Does it make sense to run Streamline if I wont let it reduce video qua

[gurgelstock]

I want my game to run smooth, but I dont accept that this is gained through disabling visual details. I would rather play with a few frames less, but at full quality then run a smooth game that doesnt look as good as it could. So I disabled all these setting in the ini, and changed the minimum visual quality (cant remember the actual name, I am not at my own pc right now) to 100%.

Now my question is, does it make sense to run Streamline at all with these settings? Or is there no significant difference if Streamline cant adjust visual settings? Should I run oblivion stutter remover or someting like that instead of Streamline?

[BossDweebe]

Are you running streamline v3 ?

If so read the Tome of knowledge.

But I have found that in it's detail settings menu that if you set "terrain"

to off (0) then streamline is far less likely to turn your distant lands setting

off.

 

Also go back to the original ini. or at least tell use what

"all these settings" that you changed are.

What exactly do you mean when you say "I changed minimum

visual settings to 100%. If they are at 100% they are no longer minimum.

If anything does have to be turned down, most people will start with the grass.

 

What are your computers specs ?

If not high enough then accept that you will cannot have high

visual details with out jerkiness. Low frame rates = jerkiness.

If you have a powerful processor and graphics card and 4 Gig of RAM you probably

do not need Streamlind.

 

EDIT: So to make a long story short - No it does not make sense to keep Streamline from

changing settings. That's how it does what it is designed to do. - Even out fps.

[bben46]

The newest version of streamline v3.1 is and for the foreseeable future will be an unfinished beta. The maker, Jaga Telesin, has moved on and no longer mods Oblivion. No one knows why as he suddenly stopped posting and replying to inquiries some time ago.

 

The v3.1 has several serious bugs that are not going to be fixed. The v3.0 is more stable.

 

As BossDweebe said, streamline is for those computers that have problems running Oblivion. If you can maintain a FPS greater than 20 without streamline, you are probably better off without it. If you consistently see an FPS at 15 or below, it will help by trading visual eye candy for FPS. (You don't get something for nothing) If your FPS is below 10, it will help a lot more, but don't expect miracles.

 

If you want to try tweaking yourself, I recommend Tweak Guides http://www.tweakguides.com/

 

Do the tweaks for your system first, then for your video card, then the Oblivion tweaks. Remember, streamline changes many of the values you set as it runs.

 

You might also try the free version of Game Booster: http://majorgeeks.com/Game_Booster_d6148.html

Some people reported a significant FPS gain using it, while others a small or no gain. My own experience was a small - up to 5 FPS gain.

[gurgelstock]

First of all, thanks for the replies!

 

Sorry for the little details, I wasnt at my own pc and therefore had no access to the files.

With "all these setting" I was reffering to this section of the ini:

;===============================================================================

====

; [Visual Modification on/off settings] What settings can change on-the-fly?

;===============================================================================

====

set SLv.setDetail to 1 ; Detail (1=on, 0=off)

set SLv.setGrass to 1 ; Grass density, range, etc

set SLv.setTrees to 1 ; Tree detail, range, etc

set SLv.setLightShadow to 1 ; Light & shadow number & range

set SLv.setObjects to 1 ; Actors, objects & items distances

set SLv.setTerrain to 0 ; Terrain (disabled, distant terrain only)

set SLv.setWater to 1 ; Water details & reflections

set SLv.setClpDst to 0 ; Allow Clip Distance (low-end PCs)

I changed all these to 0

 

With minimum visual settings I meant this line:

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

set SLv.maxVLOD to 100 ; Highest desired level of detail (%)

; -Default: 100

set SLv.minVLOD to 0 ; Lowest desired level of detail (%)

; -Default: 0

;-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I changed the min VLOD to 100

 

My computer *normally* would be able to run Oblivion without any stuttering at all, but several modifications, especially texture replacements (qarl) forced me to turn off aa completely to make it even playable.

Here are my specs:

Intel Core i7 920

6GB 1333 DDR3 Triple Channel (running at 1066 for some reason, this shouldnt make a noticable difference though)

Geforce 8800GTX

 

My system should be optimized to the max really, the only thing that could have an impact on oblivion, is the fact that I have only 15gb of 200gb left on my primary drive (I have been burning and swapping files for the last couple of days and am constantly trying to get more free space)

 

With your given information, I dont think Streamline is the right choice for me, since the game would run smoothly unmodded and since I am not willing to let the visual quality suffer. Still, if I use Streamline, I should get "Streamline v3.0 - Open Beta 4" and not "Streamline_3dot1_Open_Beta"?

[BossDweebe]

I don't bother graphics tweaks with the ini. I asked for details so others may help,

but what bben said about using the tweak guide he linked is the go for those settings.

Most of the ini settings were made when the game came out for people with weaker systems.

I have tweakd the setting that relate to dual core, but they are only a small help.

 

There are many new high res textures being produced for Oblivion. This is bound to put a strain

on the system, but you be able to run very well with what you have. Still - when riding around

outdoors on a fast horse you are bound to get some jerkiness. I would venture a guess that if you

run around or ride the Prior's paint things will go smoother, but then you have to suffer with not

being able to outrun a lot of creatures.

 

RAM- Even though you have a huge amount of RAM you still need

a viable page swap file. The rule of thumb is 1.5 - 2 times your RAM.

Having said that - this may not strictly apply when 6 Gig of RAM is being used.

However it still remains, that if you want all that RAM to work efficiently

it still needs to be able to access the data from your HD easily. You don't

want the RAM to have to wait for the HD to thrash around all over the place

trying to find the data for your RAM.

 

You really need to clear some more space on your HD. Can you even defrag with

only 15 of 200 Gig free ?

After you clear some more space on the existing drive then defrag your page file.

(If you look at your windows defrag window and there are numerous green

lines - then you have a fragmented page file.)One way of doing this is to disable the page file,

then reboot and re set the page file. Do not let windows determine the page file size, as it will

lead to a fragmented page file. Set the page file yourself. Make the min and max the same.

This will help keep the page file in a single block.

 

Streamline - If you do use it, and set it up properly, it will probably not do much adjusting to your

visual settings with the system you are using anyway, but the purging function may help.

I would deffinitly turn the auto save function off.

[gurgelstock]

Thanks, I didnt know about the possibility to defrag the page file, but I will do this as soon as Im home. I dont remember what size I chose for mine, but I know I did it based on a good ressource site and I also chose a fixed size, so windows wont change the size itself. I think it is around 9gb.

 

I tested this yesterday, disabled stgreamline and later installed the 3.0 beta and tested the very same scene. Even with the setting described in my above post, the difference is immense! I dont know how it achieves this, but it was nearly unplayable at waterfront district with streamline turned of and ran quite smoothly with the eventualö stutter here and there when I reinstalled it.

 

Well, my hard disk is defraged very well, windows will always tell me that there is no need to defrag. This doesnt mean that I should not not try to free up more space, I totally agree with you here. Plus I never checked if my page file may be defraged.