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About this mod
For those newer to modding or who simply want to update the core game visuals without hours of downloading and troubleshooting, this guide will show what I believe to be the basics. Once you are comfortable with these files and settings, feel free to move on to a more extensive guide, such as Bevilex Modlist.
- Permissions and credits
Updated 6/13/20 to add more detail.
This is intended as a relatively quick and easy guide to get you familiar with downloading and installing mods, to give the game a more modern look without spending hours sifting through a flood of downloads. It's also for those, like myself, that can't leave well enough alone when you dip a toe into modding, which is why I have yet to finish any of the Elder Scrolls or Fallout games. Once you are comfortable with what you have, I suggest browsing through Bevilex's Modlist to see what else you would like to add.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Start by installing the game fresh (someplace other than the Program Files folder). Launch it once to set ultra high preset, HDR, No antialiasing, and your preferred screen resolution. Keep in mind if you have previously installed the game, Steam will not delete the files in c:/mydocuments/mygames/oblivion, so you should delete that folder to clear any files previous mods or ini settings left behind.
(Be sure to back up any save games you want to keep.)
You may also want to make a copy of a virgin /steamlibrary/steamapps/common/Oblivion folder as a backup.
Before modding I recommend beginning a new character, getting to the gate at the end of the sewers and saving right before you exit. This way you will have a clean save with no mods just before you finalize character selection. It may be beneficial to have another save outside on the dock, and in the imperial city so you can quickly access a few different places to see if mods are loading properly from an unmodded save file.
The only mod manager we'll be using is Wrye Bash, which may look complicated, but it does all the work for us.
Wrye Bash Standalone Executable. I install this into a steamlibrary/oblivion mods/mopy folder.
BOSS to sort our mods in Wrye Bash after installing them. Can also be installed into the /oblivion mods or /Mopy folder. The executable is in Boss/bin/Release-64 (or 32 if you are running a 32 bit version of windows) and then boss_gui.exe.
(Mod Organizer 2 is viable as well, but it does not negate the need for either of the programs above. It includes extra steps, and in my experience it overrode some of the ENB effects due to loading all the other mods after the ENB. It will however leave your Oblivion folder untouched if you don't want to make a backup copy or re-download the 5gb game files.)
Launch Wrye Bash, click the installers tab, and click Yes if prompted. This is the tab you will drag and install all your downloads to/from. Alternatively, you can drag them into /Oblivion Mods/Bash Installers and they will show up here.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Next, we'll need the script extender to make mod plugins function correctly.
OBSE 0021. Install the appropriate version (Steam/GoG/Retail) per instructions. For Steam Users, select the Data Folder, and the 3 .dll files and drag them to your /Oblivion Folder. For Gog/Retail Users, drag the Data Folder, both .dll's, and the OBSE_Loader.exe instead of the steam loader .dll.
Apply the 4gb patch to the /Oblivion/oblivion.exe file.
4GB Ram Patcher
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The only other files we will install into the root /Oblivion folder will be an ENB. You can install it now and try it out to see what the vanilla game looks like with it loaded, and/or what the performance hit will be, or you can install an ENB at any point later in the process.
Base ENB for Oblivion, you only need one file from this download. Simply drag the d3d9.dll from the Wrapper folder into the root /Oblivion folder.
Monkey ENB plus the Oblivion Reloaded Settings file. Copy all of these files/folders into your root /Oblivion folder.
**If Monkey ENB is not available, try Simple ENB or Cinematic ENB**
Note regarding ENB's: I seemed to have inconsistencies with the ENB indoor brightness, perhaps due to Immersive Interiors or All Natural. To change indoor/outdoor settings, press Shift/Enter to bring up the ENB menu, scroll down to AmbientlightintensityDay, AmbientlightintensityNight, AmbientlightintesityInterior settings and move them to suit your monitor and preferences. I am running about .75 for night and .10 interior (pitch black, throw fireballs to see).
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From here on, everything will be installed into the /Oblivion/Data folder, either through Wrye Bash, or manually.
Download these OBSE plugins and manually install them into the Data/OBSE/Plugins folder (create one if it doesn't exist yet):
Oblivion Stutter Remover 4-1-37 with the .ini and .dll's from OSR Optimized Multi Core 2. I set bManageFPS=1 and 30fps for 4k, or leave it at 0 for 1080p.
Engine Bug Fixes
Blockhead. Needed for the character overhaul.
MenuQue v16b
Pluggy Dev128 - Required for the mod to get Darnified UI changes to save, and Map Marker Overhaul.
Walkblessed Optional, adds diagonal movement.
As a result, your Data/OBSE/Plugins folder should contain:
ComponentDLLs Folder (from OSR Optimized Multi Core 2)
MenuQue Folder
Blockhead.dll
EngineBugFixes.dll
EngineBugFixes.ini
MenuQue.dll
OBSE_Elys_Pluggy.dll
OBSE_Elys_Pluggy.dlx
OBSE_Kyoma_MenuQue.dll
sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.dll
sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.ini
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Next, we'll run Wrye Bash, click the installers tab, click Yes to let it prepare the game, and drag these files from your downloads folder to the installers tab (I let Wrye Bash move them rather than copy). To install the mods once they're in the installers tab, right click and choose "Install". If there is a wand next to it, the wizard should automatically run.
Unofficial Oblivion Patch You can uncheck the vampire fix.esp since Wrye Bash does that automatically with the Bashed Patch.
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
Unofficial DLC Patches
Better Saves - Changes autosaves to full saves, also saves on a timer.
Toggleable Quantity Prompt Updated To sell single items quickly (Left stick+Right Trigger).
Now on to the texture updates and mods:
Qarl's Texture Pack III Redimized and the Patch for UOP
Bomret's Texture Pack for Shivering Isles
Improved Trees and Flora, Improved Trees and Flora 2, Improved Doors and Flora. Since there are a couple small updates for each of these flora mods, I personally downloaded all of them, extracted to a temp folder, let each one overwrite the previous one if necessary, then created a new zip file to drag into Wrye Bash. This will save time if you mess up and have to start over.
Alive Waters Original When you click on it in Wrye Bash, uncheck the .esp's so it only installs the textures. Then Grass Fix 1 and Grass Fix 2.
Alive Waters Updated No Fish version.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
Weather All Natural - Run the wizard and choose your preferences. I recommend 50% darker nights, though it can be edited later as well. If you do not plan to use an Enb at the end, I also recommend downloading Subtle Sunshine, since this mod will mute the default sun luminance.
Immersive Interiors
Immersive Interiors Imperial City
Immersive Interiors Bravil and Leyawiin
Immersive Interiors Landscape Addon
Animated Window Lighting System
Improved Moons Otherwise the sky texture ends up in front of the moons.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
Mesh Improvement Project
Oblivion Character Overhaul
Seamless for OCO
Coronerras Skeleton. If you downloaded the nude version of Seamless OCO.
This spoiler will be optional mods once you are comfortable with the process:
DarNified Bain Wizard with this Save Config Addon. During the wizard, choose "All", then leave everything unchecked, then Default, Apply these selections, and Finish. Be sure to check "Darnified Books" under the Tweak Assorted tab when you build the Bashed Patch. Spoiler has Darnified font install instructions:
Map Marker Overhaul For marking which locations are cleared or simply visited.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
Oblivion Reloaded Lite
This is the current recommended version of Oblivion Reloaded, as 7.1 full version makes changes that conflict with ENB's. Oblivion Reloaded adds new water/skin/terrain shaders, as well as shadows and some additional gameplay enhancements.
Once all of these mods are installed, run BOSS to sort them, and right click the Bashed Patch, then select Rebuild Bashed Patch (with darnified books under Tweak Assorted). This is a small enough mod list that you should be safe to install them without any major crash-to-desktop issues.
Lastly, to play with a controller, try my Xbox Controller config for the JoytoKey Program.
Then the settings I use for in-game draw distances are Actor 40%, Item 15%, Object 60%.
Finally, you will want to make these adjustments to mygames/oblivion/oblivion.ini:
bUseJoystick=0 (necessary for joytokey to function properly)
bUsewaterdisplacements=0 (will cause issues with water shaders)
buseRefractijavascript-event-stripped0 (eliminates the stutter around oblivion gates and some spellcasting due to not using the refraction squiggles)
fLightLOD2=6000.0000 (Both of these make light sources appear from further away)
fLightLOD1=4000.0000
bUseWaterReflectijavascript-event-stripped1 (adds trees to the water reflections)
fDlgFocus=3.8000 (Less zoomed in dialog conversations)
RAEVWD is not recommended, as much as I would like to, but I wanted to mention it. Same with TES4LODGEN. Installing only the core and Ayleid Ruins and forts will cost about 20fps. I am running a very old Phenom2 x6 processor and a GTX 1060, so if you have a beefier system and would like to try it, do so at the end, and then run TESLODGEN. RAEVWD creates distant objects, then TES4LODGEN actually places them on the distant terrain you see out in the world. You do not have to rebuild the bashed patch to try this out, just remember if you uninstall it, delete the Data/DistantLOD folder completely.
This is intended as a relatively quick and easy guide to get you familiar with downloading and installing mods, to give the game a more modern look without spending hours sifting through a flood of downloads. It's also for those, like myself, that can't leave well enough alone when you dip a toe into modding, which is why I have yet to finish any of the Elder Scrolls or Fallout games. Once you are comfortable with what you have, I suggest browsing through Bevilex's Modlist to see what else you would like to add.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Start by installing the game fresh (someplace other than the Program Files folder). Launch it once to set ultra high preset, HDR, No antialiasing, and your preferred screen resolution. Keep in mind if you have previously installed the game, Steam will not delete the files in c:/mydocuments/mygames/oblivion, so you should delete that folder to clear any files previous mods or ini settings left behind.
(Be sure to back up any save games you want to keep.)
You may also want to make a copy of a virgin /steamlibrary/steamapps/common/Oblivion folder as a backup.
Before modding I recommend beginning a new character, getting to the gate at the end of the sewers and saving right before you exit. This way you will have a clean save with no mods just before you finalize character selection. It may be beneficial to have another save outside on the dock, and in the imperial city so you can quickly access a few different places to see if mods are loading properly from an unmodded save file.
-----Prep and core game utilities/fixes----
The only mod manager we'll be using is Wrye Bash, which may look complicated, but it does all the work for us.
Wrye Bash Standalone Executable. I install this into a steamlibrary/oblivion mods/mopy folder.
BOSS to sort our mods in Wrye Bash after installing them. Can also be installed into the /oblivion mods or /Mopy folder. The executable is in Boss/bin/Release-64 (or 32 if you are running a 32 bit version of windows) and then boss_gui.exe.
(Mod Organizer 2 is viable as well, but it does not negate the need for either of the programs above. It includes extra steps, and in my experience it overrode some of the ENB effects due to loading all the other mods after the ENB. It will however leave your Oblivion folder untouched if you don't want to make a backup copy or re-download the 5gb game files.)
Launch Wrye Bash, click the installers tab, and click Yes if prompted. This is the tab you will drag and install all your downloads to/from. Alternatively, you can drag them into /Oblivion Mods/Bash Installers and they will show up here.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Next, we'll need the script extender to make mod plugins function correctly.
OBSE 0021. Install the appropriate version (Steam/GoG/Retail) per instructions. For Steam Users, select the Data Folder, and the 3 .dll files and drag them to your /Oblivion Folder. For Gog/Retail Users, drag the Data Folder, both .dll's, and the OBSE_Loader.exe instead of the steam loader .dll.
Apply the 4gb patch to the /Oblivion/oblivion.exe file.
4GB Ram Patcher
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The only other files we will install into the root /Oblivion folder will be an ENB. You can install it now and try it out to see what the vanilla game looks like with it loaded, and/or what the performance hit will be, or you can install an ENB at any point later in the process.
Base ENB for Oblivion, you only need one file from this download. Simply drag the d3d9.dll from the Wrapper folder into the root /Oblivion folder.
Monkey ENB plus the Oblivion Reloaded Settings file. Copy all of these files/folders into your root /Oblivion folder.
**If Monkey ENB is not available, try Simple ENB or Cinematic ENB**
Note regarding ENB's: I seemed to have inconsistencies with the ENB indoor brightness, perhaps due to Immersive Interiors or All Natural. To change indoor/outdoor settings, press Shift/Enter to bring up the ENB menu, scroll down to AmbientlightintensityDay, AmbientlightintensityNight, AmbientlightintesityInterior settings and move them to suit your monitor and preferences. I am running about .75 for night and .10 interior (pitch black, throw fireballs to see).
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From here on, everything will be installed into the /Oblivion/Data folder, either through Wrye Bash, or manually.
Download these OBSE plugins and manually install them into the Data/OBSE/Plugins folder (create one if it doesn't exist yet):
Oblivion Stutter Remover 4-1-37 with the .ini and .dll's from OSR Optimized Multi Core 2. I set bManageFPS=1 and 30fps for 4k, or leave it at 0 for 1080p.
Engine Bug Fixes
Blockhead. Needed for the character overhaul.
MenuQue v16b
Pluggy Dev128 - Required for the mod to get Darnified UI changes to save, and Map Marker Overhaul.
Walkblessed Optional, adds diagonal movement.
As a result, your Data/OBSE/Plugins folder should contain:
ComponentDLLs Folder (from OSR Optimized Multi Core 2)
MenuQue Folder
Blockhead.dll
EngineBugFixes.dll
EngineBugFixes.ini
MenuQue.dll
OBSE_Elys_Pluggy.dll
OBSE_Elys_Pluggy.dlx
OBSE_Kyoma_MenuQue.dll
sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.dll
sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.ini
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Next, we'll run Wrye Bash, click the installers tab, click Yes to let it prepare the game, and drag these files from your downloads folder to the installers tab (I let Wrye Bash move them rather than copy). To install the mods once they're in the installers tab, right click and choose "Install". If there is a wand next to it, the wizard should automatically run.
Unofficial Oblivion Patch You can uncheck the vampire fix.esp since Wrye Bash does that automatically with the Bashed Patch.
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch
Unofficial DLC Patches
Better Saves - Changes autosaves to full saves, also saves on a timer.
Toggleable Quantity Prompt Updated To sell single items quickly (Left stick+Right Trigger).
-----Texture Mods and Enhancements----
Now on to the texture updates and mods:
Qarl's Texture Pack III Redimized and the Patch for UOP
Bomret's Texture Pack for Shivering Isles
Improved Trees and Flora, Improved Trees and Flora 2, Improved Doors and Flora. Since there are a couple small updates for each of these flora mods, I personally downloaded all of them, extracted to a temp folder, let each one overwrite the previous one if necessary, then created a new zip file to drag into Wrye Bash. This will save time if you mess up and have to start over.
Alive Waters Original When you click on it in Wrye Bash, uncheck the .esp's so it only installs the textures. Then Grass Fix 1 and Grass Fix 2.
Alive Waters Updated No Fish version.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
Weather All Natural - Run the wizard and choose your preferences. I recommend 50% darker nights, though it can be edited later as well. If you do not plan to use an Enb at the end, I also recommend downloading Subtle Sunshine, since this mod will mute the default sun luminance.
Immersive Interiors
Immersive Interiors Imperial City
Immersive Interiors Bravil and Leyawiin
Immersive Interiors Landscape Addon
Animated Window Lighting System
Improved Moons Otherwise the sky texture ends up in front of the moons.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
Mesh Improvement Project
Oblivion Character Overhaul
Seamless for OCO
Coronerras Skeleton. If you downloaded the nude version of Seamless OCO.
This spoiler will be optional mods once you are comfortable with the process:
Spoiler:
Show
DarNified Bain Wizard with this Save Config Addon. During the wizard, choose "All", then leave everything unchecked, then Default, Apply these selections, and Finish. Be sure to check "Darnified Books" under the Tweak Assorted tab when you build the Bashed Patch. Spoiler has Darnified font install instructions:
Spoiler:
Show
Map Marker Overhaul For marking which locations are cleared or simply visited.
****************Stop here, sort with Boss, build a Bashed patch, and load into the game to make sure there are no issues.*******************
-----Game Renderer Enhancements----
Oblivion Reloaded Lite
This is the current recommended version of Oblivion Reloaded, as 7.1 full version makes changes that conflict with ENB's. Oblivion Reloaded adds new water/skin/terrain shaders, as well as shadows and some additional gameplay enhancements.
Spoiler:
Show
Once all of these mods are installed, run BOSS to sort them, and right click the Bashed Patch, then select Rebuild Bashed Patch (with darnified books under Tweak Assorted). This is a small enough mod list that you should be safe to install them without any major crash-to-desktop issues.
Lastly, to play with a controller, try my Xbox Controller config for the JoytoKey Program.
Then the settings I use for in-game draw distances are Actor 40%, Item 15%, Object 60%.
Finally, you will want to make these adjustments to mygames/oblivion/oblivion.ini:
bUseJoystick=0 (necessary for joytokey to function properly)
bUsewaterdisplacements=0 (will cause issues with water shaders)
buseRefractijavascript-event-stripped0 (eliminates the stutter around oblivion gates and some spellcasting due to not using the refraction squiggles)
fLightLOD2=6000.0000 (Both of these make light sources appear from further away)
fLightLOD1=4000.0000
bUseWaterReflectijavascript-event-stripped1 (adds trees to the water reflections)
fDlgFocus=3.8000 (Less zoomed in dialog conversations)
-----Notable mention for taking screenshots----
RAEVWD is not recommended, as much as I would like to, but I wanted to mention it. Same with TES4LODGEN. Installing only the core and Ayleid Ruins and forts will cost about 20fps. I am running a very old Phenom2 x6 processor and a GTX 1060, so if you have a beefier system and would like to try it, do so at the end, and then run TESLODGEN. RAEVWD creates distant objects, then TES4LODGEN actually places them on the distant terrain you see out in the world. You do not have to rebuild the bashed patch to try this out, just remember if you uninstall it, delete the Data/DistantLOD folder completely.