extremely slow

[evilkoal]

everything works in my game (surprisingly :P), but for some reason after some mods initialize everything slows down aside from when i press the escape button, then it runs fine. during character generation, everything is as smooth as can be.

 

here is my load order:

 

Active Mod Files:
00  Oblivion.esm
01  CM Partners.esm
02  Cobl Main.esm  [Version 1.55]
03  Kvatch Rebuilt.esm
04  Better Cities Resources.esm
05  CyrodiilUpgradeResourcePack.esm
06  GTAesgaard_2.esm
07  (DC) Sutch Reborn.esp
08  DLCSpellTomes.esp
09  DLCThievesDen.esp
0A  Mighty Magick - Spells and Creatures.esp
0B  HeartOftheDead.esp
**  TNR - ShiveringIsles.esp
0C  Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp  [Version 3.2.0]
0D  UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp  [Version 1.0.0]
0E  Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
0F  DLCShiveringIsles.esp
10  Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp  [Version 1.4.0]
11  Natural_Weather_HDR_with_darker_Nights_by_Max_Tael.esp
12  Natural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.esp
13  Enhanced Water v2.0 HD.esp
++  Enhanced Water v2.0 HD - SI Addon.esp  [Version 0.1]
14  Atmospheric Oblivion.esp
15  Cities Alive At Night.esp
16  IWR - Windows Lights Shutters - Optimised.esp
17  AliveWaters.esp
18  Book Jackets Oblivion.esp
**  Book Jackets DLC.esp
++  Brighter_Torches.esp
++  CM_Better Wine_SI.esp
++  Cyrodilic Brandy.esp
19  Shield on Back 3.1.esp
++  VA_BetterGold.esp
1A  Landmarks, w Wells.esp  [Version 1.10]
1B  DLCHorseArmor.esp
1C  DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]
1D  DLCOrrery.esp
1E  DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.3]
1F  DLCVileLair.esp
20  DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]
21  DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
22  DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]
++  DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.1]
++  CSR - Fine Iron.esp
++  CSR - Golden Saint.esp
23  It's A Wig!.esp
24  StockClothingArmor-forExnems.esp
25  HRMHorseArmor.esp
26  CurseOfHircine.esp
27  DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.5]
28  DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp  [Version 1.0.4]
29  Slof's Oblivion Robe Trader.esp
2A  Cobl Glue.esp  [Version 1.55]
2B  Cobl Si.esp  [Version 1.32]
++  Cobl Tweaks.esp  [Version 1.44]
2C  TIE.esp
2D  cyrodiil transportation network 1.3 wz.esp
2E  300_White Stallion 4.esp
2F  Cathedral Improver.esp
30  CDEP_FanaCeya.esp
31  CDEP-UnderpallCave.esp
32  Extended Imperial City Version 1.0.esp
33  Extended Chorrol.esp
34  Extended Skingrad.esp
35  GTAesgaard.esp
36  hackdirtabyss.esp
37  Malevolent.esp
38  PeryitesLowestRealmofOblivion.esp
39  Servant of the Dawn.esp
3A  DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
3B  DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]
3C  DLCFrostcrag.esp
3D  DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.4]
3E  Knights.esp
++  Knights_fem.esp
3F  The Lost Spires.esp
40  TOTF.esp
41  Blood&Mud.esp
42  Origin of the Mages Guild.esp  [Version 6]
43  MannimarcoRevisited.esp
44  xuldarkforest.esp
45  xulStendarrValley.esp
46  xulTheHeath.esp
47  XulEntiusGorge.esp
48  xulFallenleafEverglade.esp
49  LostSpires-Everglade patch.esp
4A  xulColovianHighlands_EV.esp
4B  xulChorrolHinterland.esp
4C  xulBeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp
4D  xulBravilBarrowfields.esp
4E  xulLushWoodlands.esp
4F  xulAncientYews.esp
50  xulAncientRedwoods.esp
51  xulCloudtopMountains.esp
52  xulArriusCreek.esp
53  xulPatch_AY_AC.esp  [Version 1.1]
54  xulRollingHills_EV.esp
55  xulPantherRiver.esp
56  xulRiverEthe.esp
57  xulImperialIsle.esp
58  LostSpires-DarkForest patch.esp
59  Better Cities Full.esp
5A  Better Cities - Full City Defences.esp
5B  Better Cities - Unique Landscape Chorrol Hinterland.esp
5C  Kvatch Rebuilt.esp
5D  JQ-Fighters_Guild_United.esp
5E  Harvest [Flora].esp  [Version 3.0.0]
++  Harvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.esp  [Version 3.0.0]
++  Harvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.esp  [Version 3.0.0]
5F  Harvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.esp  [Version 3.0.0]
60  diversegrasses.esp
61  DropLitTorchOBSE.esp  [Version 2.1]
++  doofdillas_potions_recolored_sorted_v0_3_1.esp  [Version 0.3.1]
62  ImprovedSoulgems.esp  [Version 1.11]
63  Slof's Dogs.esp
64  Alternative Start by Robert Evrae.esp
65  Cliff_Roleplayingcharacter.esp  [Version 2.1]
66  RealisticForceMedium.esp
67  RealisticMagicForceHigh.esp
68  KINewVampires.esp
69  MidasSpells.esp
++  GrimbotsSpellTomes.esp
6A  spelliconreplace.esp
6B  Mighty Magick - Settings.esp
6C  Mighty Magick - Shivering Isles.esp
6D  Mighty Magick - Skills.esp
++  Mighty for Midas - Rational.esp
++  DLCSpellTomes MM Patch.esp  [Version 1.3]
++  Mundane Enchantment Adjustment.esp
6E  RenGuardOverhaul.esp
6F  RenGuardOverhaulShiveringIsles.esp
70  Oblivion XP.esp  [Version 3.0.1]
71  Oblivion XP - Knights.esp  [Version 1.0]
72  Oblivion XP - DLCFrostcrag.esp  [Version 1.0]
73  Oblivion XP - DLCOrrery.esp  [Version 1.0]
74  Oblivion XP - DLCBattlehornCastle.esp  [Version 1.0]
75  Oblivion XP - DLCMehrunesRazor.esp  [Version 1.0]
76  Oblivion XP - DLCThievesDen.esp  [Version 1.0]
77  Oblivion XP - DLCVileLair.esp  [Version 1.0]
78  immersive_caves_manual.esp
79  Dark Dungeons -  SI.esp
7A  QTdof.esp
++  Visually Enchanted Fire 1.esp
++  Visually Enchanted Frost 3.esp
++  Visually Enchanted Shock 3.esp
++  Slof's Oblivion Better Beasts.esp
++  Jjiinx_MorrowindStyleArgonians.esp
7B  Beautiful People.esp
7C  CM Partners.esp
7D  Duke Patricks - Near Miss Magic And Arrow Shots Alert The Target.esp
7E  Duke Patricks - NPC MAGIC and Arrows Can Miss Now.esp
++  Duke Patricks - BASIC Script Effect Silencer.esp
7F  Streamline 3.1.esp
++  lustyargonianrequest.esp
++  vamp_normal_eyes.esp
80  AlchemistsCave.esp
++  Better Cities - TIE Restricted Area.esp
81  Better Cities - Unique Landscape Barrowfields.esp
82  Better Imperial City.esp
83  BladesSmithySTANDARD.esp
84  GTAesgaard_2.esp
**  CNRP Chorrol.esp  [Version 1.1]
**  CNRP Brumav02.esp  [Version 0.2]
85  BarrowFields-Blood&Mud-Patch.esp  [Version 1.0]
86  LostSpires-BravilBarrowfields patch.esp
87  SutchReborn-LostCoast patch.esp
88  HeartoftheDead-ArriusCreek patch.esp
89  Bound_Arrows_with_Bow.esp
8A  Mighty_Magick__Support_for_Thieves_Den_official_addon-9512.esp
8B  Improved_Ancestor_Guardian_Mighty_Magick_Version-3549.esp
8C  Alternate Script Effect Icon.esp
8D  'Eagle Eye' Realistic Archery v1.0 Fixed.esp
8E  Bashed Patch, 0.esp

 

any help is greatly appreciated!

[maYuYang]

hmm, many many mods(but I can't blame you, I'm also using already more than 300^^). I suggest using Streamline.

I also use Operation Optimization, Oblivion PolyGone and I disabled wheat in Rolling Hills as well as enabled Low Poly Grass in Dark Forest(both Unique Landscapes). Further, I'm using Quiet Feet Max and Optimised Distant Land.

Wait, I'm not finished yet! I suggest you tweaking the Oblivion.ini, here a guide.

As you can see, I'm using a quite simple ATI HD GPU, but I get about 50 fps in Tamriel Worldspace and between 30 and 20 fps in the ICMarket District while using ImpeREAL City Complete and about 30 other mods affecting that area(The ICMarket District is the lowest fps area in the game afaik).

For the Video settings, with the above mods, you should be able to play with most settings maxed. I always set the shadow quality to low(looks better imo) and the Actor and Item fade to about 50%(especially 1st one is improtant!). You can tweak that with streamline, too(Streamline adjusts your graphic settings in game while your playing, so you get the best settings for a minimum of 20 fps. Best is if you sit down for 2 hours, read the massive Readme and tweak it yourself, believe me it's worth it. Don't forget to backup your tweaked Streamline.ini for later^^). And finally, Vertical Sync basically rapes the performance.

I deactivated it(you can find the option in the Oblivion_Launcer.exe under options). Strange fact is that in Tamriel Worldspace, I usually have now tearing at all. Only in the IC and only slightly when turning quickly...

 

You need to know that every loading time will be about 200%-1000% longer with so many mods! My initial loading time(When I start Oblivion) takes about 1 minute! The only way you could shorten that is by buying faster HDD.

[dezdimona]

General Load-Order Guidelines

Here are the guidelines that I adhere to, personally.

 

~ Unofficial Oblivon Patch should always be first on the list. The fixes are great, but most aren't essential, so if a mod overwrites them its not a big deal, and the fixes have the potential for screwing up other mods if loaded later.

 

~ Offical Content (DLC's) should be loaded last, until you complete all quests associated with them (that includes buying all furniture for the houses and whatnot). Once they're complete, they can be safely moved up in the list. This is especially important for Knights of the Nine, which will have some fairly major problems unless loaded last (unless you get the UOP for KotN)

 

~ Major overhaul mods (OOO, Frans, MMM) should be loaded near the end. That gives you the most complete experience with any of those particular mods. It also lets you carefully choose which other mods to load afterwards... only move mods that you know will conflict and that you want the changes from. For example, I have Improved Soul Gems below OOO because I know that OOO changes the icons of some of the SG's, and ISG needs to be below to show through.

 

Some people will recommend putting larger mods first, but personally I disagree. There are a number of mods out there that make minor tweaks, and loading after a large mod will end up completely overwriting a chunk from one of the bigger mods because of the way conflicts work in Oblivion (even one minor change will take precedence over the entire record... for example, simply tweaking the speed of a weapon can cause every stat of that weapon to be retained to vanilla levels if loaded later).

 

So basically, it stacks up like this...

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Minor Mods / DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mod/Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

 

 

 

Expanded Load-Order Guidelines

by dev_akm

 

I would extend this to include:

 

Oblivion.esm

Unofficial Oblivion Patch

<Weather/Environment/Sound Mods>

<Minor Mods/New Items/Houses/DLC's (Post-Completion)>

<Major Overhaul Mods>

<Mods that specifically conflict with overhauls and need to take precedence>

<DLC's (Pre-Completion)>

<Quests>

<Compatibility Patches/UOMP/Merged Leveled Lists>

 

And a special-case warning for Knights.esp (Knights of the Nine) -- you may not be able to move it earlier than some other mods (some people have had problems after moving it before OOO, for example).

 

That's basically the structure I use and I have 140+ mods working well together.

 

Another way of describing this (posted by DMan77):

....

Oblivion

unoffical patch

Deeper realism mods that add sights and sounds

added content like weapons/items

gameplay changes, like 'must eat and sleep'

The OOO type

the 'new begining' type mod..

................................................................................

................

[evilkoal]

my computer can more than handle all of the graphical things i throw at it, and it should also be able to process them quite well (i have 2x Nvidia 9800GTX in SLI, 8gb of ram, an intel core 2 quad, and 2x WD veliciraptor HDDs) :)

but this is happening inside of a cell that is pretty much a box (the starting ship-room from the alternate start mod.)

 

every time i tweak the .ini though, my game crashes. does not fail, it just crashes. or some crazy graphical error will occur.

 

i used BOSS and wrye bash to do my load order, i also have everything's patches/latest updates so nothing should be broken.

[maYuYang]

Hmm, looks like a more complicated problem then(I guess I should have tested your System Specs).

I doubt that the load order is the cause.

you're using 2 Nvidia GPU via SLI, did you install the latest drivers for that? Are you able to try to play with using only one GPU?

Also about the ini tweak: the only things I changed were

fDecalLifetime ->from 10. to 120.

bUse Joystick -> 0

uInterior Cell Buffer -> from 3 to 16

uExterior Cell Buffer -> from 36 to 102

iPreloadSizeLimit ->from 26214400 to 104857600(not more, otherwise it'll crash or slow down alot... Also, make sure to tweak the 2 values above also)

bUseThreadedBlood -> 1

bUseThreadedMorpher -> 1

bUseThreadedTempEffects -> 1

bUseThreadedParticleSystem -> 1

bUseMultiThreadedTrees -> 1

bUseMultiThreadedFaceGen -> 1

iNumHavokThreads=5

iThreads -> 9

iOpenMPLevel -> 10 (those might help you, too, since you have a quad core. Setting them higher than that doesn't show any effect though..)

uGridsToLoad

 

There some other things like fDlgFocus I change, too, but that doesn't have any effect.

 

Another idea would be to check if other programs are running in background(even thoug you have a quad core, I know). Check the task manager and make sure that programs really use all Threads.

 

Now that I think of it, with 8GB of RAM, you are probably using Vista, are you sure that you didn't install Oblivion under Program Files? If you did, I highly recommend to uninstall it and install it under something like YOUR HD:\Oblivion.

That's all what I can think of right now...

[nosisab]

my computer can more than handle all of the graphical things i throw at it, and it should also be able to process them quite well (i have 2x Nvidia 9800GTX in SLI, 8gb of ram, an intel core 2 quad, and 2x WD veliciraptor HDDs) :)

but this is happening inside of a cell that is pretty much a box (the starting ship-room from the alternate start mod.)

 

every time i tweak the .ini though, my game crashes. does not fail, it just crashes. or some crazy graphical error will occur.

 

i used BOSS and wrye bash to do my load order, i also have everything's patches/latest updates so nothing should be broken.

Hi evilkoal, long time don't see.

What kind of slowdown you are experimenting? general FPS drop, heavy stuttering? since your graphics rig seems up to the task I would bet in the CPU or (very probably) the sound engine. The first thing you shall try is the already pointed Quiet Feet. Another mod that aways helps is Operation Optimization.

 

Oblivion is not optimized to deal with several cores, even if you did that tweaks to enable the game to use them, but since you says it slowdown at interiors my first bet is indeed the sound. I experimented this issue in my own skin when in that new machine I used the onboard sound instead the old faithful Audigy; the game crawled at the very beginning because of a few rats, but not the only thing, following the issues pointed at other thread I got in IC and the slowdown was enormous; In the Arena the game stuttered at the exact pace of the Grey Prince's claymore swing, what did let clear Oblivion and onboard sound doesn't combine. Since I'm just supposing you are using such a sound... go for a "good" discrete one.

 

Another thing I'm assuming is you are using Vista since XP just can't cope with more than 3.7GB of RAM, in that case another issue arises. Vista abandoned the direct3D sound in favor of the OpenAL and if with a Creative sound card you must use that Alchemy app to 'emulate' direct sound on OpenAL environment, allowing EAX and hardware acceleration. Newer games already uses OpenAL but not all, even fallout 3 need that "Alchemy". Not Creative sound cards are helpless here at this, I think :(

 

good luck, return if the issue persists or you find a solution or workaround.

[evilkoal]

indeed, it has been quite a while nosisab :)

 

i am experiencing mostly fps drop/stuttering, but it is at all times aside from in the menu, or in my inventory (just found that one out)

 

i do use vistax64, and oblivion is installed into a different hard drive than vista... (personally i hate vista, and only have it for DirectX 10)

i also just use the sound card that came with my motherboard as my motherboard does not have onboard sound.

 

i will try without SLI, as maYuYang just to see if that might be causing it.

also trying with the optimization mods you two suggested, though i already use the distant land, and streamline :)

 

(P.S. oh yeah, maYu, i have the fastest HDDs on the market that arent solid state, so my game loads pretty fast hehehe)

[bben46]

Have you defragged lately?

[nosisab]

indeed, it has been quite a while nosisab :)

 

i am experiencing mostly fps drop/stuttering, but it is at all times aside from in the menu, or in my inventory (just found that one out)

 

i do use vistax64, and oblivion is installed into a different hard drive than vista... (personally i hate vista, and only have it for DirectX 10)

i also just use the sound card that came with my motherboard as my motherboard does not have onboard sound.

 

i will try without SLI, as maYuYang just to see if that might be causing it.

also trying with the optimization mods you two suggested, though i already use the distant land, and streamline :)

 

(P.S. oh yeah, maYu, i have the fastest HDDs on the market that arent solid state, so my game loads pretty fast hehehe)

I'm sorry to say nothing I could find do enhance the performance whit the onboard sound in Oblivion (and several other games). The issue is clear to me now and I have no workaround to point out. With that machine of yours, lacking a real discrete soundcard is a sin.

 

PS Edit: I see I misunderstood something... are you using an onboard or offboard sound card? what happens isn't the fact it is integrated on the mobo itself (I had one DFI with the Karajan module that were separate from the mobo, yet was an CPU dependent and for all that matters, an onboard soundcard)

The realtek based (like IDT too) are the most vulnerables to that issue, a bit less the onboards made by Analogic Devices, yet all them suffers a bit when gaming.

 

PS2: with simply returning the Audigy the FPS rocketed to high heights and the stuttering faded off completely, and this with a much more modest rig. Sadly if this is indeed a soundcard issue no mod or workaround will suffice. To test it, disable the sound and music in the Oblivion.ini. If no "BIG" change occurs so the problem is really elsewhere.

[evilkoal]

i figured it out :)

 

it was vista. freaking RAM hog.

 

i disabled just about everything on vista other than the things that it NEEDS to run, and things that i WANTED to run such as internet stuff... runs smooth as can be now :D

 

P.S. to bben: i have it set to defrag every time i turn it on :)

P.P.S. to nosisab: i am taking your advice and reinstating my old soundcard, since the one that is on my motherboard now is technically onboard ;)

 

EDIT!: thanks for all the help everyone!