Actor/NPC optimization?

[1Mac]

Perhaps not surprisingly, it seems that mods that put numerous actors in Tamriel worldspace (like Open Cities) are causing a great deal of trouble for me, particularly in the way of crashes. It seems to be an issue for a lot of people. I'm trying to get my head around the issue, so I have some questions. Sorry if they seem super-basic, but I figure the best way to learn is to ask.

 

-Generally speaking, is Oblivion running calculations on every actor in Tamriel worldspace (or whatever worldspace), or just the ones that are nearby? If I install, say, a big village/quest mod like Rauthunas or The Lost Spires or Kvatch Rebuilt, do all those actors exist as some sort of calculation in the background even if I'm nowhere near them, or are they only active due to proximity or some other factor?

 

-Relatedly, the Actor Fade setting: does this control merely when an actor is visible, or does it affect when the actor is present as a calculation the game engine is processing? More generally, do such invisible actors tax the game engine in any way? Is it to the same degree as if the actor were visible?

 

-Related to the above, I've been using Oblivion Reloaded's framerate manager, with FadeMinActors set to max at 15. Would reducing this setting help with my actor issues? Are there any other considerations related to actors and the framerate manager?

 

-I've been tempted by hrmn's OblivionScriptOptimization mod, but the reviews are decidedly mixed, with some people saying it actually helps, and others saying it's useless or even harmful. Any thoughts on it? Any recommended mods that address actor optimization? Any ini tweaks or anything like that?

 

-Here's a post claiming the problem with actors hasn't anything to do with scripts at all, but with facial animations. The author claims to have deleted facial animation files and seen a massive performance boost. Is there anything to this? Could a mod that, say, disables facial animations except at close range be any kind of solution to the problem of too many actors taxing Oblivion's engine?

[lubronbrons]

- the background actor is no problem,

even if there is 10x size of vanilla NPCs the game will still run just fine with no significant lag,

the trouble is... when you install too much NPCs, saving your game gonna take longer than usual. because

ALL that PERSISTENT NPCs is saved in your savegame every time

 

- yeah, after long time research. actor fade...

I think the only thing that bog down the CPU is all that 3D vector drawing. not just actor, if there is many complex object in front of you the FPS will drop drastically just like when you facing those NPCs

I just found out about this a month ago, when in-game enter console mode, type this and you see miracle of super high fps --> setclipdist 300

by that, we could see all that 3D DRAWING & animation is the top fps eater, the second place is game script I think...

if there is someone that can teach me how to create Hello World for obse plugin maybe I could do something about this NPCs lag. (because I noticed latest OR mod can do custom fade actor in its framerate feature)

 

- that mod Oblivion Script Optimization is not recommended, since it is NOT updated since long. you should trust UOP for script optimization (it is still get updated & supported till this day)

this mod below may improve your game performance

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/48244

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/3209

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/6981

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/36205

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/46593

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/6948

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/22170 --> use only Operation Optimization in here

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/23208/

Edited March 9, 2018 by lubronbrons

[QQuix]

Related to the first question, check Script Processing. It explains when Actor AIs are processed, which may be the main reason to the FPS drop when more than 12-15 actors are around.

[1Mac]

- that mod Oblivion Script Opt is not recommended, since it is NOT updated since long. you should trust UOP for script optimization (it is still get updated & supported till this day)

this mod below may improve your game performance

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/48244

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/3209

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/6981

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/36205

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/46593

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/6948

http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/22170 --> use only Operation Optimization in here

https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/23208/

Thanks for the recommendations! Is there a recommended install order for the mesh replacers? How do they interact with the UOPs, Mesh Improvement Project, and other mesh replacers? Also, could you tell me how your Greed Vision mod enhance performance?

[1Mac]

Related to the first question, check Script Processing. It explains when Actor AIs are processed, which may be the main reason to the FPS drop when more than 12-15 actors are around.

Thanks for this. It also seems like there is some background processing for absent actors, though not as intense as when they are present. I'd still like to know if invisible (i.e. beyond the Fade setting) are ever considered "High Process" if they happen to be within "the loaded area around the player." In other words, are actors beyond the Fade setting merely invisible, or are they not even loaded?

[QQuix]

Not related.

AI processing occurs to all Actors in high-processing, no matter if it is in front, behind, above or below the player (or visible/faded, for that matter).

 

Fading saves rendering processing time, if the actor is in front of the Player (I suppose... not really my area).

[Striker879]

I haven't tested it myself, but Celestia212 discovered something while working out a Blockheading problem that you may find interesting ... look at the post Celestia212 made in the Blockhead mod comments on Mar 4 (down near the end of the post, in a PS).

[1Mac]

I haven't tested it myself, but Celestia212 discovered something while working out a Blockheading problem that you may find interesting ... look at the post Celestia212 made in the Blockhead mod comments on Mar 4 (down near the end of the post, in a PS).

Whoa. That's truly impressive (and thrillingly cutting-edge!). I'm too much of a noob to understand what they did, unfortunately. Is it just, open the OCO2 esp (or whatever) in CS, tell CS to generate faces, then go make a sandwich and presto?

 

(Here's what Striker is talking about, for reference:)

 

 

PS. I use Sloth's Better Bodies to have merged mouth and free slot for eyelashes.

After I made this mod finally working in my game, I opened BetterBodies.esp in CS and generated face textures for all NPCs in games.

I gained +20 FPS!!!

I ran Skyrim with heavy ENB and textures easily but my Oblivion stutters sometimes like you wouldn't believe even with all recommended tweaks and tricks. I thought it was my heavy textures, landscapes, Oblivion Reloaded that slowed down my rig but no! It was face generation! Who would've thought!

Anyway, if you have some major mod that affects NPSc I would suggest opening it in CS and generating faces. It takes about 10-15 min, then just close CS and play the game! If you don't like the result - just delete oblivion.esm folder in Data\textures\faces

[Striker879]

Celestia212 would be the one with the info ... I'm just a Blockheading blockhead, though next time I think of it when I have the CS open I may poke around and see if I can make heads or tails of it. My guess would be one of those little noticed menu items in the CS, but I haven't looked yet.

 

- Edit - A quick look in the CS shows Export NPC Face Textures near the bottom of the Character menu. Didn't try it to see what it does, but my guess would be something like the Data\Textures\Faces\Oblivion.esm\... that comes with Oblivion Character Overhaul (in which case, if you were looking to experiment and have OCO v2 installed I'd backup that folder beforehand).

Edited March 9, 2018 by Striker879

[lubronbrons]

...Is there a recommended install order for the mesh replacers? How do they interact with the UOPs, Mesh Improvement Project, and other mesh replacers? Also, could you tell me how your Greed Vision mod enhance performance?

 

all of that mesh reducer mods will cost your Oblivion visual appearance... fewer polygons in mesh, of course decreased model details are to be expected

by install such mods it will lessen 3D RENDERING time process, thus will make your game could run faster with visual tradeoff

as for install order actually I don't know how exactly should it placed. but I go with latter date first by comparing last updated mod dates

also for UOP compatibilities, I see no significant problem until this day.

because I using all of this mesh reducer mods since 2 years ago and I think it is stable. but

maybe could be problem for others since the model details is downgraded. maybe my visual tolerance is too high??

 

Greed Vision increase recurring detection check timer by five folds, and replace it with new detection system, which IMHO it is much better than vanilla

so it should make your game a bit faster when there is 5++ or 10++ NPCs around (just a little fps increase)

 

I don't think Mesh Improvement Project is considered mesh reducer mod,

that mod increase some model details rather than cut the polygons for performance

 

 

...It also seems like there is some background processing for absent actors, though not as intense as when they are present. I'd still like to know if invisible (i.e. beyond the Fade setting) are ever considered "High Process" if they happen to be within "the loaded area around the player." In other words, are actors beyond the Fade setting merely invisible, or are they not even loaded?

 

if I'm not wrong ALL persistent actors in background only run about ONE time each in-game hour for AI package processing and their attached game script

that's why I said --> "even if there is 10x size of vanilla NPCs the game will still run just fine with no significant lag"

things that bog down your CPU and fps is all objects near player especially in front of player, all that rendering activity makes our cpu works very hard

have you tried that setclipdist 300 ? go to crowded area and you'll know that rendering in Oblivion is very poor, this old age decade game occlusion is not effective nor efficient at all... *sad* :sad:

if there is someone that could tell me step by step to create obse plugin maybe I could make a patch for fps booster something like that, by playing around with hide object just like that TCN command console

take a note that mod with heavy Scripts and NOT streamlined code could stress out your cpu too...

Edited March 9, 2018 by lubronbrons