Weird Lag, Suddenly-spiking FPS and much more...

[Amessagetoyou]

Hi guys. :happy: As I mentioned on the title, I'm having problems I would not have had (supposedly).

So, Here are my specs:

Operation System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601)
System Model: Dell Inspiron 1546
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS version 1.10 A03
CPU: AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-75 (2 CPUs), 2.2Ghz
RAM: 4096MB
Page File: 1448 MB used, 6748MB
DirectX version: DirectX 11
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4300 Series
Chip Type: ATI display adapter (0x9552)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Approx. Total Memory: 2296MB

 

 

And here's my load order:

 

Oblivion.esm
EnhancedWeather.esm
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm
EnhancedWeather - Darker Nights, 80.esp
EnhancedWeather.esp
'Eagle Eye' Realistic Archery v1.0 Fixed.esp
UOPS Additional Changes.esp
Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp
USIPS Additional Changes.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCFrostcrag.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
Knights.esp
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp
DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp
DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp
Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp
Bashed Patch, 0.esp
Cutthroat Merchants.esp
EnchantmentRestore.esp
!! Budoka - Asian Race.esp
ScriptIcon_Replacer.esp
Bedrollsanyone.esp
EnchantmentRestore_Wells.esp
Living Economy - Items.esp
Living Economy.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp
Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp
Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp
Harvest [Flora].esp
Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esp
OOO-Container_Trap_Instant_Effects.esp
OOO-Water_Weeds.esp
Infinite Charge.esp
Display Stats.esp
UVII.esp
Streamline 3.1.esp
Kill_Bruma_Statue.esp
CleanQuit.esp
Enhanced Grabbing.esp

First thing I did was to check Oblivion on systemrequirementslab.com and it perfectly passed both minimum and recommended settings for the game.
Other than that, I use IOBIT game booster + Put oblivion on High priority (Sometimes "Above Normal" or even leave it on "Normal" by default to see how it works. As my load order suggested I also use "Oblivion Stutter Removal", "Streamline 3.1".

In addition, I make use of BOSS to get proper load order.

 

Despite all these, average FPS I get outside is around 10, In caves and forts it is around 20ish.

Is there anything to do about it? When game is around 20 or little more fps it looks perfect to me, so my goal is to get 20fps in the worst case (which probably is outside + fighting)

 

I also attached my ini file, in case there is something reasonable to change :biggrin: .

Anyone's help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance :wink:

Edited April 2, 2013 by Amessagetoyou

[FiftyTifty]

It's because your in Windows 7. Oblivion uses DirectSound, which has been removed in all versions of Windows past XP. The CPU now has to handle the audio, and your FPS suffers greatly due to the innefecient handling of sound by the engine.

 

Also, 32bit games/programs suffer a performance impact of >2% when running in a 64bit OS due to the emulation of the 32bit memory addresses. Don't know for sure about the last part, but there is a performance impact of greater than 2% as stated by Microsoft.

Edited April 10, 2013 by FiftyTifty

[Amessagetoyou]

It's because your in Windows 7. Oblivion uses DirectSound, which has been removed in all versions of Windows past XP. The CPU now has to handle the audio, and your FPS suffers greatly due to the innefecient handling of sound by the engine.

 

Also, 32bit games/programs suffer a performance impact of >2% when running in a 64bit OS due to the emulation of the 32bit memory addresses. Don't know for sure about the last part, but there is a performance impact of greater than 2% as stated by Microsoft.

First, thank you very much :happy:

So, from what I understood from your post is that Win7 64-bit can cause around 2% FPS loss, which is not a big deal right

But If I install a new OS (By the way Which OS do you consider best for oblivion?) would I be able to get rid of crappy FPS?

In my opinion late 10s in the worst case are perfect for me. I don't really need to play on 30-40FPS,

 

One last question, would you please comment on my laptop Specs? Should oblivion be playable in high settings?

Thanks in advance :cool:

[FiftyTifty]

High settings? Err. Maybe medium if you install the mesh optimization mods and low poly grass mods.

 

XP Is the best for Oblivion (and Freespace 2, Rome Total War, Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2, etc.) due to it being the latest Windows OS that utilizes DirectSound.

[Amessagetoyou]

High settings? Err. Maybe medium if you install the mesh optimization mods and low poly grass mods.

 

XP Is the best for Oblivion (and Freespace 2, Rome Total War, Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter Nights 2, etc.) due to it being the latest Windows OS that utilizes DirectSound.

Are you sure? Because I checked with systemrequirementslab.com, and it passed perfectly for both recommended and minimum.

In fact, I have mesh optimization mods + I don't use any grass and shadows.

But game still sucks.

What's confusing me is, "Why a decent laptop of 2010-2011 can't run a game from 2006?"

Since you said I would barely be able to play at minimum settings?

[d181sp1]

Well, from what I see your video card is a tad on the weak side. That said, it should run Oblivion decently enough. Basic idea is turn down the AA and AF options if they are on and test again. It's a 4series card, but it's a weak one. Might not be able to handle increased filtering options. Oblivion while old still asks a lot of hardware and you may be simply hitting the wall with that card.

 

Did it run better before you modded the game?

[Amessagetoyou]

Well, from what I see your video card is a tad on the weak side. That said, it should run Oblivion decently enough. Basic idea is turn down the AA and AF options if they are on and test again. It's a 4series card, but it's a weak one. Might not be able to handle increased filtering options. Oblivion while old still asks a lot of hardware and you may be simply hitting the wall with that card.

 

Did it run better before you modded the game?

Well I could not feel any difference.

There isn't any mod that REALLY affects performance.

By the way thanks for your reply, I was looking for a reasonable and "technical" answer like yours.

So what else will my GPU won't be able to handle well? Besides AA and AF?

And I was really surprised how my laptop passed all the systemrequirementslab.com I assumed I could've run the game at least 30FPS everywhere but this was weird

[FiftyTifty]

As I said. Windows XP is the best OS for Oblivion. You'll get a significant FPS boost due to the fact that DirectSound was removed in Vista/7/8.

[Amessagetoyou]

As I said. Windows XP is the best OS for Oblivion. You'll get a significant FPS boost due to the fact that DirectSound was removed in Vista/7/8.

I'll give it a try :)

Thanks for all the help

[d181sp1]

Shadows. Turn down shadow settings and turn off that "shadows on grass" setting in the video options. Leave your number of shadows slider at whatever the game defaulted them at, don't up 'em. You could probably get by with moderate AF sampling and it'll make the game look better. I'd leave AA off for now though till you figure this out.

 

For some reason I want to say there was a problem with Qarl's Harvest Flora mod. I can't recall if it's a crash or a performance issue but there was something.

 

Report back.