Oblivion's mysterious performance

[Prenihility]

Allright, after about a year (yes) i've finally optimized Oblivion to run much better on my system, however...Im still noticing that in certain areas, such as Rockmilk cave, when there is a big fight going on between the Bandits, it lags! Even when they are all dead, it drops below 30FPS. Its just....Wierd, can someone explain this to me, why does it lag it certain areas....Im very disappointed. Also, when i go into third person mode, the FPS drops. pretty much cuts in half.

 

My CPU is above and beyond Oblivions recommended specs. Aint a core i7, but still decimates a 3GHZ P4.

 

AMD Phenom 8550 2.2GHz

4GB DDR2 400MHz

Radeon HD 4850

Vista 64

 

Also, why is it that the PS3 runs the game so well, thats something i'd LOVE to know. PC versions of games are always supposed to be better. My HD 4850 should be giving me a much higher framerate. When i look at certain things in the game, such as the chorrol castle , i'll get a low FPS. Other times, ill be hitting 80 FPS...Is this game poorly programmed or what? Is Fallout 3 the SAME, or did Bethesda really optimize more, and improve the performance overall? Because im contemplating whether or not to buy Fallout 3 right now... Can some people with some pretty powerful systems post their benchmarks for me? It would give me piece of mind if it came to the conclusion that the game simply inevitably performs poorly at times. Im confused when it comes to Oblivion's performance, can someone give me these answers. People who have i7 systems, i would love to see your FPS, and would be greatly appreciated if you could post it here. I have done a RIDICULOUS amount of .ini optimizing, installing Low poly grass, operation optimization, etc. etc. it DID work....but...eer..still, theres those certain areas, such as the aforementioned castle yard and Rockmilk Cave.

 

I need someone to give me an answer, because a P4 is the RECOMMENDED CPU. Take a look at the benches on cpubenchmark.net compared to my first generation Phenom...Gets decimated...

[Hickory]

Bottom line: Oblivion is an old game, and was not designed to run on new systems -- it does not handle multi-threading and multi-cores. With all the mods that abound, adding more and more hi-res textures, you are going to get low FPS in certain areas, NO MATTER WHAT your rig is composed of. People with top gaming machines still get low FPS with things like Better Cities, RAEVWD, QTP3, hi-res body replacers, armor/clothes, and what-have-you. Your 30 FPS is not so bad, and some people would die for it.

[bben46]

30 fps is actually the frame rate that The NTSC standard US TV uses and In Countries that use the PAL standard (Europe) it is 25 fps. Also, many console games are locked at 30 fps. And most movies are at 24 FPS. On a PC, the frame rate is variable and is allowed to change based on what is being shown at that time. So any rate above 30 is actually faster than most console games.

See this for a better explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

[Prenihility]

Bottom line: Oblivion is an old game, and was not designed to run on new systems -- it does not handle multi-threading and multi-cores. With all the mods that abound, adding more and more hi-res textures, you are going to get low FPS in certain areas, NO MATTER WHAT your rig is composed of. People with top gaming machines still get low FPS with things like Better Cities, RAEVWD, QTP3, hi-res body replacers, armor/clothes, and what-have-you. Your 30 FPS is not so bad, and some people would die for it.

 

 

Thx for the reply guys...You have given me some piece of mind. However...Why is it that the PS3 version doesnt do the same thing. Also, theres no way it doesnt take advantage of multi threading/cores, because both the 360 and PS3 have multicores. 360 has 3, PS3; 8.Also, the .ini settings deny that it cannot use multi cores/threading. It runs very well on the PS3. The loading while in the wilderness is actually quite incredible on the PS3. However...What i dont understand is, why doesnt the PS3 suffer from these mediocre framerates seeing as the PC version is supposed to be the more superior version? THAT, is also what i'd like an answer for...

 

ALSO, im very interested in whether or not this is the same case with Fallout 3? I need answers regarding this please, i really wanna get F3 Goty on PC.

[Hickory]

Also, theres no way it doesnt take advantage of multi threading/cores, because both the 360 and PS3 have multicores. 360 has 3, PS3; 8.Also, the .ini settings deny that it cannot use multi cores/threading. It runs very well on the PS3. The loading while in the wilderness is actually quite incredible on the PS3. However...What i dont understand is, why doesnt the PS3 suffer from these mediocre framerates seeing as the PC version is supposed to be the more superior version? THAT, is also what i'd like an answer for...

 

You are wrong, but at this precise moment, I do not have the inclination to sit around arguing the point.

[Megatarius]

It's true. The game does not take advantage of multiple cores.

 

I'd like to know what those .ini settings really are.

[bben46]

On a console the game only has to work with one set of hardware, and there are no unknown background processes. - Every xbox 360 is identical to every other one and the programmer only has to optimize his code for one set of hardware that is already optimized to play games, and not worry about anything else that may be running on the unit.

 

Every PC has different hardware and every PC has many programs installed, many of which like to place little snippits of code into the start up to aggravate people like me (HP, Java, Adobe and many others) These are background processes that are not present on consoles. And very difficult to completely get rid of on a PC. PCs are also susceptible to viruses, spyware and other malware, all of which steal clock cycles and slow things down. Even leaving something like VOIP or a browser open while playing can cause slowdown. We tolerate these (except for the malware) because the consoles CAN'T do anything except play games.

 

The console games have a locked fps so it never changes. The console version was designed around this limitation. The PC version CAN run at higher fps if the hardware and everything else allows. Unlike a console, on a PC the game has to share the PC with many other programs and some of those programs will insist on taking a small piece of memory and a few clock cycles while you are playing.

 

This morning, all on the same PC, I used a word processor to compose a service report, used a spreadsheet to make an expense account, and scanned in (from the attached scanner) a signed time and materials sheet for the job. Then printed out a hard copy on the attached printer for my files. Then used a file compression program to zip the report, expense sheet and time sheet and used my email to send the zipped report to my boss. Then checked my email and replied to it. Then signed on to my bank website to see if a check had cleared or not. Then checked a dozen sites and ordered and paid for a new wireless router, Then checked TheNexus sites where I replied to several forums. Finally - on the same PC started up and played FO3 for 2 hours with fps staying well over 30 the whole time ( I typically see between 40 and 70 fps) AND, took several VOIP phone calls while playing. - I do have to pause the game to take a call though.

 

If all you want to do is play games, then by all means get a console - That's what they are for. However, if you want to play with games (mod and use mods) then get a good PC and be prepared to learn how to get the most out of it. Unlike the consoles a PC is not optimized to play games, it is a general purpose computer that can do many things fairly well. You have to do the optimizing yourself. And every one will be different.

[Prenihility]

Thx a lot for you reply ben. However... I dont understand how it was previously stated that Oblivion doesnt take advantage of multi cores...Thats impossible, why does the .ini file have an option where you can switch that? Also, ben, I would like to see your system specs, out of curiosity. Wanna compare to mine :) 40-80 FPS is what i get. We have the same FPS all around. However, idk if you have experienced massive drops such as myself. Like 20-25.

 

As soon as i disabled superfetch, the game's memory management was much better. Still... i find it hard to believe that PC games arent optimized. Sure, theres POOR optimization.

 

Well, the bottom line is, how do i get the game to run EVEN better, i wanna get rid of some background stuff completely. I also didnt notice, or hehe...Maybe thats just the point, i didnt notice a performance difference with AMD Fusion running.

 

Im curious to see what an i7 system will do with Oblivion...Gotta build me my i7 system...GAH!

 

Also, Ben, Fallout 3, is it MORE optimized than Oblivion? Because i figured it is since it came out later than Oblivion, they probably experimented with the engine more. I just want someone to give me an Oblivion and Fallout Comparison. I went to systemrequirementslab.com , and surprisingly...Its over the top when it scanned my system, its way past recommended, pretty much maxed on the canyourunit scale. It said the same thing for Oblivion, but didnt mention any stupid Framerate drops. I want someone to tell me first hand.

 

Also, any suggestions on what i could change on my system? i want it running the best it possibly can.

[bben46]

System Specs

 

Win7 pro, X64

Case: Cooler Master HAF922

Power supply: OCZ 700MXSP (700Watts)

Processor i5- 650

Processor cooling: ECO Coolit sealed water cooling system

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D EVO

4 Gig Corsair XMS3 Ram

Video card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260

Dual 21 inch Acer monitors

Sound: Turtle Beach Montego

Dual 1 TB Seagate Hard drives

 

And yes, occasionally I do see a drop below 20, especially in my own trophy room where I have over 40 mannequins with every armor, and many variants plus a complete set of each kind of weapons and a lot of collectible loot on display - it also has things like 2 fountains and many light sources that will eat FPS. Flames, moving water and other moving things will use up fps also.

 

For optimizing I recommend this site: http://www.tweakguides.com/

It's by far the best I have found. Do the optimizing for the OS first, then for the video, and finally for the particular game. The OS & video will not change from game to game.

 

This program will help with killing off background processes while playing - Game Booster: available here: http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5952 It doesn't kill everything, but it does help some.

 

Oblivion does use the multiple processors, but they were thrown into the game late in development and the game wasn't really written with them in mind. So it doesn't do nearly as much as it could if the game were truly optimized for them in the PC version. The tweak guides say something on this.

[Prenihility]

System Specs

 

Win7 pro, X64

Case: Cooler Master HAF922

Power supply: OCZ 700MXSP (700Watts)

Processor i5- 650

Processor cooling: ECO Coolit sealed water cooling system

Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D EVO

4 Gig Corsair XMS3 Ram

Video card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260

Dual 21 inch Acer monitors

Sound: Turtle Beach Montego

Dual 1 TB Seagate Hard drives

 

And yes, occasionally I do see a drop below 20, especially in my own trophy room where I have over 40 mannequins with every armor, and many variants plus a complete set of each kind of weapons and a lot of collectible loot on display - it also has things like 2 fountains and many light sources that will eat FPS. Flames, moving water and other moving things will use up fps also.

 

For optimizing I recommend this site: http://www.tweakguides.com/

It's by far the best I have found. Do the optimizing for the OS first, then for the video, and finally for the particular game. The OS & video will not change from game to game.

 

This program will help with killing off background processes while playing - Game Booster: available here: http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5952 It doesn't kill everything, but it does help some.

 

Oblivion does use the multiple processors, but they were thrown into the game late in development and the game wasn't really written with them in mind. So it doesn't do nearly as much as it could if the game were truly optimized for them in the PC version. The tweak guides say something on this.

 

 

Allright, im looking at the Vista tweak (because i've tweaked the hell out of Oblivion already according to this guide) and under "indexing options" in my Control Panel, the "Modify" Option cant be clicked on?, why is that? Is it possibly because it is saying that "indexing is not running"? Im pretty sure he mentioned that in the guide, disabling it completely isnt good...Soo, whats the solution?