Oblivion AI

[billypnats]

Im more concerned about the performance that is affecting gameplay in exchange for the poor AI that we have now.

[Vagrant0]

Im more concerned about the performance that is affecting gameplay in exchange for the poor AI that we have now.

As mentioned, unless you're running ALOT of script intensive mods, the bottle neck performance wise has more to do with your videocard and RAM than your actual processor. I've only noticed a significant AI performance loss when my antivirus decides to do the weekly scan while I'm playing... And when that happens, you KNOW it's a processor issue, and not merely framerate or loading. Technically, your processor is working harder when you open a container with alot of items than it is in combat against 20+ creatures. Again, with that many creatures, your framerate usually drops before you notice any processing issues. You may not see them too well, but they are still moving around, attacking you.

 

Although I've personally done alot with AI, I have yet to do anything which causes a significant performance loss on its own due to processing.

[billypnats]

as you said, the AI was limited but still using more power than it should be using, I think the trade off isn't really fair

[Vagrant0]

as you said, the AI was limited but still using more power than it should be using, I think the trade off isn't really fair

What I said there is less of a fact, more of an observation. Neither I, nor anyone else around here can know what the specific routines used by the AI are configured. Just because the AI may not be optimized doesn't mean that it is necessarily inefficient to the point of failure. My observations were based primarily on slow reaction times, and the changing of states, which was present (and may have been worse) in Morrowind too.

 

If you're going to take anything from what was said.

Technically, your processor is working harder when you open a container with alot of items than it is in combat against 20+ creatures.

holds more value than anything. As combat is one of the more AI intensive processes, even with standard styles, that is saying quite alot. Unless you're using something silly like a 1.4ghz P4, most of the performance loss comes from other hardware limitations, and not the processor... Thus AI is the least of your issues.

[billypnats]

well... my CPU is X2 2.1G and i got x1950pro, not the best thing out there, weird thing is that it plays better on the more recent games (assassins creed, crysis (med-high), bioshock, etc) all on high. My observation is that those games utilizes dual core better than oblivion, Oblivion never seems to use >80% of CPU (even with the tweaks)

 

whats also weird is that using whether bloom, HDR, and no lighting option doesn't seem to improve my FPS. the maximum is +15 FPS gain.

[Vagrant0]

whats also weird is that using whether bloom, HDR, and no lighting option doesn't seem to improve my FPS. the maximum is +15 FPS gain.

There are very few instances as to why that should, on its own. With FPS and Oblivion, most of the strain is just from rendering all the polygons, textures, particles, environments, and normal maps which are being used. The lighting system in Oblivion is much more simple than more recent games (engine was made before 2005) so changing from one to another is more about how it looks visually than any sort of FPS gain. How you have things setup with HDR can also play a small role. I mean, just tuning down grass, or making it less dense can give you a 5-10 fps gain.