Question about Unique Landscapes : IV

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:52 am

I'm heavily interested in getting "Unique Landscape" mods, particularly because they look beautiful (in the screenshot, and believe in-game as well) and, if anything, adds a reason for me to go out there and take a walk (who doesn't like beautiful sceneries?)

However, I'm a bit concerned about the strain. My PC can't give me a constant 30++ fps, and I'm afraid that adding Unique Landscape might hurt my system, at which point using it would be useless

Currently, my system is like this:
Windows 7
Core2Duo @2.4GHz
GeForce 9800GT 512MB VRAM
2GB RAM
27.1 GB free out of 116 GB (I installed a 6GB GTA SA the other day along with some backup data leaving around 15GB and my game stutters constantly, no longer after I removed them)
I get around 20-30 fps in the wilds, around 15-25/30 fps in single combat, and around 12-15 in a battle like Defense of Bruma

my Load Order (BOSS-ed)

Spoiler

Oblivion.esm
Lattamerv3.esm
Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp
UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp
Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.esp
LoadingScreens.esp
Atmospheric Oblivion.esp
Book Jackets Oblivion.esp
P1DlookHereYou.esp
Harvest[Containers].esp
Harvest[Containers] - Player Home Add-on.esp
Harvest[Containers] - Flat-Top Barrels Add-on.esp
Harvest[Containers] - Havok Crates Add-on.esp
HouseMapMarkersOnlyBought.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp
Rope Ladders v1.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp
DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp
ArmoryLab.esp
DLCFrostcrag.esp
DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp
Knights.esp
Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp
Auto Repair.esp
No Glow Grass.esp
ScriptIcon_Replacer.esp
Quest Award Leveller.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Vile Lair.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Mehrunes Razor.esp
Quest Award Leveller - Knights of the Nine.esp
SpellSinger.esp
Faster Spells.esp
Poison Arrows.esp
attack and hide medium v2.0.esp
Stealth Entrances v1.esp
Denock Arrows.esp
'Eagle Eye' Realistic Archery v1.0 Fixed.esp
Mayu's Animation Overhaul.esp
77_Umpa_sixy_walk.esp
DMC Stylish - Specialanims.esp
[GFX]_Initial_Glow-self.esp
Streamline 3.1.esp
HGEC_Female_Ninja_Armor.esp
HentaiEveriaArmor.esp
SynchronizedStatueWithPose.esp
Lattamer Voice.esp *
AC2 Revisited HGEC.esp
Raestloz Merger.esp **
FSN Equipments.esp
test plugin.esp ***

* My own mod which simply adds description to Lattamer race provided by that LattamerV3.esm up there
** My own mod, compilation of a bunch of item-adding mods, and does nothing but add items
*** My own mod, provides a custom class and changes The Lover Birthsign, does nothing else

There you have it. My problem lies in my struggling CPU, and probably not big enough RAM. That being said, will using UL mods strain my game? If not, how many mods do you think I can use?

Thanks in advance

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:00 am

I don't know for sure, but I used to have a weaker machine, and the ULs still worked fine for me. I got a better machine now...and everything is still working fine!

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:50 pm

What settings are you running the game at? You might want to lower your resolution and see how much it helps. The http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html has excellent advice on how to improve fps.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:01 pm

The UL mods have minimal impact on FPS, so don't worry, just download, install and enjoy them! It's the high-res texture mods and those which add loads of NPCs which tend to hit FPS and keep the CPU busy.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:52 pm

The UL mods have minimal impact on FPS, so don't worry, just download, install and enjoy them! It's the high-res texture mods and those which add loads of NPCs which tend to hit FPS and keep the CPU busy.

That's not entirely true. Several UL's have a negative impact on FPS and as I always tend to have my game modded to the limit, the addition of a UL can bring the FPS down under my limit. One example is Trollf's wonderful Panther River.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:02 am

That's not entirely true. Several UL's have a negative impact on FPS and as I always tend to have my game modded to the limit, the addition of a UL can bring the FPS down under my limit. One example is Trollf's wonderful Panther River.

However it is entirely true, as the impact is minimal

It's only if you are using other mods which affect FPS in conjunction with the ULs that the impact increases, such as texture replacers, hi-res skin mods, and hi-res armour/weapon mods - along with companion mods which mean complex AI and scripting always running, and any variation on the EVWD mods, especially the non-optimised versions. I have never noticed anything beyond a negligible drop in FPS when using the ULs, and I've been through about three different PCs since I first started playing Oblivion, so I've used PCs which by today's standards are fairly low-spec. In fact my current PC is only what I would consider mid-spec.

Of course they do have a negative impact, but we're talking maybe 1 or 2fps lost, not 10 or 20fps like you can get with Better Cities.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:49 am

However it is entirely true, as the impact is minimal

It's only if you are using other mods which affect FPS in conjunction with the ULs that the impact increases, such as texture replacers, hi-res skin mods, and hi-res armour/weapon mods - along with companion mods which mean complex AI and scripting always running, and any variation on the EVWD mods, especially the non-optimised versions. I have never noticed anything beyond a negligible drop in FPS when using the ULs, and I've been through about three different PCs since I first started playing Oblivion, so I've used PCs which by today's standards are fairly low-spec. In fact my current PC is only what I would consider mid-spec.

Of course they do have a negative impact, but we're talking maybe 1 or 2fps lost, not 10 or 20fps like you can get with Better Cities.

I'm not using QTP3 or anything, just Bomret's Normals. I haven't checked it "scientifically" but I'd say that Panther River brings down my FPS with perhaps c. 5 FPS overall. And as I'm on the limit of acceptable performance before that, it basically brings it down under acceptable limits. And I wouldn't call it "minimal impact" really. Same with Ancient Redwoods. Of course, if you have the performance to spare it won't matter.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:53 am

Some of the UL lands definitely have a significant impact on performance whereas others do not. The ones around Chorrol and Bravil really harmed my fps. Another bad one for fps is Dark forest or Black forest.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:31 pm

Well I disagree - and even 5fps is very little to lose. If you're already bumping down towards 15fps (perfectly playable) before using the ULs, then it will be an issue, but that simply means your hardware is outdated or your mod-usage is in overload.
The original poster's spec looks very similar to my current PC except with a weaker graphics card, and I don't notice any problems with the ULs at all.

Raestloz, if you're using 64-bit Win 7, it would be worth buying another 2gb of RAM and using the 4gb Enabler on the Oblivion EXE. You're using very few ESP-based mods, and I don't recognise any of them as heavy-hitters. If you've recently been installing and uninstalling games like GTA and moving data around for backup, you might want to defrag your hard drive to speed up data access. Make sure Streamline is configured correctly, install Oblivion Stutter Remover if you're not already using it. If you know how, unpack the Meshes BSAs, and use PyFFI to optimise all the vanilla meshes, then repack the BSA with no compression.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:23 pm

Only UL I've ever noticed issue with is Bravil Barrowfields - lots and lots and lots of stuff there and it can drag, especially if being chased or in battle. Worth it though, as the Bravil area is otherwise barren and uninteresting.

None of the others have the slightest impact on things for me.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:27 am

Well I disagree - and even 5fps is very little to lose. If you're already bumping down towards 15fps (perfectly playable) before using the ULs, then it will be an issue, but that simply means your hardware is outdated or your mod-usage is in overload.

5 fps is still not "minimal impact" IMO. Also, of course it matters which other mods you're using. And, yes, my rig is outdated, but I can play the game with FCOM and lots of other mods. My point was really that I wouldn't give "The UL mods have minimal impact on FPS, so don't worry, just download, install and enjoy them!" as a general recommendation. Some of them do have an impact so it becomes, as always, a question of prioritizing for those that are on the performance limit already. I can just speak from my own experience and I sacrifice using several UL:s because I prioritize other mods.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:03 am

5 fps is still not "minimal impact" IMO. Also, of course it matters which other mods you're using. And, yes, my rig is outdated, but I can play the game with FCOM and lots of other mods. My point was really that I wouldn't give "The UL mods have minimal impact on FPS, so don't worry, just download, install and enjoy them!" as a general recommendation. Some of them do have an impact so it becomes, as always, a question of prioritizing for those that are on the performance limit already. I can just speak from my own experience and I sacrifice using several UL:s because I prioritize other mods.

Well I could reword it it so say "The UL mods have a minimal impact on FPS unless your computer is really old and in desperate need of replacing, so don't worry, just download, grab your wallet to upgrade, install and enjoy them!" but that sounds slightly less friendly than trying to reassure someone that the mods won't harm them

I cannot take into account for every possibility, and just assuming that a mod which doesn't affect my FPS at all will make the game completely unplayable for someone else is a little over-negative for my liking. The only true way to answer the original question is to sit down at their PC, install the ULs, then play the game for them for a bit. I can't do that though, I don't know where on the planet they live, so I offer a more general answer, which should encourage people to try it themselves and make their own judgement. If I was instead to warn people that the mods might have a serious impact (in spite of all personal evidence to the contrary) I would be putting them off even giving it a go! I don't want that, I want the ULs to be enjoyed by as many people as possible :dance:

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:48 am

Basically ditto what Vorians just said.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:42 am

Thanks for all the replies!

they really make me feel much better. I'm going to give it a go then

@ display name already in use:
No, I'm using the 32-bit version. I've defragged the partition after all the data deletion and movement, but won't hurt to do it once more to make sure it's better. I've extracted things from a BSA, but have never unpacked or packed one, although I've installed PyFFI and PyFFI-ed some armors before (one particular armor had problem with extreme performance leggings :mellow:). I'll learn how to right away, it sounds good for performance, might make my experience with Oblivion more enjoyable

Oh, and I have Streamline and OSR installed, it's just that I turned off a few of their features like fps management

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:04 am

the addition of a UL can bring the FPS down under my limit. One example is Trollf's wonderful Panther River.

Oh my, what have I done? Killed some FPS. Me bastard! Didn't want that... :sad:

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:12 am

Well I could reword it it so say "The UL mods have a minimal impact on FPS unless your computer is really old and in desperate need of replacing, so don't worry, just download, grab your wallet to upgrade, install and enjoy them!" but that sounds slightly less friendly than trying to reassure someone that the mods won't harm them

I cannot take into account for every possibility, and just assuming that a mod which doesn't affect my FPS at all will make the game completely unplayable for someone else is a little over-negative for my liking. The only true way to answer the original question is to sit down at their PC, install the ULs, then play the game for them for a bit. I can't do that though, I don't know where on the planet they live, so I offer a more general answer, which should encourage people to try it themselves and make their own judgement. If I was instead to warn people that the mods might have a serious impact (in spite of all personal evidence to the contrary) I would be putting them off even giving it a go! I don't want that, I want the ULs to be enjoyed by as many people as possible :dance:

I'm basically just saying that some UL's do have more than a "minimal impact" on FPS. Talk about the "desperate need of replacing a really old computer" or overuse of mods etc. don't change that fact. Anyway, if you haven't understood my point by now it won't help repeating it even more so I'll bow out of this.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:44 am

I'm basically just saying that some UL's do have more than a "minimal impact" on FPS. Talk about the "desperate need of replacing a really old computer" or overuse of mods etc. don't change that fact. Anyway, if you haven't understood my point by now it won't help repeating it even more so I'll bow out of this.

But that's just the point I'm trying to make, none of the ULs have more than a minimal impact on FPS, unless you're trying to use an outdated PC or are overloaded on mods. Thus it isn't the UL which is having a greater impact on FPS, it's the gaming environment which is causing it. And the mod cannot be blamed for that.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:21 am

If anyone is paranoid about FPS, they should stick with the wonderful creation that is known as VANILLA.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:19 pm

Oh, one more thing. Do I need to download and install Tamriel Heightmaps before I could use any of UL mods? I'm asking because http://www.oblivionmodwiki.com/index.php/Unique_Landscapes:_Colovian_Highlands in oblivionmodwiki doesn't say tamriel heightmaps is required, while I'm sure I've read somewhere I do need it

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:59 pm

Oh, one more thing. Do I need to download and install Tamriel Heightmaps before I could use any of UL mods? I'm asking because http://www.oblivionmodwiki.com/index.php/Unique_Landscapes:_Colovian_Highlands in oblivionmodwiki doesn't say tamriel heightmaps is required, while I'm sure I've read somewhere I do need it

Not required, and if there's information somewhere claiming it is, it needs to be corrected. UL mods only require vanilla Oblivion, nothing more.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:39 am

Thanks for the confirmation. I think I read it somewhere in a UL thread (or page in a wiki?) about Summerset Isle (or is it Summurset?), there's a discussion about the usage of Tamriel Heightmap for something (I think about a new area in the mod)

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:18 am

Summerset Isle is too far off shore to worry about. It would be helpful to know where this discussion is taking place so the right information is being given out.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:14 pm

I don't know, it was almost a month ago and I've forgotten much about it, only the part about Tamriel Heightmap problem still in my memory, and I can't even remember correctly what was the problem, that's why I'm a bit worried

Now, I have another question: I've downloaded Entius Gorge 1.2, and it says "please run TES4LODGen to create the LoD", in which turn TES4LODgen says "You MUST have HDR turned on", which leaves me confused, because I don't use HDR, I use bloom with in-game AA (2x, enhanced with nVIDIA control panel by 16x) because HDR is too bright for me and sometimes the brightness overflows outside the model outline creating bright shades like misplaced aura. Since I don't use HDR, how am I supposed to use TES4LODGen, and in turn, Entius Gorge?

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:46 pm

Now, I have another question: I've downloaded Entius Gorge 1.2, and it says "please run TES4LODGen to create the LoD", in which turn TES4LODgen says "You MUST have HDR turned on", which leaves me confused, because I don't use HDR, I use bloom with in-game AA (2x, enhanced with nVIDIA control panel by 16x) because HDR is too bright for me and sometimes the brightness overflows outside the model outline creating bright shades like misplaced aura. Since I don't use HDR, how am I supposed to use TES4LODGen, and in turn, Entius Gorge?

First, it is incorrect that you MUST have HDR turned on. The fact is that distant LOD often becomes black if you have Bloom turned on, and the cure is to turn Bloom off, and possibly turn HDR on instead. But the right warning would be to say that the distant LOD may become black if Bloom is turned on. Some people play without either HDR or Bloom, and that works just as well.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:13 am

I'm glad I asked, clears a lot of questions.

I looked up a bit on "UL Landscape LOD Files" in tesnexus and it says "f you use only one of the four conflicting mods, you can ignore the downloads on this entry because you already have the correct LOD file". If I already have the correct LOD, what does TES4LODGen do?