HDR vs. Bloom vs. Nothing comparison

[Laptoprocker]

Hi guys I was making some screenshots with the three lighting options available in Oblivion with the fps displayed and I thought I'd share it with you. The screenshots were made with a completely maxed out/ini tweaked vanilla (no mods) Oblivion (3.0 Shaders, 2xAA, 8xAF forced through Nvidia Panel) However I tell you that the .ini tweaks listed on various websites like TweakGuides etc. gave me 0-3 fps boost at best so I'd say don't bother.

 

I'm wondering if anyone prefers Bloom over HDR. I think HDR is the prettiest out in the wilds, but in cities like the Imperial City it's a horrible eyesore on the bleached walls and the columns in the market district, it's just simply a pain to look at. I'm about to start my next playthrough and I'm surprised how horribly optimized this game is. I can't even get a steady 60fps when it's maxed out.

 

Bloom:

 

http://i39.tinypic.com/dfjdwg.jpg

 

http://i43.tinypic.com/2pplm5i.jpg

 

HDR:

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/fwrq7s.jpg

 

http://i39.tinypic.com/svi3cp.jpg

 

None:

 

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ufu71z.jpg

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/34o94i9.jpg

[mhahn123]

It's an old, not very efficient game engine. If you can manage high 50's and low 60's at all count your blessings. Modding will bring that down considerably.

[Laptoprocker]

Here's another screenshot comparison between Bloom and HDR. I think HDR is way too overdone and Bloom looks much more natural/better that nice 13-15 FPS boost isn't that bad either. (Still vanilla Oblivion)

 

Bloom:

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/rho7eo.jpg

 

HDR:

 

http://i40.tinypic.com/2pyc7cy.jpg

[Laptoprocker]

It's an old, not very efficient game engine. If you can manage high 50's and low 60's at all count your blessings. Modding will bring that down considerably.

True, I got pretty good at modding Skyrim and when I started to do Oblivion I had to realize that I should cut back on different mods while other mods are alright. In Skyrim I was mostly avoiding texture packs, flora overhauls and script intensive mods, but mods adding more NPCs or spicing up towns and cities were perfectly fine.

 

In Oblivion it's the opposite, texture packs and flora overhauls are perfectly fine, barely an fps drop if at all. I didn't have any problems with script-heavy mods like Oblivion XP or Basic Primary Needs either. However added NPCs and city-town overhauls are simply butchering my fps (30-40 fps drops with Better Cities) It's just a parallel world. I realize that it's a different engine and an old game, but the modding methods are basically the same that's why it's weird.

[Rennn]

In some games bloom looks superior, but in Oblivion bloom is clearly a minimalist tacked-on effect that is never properly utilized, meaning that HDR is far ahead in most cases, especially when examining atmospheric effects.

 

Oblivion is heavily CPU limited, as it's locked to only use 1 core. Because of that, upgrading from a GTX 460 to a GTX 660 added 30fps in Skyrim, but didn't change my framerate at all in Oblivion.

[TheMastersSon]

I only use HDR in Oblivion. The game's default HDR settings (in oblivion.ini) are a bit harsh, that's why it looks overdone in some areas, especially outdoors and scenes with very high contrast. These settings can be tweaked to soften image quality and the end result is way better than bloom.

 

Also you may have to do the shader file rename trick to force 3.0 shaders in Oblivion (see link). Lots of people assume they're running the 3.0 shaders but they really aren't, and it makes a difference.

 

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_8.html

Edited October 29, 2013 by TheMastersSon