Hey all,

I haven't played Oblivion for months, but last time I did I had massive problems with CTD. I know it was because of the mods I had (vanilla ran fine), and I have to assume that it was just too much strain on my machine, but I've heard that it could also be the game's engine. How would I tell the difference, and how can I find a nice balance between a modded Oblivion and a healthy Oblivion? Thanks.

Start here! http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/. I wish there was such a thing when I first started playing back when it was released. I finished the Vanilla game. Well as much as you can *finish* Oblivion. Then modded the heck out of it.

My suggestions are always start slow. Add a few at a time. But I say that because the stuff available now wasn't available when I started and those are just my habits. The link should help you alot

Have fun!

Also, what kind of rig do you have? It's hard to give advice w/o knowing if you have a steampowered computer or a state-of-the-art one.

My site addresses that question as well, and it will better address it in the future. There are many hardware conscious comments and warnings throughout the site, so you should not have to worry too much. See the optimization and stabilization pages once you have installed and tuned everything properly. I do not put those pages into the guide format of the first main pages of the site because I think it is worth seeing the difference that it makes. That way, if a certain change seems detrimental to your performance, you will be able to tell, by having already tested the base (probably not completely optimized) install.

PC Specs & Speculations - http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/install/pcspecs

I can almost be certain that it's my dual core 2.0 Ghz CPU that is giving me problems. I have 3 GB RAM and a 512 MB GeForce 8800 GT . Anything else I can tell you?

And thanks for the link to Tomlong's page, it does have a lot of info.

If you don't go overboard it should be fine for most mod setups. Of course, you can bring it down with QTP3, RAEVWD, Open Cities etc., but even that shouldn't lead to CTD's but rather to bad performance. My guess is that you used some problematic mods or faulty installs. But don't start the game with +100 mods - start with a core mod setup and then add mods one by one while keeping an eye on performance and stability.

EDIT: I should add that you can get overload CTD's. I get those with my steampowered rig after playing for a couple of hours. But in your case that shouldn't be an issue if you don't go completely overboard with mods as said.

Yeah, I'll try reinstalling everything and I'll just start off with the mods I really can't go without. It was getting to the point before where I was crashing after 20 mins of playtime. It really made the game unplayable. Thanks for the help.

Also, can you recommend a texture pack for my setup?

I wouldn't go for the complete QTP3 - not even the redimized version. Especially if your planning to use RAEVWD. Personally, I'm using Bomret's normals and some stuff from QTP3 Redimized (Ayleid etc.). Corepc's http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=18677 is another option - they are not larger than the vanilla ones.

Also, I'd recommend using BAIN for installing texture replacers (well, other stuff as well) as you easily can test out replacers. If you don't like them or you get to much GPU usage you can easily remove them.

That CPU is not very powerful, so do not add too many AI-intensive mods. If you add an overhaul (or...two) do not go crazy with the optional NPC additions. You should be able to run most mods, just not with the best performance. Make choices.



Furthermost, your GPU's VRAM is too limited for the full version, really. Even Redimized is just within its limits, but Redimized is optimized for the purpose of making QTP3 an option for 512MB cards. If you add other visual enhancements to your game, that can easily knock your VRAM requirement into the 700s in places, especially cities. Do not use a VWD mod with that card, OR do not use it with a texture replacing enhancement. CorePC's mod uses the same resolution as vanilla, so you could run that with REAVWD. VWD mods hurt performance on any medium-level gaming system. It is just a trade off users make for the aesthetic enhancement. There is also a Redimized Reduced version of QTP3.

http://sites.google.com/site/oblivionpoinfo/installmods/aestheticoverhaulinstallorder <-- links to the various QTP3 options here, as well as patches

If you want to try BAIN, see the BAIN guide in the Walkthroughs section of my site.