Oblivion Comprehensive Modding Guide by Dispensation (OCMG)

This 2023 Oblivion modding guide will attempt to teach the new player the basics of modding Oblivion, inform about recent, popular and well-received mods, and instruct how to use essential Oblivion tools like Wrye Bash, TES4Edit, LOOT and BethINI and good practises to follow when using them, as well as how to clean mods and which ones need cleaning (not all dirty mods are registered as such in the LOOT masterlist). It is recommended that users of this guide have the Oblivion GOTY Deluxe edition of Oblivion (with all DLCs), but regular GOTY users can use it just fine as well.

I don't know every Oblivion mod that is worth using out there. This will be a list just sharing what mods I personally use, have used, seem interesting and others that might interest you.

Only a few mods listed here will be hosted on external websites, with no sign-ups required. The only exceptions to this rule are WAC - Integration which requires a TES Alliance account, as well as an AFK Mods account to download many great mods by Arthmoor listed in this guide. I recommend using the tracking feature to track every mod that you download for future updates that they might have. Most of the mods in this guide are optional unless otherwise noted, or you may have to choose between a few mods which one to get.

Mods in the guide are to be installed in chronological order as they are listed here. Regarding low-end PC users, my general rule regarding graphics is to use the Texture Packs section with caution, and only use smaller mods from the Graphics section, to avoid FPS hits. However, if your PC meets at around the Skyrim Special Edition recommended system requirements, you shouldn't really have a problem with these things. It must be noted that, adding a large amount of graphics mods will impact performance anyway, as Oblivion has an outdated engine, regardless of how good your PC is. You will need around 100 GB of hard drive space as well for all of these mods.

I strongly recommend that you test your game out after installing a few mods or after going through a section, as an issue might appear and you will be able to isolate it. Having said these things, let us move on to the guide itself.

Guide last updated: 24 October 2023 (see this article for the guide's update history and changes)

This guide is no longer receiving any further updates and support as of 2024 and onwards. I myself have since been following the Reign of the Septims guide now personally.

Modding Tools

Oblivion should not be installed in your Program Files or on your Desktop (among a few other protected default folder locations). These are protected Windows folders that make it harder to modify the game if it is installed in these places. If it is installed in one of these folders, move/reinstall