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About this mod
Centralized list of tweaks to get Oblivion to run on Windows 10 smoothly, without crashes.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS
THESE CAN WORK FOR WINDOWS 7 AS WELL
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Links to other Windows 10 Optimizations:
I apologize for being gone for so long, this mod has been updated for 2020. I lost my login details in December of 2019.
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By now Ladies & Gentlemen, you're probably frustrated with Windows 10 not running Oblivion properly. Crashes, Stutters, etc. After months of searching the web deeply for fixes and tweaks, I have managed to get my game to where I no longer crash. I'll explain all the tweaks and optimizations I did. NOTE: YOU NEED OBSE FOR SOME OF THESE. (OBlivion Script Extender)
Let me know how these tweaks go for you! I know that these tweaks have been here for years, but they aren't centralized for everyone to find, and people can forget some of them, along some people not even knowing about some of these fixes. If you're feeling generous, I would appreciate your endorsement to get this further out there for others to benefit from. Oblivion is such an amazing game, so I made this for lovers of the game like myself to keep the experience smooth & pleasurable.
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I. INI File
II. Heap Allocation
III. Compatibility Mode
IV. Mods from other authors
V. "Oblivion Stutter Remover" Hotfix
VI. Update Your Windows 10
VII. Update Your Graphics Drivers
VIII. CPU Core Affinity
IX. Mods causing Crashes
X. Cleaning Mods
XI. Optimizing LOD
XII. Make AA work with HDR
XIII. Defragmentation
XIV. Cleaning Junk Files
XV. Update your Visual C++ Redistributables
XVI. Optimizing your Power Settings
XVII. Repairing Windows 10 Errors
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1. INI File
Included in the downloads is my INI file.
Now, I'm not going to go into the whole mumbo-jumbo about what lines I changed, I changed a few necessary lines. If you're familiar with the INI file yourself, then you can check it yourself. Archive Invalidation is checked in the INI file, as well as multiple MultiThreading options. All graphical settings are very high/maximum.
Two lines I did set were:
bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=1
NOTE: THESE AREN'T THE ONLY LINES I CHANGED. USE THE INI FILE.
I do not recommend bPreemptivelyUnloadCells to be set to 1 (enabled) because it causes stuttering everytime you walk into a new cell. This is caused by the game's engine unloading data it thinks isn't needed or going to be used from the previous cell. Leave it set to 0, contrary to what other guides say. This setting is for those who have 1GB of RAM or less, who need more RAM to be freed because of unused cell data.
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel is fine at being set to 1, as it unloads data only when fast traveling. No stuttering is caused by this as the unloading occurs during loadscreens. I use this as Oblivion still can only get up to 3.75GB of RAM with the 4GB patch, so it is limited to a small amount to use still. Purging unused data from a location you are coming from (such as across the map) is beneficial because that data isn't needed of course (you're somewhere else in the game).
Oblivion was DESIGNED to run on 2 cores at most for the PC, as at the time the mainstream processors were the Pentium D series. As such I have set the INI files to use at most 2 cores of your processor. Oblivion DOESN'T PLAY WELL WITH MORE THAN 2 CORES BEING USED. THERE IS NO CHANGING THIS (unless they remaster it with a 64-bit engine of course). See step VIII (8) for more about fixing this.
Any mods you currently have that require a INI change, include those tweaks (besides Archive Invalidation).
NOTE: The uVideoDeviceIdentifier code that is in YOUR INI File has to be added to the one I have provided. Replace the code in YOURS into the one I have provided.
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2. Heap Allocation
Heap Allocation can be used to increase game performance. It is a memory allocation tweak. I believe it can also help the 'A-Bomb glitch'.
MoreHeap
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/44985
Drop the 'Version.dll' file into your Oblivion main folder. (NOT IN THE DATA FOLDER OR OBSE/PLUGINS)
An INI file named 'MoreHeap.ini' will be generated in the same folder. Open the INI and set the number to 768 and save it.
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3. Compatibility Mode
Oblivion was designed to run on Windows XP. When Oblivion came out, Service Pack 2 was out, but it has been updated to run perfectly on Service Pack 3.
Go to your Data folder, and right click obse_loader, go to Properties at the bottom. Go to compatibility mode, and set "Run this program in compatibility mode:" to Windows XP (Service Pack 3). Also, check at the bottom "Run this program as an administrator."
Do this for both the Oblivion.exe and OblivionLauncher.exe as well.
NOTE: If obse_loader.exe doesn't launch, and get's a black screen, then don't apply compatibility mode to it. I have no idea why this occurs, as it doesn't do it with my setup.
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4. Mods from other authors
NVAC - New Vegas Anti Crash - Speaks for itself
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/53635/
Also grab DisableProcessWindowsGhosting v2 from the optional files as well, and place it in the Data/OBSE/plugins folder.
This fix works for Oblivion as well, not just New Vegas.
OneTweak - Borderless Windowed Mode. Currently includes: Alt-tab functionality, Double Cursor fix, and of course Borderless Windows.
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21337
Works for Oblivion as well, not just new vegas. Place the files in the Data/OBSE/plugins folder.
BOSS (Better Oblivion Sorting Software) - Sorts your plugins.
https://boss-developers.github.io/
On the website, click 'Download BOSS on Github', then click the boss_installer.7zip file to download. Install it and run BOSS. It will open a black command prompt asking which game to sort. Select Oblivion (and only Oblivion with this tool), then it will open a webpage saying it sorted your plugins.
Unofficial Oblivion Patch - Fixes bugs
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/5296
4GB Patcher - Enables Oblivion to use 4GB (3.75GB) RAM instead of being limited to 2GB.
https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371
With the 4GB patcher, patch the following .exe:
Oblivion.exe
Also, if you have the Steam version, and do a file integrity check, THIS WILL RESET ALL MODIFICATIONS TO ANY GAME FILES YOU HAVE MADE, INCLUDING THE 4GB PATCH.
EngineBugFixes - Fixes major bugs and engine issues that cause crashing.
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47085/
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5. "Oblivion Stutter Remover" Hotfix
Oblivion Stutter Remover (OBSR) causes crashing now, as Windows 10 released an update that breaks a feature in the mods OBSE plugin .ini file. This is caused by "bHookCriticalSections" being set to 1.
To fix this, I have already edited it and disabled settings not needed, such as the Experimental section - why would you enable experimental features when looking for game stability?
FPS Management is disabled (the INI file already has V-Sync enabled since FPSClamp causes engine issues by 'clamping' (locking) the engine's speed to your framerate (when your FPS drops due to heavy fighting or such, FPSClamp makes it so the game's engine will slow down as well.)
ReplaceHeap is disabled as tweak #2 already solves this, and is less buggy.
Please check the downloads tab and download my Oblivion Stutter Remover.ini.
Place it in: Data/OBSE/Plugins
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6. Update Your Windows 10
Even though Windows Update gives you updates, you need to make sure you have the latest build. Older Windows versions have irritating bugs that can cause stuttering. As of writing [Oct. 2nd 2020], my version is:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Doesn't matter if you have Home or Pro, either is fine).
Version: 2004
OS Build: 19041.546
You can check this by going to your search bar and typing: Settings, click it and go to Update & Security, on the lower right, it should say "OS Build Info." Check yours. 2004 as of writing is the latest. If you don't have version 2004, click this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
Download this tool and run it. It is from Microsoft themselves, it will ask you what you wish to do. Select 'Upgrade the PC'. Click Keep Files & Settings/Apps (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THAT SELECTED, BY JOVE). Depending on your hardware, this can take a bit of time, but it is worth it. It will install the very latest Windows 10 Update available. After installing, check for updates.
Once you have Version 2004 installed, type 'Check for Updates' into the search bar, and check for updates from Windows Update until you are COMPLETELY up-to-date.
Doing this removed my stuttering and CPU freezing issues (I had 1803 installed.) This also seems to have helped with Oblivion crashing.
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7. Update Your Graphics Drivers
Your graphics drivers can have effects on Oblivion if they have bugs. Make sure they are updated.
To check your graphics brand and model, go to your search bar, and type 'dxdiag'. If it asks to check for driver signature checking, click No. Go to the display tab and it will say your graphics model and maker.
NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
AMD: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-driver-autodetect
INTEL: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html
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8. Cpu Core Affinity
While the INI file I have included has specificed to use 2 Cores at most, the issue is that some people have stated that this changes nothing. So I have found the solution to setting your CPU 'affinity' (restricting the processor to run Oblivion on 2 cores) without having to go and change it each time in Task Manager. IF THIS TWEAK CAUSES LAG/STUTTERING, STOP USING IT.
Go here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/83864-processor-affinity-add-set-affinity-context-menu.html
On this page, scroll down to find "To Add Run with CPU-1 Affinity to Context Menu" and click download. This is going to add a right-click option to your context menu (the menu you get when you right click a program). This is a .reg file (registry file), so run it and install it.
Now whenever you run obse_loader, you can right click it and click "Run with CPU-1 Affinity."
This will limit the game to 2 Cores everytime without having to mess with Task Manager needlessly.
(Core 0 = 1st core, Core 1 = 2nd core)
NOTE: If you still wish to set it by using Task Manager, right click Oblivion.exe and click 'Go to details'. Then right click the process, and click 'set affinity'. Make SURE that ONLY CPU 0 & 1 are selected. These are the first 2 cores.
Do not do 0 & 2, or 1 & 3, etc. ONLY 0 & 1 as Oblivion recognizes the first two. (The affinity changes you make to the current instance of an application or process are only temporary, and not set permanently), so you would have to do this every single time you restart or turn your computer back on.
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9. Mods causing Crashes
With this step it requires entirely your own time, will, and work. As everyone has different mods, it is up to you to make sure none of them are causing crashes. Make sure your load order is optimized with BOSS, and from now on, please test the mods you install, before just massively installing a bunch at the same time. Testing is annoying, I know, but it makes it easier to see if a mod is stable in your game. This means, for example an armor mod, checking if the armor is working in-game, etc. It will save you a lot of trouble.
If a mod is causing your game to crash, I reccommend to disable all your current plugin files if you think a mod is causing it, and to start a new game fresh. Save that new game, then exit the game and enable a few .esp's/.esm's, and reload the game into the new savegame. See if the crash persists. Once you start crashing, disable all the plugins that you last enabled, and then start enabling them one-by-one, and you'll find the mod that is causing conflict. HOWEVER, if you disable all plugins and still crash on a new game, something else is causing your troubles. (ENB's are an example, they don't play kindly on Windows 10 and I have never gotten one to work for me.)
With Oblivion on Windows 10, I have combined plugins (more on that here by GamerPoets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S6cpCwTezE to lower the amount of .esp files to try and make it easier on the game's engine.
My maximum amount I would reccommend is 100 plugins, even though the cap is 255. The higher you go, the more likely the engine is to become buggy or crash.
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10. Cleaning Mods
Cleaning mods is relatively simple. Download the following:
TES4Edit
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11536
Download 4.0.1 in the Old Files section. Why? 4.0.2 and above+ has removed the simple process to clean mods, which they deem as 'obsolete' and have replaced it with something more clunky and complicated (by having to clean mods one-by-one rather than a simple click-and-go).
-1. Use the Tes4Edit.exe (Not the 64 version) by placing it and the Edit Scripts folder in your games main folder. Run it and have all your mods selected. Once it is done scanning, right click any mod and click 'Apply Filter for Cleaning'. Wait.
-2. Once done, right click a mod, now press CTRL+A, this should select everything. While still holding CTRL, unselect Oblivion.esm, Oblivion.exe, and the Unofficial Olivion Patch.esp.
(MAKE SURE THAT OBLIVION.EXE+ESM ARE NOT SELECTED, AS YOU DON'T WANT TO CLEAN THEM.)
-3. Let go of CTRL, and right click any of the mods selected. Click "Undelete and Disable References" and it will do its thing. Once done, right click again, and select "Remove 'Identical to Master' Records" and wait for it to complete.
-4. Once done, you can exit the program. If it cleaned anything, it will request to backup the plugins upon exit, which is entirely up to you (I never do so as it gives me no issues).
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11. Optimizing LOD
LOD (Level of Detail) is what is rendered beyond the 'uGridsToLoad' value in the INI files. (Default is 5 which I have set as 5 in my INI files, I never reccommend going to 6 or 7 as some people say.) So to optimize what we see off in the horizon in the game, we will use the following mod:
TES4LODGen
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/15781
Download the top file (ignore the resources file). Place the Edit Scripts and .exe files to the main folder of your game (where the Oblivion.exe is located).
-1. Right click the TES4LODGen.exe file, go to properties. Go to compatibility, and at the bottom, check 'Run as Administrator.' Apply and click Okay.
-2. Run the Program, and wait for it to finish. It will say 'LOD Generation: finished (you can close this application now)
Run this program everytime you install a new mod or new mods, just for safe measure.
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12.Make AA work with HDR
HDR cannot be enabled with AA on, and vice versa. HDR has better light management than Bloom does, but it sadly cannot be enabled with the game's built-in Anti-Aliasing (AA is used to smoothe lines in a game to make it less jagged, and look better.)
To fix this, go to the following link:
HDR and Anti-Aliasing
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39909
Download the file. Go into the d3d9 folder. Copy all 4 files to your games main folder (NOT THE DATA FOLDER), and then enter the game. Go to your in-game quality settings, and turn HDR on. Leave AA off. (My INI file already has HDR on and AA off.)
When you load your save, if you press the PAUSE-BREAK button, it will activate or deactivate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA). To check if it is on or off, go to an object and look really closely and press the key. It should smoothe itself out or turn jagged. You want it to be smoothed out.
As you can see here with it off and on.
This enables FXAA (Fast approXimate Anti-Aliasing), which the main advantage of this technique over conventional anti-aliasing is that it does not require large amounts of computing power. It achieves this by smoothing jagged edges according to how they appear on screen as pixels, rather than analyzing the 3D model itself as in conventional anti-aliasing.
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13. Defragmentation
THIS IS ONLY FOR THOSE WITH HARD DRIVES. IF YOU HAVE AN SSD (SOLID STATE DRIVE), DO NOT DO THIS TO YOUR SSD!
Chances are, your game files are what is called 'fragmented.' I'm going to leave two very short video's (pick your poison) to explain what fragmentation and defragmentation of hard drive files means if you don't understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtRIOUZuI2c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSvOfu2PfXk
TL;DR: Fragmentated game files means the game has to wait for your hard drive to assemble all the file data if it is scattered across the hard drive's disk.
Hard drive's have little arm's inside that read data from the disk's. The less that arm has to move, the faster it will read data. Fragmentated files means the arm has to move around a lot to find large data files to read them. This increases load times, and can even cause minor freezing if the hard drive is your computer's 'achillies heel'.
Now that that's out of the way, for those that understand, use the following disk defragger:
https://download.ccleaner.com/dfsetup222.exe
-1. Set it up, and run it. Click Settings at the top once open. Uncheck "Show SSD drives, Removeable Drives, & Ejected Drives." Save and exit the menu.
-2. Click to the right of 'Analyze' at the bottom of the program, the arrow, and select 'Optimize'. This can take awhile depending on how slow your hard drive is. Optimize will sort your files AND defrag them at the same time.
Defragging will just put everything back together (like scattered pages being reassembled in a book), but Optimizing sorts it all like a book case (organizing the books on a shelf). I recommend to run Optimize once a week. You can ALSO go to the top, click Action, Go to Advanced, and Check for Drive Errors.
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14. Cleaning Junk Files
Another thing that can cause lag, is when your computer has a lot of unused Junk Files that accumulate over time.
-1. Go to the lower-left of your screen, and click the Search button (Cortana bar, etc.) and type 'Disk Cleanup'.
-2. It will request which drive to clean, click your main drive (C: Drive) and then it will scan for a bit, then once it is done, it will say on the lower-left of the program: "Clean up system files" with a little shield in front of it (administrator rights required shield). Click this and wait again.
-3. Once done, click the 'More Options' tab. It will say 'System Restore and Shadow Copies', click Delete. This will significantly increase your drive space, if you have lots of System Restore points that are uneeded.
-4. Go back to the Disk Cleanup tab, and check EVERY box except for 'Downloads'. Then click 'OK' at the bottom, and it will begin to cleanup junk files.
NOTE: THIS WILL NOT TOUCH YOUR PERSONAL FILES SUCH AS PHOTOS, VIDEOS, ETC. Only junk files that the system itself has created (such as cache that is old).
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15. Update your Visual C++ Redistributables
Your PC probably has older versions of Visual C++ Redistributables installed. These are C++ coding libraries distributed by microsoft, so that programs or games can use the coding to run certain things.
In the downloads section, I have included a .zip file which has a folder with ALL up-to-date versions of these (and will be uploading newer ones when they are released to keep them up-to-date for you all). Download this and extract the 'Redistributables' folder to the desktop.
They are as follows: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, & 2015-2019 (2015, 2017, & 2019 is combined).
Different Programs & Games require different years of these. SO INSTALL ALL OF THESE YEARS. A game developed in 2005 (like Oblivion) relies on the 2005 one, NOT the 2019 one. A game made in 2013, most likely requires the 2013 one, and so on. See what I mean? So install them all.
IF YOU HAVE A 32-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM, ONLY INSTALL THE X86 VERSIONS.
IF YOU HAVE A 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM, INSTALL BOTH THE X86 & X64 VERSIONS.
To check whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System, type 'This PC' into the Search bar (Cortana bar).
Right-click it, and click Properties. It should say on this page '32-bit (or) 64-bit Operating System'.
If it says '32-bit Operating System, x64-based Processor' you still have a 32-bit Operating System, so only install the x86 versions.
-1. Here's what I want you to do: Go to your search bar (Cortana bar) and type 'Control Panel', and click it. Then click 'Uninstall a program' in the lower-left under 'Programs'.
-2. Scroll down your list of programs, and uninstall ALL your programs named 'Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable'. Once none are left, start installing the latest ones I have provided for you, one-by-one.
-3. Once they are all installed, you should have TWO of each installed, an x86, and an x64 version. (Unless you have a 32-bit Operating System, which you only want x86 versions for each year installed.)
-4. Restart your computer.
It should look like this when you're done:
NOTE: Even though these are all of different years, they are all still needed, just not the older version numbers. The newer versions have updated C++ code which can fix coding issues for the game. Not all of these are used by Oblivion (only 2005 & 2008), but it is nice to have them all updated.
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19. Optimizing your Power Settings
There are a few power settings you need to adjust for your computer to run at optimal speed.
-1. Go to your search bar, type "Power settings" and select "Power & Sleep settings". On the right side, select "Additional power settings", and then select high performance. This makes it so your processor will run at its best speed all the time, rather than slowing itself down and causing lag.
-2. These next few steps are for NVIDIA Graphics Card users only, I want you to go to your icon tray (the little arrow ^ pointing upwards in the lower right of your taskbar, and see if you have NVIDIA Settings. Open it if you do. (If you have a GT/GTX/RTX Graphics Card, you should have this program. It comes with your graphics updates.)
-4. On the Left panel, select 'Adjust image settings with preview', and then make sure 'Use the advanced 3D image settings' is checked. Click Apply on the lower right, and exit once it applies.
-3. Go to "Manage 3D Settings" on the left panel, and scroll down a bit to find 'Power management mode'. Put it as Prefer Maximum Performance.
These settings are essential for your CPU & GPU to run at their optimal speeds without having slowdowns.
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17. Repairing Windows 10 Errors
This tweak is to repair any corrupted Windows 10 system files which can limit or hinder Fallout 3 due to a performance issue or a bug issue.
-1. Go to your search bar (cortana bar), type 'CMD' and right-click it, run as Administrator.
-2. Type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth' and wait for it to complete.
-3. After that completes, type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth' and wait for it to complete.
-4. After that completes, type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth' and wait for it to complete.
-5. Finally after those three are done, type this exactly: 'sfc /scannow' and wait for it to complete. Once done, errors should have been fixed. Restart your PC.
That's all you need to do.
Let me know how these tweaks go for you! I know that these tweaks have been here for years, but they aren't centralized for everyone to find, and people can forget some of them, along some people not even knowing about some of these fixes. If you're feeling generous, I would appreciate your endorsement to get this further out there for others to benefit from. Oblivion is such an amazing game, so I made this for lovers of the game like myself to keep the experience smooth & pleasurable.
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I. INI File
II. Heap Allocation
III. Compatibility Mode
IV. Mods from other authors
V. "Oblivion Stutter Remover" Hotfix
VI. Update Your Windows 10
VII. Update Your Graphics Drivers
VIII. CPU Core Affinity
IX. Mods causing Crashes
X. Cleaning Mods
XI. Optimizing LOD
XII. Make AA work with HDR
XIII. Defragmentation
XIV. Cleaning Junk Files
XV. Update your Visual C++ Redistributables
XVI. Optimizing your Power Settings
XVII. Repairing Windows 10 Errors
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1. INI File
Included in the downloads is my INI file.
Now, I'm not going to go into the whole mumbo-jumbo about what lines I changed, I changed a few necessary lines. If you're familiar with the INI file yourself, then you can check it yourself. Archive Invalidation is checked in the INI file, as well as multiple MultiThreading options. All graphical settings are very high/maximum.
Two lines I did set were:
bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=1
NOTE: THESE AREN'T THE ONLY LINES I CHANGED. USE THE INI FILE.
I do not recommend bPreemptivelyUnloadCells to be set to 1 (enabled) because it causes stuttering everytime you walk into a new cell. This is caused by the game's engine unloading data it thinks isn't needed or going to be used from the previous cell. Leave it set to 0, contrary to what other guides say. This setting is for those who have 1GB of RAM or less, who need more RAM to be freed because of unused cell data.
bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel is fine at being set to 1, as it unloads data only when fast traveling. No stuttering is caused by this as the unloading occurs during loadscreens. I use this as Oblivion still can only get up to 3.75GB of RAM with the 4GB patch, so it is limited to a small amount to use still. Purging unused data from a location you are coming from (such as across the map) is beneficial because that data isn't needed of course (you're somewhere else in the game).
Oblivion was DESIGNED to run on 2 cores at most for the PC, as at the time the mainstream processors were the Pentium D series. As such I have set the INI files to use at most 2 cores of your processor. Oblivion DOESN'T PLAY WELL WITH MORE THAN 2 CORES BEING USED. THERE IS NO CHANGING THIS (unless they remaster it with a 64-bit engine of course). See step VIII (8) for more about fixing this.
Any mods you currently have that require a INI change, include those tweaks (besides Archive Invalidation).
NOTE: The uVideoDeviceIdentifier code that is in YOUR INI File has to be added to the one I have provided. Replace the code in YOURS into the one I have provided.
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2. Heap Allocation
Heap Allocation can be used to increase game performance. It is a memory allocation tweak. I believe it can also help the 'A-Bomb glitch'.
MoreHeap
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/44985
Drop the 'Version.dll' file into your Oblivion main folder. (NOT IN THE DATA FOLDER OR OBSE/PLUGINS)
An INI file named 'MoreHeap.ini' will be generated in the same folder. Open the INI and set the number to 768 and save it.
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3. Compatibility Mode
Oblivion was designed to run on Windows XP. When Oblivion came out, Service Pack 2 was out, but it has been updated to run perfectly on Service Pack 3.
Go to your Data folder, and right click obse_loader, go to Properties at the bottom. Go to compatibility mode, and set "Run this program in compatibility mode:" to Windows XP (Service Pack 3). Also, check at the bottom "Run this program as an administrator."
Do this for both the Oblivion.exe and OblivionLauncher.exe as well.
NOTE: If obse_loader.exe doesn't launch, and get's a black screen, then don't apply compatibility mode to it. I have no idea why this occurs, as it doesn't do it with my setup.
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4. Mods from other authors
NVAC - New Vegas Anti Crash - Speaks for itself
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/53635/
Also grab DisableProcessWindowsGhosting v2 from the optional files as well, and place it in the Data/OBSE/plugins folder.
This fix works for Oblivion as well, not just New Vegas.
OneTweak - Borderless Windowed Mode. Currently includes: Alt-tab functionality, Double Cursor fix, and of course Borderless Windows.
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/21337
Works for Oblivion as well, not just new vegas. Place the files in the Data/OBSE/plugins folder.
BOSS (Better Oblivion Sorting Software) - Sorts your plugins.
https://boss-developers.github.io/
On the website, click 'Download BOSS on Github', then click the boss_installer.7zip file to download. Install it and run BOSS. It will open a black command prompt asking which game to sort. Select Oblivion (and only Oblivion with this tool), then it will open a webpage saying it sorted your plugins.
Unofficial Oblivion Patch - Fixes bugs
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/5296
4GB Patcher - Enables Oblivion to use 4GB (3.75GB) RAM instead of being limited to 2GB.
https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371
With the 4GB patcher, patch the following .exe:
Oblivion.exe
Also, if you have the Steam version, and do a file integrity check, THIS WILL RESET ALL MODIFICATIONS TO ANY GAME FILES YOU HAVE MADE, INCLUDING THE 4GB PATCH.
EngineBugFixes - Fixes major bugs and engine issues that cause crashing.
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/47085/
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5. "Oblivion Stutter Remover" Hotfix
Oblivion Stutter Remover (OBSR) causes crashing now, as Windows 10 released an update that breaks a feature in the mods OBSE plugin .ini file. This is caused by "bHookCriticalSections" being set to 1.
To fix this, I have already edited it and disabled settings not needed, such as the Experimental section - why would you enable experimental features when looking for game stability?
FPS Management is disabled (the INI file already has V-Sync enabled since FPSClamp causes engine issues by 'clamping' (locking) the engine's speed to your framerate (when your FPS drops due to heavy fighting or such, FPSClamp makes it so the game's engine will slow down as well.)
ReplaceHeap is disabled as tweak #2 already solves this, and is less buggy.
Please check the downloads tab and download my Oblivion Stutter Remover.ini.
Place it in: Data/OBSE/Plugins
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6. Update Your Windows 10
Even though Windows Update gives you updates, you need to make sure you have the latest build. Older Windows versions have irritating bugs that can cause stuttering. As of writing [Oct. 2nd 2020], my version is:
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Doesn't matter if you have Home or Pro, either is fine).
Version: 2004
OS Build: 19041.546
You can check this by going to your search bar and typing: Settings, click it and go to Update & Security, on the lower right, it should say "OS Build Info." Check yours. 2004 as of writing is the latest. If you don't have version 2004, click this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
Download this tool and run it. It is from Microsoft themselves, it will ask you what you wish to do. Select 'Upgrade the PC'. Click Keep Files & Settings/Apps (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THAT SELECTED, BY JOVE). Depending on your hardware, this can take a bit of time, but it is worth it. It will install the very latest Windows 10 Update available. After installing, check for updates.
Once you have Version 2004 installed, type 'Check for Updates' into the search bar, and check for updates from Windows Update until you are COMPLETELY up-to-date.
Doing this removed my stuttering and CPU freezing issues (I had 1803 installed.) This also seems to have helped with Oblivion crashing.
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7. Update Your Graphics Drivers
Your graphics drivers can have effects on Oblivion if they have bugs. Make sure they are updated.
To check your graphics brand and model, go to your search bar, and type 'dxdiag'. If it asks to check for driver signature checking, click No. Go to the display tab and it will say your graphics model and maker.
NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
AMD: https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-driver-autodetect
INTEL: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html
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8. Cpu Core Affinity
While the INI file I have included has specificed to use 2 Cores at most, the issue is that some people have stated that this changes nothing. So I have found the solution to setting your CPU 'affinity' (restricting the processor to run Oblivion on 2 cores) without having to go and change it each time in Task Manager. IF THIS TWEAK CAUSES LAG/STUTTERING, STOP USING IT.
Go here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/83864-processor-affinity-add-set-affinity-context-menu.html
On this page, scroll down to find "To Add Run with CPU-1 Affinity to Context Menu" and click download. This is going to add a right-click option to your context menu (the menu you get when you right click a program). This is a .reg file (registry file), so run it and install it.
Now whenever you run obse_loader, you can right click it and click "Run with CPU-1 Affinity."
This will limit the game to 2 Cores everytime without having to mess with Task Manager needlessly.
(Core 0 = 1st core, Core 1 = 2nd core)
NOTE: If you still wish to set it by using Task Manager, right click Oblivion.exe and click 'Go to details'. Then right click the process, and click 'set affinity'. Make SURE that ONLY CPU 0 & 1 are selected. These are the first 2 cores.
Do not do 0 & 2, or 1 & 3, etc. ONLY 0 & 1 as Oblivion recognizes the first two. (The affinity changes you make to the current instance of an application or process are only temporary, and not set permanently), so you would have to do this every single time you restart or turn your computer back on.
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9. Mods causing Crashes
With this step it requires entirely your own time, will, and work. As everyone has different mods, it is up to you to make sure none of them are causing crashes. Make sure your load order is optimized with BOSS, and from now on, please test the mods you install, before just massively installing a bunch at the same time. Testing is annoying, I know, but it makes it easier to see if a mod is stable in your game. This means, for example an armor mod, checking if the armor is working in-game, etc. It will save you a lot of trouble.
If a mod is causing your game to crash, I reccommend to disable all your current plugin files if you think a mod is causing it, and to start a new game fresh. Save that new game, then exit the game and enable a few .esp's/.esm's, and reload the game into the new savegame. See if the crash persists. Once you start crashing, disable all the plugins that you last enabled, and then start enabling them one-by-one, and you'll find the mod that is causing conflict. HOWEVER, if you disable all plugins and still crash on a new game, something else is causing your troubles. (ENB's are an example, they don't play kindly on Windows 10 and I have never gotten one to work for me.)
With Oblivion on Windows 10, I have combined plugins (more on that here by GamerPoets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S6cpCwTezE to lower the amount of .esp files to try and make it easier on the game's engine.
My maximum amount I would reccommend is 100 plugins, even though the cap is 255. The higher you go, the more likely the engine is to become buggy or crash.
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10. Cleaning Mods
Cleaning mods is relatively simple. Download the following:
TES4Edit
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11536
Download 4.0.1 in the Old Files section. Why? 4.0.2 and above+ has removed the simple process to clean mods, which they deem as 'obsolete' and have replaced it with something more clunky and complicated (by having to clean mods one-by-one rather than a simple click-and-go).
-1. Use the Tes4Edit.exe (Not the 64 version) by placing it and the Edit Scripts folder in your games main folder. Run it and have all your mods selected. Once it is done scanning, right click any mod and click 'Apply Filter for Cleaning'. Wait.
-2. Once done, right click a mod, now press CTRL+A, this should select everything. While still holding CTRL, unselect Oblivion.esm, Oblivion.exe, and the Unofficial Olivion Patch.esp.
(MAKE SURE THAT OBLIVION.EXE+ESM ARE NOT SELECTED, AS YOU DON'T WANT TO CLEAN THEM.)
-3. Let go of CTRL, and right click any of the mods selected. Click "Undelete and Disable References" and it will do its thing. Once done, right click again, and select "Remove 'Identical to Master' Records" and wait for it to complete.
-4. Once done, you can exit the program. If it cleaned anything, it will request to backup the plugins upon exit, which is entirely up to you (I never do so as it gives me no issues).
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11. Optimizing LOD
LOD (Level of Detail) is what is rendered beyond the 'uGridsToLoad' value in the INI files. (Default is 5 which I have set as 5 in my INI files, I never reccommend going to 6 or 7 as some people say.) So to optimize what we see off in the horizon in the game, we will use the following mod:
TES4LODGen
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/15781
Download the top file (ignore the resources file). Place the Edit Scripts and .exe files to the main folder of your game (where the Oblivion.exe is located).
-1. Right click the TES4LODGen.exe file, go to properties. Go to compatibility, and at the bottom, check 'Run as Administrator.' Apply and click Okay.
-2. Run the Program, and wait for it to finish. It will say 'LOD Generation: finished (you can close this application now)
Run this program everytime you install a new mod or new mods, just for safe measure.
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12.Make AA work with HDR
HDR cannot be enabled with AA on, and vice versa. HDR has better light management than Bloom does, but it sadly cannot be enabled with the game's built-in Anti-Aliasing (AA is used to smoothe lines in a game to make it less jagged, and look better.)
To fix this, go to the following link:
HDR and Anti-Aliasing
https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/39909
Download the file. Go into the d3d9 folder. Copy all 4 files to your games main folder (NOT THE DATA FOLDER), and then enter the game. Go to your in-game quality settings, and turn HDR on. Leave AA off. (My INI file already has HDR on and AA off.)
When you load your save, if you press the PAUSE-BREAK button, it will activate or deactivate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA). To check if it is on or off, go to an object and look really closely and press the key. It should smoothe itself out or turn jagged. You want it to be smoothed out.
As you can see here with it off and on.
This enables FXAA (Fast approXimate Anti-Aliasing), which the main advantage of this technique over conventional anti-aliasing is that it does not require large amounts of computing power. It achieves this by smoothing jagged edges according to how they appear on screen as pixels, rather than analyzing the 3D model itself as in conventional anti-aliasing.
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13. Defragmentation
THIS IS ONLY FOR THOSE WITH HARD DRIVES. IF YOU HAVE AN SSD (SOLID STATE DRIVE), DO NOT DO THIS TO YOUR SSD!
Chances are, your game files are what is called 'fragmented.' I'm going to leave two very short video's (pick your poison) to explain what fragmentation and defragmentation of hard drive files means if you don't understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtRIOUZuI2c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSvOfu2PfXk
TL;DR: Fragmentated game files means the game has to wait for your hard drive to assemble all the file data if it is scattered across the hard drive's disk.
Hard drive's have little arm's inside that read data from the disk's. The less that arm has to move, the faster it will read data. Fragmentated files means the arm has to move around a lot to find large data files to read them. This increases load times, and can even cause minor freezing if the hard drive is your computer's 'achillies heel'.
Now that that's out of the way, for those that understand, use the following disk defragger:
https://download.ccleaner.com/dfsetup222.exe
-1. Set it up, and run it. Click Settings at the top once open. Uncheck "Show SSD drives, Removeable Drives, & Ejected Drives." Save and exit the menu.
-2. Click to the right of 'Analyze' at the bottom of the program, the arrow, and select 'Optimize'. This can take awhile depending on how slow your hard drive is. Optimize will sort your files AND defrag them at the same time.
Defragging will just put everything back together (like scattered pages being reassembled in a book), but Optimizing sorts it all like a book case (organizing the books on a shelf). I recommend to run Optimize once a week. You can ALSO go to the top, click Action, Go to Advanced, and Check for Drive Errors.
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14. Cleaning Junk Files
Another thing that can cause lag, is when your computer has a lot of unused Junk Files that accumulate over time.
-1. Go to the lower-left of your screen, and click the Search button (Cortana bar, etc.) and type 'Disk Cleanup'.
-2. It will request which drive to clean, click your main drive (C: Drive) and then it will scan for a bit, then once it is done, it will say on the lower-left of the program: "Clean up system files" with a little shield in front of it (administrator rights required shield). Click this and wait again.
-3. Once done, click the 'More Options' tab. It will say 'System Restore and Shadow Copies', click Delete. This will significantly increase your drive space, if you have lots of System Restore points that are uneeded.
-4. Go back to the Disk Cleanup tab, and check EVERY box except for 'Downloads'. Then click 'OK' at the bottom, and it will begin to cleanup junk files.
NOTE: THIS WILL NOT TOUCH YOUR PERSONAL FILES SUCH AS PHOTOS, VIDEOS, ETC. Only junk files that the system itself has created (such as cache that is old).
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15. Update your Visual C++ Redistributables
Your PC probably has older versions of Visual C++ Redistributables installed. These are C++ coding libraries distributed by microsoft, so that programs or games can use the coding to run certain things.
In the downloads section, I have included a .zip file which has a folder with ALL up-to-date versions of these (and will be uploading newer ones when they are released to keep them up-to-date for you all). Download this and extract the 'Redistributables' folder to the desktop.
They are as follows: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, & 2015-2019 (2015, 2017, & 2019 is combined).
Different Programs & Games require different years of these. SO INSTALL ALL OF THESE YEARS. A game developed in 2005 (like Oblivion) relies on the 2005 one, NOT the 2019 one. A game made in 2013, most likely requires the 2013 one, and so on. See what I mean? So install them all.
IF YOU HAVE A 32-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM, ONLY INSTALL THE X86 VERSIONS.
IF YOU HAVE A 64-BIT OPERATING SYSTEM, INSTALL BOTH THE X86 & X64 VERSIONS.
To check whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System, type 'This PC' into the Search bar (Cortana bar).
Right-click it, and click Properties. It should say on this page '32-bit (or) 64-bit Operating System'.
If it says '32-bit Operating System, x64-based Processor' you still have a 32-bit Operating System, so only install the x86 versions.
-1. Here's what I want you to do: Go to your search bar (Cortana bar) and type 'Control Panel', and click it. Then click 'Uninstall a program' in the lower-left under 'Programs'.
-2. Scroll down your list of programs, and uninstall ALL your programs named 'Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable'. Once none are left, start installing the latest ones I have provided for you, one-by-one.
-3. Once they are all installed, you should have TWO of each installed, an x86, and an x64 version. (Unless you have a 32-bit Operating System, which you only want x86 versions for each year installed.)
-4. Restart your computer.
It should look like this when you're done:
NOTE: Even though these are all of different years, they are all still needed, just not the older version numbers. The newer versions have updated C++ code which can fix coding issues for the game. Not all of these are used by Oblivion (only 2005 & 2008), but it is nice to have them all updated.
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19. Optimizing your Power Settings
There are a few power settings you need to adjust for your computer to run at optimal speed.
-1. Go to your search bar, type "Power settings" and select "Power & Sleep settings". On the right side, select "Additional power settings", and then select high performance. This makes it so your processor will run at its best speed all the time, rather than slowing itself down and causing lag.
-2. These next few steps are for NVIDIA Graphics Card users only, I want you to go to your icon tray (the little arrow ^ pointing upwards in the lower right of your taskbar, and see if you have NVIDIA Settings. Open it if you do. (If you have a GT/GTX/RTX Graphics Card, you should have this program. It comes with your graphics updates.)
-4. On the Left panel, select 'Adjust image settings with preview', and then make sure 'Use the advanced 3D image settings' is checked. Click Apply on the lower right, and exit once it applies.
-3. Go to "Manage 3D Settings" on the left panel, and scroll down a bit to find 'Power management mode'. Put it as Prefer Maximum Performance.
These settings are essential for your CPU & GPU to run at their optimal speeds without having slowdowns.
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17. Repairing Windows 10 Errors
This tweak is to repair any corrupted Windows 10 system files which can limit or hinder Fallout 3 due to a performance issue or a bug issue.
-1. Go to your search bar (cortana bar), type 'CMD' and right-click it, run as Administrator.
-2. Type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth' and wait for it to complete.
-3. After that completes, type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth' and wait for it to complete.
-4. After that completes, type this exactly: 'dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth' and wait for it to complete.
-5. Finally after those three are done, type this exactly: 'sfc /scannow' and wait for it to complete. Once done, errors should have been fixed. Restart your PC.
That's all you need to do.
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I will be adding more things if I think of them or people suggest things to add, so keep an eye on this page for awhile by clicking 'Track' at the top of the page. Please ask any questions in the comments. - DapperSpy