Now for game play tweaks.

#1 - I've always despised the built-in game mechanic where all of the monsters level up with you. Which means that regular roadside bandits eventually become super powerful, with high level armor and weapons - rather then just being roadside ruffians.

The answer to this dilemma is "Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul".

Which, unfortunately, can be a bit difficult to find/install. The primary file that you need to find is "OOO_133_Complete.7z" along with "OOO_134_Beta_5_Patch.7z".

Extract both files to separate directories, then look for the ReadMe files. Take the contents of the 1.34 beta 5 folder and use it to overwrite the same files in the 1.33 complete folder. Then create your OMOD off of the folder with the merged files. (The files in 1.34b5 need to replace those in the 1.33 release version.)

Read carefully the first splash screen that lists common conflicting mods (or mods that have been folded into OOO). After that, you'll want to pick:
- "Full" install
- Do not install "Drop Lit Torches" (say "Yes" to remove)
- "No" to the Spell Timer question
- "No" to the magic script effect
- "No" to the respawn rate
- "No" to the water weeds question
- "No" to the city map marker question (you now have to visit before you can fast travel)
- "No" to guild ownership removal
- "No" to Harvest Flora (you should install 3.0.1 instead)
- "No" to Living Economy (use Enhanced Economy 5.4.3 instead)
- "Yes" to readme files

Make sure you use the OOOupsave.exe with older savegame files (or just start a brand new game from scratch by deleting existing saves).

Try "Drop Lit Torches OBSE" for a better torch mod. Naturally, you'll need to install OBSE.

The default OOO leveling rate is about 3x slower. Great if you're not in a hurry and want to see many things in your travels, but not so great if you're pressed for time. To fix this, look for "Level_Rates_Modified_x2.esp" (which is only about 2x slower). Package that up in a new OMOD file and make sure that it loads after any of the other OOO ESP files in your load order.

#2 - Martigen's Monster Mod

(defer this install until later)

#3 - Enhanced Economy (requires OBSE)

This does a better job at making the merchant's gold amounts seem realistic then the older "Living Economy" did. Make sure to disable Living Economy when installing OOO.

Needs to be installed after DarnUI. Pick "Default" during the install, then edit the INI file later ("Enhanced Economy.ini" under the Oblivion "Data/Ini" folder). Recommended changes:

set tnoEE.extraBarterGoldJourneyman to 2500
set tnoEE.merchantServicesReturn to 0.75
set tnoEE.start_random_factor to 0.25
set tnoEE.time_factor to 0.25
set tnoEE.merchant_reset_interval to 96
set EEbarterChatterSpecial to 10
set tnoEE.mercSkillMode to 2
set tnoEE.merchantQuests_maxGoldReward to 300
set tnoEE.baseMagicValue to 2
set tnoEE.magicEffectPow to 0.95
set tnoEE.deadOwnership to 0
set tnoEE.deadOwnershipInCities to 1
set tnoEE.potionValueMult to 0.3
set tnoEE.coinValue to 10
set tnoEE.containerAdjustment to 150

(Makes those loose gold coins that you see laying around more worthwhile picking up. Makes gold inside of containers a bit more profitable. But also turns down a few other things.)

#4 - SD Skill Diary

Helps keep track of your skill-up process.

#5 - Gather ye Rosebuds

Makes harvesting of flora about 10x easier.

#6 - Reneer's Guard Overhaul

Makes the guards less psychic and much better behaved.

#7 - Better Thief Loot

Makes it slightly more profitable to rob upper level houses.

#8 - Random Sigil Stone

Makes it possible for Sigil Stones to show up in regular loot containers. There are (3) ESPs inside the archive, so you'll need to extract it to a folder and then remove the two that you don't want. I suggest going with GruntssigilstonesAylied.esp.

#9 - Random Welkynd and Varla Stones

Adds Weklynd and Varla stones to Ayleid containers, making it more rewarding to go into the ruins. Only a 1% chance of them showing up though, so shouldn't be too overpowered.

#10 - Soul Gem Bigger Capacity

Doubles the magic points stored in each soul gem.

#11 - Sigil Stones Expanded and Extended

Gives you more incentive to keep closing Oblivion gates. Note that you will need to unpack this and delete the extra ESPs (which files, depends on whether you use OOO or not or some other mods).

#12 - Buyable Chests

Puts little chests in the cities that you can purchase to use as permanent storage. They're much cheaper then houses, but not free either.