Oblivion Tweaks

[Qarth]

Try changing this in your .ini for better FPS. I got an easy 15 out of it. Back up your original:

[OPENMP]

iThreads=20

iOpenMPLevel=20

iPreloadSizeLimit=X

X = your RAM in MB

set it to X*51200

(1GB = 1024MB, 1024*51200=52428800

2GB = 2048MB, 2048*51200=104857600)

Taken form the Oblivion Forums - For multithreaded CPUs:

The following technical tips, edited in the oblivion.ini file in \My Documents\Oblivion, helped my performance in Oblivion without a shadow of a doubt:

uExterior Cell Buffer=100

PreloadSizeLimit=52428800

bUseThreadedBlood=1

bUseThreadedMorpher=1

bUseThreadedTempEffects=1

bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1

iNumHavokThreads=3

bBackgroundPathing=1

iThreads=10

iOpenMPLevel=10

In the nVidia control panel, setting render ahead to 1 was helpful. Setting at 0 (zero) caused some jerkiness when abruptly looking around.

Finally, I changed the grass density to 130 instead of the default 80.

My grass draw distance is set at:

fGrassEndDistance=5000.0000

fGrassStartFadeDistance=4000.0000

Though you can lower those values if the grass drawing is still to much. It isn't on mine, so I'd be surprised if it were on yours.

Self-Shadows are off, as is shadow filter, and v-sync is off too. The latter really hurts frame rates BTW.

Grass:

One tweak that did work for me was changing iMinGrassSize. It was 80 and I set it to 120. This thins out the grass in grassy areas. I got a 5+ rise in FPS in forests, which is where I really had a problem. Not to mention, it became easier to see plants when the area wasn't overclogged with grass any more!

VSync:

Turn it off. :)

For Nvidia cards only!

I got a HUGE increase with this.

1. Download and install the latest NVIDIA ForceWare drivers.

2. Download and install the "Coolbits" registry tweak:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815

(To install, unzip then double-click the .reg file to apply the registry mod)

3. Go to Control Panel -> Display -> Settings tab -> Advanced -> GeForce XXXX (your card model)

4. Expand "Performance & Quality Settings"

5. Click on "Additional Direct3D Settings"

6. Change "Max Frames to render ahead" from 3 to 0.

7. Click "Apply" then "OK" to exit the settings page.

Edited April 19, 2006 by Qarth

[toadeater]

Try changing this in your .ini for better FPS. I got an easy 15 out of it.

[OPENMP]

iThreads=20

iOpenMPLevel=20

bUseThreadedBlood=1

bUseThreadedMorpher=1

bUseThreadedTempEffects=1

bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1

iNumHavokThreads=3

bBackgroundPathing=1

iThreads=10

iOpenMPLevel=10

Just a warning: these are helpful ONLY if you have a multithreading or dual-core CPU. Otherwise they will cause crashes when your CPU gets bottlenecked.

[Trex1024]

does this work for ati cards as well?? i got a 512 megs of ram with an ati x1600pro card

[Billthy]

What are your rig spec by the way?

[Qarth]

Athlon64 3000+

1GB Corsair DDR 400

nForce4

Geforce 6800GT

Antec 450 Watt PS

I have all these tweaks applied and I don't get any crashes. In fact the game has never crashed. I get about 50-70 indoors, 40 in Cities and 25-30 outside.

EDIT

I just playtested the thread settings and I was getting 95 FPS indoors with the original .ini and 115 with the tweaks enabled. I haven't had it crash on me but use with caution I suppose.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Qarth

[Smigit]

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?SC...&CIID=36546&p=1

;)

a fair bit there plus some of the good mods for optomising performance

[Bamsebjørn]

Thanks... I will buy this game today... :) ...I'll try it out.

[MrCobra]

Thanks... I will buy this game today...:)) ...I'll try it out.

What works for one person concerning this game will most likely not work the same for someone else even with the exact same hardware.

I finally returned the game to EB because of the problems. You might want to read the official forums before you make any rash decision concerning the purchase of this game.

Good luck.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php

[Chode]

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?SC...&CIID=36546&p=1

;)

a fair bit there plus some of the good mods for optomising performance

I used that guide, and even my now aging 9800 Pro can run the game with a good balance between performance and quality :)

[jago_lfn]

Good tweaks, I like how the map is in color now instead of black and white. Helps when trying to find a certain landmark :D

[Smigit]

I used that guide, and even my now aging 9800 Pro can run the game with a good balance between performance and quality :)

its certainly worth a bookmark. Even if you have a top of the line Computer it includes several things to make your game look better. The LOD and Normal mapping mods are definite keepers and theres many other worthwhile ones there.

It's a wonder some of those optomisations didnt find their way into the original release. Like a slider for grass density along with the higher detail distance textures which has pretty much no performance hit.

[toadeater]

Athlon64 3000+

1GB Corsair DDR 400

nForce4

Geforce 6800GT

Antec 450 Watt PS

I have all these tweaks applied and I don't get any crashes. In fact the game has never crashed. I get about 50-70 indoors, 40 in Cities and 25-30 outside.

EDIT

I just playtested the thread settings and I was getting 95 FPS indoors with the original .ini and 115 with the tweaks enabled. I haven't had it crash on me but use with caution I suppose.

I get reproduceable crashes with those thread settings on my old P4. Reducing the LightLOD, SpecularLOD and using Linear lighting helped me with FPS the most. If I was getting 95 FPS anywhere in this game on my rig, I wouldn't be tweaking anything. :laugh: I get 15-60 now with AA + Bloom enabled. Try these if you have an old PC:

iIntroSequencePriority=0

bPreloadIntroSequence=0

uGridsToLoad=5 (how many cells to keep in memory)

uInterior Cell Buffer=9 (how much RAM to use for storing cells)

uExterior Cell Buffer=90 (how much RAM to use for storing cells)

iPreloadSizeLimit=1215752192 (depends on how much free RAM you have. For use with above settings.)

iAutoViewMinDistance=2000

iAutoViewHiFrameRate=40

iAutoViewLowFrameRate=25

bAutoViewDistance=1 (adjusts viewdistance to maintain framerate. For use with autoview settings.)

fLightLOD2=5000.0000 (seems to make little difference in FPS, lets you see lights from far away)

fLightLOD1=50.0000 (much bigger FPS hit on older cards. I think it's the dynamic light. Keep low.)

fSpecularLOD2=660.0000

fSpecularLOD1=160.0000 (major FPS hit on older cards. Keep low or turn off entirely)

bUseQuadratic=0 (turn off quadratic lighting to get a slight FPS boost)

bUseLinear=1 (turn off quadratic lighting to get a slight FPS boost)

iTreeClonesAllowed=16 (saves RAM by cloning trees onscreen--less variety, but faster)

iMinGrassSize=180 (spreads the grass out. Major FPS boost outdoors)

fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=0.0000 (stops grass animation. Another major FPS boost)

fGrassWindMagnitudeMin=0.0000

iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=1

fBlurAmmount=0.0000 (blur damage effects during combat. Helps with those FPS drops)

Overall, things to tweak depend on what CPU you have, how much RAM you have, and what GPU you have. If you've got a cheap 128MB GPU, then lower the texture sizes/quality and visual stuff, especially shaders & lighting. A fast CPU is needed for physics, animations and all the threading/background loading, but not so much for the visuals. Caching in RAM speeds up loading and reduces stuttering, which can seem like a speed boost.

[Qarth]

Just added Coolbits at the top of the page.

[Chode]

With the alterations from AtomicPC, my game will now crash as it closes. But it's not a problem.

[Smigit]

what ones did you apply? Ive had a crash very rarely but I dont know if its so much the alterations I made or the game itself (its a reported issue). Personally I just applied the grass density one, the 2 mods (LOD and Normal Mapping) and the Memory one (for 1+ gig).

I didnt touch any of the threading ones, havent read a good explanation as to what they do nor any real concusive performance improvements.

[Chode]

Every tweak except installing third party modifications.