Steam VS. GOG Oblivion.

[Ares1]

So I had heard recently that with the release of GOG's Oblivion that it was much easier to mod than steams. Which has lead me to ask the question. is there any advantages/ disadvantages between these two options (other than steam is DRM) Does GOG's perform better on newer systems? Ive noticed on steams after modding it decently FPS will be generally ~27. though on similar modded setups I have seen others run with a smooth 60 fps. Of course it still comes down to system specs though with the specs I have I had thought I would be able to run higher than that. (Ryzen 7 1700, 16gb ram, Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070) . Guess it comes down to does it matter which one you get/have?

[1Mac]

The GOG version is LAA and Steam's isn't, though that's trivial to fix with the 4gb patch or other LAA tool. Other than that I can't speak to performance differences one way or another. Steam has a bunch of background processes running that I have to imagine would slow Oblivion down. And there's all the wacky stuff with permissions and security on Windows that makes modding complicated; that's true for the GOG version too of course, but it's much easier to, say, do a new install of the GOG version outside your Programs folder than to move your entire Steam install out of your programs folder.

 

The only bugaboo I'm aware of related to the GOG version is this weird issue related to the timestamps on its game files that you may need to fix. I've never had an issue with it, so for all I know it's out of date info. I'm not on Windows, though, so I can't really say.

[Ares1]

Ahh ok. Well thank you for the info! :smile: So it seems it's more of a choice of where you want to install it that's really the determining factor in choosing. Shame was kind of hoping there might've been some optimizations. But I doubt that Bethesda would have let GOG or any other service do that really.

[Surilindur]

Just a side note: you can create a new Steam library folder outside Program Files and install games over there, for example on a different drive even. There is no need to move the entire Steam installation elsewhere, and it does not make too much sense to move it, either, considering how things installed into the Program Files folders are actually protected, to a certain extent, again random changes by software that does not have the rights to do edits there. Also, it was mentioned somewhere that it is possible to allow editing things in an individual folder inside Program Files, so that might allow one to mod Oblivion in there, too, but I have not looked into it, because I prefer keeping my games on another drive so I can reinstall Windows easily whenever I need to.

 

So it is not really a choice of where one wants to install it, either. Also, I think the Steam services should really be very marginal and not have any effect on the game performance unless you are running the game on something that is not even enough to run the game on its own. Obviously others may disagree, though, and it is fine. I am not sure how to descibe the differences, really. Probably the greatest benefit of the GOG version is that one does not need to have Steam at all, but then again, if one slready has Steam, then it is a moot point to some extent. Buuuut I hear GOG offers some sort of offline installer that can be burned onto a DVD or otherwise stored and used forever - if that is the case, then obviously it would be awesome, because finding disc versions with all DLC for Oblivion only seems challenging. But I have no idea if the GOG installer or installation requires their software to be running - I hope not? I have never looked into it too much, so I have no idea how it works, exactly. :ermm: