Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion was a state-of-the-art benchmark for gaming before Skyrim. Consisting of a massive open-world full of dungeons, castles, ruins, mountains, swamps, forests and countless enemies. Anyone could easily invest 200+ hours just exploring Tamriel, leveling up and completing quests. There is always somewhere new to explore, someone new to talk to and some new minion to slay.
Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion in Linux with PlayOnLinux.
Note: This guide applies to the Retail version of Elder Scrolls: IV Oblivion. Other versions may require additional steps.
Tips & Specs:
To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained
Mint 17 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.8
Wine: 1.7.46
Wine Installation
Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"
Look for the Wine Version: 1.7.46
Note: Try using stable Wine 1.8 and 1.8-staging
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right
Click Next
Downloading Wine
Extracting
Downloading Gecko
Installed
Wine 1.7.46 is installed and you can close this window
PlayOnLinux Setup
Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install
Click "Install a non-listed program"
Click Next
Click "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next
Name the virtual drive: oblivion
Click Next
Check all three options:
- Use another version of Wine
- Configure Wine
- Install some libraries
Select Wine 1.7.46
Click Next
Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next
Wine Configuration
Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply
Graphics Tab
Check "Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows"
Check "Emulate a virtual desktop"
Desktop Size: 1024x768
Click OK
PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)
Check the following packages:
- POL_Install_corefonts
- POL_Install_d3dx9
- POL_Install_tahoma
- POL_Install_vcrun2005
Installing Oblivion
Click "Select another file"
Click Next
Click Browse
Navigate to the Oblivion CD ROM
Select "setup.exe"
Click Open
Click Next
Click Next
Click "I accept the terms..."
Click Next
Click Next
Click Install
Installing...
Uncheck "Add Oblivion shortcut to your desktop
Uncheck "Yes, I want to view the ReadMe file
Click Finish
Unfortunately the installer refuses to close on its own
It will just hang at this window
Open the Linux activity monitor
Select Wineserver.exe
Click End Process
PlayOnLinux Shortcut
Select "Oblivion.exe"
Click Next
Name your shortcut: Oblivion
Click Next
Click "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next
PlayOnLinux Configure
Select Oblivion
Click Configure
General Tab
Wine version: 1.7.46
Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of Wine. Always try downloading the newest version of Wine to test on Oblivion.
Display Tab
Video Memory size: Select the amount of Memory your video card/chip uses
Close Configure
Launching Oblivion
Back to PlayOnLinux
Select Oblivion
Click Run
Note: Click Debug to see errors and bugs
Optimization
Click options
Click Video
Adjust:
- Resolution
- Brightness
- Texture Size
- Tree Fade
- Actor Fade
- Item Fade
- Object Fade
- Grass Distance
- View Distance
- Distand Land
- Distant Buildings
- Distant Trees
- Interior Shadows
- Exterior Shadows
- Self Shadows
- Shadows on Grass
- Tree Canopy Shadows
- Shadow Filtering
- Specular Distance
- HDR Lighting
- Bloom Lighting
- Water Detail
- Water Reflections
- Water Ripples
Rule of Thumb:
High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates
Conclusion:
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ran perfectly in PlayOnLinux on my GeForce 550 Ti with almost all the settings on high. Its quite a beautiful game even considering its age. The only problem I had was the installer locking up.
Gameplay Video:
Screenshots:
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