User:Wrye/A's List of Recommended Mods

Contents

This article is a (frozen) Authored List. General editors may make technical corrections (fix links, note updated versions, solved problems), but may not change the subjective content of the list. In other words: You may fix links, note updated versions, solved problems, etc. You may not edit, extend or remove subjective judgments in the list. Any added notes should appear in italics at the end of existing text, and should be kept as short as possible.

Review/Archiving Note

This page is an Archive of A's List of Recommended Mods by Aelius.

• A's List of Recommended Mods was probably the list of Oblivion mods for quite a while and is still very well regarded (despite not having been updated since August 2007). The list has been copied here in order to update links (mostly to reflect move from TesSource to TesNexus) and note the release of new versions.
• Keep in mind that this list is somewhat outdated and will become more so over time. For links to other lists, see Recommended Mods.

Introduction

This is a list of the mods that I feel are the best of the many thousands available. Before we list some mods, what use would it be without knowing what a mod does? Or how to make one work? For anyone unfamiliar with mods, read this first.

If you wish to put my list in your browser's Favourites, you may want to do so with my Google Pages list. Since it's not a forum, you don't have to worry about changing links "every 200 posts" :) But just note that there's a lot of updates happening all of the time, so the Google Pages list might be a few days behind the forum list here.

Throughout this list the term "Vanilla Oblivion" is used frequently, or simply "vanilla". Vanilla Oblivion is Oblivion without the addition of any mods.

BallOfFire has a mod list, similar to mine, but on a smaller scale. You can find it here, and you may also find some mods that I don't have listed :)

Be sure to check the top of this page for the updates, that way you can easily see what mods have been added in the last few weeks. This way, you don't have to sift through the list, trying to remember what mods you've already seen.

Be sure to download Oblivion Mod Manager, which is almost essential for texture mods.

If you have the Shivering Isles expansion then be sure to download this, unless you have the Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch, which already fixes it. It's a fix for a bug that is present in all SI games. Speaking of Shivering Isles, I do not own that expansion, nor do I ever plan on owning it. In turn, I will not be adding any mods designed for use exclusively with Shivering Isles unless it is absolutely necessary, such as the one linked above.

As of May 4th, I've made this list much more user friendly for newcomers, much thanks to Jaga Telesin's idea. I've colour coded some arrows that I put before each mod.

• § My personal favourites.
• † Mods that are popular in the community.
• ‡ Outstanding mods, simply must-haves.

Misc. Additions

• Anywhere Sitable - This mod adds the ability to sit anywhere you want! Compatible with OOO.
• Backpacks - This nifty mod adds a backpack that is visible on the character's back. Attached to it is various adventurer's gear. Apparently, the backpack has very little clipping with objects such as quivers or hair.
• Bedrolls and Tents - This mod adds a tent and a bedroll that you can carry around and place wherever you'd like.
• Bone Grind - This mod allows you to use a pestle & mortar to grind bones into bonemeal.
• Capsized Ship - This mod adds a capsized ship near the Anvil coast. It's a very cool idea, to be honest. The entire ship, when inside, is upside down. Yep! So to look at the floor you need to move your mouse up. Very neat indeed.
• Clocks of Cyrodiil § - This mod adds dozens of working clocks to the gameworld. Including clocktowers in which you can even walk inside! The clocks work regardless of your timescale.
• Complete Gardening - For those who love to garden, now you can plant things in game!
• Creature Language Skills: Have you ever wanted an alternative to fighting creatures? This mod allows you to tame most creatures. But it's not that easy, you have to gain skill in the language of the creature before you can effectively communicate with it. Incompatible with OOO.
• Crowded Roads - If you think the roads are too bare, this mod adds many NPCs that travel on the roads.
• Cyrodiil Transportation Network - For those who miss some of the ways you can travel in Morrowind. Includes Mage Guild Guides, Ships, Horse Carriage, Divine Intervention and Mark and Recall.
• Daggerfall Books § - This mod adds books from Daggerfall. Rejoice, lore lovers! Compatible with OOO.
• Dungeon Actors Have Torches - Have you ever wondered how NPCs in a cave or a dungeon actually see? This mod adds a 75% chance that an NPC in a dungeon will wield a torch. Vampires, Dremora, Undead, Ghosts and Khajiits, of course, are exempt from this. NPCs that wield shields or two-handed weapons will have their weapon/shield sheathed, but once combat initiates they will drop the torch and grab their weapon. Only NPCs with a free hand available will wield a torch while in combat.
• Excalibur's Bandage Mod § - This mod adds a new "bandage" item to the game. The bandage, when applied, heals the character over 10 seconds. The bandage cannot be used in combat. This mod is a good alternative for people like me who want an alternative to magic/resting for healing when outside combat.
• Exterior Actors Have Torches - This mod presents a 60% chance that an NPC who is outdoors at night will wield a torch. If the NPC is supposed to wield a shield or claymore, the mod has them put away their weapons until an enemy (such as the player) comes into view, at which point they'll drop the torch and grab their weapon.
• Fuse's Fruit Machine - This fun little mod adds a "slot machine" to an inn within Skingrad. It functions just like a slot machine functions in our world.
• Fuse's Snail Racing: This mod adds a little stable near the Imperial City where you can bet money on the snail races that take place there. Here's a video showing how it's done.
• Get Wet - This mod adds visible rain drops on NPC's faces and the character's face whenever they enter rain and/or a water source like a river.
• Grow Plants - This mod adds the ability for the player to plant their own flora! So you can make your very own garden! Compatible with OOO.
• Imperial Horse Armour - If you have the Horse Armour official plugin, this mod makes Imperial Horses wear steel armour. Compatible with OOO.
• Keychain ‡ - So you can store all your keys together! Compatible with OOO.
• Let the People Drink! - This mod adds an aquaduct for the Imperial City, as well as many fountains throughout.
• moDem's City Life - This mod adds 155 new NPCs to every city in the game, including voice-acted children!
• Morrowind Books § - Same as Daggerfall Books, except it contains Morrowind books. Compatible with OOO.
• Morrowind Ingredients - This mod adds dozens of ingredients from Morrowind that you can buy from merchants (but not harvest in the world).
• Myths and Legends † - This mod adds many weapons to the game, all of which have a story behind them. A story that you'll have to follow if you wish to find these weapons. Unfortunately, the author(s) almost ruined it, in my opinion, by adding impractical weaponry. Still a good mod... but easily could be better.
• Obico's Ingredient Increaser - This mod adds many Alchemy ingredients to the game, including Lion Meat and Clannfear Claw, among others. Incompatible with OOO.
• Oblivion Cats - Adds cats in the game that roam around town! Compatible with OOO.
• Packhorse - This mod adds a horse that will act as a packmule for the character. This horse that can be bought in Anvil can be told to either wait or follow. Compatible with OOO.
• Q Moldy Ingredients - How does that apple stay fresh in that grimy sewer barrel? This mod adds some moldy ingredients to many containers outdoors. Compatible with OOO, as long as it is loaded before.
• Qarl's Harvest - This mod adds apple and orange trees throughout Cyrodiil (the fruit is fully havok'd) as well as makes various things harvestable, such as flower bouquets and hay stacks, and adds the ability to feed your horse the hay, to heal it.
• Risky Inn Beds - This mod adds a small chance that the player will contract a disease when sleeping in low-class inn beds.
• Shipwreck - This mod adds a wrecked ship near the Anvil coast, underwater. Complete with dead crewmen, too!
• Tabaxi Race - This mod adds a new race, called the Tabaxi. Kind of a mix between Khajiit and Imperial. Wonderful textures, and even a background too.

Misc. Changes/Removals

• 100% Harvest Chance - This mod makes it impossible to fail a harvest. How do you "fail" to pick up a leaf anyway?
• Alternative Start Arrive by Ship § - Somewhat like Morrowind's beginning, this mod puts the player on a ship, either in Anvil or the Imperial City, instead of the prison. The main quest is still intact, of course.
• At Home Alchemy - This mod allows you to set down your alchemy apparatuses and use them while they're set down. In other words, you needn't carry your alchemy equipment with you, just leave it at home.
• Better Letters - This mod makes use of the love letters and recipes etc. that you find in game. Compatible with OOO.
• Char-gen With Numbers - When you make a character, the different sliders now have a corresponding number. Compatible with OOO.
• Combat Sounds § - This mod improves almost all combat sounds so that they're much more realistic.
• Custom Race Fix - This mod is essential for anyone using a custom race, otherwise you will not be able to get past your jail cell.
• Encumbrance x1.5: Much simpler than More Realistic Encumbrance mod, simply makes you carry 50% more than default.
• Everlasting Corpses - Who picked up those dead corpses you left for dead in that cave a week ago? This mod makes corpses everlasting. Incompatible with OOO.
• Guild Skill Requirements - Think it's odd that your poor level 2 character is able to join the Dark Brotherhood? Try this. Compatible with OOO, even though conflict detectors say otherwise. There's just one little problem with some NPC in Anvil, just load this mod after.
• Lighter Alchemy Ingredients - Do you like to store alchemy ingredients in your backpack for later use, but worried about being bogged down by the weight of them? Try this. This mod is already included with OOO, so if you use OOO then do not download this mod.
• More Merchant Money Balanced - Gives merchants more than a mere 2000 gold, but unlike other mods that give merchants 50,000+ gold, this mod balances it for realism.
• More Realistic Emcumbrance Mod - Carrying 20 sets of armour and 10 swords in your backpack? Struggling to get back to town to sell that loot? You then pick up an apple, for you are hungry. Oh, crap! I just got crushed under all that weight! I have to drop some of this Daedric armour now, unless I want to stand here encumbered... Well, this mod fixes that. It's a rather complex mod, that involves different stages of encumbrance, and some other stuff, I don't even understand, the readme may help you though.
• No Fast Travel - Too tempting to fast travel? Here, this might help. Compatible with OOO.
• Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul § - A mod that changes many sounds in game for more realism and immersion. Compatible with OOO.
• Open Cities Complete † - Make almost every city like a Morrowind city where you can walk right in without that loading screen. If this mod is used with OOO, then there will be no female guards except in the Imperial City. Otherwise it is conflict free with OOO. Update: OOO female guards now work with Open Cities. See compatibility patch on same page as Open Cities download.
• Pekka's Oblivion Painting Exchanger - This mod changes the game's default wall paintings into some actual screenshots of the game.
• Real Lights - This mod removes almost all of the fake lights in the game (ones that don't cast light) and replaces them with lights that actually do cast light.
• Realistic Physics and Force §‡ - Realistically, enemies don't fly back wildly when you kill them. This mod changes that.
• Salmo the Baker - This mod makes Salmer the Baker actually sell his bread. The mod also adds various other breads and pastries.
• Traveller's Inns - This mod makes chests within inn's non-respawnable so you can store your stuff overnight without fear of the game deleting it.

New Buildings/Lands

• This site, by Shezrie, called "Oblivion's Real Estate" is a site dedicated to listing the various mods for houses and such. I've included some of them below (although the ones below are not exclusively from Oblivion Real Estate) that stand out from the rest, to me.
• Anvil Bay Expansion - This mod adds many new buildings and NPCs to Anvil's docks.
• Bank of Cyrodiil §‡ - Adds a bank to the Imperial City where you can store your money or items, or even rob someone else's if you're cunning enough! Compatible with OOO.
• Imperial Library § - Adds a library! Two floors of books! Compatible with OOO.
• Kumiko Manor - The original homes in Cyrodiil just not doing it for you? Looking for a place that has it all, and more? Well look no further! The prestigious Kumiko family has decided to leave Cyrodiil for their summer home in Morrowind; and their manor at Topal Bay must be sold! Will you be the buyer of their luxurious mansion?
• Hunter's Haven - This mod adds a tree-top lodge, just west of Bravil, suited for a hunter-style character.
• Huntsman's Lodge - This mod adds a small lodge in the middle of the Great Forest, perfect for hunters. Compatible with OOO.
• Lakewood Village: This mod adds a 10-building village in the Nibenay Valley.
• Nascosto Isles - This mod adds an entire island to the game, including NPCs, quests, caves, dungeons and even your own house!
• Ranger House This mod adds a small house south of Cheydinhal, suited for rangers. Compatible with OOO.
• Silent Stones Camp - This very detailed 'house' mod adds a well-flourished cave deep within the Jerral Mountains.
• Talos Plaza House §: This mod adds a small home in the Imperial City, more luxurious than the waterfront shack, but also runs for a price 2.5x that of the waterfront shack.
• Thermae Bath Mod § - This mod adds a well crafted indoor public bath to the Waterfront.
• Villages - Adds some villages to the game! Compatible with OOO.
• Waldnir's Woods § A very neat place, cozily stationed next to a small pond.
• The Imperial City Suburbs - This mod enlarges the Imperial City, making it much grander.

Overhaul Mods

• Adrenaline Oblivion - Adds many more creatures to the game, so you don't encounter only 3 or 4 enemies inside a dungeon for example. Incompatible with OOO.
• Adventurer's Oblivion: This mod is an alternative to Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, changing many things. Check out both OOO and Adventurer's, and choose which you like best.
• FCOM (Francesco's + WarCry + OOO + MMM) †: This mod allows the top 4 overhaul mods to work together at the same time. The author has done a lot of work to make them all combine seamlessly. The mod still is in beta, but many thousands of people use it with very little trouble. Some people prefer just using one of the big mods rather than all 4. I would be one of those people. But some people might like this one.
• Francesco's Leveled Creatures Items † - This mod makes numerous changes to creatures, NPCs and items. Some prefer this as opposed to Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.
• G_'s Loot Mod - Find it rather odd that bandits wear high level armour, even though they're Bandits? This mod changes the loot for almost everything in the game. This mod is much older than OOO, MMM and Francesco's, and the latter 3 mods do it much better, in my opinion. Incompatible with OOO.
• Martigen's Monster Mod (MMM) §†‡ - This popular mod, designed to be used along with either OOO or Francesco's, includes 120+ brand new creatures and NPCs, 1500+ variant creatures and NPCs, unique encounters, advanced behaviour AI, advanced combat AI, tailored loot drops and more! Although the mod only focuses on creatures, unlike OOO and Francesco's, the work it does on creatures and NPCs is done to a greater extent than OOO and Francesco's, I think. It includes a version that is compatible with OOO/Francesco's, or you can use MMM by itself.
• NPC Static Level - Makes NPCs have static levels so they don't level up with your character. After all, it's your game, and your character who's leveling. Incompatible with OOO.
• Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul §†‡ The biggest mod ever created for Oblivion, OOO changes almost everything in the game! Be sure to get the 1.32 addition! The 1.32 addition is in to be used with the main OOO mod, so be sure to get both!

Performance Enhancers

• De-Parallaxer - This mod removes Parallax Mapping from many objects, which may result in increased frames per second, at the cost of objects being more dull and flat.
• Low Poly Grass §‡ - Another solution to greatly increase frames per second. This mod reduces the number of polys in the grass. Frankly, I think it looks better than vanilla's grass. Works well with Short Grass, below.
• No Lights Flicker - This mod removes the flicker from every light source in the game, improving performance.
• No Wind - This mod removes the sway effect given to trees and other flora, resulting in increased performance
• Operation Optimization †‡ - This mod improves frames per second by as much as over 30, according to tests. In most cases though, it improves it by maybe 10-20 fps. There's no loss in quality, it simply optimizes the meshes. It works with texture mods that don't modity the .nif files (CaptNKill's mod, Qarl's mod etc.)
• Quiet Feet - This mod fixes a sound bug on some systems, due to loud feet from animals.
• Streamline §†‡ - This mod increases Oblivion's performance and reduces in-game stutter by clearing memory buffers on an intelligent schedule.

Quest Mods

• The Oblivion Quest List specializes in quest mods, it does a much better job listing quests than I would be able to. So what I would recommend for quest mods is looking through that list.

Skill/Class/Ability/Attribute/Weapon Changes

• AF Leveling Mod - Possible alternative to Kobu's Character Advancement System.
• Bow Sway - This mod makes bows more realistic by adding a sway while aiming. No more percision shots!
• Alchemical Formulas - This mod allows you to save certain alchemical recipes to a scroll. This way, you don't have to remember which ingredients to use to make that certain potion, you can just save it to the scroll and then use the scroll whenever you wish to make the potion. This way you don't have to pile your desk with sticky notes of alchemy recipes!
• Birthsigns No Max - In vanilla Oblivion, Birthsigns didn't add any attribute bonus past 100. The Warrior, for example, wouldn't make your Strength 110 after you reached 100... It would remain at 100. With this mod, your Strength would become 110.
• Blind Lockpicking § - This mod removes the tumblers from the lockpick screen so you have to rely on sound. In addition to this, the lockpick difficulty text is removes, so you won't know how difficult the lock is until you try to pick it!
• Faster Arrows - Provides different .esps for different speeds of arrows you want. Incompatible with OOO, but if you want this mod to change arrow speed rather than OOO changing arrow speed, then load this after OOO and it will work fine.
• Faster Mercantile Leveling - Finding it hard to level your Mercantile skill? This speeds it up. Incompatible with OOO.
• Jump Adjustment §‡ - Tired of moon-walking across Cyrodiil? This mod fixes the jump distance to a much more realistic level. This might might show conflicts with OOO, but just load this after.
• Khajiit Nighteye Toggle - This mod changes the racial ability of Khajiit's (the one called "Eye of Night". Rather than having a duration, the night eye is now toggled on and off when the power is cast.
• Kobu's Character Advancement System §†‡ - Changes the way you level up. No longer do you have to micromanage your character to get the most attribute increases as you can, it's all done automatically. Compatible with OOO.
• Level Rates Modified § - My favourite level rate changing mod, this mod changes the rate that all skills increase. But unlike mods that simply change all skills to be slower, this mod changes them individually. It comes in x2, x3, x4, and x5. In these esp's, the author changed the skills individually depending on what value the esp is. If you used the x4 esp, for example, Blade would be x4 slower, but Restoration would be 3x slower, as that's what the author felt it should be. If you used the x3 esp, Blade would be 3x slower, and restoration would be 2x slower. There's some skills that the author made faster such as Mercantile, since they didn't level fast enough in vanilla Oblivion. This mod is already included with OOO, so if you use OOO then do not download this mod.
• Marksman Velocity for SI - Similar to Faster Arrows, except a more complex way of doing it, it makes it so that arrows are faster as the arrows get better. Iron arrows still lazily loft towards the targets, whereas elven for example will scream towards their target with great speed.
• More Arrows Recovered - So you recover more arrows! Incompatible with OOO.
• N's Balanced Weaponry - Same concept as Kal's, yet different. Which is best is up to you.
• Nighteye Shader Replacement - This nifty mod changes how the game is viewed when Night Eye is active. If you are using the 1.2 patch, then you have to manually turn off the READ ONLY status of the /Data/Shaders directory and its files for this mod to work.
• Persuasion Overhaul §‡ - This mod completely changes the crappy persuasion into a roleplay-oriented system that works wonders.
• Realistic Persuasion ‡ - Makes the persuasion skill (not the minigame!) actually useful now.
• Realistic Fatigue §‡ - This mod adds a panting and bluring effect as your Fatigue gets low. Also, you can carry more things with this mod, but encumbrance is actually an inconvenience now. The more you carry, the more fatigue is drained. Also, a higher endurance makes your fatigue regenerate faster.
• Reduced Backwards Running Speed - Bored of running backwards while making a pincushion of the enemy with your bow?
• Retroactive Health - This mod determines your health based on your current Endurance, instead of when you leveled up. Kobu's and AF Leveling mod do something similar, but I've included this mod for those who don't use Kobu's or AF.
• Run Fatigue Mod - Makes it so that you actually lose fatigue while running, realistically. Infact, when you run uphill, your fatigue decreases more rapidly. Compatible with OOO.
• Running Revised §‡ - This mod changes many things about running, it's more complex than Run Fatigue Mod. This one also including a new sprinting ability for those dire moments.
• Shadow Ranger - This mod adds various enhancements and addons for the ranger class. Including advanced animal companions.
• Simbacca's Character Advancement Method - This mod, an alternative to Kobu's and AF Leveling, changes how your at level-up attribute modifiers are determined, as well as giving new purpose to your class Specialization and Favored Attributes. Similar to Kobu's and AF Leveling, but different.
• WPHealth Regen - Makes your health slowly regenerate. Nothing too overpowered though. Compatible with OOO.

Utilities

• Buddah's List o' Links §† - This list contains nearly 100% of the mods released for Oblivion. Unfortunately, there's no way to know which mod is good, but this list provides the mods for you. Honestly, I find the list is excellent if you're looking for a specific mod which you know the name of, but can't find. But if you're new to mods and are looking for good ones, this list would be a nightmare to have to sort though. Also, say you're looking for a mod that changes water in game, this list is perfect because you can just Ctrl+F (Windows command for 'find') and then type in "water" and keep going through the list and find one that suits you. And finally, this mod (actually, more of a utility) requires Microsoft Excel to view it. If you don't want to have to dish out hundreds of dollars to buy Excel, there's a free program called Excel Viewer, which you can get here. Alternatively, you could view the online list of links here, which includes a search function.
• Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) §†‡: No mod-user should be without this utility. It's invaluable, especially for texture mods.
• Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) §†‡: This utility is necessary for many of the big mods out there. Essentially, it just allows modders to do much more with their mods, and in turn the mod-users must also have the utility.
• Wrye Bash: Wrye Bash has a lot of features. I mean a LOT. It's like twenty tools rolled into one. It includes as subfeatures the entire feature sets of other tools, and offers plenty of other features that no other mod tool has. Except installation. It's the "everything but installation" tool!

Weapon and Armour/Clothing additions

• Adonnay's Classical Weaponry §, In my opinion, this is one of the best weapon mods currently out. It's one of the only weapon mods that features physically practical models, kudos to Adonnay for that.
• Adonnay's Elven Weaponry §†‡ Another gem from Adonnay, this mod adds many well textures elven weapons to the game, oh and some bows too.
• Badmagic Hunter Cuirass - This mod adds a very well-textured suit of chainmail armour to the game.
• Badmagic Hunter Cuirass2 - This mod adds a suit of well-textured leather armour to the game.
• Capes and Cloaks - This mod adds capes of many colours that you can purchase and wear! This mod is included with OOO, so do not download this mod if you use OOO.
• Classic Sword Replacers - Delivers what the title promises; classical swords. Swords that replace the originals. Swords that... make sense.
• Forestheart § - In my opinion, this armour is the best armour ever created for Oblivion. Compatible with OOO.
• Honami Daito - Another katana mod by Vagabond, this one adds yet even more wonderful katanas to the game.
• Legion Horses Armoured - This mod puts steel horse armour on all of the horses which mount guards. Compatible with OOO.
• Real Swords Argonian § - This mod adds many realistic and well-textured weapons to the game.
• Real Swords Khajiit § - This mod adds many realistic and well-textured weapons to the game.
• Real Swords Orc § - This mod adds many realistic and well-textured weapons to the game.
• Real Swords Redguard § - This mod adds dozens of new well-textured realistic weapons to the game.
• Scoundrel's Luck Armour - This mod adds some well textured leather armour to the game.
• Vagabond's Real Katanas - This mod adds some very realistic katanas to the game.

Texture Mods

Note: - The vast majority of texture mods (if not all) are compatible with OOO.

Creature/NPC/Face Texture Enhancers

• Better Looking Horses: This mod uses AlienSlof's textures from her mod "Slof's Horses", but unlike Slof's Horses, this mod doesn't interfere with horse factions, allowing Slof's wonderful textures to be used alongside mods like OOO with no conflicts! Pictures here.
• Better Playable Orcs and Male Orc NPC's § - Makes Orcs a brownish colour, so they don't have a clean-green-gleen.
• Better Redguards - This mod remedies the poor texture job on Redguards in vanilla. Now, Redguards rely on their own texture so that they can appear dark black without ugly discolourations.
• Danis13 Beauty Faces † - This mod is an alternative to Natural Faces, and Improved Facial Textures, you decide which is best.
• Elaborate Eyes † - Offers many assortments of eyes that the player and NPCs can possess.
• Emperor's Face Redone - Makes the Emperor's face more like it was in the preview movies.
• Improved Argonian Facial Textures - This mod improves the textures of the faces for Argonians.
• Improved Facial Textures §†‡ - Changes those aweful blotchy facial textures that all NPC's in the game have.
• Natural Faces † - Similar to above, you decide which is best for you. I prefer the former one.
• Nords with Beards - This mod adds fairly realistic looking beards to all Nords in the game. If you use Ren's Beauty Pack, get this one in addition to the main Nords with Beards.
• Realistic Horse Eyes - Better graphical quality on horse eyes.
• § Robert's Bodies: While I cannot directly link to nude mods due to forum rules, according to the Community Manager I'm allowed to say what to type in TESSource's search box. Go to TESSource's website and type MaleFullbodyV37z in the search box. That's Robert's base mod. To get his latest version, type in MaleFullbodyV3MeshAdd1V11zip in TESSource's search box. Use the latter mod in addition to the former.
• Slof's Horses § - Much better graphics on all horses!
• Slof's Horses Armoured § - This mod applies Slof's wonderful horse textures to armoured horses as well.
• Zeladin's Hairfix § - This mod is meant for graphic cards that don't have Shader Model 3.0. If the hair on NPCs and your character appears very jagged, as if there's no antialiasing, it's likely that your card doesn't have SM3.0. This mod fixes that, giving hair a smooth texture. This mod requires Triarii's Hairfix, but the download link for TESSource is broken, and thus it's impossible to get Triarii's Hairfix from TESSource, which is the only site he hosted it on. If you would like Triarii's Hairfix, PM me your email address and I'll gladly send the file your way.

Equipment Texture Enhancers

• Arrow Replacement Pack § - This brilliant texture mod realistically elongens the arrows of the game, as well as gives Steel and Silver arrows a new head.
• Dark Green Glass Armour - This mod is a retexture of the glass armour and weapons in game.
• Darkened Glass Set - This mod is a black retexture of the glass armour and weapons in game.
• Ebony Armour Retexture - Changes Ebony armour textures so they don't appear brown and rusty!
• Ebony Blade Fixed - Nothing big here, just fixes a texture error for an Ebony blade. OOO already does exactly this, so it's incompatible.
• Elven Boot Improvement: Tired of webbed feet? This mod replaces the Elven Boots with something a little better!
• Elven Horse Armour Gold Retexture - This mod replaces the default Elven Horse Armour (assuming you have the official mod for it) with a new texture. You can choose between two textures which the author created.
• Fine Weapons - This texture mod changes some textures on "Fine" weapons in game, giving them a bit of uniqueness.
• Golden Elven Armour - Changes the dull Elven armour texture into something better!
• High-Res Staff - More graphics! This mod changes the texture on staffs.
• Imperial Legion Ethereal Armor: Because Imperial Guards shouldn't have rusty armour! This mod adds some rather shiny white armour to Imperial City guards.
• Initial Glow §‡ - Tired of that ugly glow that always appears on your enchanted weapons? Tired of the glow that appears on enemies when you strike them? This mod's for you!
• Lighter Quivers - This mod, made at my request, gives quivers a less bulky look. As if they're made of leather, and not steel...
• Mike's Clothes Replacer - This texture mod enhances the look of clothing in game.
• Rusty Items - This simple texture mod makes rusty items more... well, rusty.
• Ungoggled Helms - Do you hate those ugly 'goggles' that some helmets have? This mod fixes that.
• Visually Enchanted Pack 1 - This mod enhances the graphical effect of weapons that have the Drain effect on them.
• Visually Enchanted Customizer - This mod adds a visual effect to your weapon according to its effect. For example, if your sword has an effect that deals fire damage, now your sword will be fire too! How cool is that?
• White Glass Armour - This mod is a white retexture of the Glass armour and weapons in game.

Landscape/Environment Enhancers

• Advanced Water Modification - This mod allows you to see underwater much better, as well as enhances the view from above water.
• Alternate Grasses - This mod changes the textures of much of the 3d grass.
• Beautiful Stars - Does what it says. Note that this mod is not compatible with Natural Environments.
• Better Nightsky - Better graphical quality on the sky at night. Note that this mod is not compatible with Natural Environments.
• Better Sun - Another texture replacer, this one makes the sun better.
• Blade's LOD Replacement - An alternative to Shaja's and CaptNKill's. This mod is rendered obsolete with the addition of the 1.2 patch. Only consider this mod if you don't have the 1.2 official patch.
• Bluesteel's Landscape LOD NormalMap Fix §‡ - This mod was created by Bluesteel, but Soor fixed a bug that caused stuttering. Anyway, this mod helps remove the blotchy distant landscape texture. This mod is fully compatible with Shaja's, Blade's, and CaptNKill's LOD mods. Since the link doesn't contain a screenshot, I'll provide it: Screenshot.
• CaptNKill's LOD Mods: This mod is an alternative to Shaja's and Blade's LOD mods. This is the by far the best texture in terms of resolution. However, it's murder on many mid or even high-end PCs. Personally, I'd use CaptNKill's Non-Tiling mod, it does an excellent job at removing the tiling effect of grass. I would only use his distant LOD if you're sure that your computer is able to handle it. This mod is rendered obsolete with the addition of the 1.2 patch. Only consider this mod if you don't have the 1.2 official patch.
• CaptNKill's Non-Tiling Landscape §‡ - This mod is my favourite grass replacer, simply because it completely gets rid of the horrible tiling effect that mid-range grass has. This mod has no performance hit, so please use it if you're like me and hate tiling!
• Darker Regal Imperial City § - This mod changes the textures of the Imperial City buildings to make the Imperial City look more powerful and advanced, kind of the heart of Cyrodiil.
• Diverse Grasses - This mod adds variety to the grasses in Oblivion. Works well with Low Poly Grass, it is not compatible with Short Grass.
• Enhanced Waters - This mod is yet another mod that changes how water looks in game, while above water and in water. I like this one best of them all, but decide for yourself.
• Fake HDR Lighting † - For those who cannot use HDR Lighting in Oblivion, or prefer Anti-aliasing, then getting this mod will enable a fake HDR that, while not looking as good as the real HDR, can provide at least something for those who cannot use the real HDR or again, those who prefer Anti-aliasing.
• Improved Doors and Flora - This mod improves the textures of doors, gates and various flora.
• Improved Trees and Flora § - This great texture mod improves the look of trees and flora in the game.
• Koldorn's Ayleid Ruins Textures - This mod improves the textures of Ayleid ruins. It's a good alternative to Qarl's for people whose system's can't handle Qarl's.
• Koldorn's Cave Textures 2 - This mod enhances the textures of caves in game.
• Koldorn's LOD Noise Replacer §†‡ - This mod greatly improves the look of how the distant land looks with the patch. If you don't have the 1.2 patch, you don't need nor want this mod. If you do have the 1.2 patch, then you have probably noticed the "peppered" effect that the LOD has. This mod changes that peppered effect. Best of all, there's absolutely no performance hit. See this screenshot.
• Koldorn's Sewer Textures 2 - This mod enhances the textures of sewers in game.
• Jarrod's Oblivion New Texture Mod - An alternative to Qarl's Texture Pack, this mod is of lower quality, so it's easier on less powerful video cards.
• New Nebula - This mod changes the night sky and adds a nebula texture. I'm told that this mod is compatible with Beautiful Stars and Better Nightsky. This mod is compatible with Natural Environments only if you overwrite the original skynebula01.dds file in the Data\Textures\NaturalEnvironments\Sky, and SURPRISE! It works perfectly.
• No Glow Grass - This mod removes grass' neon-like glow that some people experience. If you're one of the many people that get the ugly neon coloured grass, this mod will fix that.
• Noise Replacer - This mod changes the distant LOD in the new patch, just like Koldorn's, except of course it's a different texture. I prefer Koldorn's, but choose for yourself.
• Oblivion Ayleid Ruin Parallax Texture Pack - More graphics! This mod adds parallax textures to all Ayleid Ruins.
• Oblivion Sewer Parallax Texture Pack - Yet even more graphics! This mod adds parallax textures to all the sewers.
• Parallax Cities Giga Pack - Graphics galore! This mod adds parallax textures to almost all city textures! This is a great mod to use if Qarl's city textures are a little hard on your PC.
• Qarl's Textures §†‡ - Arguably the best graphic mod available! This mod includes better texture for almost everything in the game! Wood, stones, grass, dirt, cities, ruins, roads etc. Watch out, there's a big frames per second hit though!
• Shaja's LOD - This mod changes the distant "soupy looking" land in vanilla Oblivion into something more detailed. Note that there are even more detailed distant land mods (or simply "LOD mods") such as CaptNKill's LOD, which uses two times the resolution of shaja's. Of course, it comes with a performance hit, so whether CaptNKill's mod or this mod is best suited for you can only be decided by, well, you... This mod is rendered obsolete with the addition of the 1.2 patch. Only consider this mod if you don't have the 1.2 official patch.
• Short Grass - This mod shortens grass a little bit, and while providing negligible performance increase it does make things easier to find.
• Ultra Parallax Prison - A mod that adds parallax mapping to the prison texture.
• Visually Realistic Lava ‡ - This mod replaces the lava texture. Why? Because Oblivion lava isn't Jello!

Map and Menu Texture Changes

• Antiquated Map - Tired of your bland default map? This antique map might add realism for you!
• Atmospheric Dark UI Loading Screens § - This mod gives the loading screens a Dark UI texture while removing the text as well. This mod also replaces the loading screen image, and includes an optional version that adds random quotes. Note that the later versions require the Shivering Isles expansion. If you're like me and you don't have Shivering Isles, you must download the 0.95 version for it to work. No worries though, the 0.95 version, while older, still has over 300 load screens ensuring much variety.
• Colour Map Mod - This mods gives your map a coloured look, with no antiqued texture.
• Cyrodiil Terrain Map - This mod makes the in game map feature the acctual terrain. It's almost like a satellite shot of Cyrodiil. See the screenies and determine if you like it.
• Dark UI §†‡ - Tired of readjusting your vision to a dark dungeon after viewing your inventory? This mod removes the blinding white/beige light of all the menus in game to a dark leathery texture.
• Dark UI Loading Screens - This mod is meant to be used alongside the main Dark UI mod. This addition changes the loading screens to be dark as well, but does not remove the text of loading screens.
• Dark UI Supplemental Pack § - This mod changes yet even more of the interface to be darker.
• Menu Video Calm Waters - Changes the background main menu video with some footage of calm waters. The download link doesn't work, so instead use the Filefront link.
• Menu Video Scenery - Changes the background main menu video with some footage of beautiful scenery. The download link doesn't work, so instead use the Filefront link.
• Old Map § - My favourite map replacer. Gives the map an old and worn look. It comes in coloured and non-coloured versions.
• Refraction & Menu Shader Replacement - This mod adds one of many available effects to the screen when using Chameleon and when at the game menu.
• Well Used Map (Colour) - This mod gives your map an antiqued look, but it retains its colour.

Misc. Item Texture Enhancers

• Better Beer Bottles - Who doesn't want better graphics? This mod gives beer a better texture. Note that Intoxicant Improvement (See a few links below) also replaces beer, you decide which you like best.
• Book Jackets § - This mod immensely enhances the textures on all book covers. Practically a must-have mod. Conflict Detectors may show a conflict with OOO, but it is no big deal. Just load this mod after OOO. For a high(er) resolution version of Book Jackets, get this one.
• Better Looking Tools: A minor mod improving textures on hammers and lockpicks and such. See here for screenshots.
• CM Better Wine - Same as Better Beer, but for us wine lovers! Note that Intoxicant Improvement (See a few links below) also replaces wine, you decide which you like best.
• Cyrodiilic Brandy - Yet even more graphical goodness! This mod changes the texture on Cyrodiilic Brandy
• Doofdilla's Potions Recoloured "Ceano" Texture Addon - Much better potion textures, colour coded too!
• Hammerfist Shiny Gold §‡. This mod adds a shiny reflective texture to gold coins.
• Intoxicant Improvement - This mod adds retextures of all of the alchoholic beverages in Cyrodiil, including Skooma! In my opinion, the retextures are better than CM Better Wine and Better Beer Bottles, but look at the screenshots and decide for yourself!
• Kafeis Better Amulet Replacer §: Better graphics for amulets.
• Kafeis Better Ring Replacer § - Better graphics for rings.
• Leviathan Soulgems - This mod greatly improves the look of Soulgems, giving them a gleening look when they're filled, and a dull look when empty.
• Recoloured Blackberries - This simple texture mod makes blackberries... umm, black. By default, blackberries were brown, which is the colour they are when rotten.
• Vagabond's Better Gold - Better textures on coins! Hammerfist's mod makes coins shinier, using Vagabond's gold texture as a base. I recommend Hammerfist's for a more realistic look, but decide for yourself.

Misc. Texture Mods

§‡ The ultimate sign combination: Actually, this is 3 mods. But instead of having them as individual listings, I decided to combine them into one listing. The three mods are:

• Weathered Direction Signs,
• Better Signs and
• Improved Signs.

All three of them improve roughly 99% of the signs in game. Maybe even 100%. The problem is that all 3 mods have overlapping files. That's okay though, because we'll assign them priority. Better Signs and Improved Signs both deal with all sorts of signs in the game. Improved Signs does more, however. Better Signs was an incomplete project that, thankfully, the modder released in its unfinished form rather than scrapped it. Improved Signs retextures about 95% of the signs in game, including road signs (direction signs). Weathered Direction Signs only deals with direction signs. The difference between the direction signs in Improved Signs and Weathered Direction Signs is that the latter doesn't just retexture them, as Improved Signs does, it gives them a different look entirely, best just to see the screenshots.

So with that said, I recommend installing Better Signs first (giving it lowest priority), and then install Improved Signs on top of that, and then finally Weathered Direction Signs (Giving Weathered Direction Signs full prioty of the three). Doing this will ensure that Weathered Direction Sign's road signs are used, and then Improved Signs is used for everything else. And for the 5% of signs that Improved Signs didn't do, Better Signs will fill in the gaps :)

• Badder Spell FX - Increases the graphical quality of spells.
• Borderless Icons - This mod removes the borders from icons on the map improving the look of it.
• CM Arena Poster - A very simple texture mod that changes how the arena poster looks. Why download something so small? Well... why not?
• Gorier Blood §‡ - This mod adds some nice gory blood!
• Grape Texture Change - Very, very simple mod. Changes the texture from some grapes near Skingrad, I believe. Not much reason not to get it!
• Helmet FOV § - This outstanding mod adds a new level of realism to playing the game in 1st person. If you wear a helmet, your view is partially obstructed due to the way the helmet is designed. It's hard to explain, so see the screenshots.
• Illumination Within Revived §†‡ - Changes the texture of windows when viewed from outdoors, to add the illusion that lights are turned on inside. There was a previous mod that did this, hence the word "Revived". This mod fixes/adds numerous things that its predecessor had or hadn't done. Be sure to get the Optimised version as well
• Immersive Health Indication § - This mod clouds the vision on your screen when you get very low on health.
• Improved Fruits, Vegetables & Meats - This mod greatly improves the textures for most foods.
• Kal's New Shock Effect - This mod improves the look of shock/lightning effects.
• Life Detect - This mod changes how NPCs and creatures look when viewed with Life Detection on. It gives them a blood-red blur.
• Lights Out - Because caves shouldn't have light beams from the roof at night! This mod removes the light that beams down to the floor while you're in a cave, but only during the night.
• On-Hit Shader Replacement § - This mod adds various effects on the player's screen when the player gets hit. My favourite is the red border.
• Painted Paintings Textures - This mod gives an effect to all paintings in the game that makes them look as if they were hand painted.
• Scantifreeze. This mod gets rid of the frostbitten black/blue bodies when you have certain texture slider combinations.
• Shipyard - This mod improves the textures of the ships in game.
• Skingrad Bridge Lights - This mod changes the lights on Skingrad's bridge to... emit light. By default, they did not provide any illumination at all.
• Skingrad Roof Textures - Improves some textures on rooftops in Skingrad, meant to be used with Qarl's mod.
• Smaller Elf Ears - This mod makes elf ears much smaller, while still having that distinct elven look.
• Spell Icon Replacer - This mod replaces the icons for spell effects.
• Yet Another Blood Mod - This mod adds visible blood stains to the player's armour, dependant on how wounded the player is.
• Zombie Hair Texture Alpha Fix - This mod fixes a bug in the game by Bethesda where zombies have a black square at the side of their head due to missing alpha textures. Not needed if you use the Unofficial Oblivion Patch.