Got Oblivion, which mods?

[GiantRedButton]

I just got Oblivion and the shivering isles expansion.
I know that the standard UI is clunky, so some mods will be inevitably.
Could those with more experience tell me what mods i should use, from the thousands that are available?
I value a small UI that covers little screen real estate and immersion.
So escapist, what are oblivion must have addons? what is the best Ui mod?
And since it takes my hours to find the right appearance for my character, can i change the way my character looks after starting the game, like in Fallout 3 (even with a console command)
My screen resolutuion is 1920*1200. Thank you for your help, I'm kind off lost in the behemoth that is the tes nexus site.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[oliveira8]

Here ya go, a nice blog that explains how to install and all that stuff, what mods to get and everything else. Going from simple skins, to quests this blog has it all.

http://amito.freehostia.com/Oblivion/OB-mods.htm

And the blog is always nicely updated, so no worries.

P.S:Not really doing advertising before people jump on me. I find it the most useful guide to Oblivion modding and it's very complete.

 

[Trifixion]

Rather than me retype it all, just look here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Must_Have_Mods [http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Must_Have_Mods]

Also, Hilarity. Has nothing to do with what you were looking for, but how can you not like spells that let you do things like drop horses on people's heads?

 

[gnargle]

OK, so I was in a similar position about 6 months ago. Being the kind soul I am, I'm going to list ALL the mods I have installed. (All of these are worthwhile!)
Kvatch Rebuilt - Questline that allows you to rebuild Kvatch - v. fun!
All the DLC + unofficial patches for the DLC, Knights, Shivering and the game itself. THESE ARE ESSENTIAL.
House Map Markers - allow you to fast travel to your house.
Armory Lab - gives each house a portal on the door to an underground armory/lab/garden. Shared between all the houses. Useful for storing alchemy ingredients, displaying equipment etc.
Quest Award Levelling - levels quest items with you
bedrolls - sleep anywhere
Talos Plaza House - another house in the main city, better than the shack
Clocks of Cyrodiil - adds working clocks!
Frostcrag Reborn - makes the Wizard's Tower add-on about 1000x better
Bravil Sea Domes - adds an underwater house just outside Bravil
Fighter's Guild United - Gives the fighter's guild a uniform.
Akatosh mount - ride a dragon!
Darnified UI - a new UI
Cyrodiil Terrain Map - nicer map
Mida's Spells - a shedload of new spells

I think I also have some custom textures, but they're not a mod file.
There's a thign on the Oblivion wikia with a lit of useful mods, go there if you want more.
PS I sincerely suggest you get the DLC, Shivering Isles IMO was the best part of Oblivion. With the right mods, this game can last forever. Have fun!

 

[cuzant]

Biggest thing for me is just get one or a mixture of the main monster changing mods (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, Marts Monster Mod there are some other as well)They make it soo much better than 'vanilla'. I think they, along with others should be mentioned in the lists above though.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

OK, so I was in a similar position about 6 months ago. Being the kind soul I am, I'm going to list ALL the mods I have installed. (All of these are worthwhile!)
Kvatch Rebuilt - Questline that allows you to rebuild Kvatch - v. fun!
All the DLC + unofficial patches for the DLC, Knights, Shivering and the game itself. THESE ARE ESSENTIAL.
House Map Markers - allow you to fast travel to your house.
Armory Lab - gives each house a portal on the door to an underground armory/lab/garden. Shared between all the houses. Useful for storing alchemy ingredients, displaying equipment etc.
Quest Award Levelling - levels quest items with you
bedrolls - sleep anywhere
Talos Plaza House - another house in the main city, better than the shack
Clocks of Cyrodiil - adds working clocks!
Frostcrag Reborn - makes the Wizard's Tower add-on about 1000x better
Bravil Sea Domes - adds an underwater house just outside Bravil
Fighter's Guild United - Gives the fighter's guild a uniform.
Akatosh mount - ride a dragon!
Darnified UI - a new UI
Cyrodiil Terrain Map - nicer map
Mida's Spells - a shedload of new spells

I think I also have some custom textures, but they're not a mod file.
There's a thign on the Oblivion wikia with a lit of useful mods, go there if you want more.
PS I sincerely suggest you get the DLC, Shivering Isles IMO was the best part of Oblivion. With the right mods, this game can last forever. Have fun!

These are all quality, with the exception of the clocks one (I never used it). In addition, there are a series of one-off mods and expansions that are worth a look. Anything from better character textures and models (many of which will add nudity to the game - fair warning), to doing the same for stock weapons and items in the game. There are plenty of mods that expand the arsenel and whatnot, but none that are particularly worth picking up.

There are also a few that dramatically alter some of the underlying systems of the game. One for example allows for a wider variety of close combat maneuvers and makes combat seem like something out of anime.

There are also a surpring selection of mods that alter the overall atmosphere, from better weather and vegetation effects to adding "features" of an adult nature.

Really, for a decent selection, I'd simply recommend hitting up tesnexus.com and taking a look at the top 100 mods as this provides a pretty good cross section of what is available. Keep in mind however that there are literally thousands of mods to be found. Care must be taken because oblivion is not the most stable game ever made and many of these mods exacerbate the inherent problems.

 

[GiantRedButton]

Thank you alot
I'll review every addon tommorrow.
Btw I aleady bought Shivering Island, insanity is a great theme for games in my opinion.
I'm sure the expirience we'll be greatly enhanced by those mods (and the texture-pack)

 

[Audioave10]

You will need a Strong PC to run many of the massive mods together. "Streamline" is a small
mod that may help your frame rates if you start to get stuttering too much.

 

[Sazzlysarah]

I've only really used texture mods in games to make them look better. I had a bad experince trying to remove a mod that stoped my game working. In my experience, texture mods improve general play experience without risking almost all core files. Although my level of game modding as dropped to low level since I melted my last PC beyond repair.