So, you want to mod Oblivion. Maybe you’ve
dabbled into modding here and there, but you just can’t seem to get the hang of
it, or maybe it’s your first time playing and you’re put off by the outdated graphics.
Well, no matter the case, this guide will teach you not only how to install basically any mod
made for this game, but I’ll also be showing you how to visually overhaul Oblivion to make
it look like it could’ve been released today. After you’ve finished following this tutorial,
your game will go from looking like this… to this. Quite the improvement, don’t you think?
So, without further ado, let’s begin, shall we? Now, before we get properly started, this guide
is intended to be used with a clean installation of Oblivion, that is, one which is not associated
with any mods. Even if your installation is clean, however, I would recommend checking its location
on your computer. If your Oblivion directory is located in Program Files x86, I would recommend
uninstalling the game and reinstalling in an entirely separate folder, since there have been
many reports of Program Files causing modded games to not work properly. The Steam version of the
game automatically backs up character saves to the cloud as long as you have the option ticked,
assuming you have any character saves in the first place, but if you’re worried about losing your
progress or own a different version of Oblivion, you can locate your saves in your
Documents, My Games, Oblivion folder, then create a backup copy in case they don’t
automatically transfer to your new installation. While you're here, be sure to delete the
Oblivion.ini file, as not doing so causes a bug where the launcher won’t give you
the option to actually play the game. I would also recommend creating a shortcut
of your Oblivion directory to your desktop for ease of access. Now we have that out of the
way, we must install the four-gigabyte patch. This simply allows the Oblivion program to utilize
more RAM on your computer, increasing framerate and reducing crashes. First, go onto the Nexus
Mod page, link in the description, go into files, and begin downloading. You may need to create
an account beforehand, which is very easy to do and entirely free. Once installed, we simply
want to open the folder, activate the .exe file, and direct it towards our main Oblivion file.
After the confirmation message pops up, relaunch the exe, this time choosing the OblivionLauncher
file instead. As stated earlier, this patch doesn’t add anything new to the game, but it does
provide a solid base to begin modding for real. OBSE, or Oblivion Script Extender, is a program
which increases Oblivion’s scripting capabilities, meaning having it is necessary
to be able to use most mods. Simply download the folder from the Nexus page
to start. Open the folder up, and if you own the Steam version of Oblivion, copy obse_1_2_416.dll,
obse_editor_1_2.dll, obse_steam_loader.dll and the included Data folder into your Oblivion directory.
Ensure you have the Steam in-game community tab enabled or else OBSE will fail to load. For any
version of Oblivion not purchased from Steam, follow the same steps, but instead of the steam
loader, copy obse_loader.exe into your directory. OBSE will not launch automatically alongside
non-Steam versions of the game, so feel free to create a shortcut of obse_loader onto your
desktop to make launching your modded Oblivion a breeze. Better Oblivion Sorting Software, or BOSS for
short, is a program which we can use to sort the order Oblivion loads our mods to make
everything work nice and smoothly together. Once we get into modding proper, it’s
good to make a habit of running BOSS with every one or two new mods installed.
To install, simply go to the GitHub page, link in the description of course, and
click Download BOSS On GitHub. Then, select the boss.zip folder. Extract the contents
of this archive into a new, unzipped folder. Now, open up the new folder, open up bin, and
open the 32 bit or 64 bit release depending on what type of computer you have. To see your
computer’s bit count, search ‘system information’ in the search box on your toolbar, and look for
the system type. Open up the respective folder and make a shortcut of the BOSS application
to make opening it easier down the line. Wrye Bash is what’s known as a mod manager, a
program to make easy work of installing most mods for Oblivion. Download the
latest installer from the Nexus page, follow the instructions displayed in the
install wizard, and feel free to check and uncheck boxes based on your preference. Once all
is said and done, your Oblivion directory should now contain a mopy folder, which is where
everything to do with Wrye Bash is stored. This will be our main mod manager, but certain
older mods require the use of a different program. Oblivion Mod Manager, or OBMM for short, is
another mod manager, similar to Wrye Bash. However, we will only be using OBMM to install
select older mods which were created with the .omod file type, which Wrye Bash can’t install,
along with a few other nifty features we’ll be making use of later on. Download the installer
and run the setup just like we did with Wrye Bash, create a desktop shortcut if you wish, and viola! We are now ready to start installing
mods. If you’ve gotten this far, pat yourself on the back, as this is all the
setup we need to finally get into the good stuff. Let’s start off by installing a simple yet
essential mod to get our feet wet into the modding process. DarNified UI is a mod which, as the name
would suggest, drastically improves the User Interface of Oblivion, giving every menu a
much more ergonomic design, making the HUD feel a lot less cluttered and bulky, and the menus
themselves more spacious, with the ability to show many more items at one time, compared to the
overly large text and buttons of the base game. This is one mod which, once you use it, you can
never go back. There are two versions available for download on the Nexus, with links to
both being in the description box below. The original version, which retains the overall
colour scheme and rustic feel of the base game, and the dark version, replacing the parchment
colour with a deep royal red. Choose which one you install based on what you like better, as they
have the exact same functionalities in practice, but I slightly prefer the original, so
that’s the one I’ll be installing for today. Download the OMOD file of your chosen version, not the 7z file, and once it’s installed to your
computer, extract the folder to your desktop and open up Oblivion Mod Manager. Simply click
the load option and select the .omod file, and you should see the mod name pop up in the small
box to the right, next to a small green square. This means the mod is inactive, so we’ll need
to activate it by double-clicking, typing in some random stuff, and selecting “install
everything.” Here we get some customisation options. Choose whichever suits you, but I’m going
for the classic inventory and coloured local map. Hold the control key while you click to
select multiple options at once, by the way. Select OK, and now we get a choice of font
size. Even though my monitor’s rather large, I still find the normal option too small, so
I’d recommend choosing the Large font size. Now hold down the control key and click
“yes” to the following dialogue boxes, and the green square next to the mod name should
now be blue, indicating that the mod is now indeed active. Launch the game just to make sure,
and lo and behold, it should be working. Feel free to delete the initial archive from
your desktop at this point. These menus just look and feel so much better than the original
game in my opinion, so even though it takes some time to get used to the smaller font size and
buttons, trust me when I say it’s well worth it. And that’s it for Part 1 of modding Oblivion
the easy way. If you enjoyed this video or found it helpful, be sure to leave a like
and subscribe for more content in the future. In Part 2, we will be installing many more
mods to polish aspects of gameplay and make the visuals absolutely stunning. That’s all
for now, and I’ll see you in the next one.
