Hmm, you got me thinking about this so I rechecked my install. Turns out the reason I'm noticing such a difference is because I screwed up the first install -- I installed QTP3-RR Max, and then installed Bomret's enhanced normal maps on top of it. Unfortunately, Bomret's normals are only supposed to be used with vanilla textures. Whoops.

Anyway, Oblivion looks a heckuva lot better now.

Detailed Terrain! Use Detailed Terrain!

Also, NPCs standing still could be because too many are trying to load, and you have to increase the amount of AI Oblivion can handle using Bash.