Oblivion Reloaded for Dummies (2024)

• Make sure you have OBSE, DirectX 9.0, and Visual C++ 2015 libraries installed.
• Create an account and download Oblivion Reloaded 6.5 or 6.4.1 fromtesreloaded.com.
• Unpack the archive and delete the Characters and Creatures folders from the Meshes folder. Delete any other files for features you won't use (read below).
• Set in-game settings and make Oblivion.ini adjustments that you want, but do not necessarily make the recommended changes found at tesreloaded.com! (again, please read below)
• Repackage the archive and port into Wrye Bash. Install after DarNified UI, if you're using it.
• Download my presets from the Files section of this page and install them or replace the default ini files manually. Or at the very least, open /Oblivion/Data/OBSE/Plugins/OblivionReloaded.ini and disable EquipmentMode and MountedCombat (i.e., set Enabled=0).
• Enable OblivionReloaded.esp in Wrye Bash or another mod manager and sort load order using BOSS.
• Restart your computer to clear caches.
• Open Oblivion via obse_loader.exe or through Steam if using Steam. The bottom left corner (6.4.1) or bottom center (6.5) should display the Oblivion version installed.
  

• A set of shaders and other graphical enhancements that grew out of an older project called Oblivion Graphics Extender, or OBGE. These are certainly the most sought-after features of Oblivion Reloaded.
• A few stability enhancements, namely Memory Purger and a Framerate Manager. A Memory Manager was added for version 6.4.
• Several different gameplay adjustments.
  

• Docs: Contains the .html Oblivion Reloaded readme file. Definitely keep, and be sure to consult as needed.
• Menus: These are necessary if you’re using DarNified UI (which I recommend). Otherwise you can discard them.
• Meshes: Contains new models and animations for several features, including an infamous “ninja flip” animation. These tend to be pretty buggy features, and even if you disable them, the presence of these meshes can cause instability. However, the Sky folder contains a mesh for OR’s weather feature. If you want to use this feature, be sure to keep this folder and just delete the Characters and Creatures folders. Otherwise, recommendation: delete the entire folder.
• OblivionReloaded.esp: Absolutely essential.
• OBSE: contains the OblivionReloaded.dll plugin and the OblivionReloaded.ini. Absolutely essential. This is a good time to mention that OBSE is required for Oblivion Reloaded, so install it now if you haven’t yet.
• Shaders: the heart of Oblivion Reloaded’s graphical features. Absolutely essential.
• Sound: These contain files for OR’s Low Health and Fatigue (“LowHF”) system. I didn’t particularly like this feature, but you may. Keeping these files doesn’t hurt anything if you think you’d like to try it, but deleting them keeps things simple if you think you wouldn’t. Up to you!
• Textures: These are also essential for OR’s Shaders and Effects, so keep them for the most part. However, the new weather system adds a bunch of textures to the /Textures/Sky/ folder. Keeping them probably won't hurt anything, and other weather mods may overwrite them anyway. But they could be deleted if you don't like them.
• Video: New to 6.5, these are just some alternative intro videos. I deleted mine since I have intro videos disabled anyway, but I don't believe they should hurt anything.
  

• Remove DarNified UI if any: This is because Oblivion Reloaded overwrites some xml file from DarNified UI which are essential to Oblivion Reloaded, so DarNified UI must be installed first. DarNified UI also makes changes to Oblivion.ini, and Oblivion Reloaded wants a default ini to start with.
• Remove old OR version if any: Perhaps you are reading this guide because your previous attempt at installing OR didn’t go so well. Unfortunately, if you did a manual install, Oblivion Reloaded is very difficult to uninstall, and I’ve found that trying to do so leads to some unfortunate instability. You may have to resort to a clean install of Oblivion.
• Delete the Oblivion.ini to reset settings to default: Don’t delete Oblivion_default.ini! Delete the actual ini file in your /My Games folder. Again, we need a clean ini to start with, hence this step.
• Run the launcher and set etc.: Here they mean run the OblivionLauncher.exe. Click “Options,” click “Ultra-High” for graphics, then set your preferred monitor resolution. Leave anti-aliasing off.
• Run the game and set up the recommended ingame video option: Here you need to scroll up to “Required and Recommended Ingame Video Options.” Oblivion doesn’t always do windowed mode very well, so obviously reading these while setting them up will be tricky. Memorize, or read off another device, or write or print them. The recommendations here are fine, but you don’t need the recommended View Distance and Distant object settings if you won’t be using the Framerate manager. Same goes for Blood Decals and Blood Shaders.
• Exit the Game and set up the recommended Oblivion.ini settings: These changes are not all strictly necessary! Please read my article Oblivion ini tweaking guide, which discusses these recommended changes plus some other recommended changes.
• Install DarNified UI if you want: Now that we’ve got the ini the way we want it, we can let DarNified UI make adjustments to it. Oblivion Reloaded replaces a few of DarN's xml files, which is why it needs to be installed after DarNified UI. I recommend using one of these BAIN installers for either original or "Dark" DarNified UI so you can install it via Wrye Bash. Be sure to use the install wizard. Check the INI Edits tab in Wrye Bash to make sure the ini changes from DarNified UI are active. Don't forget to check the "DarNify books" tweak when rebuilding the Bashed Patch.
  

• Copy the zip content: Despite the warnings, we can totally install using Wrye Bash or another mod manager instead, so long as we’ve followed this guide and removed the stuff we don’t want. Make sure to install after DarNified UI! Dismiss the warning in Wrye Bash about installing .dll files.
• Remove the file …main_menu.xml etc.: We’ve already addressed this step earlier in this guide. Don’t do it if you’ll be using DarNified UI.
• Invalidate your BSA archives: Wrye Bash does this automatically (To check, right click the Package tab in the Installers pane and see that "BSA Redirection" is checked). You can do so in another mod manager just to be sure (In OBMM or TESMM, click Utilities, then Archive Invalidation. Make sure BSA redirection is selected, then click “Update Now.”).
• Activate the esp files: i.e., check them in the mod manager of your choice. Also, make sure to run BOSS to set your load order.
• Set SaveSettings to 0/1 in the OblivionReloaded.ini: This file is in your /Data/OBSE/Plugins folder. Set to 0 if you’re using the Framerate Manager. Otherwise set to 1 as it’s kind of a pain to never be able to change your settings in-game. We’ll look more at the OblivionReloaded.ini later in this guide.
• Reboot the machine (to clear caches): An important step! Otherwise OR’s shaders will behave very strangely, and water will throttle your performance. You may need to do this periodically if you notice strange performance issues with these shaders.
• If you have the retail version, run the game by the obse_loader.exe: This goes for the GOG version as well (make sure you have the “latest loader”). Don’t change anything for the Steam version.
  

112 lines of comment code: This is a convenient list of keyboard codes that are useful for setting up a few keyboard shortcuts in the ini file.

[Main]. These are some general settings.

• FoV: How wide the Field of View is. Default is 90; I changed it to 0 or 75 to prevent some weird UI issues with DarNified UI.
• WaterReflectionMapSize: The size of water reflection textures. I set mine to the max.
• WaterManagement: Removes underwater fog and changes a few other things so that OR's underwater shader can work. "It should not be disabled," says the OR readme.
• AnisotropicFilter: This is an effect that attempts to eliminate stretching of textures viewed at an angle, like when look at the ground. The max of 8 is probably fine.
• FarPlaneDistance: How far you can see in-game. The default equals the max distance in Vanilla Oblivion. I haven't messed with it, but one presumes there's a performance cost to higher settings. Plus, such settings require increasing uGridDistant settings work, which can destabilize your game.
• ScreenshotPath, ScreenshotType, ScreenshotKey: The folder, file type (0=bmp, 1=jpg), and key for taking screenshots. You may need to create a Screenshots folder in your Oblivion folder for Screenshots to work. Check the keycodes at the top of the ini file to pick a screenshot key. Oblivion Reloaded screenshots have the nice feature of disabling UI/HUD elements while the screenshot is being taken. They won't include effects from SweetFX and other post-processing effects shaders. You can disable by setting ScreenshotKey to 0.
• FPSOverlay: Turns on an FPS counter that's a lot less obtrusive than what you get from typing tdt in the console. It can be turned on and off in the OR in-game menu as well.
• ShaderModel3: Enabling this can provide a little performance boost if you have the right driver on your system. To check, navigate to your /My Games/Oblivion/ folder (where your Oblivion.ini is) and open RendererInfo.txt. If "3.0 Shaders" is marked "yes," then you can enable ShaderModel3 in your OblivionReloaded.ini. However, it must be disabled if you are also using ENB.
• NVIDIAPatch: If you have an Nvidia card and are getting crashes, try enabling this. Otherwise I'd leave it disabled, as I've read about possible crashes.
• RendererBoost: "Boosts the access to the render engine," which sounds like a potential performance boost. The readme says it could also make Oblivion unstable, but others say it works fine for them. I didn't notice much of a performance boost when I briefly tested it. If you want to try it and use Oblivion Stutter Remover, you have to disable bHookCriticaSections in sr_Oblivion_Stutter_Remover.ini.
• SaveSettings: Set to 1 temporarily if you need to change settings in Oblivion. Otherwise leave it set to 0. It's necessary for OR's Framerate Manager and a few other features.
• ReplaceIntro (6.5 only): New intro videos. I keep it disabled since I keep vanilla intro videos disabled.
  

[EquipmentMode]: The idea is that equipment you use doesn’t just disappear into your inventory when sheathed. So weapons, shields, quivers, are all visible on your character even when not in use. As of 6.4.1 it’s still super-buggy, plus we already deleted the meshes this feature needs earlier in the guide, so disable it.

[FrameRate]: This changes your distant loads in a responsive way so that your framerate is always constant. This seems to work pretty well, except that Critical Mode never seems to turn off, meaning that near objects will start disappearing unless you are right on top of them. Thus I set Critical to 1 to effectively disable it. You can experiment with higher values for FadeMinObjects, FadeMinActors, and GridMin (up to 15 for each) to ease fade-in for more distant objects. If you do use the frame rate manager, make sure your in-game distance settings are set to max, then set SaveSettings to 0 in your OblivionReloaded.ini.

[GrassMode]: It makes more grass appear in the distance than would otherwise, plus some other effects. If you get stuttering while this is enabled, try turning it off. I haven't noticed any issues on my setup. For some reason the Grass.ini defaults are not the same as the recommended settings in the readme.

If you don't use this, try Bevilex's grass setting in the Oblivion.ini. I think OR's Grass Mode overrides the vanilla ini settings if enabled. After using Bevilex's settings, I don't notice much difference between when OR's Grass Mode is on or off. That might be because I'm also using the FrameRate manager, which limits the visibility of distant objects.

[MountedCombat]: Makes it so you can actually attack from your mount just as you would in ground combat. Cool idea, but requires new meshes, and given how well those work in EquipmentMode, I recommend keeping it off. Try Enhanced Mounted Combat (and this important patch) instead if you want to fight on a horse.

[SleepingMode]: You can watch your character sleep in bed. Apparently this conflicts with Oblivion XP and possibly other mods that change how leveling works (since in Oblivion you level up when you sleep). I had disabled it anyway since I wasn't sure I needed to watch my character sleep.

[WeatherMode]: Turns on OR’s weather features. I've disabled it by default, but I've messed around with it a bit, and it's not bad. I changed the default settings in my ini file so that nights wouldn't be so dark (the defaults are in comment code). If you want to use it with All Natural (to use Immersive Interiors, Storms and Sounds, etc.), you may need to mess with All Natural's ini file and disable non-vanilla weathers to avoid conflicts; i.e. set ANVars.UseNW to 0, etc.

[Shaders]: An important section!

• Blood: Blood on terrain. I don't much care for gore, so I keep it off.
• Grass: Changes color on grass. I keep it off, but I could see it being useful for unifying colors from different grass mods.
• HDR: High Dynamic Range lighting. It's compatible with Oblivion's anti-aliasing (MSAA), unlike Oblivion HDR. I turned it and Vanilla HDR off because I couldn't get the whites to stop looking radioactively bright. I use SweetFX's pseudo-HDR instead. Simple ENB is another nice choice for reducing vanilla HDR brightness.
• Night Eye: No documentation on this, but I'm pretty sure this is a shader for Night Eye effects from spells and racial powers.
• POM: Stands for "Parallax Occlusion Mapping," a technique like normal mapping that adds depth to 2d textures. This is a shader, so it's not actually adding maps to textures but creating a pseudo-POM effect. It's nice, but some people think it looks a bit weird with textures that actually have parallax mapping, like Qarl's Texture Pack.
• Precipitations: Shaders for rain and snow. Like with Weather Mode, I worry that this may conflict with other weather mods. It also causes some weird specular effects with Volumetric Fog.
• Shadows: Changes how dark shadows are.
• Skin: Changes skin color and shading. Looks great, but the default makes all humans the same ruddy color, so I reduced the CoeffRed setting.
• Terrain: Changes the noise and specular shading on terrain. Based off of Betsy's ini changes, my ini increases the DistantNoise setting a bit. The increased DistantSpecular setting looks great with Volumetric Fog (see below), but may look odd (i.e. white trees sticking out of the fog) with other fog effects. Try setting to 0 or a negative value if that's the case.
• Water: A standout feature for Oblivion Reloaded. My settings are based off of DassiD's, but I made the water a little faster, increased shore and underwater transparency, and made the water a lot more blue. If you want less blue water, you can decrease my inExtCoeff_R setting (higher inExtCoeff settings actually decrease their respective RGB values, since it's a measure of light absorption).
  

• AmbientOcclusion: Ambient Occlusion is a technique for creating deeper shadows and overall greater relief on 2d textures. I based my settings off of Kukekokaki's settings. I just tweaked the clamp settings a bit for a slightly stronger effect.
• BloodLens: Blood on the "camera" lens. Okay if you like gore, which I don't.
• Bloom: A lighting effect for simulating the distorting effects of intense light. Unlike in vanilla, OR's Bloom and HDR can be used together. I keep it off.
• Cinema: Basically a letterbox effect.
• Coloring: A general RGB balancer that can also apply to effects or specific locations. Very useful, but I keep it off in favor of SweetFX.
• DepthOfField: Simulates the blurring that cameras (and to a certain extent our own eyes) create when focusing on part of an image. After some experimenting, I figured out that by changing BaseBlurRadius to a negative value and increasing DiameterRange, I could get something sort of like ENB's dynamic DoF without the performance cost. I quite like it, but if you don't, I have an alternative based off Betty's settings that just blurs the distant view, or you can just use the default settings.
• GodRays: Light effect that creates bands of sunlight. Very nice.
• LowHF: Stands for "Low Health and Fatigue." It distorts the view in a dramatic way when your health or fatigue are low. There are additional settings for this effect later in the OblivionReloaded.ini. You'll need the sound files included in OR to get the most out of this effect.
• MotionBlur: Blurs the view whenever you move. I tend to find it distracting, but maybe there are some tweaks that at least make the effect less sensitive.
• Sharpening: You know what sharpening is, right? Could possibly be used to adjust Depth of Field so it's not too blurry.
• SMAA: Oblivion Reloaded's anti-aliasing. It's the same anti-aliasing process used by SweetFx. Bevilex says that it's a bit unstable.
• SnowAccumulation: Makes snow pile up, at the cost of performance.
• Underwater: Shaders for when swimming underwater. Requires OR's WaterManagement to be enabled.
• VolumetricFog: Fog effect that has actual depth, instead of Oblivion's more sheet or screen-like fog. I like it, but it might look weird with effects like the smoke from AWLS. Bevilex says that sometimes it makes the whole screen turn blue, but that enabling OR's CameraMode might fix it. I use Enhanced Camera and have no issues so far.
• WaterLens: Makes water drip on the camera lens when you emerge from the water. Unfortunately the current version of OR has a bug where the water also sometimes appears after changing cells, like when you exit an interior space for example.
• WetWorld: Like SnowAccumulation but for rain, with the same potential issues with performance.
  

[LowHFSound]: The aforementioned Low Health and Fatigue feature, enabled or disabled under the [Effects] section. You can turn on or off health or fatigue independently here and set when the effects (panting, blurred vision, that sort of thing) are triggered based on how low your health or fatigue are.

[Purger]: A memory purger that clears the game’s cache periodically to boost performance. You can set a keyboard key that lets you do it manually, using the key codes at the top of the document. The new Memory Management may mean that the purger is superfluous; however, it’s necessary for GBRPluss’ Extreme Game Boost, which I describe below.[Gravity]: Sets gravity to behave more like real-world gravity, or if you change Value, like some completely otherworldly place. I rather like the default value and have been keeping it enabled, but it’s up to you.

[Dodge]: Turns the Dodge ability that’s only available to certain characters on by default so that it’s on for everyone. It seemed a bit fiddly and oversensitive when I tried it, so I keep it off.

[Develop]: This is related to tools for developing your own custom shaders in Oblivion Reloaded. Probably best to leave these all set to 0.

If you don't like my OR presets, you can try a few others. Just remember that many of these were created for older versions of OR, so simply overwriting the default OR ini files could cause tremendous problems. OblivionReloaded.ini and Water.ini have seen the most changes, but it's best to check and copy-paste the new values or enter them manually, so you aren't changing the structure of the ini files in a harmful way. Even then, alternative presets might look stranger if they were made for older versions of OR, so they may require some tweaking. Some other presets to try: Bevilex's, Betty's, DassiD's, Kukokekaki's.

• Turn off Steam Overlay.
• In enbseries.ini, set SpeedHack=false.
• In Oblivion.ini, set bUseWaterDisplacements=0 if you have an Nvidia card.
• In OblivionReloaded.ini, disable HDR and ShaderModel3.
  

• Download Extreme Game Boost template from the files section of this page and unpack it.
• Open the “Extreme Game Boost w SDR dll” folder.
• Download and unpack Extreme Game Boost. Put the esp file in the “Extreme Game Boost w SDR dll” folder.
• Download and unpack the latest version of SDR and open the folder.
• Inside the SDR folder, open the “00 Core” folder, then OBSE, then Plugins. Put the contents inside the “Extreme Game Boost w SDR dll/OBSE/Plugins” folder.
• Again in the SDR folder, open the “01 SDR OBSE Plugin ini” folder, then OBSE, then Plugins. Put the contents inside the “Extreme Game Boost w SDR dll/OBSE/Plugins” folder.
• Archive the “Extreme Game Boost w SDR dll” folder, either by right-clicking or using an archive utility like Keka.
• Use Wrye Bash to install.
• Enable the Memory Purger in OblivionReloaded.ini. It should look like this:
  

• Run Oblivion and start a new game. To see if EGB is running, press ~ to open the console. You should see a continuing string of Cyrillic characters.