Oblivion is a great game that has aged extremely well. The graphics were ground-breaking when it was first released and they are still amazing. One of its greatest strengths is its extreme modability. This section contains a section of 'most-have' mods. Unfortunately, though there are many high-quality mods on the internet, they seem to be slowly disappearing or being sequestered away behind login requirements. This is an attempt to rescue some of the better mods and leave them open to the world.

I have personally tested every mod in here and they all work with minimal issues on a stock Oblivion installation with the v1.2.0416 English official patch. I don't have Shivering Isles nor any of the purchased mini-mods.

The following files are required. If you don't have them, grab them.


This is the Official patch from Bethesda. You must have this. I doubt there will be any more patches following this one. If you prefer to patch in a different langauge, by all means, grab the patch directly from Bethesda. If you have the Shivering Isles, make sure to get those patches as well. The patch download page is here.


This is an unofficial patch created by Baldurdash. This is a tremendously huge collection of bug fixes and item placement corrections. After installing the latest official patch, install this baby for an even better Oblivion experience. There's also a version for Shivering Isles (not mirrored here) so if you want it, get to Googling.

These are mods and apps that are well-worth the download. Check them out, you won't be sorry.


The Oblivion Mod Manager gives you a nice way to manage your mods through a UI. More importantly, it allows you to overcome some Oblivion bugs related to using new textures. If you are going to use any more that adds or updates textures, you will need this application. To see how to use Oblivion Mod Manager to make sure new textures take, click here.



BT Mod is a must-have mod for the Oblivion in-game user interface. The original user interface seems to have been crafted with a console (and only a console) in mind. This fixes that. It also allows additional modifications. Please check the official page here for further information.


Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (ooo) is a massive modification. Its primary focus is changing the way that the auto-levelling system works. In the default Oblivion installation, everything in the game world levels with you. This was, in many people's opinions, one of Oblivion's greatest faults. At level 1, everyone from the bosses to the bandits carried crappy weapons roughly equivalent to your level. As you neared the end game and became very powerful, all these people levelled with you. Bandits with glass and daedric weapons are disconcerting. This mod fixes that. Please check the official Oscuro web page for more information.

These mods aren't strictly necessary but we liked them. Add them or not as you see fit.


This replaces the default Oblivion in-game map with a colorful version. It looks much better than the stock one and is, in my opinion, very much worth the effort. It also replaces the map icons. Please check the readme inside the archive for full information.



The point of this mod is to replace the stock Oblivion female meshes and textures with some that are more attractive. And more nude. This mod is adult in nature and not recommended for children. Then again, this mod only adds nudity, not sex, so unless you're a prude, who cares?



This section is actually comprised of 3 separate mods. They work together to replace distance textures with high-quality versions, significantly improving the visual experience. This comes at a performance price, however, though honestly not a large one. Before applying this mod, make a backup copy of your textures folder so you can roll back out of it easily.
The base LOD texture replacement covers central Cyrodiil. (21 MB)
This LOD texture replacement covers the rest of Cyrodiil. (41 MB)
And this is a fix for LOD normal maps. (23 MB)
Curious if it makes much of a difference? Here are some piccies... see for yourself. Look at the distant textures (click on the thumbnails for fullscreen versions).

Without LOD	With LOD

Before you read further, take a look at the file size. That's not a typo. This mod is 1.7 gigabytes. It's a very thorough Oblivion texture replacement that upgrades the look of Oblivion tremendously. Please be aware that if your graphics card has difficulties with Oblivion, this modification will probably kill it. However, for those of you that have decent graphics cards, this is a must-have. Look below for a comparison of stock Oblivion and then Qarl's texture pack. I'll use the same viewpoint as with the LOD screenies. Specifically look at the foreground textures such as the house and rock.

With LOD	With Qarl's