Some players swear by it, but Oblivion Remastered test finds that performance mod with 650k downloads seemingly does next to nothing: "After testing it A/B... it runs the same"

Right out of the gate, there were loads of mods available for Oblivion Remastered, including ones made to further optimize the RPG, but experts claim that one popular performance mod might not have as big of an impact as expected.

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered – Ultimate Engine Tweaks mod was launched by Nexus Mods user P40L0X on the remastered RPG's release date, offering tweaks to Unreal Engine's .ini text file "with the goal to remove most stutters, improve performance and stability, decrease input latency, improve picture clarity. All with no visual loss."

With over 650,000 downloads to date, it's safe to say that the mod is a popular one, and its comments section is home to many RPG fans full of praise.

"I was about to crash out because how bad the game performance was. Then I searched for a fix and found this mod. Totally made my day! My fps went from 40 to 70-100," one writes.

"Gained almost 10fps outdoors and all the stuttering is gone," says another, while one user adds: "Uhm, what the hell! I went from 60fps on High Preset around Waynon Priory to 90-110fps on the same location. Wizardry!!"

Despite this, however, a recent test from Digital Foundry suggested that its improvements might not be so drastic. Comparing how Oblivion Remastered runs using the mod in a side-by-side test with a separate "uncompressor" mod (which also aims to reduce stuttering, but technology editor Richard Leadbetter argues wasn't "really doing much, if anything"), video producer Alex Battaglia claims that it "runs the same."

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Battaglia points to the footage, saying "it's like a mirror run. It's almost the exact same, and it runs a little worse in the beginning [with the .ini mod], hilariously enough.

"So I'm going to say that this mod, and these style of mods, I've always thought they did nothing and I didn't want to test them because I couldn't imagine them doing anything, I just rationalized it in my brain. But after testing it A/B, and I did multiple runs of this by the way, I just don't have them put up because there's no reason to do it, but it runs the same."

Responding to this on Nexus Mods, modder P40L0X suggests that "DF didn't test v3.1 but probably v2.1 or v3.0 (which had VRAM leaks, other problems)," so it's worth noting that there's a chance that the outlet might not have used the purported best version.

The modder later adds: "I can't stress enough to try it by yourself before making YOUR judgment about it and not taking for granted someone else experience (positive or negative). The only thing I kindly ask is to report here how it went, and that's all. And possibly avoid to trash talk without even trying [the mod] or even being interested in it."

After so many positive reviews, could the mod's apparent performance boosts really be the result of a placebo effect? The modder doesn't think so, but the tests suggest otherwise. It's worth noting that the mod is free to download, so it costs nothing to try, but as it stands, Battaglia is convinced that the version tested "doesn't do anything."

Oblivion Remastered player clears the RPG's Dark Brotherhood "murder mansion" quest in 8.75 seconds using only his fists, leaving no witnesses.