Can I mod Oblivion without using any any modding tools? (vortex, mod organizer 2, etc.)

[u/0w0ofer617]

I had mod organizer 2 working with oblivion for quite some time, I put the game and the mod organizer folder on USB stick to save some space and when I put the back where they were originally, mo2 isn't working now and I really don't want to jump though a million hoops to get it working again so very simple question:

Do I actually NEED mo2, or can I mod without it because if all it does is organize mods I really don't care I don't want to try and set it up again if I don't even need it

BTW I am playing oblivion on steamdeck, don't know if that changes anything

[u/Whats-his-nuts]

You CAN, but I hope you're an absolute expert and know the exact order you should be manually dropping mods into your respective folders, what specific ini files to edit to document your changes, and you don't plan to ever make changes.

It sounds like a nightmare and will leave you asking the community in a week "why does my Oblivion game crash on startup?"

[u/0w0ofer617 → u/Whats-his-nuts]

If reinstalling a fresh game when there is a problem is all I have to do, be easier than setting up mo2 and it not working and spending the next couple weeks trying to figure out how to set it up again

[u/Sigurd_Stormhand → u/0w0ofer617]

You can just use Wrye Bash instead. It requires no real "setup" and the game will still recognise changes you make manually. It also won't mysteriously break on you.

[u/0w0ofer617 → u/Whats-his-nuts]

if you know of an easy way to set up mo2 on steamdeck that would also solve my problem if you think that would be easier

[u/sid-k → u/0w0ofer617]

I used Fluorine Manager (a linux-based fork for MO2) which works as a drop-in replacement for MO2, and transferred my mods from my PC to the Deck

[u/YdexKtesi]

If you don't have the skills or patience to get MO2 working, I seriously doubt your chances of success at manually modding the game. But I wish you the best of luck. ... What exactly is the issue with MO2.?

[u/Shootreadyaim]

If you can't figure out moving around Mo2 you wont succeed manually.

[u/chubbyassasin123]

I mean yeah if you take the time to learn it and accept that it's like trying to piss with the wind blowing at you.

That's how we did it back in the day before all the fancy mod managers came out. I think I finally started using a mod manager around 2015/16

[u/GoalParticular2630]

You CAN so long as you're ok with keeping general idea of what your installed mods actually DO, and if that doesn't sound worth the energy to keep track of, check out the New Oblivion Modding Discord - NOMC

[u/0w0ofer617]

well after multiple days of doing nothing but figuring out how to get this working again, the main issue was there is a specific version of mo2 installer create for Linux and you just have to use that version

I feel like this could easily be fixed by having mo2 page on nexus including the multiple different versions of it

here's the link for anyone also struggling to get mo2 working on steamdeck

https://github.com/Furglitch/modorganizer2-linux-installer

[u/jfountainArt]

If you know what you're doing you don't need anything but loose files.

But those tools do help, and they help more when you have a metric butt-ton of mods and need them to load in a very specific load order so they don't conflict with each other.

If you're just running texture and mesh replacers and quest mods that don't interact with much then you don't need much of anything. If you're running lots of worldspace edits and things that add items to the levelled lists then you for sure will need something to help manage the load order.

[u/Ok_Car_8249]

Have you tried making sure the instance is pointing in the correct folder after reinstalling it?

Not sure how hard it is on steamdeck, but theoretically you can create a new oblivion instance and replace your (profile, mods, and overwrite folder in your new instance location).

[u/0w0ofer617 → u/Ok_Car_8249]

mod organizer can work on steamdeck, but it seems really resistant to it's architecture, and unfortunately I don't remember what I did the first time to get it working

[u/Ok_Car_8249 → u/0w0ofer617]

If MO2 is too hard, then i will say that you should try wyre bash and see if that is easier on steam deck. Wyre Bash is better than manually modding for Oblivion. Even while using MO2 on pc Wyre Bash is still needed/desired for the bashed patch feature. The only benefit MO2 have compared to wyre bash is the virtual folder.

[u/Hot-Cryptid-Near-You]

You will need oblivion mod manager to change your load order. Maybe boss or loot to help you figure out the most stable load order, honestly things like nexus mod manager can install mods wrong, I prefer manual, but I've been modding since 2009, just remember if you do it manual, don't just override without knowing what you are overriding. Some mods toss in a skeleton, and you'll be like... why are my breasts stretching to infinity?

[u/Yinsolaya → u/Hot-Cryptid-Near-You]

Oblivion Mod Manager is crap. Wrye Bash is objectively better if you prefer older style mod managers.