Poor Performance on a High End Computer

[Guest]

Hey, so just recently I've finally built my own gaming computer. It's pretty sweet with a gtx 680 and an I5-3570k CPU and stuff. So far every game I've thrown at it runs flawlessly, smooth frame rates on the highest graphics settings.

 

Well, except for one game...

 

Oblivion...

 

Now granted, I've modded this game quite a bit with QTP, Unique Landscapes, Better Cities, Lush and Gaudy mods, RAEVWD, etc, as well as an FXAA injector, however, despite my impressive hardware, the game runs pretty terribly. It does depend on where I am, some exterior cells are at a measly 15-25 FPS and the waterfront... oh god, it doesn't go higher than 10. I think the best FPS I've gotten so far was about 40... in the testing hall. But this is a top-end computer right? Modern games without any mods look leagues better than Oblivion does, even with mods. Yet Oblivion runs like shit.

 

Now I realize that Oblivion is an old, poorly optimized game that utilizes one core and shit, but seriously, is there anything at all that I can do to improve performance? I've installed all the latest drivers, installed Streamline, OSR, Low Poly grass, Operation Optimization, UOP, and more, yet they seemingly do nothing to better my framerates. I've been forced to reduce my graphics settings to medium, which does improve FPS by 5 or so, which certainly is an improvement (and doesn't really affect the look of the game) but I really don't think I should be getting such low FPS in the first place. After all, I know of several people who run the game with great framerates with older graphics cards.

 

So here I am, asking for help and guidance as to why Oblivion runs so poorly, and if there's anything I can do at this point to improve performance. Any input or tips will be greatly appreciated.

[Ark of Truth]

Having too many mods or having in the wrong order can do this, but considering you have not posted one not a lot we can do.

[kingkong]

did you think about tweaking oblivion file.ini  like rising the page files memory use and others .... look here http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_8.html

 

also you could try obge or emb.dev 

 

and one thing more that i am sure you have done    " the 4 GIG patch ".

[Jayce Dimmer]

The culprit is most likely DirectSound; hardware support (I.E, use of integrated/dedicated SPUs) was removed in Vista and upwards.

 

Nothing you can do, really. Might be able to get back some of the performance by decreasing the quality (bitrate) of the sound files after converting them to .wav format.

[Guest Spikes]

You can try a couple of stuff. 

 

QTP redimized gives you same quality with almost half the burden than QTP, i think it's pyffied too but not sure,since i don't use it.

 

Although your comp is kick ass and eats for breakfast any game, OBLivion still uses only 1 core. there's no way to fix that so try to remove some mods you can live without.Lush and Gaudy mods can eat like 1GB Ram alone, very intensive. I'd try to find something else, but yah they look amazing.

Try Improved trees and Flora series of mods they're quite nice. 

 

Whispered feet mod helps a lot. Removes sounds that taxes OBL a lot. I use max, u can remove them with Wrye Bash too.

 

Although i religiously follow Grigathit's load orders and mods, somehow Streamline was destroying my fps. No idea why, but i noticed some veterans in Bethesda forums not using it either. IT should NOT affect fps,but it did affect mine,tried everything, had to uninstall that 1. If it works for you great, make sure OSR controls fps rate,not streamline,works better.

 

Operation optimizer is outdated and reports say it actually harms stuff. I advice uninstalling it.

 

Tes4edit for cleaning, Boss for ordering LOrder, 4GB patch is a must(as friends above said).Use the CFF explorer to 4gb the obl exe.Install OBL outside Program files ( i have it on C:\Games ). If you have Steam, tell it to not update OBL. If you have a retail copy that's even better.

 

Finally if you use the new Windows, i'd revert to win7, works great with OBL. there's a thating OBL has with some sound codecs in ffdshow, google it to disable them (i think they're 2 only, being too long since i did it sorry)

 

Gluck

 

Edit: OSR bReplaceHeap is a miracle, mine works with iheap 6, ur smight work better with some other 1(like 5 for example). I have 1024.

 

Edit2 : Gamecompanion with windowed mode, works as good as Full screen mode with much less strain on cpu. highly advice it.

 

 

[Nightwynd]

I know the feeling quite well. It is frustrating Oblivion runs so slow when Skyrim doesn't.

 

Here's a little experiment: Load Oblivion without OBSE and see how much of am improvement you get without all the scripts running in the background.

[gregathit]

Excellent advice in every post. 

 

I myself recommend you go even deeper.....to the tune of a clean install of the vanilla game with ZERO mods installed.  Then slowly install your core "must have" plugins\replacers and check your FPS after installing 1 or 2 (no more than 4) mods.  If things are good, proceed.  Sure it will be slow going, but it is much better than blindly poking around and praying you get lucky to redeem a decent frame rate.

[Guest]

Thanks guys for all the advice!

 

After trying QTP redimized, and Game Companion my FPS has made a noticeable increase, although some areas are still a bit laggy. I did the OSR edit as well. I already had the 4 gig patch and whispering feet though. Ultimately, I'm leaving Streamline disabled, mainly because I absolutely hate the automatic edits to my ini. Every cell change it will reduce my actor fade to 15% and object/item fade to 4%,which is utterly ridiculous. I really can't stand playing without actor fade at 100%. Also, even at 100% grass fade, it still annoyingly appears as I'm moving, it's especially noticeable in flat areas. I'm thinking about removing the tall grass entirely through the "tg" console command. I removed operation optimization as well.  

 

@MajinCry, are you mentioning onboard audio? I'm using an Asus Xonar DX soundcard, if that makes a difference here.

 

@Nightwynd, I have Oblivion installed through Steam, since my hard copy won't install correctly for some reason. OBSE tells Steam users to run the game without the obse_loader.exe, would removing OBSE from the oblivion install directory allow me to run the game without OBSE?

 

@Gregathit, Hmm, I made a backup of oblivion without any mods, I might try that soon.

[gregathit]

With the steam version you are correct in that you never run the obse_loader.exe.  To run the game without obse enable you should just need to move the obse.dll file and that will prevent obse from running.

[Guest Spikes]

Glad you got fps back. Some more suggestions.

 

If you use ENB, u can remove the antialising stuff in your card (with HDR on OBL has it disabled but maybe you have it overridden in your card). If you use OBGE,OBGE people say to disable surface format Optimization.

 

Shadows can eat like 20 fps even in strongest cards. that's more fps hit than OBGE with liquid Water or RAEVWD full.

 

IF you don't care for 4k textures max quality, you can use Texture Optimizer . I use it to turn my 4k textures to 2k or even 1k with no noticeable loss in quality.

Texture optimizer is awsome too for fixing maps,texture errors etc, you can't go wrong with using him on minimum, he has 3 modes.(he wont touch size textures, he'll just fix stuff).

 

Menuqueu 9a seems the most stable for me. OBSE 20 too.

 

Wrye BASH 295 (ty Gregathit and Arc of Truth) seems the best.  Heard 295.3 is good too. Else use Wrye Bash latest. 302 is broken. It's vluable to use the suggested ones, I noticed other Wryes to do poor work and affect stuff badly.

 

Nephenee 13 advices to use the CBASH function instead of Normal. I'm not sure if it's best on 295 (i do use it though), but definitely on latest Wryes.

 

Gregathit's posts above give the best advice. If you use weOCPS, remove it, for the mod tests. 

 

CM Partners mods give major lag. High heels mod too same with Optimised Distant Land mod and torch mods. check mods if they need OBSE 20 or 21 beta,sometimes it's overlooked.

 

Specular dist on 25%. Higher is huge fps hit. Redbag fog is good fps mod. Gives fog ingame. Koldorns LOD noise Replacer is invaluable.

 

Joystic off in ini. iShadowMapResolution=1024 (Arthmoor's advice) always. (it's 200 something in ini by default for a weird reason). I saw improvement just from this change. Gluck.

 

[Jayce Dimmer]

@ The Mad God

 

Integrated = Onboard

 

Because DirectSound is using software (Your CPU), and there many sounds playing at once, you'll get a very noticeable drag on your performance. Even if you have the tippity-toppity processor. DirectSound's software acceleration is just awful, unlike XAudio2 (that is what FalloutNV and Skyrim use), which is quite a bit easier on the CPU in comparison.

[Nightwynd]

As Spikes say, CM Companions and Real High Heels can seriously mess with your FPS rate (someone posted a fix for the high heels in another thread, though). When it comes to OBGE, I don't use ambient occlusion shaders because they eat a good 10 FPS to the very least. Also, the TamagoHud add-on will destroy your frame rate. When I had it on I had a 20 frames loss on average, with some areas going down to 5-6 FPS.

 

 

[Endiness]

Found an old photo, and I guess my fps was terrible. Sli makes no difference, and my old cpu is reasonably overclocked. I stopped caring about it when I used to play.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jayce Dimmer]

@Endiness

 

Does typing the command "SLP 1" help?

[Mr.Flingingfeces]

As Spikes say, CM Companions and Real High Heels can seriously mess with your FPS rate (someone posted a fix for the high heels in another thread, though). When it comes to OBGE, I don't use ambient occlusion shaders because they eat a good 10 FPS to the very least. Also, the TamagoHud add-on will destroy your frame rate. When I had it on I had a 20 frames loss on average, with some areas going down to 5-6 FPS.

 

This,  but you can also use the ambient occlusion and fxaa options in the nvidia control panel with much better results than OBGE.  Also if you are using Enb make sure you're not using shadow effects,  bloom or dof.  Using a color palette is about the only thing I use in Enb lol 

[x9800]

There's one thing I can't do anything about: FaceGen actors FPS drop. When I look on more than 4-5 humanoid actors (even through walls, just at their side), FPS drops to unplayable level (about 3-8). Goblins, skeletons and other creatures have almost zero impact on FPS, there can be 15-20 of them on screen, and game will be still playable. I tried bUseFaceGenHeads=0 in Oblivion.ini, it boosted FPS to the top in populated areas, but removed heads from all Humanoid-race NPC. Ugly. But gameplay was sooo smooooth...

Somebody on Nexus forums wrote about it in december 2011, and mentioned a "d3d9.dll" fix for Fallout New Vegas, which makes FaceGen to use more GPU and less CPU:

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/504715-facegen-causing-abrupt-fps-drop-when-facing-npcs/

It seems there's no such fix for Oblivion - nobody have answered there so far.

 

Edit:

I've tried this ini settings, and FPS drop has been reduced. Not as good as bUseFaceGenHeads=0, but this tweaks don't chop everyone's head. Actually I don't see any visual difference so far.

 

bUseEyeEnvMapping=0

bFixFaceNormals=0

bFaceMipMaps=0

[DrN]

Im glad I have found this post, because I have experienced a huge FPS drop rate recently.Nightwynd mentioned a big FPS decrease when using Tamago HUD,cheers mate,didnt know that,I 'll probably get rid of it (sadly cause I really like it!).

I use OBGE core,liquid water,QTP reduced.I think QTP kills my FPS ( Core 2 quad 2.4 GHz,3 GB RAM,windows XP,NVIDIA GTX 650)

Before you guys start laughing at my ancient PC,I'm saving for TESO .

Anyway,I was thinking of installing AmpolX textures and replace QTP.Any of you folks use them?are they lighter than QTP reduced?

If yes, should I just manually overwrite QTP?

I use streamline 2.1 and OSR with minor improve.Any other thoughts are most welcome

[Guest Spikes]

I use and dearly love Amproix textures. they're lighter for me but dunno by how much. using them with Koldorn's textures for caves and stuff. I suggest you use Wrye Bash, that way you can install Amprox,see them, if you like you keep, if not revert back to QTP.

 

A good way to lighter your load, of your comp, is to use Texture Optimizer, there's 2 i think on Nexus,use any of them. On safest level, it will fix some textures stuff, and if you like you can tell him to low the textures rez to help your cpu. 

 

I don't use streamline so can't help you there. When i had it, i let OSR control my fps.

 

 

 

 

[D_ManXX2]

If frame rate suddenly drops check around and see if there not many creatures around with 4 feet like horses, dogs, rats etc.. if there is, then maybe foot sounds are causing the choppiness to occur. Not sure what it is called but there is mod who removed foot sounds i think you can even disable it wreybash not sure it been a while i played oblivion.

[DrN]

Frames usually drop for me in the open,very rarely in dugeons.I have OOO+MMM,and Emily's MG,so you might be right about the creatures...it does drop suddenly  sometimes even below 5!

Can someone confirm I can disable foot sounds with WB?

@Spikes,cheers for the info.so I can install AmpolX with WB over QTP,right?I hope it makes some difference

[Elizinator]

can someone instruct me more precisely how to alter the OSR settings? its been quite a while since i put that one, and cant recall what im supposed to be changing xD

 

EDIT: arright, its coming back to me now. someone mentioned iheap being such a miracle, and then talked about setting 6. mine only contains options 1 through 5. am i missing something? (currently set to 5)

[Guest Spikes]

I have OSR 4.2.0 and it has heaps 1-8 so dunno,maybe you have an older version.

 

"Heap = {

_comment = Heap replacement can produce MAJOR improvements in performance on Oblivion at a significant cost in stability"

 

For many people the stability cost is very worth the performance gain. Reason no one can recommend you what iHeap to use, is that it's tottaly depending on what hardware you have and even if 2 completely same hardwares exist, it's still not sure if they'd benefit from the same iHeap. So if you want to find what's best for your comp, you'l have to experiment with different iheaps ones to find the one for you.

 

I use 6 btway, and still not sure if it's the best, cbarsed to find it out though. 

 

 

[Elizinator]

yes, im using 4.1, as it turns out. i get 90% of my mods from nexus, and other than a bunch of betas, thats the only one hosted there

 

heaps havent really produced much of any change i can see, whether in performance or stability

[Guest Spikes]

Well, look at i this way. getting an aspirin when you feel well ain't doing much but when you're having a headache it helps a lot  .

 

I don't see much difference either but if it helps even a little it's good. Heard that OSR shows better results on very heavy modded Oblivion. I use him mostly for capping on 30.

 

 

[LifeandEd]

I made two changes listed on the first page (removing operation optimization and iHeap 6 in OSR) and it's helped my fps noticably.  I might add quiet feet too, since I have an integrated sound card.  I think the specular change is a gpu thing, because my really old system got a huge performance boost with it completely off, while my current one with a better gpu gets nothing from disabling it.  It's still worth a try for people with weak gpus, though.  It's my cpu that Oblivion pushes more than anything.