The Oblivion Hardware Thread...

[yin26]

I expect to log close to 200 hours with the game, if not more. Best entertainment buy I've made in years.

By the way, extreme tech has done a comparison of Oblivion on ATI v. NVIDIA: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...129TX1K0000532

Two points from my end: 1) The 7900 GT is clearly the sweet spot on the NVIDIA side, losing barely a few frames to its $500+ "upgrade" and 2) I didn't see the review look at the power consumption and heat statistics of these cards. NVIDIA is the clear winner on those fronts.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Yeah, I agree, with as many hours as I will log on this one, definitely worth the money to me, but not to Spaced Cowgirl.

[bonscott]

FYI that ATI released 6.4 version of the drivers yesterday.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It looks like I can run oblivion after all abet just barely. 2.4 Ghz processor, 512 ram, and I a128 mb ATI Redeon 9700 AGP. Since I'm so close to the minimum specs I'm wondering it would be worth the $39.99 to try it out.

I'm using a Radeon 9550 128 VRAM at the moment and I can run the game. I have the resolution set to 1024 x 768 with small textures and I'm not noticing any lag to speak of. That might change though if I get outside. I haven't left the first dungeon yet. I'm actually quite surprised I've been able to set things so high, the game defaults to 640 X 480 with large textures for my card. Mind you I have 1.5 gig of RAM and an Athlon 3500 processor.

[Willem]

Originally posted by yin26
There is a way to do it in game, but I'm using a free program called FRAPS (credit goes to Asher).

So how do you do it within the game?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Willem
So how do you do it within the game?

Do this:

~
tdt
[Enter]
~

[Willem]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


Do this:

~
tdt
[Enter]
~

Thanks. I guess I'll have to settle for the default video setting after all. Even at 640 x 480 with Large textures, my FPS is only about 17. Oh well, in a couple of weeks I'll be able to afford a new video card.

[Kinjiru]

Large textures are the memory intensive ones, btw. Switch to small and you should see a big framerate jump.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
Large textures are the memory intensive ones, btw. Switch to small and you should see a big framerate jump.

Really. So why then does it default to Large for the 9550?

PS: I just checked it out and I really don't see that much difference, though small definitely looks better. With large, just looking around my prison cell, the top framerate I got at 640 x 480 was 25. With small, it was 24. So large does seem to be slightly less memory intensive, but only marginally so.

[yin26]

NVIDIA has come out with its latest beta drivers, and TweakGuides owner seems to see improvement for Oblivion: http://forums.tweakguides.com/showpo...5&postcount=11

Download here: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do...bit_84.43.html

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, I did see that... it seems it was released for the new Tomb Raider game... any update helps .

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Willem
Really. So why then does it default to Large for the 9550?

PS: I just checked it out and I really don't see that much difference, though small definitely looks better. With large, just looking around my prison cell, the top framerate I got at 640 x 480 was 25. With small, it was 24. So large does seem to be slightly less memory intensive, but only marginally so.

Try more tests. Large textures is the FAR more memory intensive and FAR better looking.

Here:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147127/p-5.html

Texture quality makes quite a difference in Oblivion. If you're going to drop down to small texture sizes, make sure it's one of the last things you do, the drop in image quality is tremendous. The entire statue loses all of its detail, and all the cracks and fine features disappear completely.

Be sure to check out the differences in the picture as well.

[snoopy369]

Willem, use the tweakguides guide to change some of the settings; if you can get good fps inside, then it's possible outside.

Particularly, turn down or off the grass, turn down the specular distance, turn down shadows, and turn down the blood (or off) (in the ini). Also, water reflections should probably be off.

Small textures look lousy to me; I can't read shopkeeper signs in small, whereas in large they look nice. Maybe something else is interfering with your setting?

[Willem]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Willem, use the tweakguides guide to change some of the settings; if you can get good fps inside, then it's possible outside.

So where do I find this tweakguides? I'm kind of thinking just to wait for a couple of weeks before I get into the game frankly. I'm planning on getting a GeForce 6800 then, so I won't have to bother with fiddling around with the settings.

[bonscott]

Originally posted by Willem


So where do I find this tweakguides? I'm kind of thinking just to wait for a couple of weeks before I get into the game frankly. I'm planning on getting a GeForce 6800 then, so I won't have to bother with fiddling around with the settings.

https://www.tweakguides.com

I would wait until you get outside before you start tweaking around too much. Most of the tweaks are for the outside environments.