OBLIVION: Game Experience and Opinions

~~Alien1~~ · Mar 22, 2006, 05:05 PM

I am going to have it soon along with a 7900 GTX

I am soooo anxious to play it...especially at 1600x1200 with AA\AF or beyond...

as about the shadows not beeing perfect...i can live with that
Everything else is great in these game as i hear and from what i saw

ViRuS2k · Mar 22, 2006, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikingod

Now for my opinion (after about 3 hours of play)

I couldn't be much happier with this game. It really is like Morrowind, with much better graphics and fixes where there needed to be. They really took much of what was lacking in morrowind, and just added it, tweaked it, and made it better. The interface is very different, but after I got used to it, I like it. .

Gameplay is great. I love the new fighting system, the enemy are challenging, but beatable (something that was lacking is previous titles). The blocking system is fun, and adds a lot of depth to the fighting. I've run through a few missions, and they are fun. You definetely get the feeling that this game is huge (probably the only one I'll be playing for many months).

Sound. The voice acting is the best I've seen. The music is the best since the original MOH games on the PS1. The sounds of the forest and creatures are top notch, and all this together really adds to the game.

Environment. This is where the game really shines. the forests are so lush and beautiful, the towns are populated with great architecture. Lighting is beatiful, often breathtaking. The environment is more than I even expected it to be. Completely unmatched in any game to date.

Gripes. Not many here. Some graphical issues persist, but nothing major. Maybe the worst of all is the ultra low res textures on some distant hills. I didn't notice it everywhere though, only in some spots. The menu takes getting used to, and was designed for console use (grr...). thats about it so far. I forget to save, which can be a pain.

the game performs great on my system, HDR on, everything else all the way up, grass shadows off (the game is very playable with them on, but I like steady frame rates), 1280*1024 resolution (best my monitor can do). I have yet to notice a load time (except for the fact that it tells you it is loading.

Thats about all I can say now, just get the game if you haven't, you won't be dissapointed. i might install is on my lappy for shits and giggles.

haha you have practicly got the same system spec as me :P
have you figured out how to get AA + HDR working ? lol
i noticed that with 6xaa and bloom on the graphics are so much better than with no aa and HDR but im thinking im missing out on HDR effects

so i keep going from HDR no AA to AA + Bloom lol cant make my mind up :P

also in the graphics settings ingame if you use the slider wich i didnt even notice lol you can up the Farout graphics settings so things like animals and tree`s and grass and foliage dont popup in ya face lol, but dam this game is awsome

i have also found it hard to steal from people, i was trying to rob this catlike human lol in a tent in the imperial grounds or somewhere like that and he caught me lol then i got attacked by 5 people they all boxed me in a turned me to mush :P
so how do you theif correctly lol also the bribeing system, how the hell do you bribe correctly hehe

Dyre Straits · Mar 22, 2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViRuS2k

......
i have also found it hard to steal from people, i was trying to rob this catlike human lol in a tent in the imperial grounds or somewhere like that and he caught me lol then i got attacked by 5 people they all boxed me in a turned me to mush :P
so how do you theif correctly lol also the bribeing system, how the hell do you bribe correctly hehe

You will likely have trouble until you get a higher level.

Same goes with bribing. Your reputation will have to be better with the particular race/s that you're trying to bribe.

ALSO, for those who aren't aware of it, here's a tip about getting caught commiting a crime:

If you know you've been caught red-handed going afoul of the law. PAUSE the game right there and bring up your Inventory. DROP EVERYTHING before the authorities confront you! VERY IMPORTANT.

Because you've dropped everything....except your gold....you will have to pay the fine (I don't like going to jail

) and they won't have anything to confiscate from you that you've stolen so, once you pay the fine you can go back and pick up everything where you dropped it.

(I learned this little trick in MW and it worked the one time I've been caught stealing in OB.

ViRuS2k · Mar 22, 2006, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyre Straits

You will likely have trouble until you get a higher level.

Same goes with bribing. Your reputation will have to be better with the particular race/s that you're trying to bribe.

ALSO, for those who aren't aware of it, here's a tip about getting caught commiting a crime:

If you know you've been caught red-handed going afoul of the law. PAUSE the game right there and bring up your Inventory. DROP EVERYTHING before the authorities confront you! VERY IMPORTANT.

Because you've dropped everything....except your gold....you will have to pay the fine (I don't like going to jail

) and they won't have anything to confiscate from you that you've stolen so, once you pay the fine you can go back and pick up everything where you dropped it.

(I learned this little trick in MW and it worked the one time I've been caught stealing in OB.

Nice tip but i got a better one

before you rob someone save your game, if you get caught just reload your save, that way you dont have to mess about droping everything or even paying the fine lol

Vikingod · Mar 22, 2006, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViRuS2k

haha you have practicly got the same system spec as me :P
have you figured out how to get AA + HDR working ? lol
i noticed that with 6xaa and bloom on the graphics are so much better than with no aa and HDR but im thinking im missing out on HDR effects

so i keep going from HDR no AA to AA + Bloom lol cant make my mind up :P

There is no HDR + AA in the PC version, only the XBOX 360 (I think this has more to do with politics than technology), so you are out of luck. I haven't tried the Bloom + AA yet, I will tonight if yousay it looks nice. Jaggies don't really bother me, so I hardly notice them.

riles9262 · Mar 22, 2006, 07:02 PM

Can anyone link me, or post a couple shots comparing hdr and aa iq differences in oblivion?

Vikingod · Mar 22, 2006, 07:34 PM

Here is HDR

Here is Bloom

These are from the Bethesda forums, Look like HDR for the win!

topbob · Mar 22, 2006, 08:13 PM

this game is damn amazing
played it for 11 hours yesterday, time to play it even longer

ViRuS2k · Mar 22, 2006, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikingod

Here is HDR

Here is Bloom

These are from the Bethesda forums, Look like HDR for the win!

yeah but no AA

hmmm im hopeing to dear god that ATI bring out a update so XK1 users can get AA + HDR in this game, without it its jaggy central lol
i have another problem with this game and its an annoying problem aswell.

the faces of everything i meet be it human ? or mamal, the shadows are all messed up, practicly every face has shadows on it and it looks weird,

SAME DAM SHADOW BUG THAT ATI CARDS HAVE, then again i noticed no THE WAY ITS MENT TO BE PLAYED logo splattered on an intro of the game lol
so what gives hmmmm

riles9262 · Mar 22, 2006, 08:34 PM

Thanks for that viking...the hdr shot is definitely much more vibrant. Another reason for me to ditch my 9800pro in the coming months.

SFOSOK · Mar 22, 2006, 08:45 PM

Hahaha, ur barely starting huh? Takes a while to get used to some things because its not like Morrowind. I love how they made bows effective now. Man I get 3x damage fory every sneak attack. Also when you outside by some trees and grass, it is amazing, I'll get some good pics of what I'm talkin bout later.

Vikingod · Mar 22, 2006, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViRuS2k

the faces of everything i meet be it human ? or mamal, the shadows are all messed up, practicly every face has shadows on it and it looks weird,

SAME DAM SHADOW BUG THAT ATI CARDS HAVE, then again i noticed no THE WAY ITS MENT TO BE PLAYED logo splattered on an intro of the game lol
so what gives hmmmm

It's not just ATI cards, I have the same issues with my 7800 GTX. Hopefully the driver released today will fix it.

ferret2004 · Mar 22, 2006, 09:05 PM

I might be picking up the xbox360 version soon, if I can un-busy myself from other things.

Dyre Straits · Mar 22, 2006, 11:28 PM

I just came from my son's store where he has the XBOX 360 connected to a Toshiba 62 inch HDTV. I even played a little bit on it.

I wouldn't be able to play it there unless they turn off the lights overhead and block the light coming from the front store windows. The game was just TOO dark for me to enjoy it.

But, once we got outside from the tunnels/dungeons it looked really good.

He offered to let me take my computer up there and hook it up to that 62 inch HDTV. Man, that's tempting!!! LOL!

Nacht · Mar 22, 2006, 11:53 PM

About the HDR/AA

This was the same problem in World of Warcraft. Except HDR is labeled "glow effect" in that game. I remember it didnt work when I got it, then after a certain patch/driver update it did work...then it stopped again. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but there has got to be some way to make it work.

Killer_uk · Mar 22, 2006, 11:54 PM

I will finally get my hands on the game tommorow ! Can't wait

Flexkill · Mar 23, 2006, 12:20 AM

I have the game, just have not installed yet....how do you think this is going to run on my system????

Specs under banner

Dark Lord · Mar 23, 2006, 12:28 AM

should run just fine on it, compareing those specs to dyres.

im actually thinking i may head out and pick up the game my self. that 39.99 sale at comp usa is quite tempting.

Dyre Straits · Mar 23, 2006, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flexkill

I have the game, just have not installed yet....how do you think this is going to run on my system????

Specs under banner

You should have no problem as long as you don't try to max out everything. I also learned to leave AA off. In all honesty, I don't notice anything other than better performance.

kingsownall · Mar 23, 2006, 01:13 AM

ive plan on getting it also. now all i have to wrry about is my com being able to handle it lol
btw my com specs are
2.8ghznorthwood
asus p4rvm-800
2x512 value select ram pc-3200
ati radeon x850 pro(530,610 on stock cooling)

ViP3RH3LL · Mar 23, 2006, 01:50 AM

I would say your system will probably do better then mine with that videocard I have a 9600XT + warcat drivers 6.2 but will be upgrading those with the newly released NGO drivers 1.6.3, need to try them out, there pretty good though, now if those russian Extreme ati drivers come out 6.3 or 6.4 ill be happy.

Partizan · Mar 23, 2006, 02:15 AM

Any ideas at what settings I should play @ 1280x1024 as this is my native screen resolution?

Thanks, Partizan

Dyre Straits · Mar 23, 2006, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Partizan

Any ideas at what settings I should play @ 1280x1024 as this is my native screen resolution?

Thanks, Partizan

You should be able to play with everything on High...just leave the AA off. That's the only setting that did me in.

OmegaRED · Mar 23, 2006, 03:58 AM

2xAA for me 1156x gonna mess around to keep the FPS higher. Beautiful game

SFOSOK · Mar 23, 2006, 05:21 AM

All the settings I change around don't like improve performance, no matter which ones I take off, it sucks

Partizan · Mar 23, 2006, 05:47 AM

Dyre Straits thanks alot. I figured it finally: I had AA enabled in Ati Tray Tools, no wonder I had 20 fps

Man and I played like that for 6 hours

Dyre Straits · Mar 23, 2006, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Partizan

Dyre Straits thanks alot. I figured it finally: I had AA enabled in Ati Tray Tools, no wonder I had 20 fps

Man and I played like that for 6 hours

You're quite welcome.

Now, based on what a few others have posted, I'm now running with V-Sync ON and my Refresh Rate set to 100 Hz. So far, it looks even better.

One other thing: I was having Windows Errors when Exiting the game. So far, after setting my Desktop Res to the same as I use in the game, this hasn't happened again. It will likely take a few more times before I can declare it a success. BUT, if anyone else is having this "Report this to Microsoft" error when exiting the game, try this to see if it helps.

Pluvious · Mar 23, 2006, 08:36 AM

Runs killer with my rig with the AA off. I was trying to use 6xAA at the start and was seeing 15fps in the fights at the begining. Ouch. Once I turned off AA, (which is hardly noticable even at 1024x) I'm enjoying a wonderful 50-80fps. Even outdoors. I also forced X2 Anisotropic due to the ground textures looking fuzzy. (obviously I did some other tweaks to get the boost.. but that's what so great.. you can tune the graphics to get a nice quality vs performance.)

One of the first things I felt proud finding was the tilde key (`) works and I was able to guess the command "FOV 95" would work.. and it DID! But everytime you zoom out of a conversation it snaps back to default 75. I'll have to peak into the .ini file to see if I can fix the default to stick.

I restarted and found a new dungeon straight across the river you start from.. someplace starting with the letter V. Lots of human bandits to fight and build up your weapon skills.

Sorry about the ramble.. just finished a 4 hour run.. whew..

Tipstaff · Mar 23, 2006, 09:32 AM

All day. That's how long I've been working on this damn audio bug where all music (both ambient, and battle) would freeze the game for 5 seconds at a time. Everytime the music would start, loop, or change, it'd freeze. Get into a battle, it'd freeze. I narrowed it down to a sound card issue, specifically with my Audigy card (using official drivers btw). Infact, I've replicated this using an Audigy card, and an Audigy 2 card. At work I have system using a Realtek HD onboard audio, and the game runs smooth as silk. However, going through Bethesda's website indicates that this "bug" can effect other cards, both software and hardware. Sheesh.

Anyways, after figuring a quick and dirty way around this (by editing the oblivion.ini file, and disabling music entirely.. which sucks cuz now I can't hear the "danger present" music) I found a nice thread on Bethesdas site that talks about this very issue.

Now, before you pass it up, the thread has expanded to also discuss other issues, and possible fixes. So, do yourself a favor, and give it a read.

You can do that HERE.

Edit: Woot! Finally figured it out...sorta. I don't know if it was my reinstallation of the Jan.24.06 Audigy drivers (AGAIN), or removing the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (most likely seeing as it's been mentioned a couple times in the Bethesda forums) , but whatever I did I now have no sound issues. Saweet!

Dyre Straits · Mar 23, 2006, 01:00 PM

Tipstaff,

I'm using onboard RealTek Audio on my IC7-G. I haven't had the first stutter due to audio.

And, of course, being off work the past two days, I've gotten HOURS of playing done.

Mar 22, 2006, 07:02 PM	#36
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	Can anyone link me, or post a couple shots comparing hdr and aa iq differences in oblivion? __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Mar 22, 2006, 07:34 PM	#37
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,187 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	Here is HDR Here is Bloom These are from the Bethesda forums, Look like HDR for the win! __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Mar 22, 2006, 08:13 PM	#38
topbob HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: SFBA, CA, USA Posts: 463 Rep Power: 46 System Specs	this game is damn amazing played it for 11 hours yesterday, time to play it even longer __________________ 12090 in 3DMarks06 on current system, 5001 on old system, 4164 on older, 1587 on oldest

Mar 22, 2006, 08:34 PM	#40
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 70 System Specs	Thanks for that viking...the hdr shot is definitely much more vibrant. Another reason for me to ditch my 9800pro in the coming months. __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Mar 22, 2006, 08:45 PM	#41
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	Hahaha, ur barely starting huh? Takes a while to get used to some things because its not like Morrowind. I love how they made bows effective now. Man I get 3x damage fory every sneak attack. Also when you outside by some trees and grass, it is amazing, I'll get some good pics of what I'm talkin bout later. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Mar 22, 2006, 05:05 PM	#31
~~Alien1~~ Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Europe Posts: 365 Rep Power: 0	I am going to have it soon along with a 7900 GTX I am soooo anxious to play it...especially at 1600x1200 with AA\AF or beyond... as about the shadows not beeing perfect...i can live with that Everything else is great in these game as i hear and from what i saw

Mar 22, 2006, 09:05 PM	#43
ferret2004 HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 285 Rep Power: 46	I might be picking up the xbox360 version soon, if I can un-busy myself from other things.

Mar 22, 2006, 11:53 PM	#45
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	About the HDR/AA This was the same problem in World of Warcraft. Except HDR is labeled "glow effect" in that game. I remember it didnt work when I got it, then after a certain patch/driver update it did work...then it stopped again. I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, but there has got to be some way to make it work.

Mar 22, 2006, 11:54 PM	#46
Killer_uk DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Stoke-on-Trent, UK Posts: 117 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I will finally get my hands on the game tommorow ! Can't wait

Mar 23, 2006, 12:20 AM	#47
Flexkill DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Nashville, TN. Music City USA Posts: 285 Rep Power: 0	I have the game, just have not installed yet....how do you think this is going to run on my system???? Specs under banner __________________

Mar 23, 2006, 12:28 AM	#48
Dark Lord HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 5,945 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	should run just fine on it, compareing those specs to dyres. im actually thinking i may head out and pick up the game my self. that 39.99 sale at comp usa is quite tempting. __________________

Mar 23, 2006, 01:13 AM	#50
kingsownall DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	ive plan on getting it also. now all i have to wrry about is my com being able to handle it lol btw my com specs are 2.8ghznorthwood asus p4rvm-800 2x512 value select ram pc-3200 ati radeon x850 pro(530,610 on stock cooling) Last edited by kingsownall; Mar 23, 2006 at 01:19 AM.

Mar 23, 2006, 01:50 AM	#51
ViP3RH3LL DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: BF2142 Posts: 265 Rep Power: 0	I would say your system will probably do better then mine with that videocard I have a 9600XT + warcat drivers 6.2 but will be upgrading those with the newly released NGO drivers 1.6.3, need to try them out, there pretty good though, now if those russian Extreme ati drivers come out 6.3 or 6.4 ill be happy.

Mar 23, 2006, 02:15 AM	#52
Partizan Fun loving criminal Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 1,182 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	Any ideas at what settings I should play @ 1280x1024 as this is my native screen resolution? Thanks, Partizan __________________ Live and let live!

Mar 23, 2006, 03:58 AM	#54
OmegaRED Relapsed Gamer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ottawa , Canada Posts: 5,626 Rep Power: 171 System Specs	2xAA for me 1156x gonna mess around to keep the FPS higher. Beautiful game __________________ E Penis Specs: <------------- See System Specs

Mar 23, 2006, 05:21 AM	#55
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	All the settings I change around don't like improve performance, no matter which ones I take off, it sucks __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Mar 23, 2006, 05:47 AM	#56
Partizan Fun loving criminal Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Slovenia Posts: 1,182 Rep Power: 60 System Specs	Dyre Straits thanks alot. I figured it finally: I had AA enabled in Ati Tray Tools, no wonder I had 20 fps Man and I played like that for 6 hours __________________ Live and let live!

Mar 23, 2006, 08:36 AM	#58
Pluvious Elisha = hottie Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: USA CA. SF Bay Area Posts: 1,318 Rep Power: 56	Runs killer with my rig with the AA off. I was trying to use 6xAA at the start and was seeing 15fps in the fights at the begining. Ouch. Once I turned off AA, (which is hardly noticable even at 1024x) I'm enjoying a wonderful 50-80fps. Even outdoors. I also forced X2 Anisotropic due to the ground textures looking fuzzy. (obviously I did some other tweaks to get the boost.. but that's what so great.. you can tune the graphics to get a nice quality vs performance.) One of the first things I felt proud finding was the tilde key (`) works and I was able to guess the command "FOV 95" would work.. and it DID! But everytime you zoom out of a conversation it snaps back to default 75. I'll have to peak into the .ini file to see if I can fix the default to stick. I restarted and found a new dungeon straight across the river you start from.. someplace starting with the letter V. Lots of human bandits to fight and build up your weapon skills. Sorry about the ramble.. just finished a 4 hour run.. whew.. __________________

Mar 23, 2006, 09:32 AM	#59
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,660 Rep Power: 187 System Specs	All day. That's how long I've been working on this damn audio bug where all music (both ambient, and battle) would freeze the game for 5 seconds at a time. Everytime the music would start, loop, or change, it'd freeze. Get into a battle, it'd freeze. I narrowed it down to a sound card issue, specifically with my Audigy card (using official drivers btw). Infact, I've replicated this using an Audigy card, and an Audigy 2 card. At work I have system using a Realtek HD onboard audio, and the game runs smooth as silk. However, going through Bethesda's website indicates that this "bug" can effect other cards, both software and hardware. Sheesh. Anyways, after figuring a quick and dirty way around this (by editing the oblivion.ini file, and disabling music entirely.. which sucks cuz now I can't hear the "danger present" music) I found a nice thread on Bethesdas site that talks about this very issue. Now, before you pass it up, the thread has expanded to also discuss other issues, and possible fixes. So, do yourself a favor, and give it a read. You can do that HERE. Edit: Woot! Finally figured it out...sorta. I don't know if it was my reinstallation of the Jan.24.06 Audigy drivers (AGAIN), or removing the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (most likely seeing as it's been mentioned a couple times in the Bethesda forums) , but whatever I did I now have no sound issues. Saweet! __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick. Last edited by Tipstaff; Mar 23, 2006 at 12:58 PM.