Outside has impossible frame rates

[Sunjah]

I don't understand how this is happening. Inside, I am getting 30-50 fps, which is very playable. The moment I step outside, it drops to 10 or less, usually 4 or 5, I've seen it at 1.

 

I do have a bunch of mods, all the donwloaded content from Bethesda and Shivering Isles. I had played this a long time on my nVidia 7800 GTX, with basically what I have now, and I never had this kind of perfromance hit.

 

*I now have an 8800 GT (which I got for Fallout 3).

*I have used open cities, better cities, but not usually both. I have both installed now.

*Anything inside seems to be fine, outside is usually 4 or under FPS (unplayable).

*I have gone to the extreme of "everything" to lowest visual settings (most things off), and medium texture (only thing not set to lowest) and it still has horrid 'outdoor FPS.'

 

I love this game and would like to play again. I just spent the afternoon trying to reinstall my 7800 GTX to see if that was the problem, though I couldn't get it to work.

 

This thing (current 8800 GT) is theoretically about 4x more powerful. I don't get it.

 

I could even play this thing on 20 FPS outside, it would be choppy but playable, but 4 FPS is just not workable.

 

I am up for any suggestions from anyone at anytime that can help me PLAY THIS GAME!!!

 

Argggghhh, I hate speding afternoons fighting with old video cards!

 

I want to play...

[dezdimona]

General Load-Order Guidelines

Here are the guidelines that I adhere to, personally.

 

~ Unofficial Oblivon Patch should always be first on the list. The fixes are great, but most aren't essential, so if a mod overwrites them its not a big deal, and the fixes have the potential for screwing up other mods if loaded later.

 

~ Offical Content (DLC's) should be loaded last, until you complete all quests associated with them (that includes buying all furniture for the houses and whatnot). Once they're complete, they can be safely moved up in the list. This is especially important for Knights of the Nine, which will have some fairly major problems unless loaded last (unless you get the UOP for KotN)

 

~ Major overhaul mods (OOO, Frans, MMM) should be loaded near the end. That gives you the most complete experience with any of those particular mods. It also lets you carefully choose which other mods to load afterwards... only move mods that you know will conflict and that you want the changes from. For example, I have Improved Soul Gems below OOO because I know that OOO changes the icons of some of the SG's, and ISG needs to be below to show through.

 

Some people will recommend putting larger mods first, but personally I disagree. There are a number of mods out there that make minor tweaks, and loading after a large mod will end up completely overwriting a chunk from one of the bigger mods because of the way conflicts work in Oblivion (even one minor change will take precedence over the entire record... for example, simply tweaking the speed of a weapon can cause every stat of that weapon to be retained to vanilla levels if loaded later).

 

So basically, it stacks up like this...

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Minor Mods / DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mod/Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

 

 

 

Expanded Load-Order Guidelines

by dev_akm

 

I would extend this to include:

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

And a special-case warning for Knights.esp (Knights of the Nine) -- you may not be able to move it earlier than some other mods (some people have had problems after moving it before OOO, for example).

 

That's basically the structure I use and I have 140+ mods working well together.

 

Another way of describing this (posted by DMan77):

....

Oblivion

unoffical patch

Deeper realism mods that add sights and sounds

added content like weapons/items

gameplay changes, like 'must eat and sleep'

The OOO type

the 'new begining' type mod..

................................................................................

.................

 

setting music to zero will add FPS also

[Flamemonkey]

New drivers? Bugs? Faulty product? Not enough research done?

I'm not insulting you or accusing you of maybe being stupid, but it's possible *I don't feel like doing the research. I know what video card I'm getting, and it's ATi* that the 7800 is better pixel pushy wise than the 8800. Crazy? Most definately. But the video card I'm using right now is better than a newer card. Specifically, my Pixel Shader 2 only X300 beating out the Pixel Shader 3 6600. 6600 is newer by at least a generation, but there's significant improvement when using the x300.

 

Or maybe when you upgraded you decided to turn up your view distance levels to some freakishly high level or soemthing. Who knows.

 

But it's definately possible that it's just a faulty video card. I've heard of it happening, though I've not had it do it to me yet. (I'm thinking a good cause of it is static. Maybe you shocked it? Perhaps you shocked both of them, and that's why you can't get your 7800 to work anymore.)

 

EDIT: Don't worry, my FPS also get a hit outside. But that doesn't help any, does it? >_> I get like, 12 outside on my settings, which are relatively high. 1024x768, high everything except Grass/Shadows, but no HDR...Because no PxSdr 3. D:

[BossDweebe]

It's not the 8800GT. I use one, and it is quite O.K. with the game.

 

You say you have a bunch of mods. It's always best to go for the most recent

and turn it off. Especially anything that is a high res landscape, and

don't get too carried away with distant LOD's. Shaja's (an early, possibly first)

Landscape LOD replacer will work with you card.

Never just wack in a bunch of mods at once. Just do one, or three, and

play test.

 

I don't have experience with Open or Better Cities, but it may be that they are

incompatible. If these are your most recent mods I would be inclined to remove one,

or both, and see how things go. If this improves things then put one back and

play test again.

[Sunjah]

New drivers? Bugs? Faulty product? Not enough research done?

I'm not insulting you or accusing you of maybe being stupid, but it's possible *I don't feel like doing the research. I know what video card I'm getting, and it's ATi* that the 7800 is better pixel pushy wise than the 8800. Crazy? Most definately. But the video card I'm using right now is better than a newer card. Specifically, my Pixel Shader 2 only X300 beating out the Pixel Shader 3 6600. 6600 is newer by at least a generation, but there's significant improvement when using the x300.

 

Or maybe when you upgraded you decided to turn up your view distance levels to some freakishly high level or soemthing. Who knows.

 

But it's definately possible that it's just a faulty video card. I've heard of it happening, though I've not had it do it to me yet. (I'm thinking a good cause of it is static. Maybe you shocked it? Perhaps you shocked both of them, and that's why you can't get your 7800 to work anymore.)

 

EDIT: Don't worry, my FPS also get a hit outside. But that doesn't help any, does it? >_> I get like, 12 outside on my settings, which are relatively high. 1024x768, high everything except Grass/Shadows, but no HDR...Because no PxSdr 3. D:

 

If there was any coherence to this particular reply, I missed it for sure. I did catch the possible insult, anyway.

 

NO, it wasn't shocked, this is the only game I have any difficulty with.

 

I know what you mean about the mods BossDweeb, but that is part of my major problem. Technically, ALL of them are new. I went through about a week's nightmare last week just getting the game to run; had to do a complete reinstall and add all mods slowly. I got it to where it works, but I was in the midst of the tutorial, so the outside thing I wasn't expecting. It never happened before.

 

There are very few things in there that were not there before. That is somewhat why I am stumped at it being 4 FPS for the most part.

 

Thanks for the suggestion's, though. Any other ideas are welcome, but I must comment that insults usually don't do much but cause friction.

[Flamemonkey]

I was incoherent? Damn. Need to work on that. D:

 

4 FPS? WTF. My ancient dawn of PCI-E X300 is better than that. THAT is freaky.

 

Proof that ATi is better! :O

[Sunjah]

Thank you for the input people. I have figured out how to make it playable. As much as it breaks my heart, I turned off Open & Better Cities (I think this was the main reason for 4 FPS), Illumination within (which caused strange crashes) and lastly the MAGNIFICENT Unique Landscape line of mods.

 

I might go back later and try to find Unique Landscape Lite, or something, but as of now I am playing again and getting around 20 fps outside. That is playable, so considering the other way wasn't, I guess I'm ahead of the game by being able to play again.

 

I just wish such lovely mods didn't have to get the "axe" for me to play again.

 

I am almost to Weynon Priory; the fun begins again!!!