Oblivion Remastered's Performance Mod Might Not Be Doing Anything

Summary

An extremely popular Oblivion Remastered mod may not actually be doing anything to improve performance.
Digital Foundry found that a performance mod that has over 600,000 downloads is not actually that beneficial.
It’s entirely possible the mod’s popularity and reviews are all a placebo effect, though its creator stands firm that the mod is beneficial.

One of the best parts about owning a PC, besides the sheer amount of games on sale all the time, is arguably the presence of mods. Whether they help to expand the roster of a video game, like the Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero mod that adds 745 characters, or help to improve the visuals and performance of a game, like in Avowed, mods can be a massive game-changer for PC players.

Oblivion Remastered cheydinhal comparison with game key art

Oblivion Sets A New Standard For Video Game Preservation Through Remasters

The classic games will still hold up, if we let them.

Recently, with the announcement and shadowdrop of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, players have been making use of the many mods available. So much so that Oblivion Remastered is being modded at a rate faster than any game in history. That said, it appears that one of Oblivion’s most popular mods doesn’t actually do anything.

Is The Performance Mod Gaming’s Best Example Of The Placebo Effect?

To start, a performance-based mod for Oblivion that seeks to remove stutters, improve performance and stability, as well as the game’s visuals stands as one of the game’s most popular additions. As of this writing, it has over 600,000 downloads via Nexus Mods, nearly 300,000 more than the next closest mod.

But as GamesRadar noted in a recent report, its actual benefits are being debated. A recent test by Digital Foundry found that the improvements aren’t as massive as they are reported to be.

Specifically, the team noted that in A/B testing there wasn’t much of a difference at all. More specifically, the mod apparently made the game run a little bit worse at the beginning.

The mod’s creator clapped back on Nexus Mods, alleging that Digital Foundry used the 2.1 or 3.0 versions, which apparently were susceptible to VRAM leaks. “My advice is always the same: try it on your own, it’s free, if it improves things for you good, otherwise you can just delete the modded Engine.ini and the game will be exactly as before,” they wrote online.

At over 5,000 endorsements and counting, could the mod actually be the result of a placebo effect among gamers? It’s entirely possible, and Digital Foundry’s test was illuminating in that regard. Whatever the case may be, it doesn’t hurt to try it, but be wary that nothing may be improved in the end.