Username and password are both
The mods are now all uploaded, along with the Construction Set and a couple of other things too. Check out the list for yourselves by clicking the link up there
There are currently 25 files in the database, and I have so far tested most, but not all of them. I'll update this post as and when new mods are tested and uploaded, and when current ones have new releases.
Thanks to Tandino, FatherJack, M4niachicken and anyone else who has helped with the info here, whether they knew that they helped or not!
The mods are all adjustments to game play, or additions of new elements, but none of them are 'uber' mods which distort the game heavily. Its perfectly easy to open the construction set (CS) and create weapons and armour with all sorts of amazing enchantments, but its also boring, so I don't tend to bother.
There are a few mods coming up which look very interesting. For example, one is of a large bookcase with pots on it. You can't pick the pots up, but rather they are containers for alchemy ingredients. Each pot will have the pic of its intended ingredient on it, and it will also have the same name, and there will be one for every ingredient in the game. There was one of these for Morrowind, and it was very useful indeed.
Please let me know of any mods I've missed from this list which you think should be included. If you can write up a little description for it like those below, and point me in the direction of where to get it then I will add it to the list and the database.
The basics of using mods
The first thing to say about using any mod, is back up your save games before you play with a new mod! Many mods are made by people skilled in the use of the CS, and the associated coding that can be added, but some are made by people with less skillz than me, and so have the possibility of fucking up your game royally. If you copy your save games folder somewhere then its easy to reverse any changes. Also, its best to use new mods one at a time so that if it goes wrong, you know which one is guilty.
Installing Mods
The basic element of most mods is an .esp file, otherwise known as an Oblivion Plugin Data File. This file usually contains the data for the mod, and is what you need to activate for the mod to work. You should unzip the mod files so that the .esp file sits in your data directory, i.e.: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data
Some mods have other data too, such as a textures or meshes folder. These folders also need to sit in the data directory, but don't have files you need to activate.
To activate a mod, open the oblivionlauncher.exe, and press the Data Files button below Play. You will be presented with a list of the data files available. To use a mod, simply put a cross in the box next to the name of the ones you want to use and click OK. The mods will then be loaded up next time you play. To disable a mod just uncross the box, but this can occasionally have some funny side-effects with some mods.
Mod Sites
Theres quite a large number of mod sites out there, and some are better than others. The best ones I've found are these three:
The Elder Scrolls Forum
This is the forum attached to the official site, and it is a very active one. There is a forum for mods and modding here, and the majority of mods tend to have a thread here providing info about them, and links to download them. Its also a good place to go for any problems you encounter in the game, because chances are someone else has had a similar issue. A search on this site can be very fruitful.
Oblivion Mod Wiki
This is the main Wiki site for Oblivion mods. As well as an extensive list of available mods, it also has some tools that are useful for modders.
The Elder Scrolls Source
This site is one of the biggest and best sites for mods so far, and seems to be growing at a rapid rate. Mods are sorted by category and are fairly easy to find.
Planet Elder Scrolls
This is another site with a large collection of Oblivion mods, but is slightly harder to browse than some of the others.
Mod Details
This section is the part that will change when mods are updated etc, and I will add the versions we have on the database to the description when I can.
All mods *should* come with a readme file, and generally have a very similar name to their respective esp so that they sit next to one-another in the data directory. Its generally a good idea to read them.
Visual Tweaks
BTmod v2.20
This mod is ace, and its a *must-have*. It changes the menus in-game so that they are actually useful, and you can see a reasonable amount of information on the screen. It changes the standard menu from 6 to 12 items, but can be changed manually if you want. You can also alter the 'zoom' on your map, and the map now fills the screen The file is an auto-installer, and will also put a 'UI Config for dummies' file in the data dir to tell you how to alter the settings to your preferences.
See the Wiki page for screenshots.
Potion Sorter and Spell Ranks
These two mods are very similar in their function, and they categorise potions and spells in order according to their effectiveness. Potions are listed 'Restore Health, dilute; restore health, normal; restore health, potent' in the menu, and spells become Flare, Flare II, Flare III, Flare IV etc in ascending strength. Its a simple change that makes finding what you want a lot easier.
Elven Cartographers
This mod replaces the normal ingame map with a much nicer looking one. There are a few of these mods out there, but in my opinion this is the nicest one.
See the TESSource page for screenshots.
Landscape LOD Texture Replacement
This mod basically improves the texture of the landscape which is farther away. The resolution of the landscape textures was increased, and so there may be a slight perfomance hit from this mod, but it won't be much.
Screenshots at TESSource page
No more annoying messages
This mod eliminates all the pop-up messages you get, including 'Loading Area' and 'Your Horse is Stabled Outside the City Gate'. I don't bother with it myself, but I know some people seem to find the messages annoying, so here you go.
Natural Environments
This mod alters the weather and the water in the game. Water is less 'muddy' than before, and so you can see further when underwater which I personally prefer. It makes it darker during thunder storms, and makes fog a bit more realistic. Its a lot of small tweaks and changes in one bundle, so its best just to try it yourself to see if you like it.
Visual Enchantments
Does exactly what is indicated by the title. This mod adds a more intense visual to an enchanted weapon. A sword with a fire enchant will literally be on fire, same for frost being freezy or shock damage weapons being um… electrickey. It looks very pretty, much prettier than the standard enchantment visuals and hardly rapes your frame rate at all, maybe just an indecent grope, tops. What’s more is that the zip file comes with a choice of three levels of intensity for the aforementioned damage enchants so you can pick and choose (from the included jpegs of each effect – good work that modman) the best combination for you. Like that paint mixer thing in Homebase, only with more elemental death. So far though, it doesn’t appear to work on staves, a real shame considering I have a fucking brilliant Mage’s Staff of Shock…
Gameplay Tweaks
Francescos Leveled Creatures and Items Mod
This mod is another one of my *must-haves*. It reduces the rate at which creatures and NPCs in the game level up, so that when you reach the higher levels you're not fighting bandits decked out in full Daedric armour. It also accordingly reduces the loot you get from looting corpses.
See this topic on the official Oblivion forums for a full breakdown of exactly what it does. This mod is extremely detailed in its working, but makes some very nice changes to the gameplay. It has some optional files which make further adjustments, and its really best to read the original thread to get your head round it all.
No Psychic Guards
This mod changes what happens when you attack or get caught robbing someone. Guards will now only come running if they are 'within earshot' of the person shouting for help. With the original settings, this was 3000 feet, but this brings it down to 1000. For reference, you can hear people talking from 750 feet away.
The additional 'harder' plugin changes what happens to your victims, so if you get caught it lowers their dispostition to you to 0, meaning they may attack you on sight, or run and tell a guard.
Custom Race Fix
This mod adds some custom 'catch-all' dialogue to the first scene of the game in the prison cells, since previously it wouldn't recognise any custom races, and so is vital if using any custom race mods.
Faster Turning Horses
Does what it says on the tin: makes your horses turn faster.
Saddlebags
Sticking with the horse theme, this mod adds a saddlebag function to your steed. When you 'activate' the horse, you're then given the option to mount it as normal or to access the saddlebags. You can then place items in the horse's storage and take them out later. This is handy because it stops you having to head to wherever you stash your equipment inbetween every mine/cave/ruin etc. The horses still have an encumbrance limit, and can't move if you overload them, but you can cast feather or fortify strength spells on them if you're that way inclined and help them out a bit.
Arena Loot
Another simple change - it allows you to take any items from people you defeat during the arena fights. It can give you some very nice gear, but since the items all exist in the game anyway, its not really a cheat mod.
Quest Award Leveling
Now, you may or may not be aware of this, but the prizes you get for completing quests are often scaled to your level at that time. For instance, the Wizard's Fury spell for one of the Mage's Guild missions has a certain power if won at a low level, but if you do the quest later on instead at a higher level, you win a better spell. This mod changes it so that any scaled quest qwards level up as you do too, to what they would have been had you completed it at that level. It works on quests you've already completed, and I've not noticed any incompatability problems with it at all.
Quickstart
This mod skips the beginning tutorial section escaping from the dungeons and sewers, and takes you directly to the end where you can then chose your race/class/birthsign etc etc. Saves an hour or so of gameplay that can be boring once you're starting a new game having already played it.
As a general point, it can be worth playing the tutorial bit through if you're new to the Elder Scrolls series, and the game also really benefits from reading the manual. Unlike most games, it doesn't just repeat what you are shown in the first 10 mins of gameplay, and actually tells you things you probably wouldn't otherwise guess.
Harvest
A simple mod that actually removes the 3D art for flora and fauna from the
game world after it has been searched for ingredients. For example if you were to click on a mushroom then said mushroom would disappear from the game world until the respawn delay (usually 72 hours in-game) has passed. I feel it adds a little extra realism to the world as you actually feel you are harvesting the ingredients. It also stops you from getting confused by the ingredients remaining after you’ve picked them. This also applies to the (non-hairy) clams that can be found at the bottom of most water features.
Attack and Hide
This mod comes in three different flavours, easy, medium and hard. It basically means you can attack an enemy from sneak mode and not automatically be spotted by the creature you’re attacking regardless of whether you move out of their line of site or not. Essentially you can attack someone for your sneak bonus, then leg it to the shadows and not get automatically fisted by a magic boar that can see through walls. I think it adds especially to the sneaky bugger type class. Depending on which version you install it could either be a game breaker or a game maker, definitely worth a look.
Retroactive Health
This clever wee mod changes the way your maximum health is determined.
Usually your maximum health is decided by how early you built up your endurance, the earlier you built it up, the more hit points you’d end up having. I personally focused all my level up points on strength and agility and haven’t bothered too much with endurance so far. The only thing this mod changes, is essentially to balance out which stats you can focus on at lower levels, thus eliminating the need to rush and spend all your points on endurance.
Deadlier Traps
Let’s be honest, the traps you encounter within the caves and dungeons of Cyrodiil are a little piss-poor at best. This mod makes them that little bit more dangerous, i.e. fatal 99% of the time. I feel the original readme author’s words sum it up best ‘This adds realism and suspense to dungeons. No longer will you be able to shrug off the damage from a large spiky ball in the face.’
Items and Spells
Blackjack
This mod adds the blackjack weapon to the game, and is something I think is a great idea. A Thief's best friend is the Blackjack. This weapon isnt one to use in combat, oh no, this is to avoid combat. If you bop someone on the back of the head with this, they will drop like a board and wont wake up as long as you dont hit them, or 10 mintes real-time, whichever happens first. While sapped the victim can be looted (Mugged) or attacked, but attacking a sapped NPC immediately wakes them up. It works on anything with a head to smack, and only works if you are behind them and hit them on the back of their head. Its a Thief Guild Perk, only Thief Guild members may get one and only through their 'friend' in Bruma who now has a few in stock.
Jason's Boat Demo
This mod adds your own Pirate Boat to the game! Its one I haven't tested yet, but I know tandino has used it. Its a great idea, but from what I can gather is still glitchy as hell, and so it may be worth waiting for a more polished version to be released. However, it does have a crow's nest and proof-readers.
Bag of Holding
This mod adds a storage bag which you can use to extend the amount you can carry. You drop the bag, put stuff in it, then pick it up again, and the stuff in the bag no-longer adds to your encumbrance. I've not tested it myself, but see the readme for more details.
Character Generation Amulet
This adds an amulet to the game, which once equipped allow you to change your race, birthsign and class like in the beginning, but with the advantage that unlike the console command it doesn't reset your race. This is very useful if, like me, you get to level 10 and realise you're barely using one or two of your skills, or want to play a different type of character and don't want to have to restart. It eliminates any advancement towards leveling up for individual skills at that point, but other than that has no negative effects. It also works out any changes to attributes due to changed race etc and makes the relevant changes without resetting you to square one again.
Dragon Knight Armour
This adds an alternative set of good heavy armour to the game, so you can have the same protection as from Daedric armour, but without having to look like the spawn of satan. The armour is found in a chest at Cloud Ruler Temple, and is not enchanted in any way.
See the Planet Elder Scrolls page for screenshots.
Cheydinhal Petshop
This mod adds a petshop to Cheydinal, where you can buy a cougar, bear, dog or imp. They start off small, and grow as they level up. They level as you do, and grow every 5 levels. Different pets like different food. I've only played with it briefly, but it looks pretty cool. Read the Wiki page about it for a more detailed description.
Perception
This little beauty adds a spell to your repertoire called ‘Perception’. A quick blast of this will highlight any nearby NPCs (I say nearby, I think it’s pretty much the whole area of the map you’re currently in) with a colour that identifies how many levels above or below you they are – green for an easy kill, read for an impossible kill. Very handy to stop you from getting into battles you aren’t going to finish in a hurry. The spell isn’t hostile either so you aren’t going to get a kicking/bumming for using it.
Arrow Enchanter
Easily one of my favourite mods as a marksman, this adds a couple of items to The Copious Coinpurse in The Imperial City Market District (an arrow enchanter and a little recipe book). Basically, you choose which arrows you currently have on your person and what enchant you would like to perform on them (from a pre-set list) and it takes care of it. It works a lot like standard weapon enchanting only instead of soul gems, it uses a quantity of (usually quite rare) alchemy reagents. For example 25 Dwarven Arrows + 2x Frost salts would give you some pretty hardcore frost damage arrows. The arrows become increasingly more powerful when you get the really good ingredients, I ended up with 25 arrows of silence that stop the enemy from casting any spells for 15 secs. Very handy for the hoarders amongst us who pick up all the random gubbins you see everywhere.
AddSpells
Pretty self explanatory really, this one adds all the spells that were, for some reason, not made available to buy from vendors, they are:
• The Drain Attribute series
• The Damage Attribute series
By no means an essential mod, but one that adds a bit to the game in my humble opinion.
Buildings
This type of mod generally adds free buildings for your character to call home, and theres loads of them available. They range from small and simple cottages to full-blown castles. These are just the two that I've used, but I'm actually using the house I bought in Skingrad as my main base now.
Skingrad Cottage
This cottage is a small but nicely made one just to the north west of Skingrad. It has its own fast-travel marker on the map, once you've 'discovered' it for the first time. It only has a little amount of storage, and is aimed at lower level players who haven't yet gathered much loot. It also has a bed for leveling up. Pics of it have featured in a thread elsewhere in this forum. One issue I noticed is that some of the containers 'respawn' meaning that after 3 days, the loot you stashed disappears and is replaced by the three bits of cloth or whatever that were in there before. This is a common mistake in house mods, and is one of the reasons I'm currently using one of the houses designed into the game as a player's home. FatherJack has tested the containers and decided on the following:
Safe:
Both chests
The drawers near the chest with the scales on
The bag at the foot of the bed
The bag on top of the cupboard by the bed
Not safe:
The desk
Either cupboard
Bridgeview House
This house is situated just by Wanet Inn at the end of the bridge leading out of the Imperial City. Its a very simple house with little in the way of decoration, but it is functional. It has about 8 storage chests, and a bed for leveling up. It doesn't have a fast-travel marker, but is right next to an Inn which does.
DJTHouse
I know, there’re only so many house mods you need, but I liked this one in particular because it has its own kind of mini quest. The mod adds a house in the Waterfront District of the Imperial City, built atop a cemetery of all places. Basically the house is yours on one condition – you clear it of the ghosts and zomombies that currently reside within it (no urban dead 5punkers from what I could tell). I did this quest at a very low level, 2 or 3 I think so I’m not sure how it will pan out for the higher levels but it was fun at the time! The house comes fully equipped with all the mod cons: Bed for levelling, plenty of storage space, a roaring fire, bookshelves and even an archery range and a couple of practice dummies in the basement. Worth a look if you don’t want to have to travel to Skingrad every time you need a kip.
