Increasing graphics

[Manway]

Im having a problem increasing the graphics on Oblivion. If I try in game or on the menu when you first pop the disk in nothing happens. Im confident that my computer can handle it but I cant even try because whenever I try to change the graphics at all they just instantly revert once I start playing. Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug. Also Im not a 100% but didnt there used to be an advanced graphics options tab on the first menu with Play, Data Files etc?

 

Edit: could OBSE have any effect on this?

Edited February 16, 2011 by Manway

[Hickory]

When you increase certain graphical settings you MUST quit to the desktop and restart the game for the changes to take effect.

[Manway]

I know, I did that and when I go back in game everything is still the same. Mainly what I am trying to change is the view distance of everything. The setting called view distance is already at max but I cant increase how far NPCs, items and object appear. Do those setting require you to do something im missing?

[MarkInMKUK]

If you have Vista or Win7, and the d3efault install path, it may nott be able to update the ini file due to UAC - that might be the problem

[Striker879]

I'm not sure whether this section of Koroush Ghazi's Tweak Guide (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html) will help after you have the view distance sliders maxed. Here's a quote of the pertinent part:

 

[Cell Visibility/Loading Variables]

 

uGridsToLoad=5 - Increasing the uGridsToLoad value (always in odd steps of 5,7,9,11 etc.) will increase the number of grids around the character in which full texture data will be loaded up and visible as he/she wanders around. This clearly improves visual quality - removing blurry distant LOD textures for example when set to 11 or above - however it also noticeably increases loading times and loading pauses, introduces visual anomalies (particularly around water areas) and reduces performance significantly. Interestingly, as uGridsToLoad increases, the system automatically increases the uExterior Cell Buffer value to accommodate the greater cell data. Furthermore, if you use an even value, the engine will automatically raise it to the nearest odd value (e.g. entering 10 means the engine will set it to 11). On balance the default value of 5 is a good compromise between performance and loading pauses.

 

Importantly: Instead of using the above variable to improve distant textures, particularly the blurry land textures, it is strongly recommended that you instead use the Landscape LOD Replacement Mods as detailed in the Patches & Mods section of this guide on Page 4. These mods provide far less of a performance decrease for a similar effect, and don't result in the types of glitches which altering the uGridsToLoad variable can bring with it.

 

Take note of his caveat at the end of that quote ... you may need to get an LOD replacemnt mod to achieve what you seek.

[Hickory]

I know, I did that and when I go back in game everything is still the same. Mainly what I am trying to change is the view distance of everything. The setting called view distance is already at max but I cant increase how far NPCs, items and object appear. Do those setting require you to do something im missing?

 

Make sure your in-game video settings are like so:

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4425/ingameoptions.jpg

 

 

And then quit the game. Run BOSS and build a Bashed Patch. Once that is done, run TES4LODGen.

[Manway]

seriously, just to increase how far people and things appear I have to go threw all that? Hope Skyrim doesnt have these annoying Oblivion bugs. Alright thanks for the info ill try it out later