See the dream. Reshape it.
A hand-curated overhaul for Oblivion Remastered. 79 mods, tested load order, one-click installer. Linux & Steam Deck.
In Elder Scrolls lore, CHIM is the secret syllable of royalty — the state of achieving divine awareness within the Godhead's dream while maintaining your own identity. Where others who glimpse the truth zero-sum and cease to exist, those who achieve CHIM see the dream for what it is and reshape it. Tiber Septim used it to change the jungle of Cyrodiil into the grasslands you walk today. This modpack carries that name because it does the same thing — it sees Oblivion for what it was always meant to be and reshapes it, without breaking the dream.
Philosophy
CHIM doesn't change Oblivion. It reveals what Oblivion was always meant to be.
Better, not different. Every mod enhances the original. No total conversions, no difficulty spikes.
Combat feels good, magic works, progression rewards you from the first hour.
Every mod checked for conflicts. Custom patches where needed. Hand-curated load order.
Works on Linux and Windows. Proton tested. Platform-specific install guides included.
Original Work
Where I had to write custom code to make things work together. These are the patches that come with the modpack.
Nights are actually dark now but you can still see where you're going. Interiors are tuned per location — caves are dim, houses are warm, dungeons are atmospheric without being unplayable. All done through custom configs for Eternal Darkness and UltraPlus.
LumenRemastered and ShadersRevised both crash on fast travel because of an API change in UE4SS. Patched both so they work without issues.
Sustained spell effects cause permanent controller vibration that never stops. Fixed in Engine.ini — only affects Oblivion, other games keep rumble.
Every plugin ordered and tested for conflicts. The game is picky about how Plugins.txt is formatted — get it wrong and you freeze on a black screen. CHIM ships a pre-built load order that just works.
OBSE and UE4SS are bundled at specific tested versions. Nexus updates can break compatibility between mods, so the installer uses the exact builds I verified against every mod in the pack.
Installation
One file. No dependencies. Works on Windows, Linux, and Steam Deck.
Windows: extract the .zip, run CHIM_Installer.exe | Linux/Deck: extract the .tar.gz, run CHIM_Installer
⚠ Requires a clean game install. Verify files through Steam before running. New character recommended.
How It Works
I built a custom installer so you don't have to figure out where 79 mods go. Start from a clean game install — verify your files through Steam, then let the installer handle the rest.
It figures out what you're running on and gives you two options. CHIM if you're on a PC with a real GPU — all 79 mods, everything maxed out. CHIM Deck if you're on Steam Deck — swaps the heavy visual stuff for optimization mods that actually make the game run. Start with a fresh game — verify files in Steam first, and ideally start a new character for the full experience.
It goes through each mod one at a time — opens the Nexus page for you, you click "Slow Download" (free, no premium needed), and it watches your Downloads folder. When the file shows up, it checks it off and moves to the next one. Or paste your Nexus API key and it downloads everything automatically.
Once everything's downloaded, it checks every single archive before touching your game. Looks for corrupt files, wrong file types, mod conflicts, disk space — the whole thing. If something's wrong, it tells you exactly what. Nothing gets installed until it all checks out.
It extracts everything and puts each file exactly where it needs to go. ESPs to Data, PAKs to the mods folder, OBSE plugins to their folder, UE4SS mods get set up and enabled. If you're on Steam Deck, it also drops in a custom Engine.ini I tuned with 50+ settings specifically for that hardware.
Right-click the game in Steam → Properties → Launch Options. Paste the one for your platform:
LINUX / STEAM DECK
WINDOWS
This tells Steam to launch through OBSE instead of the default exe. Without it, half the mods won't load. The installer copies this to your clipboard automatically.
Two Profiles
Both versions get the full combat overhaul, magic rework, AI improvements, QoL fixes, and new content. The difference is how we handle visuals.
Steam Deck
This game is borderline broken on Deck out of the box. Here's what's wrong and how CHIM fixes it.
Oblivion Remastered on Steam Deck is rough. 20-25 FPS on Low with stuttering everywhere, VRAM overflow crashes because the game tries to load more textures than the Deck's 4GB GPU memory can hold, and a loading screen bug that freezes your Deck about 90% of the time when you walk outside. Valve said "Verified." I disagree.
Hit the ... button on your Deck and set these for this game. CHIM won't hit 30 FPS without them.
Use Proton Experimental or GE-Proton 10-1+. Game must be on your internal SSD — SD card is too slow.
Mod Updates
Mod authors push updates constantly. Most of the time that's great. Sometimes it breaks everything. CHIM handles this so you don't have to think about it.
When a mod updates on Nexus, the new version might change file names, restructure its archive, or conflict with other mods in the pack. A single bad update can crash the game or freeze it on a black screen. This is why most modpacks tell you to never update anything. CHIM takes a different approach.
Every mod is pinned to a specific tested version. Fresh installs always get the exact files I verified. When you want to update, the installer checks Nexus for newer versions and lets you update one mod at a time. Before each update, it backs up the current files. If something breaks, you roll back with one click.
Every mod in the pack is locked to a nexus_file_id — the exact Nexus archive I tested. When you install CHIM, you get that version, not whatever's newest. This is how the installer guarantees a working game on every machine.
Open the installer anytime and hit "Manage Mods." It checks each mod against Nexus, shows you what's newer, and lets you update individually. No need to reinstall the whole pack. If you don't update, everything stays exactly as it was.
Before updating any mod, the installer saves the current version to a backup folder. If the update breaks your game, open the installer, go to Manage Mods, and hit Rollback. One click, back to working.
The Compendium
Every mod, catalogued. I tested all of these together so you don't have to.
Support
CHIM is free and always will be. If it saved you hours of mod hunting and troubleshooting, consider buying me a coffee.