Modding Oblivion into the game I was hoping for

[Lucern]

Yeah, this is another mod thread, but the focus is a bit different from Shammy's. I wanted to bring everyone's attention to the fact that Oblivion, through its modding community, is capable of being moulded into a fairly hardcore RPG. I was a bit let down by the game after the shock of its presentation wore off, and modding really revived the game for me. I'm having a blast with it.

I'm currently playing in a world that's a lot closer to Arx Fatalis and Morrowind than the original game, and though I have no intention of listing all of the mods I use - your idea of a respectable RPG is different from mine - I just wanted to post something that will direct people towards a more challenging, more complex, and more rewarding RPG than they started with.

For starters: there are over 4,000 Oblivion mods (!!!) here: http://www.mwsource.com/

Okay, so like 1500 of those are "a hot breton face at start" and tons of ridiculous cheating items, but there's a LOT of interesting stuff there.

There's also an Oblivion Mod Wiki that I started with, on the recommended mods page: http://www.tescreens.be/oblivionmodw...commended:Mods

I use about 50% of those, but Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO) is easily the most ground-shaking in its changes, and it comes very modular - as in, you pick which features you want (there's even a low poly environment version or you old-oblivion-ers [img]smile.gif[/img] ). It's my base mod, though apparently some people like "Francescos Leveled Creatures Items Mod" instead, which also makes sweeping changes. I haven't taken the time to see what it actually does, because the author's explanation is ill-suited to convey any kind of explanation. OOO puts an end to creatures and treasure being scaled to you. Instead the monsters appear more or less to get harder and harder the further one goes away from the cities, and the further one is into a dungeon, and the rewards are scaled to the creatures. This opens up the world to exploration...it's pretty fun to have no idea what you're getting into when you open the door of a dungeon. Last night I found myself running in terror from a pack of skeletons lead by a spectral knight, who, I'm almost positive, came through the wall! It also changes tons of other stuff, very much in line with a more RPG-like experience.

BT Mod seems to be a stardard - it makes the interface and menu system more like a CRPG than a console game.

Before you get started, you'll want OBMM, the Oblivion Mod Manager. I haven't found that it makes installing mods any easier (just copy to 'Data' in most cases), but it does let you set the order in which Oblivion runs the mods. This is brilliant, and my 120 or so mods work almost flawlessly as far as I've seen. Put the complex ones early, and the minimal ones at the end.

There are also more and more mods that use the Oblivion Script Extender that seem to be able to do things I thought were hard coded. I haven't gotten into them yet, but I will. One adds the Morrowind skill-list to the game, for example. Another adds creature language skills so that if you're charismatic, you might end fights that way rather than by the sword.

There are lots of mods that make the game more 'realistic', like one that puts some economic elements into the game through a supply and demand kind of code. Another implements the need to eat and sleep (and another adds portable bedrolls to make this less of a burden). One of my favorites is an encumbrance mod that lets you move when you're over-encumbered at a penalty to fatigue (and an option to penalize you for being anywhere near your max carrying capacity too). Another adds weight to gold and a way to store it. Unarmored combat a la Morrowind is tied to acrobatics skills with one mod. There's a mod that ups the AI of enemies in combat to be less direct and predictable, though some more work there would't hurt. I've got all this going, which makes the game feel more like a hardcore RPG. Oh, and capes and cloaks and polearms are making a comeback. Just give me thrown weapons and a crossbow and it'll actuall feel like the sequel to Morrowind.

The main limits seem to be that surprisingly few modders understand how to use the editing tools to create new places, and Bethesda didn't give the mod community a way to add models to the game. Monster and race mods are mostly retextures as of now. Lame.

[SpiritWarrior]

Yeah Oblivion is horrible to play out of the box. I am let down honestly. I was a bit knocked back by the presentational effect also at first so didn't want to see it. Only when I went back to it did I finally see it is horribly lacking for the PC and isn't the RPG I expected.

[Sever]

If there's one regret i have with Morrowind and Oblivion, it's that i never took the time to learn how to use the Editor. Generally speaking, i can find mods that "just about" fit my ideas on what kind of rpg Morrowind could (and Oblivion should) have been, but either they clash with other mods i already use, introduce too many changes that i don't want, or just fall too short of the mark. If i had the time to learn, i'd have the means to customise my own rpg out of the one that comes closest to my liking. But i don't. I think many people fall into the same category.

[Sever]

Please excuse the necromancy, but i thought it appropriate to announce this one mod: Modular Oblivion Enhanced r17. Like Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, it has many components which may be installed (or not) to suit tastes and all are well thought out and implemented. I got it for the Lichcraft and the ability to postpone the MQ. Browse the readme in the link and i'm sure there's something to pique your interests and get you playing Oblivion again. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]