ES:Oblivion system requirements

I know that Bethesda has not released the system requirements for Oblivion, but has anyone seen the screenshots or done some reading on the game and can make an educated guess as to what they might be? (Obviously for a PC and not the Xbox360). Am I wrong in assuming that 9800 pro or 6 series GeForce would be the minimum for GPU, as well as, a healthy 1Gb of RAM. I gather that this game will be very demanding graphically. Has Bethesda said anything about the scalability they plan to put into the game?

Originally Posted by mynameisjonas

I know that Bethesda has not released the system requirements for Oblivion, but has anyone seen the screenshots or done some reading on the game and can make an educated guess as to what they might be? (Obviously for a PC and not the Xbox360). Am I wrong in assuming that 9800 pro or 6 series GeForce would be the minimum for GPU, as well as, a healthy 1Gb of RAM. I gather that this game will be very demanding graphically. Has Bethesda said anything about the scalability they plan to put into the game?

A several minute walkthrough video of Oblivion's gameplay was released to the net a few days ago (and summarily pulled from most sites at Bethesda's request). Oblivion looked extremely impressive and there is no doubt in my mind that it is going to be a major system hog. The minimum system specs you listed seem to be on the mark but I can see Bethesda listing them as being the 'recommended' specs so as not to frighten or alienate prospective buyers with less than acceptable systems. I would be shocked if Bethesda's marketing people listing anything more powerful than Radeon 9xxx/GeForce 5xxx cards as being the recommended 3D cards needed to play Oblivion. Despite the hype and bruhaha about the X8xx and GF 6xxx series (let alone the latest generation cards) there are very few gamers out there who actually own one.

Bethesday used the Gamebryo engine to make Oblivion and not only is it state of the art but it is extremely scalable as well. However, even though the Gamebryo engine is far more efficient than its predecessor (the NDL engine which was used to make Morrowind) Bethesda is adamant in its drive to make Oblivion as cutting edge as possible. That means lots of DX9 lighting and shading not to mention other non-3D related features like Oblivion's Radiant AI system, etc. I think a powerful CPU will make a much bigger difference in Oblivion than it did in Morrowind.

Despite being pulled off many sites at the request of Bethesday the walkthrough/demo video is still out there if you look hard enough, it's about 120megs or so.

I really hope my comp can run it... No way am I shelling out 400 bucks for a 360..., plus another 50 for Oblivion.

I'm probably going to end up shelling out $600 for the hard drive plus wireless controller and 2 games 360 pakage just so I can play Oblivion. Realistically my choices are shell out the $600 for PC upgrades or for a 360.

Remember that the Morrowind was a killer when it was released, with many buyers only being able to run it at full settings some time after release.

Well, it also has to do with the fact that I'm going to college next year, and I doubt I'd be able to take the 360 with me without a fight.

Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

Remember that the Morrowind was a killer when it was released, with many buyers only being able to run it at full settings some time after release.

Yes, I remember trying it with a TNT2 graphics card. It was like you had dumped my computer in treacle. I saw just enough - the Silt strider - to know I just had to get a new graphics card. Still clunked along until I totally changed the computer quite recently.

Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

Remember that the Morrowind was a killer when it was released, with many buyers only being able to run it at full settings some time after release.

I only ever played the xbox version. I have a rule I live by. If there is a really good PC game that comes to the xbox, get the xbox version the worst that will happen is the xbox will crash.

I also played it only for Xbox, still haven't beaten it (or rather, I'm still playing it...). So I can't judge by how well my computer will run, nor do I understand how to look at or judge my specs.

Thx Spino, I guess I can relax a little now with respect to the game's scalability, but I still shudder at the thought of buying a new graphics card or Xbox360. Has anyone heard if Oblivion will use 3.0 pixel shader? Or, if it will likely be a requirement for grx cards? Sweet Jesus, I hope not.

Originally Posted by mynameisjonas

Thx Spino, I guess I can relax a little now with respect to the game's scalability, but I still shudder at the thought of buying a new graphics card or Xbox360. Has anyone heard if Oblivion will use 3.0 pixel shader? Or, if it will likely be a requirement for grx cards? Sweet Jesus, I hope not.

You're welcome, I hope that helped. Even if Oblivion does support 3.0 pixel shaders I think it's safe to say it will also support pixel shaders 2.0 and possibly lower, much like Far Cry's 3D engine does. If the vast majority of gamers are using 3D cards with 1.2 or 2.0 pixel shaders then the Gamebryo engine simply has to support them.

Originally Posted by lars573

I only ever played the xbox version. I have a rule I live by. If there is a really good PC game that comes to the xbox, get the xbox version the worst that will happen is the xbox will crash.

On the other hand you miss out on the user expansions which ended up doubling if not trebling the gameplay in Morrowind.

Originally Posted by dgb

On the other hand you miss out on the user expansions which ended up doubling if not trebling the gameplay in Morrowind.

A none issue if ever there was one. Morrowind was huge Oblivion will be just as if not (and probably) more huge. Most of the user mods I looked through for Morrowind were nort worth the bandwidth they took up on the fan sites. I'll more than likely be getting a 360 with Oblivion and probably Perfect dark zero and be perfectly happy not having any user mods to mess around with.

I'm curious how Oblivion will run on my machine too. Morrowind, although with a different GFX card, didn't ran all too smooth back in the day that I played it. A tad shocky. And my machine hasn't been upgraded all that much since.

Can't wait to play it though!

I know for a fact they will release a armoured horse mod, on both Xbox Live and the internet. And because I don't have xbox Live, it means I have to get the PC version so I can use armoured horses.

Originally Posted by lars573

A none issue if ever there was one. Morrowind was huge Oblivion will be just as if not (and probably) more huge. Most of the user mods I looked through for Morrowind were nort worth the bandwidth they took up on the fan sites. I'll more than likely be getting a 360 with Oblivion and probably Perfect dark zero and be perfectly happy not having any user mods to mess around with.

Not entirely true. There are a number of mods I installed which greatly improved the game in the graphics department, particularly the mod improving the look of humanoid characters. The game barely looks dated now.

Again to me it doesn't matter. I don't like tweak mods (which is what 90% of Morrowinds mods were) unless I make them myself.

To not use mods is stupid IMO. There are mods improving everything, and adding a LOT of new features. Especially a revamp of the Magicka system and trillions other things, as well as gfx and sounds.

I think Lars isn't a big fan of mods in general (forgive me if I'm just making an inccorecct assumption), based on past conversiations. Not sure why though, though I also do not (well could not) mod Morrowind. But thats ok, because I'll probably be finishing it around when Oblivion comes out, and I wouldn't have time for anything else if I installed some of the mods that are out there.

To go back to system requirments, they have a thread about this in the official forum. You can just ask, and this guy will reccomend, though it's not deiffinetly accurate. For example, I posted my specs:

Computer Model
Dimension 8300 Series
CPU Manufacturer
GenuineIntel
CPU Family
Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz
CPU Speed
2992 MHz
Front-Side Bus Speed
800 MHz
Currently Installed Memory
1024 MB
Maximum Memory Capacity
4096MB

According the Everest, I have a NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (128 MB).

and was told this:

Well, your processor and RAM are fine, but while the FX 5200 is fine for most games, you'll almost certainly want an upgrade for Oblivion. Double-check to make sure you're using an AGP slot, and if that's correct, get an AGP card upgrade; anything from the 9800pro to the X850XT PE, and other cards like the 6600GT in between, will work well.

So, while I unfortuanetly will have to upgrade my card, I at least know it now.

Originally Posted by Steppe Merc

I think Lars isn't a big fan of mods in general (forgive me if I'm just making an inccorecct assumption), based on past conversiations. Not sure why though, though I also do not (well could not) mod Morrowind. But thats ok, because I'll probably be finishing it around when Oblivion comes out, and I wouldn't have time for anything else if I installed some of the mods that are out there.

To go back to system requirments, they have a thread about this in the official forum. You can just ask, and this guy will reccomend, though it's not deiffinetly accurate. For example, I posted my specs:


and was told this:



So, while I unfortuanetly will have to upgrade my card, I at least know it now.

It's worked out that I mostly like Total conversion mods. Other little things I do myself. But I played Morrowind on the Xbox so I couldn't play any mods even if I wanted too. And judging by that list to play oblivion on my system I'd need a new mother board and processor (the one I have is only scalable to a 2 Ghz P4) more ram and a new video card. Which would probably run about $500-$800. So I spend $600 on an Xbox 360 and it's the same amount of cash for the same gameplay experience.

I well either upgrade or buy 360.

I think 360 cause my tv is awesome.

Steppe: your computer's almost identical to mine. Looks like that FX 5200 has to go...

Originally Posted by Geoffrey S

Steppe: your computer's almost identical to mine. Looks like that FX 5200 has to go...

Yeah, unfortuanetly. Any ideas for a cheap, good video card? I'll probably have to ask for it for Christmas, so I'll get it at the same time as Oblivion, and I'll need to be really specific so my parents don't get some crappy or insanely expensive one...

Originally Posted by Steppe Merc

Yeah, unfortuanetly. Any ideas for a cheap, good video card? I'll probably have to ask for it for Christmas, so I'll get it at the same time as Oblivion, and I'll need to be really specific so my parents don't get some crappy or insanely expensive one...

Same here. I'm looking around for something decent for Christmas too, but I can't find anything for a nice price that should last for a while to come.