Hello and thanks for reading.

I'm embarking on a new game of Oblivion with a medium (potentially heavy) mod load (at least 70 mods), including OOO, Better Cities, Qarl's TP3 Redimized, etc. Despite having a fairly current PC (specs below), I've been told I may still suffer performance issues. Last night I installed the first of the mods with Wrye Bash/BAIN and today I'd like to get my .ini file and other settings in order to start from a solid foundation.

I searched for .ini tweaks and there are some resources available, but many are older not as prescriptive as I'd like. Could you share the .ini settings that have worked especially well for you and/or point me to a resource that you think is the best guide?

Also, I opened a copy of the Oblivion.ini in My Documents last night and it was all one long string (and this was with WordWrap on). So it was difficult to work with. This got me thinking about working with an Oblivion .ini editor. There are several out there, but they are old (they may still work, however). Is there an .ini editor you can recommend?

Also, any other settings that you've found have had a profound impact on performance and/or quality would be greatly appreciated.

My PC specs:

CPU: Intel QuadCore i5 2500k @ 4.3 GHz

GPU: MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 Twin Frozr 2GB (modestly overclocked)

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3 1600

OS: Windows 7 home premium (fully updated)

I've also got three hard drives. I'm running Oblivion off of my Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120GB solid state drive (BAIN files are being stored on a different, larger drive).

Thanks so much,

ELB

In short, use the default INI.

There are some font changes needed for DarnUI, you should make sure that border region is open so that you can crosses into mod added lands, tuff like that which is required by mods. Ignore all the guides that recommend tweaks for multi core and hyper threading etc.

The only reason I can think of that your INI its reading like that would be the program you've opened it in. Regular old notepad reads it just fine.

FYI, you certainly should not be looking at INI tweaks until you've got your mods working. How's installation going?

I make two changes. I change my fDlgFocus=11.1000 (default value 2.1000) because I absolutely loathe Oblivion's dialogue zoom. And I bBorderRegionsEnabled=0 (default value 1) because I like to roam outside of Cyrodiil.

Those are the only two changes I make.

Wyre Bash can be used for ini tweaks as well.

Here is a link to the TESCOSI ini tweaks page. I use most of the "regular" edits and I edit the ini to turn off autosaves in the tutorial. The rest of the autosaves can be turned off in the options menu. I don't use any of the other ini edits suggested on that page.

On the left side of the page there is a link to a guide for installing modified Oblivion. It's a good resource.

I usually use wordpad instead of notepad because notepad gives me the same issue of opening the file in one long string, rather than showing individual lines of code seperately. Wordpad does not have that problem.

There are some guides out there with recommended tweaks for multi-core computers. However, common wisdom is that such tweaks are worthless and don't do anything (at least not anything good). Oblivion is a stubborn old bird and won't be coaxed into hyperthreading no matter how much you tweak it.

Basically, there is no magic to be uncovered or revealed in the INI files. Use the Default INI's. There were some tweaks that older weaker systems could benefit from to gain performance at the expense of visual quality.

There are some multithreaded tweaks you can do, but that is mostly for stability, not performance. See this:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Ini_Settings#Multi-core_CPU_tweaks

From the website you posted: "Despite dubious significance to performance, these options can effectively prevent or at least reduce crashes on multi-core systems." Now that you mention it, I think I did use these tweaks on my laptop. When I built my new desktop last month, I did not use these tweaks.

Both of my machines are running the exact same load order. But the desktop crashes about once a weekend of playing, while the laptop virtually never crashes, even playing several hours in one sitting. I wonder if these ini settings are the reason the desktop is ocassionally crashing but not the laptop? They are both multi-core processors.

I am going to give them a try this weekend. Thanks for posting this. There is so much to remember with modified Oblivion it is hard to keep track of it all.

Excellent feedback, all.

While I would have loved to hear about ".ini magic" that would offer a huge boost to Oblivion-on-a-modern-PC performance, it's admittedly also nice to hear there's one thing in my installation I won't have to mess with. I'd really rather play than fiddle.

WB is such a wondrous tool, it struck me that it might have .ini editing capabilities. Where do you access that, MosAnted?

When I make my tweaks, I will either use WB (once I learn how) or WordPad. Notepad opening it that way is odd.

If I have stability issues, I'll look into that, CCNA.

Thanks again,

ELB

I began in earnest last night and it was slow going. It always takes time to familiarize one's self with a utility like Wrye Bash. It's awesome in its capabilities and feature-packed, but it's not immediately intuitive (though it's not bad, actually). The main thing is learning the protocols and what all those features, like, for example, "annealing," mean and do.

And a lot of readme files and instructions are about 75% as precise as they should be. In almost all cases I figure it out and "educated guess my way" to the correct process, but it's not a reassuring way to proceed. The nice thing is the BAIN structure is very intelligent, and many compressed mod folders are already organized as BAINs.

With the exception of having to plow through lengthy readme and configuration files for more involved mods, I expect the process will move much more quickly now. I remain resolved to getting this done and playing to the end. The community here has been extremely generous with their expertise.

Installing OOO was a bit unnerving, mainly because I don't know if some of the optional add-ons I am interested in (some I selected, others I steered clear of) will play nicely with other mods I'm going to install:

• I read that OOO is compatible with OblivionXP, but does OblivionXP following the leveling rates set by OOO...or do you do that through OblivionXP?
• OOO wants to change various aspects of combat, from damage to attack speed. It also makes use of MOBS combat. I'm using Unnecessary Violence III, which makes no mention of incompatibility with MOBS, but I don't know if they affect the same things or not (UVIII may, for example, allow for certain combat moves, but rely on the same weapon damage stats on vanilla, or OOO if it changes them).
• The same from the above goes for OOO changes to magic and using LAME and/or Supreme Magicka.

Those were the three I struggled with last night. I don't think any will break my game, but they may imbalance it.

Also, any thoughts about the Oblivion difficulty slider once mods like OOO are applied? Does it still function well and allow for game challenge tweaking?

Thanks,

ELB

There's a tab named "INI Edits"

Indeed, it's an amazing tool, that makes the fact of it's development coming to a standstill at the moment that much more of a tragedy

Of course there is (forehead slap!). WB is no longer being maintained? That is awful. I was hoping to become quite proficient to use it with Fallout 3 New Vegas and Skyrim.

So, none of you employ the following tweak?

Game Mistakes Newer Hardware's Capabilities

When Oblivion is first run, it attempts to autodetect the maximum Shader Model and Shader Package the video card is capable of using. Unfortunately, some newer cards (both ATI and NVIDIA) are sometimes misdetected (mine, definitely) and Oblivion configures itself to use a Shader Package lower than the video cards maximum supported. While this may not always cause issues, some cards will experience a drastic difference in performance between newer and older shader packages. Using the highest shader model supported by your video card is generally recommended, as newer Shader Models often include improved shader algorithms as well as visual enhancements.

To force Oblivion to use the highest possible shader package (Oblivion only supports up to Shader Model 3.0, by default 2.0 is used), first enter the "Oblivion" directory located in the "My Games" folder (which is in turn located in the My Documents directory). There should be a file named "RendererInfo.txt". Locate the bottom entry in that text file and take note of the number listed (it should be between 1 and 19), then enter the "Data" folder located in Oblivion's directory in "Program Files", there should be a folder named "Shaders". Assuming your video card has support for Shader 3.0 or higher, make a copy of the file named "shaderpackage019.sdp". Now make a backup copy of the file "shaderpackage0[number you found in the RenderInfo file here].sdp (i.e shaderpackage007.sdp). Once you have made a backup copy of the shader delete the original file. Now rename the copy you made of "shaderpackage019.sdp" to the name of the shader that you made a backup of.

You should now have 2 copies of "shaderpackage019.sdp", except one should now have the name of the shader package that contained the number written in the "RenderInfo.txt" file. Now, whenever the game attempts to use the incorrect shader package, it will instead be using the highest one.

Note that this may cause some issues such as crashing, if this is experienced, simply recopy the backup of the shader package you made.

Alternatively, you can simply edit the RenderInfo file to use the correct shader package. Once you saved the text file change it to read only. This way the file won't revert to it's original state each time you run Oblivion.

- ELB

I have never tried that but I might check it out. I have a pretty decent graphics card but Oblivion does not recognize it and I always have to set the graphics settings manually because it defaults to the low settings. There is always something new to learn with Oblivion. Thanks.

I have one comment about the above. The default directory for Oblivion is program files, but unless you are running XP, you should not install Oblivion in Program Files. Vista and newer operating systems have UAC that will make Oblivion go haywire.

Thing is, afaik, Sharkliran is the sole active person in the project and he's been alone mantaining and bugfixing it, but the rest of the team have quit or gone AWOL, so unless more people volunteer with helping develop WB, it's likely going to stagnate for a while.

Yes, I read that in a few places and so just made it C:\Oblivion\ But thanks for looking out for me again

Can anyone confirm that the multi-core tweaks help with stability?

Also, changing the shader makes any difference? My RendererInfo says i'm using shader 17.

On these multi-threading tweaks:

I've tried the Shader Model 3.0 thing and can't say I noticed any difference, in either speed or image quality. Not that I've an eye for such things...

OOO has OMOBS stats on weapons, which is a tweaked variant of MOBS, so it's not a combat system. OOO works fine with UV III or Deadly Reflex.

OOO has its own magic tweaks so LAME and Supreme Magicka will override those. I'd recommend SM as you can set OOO values in its ini and get OOO's magic balance plus SM's additions.

While Arkngt X suggests Supreme magicka, I would suggest you l.a.m.e. In the end it's up to your personal opinion - try both

~ According to me supreme magicka is way too innovative while l.a.m.e has a better feeling of coherence with the game itself - it's vanilla but better.
Supreme magicka instead has an innovative approach and you can change almost everything related to magicka in the .ini. If you want to change magic radically, you should go for this one ~

I really appreciate your clarifying this, Arkngt X. So, what about the OOO add-ons that impact combat, not just weapon stats? Like OOO Deadly Combat and OOO Combat Skills Perks Marksmanship? I don't have those active currently.

I will try both. But if I use LAME, then do you have any sense how it interacts with OOO, especially with the OOO Add-Ons that specifically impact magic: OOO Magic Effects + Enhancments, OOO Magic Effects + Spells and OOO Magic Game Settings?

Thanks,

ELB

it depends on what you mean by interacts. What l.a.m.e does is just merely extending the duration of the spells and adding others.
For me playing a mage with OOO is not frustrating but it's not that fun either. I mean, I enjoyed it, but if I knew that there was l.a.m.e before I did my playthrough, you can be 100% sure I would have taken lame.

I've got a question to ask - related to the .ini settings.
Sometimes my oblivion will just automatically revert the texture size to medium and if I've got all natural installed the sky will get messed up. Is there a way to force the .ini to not change?

You could try typing saveini into your console. That usually helps me when my game won't preserve my .ini settings.

I have to do saveini everytime I close the game?