Someone in the Bestheda forum asked for comparison screenshots of Oblivion with and without mods to convince a friend of the importance of a modded game over a console.
It occured to me that textures alone was not enough to really showcase the power of mods – most mods add subtle details that take some time to identify for an untrained eye.
So I took some images from the official screenshots – both pc, xbox and ps3 – and tried to match them as much as possible with my modded game.
Anvil docks – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Natural Environments, Better Cities Anvil, Alienslof’s Robe Trader, Streamline
– Notice the mountains visible in the background behind the castle and the difference in texture for distant land
– The difference of colors is due to Natural Environment. I personally like the Yellow hue that NE gives to the atmosphere. Vanilla Oblivion look colder most of the time. For a Blueish hue, you can use the alternate weather system AWS.
Skingrad Fighter Guild porter – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Tamriel NPC Revamped, Django’s Unique Features, Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul
– The Guild Porter has freckles
– Note that the elf fighter is dressed down (civilian clothes) in the morning. She is not always wearing an armor.
Imperial City view – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Natural Environments, Better
road signs, Enhanced water, Almost Everything Visible When Distant, HTF noise replacer, BTQ Landscape LODs,
Streamline, More immersive interface
– Notice the distant bridges (left), dock (right) and village at the top of the hill (left) from AEVWD
– The haze around the city itself and the reduced amount of grass are due to Streamline
– Notice the discrete HUD in the bottom corner from a More Immersive Interface
Outside Prison Sewers – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Natural Environments, Unique
Landscape Imperial Isle, Enhanced water, Almost Everything Visible When
Distant, HTF noise replacer, BTQ Landscape LODs, Streamline
– Notice the changes on the dock and the other side of the water (right) from UL City Isle
– The ayleid ruin on the other side of the lake (left) is now visible
– The blueish hue is caused by a mix between Natural Environment rainy weather and Streamline distant fog.
Skingrad streets – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Natural Environments, Better Cities Skingrad, Illumination Within Revived
– Notice the clutter and tiny details from Better Cities, and the illuminated windows
– Qarl’s Texture pack 3 gives more definition to stone pavement and facades
Chorrol streets – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, Natural Environments, Better Cities Chorrol, Illumination Within Revived, Beaming Sunglare, moDem City Life
– Enhanced sunglare effect
– The Orc beggar is followed by his kid (city life)
Estelle Renoit Bookstore – 
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– Mods used: Qarl Texture Pack 3 Redimized, TNR All Races, Book Jackets Oblivion, Exnem Eye Candy body replacer
– New book covers
– NPC with more character
And finally, THE main reason to use mods
Inventory system – 
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– Modded as a table (PC)
– Mods used: wz_inventory, OOO (hood), Chaindress
– Two ways to view your inventory – a list with many more items and a grid, just like Morrowind.
– The chaindress is one of many armors available only from PC mods
– The shaded hood and elven sword come from OOO (hoods and capes are not included in vanilla Oblivion).