None. If at all, the Unofficial Patches (Oblivion, Shivering Isles, DLCs).

yeah you literally don't need anything except maybe the unofficial patch mods, but only if you run into issues that can only be fixed by them (usually you can just use console commands or reload to an earlier save)

NorthernUi (Vanilla) - if you care about controller support.
Achievements mod - if you care about achievements. It adds a new menu with the Xbox 360 achievements to unlock.

Unofficial patches for bug fixes, if you care.
Might have an Fps physics mod fix. I am unsure though.

Otherwise, nothing really.

Originally posted by Birdii:

NorthernUi (Vanilla) - if you care about controller support.
Achievements mod - if you care about achievements. It adds a new menu with the Xbox 360 achievements to unlock.

Unofficial patches for bug fixes, if you care.
Might have an Fps physics mod fix. I am unsure though.

Otherwise, nothing really.

well in PS3 and Xbox 360 ports, joining and being promoted in each faction (the arena also counted as one somehow) were the achievements, along with progressing through key moments in the story too iirc. and even in the PC port, joining and being promoted in the factions are fully recorded in the journal.

i don't think such a mod exists for Oblivion, but i am aware it does for Skyrim while Bethesda themselves fixed it at the engine level for Fallout 76. i don't think ESO needs it because that's developed by Zenimax on a completely different engine.

Bethini is the only thing you need if you wanna have a vanilla experience.
Crank up all the settings, especially distance settings, and you're good to go
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/46440

I am playing the game with literally no mods and just pretty much finished my last quest across all DLCs. I do not remember running into any significant troubles, though I would often scour UESP ahead of time for bugs. Some bugs were encountered of course, but they could be solved without console. I managed to get stuck once and used tcl, although I had a full save made just a few minutes ago. Other time I had a monster fell through the floor and used kill to kill it although I could simply leave him alone.

So yes, you can go literally vanilla, not even Unofficial patch seems to be all that needed. Last year I played Fallout New Vegas, and *had* to install 4 patch mods just so the game does not crashes every few minutes. Oblivion does crashes, but far too rarely to be a bother.

Originally posted by dart193:

So yes, you can go literally vanilla, not even Unofficial patch seems to be all that needed. Last year I played Fallout New Vegas, and *had* to install 4 patch mods just so the game does not crashes every few minutes. Oblivion does crashes, but far too rarely to be a bother.

well from my experience, i could play New Vegas without needing mods

Originally posted by NothingIsHalal:

well from my experience, i could play New Vegas without needing mods

I can't comment on New Vegas, but the Oblivion experience described fits with my experience (and I play Oblivion since release).

You don't need any mods no
The only issue you might stumble on eventually is the gametime overflow glitch, but it's such a niche case that you'll finish the game, daedric quests, DLC and Guild side questline easily before it becomes apparent

Originally posted by Cheddar Goblin:

As title says:

Chasing as FEW mods as possible to make a first time vanilla playthrough smooth as possible with as few glitches, crashes etc as possible and maybe a graphical upgrade one, I also heard there’s an issue between the two DLC’s battle something castle and frostcrag spire to where you can’t enter the emporium to buy tower upgrades so a fix for that as well or a workaround. Thank you kindly!

For me, it aint really worth modding Oblivion. Oblivion's got enough content as it is. its actually harder to mod Oblivion then it is for Skyrim.

none

Originally posted by Prussia:

Originally posted by Cheddar Goblin:

As title says:

Chasing as FEW mods as possible to make a first time vanilla playthrough smooth as possible with as few glitches, crashes etc as possible and maybe a graphical upgrade one, I also heard there’s an issue between the two DLC’s battle something castle and frostcrag spire to where you can’t enter the emporium to buy tower upgrades so a fix for that as well or a workaround. Thank you kindly!

For me, it aint really worth modding Oblivion. Oblivion's got enough content as it is. its actually harder to mod Oblivion then it is for Skyrim.

It's missing a lot of QoL features that newer Bethesda games have though.

The question makes no sense. It can't be both vanilla and modded. That said, you won't actually know what you want to mod (or in what way) without first actually playing the game to find things you want to change or improve. I play with about 70-80 mods, but I'm the only person on earth with my specific combination (I know I am, because I made a couple of the ones I use). Never used anyone else's mod lists or anything like that.

IMHO the best way to experience Oblivion for the first time is with OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) and the Menu Alt-Tab Crash Fix mods. You can get the alt tab mod here, and mod download provides another link for the OBSE dependency:
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47954

Installation is super easy and doesn't involve overwriting any of the games native files. After installation, for the Steam version you just launch the game and the mods will be active. I've been playing like this in 4K and its been a flawless original experience.

4GB LAA Enabler, dxvk, XOBSE, OblivionXP, DarNified UI, Oblivion Unofficial Patch, lossless scaling, hg eyecandy body, fake fullscreen mode alt tab fix, a mod of your choice to deal with the npc puddingfaces, and unique landscapes merged

bare minimum