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"Best" drivers for Oblivion


dbfuru

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Before updating any drivers, I would like to know what drivers have given you the best performance in TES Oblivion. Currently I get about 20-25 FPS, and am hoping to get a little boost with a new driver.

What drivers are recommended for Oblivion?

My OS - Vista 32bit.

geforce 8600m GS

Thanks a lot.

Edited by dbfuru
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Nvidia added some new Oblivioin fixes midway through the 169 series, so 169.47 would be the lowest you would want go. I assume any of the 17x drivers dated after May 1st would include those same fixes.

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Hmm, I have been getting a problem with every driver I get from this site. I get an FPS boost 20fps constant to 28-35 fps, but it is jumpy as hell. The FPS says 29 - 35, and maybe that is why it is causing the stutteriness?

It's impossible to play because of this.. I have tried various drivers, and have got the same "effect". Here is a general list of drivers I have tried:

171.16

175.80

174.74

175.16

Is this a common problem.. The FPS is deceiving me.. I don't really understand it. 28-35 FPS but the game is stuttery/jumpy.. Maybe it's because the FPS varies too much?

Thanks.

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The variation is normal and actually can vary much more than what you're seeing, but you shouldn't notice it most of the time. One trick that has worked for some people is to set the "Frames to Render Ahead" to 0 if you have a single-core machine and 1, if you have more than one core. (That's in the nvidia control panel.)

Of the drivers you mentioned, 174.74 is an excellent driver, so I'd hang onto that one and start adjusting Oblivions features. A lot of Oblivion's performance load is CPU-related, not GPU-related. There is an enormous amount of processing being done in some areas. If you're seeing the problem in the starting jailcell, ignore it - it will get better after you get out of there. If you're seeing the problem outside, it may be related to the rendering of trees and grass, both of which are extremely demanding. You'll find lots of recommendations for tweaking oblivion.ini to improve those areas in the Oblivion forum.

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/

Despite being over two years old, Oblivion is still one of the most hardwarer-demanding games out there. The Oblivion forum is full of people trying to deal with the same thing you're seeing, so that's probably the best place to start.

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Thanks for the reply. I have a dual core so I'll try setting it to 1. I'll also re-install the 174.74 driver, too. Thanks.

Edit:

Did a lot of tweaking and was getting a solid 40fps in exploration, and 30-40fps in combat on medium graphics setting. Then, after about 5 minutes I was walking down a road and the jumpy/stuttering happened again. My fps was still a solid 40fps, but my character's movement was jumpy and so was every other npc in the game. It seems to be all right for a few minutes and then it just gets worse.

I have no idea why it does this..

Even switching the graphics to 'low' causes the same thing to happen. After about 5 minutes in comes the jumpyness.

When I rollback my driver to what it was when I got my laptop (7.15.11.5676), the jumpy problem vanishes, although I only get about 15-20fps anytime so it's a big shame.

Edited by dbfuru
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What you're describing sounds like a card slowdown due to heat, although I don't know why it wouldn't also happen with the older driver. One obvious difference is that the older driver doesn't include the new Oblivion fixes that appeared recently. Maybe there's something about the new fixes that conflicts with your card somehow.

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What you're describing sounds like a card slowdown due to heat, although I don't know why it wouldn't also happen with the older driver. One obvious difference is that the older driver doesn't include the new Oblivion fixes that appeared recently. Maybe there's something about the new fixes that conflicts with your card somehow.

You can check if it is heat related by running RivaTuner in the background and monitoring temps, or by opening up ATITool and something like RTHDRIBL at the same time, then check to see if your clocks are dropping.

My guess is, the older driver isn't multi-core optimized, hence why the stuttering doesn't occur.

I have experienced the same stuttering issue with different motherboards and NVIDIA graphics cards. It is a universal problem directly related to multi-core performance.

Bethesda aren't interested in addressing the issue even though they are aware of it.

Let's hope Fallout 3 doesn't have the same problem.

The only known fixes at the moment are:

1) Force single-core processing

2) Set iFPSClamp in Oblivion.ini to the same Hz as your LCD/CRT

The problem with the 2nd fix, is that if your FPS drops below the Hz of your screen, the game slows down to half-speed.

Regards,

P.

Edited by Pawel
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Thanks a lot. How do you force single core processing? I'll google it incase I don't get an answer for a while.. If not, I'll try your other suggestion.

-EDIT- Would it just be worth it if I got a driver that was released after my default driver, but before the Oblivion fixes?

Edited by dbfuru
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Thanks a lot. How do you force single core processing? I'll google it incase I don't get an answer for a while.. If not, I'll try your other suggestion.

-EDIT- Would it just be worth it if I got a driver that was released after my default driver, but before the Oblivion fixes?

Forcing single core processing can be done by Turning 'Threaded Optimization' off in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

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  • 2 months later...

When I use the newer nVidia drivers, I can't get AA+HDR to work.

AA+HDR works at first, but every time I enter a dialogue AA gets switched off.

I have a 8800GTS and am playing at my screens native resolution of 1680x1050.

Resorted back to 97.02 allowed me to play with AA+HDR, but I think I can get better performance with a different driver.

Anyone know how to solve this problem, or which drivers are best for AA+HDR?

Thanks in advance.

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Nvidia switched to a new driver architecture after the 9x series, and you're probably seeing the result. Unfortunately, with the 9X drivers, you're missing the new Obliviion optimizations that were added to the 169 drivers.

Give 169.72 a try. If that doesn't work, you'll need to decide between AA+HDR and the new optimizations.

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