Oblivon, 20fps on any setting, beast computer

[conanthecanadian]

Oblivion will not work.
I've reinstalled, updated all my drivers, set it to a single core program, tricked it into using the correct shaders, and disabled all mods.
No matter what, it refuses to run above 20fps, on any setting.
My computer is relatively beast. a Phenom II 720 BE 2.8, overclocked to 3.4 with the 4th core unlocked, 1600mhz RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5870, etc.
I've seen a lot of people talk about how Oblivion runs at 20fps on powerful systems, but all the fixes haven't worked for me.
Any ideas?

[Josjie]

I've heard about problems with VSync that causes the FPS to go down. Maybe you can try disabling VSync?
How much RAM memory do you have?

[beny15]

Open the task manager and go to the processes tab. scroll down and look for processes that aren't system critical and disable them. this may or may not help.

[Shadow]

Have you tried the mod Quiet Feet?
It can help with FPS improvement, especially when riding horses or near animals by disabling their footfall sound effects.

Hope this helps.

[Spiney]

Do note that Oblivion doesn't actually use all the cores of your computer. Nor will it use all of your RAM due to it being made pre-64bit.

That said, my 8 core i7 seems to run it at about 60+ FPS.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Are you sure you have the stutter remover mod disabled? This locks your maximum fps at a certain value

[beny15]

Do note that Oblivion doesn't actually use all the cores of your computer. Nor will it use all of your RAM due to it being made pre-64bit.

That said, my 8 core i7 seems to run it at about 60+ FPS.

Thats true, it was made to run on one core.You could try set it to only use one core and see what happens.

[conanthecanadian]

I've heard about problems with VSync that causes the FPS to go down. Maybe you can try disabling VSync?
How much RAM memory do you have?

Sorry, forgot to put that. 4gb, as I'm running on Windows XP. My modem is a USB, so I need to use XP for the drivers to work. I have Windows 7 as well, same problem with Oblivion. And for those suggesting running it on one core, I have, as said in the initial post. Makes no difference. The stutter remover mod was removed, like all mods. I've cleared out everything non-essential in task manager, nothing. It makes absolutely no sense.

[beny15]

call tech support?

[H8Ball]

Do you have integrated video or sound? Remember they share the same memory (RAM) as the program runs in and its data is stored in, and only ONE device can access RAM at a time. With three devices (CPU=Central Processing Unit, GPU=Graphics Processing Unit and DSP=Digital Sound Processor) contending for the same RAM, 2 devices have to wait while 1 is busy, so there are serious contention bottlenecks which reduce framerates.

By all means buy an off-the-shelf PC, but be aware that manufacturers aim them at GENERAL PC users who usually don't play 3D games that stress the system too much. As such, manufacturers typically don't fit dedicated video or sound cards, relying instead on integrated video/sound on the Motherboard. This keeps the price of the PC down, making it more attractive to buyers and thus increasing sales.

Gamers typically upgrade to dedicated video/sound cards to relieve the bottlenecks. Each card is effectively a separate computer with its own on-board processor and memory. The CPU, GPU and DSP run in parallel with each other. The CPU is still in overall control but, once data is uploaded to the card memories, they can get on with their jobs at full speed while the CPU gets on with its job at full speed. Contention is minimised, which greatly improves framerates.

Integrated sound and/or video are common causes of low framerates and stuttering in Oblivion, and it's due to bottlenecking. The Quiet Feet mod can help by reducing sound data traffic, and reducing graphical detail (especially Texture Size) and using optimised meshes can help by reducing texture/shader/geometry data traffic. However, if you have a Desktop PC, there's nothing to stop you fitting dedicated video and sound cards to relieve the bottlenecking.

If your video card has one or more additional power sockets, do you have it/them plugged into the PC's power harness? If not, the AGP or PCI-E slot can only supply a limited amount of power, insufficient to run a modern video card at FULL speed. As such, the card will automatically throttle its clock speeds down, GREATLY UNDERCLOCKING itself to reduce power consumption, and this has MAJOR effects on framerates.

Does your Power Supply Unit (PSU) have sufficient wattage to supply the system with enough power? If not, your PC will be unstable, likely to reboot itself (brown out under load) when running games that stress the system, or subject to frequent Blue Screen errors (fatal crashes). Does your PSU have multiple +12V rails? If it does, make sure the video card's +12V additional power is from a separate +12V rail to everything else, and other devices are power-balanced. E.g. Motherboard on one rail, drives on another. Modern PC's usually have PSU's with at least THREE +12V rails for this very reason (1 for mobo, 1 for drives, 1 for video).

For high-end video cards, I suggest at least an 850W PSU with 3 +12V rails. If you're running 2 video cards in SLI mode, I suggest at least a 1000W PSU with 4 +12V rails (mobo, drives, video 1, video 2). Higher wattage is better. The PC will only draw as much power as needed, and there's plenty of "headroom" for future upgrades. Plus running a higher wattage rated PSU at lower wattage means its under less stress which extends its expected operational lifespan. Typical PSU lifespan is around 80,000 hours of continuous use, but cheap PSU's "age" more rapidly over time, reducing their lifespan. Bad PSU's might be rated for 80,000 hours, but that's their predicted lifespan under NORMAL stress, i.e. 2D Desktop work. They might only last 30,000 hours or less under high stress conditions, like running 3D games. Quality is the key. You pay for what you get. High quality PSU's cost more but "age" more slowly and have longer more stable lifespans.

Note: PC manufacturers often skimp on the PSU, fitting cheap ones to save build costs (lower build cost = higher profit). The PSU is often the OTHER most common part that dedicated gamers end up upgrading. If you're not PC-savvy, the PSU is often overlooked when fitting a modern high-end video card, and instability or crashes are the result. The cure is to upgrade to a more powerful PSU and make sure the +12V rail loads are kept below their maximum ratings. The above suggestions are common easy ways around having to use a meter to measure loads. There usually aren't enough drives fitted to overrun one +12V rail, and ensuring the video card is on a separate +12V rail means nothing else can suddenly increase the load on that rail and overrun it, such as an optical drive spinning up. That way, the system remains stable even under maximum stress.

Hope this helps.

[Milder Despues]

Isn't it possible to cap max fps in the Oblivion.ini? This seems suspiciously similar.

[H8Ball]

You know, I completely forgot about the game's built-in framerate limiter, because no-one ever uses it. And it's probably the cause of the problem! <does some quick digging around in Oblivion.ini> Found it! Search for the setting iFPSClamp, and make sure it's set to the default of 0, e.g. iFPSClamp=0. If it's set to anything higher than zero, the game will NOT allow the framerate to exceed that value. You may have it set to iFPSClamp=20, which LIMITS the framerate to 20fps maximum. When it's set to 0, the game DOESN'T limit the framerate at all. It builds frames and sends them to the video card as fast as possible.

However, this isn't a good idea either. The human brain perceives a slideshow of still pictures as smooth movement from as little as 10~12fps to as high as 60~70fps. Below 10fps, it detects the "slideshow" effect. Anything above 60~70fps is pointless because the brain just can't process the images fast enough. It "skips" frames. This is why cinema runs at 24fps, PAL (UK) format SDTV, HDTV and DVD's run at 25fps, and NTSC (US) format SDTV, HDTV and DVD's run at 30fps. Oblivion on Xbox360 renders at maximum 30fps and on PS3 at maximum 25fps.

On PC, it's best to use the Oblivion Stutter Remover mod to cap framerates between minimum 10fps and maximum of HALF your monitor's refresh rate (mine is 60fps, so OSR is set to 30fps maximum cap). It's best to set a monitor refresh rate that's divisible by 2, e.g. 60fps, 72fps, but not 85fps. That way, you can enable VSync to prevent image tearing and still perceive smooth movement at 30fps (half of 60) or 36fps (half of 72). My theory is that capping Oblivion's maximum framerate leaves more CPU time for AI processing, which means allies and enemies "think" smarter in combat.

After I installed OSR, I noticed that enemies tend to anticipate my actions more often and block, dodge, counterattack or stagger me JUST at the right moment. E.g. JUST as I start swinging my weapon, they'll start to block, or let loose with a power blow that staggers me. JUST as I drop my shield, they'll start swinging, or suddenly run backwards so I MISS! JUST as I loose an arrow at an archer or spellcaster, they'll decide to start sidestepping OUT of the line of fire! Even the Deer occasionally walk off JUST as I loose, and they seem to be doing it MORE often than they did before! Maybe these are just placebo effects, but they're hard to ignore. There seems to be a DEFINITE overall difference in the strategies I'm having to use to win.