Thanks for the info. I might be more willing to finish the game knowing that.
In case you would be actually wondering, you must reload a save, like in all games.
Although there is at least one mod which implements a “death penalty” and doesn’t actually force a reload. I haven’t played with it yet, as I’m the type who would probably reload to avoid the penalty, heh. Johnguydude’s Death Overhaul if you’re interested in checking it out.
Not all games. There are a few where you are just reincarnated at a certain point without having to reload. But, that, certainly, is a minor quibble.
I got the PS3 version for Christmas and I absolutely adore it. I really am surprised that people dislike the original game so much that they feel that it needs Mods. Of course, I am lucky that I love the standard game so much since the PS3 version is not able to benefit from the mods. I haven’t been annoyed yet by the way monsters grow in strength as you level up. I was sure before I started playing that this would be an especially irritating change. But, it has been smooth and really not especially noticeable for me so far. One of my favorite features of the game is sneaking around and accomplishing quests with little or no bloodshed. Then again, bloodshed is fun, too.
The guy who made the DarkUI mod keeps a compilation of mods for Oblivion & Morrowind that lots of people found helpful. He goes by the name Blackhawk and he’s staff at www.octopusoverlords.com which is where you can usually find it. The compilations are really well made to work together without breaking the game.
That said, clairobscure, I found closing the Oblivion gates to be such a bore that I enchanted some items with permanent chameleon and maxed my stealth score. Then I just snuck past all the Daedra and made a beeline for the closing mechanism. The nice thing about the game is that it lets you choose how you want to deal with combat (including an option to skip it, most times.) Paralysis poisons + Marksmanship also brought a big boost to my enjoyment.
Stealth is for wimps! Hehe, actually I like stealth-marksman a lot, but when it comes to Oblivion gates, I got to know the general layouts well enough I’d just run like hell and let everything chase me. 
Stupid question. Can I install these mods and pick up where I left off in the game, or do I have to start the game over? I’m already getting pissed off by the difficulty of trying to avoid leveling up (my major skills are fucking blade, blunt, hand-to-hand, restoration and destruction so it’s kind of hard to avoid! Gee if only I’d realized that my major skills weren’t supposed to be the ones I use all the time.:rolleyes: )
If you are overwhelmed by the graphics, be prepared to be even more whelmed by the Natural Environments mod: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=376
It scales the trees to be much larger and more impressive, the weather to be more varied, makes the plants disappear after you harvest them, etc. I love this mod.
Is there a ui mod that displays your hotkey buttons on-screen? I keep forgetting what I set them to. It’s very awkward.
Most mods can be installed/uninstalled on a game already in progress. Check the readme files of the various mods you’re thinking of using.
I don’t believe anyone ever figured out how to do that, even with OBSE (the Oblivion Script Extender). I haven’t looked into Oblivion mods in a while, though.