Oblivion:Ini Settings

There is a default .ini file in Oblivion root directory: " ". On a Windows machine when the user first starts a game, this file is copied into the user's newly created " " directory as " ", which is then used for that user. So if you wish to change a setting for all new users, change the default (not recommended), otherwise change your own copy directly under " ".

Warning!
Make a copy of your   before you make any changes. Changes in the   can corrupt game saves, prevent Oblivion from starting, or cause the game to intermittently crash. It is safe to leave the original values in the INI file, just place a ";" sign at the beginning of the line, and the game will not use it. You can put the modified line below that line. If you have trouble identifying which change you made is causing issues, you can delete the Oblivion.ini file, the default one will automatically be restored the next time you start Oblivion.

Enable Print Screens - This will allow the use of the Print Screen key to dump a screenshot (BMP) to your game directory.  Note, however, that screenshots will not work if you have anti-aliasing enabled in-game.  The HDR lighting option requires anti-aliasing to be disabled.  However, if your graphics card's software allows game-level 3D settings, you may be able to turn on HDR in-game and override the game's anti-aliasing setting in your graphics card's control panel.
Variable: bAllowScreenShot
 Values: 0 = No, 1 = Yes

Current Screenshot Index
Variable: iScreenShotIndex
 Values:  

Base Screenshot Name
Variable: SScreenShotBaseName
 Values:  

Disable Intro Sequence and Main Menu Movie Intro - This will disable the logos at startup as well as the intro movie of the main menu, so you can just start the game and get directly into the main menu without hitting the Escape Key even once.

Disable Intro Sequence
Variable: SIntroSequence
 Values:  
         remove all values to have no videos at startup.

Disable Main Menu Movie Intro
Variable: SMainMenuMovieIntro
 Values:  
         remove values to get directly to the main menu without the intro movie.

Disable Main Menu Background Movie - If you remove this value there is no map in the background of the main menu.
Variable: SMainMenuMovie
 Values:  
         remove the value and there won't be that (pretty) video of the moving map in the background of the main menu.
         alternatively, set the value to "Oblivion iv logo.bik" and see the logo animation behind the menu :)

Colorful local map - This will disable the sepia colouring shader on the local map, making the local map appearing colourful.
Variable: bLocalMapShader
 Values: 0 = No shader (colorful map), 1 = Yes, enable shader (sepia colored local map, default)

Instant Level Up - This will make it so when you gain enough skill to level up, it happens automatically, no sleeping needed.
Variable: bInstantLevelUp
 Values: 0 = No, 1 = Yes

More powerful horse jump
Variable: fHorseRunGravity
 Value: 3.0000
         affects your horse's jump; lower the value to make it leap higher & longer

Remove Borders - This toggles the borders that prevent you from entering other provinces
Variable: bBorderRegionsEnabled
 Values: 0 = Off, 1 = On

Toggle Full Screen/Windowed mode - Toggles between the full screen and windowed display modes
Variable: bFull Screen
 Values: 0 = Windowed Mode, 1= Full Screen
Additionally, the windowed mode can be altered with these parameters:
iSize W=
iSize H=
These set the size of the game window. Defaults are the resolution you have selected in the game's video settings (e.g. 1024x768).
iLocation X=
iLocation Y=
These alter the game window's position on the screen (default is 0 in both, which makes the window appear in the top-left corner). Increasing the X coordinate moves the window to the right, while increasing the Y coordinate moves it down. For instance, to get the window to appear in the middle of the screen, you have to calculate how much extra space (pixels) there is on your desktop besides the game window, then divide those amounts by two and add them to the coordinates. An example would be a desktop resolution of 1280x960 and a window resolution of 640x480. That leaves another 640x480 pixels that aren't used by the game. That, of course, is 320x240 when divided by two. By setting the X coordinate to 320 and the Y coordinate to 240, the window is now right in the middle.

Use Oblivion.ini and Plugins.txt in Oblivion Directory - Allows you to have all settings neatly bundled in the same directory as Oblivion.exe
Variable: bUseMyGamesDirectory
 Values: 0 = Use the Oblivion directory (directory is wherever Oblivion.exe is)
         1 = Use the My Documents\My Games\Oblivion directory (default)
: Normally,   is stored in the   directory for each user.  Similarly,   is stored under  .  If   is set to 0, Oblivion.exe will try to find   and   in the directory Oblivion.exe is run from.
: This setting is mainly useful when not using OblivionLauncher.exe to set which mods are being loaded (that is, using Wrye Bash to manage your mods).
: Notes
: * OblivionLauncher.exe does not respect these values, and will only edit   and   ; However, Oblivion.exe started from OblivionLauncher.exe will still respect  . Wrye Bash also respects  .
: * Oblivion reads the   in the directory where it exists first, and only if   is non-existent or set to 1 does it then look for  .  In other words, both can exist simultaneously, and only the value of   in the   directory where Oblivion.exe is run from will actually matter.


Performance tweaks


Multi-core CPU tweaks
If you have a Dual/Quad core Processor or a processor with Hyper-Threading, then set these values to this: 

bUseThreadedBlood=1   (default 0) 
bUseThreadedMorpher=1   (default 0) 
bUseThreadedTempEffects=1  (default 0) 
bUseThreadedParticleSystem=1 (default 0) 
bUseBackgroundPathing=1   (default 0) 
bUseBackgroundFileLoader=1  (default 0) 
iNumHavokThreads=3    (default 1) 
iThreads=10      (default 3) 

Otherwise, leave them at the default.

However, it should be noted that an article on FiringSquad found no benefit in using these settings. Whatever the configuration of these INI variables, it is generally acknowledged that Oblivion makes very little use of additional CPU's/CPU cores. This may be because all of the functions that these variables enable multithreading for are not CPU intensive tasks, there appears to be no variable related to enabling multithreading for the main scene renderer, which would most benefit from such an optimization. Things such as the Particle System and Shader Effects are not used in excess in Oblivion, so using multiple threads for processing related to them will likely not have many benefits.

Despite dubious significance to performance, these options can effectively prevent or at least reduce crashes on multi-core systems.

Warning!
Before you make any change, make a copy of your Oblivion.ini and your latest game save files. Changes in the Oblivion.ini can corrupt game saves or prevent the game from starting. In the event of an issue arising, simply replace the modified INI file with your backup and try using a backed up or earlier save file.

Remap Mouse and Keyboard Buttons
For remapping the mouse buttons through normal game UI see Technical Support entry.
The bindings in the INI are 8-digit hex codes XXXXYYZZ where XXXX is the keyboard button, YY is the mouse button, and ZZ is the joystick button.

EDIT NOTE: this section needs to be filled properly, adding ie. 03(fourth mouse button) doesn't do anything. Rest of the mouse 4th key code is required.
002EFFFF is cast keyboard code, replacing FF with 03 is not enough. Need full code.

Mouse Code = Button

FF = No mouse button

00 = Left-click

01 = Right-click

02 = Middle-click (aka center or scroll-button)

03 = Fourth mouse button

04 = Fifth mouse button

Change action key mappings accordingly.

For Example, possible mouse mappings are:

Block=003802FF   (MMB)

Cast=002E01FF    (RMB)

Toggle POV=0013FFFF    (removes this from MMB)

Change View=0013FFFF   (removes this from MMB)

Keyboard Keys
A list of Keyboard codes can be found here
To remap a Key, simply drop the x in favour of a second 0 for the button you want and replace the first four digits of the entry with it.

For Example, possible keyboard mappings are:

Block=001001FF   (Changes keyboard blocking key to Q)

Cast=0010FFFF    (Changes the casting key to Q as well)

Auto Move=002EFFFF    (Makes Auto Move C)

Grab=0038FF07 (Changes grab to Left-Alt)