Oblivion Remastered‘s Next Big Update Will Improve Performance

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, one of 2025’s biggest games, is getting a significant new update that is set to improve the game’s performance, fix a ton of bugs, and add more difficulty options, too.

On July 9, Bethesda announced that update 1.2 for Oblivion Remastered will be available on PC via the game’s Steam Beta branch later today. The plan is to test the update out first and then, in the near future, push it out on all platforms, including consoles.

While many will be excited to hear about the new difficulty options, including more ways to tweak how much damage you take and how much damage enemies do, I think the best news in 1.2’s lengthy patch notes is the section titled Performance. Here, Bethesda and remaster studio Virtuos lay out all the changes being made in 1.2 that should help Oblivion Remastered run much better. Specific areas that are causing big FPS drops are being fixed, and systems like weather and character animation are being optimized, too. They also look to be fixing the hitching that players can experience when exploring the open world. Good stuff!

I can’t wait for this update to hit Xbox so I can boot the game up for 20 minutes, go “Wow, this is better!” and then close it and play the other 12 games I need to play right now. The life of a video game blogger journalist.

Anyway, here are the full patch notes for update 1.2:

SETTINGS CHANGES

We’ve added additional difficulty settings to allow players to further tune their “Player Combat Damage” & “Enemy Combat Damage”. Players can now select from “Novice”, “Apprentice”, “Adept”, “Journeyman”, “Expert”, and “Master” options in the Gameplay menu. We hope the “Journeyman” setting, specifically, will act as a better bridge between “Adept” and “Expert” for players.

UI

Fixed map markers disappearing

Fixed missing punctuation in Simplified Chinese text

Fixed “Toggle All” button on Map screen to work as a ‘Hold’

Various fixes to localized text

Fixed controller issues in Spell making menu

Fixed menus being cropped incorrectly in 1280×1024

Fixed the incorrect player stance in the inventory menu after fast travel

Fixed rebinding keys for Lock Picking

Fixed keybinds not updating in AZERTY

Fixed soft lock with controller in Enchanting menu

Fixed stats not updating when equipping enchanted items

Fixed a character skin glitch when closing the inventory menu

CRASHES

Fixed crashes that could occur while fighting Jyggalag

Fixed crashing when killing a paralyzed NPC with an arrow

Fixed crashing when paralyzing an already-paralyzed NPC

Fixed crashing in Spellmaking menu when rapidly removing & implementing effects

Fixed various GPU crashes

Fixed crashes that could occur during auto saves

AUDIO

Fixed underwater SFX persisting after leaving exiting water

Fixed missing ambient SFX in Shivering Isles

QUESTS

Fixed NPCs floating after being knocked down during Priory of the Nine quest

Fixed crashing when entering Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest

Fixed pathing for Shaleez in Flooded Mine during Final Justice quest

Fixed crashing when opening Gate to The Fringe during Retaking the Fringe quest

Fixed mages loading without clothes in Fort Ontus during The Necromancer’s Amulet quest

Fixed NPC pathing issues in Gardens of Flesh and Bone during ‘Through the Fringe of Madness’ quest

Fixed missing VFX during the closing of the Great Gate

Fixed Ilav Dralgoner’s missing facial animation during ‘Saving Time Itself’ quest

Fixed Sir Thredet’s speech during ‘Umaril the Unfeathered’ quest

Fixed NPC pathing issues during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest

Fixed Obelisk Crystals spawning disconnected during ‘Baiting the Trap’ quest

Fixed crash at end of ‘Through a Nightmare, Darkly’ quest

Fixed wall crumbling in Malada during ‘Nothing You Can Possess’ quest

Fixed misaligned food at the Castle Leyawiin County Hall dinner party during ‘Sanguine’ quest

Fixed an issue with the visibility of ghosts during ‘Ghosts of Vitharn’

Fixed cutscene not playing during ‘Light the Dragonfires’

Fixed missing textures in Cropsford Campsite after finishing ‘Goblin Trouble’

PERFORMANCE

Fixed frame rate drop in Deepscorn Hollow

Fixed frame rate drops in Black Rock Caverns

Fixed frame rate drop between Skingrad and Skingrad Castle

Fixed frame rate drop south of Bravil Castle courtyard

Reduced the frequency of hitches in the open world.

General improvements to frame time in many locations.

Optimize updating of character attachments.

Optimize rendering of water volumes in the open world.

Optimize light/shadow updates in several lairs.

Optimize waterfall particle FX and rendering.

Optimize the weather system.

Optimize character animation system.

GAMEPLAY

Fixed player character height scaling

Fixed armor items hiding Argonian and Khajiit tails

Fixed slow camera movement when initiating NPC dialogue

Fixed soft lock when a player with a high bounty goes to jail

Fixed Orrery animations

Fixed physics bug with floating necklaces

Fixed vampire sleeping animations

Fixed NPC beards not following facial animation.

Fixed ghost NPCs being completely invisible

Fixed missing animation when talking to Shamada in Leyawiin

Fixed occasional very long load times when fast traveling

Fixed missing facial animation for Snak gra-Bura

Fixed falling unconscious in water, preventing the player from getting up

Fixed NPCs losing collision when swimming

Fixed NPCs stopping combat when the player is blocking

Fixed female Dremora teeth clipping

Fixed soft lock after choosing player class

Fixed Amber weapons clipping in first-person view

Fixed vines clipping into columns

Fixed helmets clipping into the player character’s head

Fixed missing textures on Daedric statues

Fixed duplicated pages between Oghma Infinium and Mysterium Xarxes

SYSTEM

Fixed flickering shadows when using XeSS Upscaling

Fixed title properly restarting after purchasing the Deluxe Upgrade on PC

Fixed settings properly migrating between PC and XBOX

Fixed water disappearing after fast travel

Fixed cursor slowdown when enabling high frame rate V-Sync

Fixed shaders not preloading due to cloud save replication

Fixed long blackout during loading screens

Fixed weather VFX flashing while outside

Fixed motion blur artifacts while in the Oblivion Plane

Fixed NPCs not obeying the Wait action from the player

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