Welcome to Part One of my guide on how to mod Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. The games are grouped together because they all use the same game engine (Gamebryo). In this first part, I'm going to get into the basics of modding. (PC ONLY)
Contents:
Part A: OBMM/FOMM
Part B: Patches!
Part C: BOSS and BOSS-F
Part D: OBSE, FOSE and NVSE
Part E: Mod Sources
Well, without further ado, lets get started.
Part A: OBMM/FOMM
Right now, you're probably wondering, what does OBMM/FOMM stand for? Well, OBMM means Oblivion Mod Manager, and FOMM mean Fallout Mod Manager. These utilities are quite literally essential, especially when running conflicting mods. There is an order your mods load in, and it tells the game engine which mods to load first, and what mod should overwrite the other. Anyways, the stock launcher does not do a very good job of this, so that is where OBMM and FOMM come in. For more information on exactly what it does, check the download links below:
For Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas
For Oblivion
Part B: Patches!
It is tradition for Bethesda/Obsidian Games to have millions of bugs, so make sure you get the latest patches, as they will probably solve many of your problems. I've added the download links below:
Fallout 3
Fallout New Vegas: No Download, available via Steam or "the usual places"
Oblivion (Make sure you get the Shivering Isles patch if you have it.)
Part C: BOSS and BOSS-F
Holy crap, enough with the acronyms!!! Sorry 
but theres more of them to come. Anyways, BOSS stands for "Better Oblivion Sorting Software", and BOSS-F stands for "Better Oblivion Sorting Software - Fallout". Basically what it does is modify the load order of your mods to reduce/eliminate crashes from conflicts. Its a life saver trust me. It also provides suggestions and tips about the mods you have installed. Trust me, this is just as essential as OBMM/FOMM! Downloads below:
Part D: OBSE, FOSE and NVSE
I did warn you there would be more acronyms 
. Anyways, these ones stand for: Oblivion Script Extender, Fallout Script Extender and New Vegas Script Extender. What they do is allow mods to modify the games in a more complex manor. It is hard to explain exactly what it does in layman's terms, but please note that THIS IS NOT REQUIRED! Many mods do not require the use of these, but some do. Always check the description of the mod to know what it requires, it could prevent/fix a crash. As always, download links are included below:
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Oblivion
Part E: Mod Sources
I'm going to make this short and sweet. Usually the only places I go for mods are the Nexus sites. I find it easy to find things on there. There are however, many other sites you can go to, that are just a good. It is all a matter of personal preference. I will include links to the Nexus sites (though some of the downloads already linked to them).
Fallout 3 Nexus
New Vegas Nexus
The Elder Scrolls Nexus (Oblivion)
Final Word
I hope that you have learned a little something from this post, it was merely the beginning of what I hope will be a series. If you find any errors in this post, broken links etc, please notify me so I can fix it. Watch for part two of this article, which will explain installing mods! (sometimes, its harder than you may think)
If you have any problems with your game crashing, you can send me a Private Message, post here, or add me on MSN (its on my profile)
Gahh fack, it killed half my links. I'll fix them in a minute.
Edited by Quinn, 31 January 2011 - 04:39 PM.
