How to get better FPS?

Post » Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:56 am

I'm used to fps being in the 15 to 20 range for Oblivion, but Morrowind isn't even getting that in populated areas. I understand that I shouldn't expect much from my computer since it has a crappy graphics card but it's not like I have any graphics mods installed besides Better Bodies (includeing ones for the beast races) and Better Clothes (includeing one for robes). Besides I thought Morrowind didn't rely on the graphics cards as much as the CPU? Is there a comprehensive guide I can read of various things to try to increase fps? I know it's not my mods effecting it because I get the same fps when I run just vanilla Morrowind. Oh and I don't have the expansions in case that helps.

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Luis Reyma
 
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Joined: Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:10 am

Post » Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:16 am

There's not much you can do to increase FPS, but you can stabilize and maintain what you do have.

In the in-game menu, turn shadows off. This will help a lot!
If you have muted the in-game music, make sure the slider is not fully to the left. Set it one tick to the right. Having it fully to the left causes problems.

A widely used trick to help increase performance is to open your Morrowind ini file and change this line: Max FPS=240 to Max FPS=60
This often improves the frame rate flow, and improves the functioning of some menu buttons.

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=utilities.detail&id=22 A handy utility that runs behind Morrowind to boost performance. Very popular and works with MGE. Don't launch the game with it, (open MW as usual) but as long as it's running behind MW it will do its thing.

This has the great feature of "Accelerate Mouse" which really helps low FPS feel less sluggish.
You can also try the "Hide game world objects" which may not look amazing but makes gameplay smoother. (this makes small objects invisible until you get near them)
And the "Do you want to see farer" which allows you to control the Fog with your mouse wheel. So you can pull the fog in if your FPS is dropping.

FYI, you can add almost any texture mod and it will not affect FPS at all. NPCs and complicated meshes are what eat FPS.

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Scott
 
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