Can my computer handle Oblivion?

[mglwd40]

I have played Daggerfall in the past, and am currently playing Morrowind, and I was thinking of trying out Oblivion once I am done. However, I am worried that my computer might have trouble running it as it is fairly old. Are there any demos or anything out there, so that I could test how well my computer handles it before actually purchasing it? Using systemrequirementslab, it says that my computer's video card doesn't meet the requirements (it says that I don't have Hardware T&L or Vertex Shader, but meet the other video card requirements). However I get that message for pretty much every game, a large number of which I can play perfectly fine with little to no lag (ex.: Lord of the Rings Online). I would really like to play it, but I am nervous about going out and buying it without being confident that my computer is up to snuff, so to speak. I have put my computer information below if that helps! Thanks a bunch in advance for any help or information provided!


------------------
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
System Manufacturer: Compaq-Presario
System Model: SR5214X
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2140 @ 1.60GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.6GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 2040MB RAM
Page File: 2402MB used, 3636MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Display Memory: 256 MB
Dedicated Memory: 0 MB
Shared Memory: 256 MB
D3D9 Overlay: Supported
DXVA-HD: Not Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled

[MoneyShot]

Oblivion checks for Hardware T&L support on start up and simply will not run without it.

I am not sure if there is a direct or simple way to force Oblivion to use your CPU to run T&L in software mode as a work around; there might be patches/mods or .ini settings that will let you do this but I don't know of any off the top of my head.

There are open source/freeware programs like 3D Analyze which will let you force software T&L on a game, but they might not support your card and/or might not work with Oblivion. So going down that route is a bit of a gamble.

Even if you can bypass Oblivion's diagnostic check and get it to work, without a graphics card with dedicated VRAM you will probably be reduced to playing on the lowest settings to get a playable frame rate.

Sadly there is no game demo for Oblivion .

Sorry about the bad news, but don't worry: Oblivion is a great game, but at least you can play Morrowind which will always be the best of the series imo .

[Annorax]

Give this a try: http://www.oldblivion.com/

I've never personally used it and I am not sure if it's still being updated, but it might be worth looking into if your computer can't handle the standard version.

[Kou-chan]

Your computer should run Oblivion fine. I ran it on a 1.6 ghz single core 1 gig ram with a 128 gfx chip and it was okay, just had to tone down the settings a tad.

[MoneyShot]

Your computer should run Oblivion fine. I ran it on a 1.6 ghz single core 1 gig ram with a 128 gfx chip and it was okay, just had to tone down the settings a tad.

His computer won't run Oblivion just fine. Like I said before, his Intel graphics are not compatible with Oblivion.

[Kou-chan]

Your computer should run Oblivion fine. I ran it on a 1.6 ghz single core 1 gig ram with a 128 gfx chip and it was okay, just had to tone down the settings a tad.

His computer won't run Oblivion just fine. Like I said before, his Intel graphics are not compatible with Oblivion.

So Radeon isn't compatable with Oblivion if Intel made it? Never heard of that one.

[H8Ball]

According to Intel's website, the 945G chipset has the following Shader Model 2.0 (SM2.0) support...

Vertex Shaders -> Transform: Via DirectX software emulation only
Pixel Shaders -> Lighting: Hardware support

Oblivion requires FULL hardware support for SM2.0. That means both Vertex Shaders AND Pixel Shaders. On startup, the game tests for hardware support. If it's not met, it will simply exit with an error message.

Your video chipset has no hardware support for Vertex Shaders and therefore no hardware support for the Transform side of Transform & Lighting. Oblivion isn't taking "software emulation" as an answer.

You may get away with using OldBlivion to force the game into SM1.1 mode. I'm not sure, but I think OldBlivion "fools" the game into "thinking" its SM2.0 hardware tests have succeeded so it runs without error, and replaces the SM2.0 shaders with SM1.1 versions. The task then is to tweak Oblivion to reduce the eye candy to increase framerates to an acceptable level.

It's the gameplay that matters. The eye candy is just icing on the cake.