‘Oblivion: Remastered’ Is Actually Just as Moddable as Its Original 2006 Release, and Another 20 Years of Unhinged Mods Are Upon Us

After a long week of anticipation over recent leaks, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is officially real. And, released on the same day. For some folks, it’s their chance to experience a classic Elder Scrolls adventure for the first time. For fossils like me, it’s a chance to replay one of our fondest and most beloved RPGs again. Modders, however, have a whole new version of Tamriel to play with, discovering that the Oblivion remaster is just as moddable as the original.

Bethesda has been quick to state that there’s no mod support for Oblivion: Remastered. Which, really, just translates to, “You can mod it up yourself all you want.” For reference, the previous three Elder Scrolls games also had no mod support. Even Skyrim, before the introduction of Creation Club. Obviously, that didn’t stop modders from going to town on the three games.

Forget Horse Armor. Put horses with Gatling guns in ‘Oblivion Remastered’

On the r/ElderScrolls subreddit, one user discovers that the Oblivion: Remastered game files are present using the TES Construction Set tool, software used by early Oblivion modders. User u/Zealousidal_Pen9063, an OG Oblivion modder, speculates that after some tinkering, modding for the remaster could come to fruition. “I’m thinking they’re swapping out the models in Unreal. If that’s correct it might be a pain in the ass to add new content specifically, however if we can figure out how to enable mods… which I think can be done in a text file, we should be able to at LEAST create mods from pre-exsisting assets which is still huge,” they write.

It all suggests that Oblivion: Remastered is, in fact, the original Oblivion deep under the hood. I’m not savvy enough to pretend to understand all the technical jargon. Though, it appears that the original files are all there, while models and assets swap via the Unreal Engine wrapper on top of it. The same Reddit user states, “…the script extender has been enabled which means virtually everything will indeed work.” Which, essentially, means that the modding scene for Oblivion: Remastered has a bright future ahead of it.

Mods for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered have already begun popping up on prominent modding sites like NexusMods. Some, for convenience, can skip the game’s intro screens. Others change gameplay entirely, like causing iron longswords to deal 10,000 damage in a single swing. And then there’s mods like the Adoring Fan desktop icon replacer, which swaps Oblivion‘s default game icon to something even more insidious.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is available now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam and Game Pass.