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

Click Next


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

Click Next


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: