Oblivion Tweaking

[killahsin]

Huge thanks to killahsin and others for this thread! -nV News Staff

Lets keep all the tweaking in here. I will maintain and update the first postage accordingly. Please note that these tweaks are not supported by bethseda or NVNEWS use at your own risk. Oh and always back up your ini files.

Ok clay is on a roll and has made an excellent comparison between the lod settings so you can see first hand what they do without messing with them. To understand the scaling value of this engine. Yes it is unlike any game woot(except maybe ultima ix in terms of draw distance ability). This puppy really scales outward.

UPDATE: Clay has created his alpha ini editor have a look at it. It is quite useful and easy to use.

These are resolution to issue tweaks. If you are experiancing problems as described within this specific quote these issues may help you resolve them.

this tweak has been said to fix some framerate bouncing as well as mouse lag, please report your results.

This issue was described as the game going into an almost bullet time like movement slowdown. Credit to Dwegner

Ok below are alot of the different ini tweaks people have found messed with and their results. There is a report that the grids to load one may possibly be the cause of a reflection error I am currently waiting on more input from other users as to if they have this error occur also please post to let us know.

posted by Clay FYI for those that don't know. Windows INI files use a semicolon ( ; ) as the comment character.

So, if you want to make quick changes without having to remember what you changed...you can do this:

;uNumDepthGrids=3
uNumDepthGrids=1

Tilde (~) key removes the HUD but don't think it's playable once you do so.TILDE IS ALSO THE CONSOLE.

In the folder unique to your character (It's somewhere in My Documents\ My Games for me), edit the Oblivion.ini file in the following ways:

Set uGridsToLoad = 10 (5 by default)
DO NOT USE the Change the fLandTexturingTilingMult = 0.5000 (2 or 2.5 by default) tweak listed on the front page! While this will cause distant textures to look slightly better, it causes all textures to be stretched massively which seriously degrades the image quality of all textures at close range (or at least the land textures). Again, if you value the way the land textures look at close range, DO NOT change that option in the .ini file!

(Note: This does increase load times.)

The first tweak loads more true grids, and the second tweak reduces the tiling that occurs on those grids.

I also have noticed that this does mess up water reflections a bit. I have been able to fix the problem slightly but am still researching how to amend it completely.

To somewhat fix the water, change this:
uNumDepthGrids = 1 (it's 3 by default).

This tweak came from here

By default, the water only reflects the land. Inside the ini you can change it so it reflects all trees, static objects, actors, and other miscelaneous objects:

bUseWaterReflectionsMisc=1
bUseWaterReflectionsStatics=1
bUseWaterReflectionsTrees=1
bUseWaterReflectionsActors=1

You can also mess with the tree settings, changing the maximum distance real animated trees can be placed (the variable is fLODMultTrees).

These are for the grass draw distance.
fGrassEndDistance=3000.0000
fGrassStartFadeDistance=2000.0000

(taken from the same elderscrolls thread on page2)

I am putting this 'tweak on here but note that it still needs more testing the framerate noticeable is apparent so far in the test if proved false i will remove.

Originally Posted by NoDamage
It has been reported that uninstalling DefilerPak/ffdshow significantly increases performance, and setting “bUse Joystick=0” in the .ini might help as well. It might be worth giving it a shot and seeing what happens.

posted by Garulfo

I experimented a bit with the following .ini settings.


Here are the screenshots to show the changes (or non changes):

This first screenshot iswith default ini settings. Look at the shadow of the tree.
http://imagehosted.co.uk/imageview/i...%20Default.JPG

This is the same tree/shadow with the iCanopyShadowScale set to 2048 instead of 512. The shadow is blurred. I noticed no FPS gain (51FPS in both solutions). But the shadow definitely looks different. It might be more usful in bigger forests...
http://imagehosted.co.uk/imageview/i...ale=204 8.JPG

This is the same tree/shadow with the same ini setting changed, but this time lowered to 128. The shadow is much crisper. But personally I think it looks kinda weird. I like the 256 setting best.
http://imagehosted.co.uk/imageview/i...cale=128 .JPG


Not a revolutionnary setting but people with lower configs might want to try augmenting that value. You still get the shadow, it still looks ok. You jsut do nt get each leaf's shadow...

These 2 screenshots look exactly the same as the default settings, so I couldn't figure what they are for. Maybe you guys will notice something I did not.

Setting changed: CanopyShadowGrassMult=8.0000 (default was 1.000)
http://imagehosted.co.uk/imageview/i...t =8.0000.JPG

Setting changed: bDrawShadows=1 (default was 0)
http://www.imagehosted.co.uk/viewer....hadows=1 .JPG

To sum up, if you want your shadows to look crisper, just lower the value for iCanopyShadowScale (default =512). If you want it more blurry, add to the value. I would advise adding only values that are multiple of 8s, since the default was 512. You might, on lower configurations and in lushious forests, gain performance by blurring the shadows.

DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk. Back up your Oblivion.ini first. Please do not request official troubleshooting support with any changes to your .ini file. Consider these to be just from a fan playing the game. You guys are smart and know all this, just cma again

Here are some tweaks I play with:

uGridDistantTreeRange=15
raise to increase area in which LOD tree billboards are drawn - looks quite nice doubled if your comp. can take it

uGridDistantCount=25
raise to increase the number of LOD tree billboards drawn - looks quite nice doubled if your comp. can take it

uGridsToLoad=5
raise to increase the X/Y dimension of the number of high detail exterior cells loaded - should be an odd number, 3 or greater. This is quite a performance hit with anything above 5. If there are 25 cells loaded at a time with a value of 5, then there are 49 cells loaded with a value of 7 and so on. I would not recommend going above 7 or 9, but terrain looks nicer if your comp can take it

bAllowScreenShot=0
set to 1 to allow the PrintScreen key to take screenshots

bFull Screen=1
0 = windowed, 1 = fullscreen

iSize W=640
iSize H=480
current screen resolution

bUseWaterReflectionsMisc=0
bUseWaterReflectionsStatics=0
bUseWaterReflectionsTrees=0
bUseWaterReflectionsActors=0
set these to 1 to allow these kinds of objects to reflect in water

fDlgFocus=2.1000
raise to pull camera back some in dialogue - I use a value of 4 or so

bForceFullLOD=0
a value of 1 forces foreground trees to always render at the highest detail - I haven't found this to be a huge performance hit for the visual benefit, your mileage may very

iMaxGrassTypesPerTexure=2
raise to allow more unique grass types per terrain texture - 4 should be enough to let you see everything possible

These are some interesting settings and a very detailed description of what they do is shown here.

iMinGrassSize=200

fGrassEndDistance=10000.0000

fGrassStartFadeDistance=5000.0000

http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/i...entry49 61084

moves the status bar down ... this is good.

CODE
[Interface]
iSafeZoneX=20
iSafeZoneY=20
iSafeZoneXWide=20
iSafeZoneYWide=20

to

CODE
[Interface]
iSafeZoneX=5
iSafeZoneY=5
iSafeZoneXWide=5
iSafeZoneYWide=5

[OWA]

Be sure to use the water tweak at the bottom of the first quote. Without it, the water is really messed up.

[Marvel_us]

Thanks a lot for this guys. I'll try them out when I get home.

[killahsin]

Does anyone know the grass draw distance one so i can add that one to the list? Those are the most basic ones people will need access to.

[agentkay]

Originally Posted by killahsin

Does anyone know the grass draw distance one so i can add that one to the list? Those are the most basic ones people will need access to.

fGrassEndDistance=3000.0000
fGrassStartFadeDistance=2000.0000

(taken from the same elderscrolls thread on page2)

[Skinner]

Nice summary, hopefully it would look like this now (waiting for the game yet):

http://www.pcgameshardware.de/screen...l/Oblivion.JPG

[agentkay]

Post no. 63 on the elderscrolls forum thread:

NOTE TO EVERYONE:

DO NOT USE the Change the fLandTexturingTilingMult = 0.5000 (2 or 2.5 by default) tweak listed on the front page! While this will cause distant textures to look slightly better, it causes all textures to be stretched massively which seriously degrades the image quality of all textures at close range (or at least the land textures). Again, if you value the way the land textures look at close range, DO NOT change that option in the .ini file!

Without the setting
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/atta...1&d=1142975981

With the setting
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/atta...1&d=1142975981

[CaptNKILL]

Originally Posted by agentkay

Post no. 63 on the elderscrolls forum thread:

NOTE TO EVERYONE:

DO NOT USE the Change the fLandTexturingTilingMult = 0.5000 (2 or 2.5 by default) tweak listed on the front page! While this will cause distant textures to look slightly better, it causes all textures to be stretched massively which seriously degrades the image quality of all textures at close range (or at least the land textures). Again, if you value the way the land textures look at close range, DO NOT change that option in the .ini file!

*******
True or not???

Yep, looks to be true. These are Clay's screenies with and without tweaks:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/f542870dc7.jpg

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/0787d372e2.jpg

Look at the ground right down in front.

[killahsin]

based on the screencaps i saw its true. Updated for now.

[OWA]

Well dang...I guess more work needs to be done on the tweak. Killahsin? All my attempts just made things worse.

[killahsin]

yah i just kept clicking cancel on direct2drive till i got a fast server lol. so in 3 hours i will begin messing with the ini big time. Yes i have posted those updates.

[agentkay]

Originally Posted by OWA

All my attempts just made things worse.

I don´t think so at all. It´s always trial and error. I think uGridsToLoad is the way to go, incl. the water tweak if its necessary without the fLandTexturingTilingMult. I think its awesome that so much has been figured out within a few hours. The Gridstoload setting should have been an ingame slider in the first place.