FPS Questions related to BC Waterfront and RAEVWD

[geraintwd]

I have been looking at my FPS on Oblivion around the IC Waterfront after installing Better Cities and I'm getting average framerates in the late 20's to mid 30's, depending on where I stand. At a few points it even dips into the late teens.

Using the IC Waterfront FPS patch that comes with BC doesn't make enough of an improvement to be worth the sacrifice of all the stuff it removes, nor does reducing ugrids back down from 7 to 5.

I've also tried reducing my resolution from 2560x1440 (monitor's native res) down to 1920x1200 and again it makes little appreciable difference to FPS around that area. Framerate in other areas is around 90-110.

 

I have yet to attempt PyFFI'ing the meshes (actually I tried it but apparently the Oblivion Optimisation Kit doesn't like the latest version of Python, so using the optimised meshes crashed the game every time I tried to enter an exterior cell).

I've also not installed Streamline yet, though I am using OSR.

 

I am planning to use RAEVWD (or at least attempt it) but at the moment I am expecting it to reduce FPS around the waterfront to single digits and I don't much fancy watching Oblivion as a slideshow, which leads me to my question - what kind of PC does one need to be able to run RAEVWD with BC and achieve playable framerates? What kind of tweaks do you need to make? What do you have to sacrifice and is it worth it?

 

I don't have any texture packs installed yet and I've disabled AA and AF in the NVIDIA control panel (just using AO and FXAA - turning those off didn't make a massive improvement to FPS). I was also planning to use OBGE later on, but not sure if this will just add to the burden on my system.

 

I have an i7 3770K running at 4.5GHz, 16GB of RAM (yes I'm using the 4GB patch and I'm on Windows 7 Ultimate x64) and a GTX 680, so it's not as if I'm running the same old rig that I had when I first got Oblivion 7 years ago.

 

I'd appreciate any advice or pointers on how I can improve FPS to the point that things like RAEVWD and AWLS will be viable additions to my game (i.e. stable and with a playable framerate).

 

Thanks,

Geraint

[Germandeathkittiez]

I am having similar problems in the Waterfront with Better Cities, in that it's the most stuttery slow FPS place in the game. It's slower than rampaging around the other open cities, which runs well with Streamline until it crashes. Just so you know, I've heard OSR and Streamline are not compatible. There is a mod I recommend that I think everyone who plays Oblivion needs: http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/24606/?

which basically fixes save bloat, making the game a lot more stable, reducing crashes and improving FPS. One downside to it is that the corpses will disappear (but they're really supposed to). It really helped my FPS and stability in the wilderness, but not as much in the Waterfront. Still, I think you should try it. I'm running Oblivion with QTP3 Redimized and uFCOM; FCOM really destroys my FPS compared to QTP3, which really doesn't have a huge impact. So for me, the Waterfront is way more stuttery using FCOM than without. I'd really like to hear some more suggestions on improving FPS around this area. Even without Better Cities version, the waterfront is extremely unstable using FCOM. Everywhere else does not get nearly as much of an FPS hit, which I don't really understand compared to open cities.

 

Anyway as far as RAEVWD goes, I'm sure your rig could run it, it's a lot better than mine (Phenom II X4 965, 8 Gb DDR3 RAM, AMD Radeon 6950 w/ 2gb). On this I've incredibly improved the stability and FPS while using intense overhauls, if you use Streamline I'm sure you could get even better results (and definitely give CleanUp a shot, although I think it will stop Streamline's menu from working, so you will have to initialize Streamline from the console). Also for RAEVWD you should use http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/41688/?

http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/42227/?

, or maybe this fixed version instead http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/42190/?

(I'm not sure which is better because I haven't tried them). http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/26689/?

If you really don't want to use Streamline, there's Tweaks and enhancements. This can really improve performance as well. I use it but Streamline might just overwrite most of its changes. And one last note, I'm pretty sure AWLS doesn't have any FPS impact, but I haven't installed it (yet). I'd love to hear any more FPS/stability increasing suggestions around the Waterfront anyone might have as well - one great thing about this game is even though it's so buggy, you can keep finding new mods to make it run better xD (Sorry if my links seem all over the place, for some reason lately I have to make a new paragraph after them or they just make the entire text a link)

Edited November 30, 2013 by The Black Ninja

[eric31415]

OSR and Streamline are perfectly compatible. The Streamline readme will tell you how to set things up.

 

The IC Waterfront is probably the laggiest spot in the game. As such, I wouldn't focus too much on it. If everything runs fine most everywhere else, you're good. The big problem here is all the NPCs. The AI in Oblivion is poorly optimized, and puts a lot of strain on the CPU.

 

If Oblivion was capable of using more than one CPU core, your rig would wipe the floor with it. But it was made before multi-core CPUs were commonplace.

 

I doubt that you will see much of an FPS hit with RAEVWD. That will put some more load on your video card, but you should be able to handle it. If you use the OMOD, it will let you install only the packages you want. Most have very little impact.

 

This is why Black Ninja sees a bigger FPS hit from FCOM. An FCOM install adds a lot of new enemies to the world. If you want to add variety to the enemies without any FPS hit, try using Fran's without the rest of the FCOM mods.

[Germandeathkittiez]

Yeah, the Waterfront is filled with Imperial guards who on my game like to go crazy and run all over the place even when they're not fighting/chasing. Mostly the game is running extremely well with FCOM, it just sucks that I usually crash if I even try to walk over to the Waterfront. It wouldn't be easy just to go over there to talk to Armande. I was considering just going back to my other data folder and adding OOO or Frans alone, but seeing as I have all these mods working perfectly I'm just gonna stick with what I've got. Maybe I could just reduce the spawns in the Waterfront on my own.

[geraintwd]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll run PyFFI on the mesh BSAs and install Streamline then see how I get on with RAEVWD and AWLS later on (still got to install UL before I do that though, and test for stability for a while). Good to know that I don't have to compromise on visual quality if it's all down to the AI rather than the graphics. That means I can crank up the AA, AF, AO and keep it in my monitor's native resolution and let my GTX 680 do its stuff.

Appreciate the input.

Cheers

[eric31415]

While I have heard people suggest that PYFFIing the meshes/textures will give a big performance increase, I have noticed that anybody who actually tried it said that it takes forever. I have also noticed that none of these people said that it helped much.

 

I would not use Streamline with your rig. It was made to help low-end machines run the game by constantly tweaking the graphics settings to maintain a minimum FPS. On higher-end machines it can actually give you lower FPS (wish I could speak from experience, but I have this on good authority).

 

But Streamline is modular. You should consider using the Streamsave and Streampurge bits. Streamsave is a configurable autosaver (NEVER use the vanilla autosaves), and Streampurge purges cell buffers to keep the RAM clean.

 

You have probably already done so, but setting the Oblivion.exe as a trusted application with your antivirus and telling it to not scan files on access can help a lot with performance of modded Oblivion. Won't do squat for vanilla, though.

[geraintwd]

Thanks Eric, generally I turn off my AV when running games anyway. I think Streamline might help with throwing out any script-related garbage that I don't need, I don't anticipate needing any help with the graphics side of things.

[MadWizard25]

 

I have yet to attempt PyFFI'ing the meshes (actually I tried it but apparently the Oblivion Optimisation Kit doesn't like the latest version of Python, so using the optimised meshes crashed the game every time I tried to enter an exterior cell).

I've also not installed Streamline yet, though I am using OSR.

 

Do not use Oblivion Optimisation Kit. Use the latest version of PyFFI from sourceforge. It contains all fixes and mesh exclusions up to date. Will not cause crashes. You need Python 3.2, anything higher or lower wont work well or at all.

 

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PyFFing vanilla and DLC meshes took 1.5h for me, but that probably depends on your CPU (3.2GHz here).

 

Doing the same with all mod meshes took forever, i think 4h or something with 4GB of mod meshes.

 

End result was negligible. I might have gained 1fps if anything. Im not sure its worth it.

 

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As for streamline, I would recommend only using streampurge. Any type of autosave is susceptible to corruption apparently. Its better to use CleanUp + Duke Patrick's Safe Save with only the nag option enabled.

 

OSR works very well if you have a lot of mods. Allow it to do heap management and trye out different iHeap values. Greatly helps with stability and stuttering.

 

4GB patch is crucial as well.

 

 

I don't have any texture packs installed yet and I've disabled AA and AF in the NVIDIA control panel (just using AO and FXAA - turning those off didn't make a massive improvement to FPS). I was also planning to use OBGE later on, but not sure if this will just add to the burden on my system.

 

Disable AA and FXAA and use SMAA (although this may be a matter of taste). SMAA is great and almost comparable to 8x AA (higher than 8x in Oblivion is not really visible), with almost no FPS hit. Easy to install version was just uploaded recently.

 

Yeah, the Waterfront is filled with Imperial guards who on my game like to go crazy and run all over the place even when they're not fighting/chasing. Mostly the game is running extremely well with FCOM, it just sucks that I usually crash if I even try to walk over to the Waterfront. It wouldn't be easy just to go over there to talk to Armande. I was considering just going back to my other data folder and adding OOO or Frans alone, but seeing as I have all these mods working perfectly I'm just gonna stick with what I've got. Maybe I could just reduce the spawns in the Waterfront on my own.

 

I run FCOM and quite a few other script and eye candy mods (including RAEVWD and Better Cities) and a rig less beefy than OPs. Ive managed to reduce IC waterfront crashes to a minimal. I only get the occasional interior-exterior transition CTD now.

 

What fixed it for me was the BC FPS Patch and OSR with iHeapAlgorithm 6 and iHeap 1024. I also used the ingame Better Cities menu to stop BC NPCs from wandering the IC waterfront. I also used WB's bashed patch to limit the max number of AI in a cell to 20.

 

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Another memory management mod that may help is ENBoost. Its only available for Fallout 3, but it works with Oblivion sinc FO3 and OB use the same game engine, can confirm from experience. The wrapper version works fine.

Edited December 3, 2013 by MadWizard25

[geraintwd]

Thanks, I'll try different settings in OSR and see if that helps. Might not bother with PyFFI then, if the FPS gain is negligible. I'm running FCOM as well, but there is no way I'm playing without it, just as there is no way I'm using the BC Waterfront FPS patch, it removes far too much eye candy. I'm not too bothered about trying to gain more FPS by turning off things like AA, my GTX680 gives me good framerates in Skyrim while running a full set of high res texture packs and ENB in 2560x1440 with full AA, AF, AO, FXAA and any other acronyms you can think of, so it's not as if Oblivion is going to tax it unduly.

 

What I hadn't thought of though, was using Bash to limit max AI in a cell, will have to experiment with that...

 

It's such a shame that Oblivion can't be forced to take advantage of quad core CPUs and lots of RAM.

 

One final note, related to the Waterfront, I've installed UL complete and I can't for the life of me find the compatibility patch for BC and UL Imperial Isle. I had it once before as BC and UL really mess with the landscape in that area otherwise, but now I can't find it on the pages for either mod. If anyone can provide a direct link it would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks

Geraint

[eric31415]

Streamsave does not overwrite saves like the vanilla autosaver does. When it makes a new save, it deletes the oldest one. 100% safe, and highly recommended.

 

UL Compatibility Patches