# Elder Scrolls 4: oblivion



## Doom_Machine

i'm not really into rpg's but i liked fable so i picked this up over the weekend, played it 9 hours straight and have to say this game really amazed me, not just graphic wise but the depth and detail of it all, you can even sit in a chair and read books, pick up any item, steal things ala thief 3...apparantly one of the guys who made thief worked on this part of the game too.

i think the textures are buggy on some video cards, on my 6800gt textures looked blurry up close like most games and shadow defects..etc, however same hardware and video driver with my 7900gtx and it looks perfect.

with the following driver tweaks i obtained visual quality so good that every object looks round,smooth and detailed up close and at angles, no polygonal edges...even fear and quake 4 didnt touch this level of detail.

like i said these same tweaks looked like crap on my 6800gt plus ran like a slideshow  so still buggy as of yet, theres complaints about the graphics on other forums but apparantly few have seen what it can truely do.

84.25 beta (optimized driver specifically for oblivion)
forced AA/AF to 16x
image - high quality
trilinear opimization- off on for better peformance with less quality
anisotripic mip filter- off 
anisotropic sample optimization- off 
gamma correct aliasing - on 
transparancey aliasing - super sampling
negative lod bias - allow, only if using high AA
render frames ahead - 0 ...experiment with 2 or 1 first..this tells how many frames it will hold in advance of being displayed, for this game in particular, using 2,1,0 can help free mouse lag or prevent freezing.

to maintain constant 30+fps outdoors, i simply changed transparancy aliasing to multi-sampling but was nice to see the game with supersampling and know how good its possible to look.

ingame i personally think that turning off "show distant land" looks much better since theres no reason to see plain objects that havnt loaded yet and looks much more realistic.

most of the sidequests are fun, theres one where you go inside a painting and all the trees n stuff look like an oil painting, the a.i. isnt much better than any other game but its still buggy and a new patch may work it out better, the audio is top notch, you can hear all the birds and wind through the trees..dont care for the music though so it can be turned off.

overall i have to recommend this game for further looking into even if your not an rpg fan.


----------



## Yasu

I have it for the Xbox 360 and I'm addicted now.  It's just so fun to go around be able to punch/kill anyone...but then you're arrested, fined, or killed.  I like using the 3rd person view but it's much harder to play while using it.


----------



## Doom_Machine

found a few .ini tweaks...anyone have more?


change uExterior Cell Buffer=36 to uExterior Cell Buffer=72.
change iPreloadSizeLimit=26214400 to iPreloadSizeLimit=500000000.
change bUseThreadedTempEffects=0 to bUseThreadedTempEffects=1.
change bUseThreadedParticleSystem=0 to bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1.
change iThreads=3 to iThreads=100.
change iOpenMPLevel=10 to iOpenMPLevel=25.

After all the above changes this is how the game looks like, you can see the FPS on the top right of the screen (screenshot)


Now on to the settings that will have screenshots and the gained FPS/quality listed.



SIntroSequence
What it does: The company movies in the beginning will be skipped and the Oblivion loading time will show right away.

How to do it: Search for the following string SIntroSequence=SIntroSequence=bethesda softworks HD720p.bik,2k games.bik,game studios.bik,Oblivion Legal.bik and change it to SIntroSequence=



bAllow30Shaders
What it does: Oblivion 3.0 shader support is turned off by default (guess that means they don't 'really' support it), by changing this option you can turn it on for cards that support shader 3.0. For ATI cards all Radeon X1K support shader 3.0.

How to do it: Change bAllow30Shaders=0 to bAllow30Shaders=1 and you are set.

What do I gain from it: This change gave me a 5FPS performance boost on top of my 25 FPS I had after all the above tweaks/settings. I am not sure about the change in quality of the image as I didn't take a screenshot of this change.



uGridDistantTreeRange
What it does: It seems to have something to do with how far the trees render. I say 'it seems' because it only added one extra treeline for me on the horizon, but this tweak, together with the two below will give a nice effect.

How to do it: Change uGridDistantTreeRange=15 to uGridDistantTreeRange=30.

What do I gain from it: The change ment a 1 FPS drop on my system. That's acceptable as I want a nice looking game that is playable, not a high FPS game that misses all the extra's. (screenshot)



uGridDistantCount
What it does: Together with the above tweak it shows you the trees in the far distance which adds to the realism of this game.

How to do it: Change uGridDistantCount=25 to uGridDistantCount=50.

What do I gain from it: This time the impact was a bit higher, a 4 FPS drop putting my current FPS at 25, still well above my acceptable limit. (screenshot)



uGridsToLoad
What it does: This tweak changes how much grids are loaded around you. The standard setting is 5 resulting in blury fields ahead of you. Increasing this will have an impact on your performance but also a more than equal impact on the quality of this game. This tweak will also (in conjunction with the above two tweaks) add a lot of extra trees in the far distance.

How to do it: Change uGridsToLoad=5 to uGridsToLoad=9.

What do I gain from it: As I said the impact was pretty much noticable as I lost another 4 FPS. But the results are very nice, just compair this screenshot with the others above. (screenshot)



bForceFullLOD
What it does: It will force the game to always use full Level of Detail on trees close to you, resulting in nicer looking trees. Sorry for not having a screenshot of this.

How to do it: Change bForceFullLOD=0 to bForceFullLOD=1.

What do I gain from it: I didn't notice any FPS drop nor did I notice a very noticable change in the quality of the trees, but I didn't check out the trees from up close after I used this tweak.



iMinGrassSize
What it does: The iMinGrassSize tweak will change the density of the grass around you.

How to do it: Change iMinGrassSize=80 to iMinGrassSize=160 or anything between it for some extra FPS.

What do I gain from it: I didn't check this tweak yet since I only changed it a few minutes ago, I do however know that it works as I changed it before and it gave me some extra FPS. Anything between 80 and 160 will do, where 80 is the standard density and 160 gives you the most FPS increase without any real noticable quality loss (quality here means large gaps between bushes of grass, the quality settings of the grass will stay the same).



fGrassEndDistance & fGrassStartFadeDistance
What it does: Increase the range of the loaded grass around you.

How to do it: Change fGrassEndDistance=8000.0000 to fGrassEndDistance=80000.0000 and fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000.0000 to fGrassStartFadeDistance=70000.0000. I tried anything higher but that didn't change anything for me. It might be because it just fills the grids that are set to high quality in the uGridsToLoad tweak so high-end users might try to increase that setting to see an increase in this setting.

What do I gain from it: My FPS didn't drop after these tweaks. I took the screenshot from a different place where you can see the increase in grass distance, my FPS here is 'low' but still playable for me. (Before / After)



bEquippedTorchesCastShadows
What it does: I am not sure if torches cast shadows without this setting enabled but I saw it disabled, enabled it and checked ingame. It looked awesome, I can image this looking really great inside dungeons.

How to do it: Change bEquippedTorchesCastShadows=0 to bEquippedTorchesCastShadows=1.

What do I gain from it: No change in FPS, but a nice change in shadow quality. See for yourself. (Sun shadows/ Torch shadows)



bDoStaticAndArchShadows & bDoActorShadows
What it does: Even tho I had all shadow settings enabled ingame I noticed these two having a zero behind them so I changed it. Didn't see any differences, but who knows, shadows are always nice.

How to do it: Change bDoStaticAndArchShadows=0 to bDoStaticAndArchShadows=1 and bDoActorShadows=0 to bDoActorShadows=1.

What do I gain from it: No clue.... My best guess would be that you'd gain shadows, somewhere, somehow, sometime...



bUseWaterReflectionsMisc & etc etc
What it does: The following water settings really increase your water reflection quality. It looks great (and thus I made some nice example screenshots).

How to do it: Change the following settings from 0 to 1: bUseWaterReflectionsMisc, bUseWaterReflectionsStatics, bUseWaterReflectionsTrees, bUseWaterReflectionsActors, bUseWaterReflections

What do I gain from it: (Almost) perfect looking water. (Before / After with uGridsToLoad set to 5 / After with uGridsToLoad set to 9)
As you can see with uGridsToLoad set to 9 you get some rendering errors in the water (top right) but those are minimal and in my opinion not worth leaving this setting alone or reverting uGridsToLoad to 5. The choise is yours tho.


----------



## LITHIUM

my friend has this game and he says it is the best game he has EVER played. i want a 360


----------



## helmie

Yeah, my friend has it too, its just sooo much to do, go where ever you want, rob houses, pick pocket people, really good fun!

Yasu, where are you on it? My friend has played it for hours, and has only done like 3 quests, though theres about 30 in the do to list, hes being roaming about loads.


----------



## WeatherMan

Is this game only for Xbox


----------



## Rip_Uk

i have this game, and i would advise anyone to get it, it is absolutley breathtaking 



> Is this game only for Xbox



No, Pc too.


----------



## WeatherMan

kool , post some screenies people!!!


----------



## Rip_Uk

www.elderscrolls.com
http://elderscrolls.filefront.com/

for screenshots, Ill post some up when i can.


----------



## Doom_Machine

i woldnt mind having my house similar designed as some of the ones in game...with modern trimmings of course, i can just picture where i would want my 200 inch projector screen at in each place 

gamejackal says i've played for 13hrs 35min...not bad for me actualy, works perfect with gamejackal btw if you dont want to mess with disc swapping


----------



## Yasu

> Yasu, where are you on it?


I just became a member of the blades and now have to go talk to Maurus about the assassins.  For everyone who has the 360 version of the game(I'm not sure if this works on the PC version) there is a way to get unlimited money.  It's easy and helps you get some good weapons from early in the game.(Katanas are awesome!)

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/code/927345.html


----------



## Blue

Got the game and then realized just how bad I need a new Graphics card! Perhaps a new mobo and video card in a couple months then.


----------



## Beyond

"This loading setup was obviously implemented to keep framerates manageable. For the most part, it's excusable considering the stunning graphical heights Oblivion is able to reach in other places. Still, the loading stutter may bother you and the framerate as well. While the game runs at a steady clip in dungeons and indoors, you'll notice a performance hit when traveling quickly through outdoor areas and in crowded towns. These framerate drops don't so much affect the gameplay, but remain an annoyance as it takes you out of the experience. *On high end PCs these framerate and loading issues are diminished, but most PC and all Xbox 360 gamers will have to put up with them to enjoy the otherwise visual delight that is The Elder Scrolls IV."*
from http://pc.ign.com/articles/698/698405p5.html

i wonder if my pc is good enough to "diminish" these framerate and loading issues?


----------



## Blue

Never really found any loading issue's myself. More just an all around low Frames. This is with rather high game settings, however, I do not want to lower the quality of the games appearance. I'd rather wait a couple of months to enjoy it the way it where meant to be. As for you Beyond, I'd think that you should be fine with your setup.


----------



## maroon1

i just have a stuped question
is oblivion a multiplayer or single game


----------



## Crazydude185

No it is a single player rpg... i'm not sure if any posted up the requirements for the game but here they are Minimum Requirements:
Windows XP 
512MB System RAM 
2 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor 
128MB Direct3D compatible video card and DirectX 9.0 compatible driver; 
8x DVD-ROM drive 
4.6 GB free hard disk space 
DirectX 9.0c (included) 
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card 
Keyboard, Mouse 

Recommended Requirements:
3 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor 
1 GB System RAM 
ATI X800 series, Nvidia GeForce 6800 series, or higher video card 

Media Size: 1 DVD-ROM (no CD edition)


----------



## Doom_Machine

this game even makes my 7900 GTX break a sweat, i can get the visuals to look truely astounding but at some dogged frame rates though, probably not worth bothering much of an upgrade less you get the absolute best out there at the moment.


----------



## Blue

Well for myself I was considering the 7900GT or possibly the GTX. Thing is I need to spend money on the motherboard so most likely GT. This is a considerable upgrade from my 6800GT so I'm thinking it'll be worth it.


----------



## Beyond

Blue said:
			
		

> Well for myself I was considering the 7900GT or possibly the GTX. Thing is I need to spend money on the motherboard so most likely GT. This is a considerable upgrade from my 6800GT so I'm thinking it'll be worth it.



definitely...

sidenote: blue, why'd you switch monitors?


----------



## Hairy_Lee

if you're having issues with low frame rates in outdoor areas with the high detail grass you can turn them off by dropping into the console and typing "TG"... this will disable the animated grass and may help you in outdoor areas.
i dont like the way the game plays on my system but its getting a little long into the tooth now... upgrade time when i get money lol


----------



## Blue

Beyond said:
			
		

> definitely...
> 
> sidenote: blue, why'd you switch monitors?



Well I love the VX924 but my current LCD has a contrast ratio of 1000:1 compared to the relatively low 550:1 the VX924 has. I decided to trade a few MS for the higher contrast and so far I'm extremely happy I did. The picture quality is so much higher on current LCD and no ghosting is present. Of course first game I tested with was NFS Most Wanted as the action is fast. Then on to Doom 3 to test blacks. Blacks are almost that which you'd expect to find from a CRT. Then it also comes to great stand this thing sits on. It is very adjustable and it has an Automatic Pivot feature so you can rotate the screen. This screen is a fair bit more then the VX924 but well worth it I think. I gave the VX924 to the wife and she simply loves it, of course it's a great LCD.

I'll post a bit about it later in the game section as I'll discuss how well it is for gaming and mention the differences I've found between the VP930b and the VX924 etc.


----------



## maroon1

how will this game will run on my 6600??, will it be playable on medium setting on 1024x768??


----------



## Hairy_Lee

you should be fine, i would look at doing some trial and error on the settings to find what best suits your system though


----------



## Kuli24

My friend has a 2.4ghz intel, over a gig of ram, and a radeon 9000 agp (yikes! I know.  He has Oblivion and the system can't play it.  What are your recommendations?  (By the way, he is set on buying a new pci-e motherboard).  Should he get one of those NF4 LanParty Ultra-D motherboards and a 7900gt or something?  Then he can overclock to maybe 2.8ghz if lucky and run max graphics.


----------



## Blue

maroon1 said:
			
		

> how will this game will run on my 6600??, will it be playable on medium setting on 1024x768??



Oh yea you should be OK with those settings.

I can run the game fairly high settings but it's no joy. If I adjust settings like View distance (not technical name) etc. I can play it just fine. I want to enjoy the game on high settings though and this is why I'm considering the upgrades soon. Anyone with a 6800GT is still going to have an enjoyable experience if yo don't mind lowering settings a bit.


----------



## Rip_Uk

this game runs sweeet on my system full graphics ;p

I put up a thread with the forceware for any of you with an nvidia card and a 64bit system.  It does stop the random crashing when you close the game.

http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=40598


----------



## Rehcamretsnef

i run max with:

64 3500+
1 gig pc3200
BFG 6800 GT


When i first got the game, i ran 30 fps constant, but for some reason, im gettin 15-20 now, i think my systmes gay and has too much crap cloggin up resources. Under 15, still looks amazing, but once upclose play ensues, it will drop to low teens. Never went below 10 tho, ever.

PLAY WITH GRASS OFF. if u want to save about 10 frames a second lol. it still looks really good lol. And grass really just gets in the way.






im so leet.


----------



## Hairy_Lee

did you get that sweet armour by going into the oblivion gate?... i know where you the the kvatch stuff you're wearing but i cant find any decent armour or weapons in the game lol


----------



## skidude

Im seriously considering buying this game.... Is it worth it?? Anyone got any screens i can see?


----------



## Yasu

> Im seriously considering buying this game.... Is it worth it?? Anyone got any screens i can see?


I'd suggest getting it.  There's so much you can do, like take on the entire city guard and then run for life.  I've rented it for the 360 but I think I'll buy it for the PC.  The loading times are killing me on the 360 and I think they'll be much better on the PC version.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/theelderscrollsivoblivion/screenindex.html


----------



## mat2317

This game is a real gem! When you buy it im sure your social life will go downhill. Its totally addictive, graphics are amazing! you can go round pick pocketing and rob peoples houses. I get contracts to assassinate people, its a sweet game.  

Rehcamretsnef where did you get that armor? I want it ><


----------



## Blue

Rehcamretsnef said:
			
		

> i run max with:
> 
> 64 3500+
> 1 gig pc3200
> BFG 6800 GT
> 
> 
> When i first got the game, i ran 30 fps constant, but for some reason, im gettin 15-20 now, i think my systmes gay and has too much crap cloggin up resources. Under 15, still looks amazing, but once upclose play ensues, it will drop to low teens. Never went below 10 tho, ever.
> 
> PLAY WITH GRASS OFF. if u want to save about 10 frames a second lol. it still looks really good lol. And grass really just gets in the way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> im so leet.




We have very similar systems (CPU and Graphics). Indeed I've played full settings with a clean system (FPS unchecked). For me to fully enjoy a game it needs to be full graphics and almost no slow down. 20FPS are no acceptable to me so I'm waiting until I've upgraded. Just bought a brand new LCD a couple days ago so I must wait a bit.

But yea I know turning stuff off is going to improve performance as it does with every game out there. I won't do it.


----------



## skidude

mat2317 said:
			
		

> This game is a real gem! When you buy it im sure your social life will go downhill.



Well between this game and WoW im sure i will never set foot outside ever again


----------



## Kuli24

Will my computer be able to handle this game at 1024x768 with 4xAA and 16xAF and max graphics?


----------



## Hairy_Lee

maybe.... although i thinkg the AA and AF might be pushing it too far


----------



## Kuli24

What would you recommend then?
a)Tune down some graphics (such as grass or whatever)
b)go 2xAA and 16xAF or something
c)go 4xAA and 4xAF or 8xAF

I want to lose the least amount of "WOW LOOK AT THE GRAPHICS" effect.


----------



## Hairy_Lee

i would try option "C"


----------



## Callidor

i got this game today, and im a little pissed at my system for not doing as well as it should.  my friend and i have very similar comps, except he has a 6600gt, and i have a 6600le. he is able to run this game seemingly a lot smoother than i am.  are the GPUs that different, or is it a driver thing? anyone got any suggestions?  i have the game turned to pretty medium/low settings and im still getting lowsy frame rates.


----------



## evcj

can i play this game with this config.-ThinkCentre A50, Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz (512KB), 400MHz FSB, 128MB, 40GB 7200RPM IDE HDD, PCI Tower (3x4), Intel 865GV, 48x32x48x CD-RW, winxp pro and win98se;[intel extreme graphics 2]


----------



## Yasu

> can i play this game with this config.-ThinkCentre A50, Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz (512KB), 400MHz FSB, 128MB, 40GB 7200RPM IDE HDD, PCI Tower (3x4), Intel 865GV, 48x32x48x CD-RW, winxp pro and win98se;[intel extreme graphics 2]


No, not even close.  Even if it did manage to run you would probably get about 1 or 2 FPS with everything on low/off.  The game comes on a DVD only if I'm not mistaken so you would have to buy DVD-ROM drive just to be able to have your computer read the disc.

Read this to know the minimum requirements to play.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm


----------



## speedyink

I love this game, the graphics are beautiful and it runs surprisingly well on my system, even with the graphics turned up quite a bit. I haven't been able to locate any glass armour yet, has anyone found any?


----------



## Hairy_Lee

I still wanna know where Rehcamretsnef got that sick armour lol


----------



## pfclassic

best game ive played in a long time


----------



## evcj

Sorry to bug you guys again with some stupid querries. But i love rpg's and am eager to play this game. though my system requirements are below par to play this game, i would like to know what is the best suitable, affordable graphics\video card which will be still great in some years to come and could be installed(compatible) on my system.
and for how much 512 mb ram comes? Ibm(lenovo) ram is costly so can you suggest any other better one. i think 512mb ram is good enough to run games.
and i forgot to mention, how much a dvd player cum writer comes for. i'm confused with so many types [like double layer..etc etc] tell me the one which can write dvd's[even at low speed] and play games at good speed.

 you can see i dont know about this whole hardware stuff [though i dont know much about software either]. so suggest me well so i can follow the guidelines!


----------



## mrbagrat

You really should post this in the Desktop computers section. Post there and I'll answer.


----------



## Blue

> i think the textures are buggy on some video cards, on my 6800gt textures looked blurry up close like most games and shadow defects..etc, however same hardware and video driver with my 7900gtx and it looks perfect.



That is strange, the textures look great on my 6800GT. I think every 6800GT has a strange bug of some sort though . since I got mine I cannot play dessert or winter maps in C&C Generals Zero Hour because they are all green . I've tried every patch as well as no patches. I've tried the game with every single driver release and it's the same every time. Darn those 6800GT's are a strange bread.


----------



## evcj

i apologize for posting in wrong section.


----------



## helmie

Hairy_Lee said:
			
		

> I still wanna know where Rehcamretsnef got that sick armour lol



Well the cheat bit is the Kvatch armor, but the green gauntlts etc, I dont know.

I have all the dark brotherhood gear on, looks sweet


----------



## Hairy_Lee

i found that armour a little while ago actually... you need to go to the imperial city market area and do a quest where you have to investigate some dodgy practices by a merchant


----------



## WeatherMan

Im thinking about getting this game soon, sounds great and the screenies look great  Do you guys think I should be able to get medium/high settings @ 1280x1024 with my setup?


----------

