Oblivion on Your Grandpa's Computer

[Liquidize105]

Can't play Oblivion because you're too good with money to buy a DirectX 9 video card? Does a certain significant other have his/her foot down on frivolous expenses? Is disposable income mythical to you?

In any case, Oldblivion (http://www.oldblivion.com/) (internet required) could be for you!

Supported video cards include:

- Geforce 3 series
- Geforce 4 series
- Geforce FX 5200 series
- Geforce PCX 5300
- Geforce FX 5500
- Geforce FX 5700 series
- Radeon 9550
- Radeon 9200 series
- Radeon 9000 series
- Radeon 8500 series
Can I get a halleluiah?

[Dirty Harry]

Wow i might be able to play oblivion now... :D

[fitbabits]

Damn! Now this is a great idea...

[Qoz]

And it will run like a slideshow .. jiipeee!!
I think there is a good reason they did not support these. An older gfx card is often paired with less then 512mb ram and slow cpu, so the game will run like crap and look like crap.

[inscribed]

And it will run like a slideshow .. jiipeee!!
I think there is a good reason they did not support these. An older gfx card is often paired with less then 512mb ram and slow cpu, so the game will run like crap and look like crap.

Reading comprehension just isn't what it used to be.

[Borys]

Damn! Now this is a great idea...

Err... not exactly my dear feetbabies.

I tried Oblivion on my younger brother's machine (P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 5900XT) and it ran like shit on minimum details (*everything* either low or off) with maximum drawing distance for terrain, trees and objects and 1024x768 res. I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs. There's really no point in running TES4 on anything slower than 6800. As I like to recommend time & time again: if you have a 6800 go for it, if you have anything less upgrade or buy Xbox 360 (will cost the same as upgrade).

[Draft]

Runs alright on my 9800 Pro.

[Derwin]

I laughed when i read the headline "Oblivion on Your Grandpa's Computer"

...then i saw my own video card in the list :(

[Twinkie]

Stupid Geforce 4 MX

:(

[karaokequeen3]

Brilliant. Though I have a 9700 Pro and 1GB of RAM, my processor's an ass. And to be honest, I couldn't give two shits about the graphics if the fundamental game is that sound!

[CptTripps]

Err... not exactly my dear feetbabies.

I tried Oblivion on my younger brother's machine (P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 5900XT) and it ran like shit on minimum details (*everything* either low or off) with maximum drawing distance for terrain, trees and objects and 1024x768 res. I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs. There's really no point in running TES4 on anything slower than 6800. As I like to recommend time & time again: if you have a 6800 go for it, if you have anything less upgrade or buy Xbox 360 (will cost the same as upgrade).

Thats becuase the max draw distance is a killer. Try turning of distance trees\buildings\terrain and you can probably turn on some of the effects that make oblivion what it is. With that setup your biggest problem is going to be texture size and shaders, but it should definitely be playable if configured right.

[TheKeck]

I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs.

Did it hurt? Perhaps you should have the wiring checked.

[Royal Fool]

The game kinda looks like an Unreal 2-based game with this.

[Banacek]

Does it run on my Voodoo 2?

[net7runner]

Does it run on my Voodoo 2?
Those things were fashioned by Haphaestus himself on his incandescent forge of power. Their potential is beyond human comprehension.

Except for the fuckin' driver support.

[Outlaw]

Oblivion runs well with around mid-range settings on my old AMD XP 3000+, 1.5 gigs of ram, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.

I used the TweakGuides (http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html) list of adjustments to get the best framerate I could out of the game. That, and fresh Omega drivers (http://www.omegadrivers.net/) for my card gave me a good boost over playing the game straight out of the box.

I just ordered a BFG GeForce 7800GS AGP (http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/02/nvidia_7800gs_confirms_agp_aint_dead_yet/) from Dell, though, so I'm hoping to squeeze what's left out of my old system before I spring for a complete upgrade.

[Groo]

I remember when a 9700 pro was the second coming of Jesus himself.

[chazio]

will it run on my Hercules 3D Prophet? heh.

j/k i don't have one of those.

[Murtaug]

It really does not look bad in the screenshots. I tried running it on my new rig (p4 3gig, 2gig ram, GF6800) and it ran ok, and probably would have run better had I cared to mess with it enough to play with settings.

Not bad looking though if you ask me.

[Selar]

It really does not look bad in the screenshots.

Those aren't screenshots. Those are the five frames that they were able to render in 3 hours of gameplay on a 3dfx. Think Myst...

[nonchalance]

I tried Oblivion on my younger brother's machine (P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 5900XT) and it ran like shit on minimum details (*everything* either low or off) with maximum drawing distance for terrain, trees and objects and 1024x768 res. I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs. There's really no point in running TES4 on anything slower than 6800. As I like to recommend time & time again: if you have a 6800 go for it, if you have anything less upgrade or buy Xbox 360 (will cost the same as upgrade).

Uh, 1024x768 is the problem there. I play at 640 x 480 and I'm happy.

As I like to recommend time and time again, don't assume that just because you're willing to spend a few hundred bucks to play games at a higher resolution, everybody else can also afford it.
I'd rather send my daughter to a good school than buy a new graphics card OR an Xbox 360.

[ezra]

I tried Oblivion on my younger brother's machine (P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 5900XT) and it ran like shit on minimum details (*everything* either low or off) with maximum drawing distance for terrain, trees and objects and 1024x768 res. I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs. There's really no point in running TES4 on anything slower than 6800. As I like to recommend time & time again: if you have a 6800 go for it, if you have anything less upgrade or buy Xbox 360 (will cost the same as upgrade).

I'm playing it on a AMD 2600+, 512 ram, Radeon 9600 PRO, minimum settings, and I honestly don't have a problem with it. Sure I could spend 500 dollars to up the resolution slightly, or enable fancy lighting effects, but the game is perfectly playable, and perfectly beautiful even on the lowest settings.

Maybe I just have very low standards for graphics, but whenever I laugh whenever I hear people say that it is 'unplayable' on minimum settings.

[Goronmon]

Did it hurt? Perhaps you should have the wiring checked.
My car sucks so bad it literally shocks me everytime I get out of it. :(

[destoo]

I though this would be the solution too.. It works, but barely.

You're better getting morrowind+bloodmoon+tribunal and do what I did and get a gig of mods and enjoy it.

My motherboard's AGP 4x.. this is my bottleneck right now. I even changed my 440mx to a fx5500 (at least dx9 compliant).. Still too slow. (P4 1.7)

Heroe's demo works fine.. And I should have enough juice for NWN2. I'm happy.

[Qoz]

Reading comprehension just isn't what it used to be.

Meaning what?
I'm all for more options to the people, but it is kinda foolish to spend 50$ on Oblivion and use a hack to run it in a neutered state. Waste of money.
Why not pickup Morrowind cheap instead?
I just don't see a market for this hack unless you pirate the game and just can't afford an upgrade (probably popular in Russia and China).

[fitbabits]

Err... not exactly my dear feetbabies.

I tried Oblivion on my younger brother's machine (P4 2GHz, 1GB RAM, 5900XT) and it ran like shit on minimum details (*everything* either low or off) with maximum drawing distance for terrain, trees and objects and 1024x768 res. I was literally shocked to see how bad it performs. There's really no point in running TES4 on anything slower than 6800. As I like to recommend time & time again: if you have a 6800 go for it, if you have anything less upgrade or buy Xbox 360 (will cost the same as upgrade).
Feetbabies? Nice.

I still think it's a good idea. It obviously won't run like it's 'supposed' to, but it may be able to give people a flavor of what the hell the fuss is all about.

[Kvasir]

Meaning what?
I'm all for more options to the people, but it is kinda foolish to spend 50$ on Oblivion and use a hack to run it in a neutered state. Waste of money.
Why not pickup Morrowind cheap instead?

Because they are more intrested in the actual content rather than the pixel plenthora that comprises the game's scenery? That solution doesn't do much for Elder Scrolls fans.


I just don't see a market for this hack unless you pirate the game and just can't afford an upgrade (probably popular in Russia and China).

Lawlz. BECAUSE ALL POOR PEOPLE R PIRATEZ AMIRITE??

PS: There is no market for it, because it's free.

[Wasson_]

So, lets say you have a Radeon 9600 series, sure it's dx9 compatible, but could you dl this program to improve the games performance, regardless?

[Wedge]

I'd rather send my daughter to a good school than buy a new graphics card OR an Xbox 360.

Your priorities confuse me. :confused:

edit: ahhh, I think I understand: You hope your daughter gets rich so she'll put you in a retirement home where they allow you to play games! That makes perfect sense. Maybe she'll even spawn some offspring for you to pwn in Tekken 13.

[easi]

I'd rather send my daughter to a good school than buy a new graphics card OR an Xbox 360.

Yeah, because graphics cards cost thousands and thousands. :rolleyes:

Typical bullshit whiner exaggeration. Just buy a GS and stop trying to play games on your gf2's.

[rein]

Yeah, because graphics cards cost thousands and thousands. :rolleyes:

Typical bullshit whiner exaggeration. Just buy a GS and stop trying to play games on your gf2's.

I think he was implying that he would rather spend the money on his daughter than a graphics card. While the $300 isn't going to pay for the good school, it adds to the other sacrafices he is making to pay for the better school. Some of you need to stop trying to be a smart ass just to be a smart ass.

[Borys]

Ease up easi.

As for my previous post, yeah, cutting the drawing distance in half helps tremendoulsy.

[Qoz]

Because they are more intrested in the actual content rather than the pixel plenthora that comprises the game's scenery? That solution doesn't do much for Elder Scrolls fans.

I'm sure some hardcore Elderscrolls fans will enjoy this.
What I'm saying is, this game will run like shit and look like shit on old machines. Why not just buy a game 1-3 years old and get better graphics and performance? And wait until you can buy hardware, that can play Oblivion.
I'm a huge elderscrolls fan, and I paid for it and for a decent graphics-card. I would (as a fan) never play this game with washed out crappy graphics and huge loading times, because this would ruin it for me (or severely hamper the experience). Yes - graphics are a part of the ElderScrolls, but it is particular the loading times that would bother me (old machine = less ram and slow disk = loading time increased). And with laggy fights with monsters the combat gameplay becomes entirely different.

It would be like watching a new movie by my favorite director on a small laptop screen in poor resolution and crappy sound. I just won't waste the time, because I have the money to get a richer experience.

If people REALLY are fans and they do not pirate games, they would just hold off on buying games untill they could afford a new gfx card. Oblivion has tons of hours of gameplay so it is worth 3 games at least. But the vast majority that are going to use this mod are (you said it) the poor people. Or perhaps we could call them the leechers or whatever (they are not nescessarily poor). Russia and China have huge problems with piracy. You can hardly sell any games there because everybody is doing it.

So yes - this will ofcourse be popular for people who cannot afford new hardware. And if you cannot afford hardware you probably cannot afford videogames too.

[boratika]

*A horrible elitest rant about how he has plenty of money, but if you can't afford to buy a top of the range computer, or at least prioratise that above other things you are a probably a criminal.*

Console fanboys and girls could never hope to compete with what thier PC counterparts can produce.

Uh, 1024x768 is the problem there. I play at 640 x 480 and I'm happy.
The trick there is to then play it through an olde fashionde SD CRT TV (acronyms, anyone?) and get some "poor man's anti-aliasing". Also a 68cm TV can be nice for gaming.

[Ravenlock]

On the one hand, I agree that this isn't going to make the game enjoyably playable for most people. I'm running an Athlon XP 2.4Ghz with a gig of RAM and a GeForce 6600 128MB, and I had to tweak the game quite a bit to make it playable at 800x600.

It is playable, and even with most settings turned up and draw distance at max I still get 25-30 FPS everywhere, but like I said, that took some work to accomplish. I don't think I would've had the patience to do that with even less powerful hardware.

On the other hand, I put weeks into making Far Cry run acceptably on me GeForceFX 5200 (I'm a bad gamer for having ever owned one of those :( ) back when it came out, and I did have fun with the game even with reduced graphics. So I'm sure this is a good thing for people who have the time and don't want to shell out for a better card yet, or for people who just love seeing how much they can get out of subpar hardware, which is kind of a game in itself.

To the people saying to buy an X360 just for this game - you're talking to the wrong audience. The people who adopt "next gen" systems to play one hot new game are not the people who will be reading an article about how to play Oblivion on their GeForce 3. Different crowds.

[Qoz]

The trick there is to then play it through an olde fashionde SD CRT TV (acronyms, anyone?) and get some "poor man's anti-aliasing". Also a 68cm TV can be nice for gaming.

Poor-mans AA. hehe
I remember my first 3dfx-card and how it kinda blurred the textures producing some smoothing. Probably because of the low-quality output and cables. When I bought the Geforce256 I was disappointed, because I could see all the pixelation. My friends were equally surprised at how stale things seemed to look on new hardware. It was faster, more colorful and crisp, but it also revealed the low-poly and (still) low-res textures.

[nonchalance]

I think he was implying that he would rather spend the money on his daughter than a graphics card. While the $300 isn't going to pay for the good school, it adds to the other sacrafices he is making to pay for the better school. Some of you need to stop trying to be a smart ass just to be a smart ass.

Bingo.
That's a much better way of saying it than I did.

I would (as a fan) never play this game with washed out crappy graphics and huge loading times, because this would ruin it for me (or severely hamper the experience). Yes - graphics are a part of the ElderScrolls, but it is particular the loading times that would bother me (old machine = less ram and slow disk = loading time increased). And with laggy fights with monsters the combat gameplay becomes entirely different.

Actually, I'm playing it via Oldblivion on my laptop. The laptop is a work machine, which is why it has a Intel Core Duo, a gig of fast RAM, a SATA hdd and an integrated Intel 945GM graphics card.
Loading times are actually very quick. Of course, I'm running it on 640x480 with none of the shinies.

Incidentally, while the Oldblivion mod is mostly excellent, it's still got some crippling bugs, at least on my system. Not being able to open the Video Options menu without crashing to desktop is the major one, but there's others.

[Grifter]

To anyone bitching about this completely free mod:

Your stupidity in this thread is mind blowing. How is a free mod that allows people with low end PCs to play Oblivion a bad thing. Some of you jackasses will bitch about anything. Any one who thinks someone who can't afford to spend $500 to $2000 upgrading their system also can't afford to buy games is either an idiot, a trust fund baby or still living at home with mommy and daddy and has no concept of money. There is a huge difference between going out and spending $50 to $60 bucks on a game and spending $500+ on PC upgrades. Yes, for some people it is about the game play not the graphics. From the screen shots I have seen this mod still looks better than Morrowind and if a user can get an extra 10-15 fps out of it great.

One last thing, the reason why people don't just buy Morrowind instead is because IT'S A DIFFERENT FUCKING GAME if they wanted Morowind they would buy Morrowind but they don't they want to play Oblivion so this mod may give them the chance to do so, and if they are Elder Scrolls fans they have probably already played Morrowind. If you have such a fucking issue with people wanting to play this game who place their priorities with more important issues than upgrading their PC or if they just can't afford an upgrade maybe you should give them your rig and you can play Morrowind on theirs.

[GodFather]

You can also download this mod on Xbox360 for 200 credits!

[fitbabits]

You can also download this mod on Xbox360 for 200 credits!
Which mod? The main post concerns PCs only. :confused:

[Feltoar]

Does this mean I can play Oblivion on my PDA?

[Deathbane27]

Does this mean I can play Oblivion on my PDA?

YES! (http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivionmobile_overview.htm)

BACON!!!

[Grifter]

Does this mean I can play Oblivion on my PDA?
YES! (http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivionmobile_overview.htm)
Explore 12 dungeon levels:eek:
Encounter more than 10 monsters.:eek::eek:

[Deathbane27]

Explore 12 dungeon levels:eek:
Encounter more than 10 monsters.:eek::eek:

That's nothing, check out the awe-inspiring trailer (http://www.elderscrolls.com/images/downloads/ob_mobile_trailer.wmv)!

[nonchalance]

You can also download this mod on Xbox360 for 200 credits!

And it allows you to run Oblivion on the Xbox 1.

[KarmaGhost]

My car sucks so bad it literally shocks me everytime I get out of it. :(This actually happens with a lot of cars. It occurs because the car and/or you build up static electricty and since the car is insulated from the ground via the rubber wheels, the static can't be discharged. Once you get out of the car, step on the ground and touch the car's frame, the electricity has a way to "escape" and thus, you get shocked. Next time you're getting out of your car, open the door, step out without touching any metal, then before closing the door, take any all-metal key and touch it to the frame. This way, the electricity will be discharged, but you won't feel the shock, the key will.

[netcraazzy]

On the one hand, I agree that this isn't going to make the game enjoyably playable for most people. I'm running an Athlon XP 2.4Ghz with a gig of RAM and a GeForce 6600 128MB, and I had to tweak the game quite a bit to make it playable at 800x600.


Only 800x600? Yikes! That's almost the exact system setup as what I have. It was a hard decision for me to pick between the PC and 360 version of Oblivion, I think I'm glad I picked the 360 version.

[Noman]

>Some of you jackasses will bitch about anything. Any one who
>thinks someone who can't afford to spend $500 to $2000
>upgrading their system also can't afford to buy games is either an
>idiot, a trust fund baby or still living at home with mommy and
>daddy and has no concept of money.

I think, giving up on 2-3 full price games, so you can buy a more than decent AGP card and then save money to buy the title you wanted in the first place, makes more sense then continuing to buy new games which hardly run on older graphic cards.

Cards like X850XT AGP can be found for $150 now. 6800GS is also worth saving for.

To me, paying $50 for a PC game with a great rendering engine and then playing it on a $20 graphic card is a complete waste of money.

[mightbe]

I've often wondered if software could be written to tear out some of the performance requirements of higher end games. Now from what I understand this is a patch, but it's a very cool hack in the same vein none the less.

I'm a very big fan of supporting the low end hardware even on the newer games.

[mightbe]

Cards like X850XT AGP can be found for $150 now. 6800GS is also worth saving for.

To me, paying $50 for a PC game with a great rendering engine and then playing it on a $20 graphic card is a complete waste of money.

Both cards are great purchases. I'd like to secondthe nomination for the 6800GS. I don't think I've gotten such a good price/performance gfx card buy since my SLI Voodoo II's.

[Grifter]

I think, giving up on 2-3 full price games, so you can buy a more than decent AGP card and then save money to buy the title you wanted in the first place, makes more sense then continuing to buy new games which hardly run on older graphic cards.

Cards like X850XT AGP can be found for $150 now. 6800GS is also worth saving for.

To me, paying $50 for a PC game with a great rendering engine and then playing it on a $20 graphic card is a complete waste of money.

For some people, like most of us here at EvAv this may be true. What you need to remember is their are allot of people who don't consider themselves "gamers" but do enjoy a good game here and there. I know a few people who only play the Elder Scrolls games and the occasional adventure or puzzle game. It is for these people that this patch is primarily made for, The people who only play one or two games a year. Also depending on the model of the PC that is owned just going out and buying a new card may not be an option. You also need to remember a G-Force 3 was not always a $20 video card. That being said, complaining and bitching about this mod and the people who use it is still retarded and my previous comments still stand.

[Gel214th]

This is something that the developers themselves could have done, or could have supported. There is a very large base of people out there without the latest hardware, but with older 3D Cards. THey can use scaled down shaders which make the game look similar to Morrowind (and from the posts by some people, Morrowind was quite enjoyable, right?) and still enjoy the gameplay.I don't fire up Oblivion to watch scenery for 70 hours, there's a Game in there too.And the Game does not necessarily depend on photo realistic graphics, though such graphics do assist in enjoying the game, they are not 100% necessary if there is solid gameplay. Oblivion, thank gods, is not just a Tech Demo to show off some whizz bang effects, it has the solid underpinnnings of an excellent game beneath all the flash.

This is not playing the game in a 'neutered' state anymore than turning down the Draw distance, or turning off external shadows or specular highlights is playing hte game in a 'neutered' state. A comment such as that is pure hubris.

This simple fix proves that this title CAN be adjusted to run on older hardware, and perhaps others as well, especially those which utilise shaders a lot. It won't look the same, but then people that have older hardware aren't going to mind, and it certainly doesn't look Bad, nor is the gameplay affected.

I think this was an excellent effort by those involved to bring a fantastic game to even more people out there, and it is something that should be supported by the Developers.