Tes4Mod:FCOM Installation Guide

This is not an official guide, nor is it endorsed by the authors of the mentioned mods. Furthermore, this is a stand-alone guide, and reading other guides or installations along with it may cause confusion as a result of differences in language and terms.  Its purpose is not that of a supplement to the official installation instructions found in the mods' ReadMe files or official development threads, but, rather, to offer augmented instructions for those who have found those resources insufficient in some way. Sometimes level of comfort with mod management required to follow the official documentation exceeds that of the user whom wants to try to mod. That is why this guide not only aims to help users successfully install these mods, but also it aims to raise the user's comfort with managing these mods.

Before proceeding with this guide, it would be helpful to have read or be familiar with the material covered in System Requirements, Intro to Mods and Hardware Analysis pages. Also note that the example mods this guide covers are not exhaustive. If you are wondering what types of mod configurations users have run successfully, check out the RLO Database.

  Users of Windows 7 and Windows Vista, whenever you have to run executable (EXE) installers for mods and mod management-related utilities right-click and flag installer to  . Likewise, 64-bit users have to be aware of the fact that some 32-bit installer do not execute properly on 64-bit platforms.

Introduction

FCOM is not'' for new (mod) users, lighthearted users or lightweight systems!! It combines more than three overhauls, adding many new items, NPCs and quests. The intensity of FCOM-overhauled Oblivion should provide a real challenge moving up from any other modded setup, allowing your skills to grow in experience fairly quickly. Your PC is expected to die a few times early on; however, do not rush out of the early levels. If you do, you will miss out on a lot of the new content. The FCOM team and many of its users recommend installing a mod such as Progress (see the downloading mods page) to slow down the skill progression rate. As large as this mod is, the FCOM team provides support plugins for many known conflicts, covering almost all major mods. It is has been around quite a while now; therefore, if a mod really conflicts with FCOM (or OOO), the ReadMe for that mod will probably mention it. However, keep your hardware in mind when adding more AI-adding mods, such as Crowded Roads and TIE on top. You may need to back off a bit and and add one of FCOM's spawn rate reducing mods and avoid OOO's fish plugin to make your FCOM setup manageable for your CPU.

:Note: TIE users, a new version of TIE4MODs that will actually fit well with FCOM is in the works. As the release will probably be quite different from the other versions of TIE and adding a mod is simpler than updating to a very different mod, wait for the new release. It should be released relatively soon. Look on the BethSoft mods forum for the thread.

If you want to try a smaller overhaul first, there are other overhauls containing, the core of FCOM, Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul:
OOO Installation Guide
MMM+OOO Installation Guide

Download Components

BAIN users should download non-OMOD versions (i.e., manual, BAIN-ready, OMOD-ready, regular, etc.) mods to the Bash Installers folder. OBMM users should download OMOD versions or OMOD-ready versions of mods when they are available. Only a few of these are available as OMODs, but a number are OMOD-ready. OMODs can be either downloaded to your OMODs folder or loaded into OBMM by double-clicking on them or right-clicking and choosing  . (The default OMODs folder is  .) Avoid EXE downloads (unless explicitly referenced).

Required

FCOM - core
FCOM 1.0
Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul 1.35
Download and install the files "OOO135.7z", "OOO135BSA.7z", and if you so desire, "Harvest_Flora_v3_0_1.zip
Martigen's Monster Mods 3.8
download "MMM38BSA.7z", "MMM38.rar" and "MMM 3.8 ReadMe and Version History.rar".
Francesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod (Fran)
This mod is required to install the latest version of FCOM, which this guide covers.
This mod is also a stand-alone overhaul with very different gameplay as compared to OOO and FCOM. In FCOM, it is primarily a source of new items, of which there are many.
Fran V5
Download both the v1 beta and the v2 beta update.
:''Note: This has a BAIN-only installer. If you do not wish to use BAIN, you'll have to install Fran 4.5b (below).
  Do not use the creature pack with FCOM!!!

Strongly Recommended

Common Oblivion (COBL)
Often used with FCOM, this is a huge library mod, offering everything from new hairs to arrow denocking to ingredient extension. For more information, see the ReadMe.
Download@TESNexus
The Assimilation Lab
FCOM_Archery + FCOM_RealSwords patch
Rebalances RealSwords stats for users of FCOM_Archery
Download@Oblivion Nexus
Oblivion WarCry (OWC)
This mod is actually another stand-alone overhaul, which a few members of the FCOM team have helped continue. As such, the FCOM team has provided full support to ensure this mod meshes perfectly into FCOM.
Download "Oblivion WarCry EV Opti.7z", and "WarCryEv.7z".
  This is not the same as Oblivion WarCry:New Dimensions (OWC-ND). That mod is not an update to this one.
OMOBS 2.0
OMOBS is a variation of MOBS (a stat-rebalancing system) that OOO uses. This mod rebalances the Vanilla and SI items in accordance with OMOBS.
Download@TESNexus
There are two versions: one for Vanilla (non-SI) and one for SI.
Unofficial Official Patches
These patches fix an astounding number of bugs in the official content, from meshes to NPC schedules.
main - Unofficial Oblivion Patch (UOP)
Shivering Isles - Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch (USIP)
DLCs - Unofficial Official Mods Patches (UOMP)

:Note: Do not use the MOBS version of the unofficial official patches. Download the separate MOBS patches for the DLCs until OMOBS versions of those are available. OMOBS covers the vanilla and SI items, so downloading MOBS-ified versions of the UOP and USIP is unnecessary anyway.''

Other Updates and Recommends

Bob's Armory and the Bob's Oblivion Armory Optimised BSA
Recommended on FCOM's home site, Bob's Armory adds many new weapons and armor to the FCOM-overhauled world.
Loth's Blunt Weapons
Recommended on FCOM's home site, this mod adds many new blunt weapons to the game.
Enhanced Economy
An updated alternative to Living Economy, the economy mod bundled with OOO.
OOO Gems & Gem Dust OBSE
an OBSE-enabled rewrite of OOO geomancy system
Since OOO's G&GD system is incompatible with that of MMM's, this enhanced version of OOO's system can be used instead.

Continue

For now, manual users, please follow the BAIN track.

 

 

See Also
FCOM;
FCOM-FAQ

External Links
FCOM Basic Load-Order;
FCOM Expanded Load-* Order;
FCOM Convergence;
Franceso's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod ReadMe;