so i finally went out and bought GOTY and now ive got some questions for you all.

a little info on myself: ive been modding/playing oblivion on and off since 2007, so im familiar with everything except wryebash (just never used gave it a try). ive also been tinkering with computers for over a decade now, so im fine with heavy, technical answers. =)

my system: athlon 64X2 6000+, 6gb ram, geforce gtx275, running win7 ultimate x64

oblivion has all the dlc's installed and is patched to 1.2.whateveritsis.

here are my questions:

first... performance. ive read a lot of the optimization guidelines, but they didnt really tell me anything revolutionary. ive got a decently strong machine, but outside, RAEVWD and QTP3 (plus a noise replacer) really kills the system. i thought for sure that, since this same system with 2gb ram and an 8800gts could handle these same mods with no grass that the gtx275 could handle it with grass, but i get a shady 9-10fps when walking to the imperial city for the first time. ive got low-poly grass and streamline up and running, and streamline does its thing marvelously, but its still pretty chunky. is it ram speed? i actually get the "loading area" dialog now.

second and third, what can be done about these:

http://musasabi.h4xful.net/misc/jankylighting.jpg

i think that only happens after i install beautiful people 2.7. it just looks awful.

http://musasabi.h4xful.net/misc/missingmeshes.jpg

that looks like a missing mesh, but it still gives off light, haha. i couldnt find any meshes that were included in the "illumination from within" mod.

and finally, here's my load order (generated 100% by BOSS):

Oblivion.esmFrancesco's Leveled Creatures-Items Mod.esmFrancesco's Optional New Items Add-On.esmFrancesco's Optional New Creatures Add-On.esmUnofficial Oblivion Patch.espDLCShiveringIsles.espUnofficial Shivering Isles Patch.espNatural_Weather_by_Max_Tael.espNatural_Weather_HDR_by_Max_Tael.espNatural_Habitat_by_Max_Tael.espNatural_Water_by_Max_Tael.espSymphony of Violence.espMIS.espStorms & Sound.espCities Alive At Night.espIWR - Windows Lights Shutters - Optimised.espAliveWaters.espAliveWaters - Koi Addon.espAliveWaters - Slaughterfish Addon.espBook Jackets Oblivion.espClocksOfCyrodiil.espRAEVWD Cities.espRAEVWD New Sheoth.espRAEVWD Imperial City.espHarvest[Containers].espHarvest[Containers] - Player Home Add-on.espHarvest[Containers] - Flat-Top Barrels Add-on.espDLCHorseArmor.espDLCOrrery.espDLCVileLair.espDLCMehrunesRazor.espDLCSpellTomes.espBook Jackets DLC.espDLCThievesDen.espFrancesco's Optional Files.espImpeREAL City Unique Districts - All the Districts - Merged.espDLCBattlehornCastle.espDLCFrostcrag.espKnights.espNatural_Vegetation_by_Max_Tael.espHarvest [Flora].espHarvest [Flora] - Shivering Isles.espHarvest [Flora] - DLCVileLair.espHarvest [Flora] - DLCFrostcrag.espSupremeMagicka.espSM_ShiveringIsles.espSM_DLCSpellTome.espSM_EnchantStaff.espSM_Scrolls.espSM_SigilStone.espFaster Spells.espStealthOverhaul.espNo psychic guards v1.2.espOblivion XP.espFrancesco's level up mini mod - Slower skills x1.5.espLet There Be Darkness - Cyrodiil + SI.espLet There Be Darkness - Knights.espLet There Be Darkness - Mehrunes Razor.espBeautiful People.espFrancesco's 10 days respawn time - 1-20 day lenght rescale.esp[GFX]_Initial_Glow-all.espStreamline 3.1.esp

other mods include: QTP3; beautiful people 2.7; numerous retextures for flora, trees, doors, signs, clutter, etc; improved facial texture 2.1; very likely a few more that i forgot

EDIT: huh. no image posting?

It's not the ram speed, it's just that you need an actual overkill system to run QT3 and REAVWD decently. Try turning off REAVWD and i expect you would see a significant increase in performance.

Are you running the full version of Qarls? If so, that is a real framerate killer. Might want to try the redimized version instead.

Also, what driver version are you using for your vid card? The 19X series seem to have some issues with beth games. (including poor performance)

What INI setting are you using for uGridDistantCount? Try reducing it to 15. That should help greatly.

Also, check out http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1074487. Lots of excellent discussion in that thread--not to mention the utility itself, which will really speed you up outside.

thanks all. i'll look into everything suggested and get back with what happens.

heyyou - yeah, ive got the original qtp3 from way back when. haha. same download and all. i saw the redimized thing on TOTO, but never got it since i figured my gtx275 was a beast and all. haha.

also, im running forceware 196.21. latest as of whenever i last reinstalled windows (a week or two ago). but youre saying the whole 190 series has issues? weeird. haha. is it regular practice to run downgraded nvidia drivers?

fable2 - ive got the (im guessing) stock 25. what does that variable control, exactly? (what im really getting at is, what difference will it make visually?)

to everyone/anyone else reading this - i changed the image links to links instead of failed (why?) embedded images. now would someone click on them and tell me what i did wrong for both? haha.

thanks as always. =)