Hello chaps...

I am deciding if I should install Oblivion on my family computer, have a few questions:

1. Our computer doesn't have a graphics card, just an onboard chipset which is Intel® HD Graphics family. The computer is a brand new Dell Inspiron 620 running Windows 7, and I am assuming it can run a game like Oblivion. Will I have performance issues without a graphics card?

2. The version of Oblivion i have doesn't have the expansion pack. Can I add it on later? How do you play the expansions, do you have to solve the main quest in Oblivion first?

3. If I want to play Oblivion on another computer, can I just transfer my save game files, or will there be compatibility problems with doing this?

4. Do newer versions of Oblivion need to be patched?

Thanks a lot!

Wahooka

Intel's chip isn't good enough for a good run of Oblivion, other than perhaps on the "Extra Low and Extra Ugly" graphics setting in the first patch.

Come on dude, I have a computer that is 6 years more advanced then when Oblivion was first released...

I got like 6 GB of Ram!!!

I think you might be wrong, gonna install Oblivion today.. hopefully you can answer my other questions if I get it up and running...

No,he's right.Intel's video chipsets are garbage at best.You might be able to play on low-medium,but don't expect anything better than that.
P.S : Don't ask a question if you can't handle the answer

Good luck with it. You may decide to add a video card; if you do so, be careful about power requirements, because the power supply in that system is likely to be marginal.

Yes, you can add the expansions later.

For Patch Info, see http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Patch.

The "newest" disk-based version of the game was the GOTY, which includes the expansions. It's fully patched (but you still should get the Unofficial Patch.) See http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:Unofficial_Oblivion_Patch.

Do yourself a big favor, and install the game to someplace other than the default Program Files location. A good plan is to create a C:\Games folder for older games, because they don't get along well with Windows7.

I hope you're not expecting too much...

Well I'll take your word for it that there will be performance issues..

I am playing World of Warcraft on this computer and the 3-D scrolling works pretty well, so I thought Oblivion might be okay..

Just out of curiousity, can I transfer my save game files to a different computer if I later want to?

As long as you're not afraid to do a little digging with Windows Explorer.

Not even that. Just go to (My )Documents/(My )Games/Oblivion/Saves and copy them to removable media or email them to yourself or use cloud storage and then transfer them to the the other computer.

So how do you unlock the expansions? Do you have to discover the areas of the game where the expansions are?

I've always been confused by how the expansions work....

Via quests. Also, there's really only one expansion. Though, all the extra content, except for Spell Tomes, is unlocked by a quest.

Btw, just installed the game and it looks pretty good on MEDIUM settings and lower resolution... maybe you guys are used to Super High Def and faster scrolling, i dunno..

\|

There are 2 expansions,.. Something about Nine Knights, and another about Shivering Isles.. TWO, right?

KotN isn't really an expansion in the true sense of the word. SI is really the only expansion.

Let's hope that it works okay for you.

So far its PRETTY DAMN GOOD!!!

I put it on Medium Settings and upped the screen resolution a lot, and it looks great... Things are moving very fluidly so far...

It makes sense that a computer 6 years later would be able to handle a game like this... technology and processor speed and increased ram probably makes up for the lack of a professional graphics card, right?

There is a tendency for people to want all the bells and whistles these days.... I will settle for PRETTY DAMN GOOD!!!

Um..

How far into the game are you ?? Have you left the tutorial dungeon and gotten out into the game world yet ?? (this is where the stress of the game on video cards starts - the tutorial dungeon is more like an indoor area where lower quality cards perform OK but once you get into the outdoor areas especially the heavy forests it can drag performance down quickly.

I haven't reached the outdoors yet... I will let you know what happens..

i made it out of the sewers and into the outdoors.. wandered around, killed some bandits, game seems to work pretty well.. no complaints!

I guess I have to buy the expansions now? Almost cheaper just to buy the GOTY edition then the 2 expansions..

We've all learned a lesson here,.. you don't need an amazing graphics card to play a game that is old.

Now SKYRIM.. maybe not..

Actually, a lot of people find that the newer games run better than Oblivion on marginal equipment. The newer games use basically the same game engines, but are better optimized. (They were all developed to run on the same XBox 360, so it's not like the newer games are more graphically demanding.)

I think graphics cards may be obsolete!!

World of Warcraft came out two years before Oblivion and its meshes and textures were low-poly and low-rez, even by 2004 standards.