|
|
|
TK's Mod Questions Thread, Got mod problems, or are you just lost with a tool? |
|
|
Thomas Kaira |
Feb 24 2011, 01:12 AM
|
Mouth
Joined: 10-December 10
From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky!
|
Quick bulletin on how to improve your game's performance here: today, I wish to discuss water reflections.
The pros? They make your water look nice and purdy.
The cons? It has recently come to the attention of the TES4 modding community that water reflections can provide a huge FPS hit. Here's why:
The water reflection system in this game piggybacks onto the game's Distant LOD system. If an object has a matching _far.NIF mesh (which are the low quality objects you see over long distances in this game) the game also uses that mesh for the water reflection mapping. This means that every _far.NIF mesh that is loaded into the game is being rendered twice (once for Distant LOD, once for reflection map) if you have the water reflections setting turned on.
Now, due to Oblivion's lack of occlusion culling (which is a system that prevents a game engine from rendering objects the player can't see), this means that any exterior cell that has water in it gets a reflection map rendered... even if there's only a small puddle on the ground. Every single object that is Visible When Distant, even those you could not hope to see in that tiny puddle. HEck, there are some cells in the game that have no water in them whatsoever up on ground level... but down below the landscape is a giant sea. Not only can you not even hope to see them in normal gameplay, it's impossible to even reach the water. Even they get reflections rendered!
This is an astoundingly inefficient (and dare I say lazy) method of adding reflections to the game, and many people have reported up to 20 FPS (!!!) gained just by turning reflections off. So, if you are looking to squeeze a bit of extra performance out of your game, consider removing the water reflections. The downside to this is you will lose every reflection, including the sky reflection, so the water will look rather soupy and bland, so it is your decision, and it may not be worth the trouble if you are running a lightly modded game.
This post has been edited by Thomas Kaira: Feb 24 2011, 01:16 AM
--------------------
Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?
|
|
|
|
mALX |
Mar 11 2011, 10:05 PM
|
Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN
|
I wonder if when you have to do a System Restore if it deletes the downloaded mods that you have on your desktop? I just noticed yesterday that my "Oblivion Werewolf Mod" is missing from my desktop - I would never have deleted that, or my Kawa Khajiit files - but both are gone. I did delete some plug-ins I wasn't using, and assumed the Kawa had somehow gotten mixed in among them - but now I am wondering if the System Restore did it. GAAAAAH!!! ** mALX crossing fingers, facing east, kneeling before a graven image of a cow ... ** I guess it doesn't matter how much I wish it, the mods are gone regardless. "The Oblivion Werewolf Mod" is no longer on Nexus, and I couldn't find it by Googling. Unless something has changed, copies of those files are still in my Data file in the Bethesda folder - but the originals have disappeared from my desktop.
--------------------
|
|
|
|
mALX |
Mar 11 2011, 10:25 PM
|
Ancient
Joined: 14-March 10
From: Cyrodiil, the Wastelands, and BFE TN
|
QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:12 PM) Did you try undoing your System Restore? There should be an option available to reverse the restore if you recently performed one.
I haven't done it recently, and it won't let me go back any further than 2/5/2011. Do you know exactly what can be erased in a System Restore? Like if we wrote a chapter for our stories today and saved it, would it still be there after a System Restore? What about recent emails? Screenshots? (etc.) - does anyone know ???
--------------------
|
|
|
|
Thomas Kaira |
Mar 13 2011, 11:39 PM
|
Mouth
Joined: 10-December 10
From: Flyin', Flyin' in the sky!
|
QUOTE(TheOtherRick @ Mar 13 2011, 01:36 PM) QUOTE(Thomas Kaira @ Mar 11 2011, 04:41 PM) System restore only deals with the system files in the Windows folder and the registry. It doesn't touch personal files like word documents or saved emails.
This is one reason why your desktop is a notoriously bad place to save things. I also learned that lesson the hard way. I have all of my original mod downloads saved in a folder called "Oblivion Stuff" in "My Documents", and a shortcut to that folder on my desktop. Might I suggest a similar strategy... I keep all of my game mods currently not in use in a "Mods Archive" folder. To save Hard Drive space, installed Oblivion mods remain in the Bash Installers folder for BAIN and their folder in the archive is empty. This lets me know that the mod is on my computer, but is currently in use. All of my game mods (Flight Simulator 2004, Morrowind, Age of Mythology, etc.) get the same treatment. I also do my best to keep this folder organized so it is easy to track down any mods I may wish to use again, but am not right now. Anyways, want to know my most recent addition? Auto Book PlacerThis is a decoration assistant mod designed to quickly stack your private library with your books and volumes. This can be done literally in seconds, on any book (even mod-added), on any shelf (again, even mod added). You can also use it to stack your wine racks, too!
--------------------
Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 User(s) are reading this topic (3 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
|
|