List of the most performance heavy mods/mods to avoid.

[Laptoprocker]

Hi guys, I've just started to mod Oblivion again to start a new playthrough and I'm not really up to date with the mods on the nexus page.

 

I'm wondering if you could help me list the mods which are the most performance heavy or even harmful for the game. I'm pretty sure many of us would benefit from a list like this all in one place.

 

I'll also try and test a few mods in the next couple of days and share the results here.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Laptoprocker

[Lanceor]

Sounds like a good idea in theory, but I don't think such a list would be possible or even advisable.

 

There's no good way to measure "performance intensive" across all the various systems. Also, do we really want to blacklist the biggest and most complex (and often the best) mods?

[Doeetfgt]

It's an obvious choice, but Quarl's Texture pack (like any high res retexture) can be the death of a low-end computer, even in the lower resolutions. However, if your computer can handle it, they are definitely must-have mods.

[Rennn]

OBGE (obviously) butchers performance.

 

Waters Alive (or whatever it's called) also drops performance quite a lot.

 

Mods that add many NPCs to the world will drop performance significantly.

[Laptoprocker]

Okay here's my experience so far:

 

My base fps was around 30-40 outdoors, 38-52 in cities dropping to 29-35 when loading NPC's (Oblivion fully maxed with HDR, 2xAA, 4xAF)

FPS after installing Lowpoly grass, Quiet Feet (I have a laptop), Unofficial Patches and 4gb patch:

35-45 outdoors, 50-70 in cities, 35-40 when a lot of NPC's are on screen

 

 

(I always add mods to my game in small groups for easier troubleshooting and it's still faster than installing-testing one-by one.)

 

Texture packs, I always use a mixture of several texture packs both in Skyrim and Oblivion. I also avoid higher textures than 1024x1024 as I don't see much difference and with 2k texture packs the stuttering can be quite severe (I have 1gb vram)

 

Textures I installed: QTP3, QTP3 optimized meshes, AmpolX textures, Insanity's Texture Pack, Shivering Isles Texture pack, Vibrant Texture Pack, Grass Overhaul, Really Textured Vanilla Normalmaps, Weapon Improvement Project, Ammo and Equipment Retexture, Otup Armor Retexture, NBB Ayleid Ruins Replacer.

 

FPS Hit: 0-2 maybe, I did not get an fps hit at all. I'd recommend using this tool: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12801/? to resize textures larger than 1024x1024 and optimize them. Trust me you won't see any difference, especially on smaller monitors and it's still going to be a HUGE improvement over Oblivion's default textures. Beware though NEVER optimize face/skin and body replacers! It just doesn't work.

 

Mods I installed and had effect on my FPS:

 

All Natural: 3-5 FPS hit especially in fog/rain

Animated Window Lighting: 2-4 FPS hit and some script lag when loading new cells.

Unique Landscapes: 6-10 FPS hit outdoors especially when Tree Canopy/Grass Shadows are enabled and Water Reflections are set to high.

Glowing Wonders: 1-3 FPS hit around Doomstones and Ayleid Ruins.

Oblivion Character Overhaul: 5-8 FPS hit when a lot of NPC's are on screen

Robert's Female/Male body replacer: 0-1 FPS hit when a lot of NPC's are on screen

 

Mods with no FPS hit whatsoever:

Knights of the Nine Revelations

The Lost Spires

Alternate Start- Arrive by Ship

Symphony of Violence

UI mods like: Display Stats, Toggleable Prompt Remover, HUD Displays, Map Marker Overhaul

 

With this setup I've lost around 8-15 FPS in the wilds, 5-8 FPS in cities.

 

Next I'm going to try some mods which are certain to butcher my FPS: Oblivion XP, Better Cities, Cobl, Portable Campsite and Basic Primary Needs, that's pretty much going to be it as I don't want more mods or major overhauls as I have played Oblivion around six years ago so the vanilla experience is still going to be new for me.

 

If anyone is wondering the specs of my laptop are:

 

Intel i3 3110m 2.4 Ghz, Nvidia GT620m 1Gb VRAM, 6Gb RAM. (pretty low-end haha)

 

Nvidia Control Panel settings:

4xAF (Quality Filtering, Trilinear Optimization)

2xAA

 

My in-game settings:

1366x768 Resolution

HDR

Every Slider on max

All the shadows turned on

Shadow Filtering on High

Every Water detail on High

[eric31415]

I'm with Lanceor on this. A listing of the most performance intensive mods may not be the best way to go about it.

 

Even the most demanding mods aren't likely to lag your game all by themselves. It's only when you add too many demanding mods that the lag becomes noticeable. Invariably, when someone says "mod x lags my game" and posts their load order, they have lots of performance sapping mods installed. The one they are complaining about is just the one that pushed their game too far.

 

But their are TYPES of mods that are going to cost some FPS to run.

 

Higher-res texture replacers, obviously, along with anything that enhances the graphical quality of the game.

Mods that add extra creatures or NPCs. (note - mods that add variety to the leveled lists are fine, it's the ones that add spawn points that will cost you)

Any mod that makes more of the world visible-while-distant.

Mods that enhance the vanilla vegetation.

Speaking of vegetation, mods that add whole forests are particularly demanding.

Mods that enhance the water.

City overhaul mods.

Mods that add make the vanilla NPCs more attractive.

Any mod that makes the cities "open". (no loading screens when entering/exiting)

 

I'm sure there are more, but you get the idea. These are the worst offenders for me.

 

But you are going to want to use mods from most of these categories, and I suggest that you DO use them. As has been said already, this is some of the best stuff out there. But you have to choose wisely, and be prepared to make sacrifices. You may have to remove a mod you love to add one you NEED.

 

 

But thankfully there are also some good performance enhancing mods out there to offset the loss. And I don't mind listing a few of my favorites by name.

 

Streamline

OblivionStutterRemover

4gb Patch

Optimized Distant Land Max

ReadyBoost (not a mod, comes preinstalled with Windows. use if you have less than 8gb RAM)

 

So you could look at it like spending limited perk points building a character. Only spend points on things that will get you closer to your specific goals, or you will end up with an unplayable mess. But you can always buy more points, by buying better hardware.

[sundabar21]

I'm with Lanceor on this. A listing of the most performance intensive mods may not be the best way to go about it.

 

Even the most demanding mods aren't likely to lag your game all by themselves. It's only when you add too many demanding mods that the lag becomes noticeable. Invariably, when someone says "mod x lags my game" and posts their load order, they have lots of performance sapping mods installed. The one they are complaining about is just the one that pushed their game too far.

 

But their are TYPES of mods that are going to cost some FPS to run.

 

Higher-res texture replacers, obviously, along with anything that enhances the graphical quality of the game.

Mods that add extra creatures or NPCs. (note - mods that add variety to the leveled lists are fine, it's the ones that add spawn points that will cost you)

Any mod that makes more of the world visible-while-distant.

Mods that enhance the vanilla vegetation.

Speaking of vegetation, mods that add whole forests are particularly demanding.

Mods that enhance the water.

City overhaul mods.

Mods that add make the vanilla NPCs more attractive.

Any mod that makes the cities "open". (no loading screens when entering/exiting)

 

I'm sure there are more, but you get the idea. These are the worst offenders for me.

 

But you are going to want to use mods from most of these categories, and I suggest that you DO use them. As has been said already, this is some of the best stuff out there. But you have to choose wisely, and be prepared to make sacrifices. You may have to remove a mod you love to add one you NEED.

 

 

But thankfully there are also some good performance enhancing mods out there to offset the loss. And I don't mind listing a few of my favorites by name.

 

Streamline

OblivionStutterRemover

4gb Patch

Optimized Distant Land Max

ReadyBoost (not a mod, comes preinstalled with Windows. use if you have less than 8gb RAM)

 

So you could look at it like spending limited perk points building a character. Only spend points on things that will get you closer to your specific goals, or you will end up with an unplayable mess. But you can always buy more points, by buying better hardware.

and Fast Exit?