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Transform, expand, and customize these modern classics.

Few games would dream to match the ridiculous variety and accessibility of mods that these three games can provide. The sheer volume of what's available online is staggering and can be rather overwhelming for someone who's not willing to spend days figuring out what to use and how.

Luckily, our very own tinkerer extraordinaire has prepared this comprehensive guide on how to get started and which projects to focus on, depending on your needs and your will to experiment.
The floor is yours, Thiev.

Finally, we've made it! <span class="bold">Fallout 3</span>, <span class="bold">New Vegas</span>, and <span class="bold">TES IV: Oblivion</span> are here on GOG.com and you can't wait to start messing with them. Everything you'll need can be found in the enormous catalog that the fine folk over at Nexus Mods have put together. Fun fact: that place was originally called The Elder Scrolls Nexus, and it mostly hosted Morrowind and Oblivion projects.

However, before you even look at a single mod out there, be sure that you are familiar with modding tools and the process overall. There are excellent guides to be found and we strongly suggest that you go through them at least once (<span class="bold">Fallout 3 example</span>, <span class="bold">Oblivion example</span>, <span class="bold">Wrye Bash guide</span>). Now that you know what NMM, FOMM, FOMOD, OMOD and BAIN stand for, you are ready to proceed into the fun part!

Let’s start with the ESSENTIALS.
For all three games, make sure to grab a corresponding Script Extender - <span class="bold">OBSE</span>, <span class="bold">FOSE</span> or <span class="bold">NVSE</span>. These little pieces of hard coding and magic are absolutely essential for some more advanced plugins out there. For a little bit more stability, be sure to read about and grab ENBoost CTD / Memory patch (<span class="bold">TES4</span>, <span class="bold">FO3</span>, <span class="bold">FNV</span>) as well as Stutter Remover plugins (<span class="bold">TES4</span>, <span class="bold">FO3</span>, <span class="bold">FNV</span>).

Next come the Unofficial Patches.
Over the years, the games' dedicated community has done an excellent job of ironing out the bugs and significantly improving the overall experience. Here's the whole set for Oblivion (<span class="bold">#1</span>, <span class="bold">#2</span>, <span class="bold">#3</span>), the <span class="bold">UPDATED Unofficial Fallout 3 Patch</span> and the <span class="bold">Yukichigai Unofficial Patch</span> for New Vegas.

With those pesky bugs out of the way, perhaps it's now time to tweak the original interface a bit if you find the original one inconvenient. <span class="bold">DarNified UI</span> and Vanilla UI Plus (<span class="bold">FO3</span> / <span class="bold">FNV</span>) are excellent candidates for this, so be sure to check them out first. If you're planning on fiddling with the interface of both Fallout games or having more mods with custom menu functions, start with UIO - User Interface Organizer (<span class="bold">FO3</span> / <span class="bold">FNV</span>) and go from there.

Now time for some visual upgrades.
Oblivion is the oldest of the three, so best to start there. What you need is a graphics extender that overcomes the limitations of the time, adds some snazzy shaders, and tops it off with a healthy serving of visual effects. Don't need to take our word for it, just go to the <span class="bold">Oblivion Reloaded</span> page and check out the screens. Then grab the mod. Preferably together with <span class="bold">Really AEVWD</span> to make gazing at objects far away in the horizon less awkward.

Want some more eye-candy? There are texture packs for everything out here (like rocks, yes rocks). It’s always a matter of taste, but we suggest you check out <span class="bold">Qarl's Texture Pack III Redimized</span> for Oblivion, <span class="bold">NMCs Texture Pack for FO3</span> or <span class="bold">POCO BUENO Texture Pack</span> for New Vegas.

If you want to take things a little further in the visual makeover department, you can. For example, before you can get lost in the world of Oblivion, you might want to make its rich environments even richer. That’s where <span class="bold">Unique Landscapes Compilation</span>, <span class="bold">Better Cities</span> and <span class="bold">Weather - All Natural</span> come in.

Are you more into the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3? Check out <span class="bold">DCInteriors Project</span>, <span class="bold">Fallout Street Lights</span> (and it’s <span class="bold">Wasteland counterpart</span>) or <span class="bold">Fellout</span>, instead. And while you're at it, grab <span class="bold">GNR Enhanced</span> - you'll be thankful for all these extra radio tracks during the countless hours of exploration ahead of you.

Perhaps you are in the mood for a trip under the scorching sun of the Mojave Desert. Then grab <span class="bold">New Vegas Restoration</span>, <span class="bold">NVInteriors Project </span> or <span class="bold">New Vegas Uncut - Freeside Open</span>.
Not everyone knows this, but all the quest names in Fallout New Vegas are based on old songs. Rumor has it that there is a mod floating about called Secret Stash, and it adds all those missing songs and more to the New Vegas Radio. Unfortunately, it is no longer available for official download, but anyone resourceful enough to survive the Wasteland will surely be able to dig something up.

Last but not least, an honorary mention should be made of <span class="bold">Tale of the Two Wastelands</span>, despite it still being in its alpha stage. It's a huge undertaking, aiming to bring both Fallout games into a single playable universe. Keep in mind, this mod is not compatible with the GOG version of the game yet, but it will be very soon.

Of course, this is hardly a complete list of all the quality mods that are floating out there. A good way to discover what's on offer is to head over to Nexus Mods and check the TOP lists for all three games: <span class="bold">Oblivion</span>, <span class="bold">Fallout 3</span> and <span class="bold">New Vegas</span>. Texture mods, lightning mods, weather mods, silly mods - with a bit of searching you will come across things you never knew you wanted added to your game and quite a few things you'll wish you could unsee.

Happy Modding!
Post edited June 02, 2017 by maladr0Id
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Posts like these is why I continue to support GOG. Keep up the great work!
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As several mods and patches increase the system requirements BE SURE TO CHECK THAT YOUR COMPUTER CAN RUN IT!
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You should mention Nehrim. That is a fantastic game built as a total conversion in the Oblivion engine. Still, load order is key to getting mods to work right. I recommend BOSS (better Oblivion Sorting Software) for getting your load order down pat, and using Wrye Bash to merge some of those awesome mods together. FCOM KABOOM is another great game play mod for Oblivion. There are so many. So so many goodies out there.
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paladin181: You should mention Nehrim. That is a fantastic game built as a total conversion in the Oblivion engine. Still, load order is key to getting mods to work right. I recommend BOSS (better Oblivion Sorting Software) for getting your load order down pat, and using Wrye Bash to merge some of those awesome mods together. FCOM KABOOM is another great game play mod for Oblivion. There are so many. So so many goodies out there.
I tried to avoid total conversions and big compilations and mostly focus on enhancing first-time / vanilla experience.
With topics like these, there could be top lists of top lists, and still not everything would be covered.

Good thing though, that it always sparks discussion and other suggestions, so the whole topic will cover a lot more than a single spotlight ;)
Hm. That Vanilla UI for FO3 might come in really handy. I'll take a look at that a little later.

Is FO3's unofficial patch any good? I'm wary of those because such things often seem to have the tendency to add/change stuff that goes beyond fixing problems. If I wanted a real mod, I'd install a mod.
Post edited June 02, 2017 by mistermumbles
Good stuff, Thiev. Never played Oblivion before, so this is going to make the experience that much better.
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Personally, the biggest issue I have with Oblivion is creature and NPC scaling - once you get above a certain level you'll see all the road-side peasants turn into warlords, wearing only the best armor gear and packing the best weapons... and of course instead of running into the occasional road-side wolf, you'll get to battle epic minotaurs every time you step 1 meter outside of a safe zone. That's just ridiculous.

To dull the ridiculousness a bit, I use Francescos Creatures and Items Mod without any of the included optional additions. I like a close-to-vanilla experience, but I'm not willing to live with the horrendous world-wide auto-leveling Oblivion comes with.
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Maybe you could mention that the game is already patched with LARGEADDRESSAWARE flag (also called 4GB patch). So, GOG users don't need to use that (and can't, current 4GB patch for NV doesn't work with gog version - it expects to have to deal with Steam DRM).

This applies at least to FO:NV, no idea about the other two.
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mistermumbles: Is FO3's unofficial patch any good? I'm wary of those because such things often seem to have the tendency to add/change stuff that goes beyond fixing problems. If I wanted a real mod, I'd install a mod.
I'd suggest following the link and reading the change log/readme. It fixes bugs but does also add restored content. However, they give reasoning as to why they think it fits. So you should get a good idea of whether or not it's something you want to try.
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GR00T: It fixes bugs but does also add restored content.
One warning for these types of mods: There may be a good reason why the content was removed in the first place.
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GR00T: It fixes bugs but does also add restored content.
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dtgreene: One warning for these types of mods: There may be a good reason why the content was removed in the first place.
Which is why I suggested he read the rationale for them restoring the content... O_o
A word about Oblivion Reloaded: It is easily the best thing that has happened to Oblivion in the last few years, BUT in my opionion it is unplayable in its default configuration (mostly because of the extreme motion blur and a few other things which are just a bit too much for my taste), and it is quite complex to configure by yourself. Especially if you want to get rid of a feature that is enabled by default and you don't know where to find it in the ini or ingame menu, this can be quite frustrating. Make absolutely sure you have read the documentation carefully before you ask for support, because the author can be a bit oversensitive to "stupid" questions. Oh, and you will have to register in the Oblivion Reloaded Forum to even download it now.

Don't get me wrong, it is an absolutely amazing thing and I would not want to play without it ever again, but I just wanted you to know what you may get into. Unfortunately, unlike ENB there are almost no downloadable presets for OR. And those that exist may not be compatible with the current version.
Thanks a bunch GOG & Thiev, certainly useful information; I love these curated mod spotlights!
Post edited June 02, 2017 by Vythonaut
Great overview, but you should really add some information on how to adress the level scaling in Oblivion as it is considered terrible by the majority of players. User WinterSnowfall has already suggested a mod to fix the issue; there's more of these. No player should endure this kind of vanilla experience.