I need help with improving performance

[Denizar]

I just did a clean install of oblivion and loaded a few mods including FCOM, Unique Landscapes, AEVWD, Deadly reflex... Maybe I should just put the laod order:

 

Active Mod Files:
00  Oblivion.esm
01  EnhancedWeather.esm  (Version 1.0.5)
02  Francesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod.esm
03  Francesco's Optional New Items Add-On.esm
04  Cobl Main.esm  (Version 1.39)
05  Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm  (Version 1.34Beta2)
06  Mart's Monster Mod.esm  (Version 3.6beta)
07  FCOM_Convergence.esm  (Version 0.9.9a7)
08  HorseCombatMaster.esm
**  TNR ALL FACES FINAL.esp
**  TNR - ShiveringIsles.esp
09  IlluminationWithin.esp
0A  za_bankmod.esp
0B  VaultsofCyrodiil.esp
0C  Crowded Roads.esp  (Version 2.0)
0D  Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
0E  Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
0F  UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp  (Version 1.0.0)
10  Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch MOBS.esp
11  Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Bosses.esp
12  Francesco's Optional Chance of Stronger Enemies.esp
13  Francesco's Optional Chance of More Enemies.esp
14  Francesco's Optional Leveled Guards.esp
15  FCOM_Francescos.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
16  FCOM_FrancescosItemsAddOn.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
17  FCOM_FrancescosNamedBosses.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
18  Fran_Lv30Item_Maltz.esp
19  ANB_No_FastTravel.esp
1A  EnhancedWeather.esp  (Version 1.0.5)
1B  EnhancedWeather - SI.esp  (Version 1.0.5)
1C  EnhancedWeather - Darker Nights, 80.esp  (Version 1.0.5)
1D  Rainbows.esp
1E  Book Jackets Oblivion.esp
1F  No Glow Grass - Faster and Shorter.esp
20  Cities Alive At Night.esp
21  DLCShiveringIsles.esp
22  SM Plugin Refurbish - SI.esp  (Version 1.05)
23  DLCHorseArmor.esp
24  DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp  (Version 1.0.3)
25  SM Plugin Refurbish - HorseArmor.esp  (Version 1.08)
26  DLCVileLair.esp
27  DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp  (Version 1.0.3)
28  SM Plugin Refurbish - VileLair.esp  (Version 1.08)
29  DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
2A  DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp  (Version 1.0.3)
2B  SM Plugin Refurbish - MehrunesRazor.esp  (Version 1.08)
2C  DLCSpellTomes.esp
2D  DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp  (Version 1.0.1)
2E  Harvest [Flora].esp  (Version 3.0.0)
2F  Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp  (Version 3.0.0)
30  Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp  (Version 3.0.0)
31  ReneersGoldMod.esp
32  Atmospheric Oblivion.esp
33  AmbientTownSounds.esp
34  Better Bell Sounds.esp
35  Cobl Glue.esp  (Version 1.39)
36  Cobl Si.esp  (Version 1.32)
37  OOO 1.32-Cobl.esp  (Version 1.38)
38  Salmo the Baker, Cobl.esp  (Version 3.06)
39  FCOM_Cobl.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
3A  Bob's Armory Oblivion.esp
3B  FCOM_BobsArmory.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
3C  Oblivion WarCry EV.esp
3D  FCOM_WarCry.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
3E  Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp  (Version 1.34Beta2)
3F  FCOM_Convergence.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
40  FCOM_RealSwords.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
41  FCOM_NoWyverns.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
42  FCOM_LessRats.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
43  Mart's Monster Mod - Gems & Gem Dust.esp  (Version 3.6Beta)
44  Mart's Monster Mod - Hunting & Crafting.esp  (Version 3.6Beta)
45  Mart's Monster Mod - Looting NPCs & Creatures.esp  (Version 3.6Beta)
46  FCOM_DiverseGuardUnity.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
47  FCOM_BobsGuardUnity.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
48  FCOM_Archery.esp  (Version 0.9.9)
49  OOO-Water_Weeds.esp  (Version 1.33)
4A  FCOM_EntropicOrderRebalance.esp  (Version 0.9.9beta2)
4B  Living Economy.esp
4C  Living Economy - Items.esp
4D  Cutthroat Merchants.esp
4E  Mart's Monster Mod - City Defences.esp  (Version 3.6Beta)
4F  Alternative Start by Robert Evrae.esp
50  xulImperialIsle.esp
51  xulAncientYews.esp
52  xulRiverEthe.esp
53  xulChorrolHinterland.esp
54  xulRollingHills_EV.esp
55  xulCloudtopMountains.esp
56  xulColovianHighlands_EV.esp
57  xulFallenleafEverglade.esp
58  xulArriusCreek.esp
59  xulBeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp
5A  xulPatch_AY_AC.esp
5B  Cliff_RankDependantArenaSpectators.esp  (Version 1.0)
5C  aaaBorsBedrolls.esp
5D  FF_Real_Thirst.esp
5E  RealHungerv1.4.esp
5F  RealSleep.esp
60  FF_Real_Thirst, Cobl.esp
61  Jump_Adjustment-2211.esp
62  Streamline 3.0.esp
63  Denock Arrows.esp
64  _Real_Lights.esp
65  MRP - Horse stabled outside gate.esp
66  MRP - Autosaving.esp
67  No More Annoying Comments.esp
68  MRP - Quickloading.esp
69  MRP - Not enough charge.esp
6A  MRP - Fast travel unavailable.esp
6B  MRP - Cant Equip Item.esp
6C  No_Loading_Screen_Text.esp
6D  No_Load_Screen_on_Death.esp
6E  MRP - You successfully harvest.esp
6F  NoMerchantBarterChatter.esp
70  MRP - You find nothing of use.esp
71  MRP - Quicksaving.esp
72  za_less_NPC_conversations.esp
73  MRP - Loading area.esp
74  RealisticForceMedium.esp
75  Exterior Actors Have Torches 1.3 CT.esp
76  Dungeon Actors Have Torches 1.6 CT.esp
77  100% Harvest Chance.esp
78  Bashed Patch, 0.esp
79  Deadly Reflex Bow Sway.esp
7A  Deadly Reflex - Timed Block + Higher Damage.esp
7B  DeadlyReflex - Combat Moves.esp
7C  Mounted_Spellcasting Deadly Reflex Compatible.esp

 

I got the textures/meshes from AEVWD and illuminated AEVWD and then ran the distant lod generator executable to render other distant lods too.

 

These are the mods. My FPS is around 30 interiors, 20-30 in cities and 10-20 in wilderness usually on the lower end, but in wilderness it occasionally drops to single digits. My PC specs are:

 

Intel Q6600 (quad core)

2 GB Ram at 800mhz

ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512 Mb

My Hard disk is raid 0

 

How may I improve performance with minimum quality loss?

Do you think it is AEVWD and other distant lods causing the most performance loss?

Or is it FCOM with too many scripts killing my CPU?

Can it be deadly reflex scripts?

(I know unique landscapes doesn't effect that much because the fps's were around the same before I installed it.)

Or should I just OC?

 

Lastly, the game automatically alters actor, grass, item fade distances to ease things, but I really want to disable this because there is no point in playing the game if you can't see an enemy thats 10 feet away. Is there a way to stop the game from playing with the settings? Thanks a lot in advance.

[nosisab]

You'll find more in this tweak site than we can help here. mainly the part about multi core CPUs. This is something you need to do directly in the Oblivion.ini

 

Oblivion is one of the most demanding games. Specialized benchmarks points it having a poor performance even with high end crossfire/SLI machines at high resolutions with high AA and anisotropic filtering enabled. This even in the standard, not modded game.

 

How you didn't say anything about the resolution you use neither about the filtering...

 

The changes in the grass, distance and etc are because the streamline trying to give you some playability and because it is desperately attempting give you at least 20 FPS.

 

If doing the advised in that site to allow the multi core processing doesn't help, you are just forcing your rig beyond it's capacity. And the probably culprit is the graphics, not the processing (says scripts). Remember 512 MB VRAM aren't enough to extra high monitor resolutions + high filtering + high textures resolutions, don't matter how quick are the GPUs and CPUs.

[Denizar]

Thanks a lot I'm checking the site immediately. I'm using a resolution of 1680x1050 and AF is off, AA is 4x.

 

The changes in the grass, distance and etc are because the streamline trying to give you some playability and because it is desperate attempting give you at least 20 FPS.

 

Glad to know this it was driving me crazy. Thanks again nosisab.

[Denizar]

I applied most of the ini tweaks for performance, increasing my fps to the high 20's in the wilderness but now near cities it drops to around 10... I just don't understand. Maybe I should try a reinstall?

[nosisab]

I applied most of the ini tweaks for performance, increasing my fps to the high 20's in the wilderness but now near cities it drops to around 10... I just don't understand. Maybe I should try a reinstall?

I see you have alot of mods that deals with illumination and shadowing and cities in general, again your problem is a compromise. You need to give up something here and only experimentation can say what is better to you.

 

Your mod collection impress for seeming it was chose exactly to benchmark super machines, even don't knowing some of then the name suggest they are highly demanding.

 

At this resolution I think reducing AA to 2X is a good try, the quality loss is less severe that seems in game. To take screenshots one can place the graphics at maximum and the result is amazing... play it in real time is another issue.

 

but before going extreme you can try some utilities and mods related to performance and at least two here can do miracles without quality loss (or minimal). They have the strange names: "Operation Optimization" and "Quiet feet".

The first brakes textures in smaller chunks (don't fear, it doesn't reduce the resolution), is known VCs have easier time dealing with more small parts than fewer big ones, this mod can really bend the scale to your side. The second is not related with graphics but is good to have anyway, what it does is muting the feet sounds (just creatures, NPCs feet seems not trigger the issue). Yes, it is sound related but you can believe it does a big difference, mainly in combats.

 

Experiment... with your machine you have enough to play the game at good speed... just don't rely more in the sliders that in the real game visual experience. Oblivion is somewhat old and among the pioneers of such graphics highs... the engine isn't the better it could be and the textures are really demanding in it.

 

little PS: most of times a small push in the slider will not do any perceptible visual difference, but is enough to overload the VC to a crawl.

[Denizar]

Thanks again for your quick reply nosisab. I have quiet feet but i hadn't installed operation optimization because I thought it did the same thing with streamline. I'll install it and see what happens. I'll also experiment with the mods as you said and I'll write the results here.

[billypnats]

ZOMG THOSE ARE LOW FPS for A MONSTER MACHINE!!!

 

Lower the AA to 2X

 

Implement Tweaks for Multicore CPUs

 

Do you Have Qarls Texture Mod? Download Qarls texture mod Redimized!!!

 

Download Operations optimization (which you did, but just to remind you)

Download that polygon mod (just search up poly in tesnexus)

Download OBSE and then streamline and press Ctrl+Delete when your FPS is low (it should say streamlined on top)

I would disable Crowded Roads.esp

Disable Enhanced weather.

When In Wilderness with lots of grass, press ` and type in TG to kill all grass.

Download the latest oblivion patch

and

Make sure in your INI settings that

Ithread =10

iOpenMplevel=9 or 10

bUseMultiThreadedTrees=1

iNumHavokThreads=5

bUseThreadedTempEffects=1

bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1

bDSoundHWAcceleration=1

iPreloadSizeLimit=52428800 (or double the value to see if that helps)

bBackgroundPathing=1 (THIS IS BIG!)

 

uInterior Cell Buffer=16

uExterior Cell Buffer=102(if your ipreloadsize=104857600)

 

uInterior Cell Buffer=6

uExterior Cell Buffer=72 (if your Ipreloadsize=52428800)

uGridDistantTreeRangeCity=4

uGridDistantCountCity=4

[Denizar]

Ok I did all that and the fps improved outdoors but near cities, like when I'm walking around anvil bay, fps is 10, 15 at best.. So maybe it is something to do with npc's and guards etc, all those mods together. I'm doing a reinstall I'll see what happens and post here. Thanks again

Oh, and I don't use QTP

[Denizar]

Alright... Something very odd is happening because I did a reinstall and ran the game without any mods - only the alternative start one to start in anvil and test the outdoor fps right away, and in anvil bay the fps was again around 15-20 fps... Is this normal or is there something wrong with my hardware? I have all the latest drivers for my GPU. I'm not sure about the CPU though. Also, I'm not using bloom or HDR, would this cause any problems? This is how I installed the game:

 

Oblivion

Oblivion Shivering isles

Shivering isles 1.2.0.0416 patch

Unofficial Oblivion 3.0 patch

Unofficial Shivering Isles 120 patch

Official plugins

Unofficial Official plugins patch

 

I didin't install the official 1.2.0.0416 patch for oblivion because when I did that the first time and afterwards installed the shivering isles, the shivering isles official 1.2.0.0416 patch didn't work so I installed them in the above order. Is there something wrong with that? Please any suggestions will be appreciated.

[nosisab]

Alright... Something very odd is happening because I did a reinstall and ran the game without any mods - only the alternative start one to start in anvil and test the outdoor fps right away, and in anvil bay the fps was again around 15-20 fps... Is this normal or is there something wrong with my hardware? I have all the latest drivers for my GPU. I'm not sure about the CPU though. Also, I'm not using bloom or HDR, would this cause any problems? This is how I installed the game:

 

Oblivion

Oblivion Shivering isles

Shivering isles 1.2.0.0416 patch

Unofficial Oblivion 3.0 patch

Unofficial Shivering Isles 120 patch

Official plugins

Unofficial Official plugins patch

 

I didin't install the official 1.2.0.0416 patch for oblivion because when I did that the first time and afterwards installed the shivering isles, the shivering isles official 1.2.0.0416 patch didn't work so I installed them in the above order. Is there something wrong with that? Please any suggestions will be appreciated.

Nothing wrong there. but the reinstall will use anything already existent in your Oblivion folder and subfolders, mainly the /data one ... and in the C:\My Documents\....\My games\Oblivion too.

 

bben46 have a good tutorial about reinstalling, try PM him to point you there.

 

Keep in mind the reinstall will use the Oblivion.ini already in that C:\My Documents... folder instead creating a new one.

 

PS: use the setup from CD to uninstall instead that on HD.