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Laptop: GX70 3BE

Specs:

GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8970M

CPU: AMD Quad Core A10-5750M Processor (4M Cache, up to 3.50 GHz)

RAM: 8 Gb

OS: Windows 10

I did update my graphics drivers once I upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.

My pc should be able to run Oblivion flawlessly, but for some reason it will dip down to around 10-25 fps pretty often.... I've read a lot of posts on various forums relating to my issue where people say that Oblivion can only use one core, but I'm not sure if this is true. Even if it were true, there doesn't seem to be any kind of solid solution anywhere to be found. My laptop can run Skyrim a LOT better than this game which is absurd in my opinion... I'm not sure if it's my specs or if it's just the fact that game is optimized for older computers. If you need any more information, let me know.

It is true that it can only use one core effectively, but your specs should still be more than enough to run it. Are you sure it uses the dedicated graphics card? I am not sure how this works with AMD mobile cpus, but I often read that sometimes games run slow on laptops with Intel cpus because they use the integrated graphics chip of the cpu instead of the dedicated graphics card for some reason, e.g. they don't detect the dedicated one. Maybe this is also what's happening here.

I'm thinking it's a CPU issue, when I run it on the Ultra High vs. Medium settings, I get the same results in FPS.

I'm pretty sure it is using my better GPU, the laptop has a white light on the top center of the keyboard. Whenever it turns red it's utilizing my higher end GPU. This is what it does when I run Oblivion.

Bump? This issue is just so frustrating... I used to play Oblivion on Xbox 360 and absolutely loved it. I wish I could run it flawlessly.. just not sure if it's possible or not...

I'm assuming you are not using any mods? I'm sorry, you should really be able to run it with your specs, but I have no idea what could be the problem if the gpu is used correctly, as you say.

I did recently change the .ini file of Oblivion to try and force it to use more cores. I also do have a few mods on. I noticed that when I launched Oblivion and clicked "Data Files" that the Oblivion.esm (master file) was unchecked. Upon checking it, Oblivion crashed on start up every time... I went ahead and uninstalled all mods, reverted the .ini file to default, and did a complete reinstall of Oblivion on Steam. After that, Oblivion now works fine with the Oblivion.esm checked, but I'm still getting the same frames as before.... I even tried to run Oblivion in compatibility mode, but it didn't change anything... Would the Oblivion unofficial patch do anything in terms of performance or frames?

Probably not, at least not much, if at all. It is mainly for bug fixes, not for performance issues. Which mods were you using before? But if the problem exists without them, it doesn't really matter. There are a few ini settings that enable Oblivion to make use of a second core, but really only for loading things in the background, the main game will never use more than one, sorry. But still, there should not be any problem with your GPU. In fact, if I am not mistaken, your laptop is not much weaker than my desktop pc, which also has an AMD cpu and graphics card, and I have no problems running Oblivion.

Well, I hope someone else has any ideas, because I only know that it really should run fine, but not why it doesn't.

Interesting... How many fps do you get on average when you run Oblivion? (particularly when running or looking around in the Imperial City)

Edit: Oh, and what settings are you playing it at along with the fps you get? I'm playing on ultra high as of right now.

So now on ultra high in the same spot where it was dipping down in frames it's giving me 40-50 frames which is good enough. On medium I was getting a consistent 60 fps. I know when I turned down the draw distance I get can easily achieve 60 fps on ultra. My frames are a whole lot better outside than in cities. I'm not sure if I would consider this solved but thanks for sticking with me and trying your best to help out Pherim.

You are welcome. I'll have to check later to make sure, but I'm quite positive that I can run vanilla Oblivion with the highest settings with pretty constant 60fps. Maybe you could try lowering the number of exterior shadows, as that can have quite a big impact with many NPCs around, as is the case in cities.

edit: Ok, I just tried it and I actually experience the same as you do. When I am around a large number of NPCs, like in the IC market district, the FPS drop to 35-40, whereas in the wilderness I have 80 to over 100 FPS without VSync enabled. Reducing exterior shadow count raises this to around 50, but there is a definite FPS drop around NPCs, which is not surprising in itself, I just did not remember that it was so much (It's been a while since I last started vanilla Oblivion and checked FPS). But that probably is related to the fact that it can only use one core, because the NPCs' AI is most likely causing it and that is calculated by the cpu. There may be some ini settings to improve FPS in this situation a little, but there is only so much you can do about that. Disabling self shadows might also give a few extra FPS, though. They are ugly, anyway. So, it would appear there is nothing wrong with your laptop, but it's an engine issue. Not much can be done about that. Maybe Oblivion Reloaded can do something to improve performance, although that mainly helps with low FPS caused by mods that add distant LOD, I believe.

Oh, I see. That makes so much sense! Much appreciated!