Lately, Oblivion is having very low fps, and the reason is unknown

[ManBreakfast]

Just to get this out of the way, here are my computer's specs:

 

AMD Phenom Quad Core 9500 Processor

450 Watt PSU

2GB RAM

Nvidia Geforce 9800 GT graphics, 512MB

 

Ok, so I recently bought a new graphics card, because my older one just wasn't cutting it. I was able to play Oblivion with great fps and never lagging.. After some small amount of time, I went back and tried to play again, and now the frame rate is around 5fps constantly!!! It's as if i were watching you play oblivion on a crappy webcam over a crappy internet connection. I have reinstalled the game since the problem's occurence approximately five times, and I deleted the data folder, and all of the mods i was using. The game Crysis also started having 50-70 fps). Here are some interesting things:

 

Morrowind, Crysis, and Half-Life 2 all run with the highest settings, and there isn't an ounce of lag.

 

The reinstallations of Oblivion, reinstallation of graphics card, etc have not even helped the problem.

 

Oblivion has about the same 5fps framerate no matter if its set to the absolute highest or lowest settings possible.

 

I installed a "driver" for my CPU around the same time the problem occurred

 

I may have changed a setting on the graphics card to cause this problem (possible, because reinstalling it caused Crysis to run perfect again, but I wouldn't understand why Oblivion didn't improve)

 

I used CCleaner to "clean" my registry, which possibly caused a problem with oblivion (not likely, because reinstalling oblivion didn't make a difference.)

 

I uninstalled the "driver", and it didn't solve the problem.

 

 

This problem is puzzling me, and I hope I can find a solution. I would highly, highly appreciate any help anyone can offer, and I would love to be pointed in the right direction for a fix. If anyone needs more information about my system to help solve the problem, I'd be glad to fill you in.

[dezdimona]

this comes from bben one of the moderators here

When you uninstall Oblivion it doesn't really uninstall everything. Then when you start adding mods before you have started the game, some things may not get initialized properly. Here is my recommended procedure for uninstalling and reinstalling.

 

It does not remove your mods, save games or Oblivion.ini or the entries that the original installation of Oblivion placed in your Windows registry. It also does not remove helper programs such as OBSE, OBMM, Wrye Bash, The construction set or any other programs you have installed in the \Oblivion folder or the save game folder. I recommend that you go ahead and delete them, then re download and install the latest version of them again later. After you have verified that the game works.

 

I would appreciate any feedback on this as it is something I expect to post often and I hate to give bogus or useless information.

 

Uninstalling Oblivion

 

My instructions assume you are using Windows XP and have installed Oblivion into the default location. If you are using Vista or Linux, the file locations may be different, however, the procedure will be thae same.

 

For a full reinstall, first you can try to preserve your mods and save games. I recommend that you save them in a new folder with a new name. Create the new folder in C:\Program files\Bethesda Softeworks. Name it Old Files. So it will be C:\Program Files\Bethesda softworks\Old files.

 

Then copy the data folder where your mods are to the new folder - do not erase them, copy them. And in the new folder, rename the \data folder to \olddata. Then copy and rename the folder that has your saved games and Oblivion.ini, C:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\My Games\oblivion to something like \My games\Old Oblivion - this saves your saved games and the oblivion.ini file.

 

Then, using the original CD, NOT the Launcher on your Hard drive. Select uninstall.

 

After it completes the uninstall, reboot your computer - this is important as it allows Windows to remove some references to the original Oblivion.

 

This would be the time to erase all of the helper programs you have in the \Oblivion folder. Such as OBMM, OBSE and some others. The simplest way is to delete the folder completely. The new install will re create the folder for you along with a fresh oblivion.ini and when you start the game and make a save, a new save folder and new \data folder.

 

This would also be a good time to do a file clean up.

 

To remove the registry entries that were left behind. There are several good programs for removing left behind entries. The one I use is ccleaner. Be sure to reboot before using it, and again after. It is free and available here: http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

 

Now that everything is cleaned up, do a full defrag on your hard drive to leave a large uncluttered area to reinstall to. This prevents your game from installing in a fragmented way, with parts scattered all over the drive. It also will speed up the install a little.

 

 

 

Now to Reinstall.

 

Again using the original CD, install Oblivion.

 

NOTE: If you are using Vista, DO NOT install to the default directory. Instead make a new directory I recommend C:\Games. Install Oblivion there to avoid the hassle with Vista UAC blocking mods.

 

Before adding any mods, patches, helper programs, Shivering Isles or anything else, start the game and make a save. This initializes some stuff that needs to be initialized.

 

If you are using the Game of the Year version of Oblivion you should not need any patches, skip the patching part.

 

Now, If you DO NOT use Shivering Isles, patch the game using ONLY the latest Oblivion patch. All of the stuff from the earlier patches is included.

 

Be sure you use the proper language patch. If you use the wrong one it may work, but with a strange mixture of languages. (Germanglish?) Or it may crash.

 

NOTE: there are two English Patches UK & US and they are different. (Some people actually think we speak the same language) Use the one that matches your original disk.

 

If you use Shivering Isles, Install it now. DO NOT install the Oblivion patch. Install Shivering Isles, then ONLY the latest Shivering Isles patch. All of the updates for Oblivion are included. There is only one Shivering Isles patch for both US & UK English (Maybe sometimes we do speak the same language.)

 

Now, again start the game, make sure it looks right, move around a little to test it, and make a save. Test to be sure everything is working right (No purple objects or yellow blocks)

 

Before adding any mods, back up both your \data folder and the save game folder. Copy them, don't move or rename them, to a different folder - such as \Bethesda\Clean Oblivion\data and \Bethesda\clean Oblivion\saves. Note that this is a different folder than the one used for your old data and saves.

 

Note, Your Oblivion.ini file is in the same folder, but separate from, the save game folder.

 

Now, if you want to try to run with your old mods, first rename the original folders. The \data folder to \newdata and the \oldata back to \data. this restores all of your mods. You should now have 2 data folders \data, and \newdata in your \oblivion folder

 

To restore your original saves and ini file, rename the new My Games\Oblivion to something like \New Oblivion. and the \Old oblivion to \oblivion - this restores all of your saved games and your original Oblivion.ini file.

 

DO NOT erase the files you renamed. These are your backup files in case the original mods do not work or give you the same problem.

 

If you have the same problem, it is most likely caused by a mod. However, you now have a clean install to fall back on. You can rename the files back to what they were and be back to your clean install without having to reinstall again.

 

Sounds like lots of work, but you will have a clean install and a back up clean install when you are finished.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

also mod load order is very important

[Shadowcran]

To enhance performance I designed this guide. I've Windows Vista and it seems to cause problems over time with my video and graphics card:

Enhancing your Oblivion Performance. I promise an increase in FPS

 

What this attempts to do:

1- Limit CTD's(crashes to desktop) as much as possible.

2- Limit corrupted Saves as much as possible.

3- Limit in game freezes as much as possible.

4- Limit the "black screen" as much as possible.

 

 

You are an Oblivion player seeking to make a great game even greater through mods. However, problems in Vanilla Oblivion will follow into the mods if not addressed. CTD's, corrupted saves, game freezes, These and more are almost standard in any PC game and are completely unpreventable from ever happening. This means they will happen no matter what. The goal of this information contained herein is to cut down on them as much as possible and keep Oblivion a great playing experience, if not a perfect one.

 

The following additions take into account low end machines as well. The advice I'm going to give is designed to help ALL the different computers and their Oblivion playing.

 

Step 1: DL and Install The Latest Oblivion patches. If you are playing with Shivering Isles(SI) then download the patches for this as well.You get these OFFICIAL patches off of the Bethesda site.

 

Step 2: DL and Install the Latest Unofficial patches. If you use Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine, get the unofficial patches for these as well.

 

 

Unofficial Oblivion Patch v3.2

http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/theelde.../mod/27022.html

 

Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10739

 

Unofficial Knights of The Nine Patch

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12146

 

Step 3: For load order, Dl and install FCOM helper with the LATEST database for it. This is a small mod that fixes your load order in mere seconds.

FCOM Helper. Download the 1st and 4th file on the link.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/download.php?id=31497

 

Step 4: DL and install Wrye Bash. Seriously, I can't stress using this utility enough. Learn to use it slowly if it seems too complex. Before long, you'll master the use of it and realize all it's benefits.Wrye Bash contains some utilities to "clean up" your saves. It contains ways to look at your mods in detail. It has a NVIDIA fog fix that you can use on all your mods and thus prevent that. It has a ton of useful utilities.

Wrye Bash requires the DL of 3 small mods. Don't forget to get Python and wxPython so that Wrye bash will work.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/User:Wrye

 

http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.5/

 

http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading...se_mirror=voxel

 

Step 5: Dl and install the latest OBSE(Oblivion Script Extender)

http://obse.silverlock.org

 

Step 6: DL and install the latest OBMM(Oblivion Mod Manager) when you first start playing with mods, you may mistakenly think that only this is needed to add mods. I cannot stress getting out of dependance of this mod as soon as you can and get used to Wrye Bash. Wrye Bash does a ton of things that help out in fixing later on that OBMM doesn't. Plus Obmm reads conflicts where there are none.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097

 

Step 7: DL and install Streamline 3.0. Do not get the 3.1 version as it has too many problems that will NOT be addressed or fixed in the future. Streamline also has an alternative to Quick and auto saves. Quick and auto eventually lead into CORRUPTED SAVES, so I stress not using them and instead use manual or streamlined saves instead.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10400

 

Step 8: Don't bother with this step anymore.

 

Step 9: The following mods will help performance by usually getting rid of a component you truly don't need in the game or one that is a resource hog like the high polyed grass that Vanilla Oblivion contains.

 

Low Poly Trees:

http://oblivionmodgods.de/rpg-blackdragons...trees-t245.html

 

Low Poly Grass:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12280

 

No lights flicker:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6150

 

No Wind:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2578

 

Quiet Feet:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13016

 

Oblivion Poly Overhaul:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6981

 

Optimized Illumination:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6331

 

Operation Optimization:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6331

 

Hrmns Oblivion Script Optimization:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=13092

 

Duke Patricks Script Effect Silencer:

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=15677

 

OAF (Oblivion Animation Fixer)

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5127

 

Step 10: Avoid the major texture mods if you have a low end machine. You may have "the best looking Oblivion ever" but that's small comfort if you can only see it for 5 seconds before it crashes.

 

There is a few mods that are all great mods, but you should never have both of them running at the same time due to occupying the same or too near the world space. I recommend getting both mods I list of these, but of course not running them together.

Save one for another game.

 

Cybiades and Abacean Pirates. Cybiades is an awesome quest mod, Pirates a good faction mod. However, the boat to Cybiades is too close to the Pirates base of operations.

 

Haunted House(The dungeon mod, not the quest one) and Tumbderdon. These mods are almost right on top of each other. Use only one at a time.

 

Mithril Island and The Dragon Citadel. Believe it or not, you can actually run these 2 at the same time, but it'll look and act goofy. They occupy basically the same world space but since the Citadel is accessible by magic ring, this is negated. The citadel will appear OVER the mithril Island mod. You'll notice odd occurances because of this like fish spawning on land, but except for a few minor things, they both work....wierd, I know.

 

If you know of any more PERFORMANCE enhancing mods, please feel free to list them. I can't have possibly covered them all. Your help will be appreciated by me and probably by anyone who reads this and wants to boost their game.

[ManBreakfast]

Thanks a great bunch to both of you for your help, and I will take your advice. I am going to reinstall Oblivion following your instructions, and I'll make a fresh reinstall. I do not have anywhere near a low end machine, so I don't believe many of your mods will give me a performance increase, but thank you for the suggestion, and I believe some of these will be useful. I will reply when I finish my reinstall.

[ManBreakfast]

I followed your instructions closely, dezdimona, but the problem still persists. I checked some other games, and they appear to run fine. I haven't anymore ideas of what the problem could be, and I'm beginning to think that I should either revert back to morrowind, or wait until they make ES V

[ManBreakfast]

Yay, I solved the problem! I'm not sure exactly what solved my problem, but I performed these several actions before the problem was solved:

 

I deleted several audio drivers (resulted in no sound until i reinstalled them)

 

I rolled back from Service pack 3 (windows XP) to SP2.

 

I played oblivion (no problems)

 

I reinstalled the audio drivers (still no problems i believe)

 

 

Though you did not attribute to me fixing the game, I thank you both for your help, and I am glad somebody replied. I will now be sure to assist if anyone is to confront a similar problem to mine.