Dyre Straits

I've made mention of this problem in other threads where it seemed to be at least relative to the topic. But, since I've spent so much time on this issue, I thought it would be best to create a dedicated thread just to the problem....and, HOPEFULLY, a resolution.

The PROBLEM: Ever since I installed this new motherboard in mid-February, I've had a huge problem with OBLIVION. But, only in the great outdoors. Everywhere else the game looks and plays fantastic.

Here's the lowdown on the system:

Intel D975XBX (Bad Axe) Mobo: Newest BIOS and updated mobo drivers;
Intel E6700 Core 2 Duo: Running at default speed;
OCZ 1 GB Dual Channel DDR2 800: Running at 533 MHz due to issues with other games when run at 667. At 800 the system fails to boot into Windows.
X1950 Pro 256 MB PCIe using (now) the latest NGO drivers 1.7.2. (Problem existed on all previous drivers as well;
ULTRA 700W PSU: Very capable! but problem existed on two 800W PSUs as well;

OBLIVION is patched with the Final patch and I'm using a few mods. Problem exists whether the mods are used or not.

Now, the PROBLEM has been that whenever I move my character to the great outdoors, the FPS would drop and stay to between 3-5 FPS! Inside the cities and dwellings the FPS would run anywhere from 60-90 FPS depending on activity.

What I've tried:

1. First I tried reducing the game settings to nearly nothing. No difference.
2. I tried reducing Audio Hardware Acceleration. No difference.
3. I completely Disabled the onboard Sigmatel Audio and....BIG DIFFERENCE!! Not only did the game play well outdoors, but the FPS would actually hit close to 100 FPS many times. Average would be 60-80 no matter where I moved.
4. Assuming it was the onboard Sigmatel I installed a separate Xtreme PCI 7.1 Audio card and installed the latest drivers for it. Result: Back to 3-5 FPS in the outdoors. Still very good results in the cities and dwellings with anywhere from 50-80 FPS.
5. Contacted Intel about the problem. Was told it's software related and to contact the game developer. Did so by posting in the technical issues thread. Got some of the same suggestions I'd already tried.
6. Tried an old SB Live! PCI card I used years ago and actually got a little better performance in the outdoors: 15-25 FPS in most cases. Still, not good enough based on my previous game experience on three other systems.
7. Finally decided to throw in a new HD and install Windows XP Pro SP2 Full Version and see what would happen if no other programs or Windows Updates were installed. The only updates are the motherboard drivers and then using the NGO 1.7.2 drivers for the X1950. Now, with the Sigmatel active along with the Intel Audio Studio, I actually can play the game again. Although, the FPS outdoors are still in the 20-30 FPS range with it dipping to around 15 at times. AND, I still see a huge improvement when I go into the cities and dwellings.

Sooooo....it does seem that somewhere along the line there's some software that's causing a big hit whenever I move the character to the outdoors. I know the outdoors is much more demanding on the system, but this has been a big headache dealing with it. As many of the members here know, I've been playing this game since the day it was released just over a year ago.

Now....as I begin to Update Windows and reinstall my programs, I'm going to have to be very keenly aware of which one/or ones cause the problem with the game.

At any rate, I feel confident that the problem now is NOT the Sigmatel audio nor the Intel Audio Studio...at least not by themselves.

HOWEVER, there is a brand NEW problem: Right in the middle of the game, my kb/mouse lose sync and I cannot get them to work. All I can do is CTRL-ALT-DEL and End Task on the game.

Hopefully, I can get to the bottom of this without losing more of my hair.

Stay tuned.....

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Tipstaff

Wow.. that is bloody rough, Dyre. I'll keep looking into things for you.

Couple recommendations:

- you mentioned you can't get the ram to go any higher than 533mhz without issues. Not really surprised that the OCZ ram is giving issues to be honest as I remember seeing a bunch of articles and forum posts from people having problems with their ram.. well.. most of the common stuff anyways. In any event, what I've found is that the XBX runs better with slower timings, so I would suggest lowering them manually. In my case I'm running at 5-5-5-15 (which is the ram default for me), and I have to say, not one issue so far AND I can run at full speed (800mhz).

- If you are not using it, turn off the Secondary SATA controller (the Silicon Image one) under the Advanced\Peripheral section. Whatever you do, do not have the Silicon Image controller set to RAID if you are also running the Intel controller in RAID too. You can run them together in RAID, but it takes some serious tweaking to get them to work stable together.

- Obviously, be sure to update to the latest bios, that being the 1478 one.

- Another obvious, be sure to change PCI Latency to 64 in the Advanced\Chipset Configuration section

- While you are in that section be sure that HPET is off too.

- Under the Power section be sure that "Intel Quick Resume", and EIST are both off.

- you might also consider turning off USB boot.

- Last thing would be to double check that your DVD drive, or whatever optical drive you are using is in DMA mode, and not set to PIO mode. This is normally not an issue with XP, but I did setup a 975xbx before, and sure enough it set to the drive to PIO mode.

Edit: oh, and one last thing, there is a listing for the TPM driver.. you don't need it... so, don't install it.

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Dyre Straits

Thanks again, Tipstaff!

The DVD drive is definitely at UDMA (5) and I do have the latest BIOS for the board.

I also may have overshot the PCI Latency as I set it to 96.

I messed around with the RAM quite a bit when I first put it in and found I definitely had to loosen the timings. The main problem I had was with FlatOut2 CTD whenever there was a hard hit in the game. But, I'll try tweaking the RAM some more and see if I can get it to run at 800.

The other options you mention about turning off some unused devices is something that crossed my mind but didn't get around to doing. I'll definitely give that a whirl. Some of them, e.g. Intel Quick Resume and a few others already are off. I'm not using a RAID array at all but using SATA drives in Enhanced IDE mode.

I'll post back some results later.



UPDATE:

Well, I've had success in getting that RAM running at 800 MHz now. I think it was a lot due to the new BIOS and I hadn't tried it since updating that about a week ago. With timings at 5.5.5.15, it seems to be working fine. I may tinker more with it after I get a few other problems resolved.

I've found that I get a little better performance in Oblivion is I Exit the Intel Audio Studio before starting the game. I still get the sounds, but, at least the IAS doesn't create more overhead.

But, the game is still kind of sluggish outdoors. It's 'playable' but pretty 'jerky' when trying to gallop across the landscape on my horse. (I actually kind of expected it to be. )

NOW, this thing with the kb/mouse losing connection is really a PAIN! I though maybe it was my recently purchased wireless combo losing signal. So, I pulled out a PS/2 KB and Mouse and hooked them up. Rebooted after Windows detected the new hardware and.......the same thing happens!! I don't believe I've ever had this kind of problem before where the input devices just keep losing 'connection'. Once it does, there's no getting the connection back without EndTasking the game.

This 'might' be fixed after updating Windows. I'm still running with just the 'native' SP2 installation and no other software installed on this current installation. Knowing, though, that the game DOES play with the Sigmatel Audio does at least eliminate one variable in the quest to figure out just WHY this system is having the kind of problems it's having.

I guess it's onward and forward to see what I can uncover.

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Tipstaff

BTW, I take it that the oblivion.ini file is from this fresh install, correct? And not from the install on your other machine?

Also, have you tried changing the "bUse Joystick=1" option in the oblivion.ini file to 0?

Last thing, don't forget that when using the IAS, to get the best performance, switch the processing mode from Dolby to Sonic.

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Dyre Straits

Yeah, this is a new oblivion.ini but I go through each new one and make the changes I've been familiar with. But, I've never had to turn off the usejoystick option before. Maybe the fact that I do have the XBOX 360 controller plugged in is causing this kb/mouse situation?? Although, the device is disabled as I haven't even installed drivers for it yet. Anyway, this kb/mouse matter has repeated now on the THIRD kb I've tried. (At least it's not the wireless combo. I've gotten quite used to it.)


UPDATE: Turning off usejoystick AND unplugging the controller made no difference at all. I left for a moment to use the restroom and the kb/mouse connection was dead again when I got back. This is NUTS!!!

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Tipstaff

That is so weird man. I remember that exact issue with Oblivion being talked about all the time, and that fix (being the joystick=0 command) was even mentioned in the 1.1 patch.

Your right, this is nuts.

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Dyre Straits

This will be my last post about this for a few hours at least. It's time for bed here.

Anyway, after dealing with the above 'kb/mouse' problem on the new installation of Windows, I decided to simply boot back to my previous 'permanent' installation and try again. Now, I can't believe it, BUT, the kb/mouse problem has surfaced on THIS installation, too! I think there's a demon in my rig, I really do!

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PangingJr

glad to know that. any problem with the system when running the RAM modules at the speed of 800 MHz yet?

i thought after you set your BIOS for using RAM speed of 800MHz and RAM tiiming to auto you shouldn't have problem.
the RAM modules should have the SPD programmed at JEDEC standard, either 5-5-5-15, or maybe 5-5-5-12 or 5-5-5-18 values at the RAM speed of 800 MHz (regardless of the SPD programmed at EPP standard that can be lower on some modules that has support for EPP.), unless otherwise.

Dyre Straits

So far, no problems at all. Even FlatOut2, which was CTD has been playing very nicely. The timings are 5-5-5-15.

I'm writing some reviews now to get caught up on my "other job" here and will have to get back to these issues with Oblivion later.

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