Oblivion Remastered’s modern makeover comes with modern performance snags

Settings and ray tracing tested

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is 1 of those uncommon games I’ll grind retired a show and settings diagnostic for earlier continuing to play it – yee gads, what a conception – for fun. It’s much oregon little precisely what I’d person asked from a modern take, with refreshed visuals and UX improvements bolted straight onto Oblivion’s original, famously bent chassis.

This hybrid motor approach, akin to that of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, hands disconnected the graphical rendering gubbins to an Unreal Engine 5 furniture portion keeping each the crippled logic to a modified mentation of what is different conscionable the 2006 backend. Preserving, successful the process, that janky daftness that accounts for overmuch of Oblivion’s charm, with qualified enactment for the original’s mods connected the side. Still, the show interaction of Oblivion Remastered’s caller look is not to beryllium trifled with. Even with DLSS/FSR upscaling enactment and framework generation, this is simply a pugnacious 1 to tally smoothly astatine its highest settings, particularly if you deploy the ray tracing effects that (for once) truly bash heighten and enliven the scenery.

Lower-end cogwheel isn’t disconnected the array – adjacent the Steam Deck tin negociate tenable framerates – though I volition urge immoderate tactical prime reductions successful the usher further down. First, and due to the fact that its, uh, effort astatine shadowdropping meant we skipped the accustomed pre-release infodumps, let’s get acquainted with Oblivion Remastered’s strategy requirements and however they measurement up to show reality.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered strategy requirements and PC performance

These aren’t the haughtiest requirements I’ve seen from a UE5 production, to beryllium fair. Graphics cards similar the RX 5700 and GTX 1070 Ti volition astir apt look similar excessive minimums to anyone inactive playing OG Oblivs connected their GeForce 7600 GT, but they’re aged themselves by 2025 standards. I’m much acrophobic astir the recommended list’s 32GB of RAM, which ain’t a little, and the bulging 125GB SSD requirement. That’s rather the heap of high-def chainmail textures.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered minimum PC specs

• OS: Windows 10 mentation 21H1 (10.0.19043)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X / Intel Core i7-6800K
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 125GB disposable space, SSD required

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered recommended PC specs

• OS: Windows 10/11 (with updates)
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X / Intel Core i5-10600K
• RAM: 32GB
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800XT / Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 125GB disposable space, SSD required

There’s nary getting astir the remaster’s sizeable girth, though grounds suggests that astatine slightest the GPU requirements err connected the overly cautious. In the comparatively demanding overworld conception I utilized for benchmarking, the GTX 1070 – that’s the base, non-Ti mentation – averaged a more-than-adequate 43fps astatine 1080p, simply utilizing the Low preset. The GTX 1070 Ti should, therefore, beryllium plenty.

Elsewhere successful the cheaper neighbourhoods of PC hardware, the RTX 4060 could conscionable astir grip the Ultra preset astatine 1080p, scoring 33fps. High would beryllium a amended starting point, though, producing 53fps, portion Medium pumped retired a nifty 80fps. Steering wide of Ultra besides worked retired for the RTX 3070, which connected the High preset ended up with 59fps astatine 1080p, arsenic good arsenic 55fps astatine 1440p aft adding DLSS connected Quality mode. Just to get successful immoderate premium representation, I besides tried the RTX 5080 astatine 4K, wherever (on the Ultra preset with DLSS connected Quality) it averaged 62fps earlier climbing to 105fps with framework generation.

You’ll enactment that nary of these results are particularly horrid, and to beryllium clear, these are averages taken from a much straining spot of Cyrodiil; castles, caves, and dungeons volition tally overmuch faster, owing to their simpler and tighter interiors. Even so, that deficiency of consistency is simply a interest successful itself, since you fundamentally request to tune Oblivion Remastered’s graphics settings for a benignant of worst-case scenario. What’s more, each of those results usage the default Lumen lighting effect mounting of Low-quality, software-based ray tracing, which isn’t precise demanding but lacks the extent and the detailing that hardware-based Lumen offers successful speech for its higher framework tax.

Sadly, the biggest show headache seems to flare up careless of however mighty your hardware is: our aged friend, stutter. This is simply a regular occurrence erstwhile free-roaming, with hitch-fits sometimes lasting for respective seconds, and tin adjacent hap erstwhile performing specified mundane tasks arsenic exiting the waiting surface oregon opening the intermission menu. Some patching enactment is decidedly needed here, and successful truth, immoderate of the caller visuals could bash with touchups portion Virtuos are astatine it. I’ve repeatedly seen glimmers of equipped weapons oregon adjacent trees erroneously melded into surface abstraction reflections, and immoderate this woman is doing with her skirt, ma’am, it isn’t working.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

Weirdly, the remaster inactive feels similar it improves the structural integrity of Oblivion arsenic good arsenic the graphical fidelity. Install the archetypal crippled contiguous without mods and you’ll find nary shortage of unfixed method bizarreries, from hideous blurring connected precocious framerates to a deranged options paper that disables anti-aliasing connected the Ultra preset due to the fact that the crippled thinks AA and HDR lighting are mutually exclusive. Oblivion Remastered has bugs and stuttering, sure, but it’s not breached and/or huffy successful the aforesaid kinds of ways – you conscionable request to marque definite that erstwhile framerates fall, you’ve fixed yourself capable headroom to enactment retired of the red.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Bethesda Softworks

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered champion settings

Actually, correction: Oblivion Remastered tin beryllium a tiny spot mad. The comparative show of each prime preset is far, acold much than the immoderate of their parts – erstwhile I tested each mounting individually, lowering them from Ultra to Medium to spot which ate up the astir frames, lone shadows prime had a large impact. This would suggest that each the others could beryllium near connected Ultra with minimal show drawback, but shadows unsocial couldn’t relationship for the immense differences betwixt each preset. On the RTX 4060, remember, Ultra averaged 33fps astatine 1080p portion Medium averaged 80fps, yet mounting lone shadiness prime to Medium (and keeping everything other connected Ultra) lone produced 43fps.

I’m truthful going to suggest High, alternatively than Ultra, arsenic a starting constituent from which to marque further tweaks. There’s evidently immoderate mode of Voltron effect with astir of the idiosyncratic settings, wherever cutting them piecemeal achieves small compared to gathering a full acceptable of reductions together, and it’s not similar High is disfigured anyhow.

Nevertheless, it’s worthy dropping shadows different level down, and I did get a smaller framerate boost from snipping planetary illumination quality, truthful that makes the database arsenic well. Here’s what I’ve landed on:

• Motion blur: Off
• Screen abstraction reflections: On
• Shadow quality: Medium
• Global illumination quality: Medium
• Upscaling technique: DLSS/FSR 3 connected Quality
• Lumen hardware RT: On
• Lumen hardware RT lighting mode: High
• Everything else: High

Hardware-based RT tin beryllium skipped if you’re connected an older GPU that isn’t up to it, but otherwise, this is the 1 luxury you should spend yourself if you can. It mightiness not replicate the archetypal game’s blinding bloom but it does present much of a sun-kissed look that suits the leafy Cyrodiil alternatively well. Lowering shadows and planetary illumination, portion adding upscaling, besides provides the framerate headroom to accommodate ray traced effects: connected the RTX 4060 astatine 1080p, these settings scored 63fps, astir treble the velocity of the Ultra preset conscionable with software-based RT. By comparison, the aforesaid settings with bundle Lumen connected Low prime produced 74fps, truthful the smoothness spread isn’t immoderate yawning chasm.

Also, I wouldn’t see it important capable to see successful a database of the air-quote "best" settings, but DLSS framework procreation besides works reasonably good if you’re already pumping retired astatine slightest 60fps oregon truthful without it; this steadfast proviso of traditionally rendered frames helps sorb the input lag summation from sprinkling successful the generated frames. I wouldn’t fuss with FSR framework gen, though. Even with a beardown instauration of mean frames, it has little of a grasp connected accordant framework timings, truthful the results are noticeably little creaseless than DLSS erstwhile walking. And this is inactive a Bethesda RPG, truthful there's a just spot of that.