got Oblivion today...

[JBC]

Damn. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to this stuff...

I went out and bought it today for my pc, thinking that since i can run Doom 3 and Quake 4 no sweat that i should be able to at least play it.

Well yeah, i can run it - but even with every effect turned off or down to the lowest settings it's still too choppy to even look at. Poo. Guess it's time for a new video card. Any recommendations?

Should i buy it from a store or online? I've never put one in myself...

Also, i only have 512mb in my comp. Do i need to upgrade my ram?

[Arznei]

Hmm. Oblivion thread.

It annoys me how it REQUIRES A MINIMUM of 512mb ram. Aside from that, my crappy FX 5100 graphics card and computer should be able to run it. If it wasn't such a resource whore I'm sure I'd be playing it right now. :(

[SAM]

My PC can't even run PCB and Imperishable Night correctly. The Sns2 and Raiden 3, cann't even installed on it.

[ahnslaught]

Hmm...my experience with Oblivion was a bit different. It was actually the first game in a long while for me where a PC games's recommended specs were actually a good, honest indication of what you need. I had the recommended specs (basically, with a slightly better video card), and I was able to play with most all effects on max at 1280x1024.

Anyway, as for graphics cards, I've used ATi cards over the last 5-6 years. At least a little while back, the good nvidia cards used to be twice the thickness because of the cooling fan and heat sink, and was loud as all hell. I don't know the situation nowadays, but I have an ATI because larger cards won't fit my Shuttle xpc. Either way, ATi and nvidia have practically the same performance at each price point ($100, $200-250; $500+) that it doesn't really matter anymore. Find one you like, or a good price, and plug away.

Installing the card is easy enough - all it involves, if memory serves right, is:

1) download the newest driver from the ati or nvidia website;
2) uninstall the current video drivers from add/remove programs;
3) unplug the old and plug in the new card;
4) install the newest driver that you downloaded earlier.

If it's your first time, don't worry - it's pretty hard to screw this operation up! Just keep in mind, at least for ATI's catalyst driver, it wants to install a bunch of crap like a new toolbar and other junk you don't need, so specify that you only want to download the driver only at install. Since it's your first time, while I believe it will be relatively straightforward, you may want to pay a little more and buy at a local store, just in case you mess up and need to take it in for servicing or something like that.

As for ram, I've had 1gb in my last two pcs, and it's worked well so far. Oblivion runs well off of it, though there's some stutter when it loads new areas here and there, but nothing too terrible at all.

[bigbadboaz]

Circuit, it wouldn't hurt to jump to 1GB of RAM. That's pretty much the sweetspot today and any game moving forward will benefit from it.

Adding a new vid card _never_ hurts. It's hard to tell which of these two upgrades is more important without just going ahead and doing them. If you can afford both it's the best way to go, or try the RAM first since it's cheaper and may help enough on its own.

What is your CPU vs. the recommended spec?

[BIG]

Shit,and here I thought you were talking about the 360 version!

Oblivion is definitely a sight to behold (360). I can only imagine how much nicer it would look on a PC gaming rig.

B-

[sethsez]

Yes, get more RAM. That's the most likely bottleneck, it's the cheapest part to upgrade and 512 is really too little for most games today.

[Bingo]

RAM is a bottleneck with Oblivion on the PC. 1 GIG is the real world minimum, more is always appreciated (I hear the sweetspot is already moving north of 1 GIG these days). With 512 the game will have to shift so much streaming data to your hard drive that if your buffer area is on the same drive as your game the system will choke itself in no time. Up that and see how it goes. A bunch of friends compared the game on a high end PC (ATI X1900XLXTPENISSPECIAL 2 GIGs of RAM, some intergalactic multicore CPU and a finetuned setup) and the 360 and it does run a bit better (more consistent) on the Box overall with all the bells and whistles activated, and easily so if your PC isn't state-of-the-art. Oblivion is one hungry baby.

[stuffmonger]

Yes, get more RAM. That's the most likely bottleneck, it's the cheapest part to upgrade and 512 is really too little for most games today.

Since when is the RAM the cheapest part to upgrade? I spent over $300 on 2 gigs of RAM for my pc, which makes it the most expensive component in my computer. I actually upgraded my pc to better run oblivion before I bought oblivion. I bought a visiontek card based on the ati radeon x1300 card (512mb instead of 256mb)... it was around $180 at circuit city when I bought it. As for processor speed, I've got a 3.2gig ht pentium. Oblivion looks awesome with this setup.

[sethsez]

Since when is the RAM the cheapest part to upgrade?

If you have $150 to spend, it'll result in a better speed increase if spent on RAM than on anything else unless for some bizarre reason you have 4 gigs of RAM and a Geforce 2 in your computer already.

Also, that Radeon x1300 is one of ATi's low end cards. Meanwhile, 2 gigs of RAM is a pretty sizeable amount. Those aren't really comparable in quality so obviously you'll find the component prices a bit out of whack.

[howmuchkeefe]

You'll want at least one gig of RAM and the best video card you can afford.

I'm playing on an AMD 4000+, 2 gig RAM and a 7800GT. I've got high detail, high resolution, max grass/tree/actor fade distance running at 25-50 FPS. Before I went from one gig to two gigs, I was getting about 20-45 FPS.

I don't have anti-aliasing, HDR/Bloom or most of the shadow options enabled.

I'm pretty sure the best way to improve FPS is to upgrade yer video card.

EDIT: Swapping RAM and video cards isn't that difficult, and you're very unlikely to harm either the components or your motherboard doing it.

EDITII: ...well, some prebuilt machines have really evil case design, requiring you to practically dismantle the damned computer before you can get at the RAM.

[system11]

And remember kids - for the price of a graphics card that can run Oblivion, you could buy a 360 and a copy of the game. Gaming on PCs is such a PITA that I will never return to it, been direct-X version mismatch free since Alice.

[Arznei]

How can people even play Oblivion on the 360? It sounds really difficult controlling your view with a second analog stick.

[SuperGrafx]

How can people even play Oblivion on the 360? It sounds really difficult controlling your view with a second analog stick.

Trust me, it's not.
I've beaten the game and gotten all 50 Achievements and I can assure you that the control was perfectly adequate.

[system11]

How can people even play Oblivion on the 360? It sounds really difficult controlling your view with a second analog stick.

I now have problems moving and looking at the same time with PCs, because I'm so used to twin analogues. With a mouse you can spin really quick, and pinpoint aim more quickly, but at the same time you suffer from having to sometimes lift and reposition the mouse. An analogue pad gives you analogue movement and a better tie between movement+direction. That and you get a whole bunch of extra buttons nearby, no function key misery.

Of course, you need decent analogue sticks on the pad. The PS2 ones are much harder to work with than the original Xbox, and the 360 ones are better than that. With my history of wrist problems (overtime - Just Say No!), I couldn't play PC games now even if I wanted to, but on pads? All day long - no problem.

[Ord]

How can people even play Oblivion on the 360? It sounds really difficult controlling your view with a second analog stick.

Trust me, it's not.
I've beaten the game and gotten all 50 Achievements and I can assure you that the control was perfectly adequate.

Same. I've just finished the game, with all the achievements and most quests done (I can't be bothered getting up to master level on my non major attributes). I've even done all the little downloadable quests. The point is i'm at a bit of a loss as to what to play next. I have plenty of games, but they just don't seem to be a fun and immersive as this game was.

[BIG]

So back to my question...

How does the 360 version stack up against the almighty PC?

B-

[SuperGrafx]

The point is i'm at a bit of a loss as to what to play next. I have plenty of games, but they just don't seem to be a fun and immersive as this game was.

I'm in the same boat. But the next two months are looking decent...Dead Rising and Chromehounds should be shipping.

[stuffmonger]

How can people even play Oblivion on the 360? It sounds really difficult controlling your view with a second analog stick.

I now have problems moving and looking at the same time with PCs, because I'm so used to twin analogues. With a mouse you can spin really quick, and pinpoint aim more quickly, but at the same time you suffer from having to sometimes lift and reposition the mouse. An analogue pad gives you analogue movement and a better tie between movement+direction. That and you get a whole bunch of extra buttons nearby, no function key misery.

Of course, you need decent analogue sticks on the pad. The PS2 ones are much harder to work with than the original Xbox, and the 360 ones are better than that. With my history of wrist problems (overtime - Just Say No!), I couldn't play PC games now even if I wanted to, but on pads? All day long - no problem.

And that's why I use a trackball

[jp]

So back to my question...

How does the 360 version stack up against the almighty PC?

B-

I"m probably going to be flamed to hell and back for saying this but:



A friend of mine's brother says Oblivion is better on the 360. This guy pretty much has the best computer money can buy as his dad spent like... $3000 or $5000 building it for him just to see how much of a powerful computer he could make.

But... thats his input. So... yeah. I've never played it on the PC myself, but stupid as glitches aside, the 360 version is superb.

[howmuchkeefe]

No flames from me. I've never played the 360 version, but if it operates in the 40+ FPS neighborhood on average, it's DEFINITELY the better deal.

[sethsez]

And remember kids - for the price of a graphics card that can run Oblivion, you could buy a 360 and a copy of the game.

This is bullshit. Unless you absolutely must have the best possible graphics available right now, a $200 (or less) card will run Oblivion just fine.

I'm no big fan of modern PC gaming, but console gamers seem to love overexaggerating the price of it. Just because the absolute best is out there doesn't mean you need it to run modern games. A $450 card is in no way required to run anything unless you're mentally incapable of buying a mid-range product (which is something that seems to affect many gamers, unfortunately).

[ahnslaught]

And remember kids - for the price of a graphics card that can run Oblivion, you could buy a 360 and a copy of the game.

This is bullshit. Unless you absolutely must have the best possible graphics available right now, a $200 (or less) card will run Oblivion just fine.

I'm no big fan of modern PC gaming, but console gamers seem to love overexaggerating the price of it. Just because the absolute best is out there doesn't mean you need it to run modern games. A $450 card is in no way required to run anything unless you're mentally incapable of buying a mid-range product (which is something that seems to affect many gamers, unfortunately).

I still think the point's well taken, though. It does cost a hell of a lot more money to play PC games than any console, and any upgrade only lasts for a relatively short while before you have to upgrade again. Once you get in a cycle, be it buying $200 cards or $500 cards, you're going to have to do it every 2-3 years or so to keep up. I basically skipped a generation of PC games because I got tired of paying for hardware, and the only reason I was able to play oblivison was because I really had to upgrade my PC just recently. Too bad that I couldn't wait a little longer, as the new PC games from E3 look really amazing.

As for the control debate, I heard that Oblivion was made with the 360 controller in mind, and you can see that in the item and equip menu screens; however, the good side of pcs is that there are mods to make things better...

[JBC]

however, the good side of pcs is that there are mods to make things better...

Like the Classic or In Hell mods for Doom 3 *salivates*

[Arznei]

And remember kids - for the price of a graphics card that can run Oblivion, you could buy a 360 and a copy of the game.

This is bullshit. Unless you absolutely must have the best possible graphics available right now, a $200 (or less) card will run Oblivion just fine.

I'm no big fan of modern PC gaming, but console gamers seem to love overexaggerating the price of it. Just because the absolute best is out there doesn't mean you need it to run modern games. A $450 card is in no way required to run anything unless you're mentally incapable of buying a mid-range product (which is something that seems to affect many gamers, unfortunately).

Providing that you aren't required to fork out for more ram, you mean?

[sethsez]

Providing that you aren't required to fork out for more ram, you mean?

He said "graphics card," I replied to graphics card. Console gamers act like the $600 cards are the only ones worth a damn and the others will just rape your father while he sleeps. It's like they lose all reason when it comes to PC hardware and immediately assume that most expensive = minimum required.

Once you get in a cycle, be it buying $200 cards or $500 cards, you're going to have to do it every 2-3 years or so to keep up.

A $200 card once every 2.5 years adds up to $400 after five years. That's the price of a single 360, just to make sure we're all on the same page, or $100 more than the tard pack (which is so named because you have to spend more money anyway to be able to use it, since it comes with no saving method), and that's about how long the system will most likely last. The PS3 is obviously an outlier here. And you can probably stretch it longer if you don't care about having all the games looking as great as possible.

Which is where the big hypocrisy comes into play. Anti-PC gamers will, on the one hand, criticize the market for focusing so heavily on graphics, but will then complain that they need to constantly upgrade their video cards because otherwise they can't run on maximum settings.

[Dandy J]

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

Oblivion has a fuckton of tweaks that can increase performance significantly.

[system11]

And remember kids - for the price of a graphics card that can run Oblivion, you could buy a 360 and a copy of the game.

This is bullshit. Unless you absolutely must have the best possible graphics available right now, a $200 (or less) card will run Oblivion just fine.

Ok, fair point. Of course, that $200 card will be out of date quicker than a $400 card, which is what drives people buying higher end parts. In either case, we might then find that our motherboard doesn't have the required bus speeds to get the best out of the card anyway. It's always seemed like a vast and stupid money sink, and the situation is even worse in Europe where our 360s are close to the dollar value, but PC parts are still at a huge disparity. Since I stopped playing PC games at /all/, I haven't needed to change my PC in the slightest. It's getting on for 5 years old now, and there's absolutely no reason it can't be fine until it physically breaks at this point.

Agreed on the retard model of 360 by the way. The smaller machine is fine for everything except online, but you do need to factor in $30-$40 for the memory card.

[stuffmonger]

The argument or pc gaming cost vs console gaming cost is stupid. For one, Pc's do ALOT more than a console. And about the upgrading... people don't need to upgrade in order to have the same graphics capabilities for as long as they live. You only need to upgrade when you want to advance to a better graphics speed, which would be about the same as upgrading from an xbox to an xbox360 without having to buy a new case, and harddrive as well.

[ahnslaught]

Stuffmonger -

Why is the PC gaming cost vs console cost stupid? Yes, PCs do a lot more than a console, but then again, the only reason you need new parts anymore is basically for games. And those parts cost more than getting any console because the PC hardware makers can't subsidize the cost of the hardware with software sales, unlike console makers. And, taking that argument out, PCs play games; if you want to play them, you're going to fork over a lot more money, plain and simple.