Oblivion runs crappy on my computer even below suggested settings. Nothing I do raises it to bearable. Help?

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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I couldn't fit my whole idea in the topic title.

Basically, the game is, of course, huge. My computer's three years old and can't exactly handle huge all too well. It runs in cities and dungeons at 30 FPS, looking at the ground at about 50, and only about 10 - 20 (20 when I've got almost nothing on screen) while outside. What can I modify (in game or not) to make it atleast stable at 20 fps in the wilderness? I've tried modifying every aspect of it, even putting everything on lowest settings. All that accomplished was an unbearably awful looking game and an increase of 10 frames (crap tradeoff, in my opinion).

After scanning my system it puts my settings to a 1024x768 resolution, full HDR and full draw distance, which lowers my frames down to a high of 5-8 outdoors. Removing HDR (no bloom, either) brings it to the 10 - 20 as stated earlier. I don't really know of anything else I can do besides turning off draw distance entirely. Though it brings my frames up to just about bearable, it brings tears to my eyes to do such a thing to such an awesome game. So, what exactly do you guys think I should do? I''ll take any suggestions.

One last thing: I would upgrade my system to better handle the game, but my motherboard is AGP. I have a top of the line AGP graphics card, essentially, so upgrading that wouldn't be worth my time. In order to make it worth my time I basically have to build a whole new rig, in which case my brother wants me to buy a Dell.

Ugh. I don't want a Dell... But I don't know jack about building a computer, installing an OS, maintaining it properly until it's stable... He had a lot of problems when he did it. Then again I dout he asked anyone, and I know he doesn't have an account here. He probably went to IGN, the poor bastard...
 

Flash1969

Golden Member
May 11, 2001
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First, you need to list the specs of your machine for anyone to help you. (Cpu type and speed, how much ram, what video card you have would help)

Next, if your hardware is good enough to run the game properly, you need to update all drivers. It sounds like you are afraid to do this but If you are going to play games with a pc you must keep drivers up to date.
 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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Originally posted by: Flash1969
First, you need to list the specs of your machine for anyone to help you. (Cpu type and speed, how much ram, what video card you have would help)

Next, if your hardware is good enough to run the game properly, you need to update all drivers. It sounds like you are afraid to do this but If you are going to play games with a pc you must keep drivers up to date.


Well, to start off I have the latest patch for the game and my video card drivers (Nvidia GeForce 6800 GT) are up to date. My brother never told me of any kind of other drivers I may or may not need (As I have onboard sound) and it has always bugged me not knowing. There's probably something I'm missing, and if there is, I'd like to know.

As for specs, I'm retarded, sorry. Here:

Mobo: ASUS A7N8X
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
RAM: 1024MB
DirectX: 9.0c
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT

Just general information. Doubt you'll need my mobo, but I listed it anyway.
 

Flash1969

Golden Member
May 11, 2001
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Do you have the latest Nforce 2 drivers? The latest were released in 2004 but you should check anyway...

Windows XP latest version is:5.10
Windows 98 latest version is:4.27

These can be downloaded here if needed

Next I would hit ctrl-alt-del and see what programs are running. Kill anti-virus program, firewall, etc. and free up as many resources as you can then try running the game. Don't worry too much, if you end something important and the computer locks up or becomes unstable, just re-start and you will be back up and running.



You should be able to get the game running decent on that pc. I have the following setup and I can play it at 1024X768 with most settings medium and shadows off or low..

Athlon 64 2800
1 gig ram
Geforce 6600GT AGP

 

Flash1969

Golden Member
May 11, 2001
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Here are most of the video settings I use.

Texture size: Medium
Grass Distance (slider):slider set all the way to the left
view distance(slider):all the way to the right
Internal shadows(slider): slider set approximately 1/4 of the way to the right
External Shadows(slider):slider set approximately 1/8 of the way to the right
self shadows: off
shadows on grass: off
tree canopy shadows: off
shadow filtering:low
hdr lighting: off
bloom lighting: on
water detail:normal
water reflections: off
water ripples: off
window reflections: off
blood decals:low
anti aliasing: 2X



Hope this helps, It still doesn't run perfect on my system but it is definitely playable and still looks awesome. This game is hard on PC's but looks amazing.

Let me know if you get it running better. Good luck, you should have some fun with this game once you get it running properly.
 

Woolong

Member
Apr 2, 2005
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Originally posted by: Flash1969
Do you have the latest Nforce 2 drivers? The latest were released in 2004 but you should check anyway...

Windows XP latest version is:5.10
Windows 98 latest version is:4.27

These can be downloaded here if needed

Next I would hit ctrl-alt-del and see what programs are running. Kill anti-virus program, firewall, etc. and free up as many resources as you can then try running the game. Don't worry too much, if you end something important and the computer locks up or becomes unstable, just re-start and you will be back up and running.



You should be able to get the game running decent on that pc. I have the following setup and I can play it at 1024X768 with most settings medium and shadows off or low..

Athlon 64 2800
1 gig ram
Geforce 6600GT AGP

I have automatic updates on, so my Windows is constantly updated. My Geforce graphics drivers are updated, but what's NForce 2?

Oh, and I'll use your settings and see how they work, thanks.

 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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Oh. Well, I didn't know I had Nvidia mobo drivers. My mobo's made by ASUS.

Boy I feel stupid right now. Do the motherboard drivers on my computer have to do with my graphics card? Because I started with an ATI. Forgot the model.

Edit: Yeah, I'm pretty stupid. I wish I knew more about mobos. Any place you can direct me that has in depth explanations on these kinds of things?

Also, I can't seem to find the drivers on Nvidia's site. It's late right now, hopefully I'm just tired...
 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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A bit off topic, but I have another question to ask. I have a blinking light on my computer that never blinked before. It's a green light next to a glowing lightbulb symbol. Now, I don't know if the symbol itself is universal, but it's bugging me because it just started happening a few days ago and I wanna make sure nothing's wrong with it. Anyone know what's causing this, or if it's any cause for concern? THanks.

And I ask this here because I don't wanna clutter the board when I already have a topic here, though it's kinda off topic.
 
Jan 28, 2006
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Originally posted by: Woolong
A bit off topic, but I have another question to ask. I have a blinking light on my computer that never blinked before. It's a green light next to a glowing lightbulb symbol. Now, I don't know if the symbol itself is universal, but it's bugging me because it just started happening a few days ago and I wanna make sure nothing's wrong with it. Anyone know what's causing this, or if it's any cause for concern? THanks.

And I ask this here because I don't wanna clutter the board when I already have a topic here, though it's kinda off topic.

That would more than likely be your computer's power light and most of the time would only be blinking if your computer was in standby/sleep mode. If it's doing it while the computer is not in standby/sleep mode then I'm not sure what would be causing it.
 

Atheus

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2005
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Option 1: Oldblivion. Allows older computers to run the game by drasticly recucing the texture size and general quality. I wouldn't think you would need it though.

Option 2: Overclock. Most Althon XPs are good overclockers, do you know what core you have? You can push your processor to 2.5-2.8Ghz (or more...) if you have a half decent core. You might be able to get some more out of your RAM and FSB too, although since you didn't list the RAM type I'm guessing it's not too flash, and I've heard your board gets unstable around 220FSB.

 

Woolong

Member
Apr 2, 2005
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Originally posted by: Atheus
Option 1: Oldblivion. Allows older computers to run the game by drasticly recucing the texture size and general quality. I wouldn't think you would need it though.

Option 2: Overclock. Most Althon XPs are good overclockers, do you know what core you have? You can push your processor to 2.5-2.8Ghz (or more...) if you have a half decent core. You might be able to get some more out of your RAM and FSB too, although since you didn't list the RAM type I'm guessing it's not too flash, and I've heard your board gets unstable around 220FSB.

Core?

As for my RAM, I have a gig of DDR. I hear the FSB is 333 MHz (from the box).
 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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Yeah, I feel lost. I can't find the Nforce 2 drivers. Can I get a link, please..

Thanks for your time.
 

Noema

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2005
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Originally posted by: Woolong
Yeah, I feel lost. I can't find the Nforce 2 drivers. Can I get a link, please..

Thanks for your time.


You can get them from this site Select "Plataform / nForce Drivers" and then scroll down to nForce 1/2 and choose operating System.

 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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Alright then, now I know where to get 'em, and I should update, but I have a question pertaining to this little tidbit.

Before installing new drivers make sure you uninstall all NVIDIA display drivers from the Windows Control Panel. Browse to the Start Menu > Windows Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and search for "NVIDIA Windows Display Drivers" or "NVIDIA Display Drivers" and select remove.

When they say display drivers, do they mean my graphics card drivers? Because I've never done this before, so I'm kinda reluctant. Especially since I have no way to back up my hard drive, I'm always nervous about updates, even if it is an inane fear.
 

JohnG86

Member
Aug 10, 2003
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Just install the nForce drivers, dont uninstall your Nvidia display drivers. I reconmend not installing the IDE Driver part of the nForce package but install everything else.
 

Woolong

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Apr 2, 2005
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I found the source of the problem with my blinking light. My power supply was dying, and in fact finally kicked the bucket just about an hour ago when I was in the middle of a game of Total Annihilation with my brother. My 350W just went kaput, so I ran to Best Buy and bought a 430W supply, the cheapest and smallest Antec they had in the store. Now my graphics card is alteast running on a supply it's graded for (though it'll run on a 350W fine, it's just Nvidia being cautious of their cards) and my computer's dust free. See, I forgot to clean it, as I do every once in a while, and the power supply was too clogged to function properly, so it just shut off.

So yeah, maybe now that I have more power and less dust the game will run better. And hopefully I never have to smell a bad power supply ever again.

Now I'll be cleaning my computer a lot more often. This won't be happening again.