Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Tweak Guide
HUGE thanks to everyone at the ElderScrolls.com forums (particularily austin), and to Justin for some console commands.
Updated: Mar 27/2006
Moved "bForceReloadOnEssentialCharacterDeath" and "bAllowHavokGrabTheLiving" to TESTED, and updated descriptions.
This guide is divided into two sections: Oblivion.INI tweaks, and a compendium of console commands. Furthermore, the INI tweaks are divded into "Tested" and "Untested" sections. The items under "Tested" have been tried and their effects are mostly known. The "Untested" items have not been tried - but by all means, if someone out there wants to try them and fire me an email with the results, I and the community would love it. Check the bottom for my email.
Oblivion.INI Tweaks
To begin, you can find your Oblivion.INI file in the following folder: My Documents/My Games/Oblivion/Oblivion.ini For the love of god, MAKE A BACKUP! A backup can be found in the Oblivion application folder (Oblivion_default.ini), but it's just easier to keep a backup with the INI file to refer to. I've tried to organize this by the order they're in, in the file itself. But there may be some discrepencies. If it doubt, just copy the line and search for it. Remember: 1 means on, 0 means off. The numbers here are sometimes what you want to set the tweak to, sometimes what the default is. Just read the text after the setting to confirm.
TESTED:
[General]
bEssentialTakeNoDamage=1 - Enabled by default. If this is changed to zero, it will allow you to damage and kill characters marked as "essential" (the ones with a crown icon when you place the crosshairs over them). Be cautious with this - this could ruin the plotline of the game. See the entry below for more details.
bForceReloadOnEssentialCharacterDeath=1 - Used in conjunction with the "bEssentialTakeNoDamage" setting above. If that setting is enabled, and an essential character dies, the status of this line determines whether or not a load prompt comes up, or the game continues. Continuing has some nasty plot reprecussions, and could ruin the game. Use carefully.
bFixFaceNormals=0 - Use in conjuction with shadow fixes in the [Display] section below. Set to 1.
uGridsToLoad=5 - Removes the blurry distant texture problem, but causes occasional water errors (see shots) (this is slightly fixed if you change: "uNumDepthGrids=1") and generally increases load time (about 1.5x going from 5 to 10). Not really recommended - causes other weird, unreproduceable errors. But if you absolutely have to get rid of the blurry textures far away, this is what you change.
Screenshots (Trees removed for ease of view; watch the defined textures creep up the mountain as the GridsToLoad goes higher):
uGridsToLoad Comparison
Water error comparison (this is pretty minor - much worse errors can and do occur with this setting)
SMainMenuMovieIntro=
SIntroSequence= - Remove all files from these lines to get rid of all the intro movies. Speeds up loading time a decent amount.
bUseHardDriveCache=0 - Disabled for XBox. If you enable this, it helps cut load times pretty well
[Display] - Most options are available in-game, but there are a few we can change:
bAllowScreenShot=0 - Most people know about this anyway, but if not, enable this option to use PrintScreen to take in-game, GUI-less screenshots (saved to your Oblivion application directory)
bEquippedTorchesCastShadows=0 - Kind of neat, this enables shadows cast by torches. Not in the options. I couldn't see a difference either, but others could *shrug* Either way, there's no visible FPS hit.
iShadowMapResolution=1024 - Sets the size of the shadow map to get smaller pixels. Makes shadows look a lot cleaner. I suggest doubling it to 2048.
bActorSelfShadowing=1 - (Avail. in-game) Looks horrible normally, but with fix above plus shadow filter below, it looks much better.
iShadowFilter=10 - The higher you set this, the smoother the shadows get. They're basically being blurred. 5 was initially suggested, but 10 worked better for me. Trial and error time, folks.
Screenshots:
Self-Shadowing Comparison (notice the lack of "jaggies" near his nose)
[Controls] - All these options are available in-game
[Water]
fAlpha=0.5000
uSurfaceTextureSize=128 - Unchangeable. Game resets to this automatically, so don't waste your time.
bUseWaterReflectionsMisc=0
bUseWaterReflectionsStatics=0
bUseWaterReflectionsTrees=0
bUseWaterReflectionsActors=0 - Set these to 1 if you want to have the water reflect pretty much everything. Nice FPS hit, though.
bUseWaterReflections=1 - Improves FPS if you set this to 0 (off), but makes the water look ugly.
bUseWaterShader=1 - Turns water purple. So, uh...don't change. Leave at 1.
Screenshots:
Water Settings Comparison
bUseWaterHiRes=0 - No visible effect
bUseWaterDisplacements=1 - Removes "wading" effect while walking through water if set to 0. No visible effect on FPS
bUseWaterDepth=1
bUseWaterLOD=1 - No visible effect
uNumDepthGrids=3 - Help offset errors caused by raising the "GridsToLoad" line. Defaults at 3, change this to 1.
[Audio] - Most of this can be changed in-game. Nothing useful, except for:
bDSoundHWAcceleration=1 - Can go to software acceleration by setting to 0. Useful if you're having audio troubles perhaps. It's helped at least one person.
[Combat]
bEnableBowZoom=1 - If, for some really obscure reason, you want to remove bow zoom, set this to 0.
[Interface]
fDlgFocus=2.1000 - Increase to reduce the "zoom" level when you speak with someone. Trial and error, really; default is 2.1, somewhere around 4 or 4.5 is no zoom.
Screenshots:
Zoom Talk Comparison
[Gameplay]
bDisableDynamicCrosshair=0 - This stops the crosshair from changing to various icons when you are overtop items like doors and objects, if set to 1.
bCrossHair=1 - Removes crosshairs when set to 0. Nice for screenshots, or making archery MUCH more difficult.
bHealthBarShowing=0 - Will bring up a small, floating healthbar above other characters (generally only displayed if they are being attacked). Easier to view than the default health "pie" that shows up around your crosshairs. (Thanks to Thor for this one)
bAllowHavokGrabTheLiving=0 - Enabling this will allow you to "grab" unconcious bodies, similiar to the way you can manipulate dead bodies. Shouldn't cause problems, but use with caution.
[SpeedTree]
bEnableTrees=1 - Removes trees if set to 0. Great for FPS, horrid for graphics.
Screenshots:
Tree On/Off Comparison
bForceFullLOD=0 - No visible effect when enabled - I assume it forces full detail on all trees, but I didn't see any difference.
[Weather]
fSunGlareSize=350.0000 - Couldn't see any visible changes.
fSunBaseSize=250.0000 - Merely changes the size of the sun in the sky. Larger number equals a larger sun.
Screenshots:
Sun Size Comparison
bPrecipitation=1 - Stops it from raining if set to 0. I think the rain adds some nice ambience, but whatever, water hater.
[Grass]
iMinGrassSize=80 - Adjust size of grass to improve FPS. This is kind of confusing, but larger grass equals less dense grass, which means better FPS. Doubling the number seems to more or less half the density.
Screenshots:
Grass size Comparison
fGrassEndDistance=8000.0000
fGrassStartFadeDistance=7000.0000 - Distances where grass will become visible. Setting to 10000 and 9000 seems to work pretty well.
bGrassPointLighting=0 - No visible effect. Leave at 0.
fGrassWindMagnitudeMax=125.0000
fGrassWindMagnitudeMin=5.0000 - Can set the maximum amount of "sway" grass has from the wind. Not really useful, but neat nonetheless. "Min" seems to be irregardless of current wind speed. Set to whatever floats your boat.
[LOD]
bDisplayLODLand=1
bDisplayLODBuildings=1
bDisplayLODTrees=1 - Pulls up a "fog" to hide the ugly blurred textures at a distance, if these are set to 0. But it REALLY makes things look horrid. Your choice.
Screenshots:
LOD Comparison
fLODMultLandscape=1.0000
fLODMultTrees=2.0000
fLODMultActors=7.0000
fLODMultItems=7.0000
fLODMultObjects=7.0000 - Edit distance at which things are fully drawn, rather than drawn "blurry" to save FPS. Trees are a great thing to edit here. Trial and error.
[bLightAttenuation]
bUseQuadratic=1
bUseLinear=0
bUseConstant=0 - Doesn't do anything. I was wondering if you could change light calculations to speed up the game, but apparently not.
UNTESTED:
[General]
[Havok]
bDisablePlayerCollision=0 - Removes player from any physics calculations? I suppose if you want to cheat and not worry about traps/etc.
[GamePlay]
bInstantLevelUp=0 - Possibly used to auto-level up, rather than requiring sleep. Sounds handy, if someone can confirm this. I know a lot of people don't like having to sleep to level up.
[Fonts] - We assume this allows you to change the in-game fonts if you really don't like them.
Console Commands
Unfortunately the console commands for this game are woefully undocumented, but here's a few the community has managed to find: (if you see the [ and ] brackets, don't type them. They're there to denote a number you need to type)
modpcs [skill, level] - Allows you to edit your character's skill levels. (Eg: "modpcs Blunt, 10" would add 10 to your current Blunt skill)
modpca [attribute, level] - Allows you to edit your character's attributes. (Eg: "modpca Strength, 10" would add 10 to your current Strength)
tgm - Toggles god mode. Makes you invulnerable.
tcl - Toggles clipping on and off, allowing you to float through solid objects and fly through the world.
tfc - Toggles "flying camera", which is essentially the same as the "tcl" command above.
psb - Gives the player EVERY spell in the game. This includes all the spells you weren't meant to get (Tests, whatnot) and spells that only enemies have.
fov [# from 1 to 180] - Sets the Field-of-view to the specific angle, from 1 to 180 (eg "fov 125" would put the field of view at 125-degrees wide). Default is 75, in case you screw it up and want it back to normal.
setfog [start depth, end depth] - Gives the world a "fog" effect. The two depths allow you to set how far away the fog fades into view (eg "setfog 500 100" would have the fog start at around 500 "units", and slowly fade to full fog by 1000 "units"). 500 seems to be about 10-15 feet in game, so judge accordingly.
swdp - A VERY useful command, this prints to the console what monsters/npcs current detect, or "see" you. Ever tried to sleep, but get the message that enemies are nearby? Or trying to sneak, but the icon says someone can see you, but you don't know who? Use this command and it will tell you their name (though not their location). VERY handy.
player.additem 0000000F [amount] - Allows you to add gold. Obviously, replace "amount" with the amount of gold you'd like.
ShowRaceMenu - Brings up the character editing window, which allows you to change your race and sex, as well as appearance. BE WARY: this might muck around with your stats. To help this, search in your Oblivion directory for the file "Levelupdata.txt". Back it up, make your changes in-game, then replace the new version with your backup.
tg - Toggles grass. Useful if you're noticing an FPS drop in an outdoor area with a lot of grass. Turn it off temporarily (or permanetly) with this command.
tt - Toggles trees. Same idea as the command above. However, this only seems to remove trees in the "cell" you're currently in. If you want to remove ALL trees, use the INI fix in the section above.
tm - Toggles the GUI/menus. This is great for taking nice, clean screenshots. It removes all the gui, including the crosshairs.
refini - Useful for us folks who edit the INI file, this allows you to refresh it in-game. I've found however, it only works about 50% of the time. So use with caution.
tdt - Displays some debug text in the upper-right corner which shows your current FPS. Useful for people who want their FPS but don't want to use FRAPS, for example.
qqq - Allows you to quit the game really quickly. No confirmation screens. I'm not sure why it's so much faster than quitting via the menu - there may be some side effects to this.
help - Displays a short list of a few commands. Not really useful, but thrown in for thoroughness. Of particular interest is the weather-changing commands, but unfortunately no one knows the correct ID's. If anyone finds this stuff out, give me a shout!
Questions/Comments/Want to help keep this updated? Fire me an email: Cycophant [at] gmail.com