installed via BAIN will still work, because Wrye Bash (as well as any other mod loader) actually makes changes to Oblivion.ini which is what activates the mods.

one thing to try, if you haven't, is using BOSS to sort your load order. that'll make things easier. also, BOSS will tag the mods for Wrye Bash, making the bashed patch process much simpler. not sure if you have used BOSS yet or not but it's an amazing tool.

last thought: manually sort your load order and put xeosp at the end of the load order, even after bashed patch if necessary - that almost always fixes any problems, at the cost of overwriting anything that mod changes. with xeosp, those overwrites aren't likely to affect anything, so it's a good way of making sure the mod is working properly.

if that doesn't work, there may have been an installation issue. I always manually install xeosp, so I don't know how the OBMM version works... let me know if any of this helps though, I am curious.

[Tyr]

xeosp issues

man, it's still not working. firstly, python (i got to fix load orders through wrye bash) crashed my wrye bash, but thankfully obmm was fine, and i sorted my stuff through there. My load order is:

Oblivion.esm
HorseCombatMaster.esm (from Deadly Reflex mod)
Bashed Patch, 0.esp
--UL Environment esps
--Official DLCs
Deadly Reflex 5 Mod x2
xeoex.esp (<=-- the xeosp esp, as instructed)


Everytime I load, my character has purple hands and no face (as with other NPCs)...


also, deadly reflex 5 seems like an awesome mod.

[Yuri-G]

hmm come to think of it, purple surfaces means you have missing textures. don't know why I didn't think of that before. so obviously, changing the load order will do no good, my bad. I imagine a reinstall, possibly without BAIN, would work. I don't know how BAIN loads files and if that would conflict or what, but you seem like you've got a handle on what you're doing - the main goal is to make sure the texture files are there and that the game can recognize them. worst comes to worst, I almost guarantee a fresh install of Oblivion not using BAIN would work (you could still use bashed patch), but that is taking it to the extreme.

let me know if that helped, I am curious.

[Tyr]

hmm come to think of it, purple surfaces means you have missing textures. don't know why I didn't think of that before. so obviously, changing the load order will do no good, my bad. I imagine a reinstall, possibly without BAIN, would work. I don't know how BAIN loads files and if that would conflict or what, but you seem like you've got a handle on what you're doing - the main goal is to make sure the texture files are there and that the game can recognize them. worst comes to worst, I almost guarantee a fresh install of Oblivion not using BAIN would work (you could still use bashed patch), but that is taking it to the extreme.

let me know if that helped, I am curious.

so i think i know what the problem is -- there was a folder that was written in japanese (or chinese text) that I renamed -- it was literally "new folder" (thanks translate.google.com) -- but before the rename, i would always get an error screen loading the file....

[Yuri-G]

weird, that never happened to me. did you download it from the same site I posted? regardless, glad to hear you got it figured out.

[Dammerung]

I might be a little late to the mod discussion, but if you want to heavily mod Oblivion (which imo really improves it significantly and is worth the time) you really must learn how to use the following:

OBMM and WryeBash for enable/disable of mods, sorting them, and for Wyre making a Bashed Patch which basically condenses a number of mod changes into one file to put last in the load order (which gives it priority) to fix conflicts when mods alter the same record. ex: there is a mod that changes 1 npc eye, and another that changes its hair, but normally only one of those would work because the NPC is 1 record, but bashed patch smashes them together so they work with each other.

Also look up BOSS, or if there is a newer one. It's basically a master list of a ton of mods that has been tested and usually puts them in the correct order to avoid conflicts/crashes.

Tes4Edit is going to be your main tool to figure out what is going wrong with mods or how they are conflicting. As the warning says, you shouldn't alter anything with it unless you know what you're doing, but it can be used to find where a particular mod is conflicting with another as it shows you exactly what a mod is doing.

If you also enjoy Fallout/NV, OBMM and Tes4Edit are ported and work in the same way.