[This is a repost from the game subforum, as I think the subforums get less user visits]

So I am aiming to have a near vanilla experience for my first Oblivion playthrough.

I am am a little unwilling to use a lot of mod managers/script extenders and such programmes right now.
I am thinking of going with the Unofficial patches and Darnified UI for now.
Will there be any problem if I install the patches without mod managers? Darnified UI apparently can be installed thorugh extraction and a bit of tweaking files.

Is there any other mod which is necessary for first playthrough which is easy to install?
Is the enemy levelling thing really annoying? What is the easiest way to deal with that problem?

Thank you in advance.
:)

If you want a vanilla experience, then just play vanilla. Of course, if you want to install the unofficial patches, that's fine, but you are already modding the game at that point. But that is the bare minimum.

Yes, you can install the unofficial patches without using a mod manager. The patches and all their files are completely safe.

I don't remember right now what the threshhold for needing an account at Nexus mods is. Could be a size limit on the files?

Darnified UI - I mean, it's nice. And you can install it as you say - with no manager and some tweaking. But it will be a little more finicky than you expect. And once you're getting into fiddling with a mod to get it just the way you like it... Well, at that point you are standing on the edge of the mod quicksand pit.

You absolutely should not install any more mods than those two if you want a vanilla expereience. Absolutely, no matter what people tell you. Every single mod you add past the unofficial patches pushes you farther into the quicksand, from which, ultimately, there is no escape.

On the other hand, if you want to tackle the leveling system, there are many options. Once you start looking at them, you should start looking at mod managers and give up your vanilla goal.

Personally, I suggest leaving behind the vanilla experience. The leveling is very annoying. There are tons of things that are very annoying. I say, dive into the modding world and don't come up for air for at least three years.

Enjoy!

No mods are "necessary", on any play through.

If you ask me; the only modification that stays closest to the "vanilla experience" is higher resolution textures or/and some better FX (like lighting, fire, magic stuff). (better 3D models would be great, though that's rarely done through mods - or even official "remasters")

I'd say Darnified UI (or the Dark UI version which I used "back when") and the UOPs are a fine way of playing vanilla.

In the past I originally installed the UOPs using the standalone installers, and while that worked ok, I would recommend choosing a suitable mod manager in order to avoid problems, same goes with Darn' especially when down the road you might decide to add other mods.

Why?

It's all down to load order of the resources. The mod managers let you determine the order in which the file changes get applied to the game. If a mod loads it's changed files before another it might become unusable / have unpredictable results. Have a little read about them. They aren't too difficult to fiddle with, often you install the manager and add the mods in one at a time. Then you don't have to touch the settings again.

I also play Bethesda games as close to vanilla as possible, and avoid using the mod managers. I used Darn's UI for Oblivion every time I played it, so it must work fine without the manager.

I will say though, one of the few good times I have had with an overhaul mod my whole life was the "OOO" mod for Oblivion. Obscurio's(?) Oblivion Overhaul. It really fixed the game in a ton of ways, and he even got a job in the games industry afterward. That and Deus Ex's "New Vision" are the two overhaul mods I actually use. Not telling you to use it, just offering the perspective of someone else into the "intended experience."

Also if you're using an nVidia card it still doesn't allow AA and HDR at the same time, last I checked, so assuming you have a modern PC and not a 4k monitor I'd set it to use nVidia's DSR at 4 times native with zero blur. Should look amazing at 4k or 5k, and you can go without AA and use HDR.

Why would you want to? Would the lack of immersion (bandits having top notch glass armour) or the amazing 10minute “storyline” necessitate playing? There isn’t a single part of any beths game which hasn’t been improved by modding, and Beth’s really only provide and engine at the best of times.
Oscuro ‘s Overhaul as mention is great to fix the levelling debacle. UI fixes are good, though not required like in Skyrim.
You can find simple guides such as this one:
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47591
Which walk you through install, and they really make a difference.
Use of a mod manager really is necessary for conflict resolution, load orders and such like, although more and more mods are being combined/updated.

I always play vanilla with community patches for less bugs (if applicable) and wide screen resolution patch (if necessary), sometimes I even go for a "restored content".
I don't like the idea of any mods changing the original feel and look of a game for the first playthrough (no HD textures, no new content). However I seldom play a game for a second time, my life is too short for this.

If you are using multiple mods and want to install manually you can use LOOT https://loot.github.io/
to get the load order right.

Yes because the Owner is a Scum sucking parasite.

Thanks for your replies.
As I am not going to mod a lot right now, I will stick with Unofficial patches and the Ui enhancement.

However would like to know a bit more about these questions if anyone knows:

> Also, is it required to have a NexusMods account to download files from the site?

"Nexus Mods is dedicated to providing our community with free access to mod files. However, we ask that you please login to your Nexus Mods account before you can download any files.

We require all users to login to a Nexus Mods account when downloading to prevent abuse of our systems, to provide additional security and so we can reliably reward the mod authors on Nexus Mods via our Donation Points system (which relies on us being able to record accurate download statistics).

To download this file please either sign into your account or sign up for a free account."

>And what is the difference between "Safe to Use" and "Some Manually Verified Files" in the scan results shown on the pages for mods?

Safe to Use: The virus scan came up 100% clean.
Some Manually Verified Files: Some files got flagged by the virus scanner but were believed to be false positives and therefore allowed to be left uploaded.

Thanks for the response.
:)

Now should one install the unofficial patch after running the game once (to generate settings files)?

Also where should one extract the unofficial patches?

>Now should one install the unofficial patch after running the game once (to generate settings files)?

Sure, that might be a good idea. But start a new game again once you install the mods.

>Also where should one extract the unofficial patches?

Hmm. There isn't a specific step-by-step instruction set for newbies is there. There IS a linked article, and some users have commented on it to help out people new to installing it.
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/articles/44183

I suggest making a backup copy of your installation folder before trying the manual extraction (in case something gets overwritten that wasn't meant to be)

So using extraction method for unofficial poatches works fine until the DLC patches. When those esp file are checked in the native data files loader the game crashes.

Any idea?


EDIT: so after some enabling and disabling of esps it seems the crash is only ocurring when the unofficial patch for Knights of the Nine is activated in data files loader. Any idea why so?