Low FPS with many Mods

[bryguy0804]

I have a decent system, and am frustrated that I can't get better FPS results. Possibly the HD normal maps mod is too much, combined with RAEVWD?

 

I installed a bunch of mods to make Oblivion look better, am running with the video set to Ultra, no v.sync, HDR lighting, 1028x720 resolution, large texture sizes, max on all detail, distant everything, and am using 16Q antialiasing on my NVidia 9800 GT 1GB video card.

 

Around the outside areas of the Imperial City, I am only getting 7-15 FPS, and when engaged in a battle, my FPS is more like 4-9. I installed Streamline, and it helps all other ways, but not in the outlying outside areas around the Imperial City.

 

What more can I do to get better FPS without sacrificing the visual appearance of the game?

 

My system is a Core2 Duo, 1.86 GHZ with 4 GB of ram, running windows XP Pro, with a 250GB Sata drive, 550W power supply, NVidia 9800 GT with 1 GB VRAM, onboard Intel HD Audio being ran to my onkyo surround sound via optical cable, and I the video is displayed via HDMI cable on my 42" widescreen LCD television, using 1280x720 resolution for the time being. I can go up to 1900x1024 or something similar.

 

I have the following mods installed on my computer, which brought the folder directory size of oblivion from around 5 GB to 10.5 GB:

UOP 3.2, UOP Supplemental v 3.25, USIP 4.0

Qarl's Texture Pack III Full

Better Cities

4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD

RAEVWD/RAEVWD QTP3 add-on

Diverse Grasses

Enhanced Weather

Enhanced Water

Koldorns LOD Noise Replacer

Illuminated AEVWD

Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys

Ethereal Eyes

Facial Textures by Enayla

Natural Faces

TNR All Races

Initial Glow

Get Wet

Alive Waters

Storms and Sound v3

Cities Alive at Night

Real Lights

Better BookJackets

DarkUId DarN

Duke Patricks Magic You Can Believe In

Duke Patricks - Actors Can Miss Now

Duke Patricks - Basic Script Effect Silencer

Lights Out

Tamriel Travellers 139c

Francesco's Leveled Creatures/items mod

More Immersive Sound Edited

Musical Immersion

Symphony of Violence

Beautiful Stars

Better Night sky

New Nebular

Improved Doors and Flora

Improved Trees and Flora

Improved Trees and Flora 2

Improved Signs

Improved Fruits, Veggies, and Meats

Better Looking Tools v.1.2

Crowded Roads Advanced

Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul

Subtle Sunshine - alternative sunglare fx

Kildorns Cave Textures 2

Atmospheric Oblivion Updated

Better Sorting Software

OBSE 18

Streamline

Let There Be Darkness

Oblivion Sounds Sets - Valygar

Cyrodill Terrain Color Map

Dude, Where's My Horse?

[bryguy0804]

I found a link with some suggested mods and Oblivion.ini changes that are supposed to help with FPS issues.

 

http://forumplanet.gamespy.com/oblivion_technical_problems/b49657/20121529/p1/

 

I am going to try some of them out, and see if I can get better FPS results, without losing a lot of visual and audio quality.

 

Also, I wonder how much an audio card would help with FPS? Anyone have some suggestions on that?

[Birrii]

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

 

This mod is supposed to reduce lag and such.

Hope it'll help you out! ^_^

 

 

ugh, I'm so stupid =_=

 

You already have this mod.... =_="

Sorry! >-<

Edited May 25, 2010 by Birrii

[bryguy0804]

No worries, thanks for taking the time to help.

 

It may be helpful to know what setting you're using in your sl.ini for streamline.

 

I just found this post that I think may be useful, because after reading it, I am realizing that the streamline settings I have been using are more tailored towards a low-end system.

 

http://www.oldblivion.com/sm/index.php?topic=5309.msg63495

 

 

 

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

 

This mod is supposed to reduce lag and such.

Hope it'll help you out! ^_^

 

 

ugh, I'm so stupid =_=

 

You already have this mod.... =_="

Sorry! >-<

[Fonger]

Qarl's Texture Pack III Full

"brings strong systems to their knees"

 

Streamline

which version

 

and where's your bashed patch (from wrye bash)

 

 

lessee

 

you're using quite alot of eye candy mods - each and every one saps FPS

 

you're using lots of ear candy mods - all sap CPU cycles because you don't list a dedicated sound card that doesn't sap the central processor - in fact you list an onboard sound chip - guaranteed to sap CPU

 

using 1280x720 resolution for the time being. I can go up to 1900x1024 or something similar.

the higher the resolution the higher the exponential strain put on your video card

 

 

Yes, tone down if you want higher FPS

[bryguy0804]

Yeah, I thought I would be okay with the amount of VRAM I had, and with a Core2Duo processor. I do need a sounds card.

 

I am using OMM, and Better Oblivion Sorting Software to manage mods, so I am not sure what you mean by bashed patch.

 

I plan on trying out the performance mods that I found today, and see where it gets me. Otherwise, I have my original Oblivion data folder and Oblivion.ini backed up...I can try it again with some reduced LOD enhancements, and ease up a little on the data load that game will need to process to play.

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

Qarl's Texture Pack III Full

"brings strong systems to their knees"

 

Streamline

which version

 

and where's your bashed patch (from wrye bash)

 

 

lessee

 

you're using quite alot of eye candy mods - each and every one saps FPS

 

you're using lots of ear candy mods - all sap CPU cycles because you don't list a dedicated sound card that doesn't sap the central processor - in fact you list an onboard sound chip - guaranteed to sap CPU

 

using 1280x720 resolution for the time being. I can go up to 1900x1024 or something similar.

the higher the resolution the higher the exponential strain put on your video card

 

 

Yes, tone down if you want higher FPS

[_frost_]

I don't think that your soundcard is the reason for your problem.

Try to decrease your Anti-aliasing and if the Nvidia-driver has a setting for the AA-Mode - then try to change that too.I only have ATI sorry.

Hope it helps.

 

 

_frost_

[bryguy0804]

Thanks!

 

Yeah, I was looking at http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26038 and this is also required for it, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3813.

 

If I uninstall the QTP3 Full, and use the redimized versions instead, I think it will help greatly. I get fairly good FPS, 35 - 40, in dungeons, and farther away from cities. The Imperial City and nearby is the most intensive that I have found so far, I am sure as the game progresses, I might run into more issues, that's why I'm addressing it now.

 

I do have AA on my NVidia card, and have it set to the max.

 

Also, I am using Triple Buffering, but have V.Sync set to application controlled, and have it set off in my oblivion.ini so I can avoid having an FPS cap.

 

If someone with an NVidia card has experimented much with Triple Buffering, let me know if it's helpful, or if I should turn it off. I read a lot about it on the NVidia tweakguide site, but am not sure if it's taking up too much of my VRam.

 

I don't think that your soundcard is the reason for your problem.

Try to decrease your Anti-aliasing and if the Nvidia-driver has a setting for the AA-Mode - then try to change that too.I only have ATI sorry.

Hope it helps.

 

 

_frost_

[bryguy0804]

The additional performance mods did not have any impact on the FPS at the bridge between the Imperial City and Weye. Still getting around 9-10.

 

Going to try the reduced and optimized QTP3 at http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3813 and http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26038.

 

If this has some improvement, but not enough, then I will have to look at using a less impactive LOD mod than 4096X4096 Normal Map-2048X2048 Border Regions-LOD_OMOD.

 

And maybe decide if I really want to use RAEVWD...

 

Makes me wonder if the mods that I have installed, would the game be playable with a NVidia GTS 250 with 1 GB VRAM? Or what would be the most helpful hardware upgrade that could help me have the capability to play the game with around 20+ fps on average?

 

- Upgrading my CPU to a Core2Duo to a 3+ GHZ cpu? Or would it be necessary to upgrade to an i5 or i7, which would include a motherboard upgrade?

- Upgrading my hard drive to a faster drive?

- Upgrading my video card from a NVidia 9800 with 1 GB ram to a newer card?

- Upgrade my operating system to windows 7 so I can use more than 3.5 GB of system memory?

- Install a sound card instead of using the onboard Intel HD Audio?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Yeah, I was looking at http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=26038 and this is also required for it, http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3813.

 

If I uninstall the QTP3 Full, and use the redimized versions instead, I think it will help greatly. I get fairly good FPS, 35 - 40, in dungeons, and farther away from cities. The Imperial City and nearby is the most intensive that I have found so far, I am sure as the game progresses, I might run into more issues, that's why I'm addressing it now.

 

I do have AA on my NVidia card, and have it set to the max.

 

Also, I am using Triple Buffering, but have V.Sync set to application controlled, and have it set off in my oblivion.ini so I can avoid having an FPS cap.

 

If someone with an NVidia card has experimented much with Triple Buffering, let me know if it's helpful, or if I should turn it off. I read a lot about it on the NVidia tweakguide site, but am not sure if it's taking up too much of my VRam.

 

I don't think that your soundcard is the reason for your problem.

Try to decrease your Anti-aliasing and if the Nvidia-driver has a setting for the AA-Mode - then try to change that too.I only have ATI sorry.

Hope it helps.

 

 

_frost_

[bben46]

Re: Streamline - It's a great mod for what it was intended to do. And that is to allow those with weak computers to get better performance while playing Oblivion. By piling on eye candy mods, then running streamline it is fighting itself. Streamline works by trading visual enhancements for improved FPS. The more visual enhancing mods you add, the more Streamline has to dilute them to get the FPS you expect. It does this by changing your ini video settings - like grass distance etc while you play.

 

As for a separate sound card, It made a tremendous improvement in my game. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your system, and the particular sound card you get. Some inexpensive sound cards will be no better than your on board sound as they have little or no ram or processing power of their own and still rely on the system ram and CPU for everything.

 

Fort testing find a place - such as that bridge in your example and make a save there. Use that save to test when you make changes.

 

One thing to try, disable streamsight in the streamline program. then when you start the game, go into the video features and crank them back up (streamline will have set them low) What you are doing is setting up a worst case condition for testing. Then make one change at a time and go back to the save to see what it does.

 

Here are my Slow Game suggestions

http://tesnexus.com/...icle.php?id=255

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention: any time you change any hardware - such as a video or sound card be sure to erase your Oblivion.ini and allow the game to generate a new one based on the new hardware.