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The more you know: What Oblivion looks like while running on CryEngine 2
Grim04.14.08 - 7:58 PM 50 comments

We all know how unbelievably gorgeous Crysis is, but what if the technology used to power the game was applied to something like, I don't know, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? Would we be able to handle the pure sexiness of it all?

Find out for yourself by watching the video above or by downloading this higher-resolution version that'll fetch greater results. It's been a long time since I've played Oblivion, so perhaps I've let my mind create a mental image of how fantastic it looked to me back then and as a result, didn't see a huge difference between the switch to CryEngine 2.

But after viewing the downloadable video, everything looked leaps and bounds better, not just the foliage like the embed video would have me believe; it also helped that I did a quick Google image search to see how fuzzy my memory really was.

Above all, this video made me realize how badly I want Bethesda to create a new Elder Scrolls with those kinds of graphics.

[Thanks Lemon and Wexx]



MORE IN OUR Videos SECTION

Latest comment by mhmdkhamis |view all 50 comments
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Jim Sterling's Avatar
Jim Sterling at 04/14/2008 19:56

I just want a new Elder Scrolls. Oblivion's is perhaps the only game world I have actually missed since I stopped playing the game. I really need to save some cash and get Shimmering Isles.
animateria's Avatar
animateria at 04/14/2008 20:01

Will the characters still look ugly as possibly can be?

A prettier ugly, doesn't help in NPCs cases...

Considering that I still play Oblivion occasionally, a better looking one is always a win!
BlackDove's Avatar
BlackDove at 04/14/2008 20:03

I tried oblivion twice, and I just couldn't do it, the medieval stuff just doesn't appeal to me.

But as far as I remember, Oblivion on the PC with max settings looked pretty damn great - don't see the need for the "graphical upgrade" aside from the fact the CryEngine engine is better in a technical sense and maybe somewhat prettier.

Great vid though.
Qraze's Avatar
Qraze at 04/14/2008 20:05

shivering isles is in my opinion the best part of that game. sheogorath it to me the most original and unique character in the game! also ie nobody did this already but try to fight sheogorath, an awesome veiw of the game occurs right after.
pendelton21's Avatar
pendelton21 at 04/14/2008 20:11

Watched this earlier today courtesy of Digg. Awesome.
CaptainApocalypse's Avatar
CaptainApocalypse at 04/14/2008 20:14

Bethesda Softworks is my justification for living in Maryland. Oblivion kicks ass.
Qraze's Avatar
Qraze at 04/14/2008 20:20

it does look better but i wouldn't re-pay for something just for better looking trees. the game has no graphical problems except the rosey cheek syndrome anyway. but a lot of time went into that.
moocow21's Avatar
moocow21 at 04/14/2008 20:22

Screw Oblivion. If Bethesda would remake Morrowind with graphics like this (and perhaps a new combat system) I would truly be in gaming heaven.
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 04/14/2008 20:24

Yeah, I guess I did only look at the shitty stream, but still, it's just eye candy really, what got me into the Elder Scrolls games was ALL OF THE DAMN BOOKS! I would seriously go to the Library in Vivec in Morrowind and just read the books about the divines and all that, *sigh* good afternoons wasted there...
Stahlbrand's Avatar
Stahlbrand at 04/14/2008 20:28

You know why I can't wait for Fallout 3? Because after its out the door Bethsoft can finally get down to working on TES5.

Obliv is a great game, especially with all the right mods (OOO and Natural Environments, I'm looking in your direction), but there is so much more they could have done, so much they can improve on.
Wedge's Avatar
Wedge at 04/14/2008 20:35

Other than some better foiliage and water, it doesn't look much different. The latter 2/3 is a waste of time to watch inside the city. Unless it actually ran more efficiently than Oblivion (which ran like shit), then it's fairly pointless.

What exactly is this though? Did somebody export the Oblivion graphics and load them into Crysis or something?
Shalashaska's Avatar
Shalashaska at 04/14/2008 20:37

Oblivion is really fun, but despite trying to beat it 3 or 4 times I keep stopping about 10 hours in. The world seems really repetitive after awhile, though as Stahlbrand said Natural Environments really helps. Plus the leveling system bugged me. But anyways, the video looks pretty cool.
Qraze's Avatar
Qraze at 04/14/2008 20:47

i love the level system, so easy to exploit.
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/14/2008 20:49

They really should have done a split screen so we can actually see how it compares to oblivion. Maybe someone on the net will still do that.
Reaprar's Avatar
Reaprar at 04/14/2008 21:01

Looks pretty amazing, however, I doubt any pc can run this higher than 20 fps.
Stahlbrand's Avatar
Stahlbrand at 04/14/2008 21:02

Watched the vid now, and frankly 'meh'. I've been playing Oblivion just this week, and with Nat Environments and a slew of other mods, it looks almost that good on my box, only at a much more consistant and high framerate than I get (I sacrifice fps for beauty in Oblivion).

The big pan-out at the end without dropping alot of geometry was the most impressive aspect. The night lighting had a little more moonlit 'atmosphere' to it, but overall, it wasn't earth shattering.

Also, to Shalashaska, I recommend a mod called KCAS, or Kobu's Character Advancment System, which un-borks the leveling logic, making it less meta-gamey, and OOO, or Oscura's Oblvion Overhaul, which is a massive content adding/modifying mod which takes off the training wheels of 'everything always being < +/- 4 levels from the PC level'. Its much more natural feeling for your lv4 character to get destroyed by a lv 15 Minotaur Lord by surprise, than having every single enemy be just a little stronger or weaker, whether you complete the game at lv 3 or lv 25.

That is just the kind of shit which TES5 could improve on; the mod community already figured out what was wrong and addressed it as well as they could, hopefully Bethsoft takes the subtle hint when they start the next chapter.
Zatsuga's Avatar
Zatsuga at 04/14/2008 21:10

That hi-res one is "like whoa." I didn't play Oblivion, so I am not the best comparison. I do remember seeing the graphics vids when it came out though.

How many years until everything looks like this, and base PCs can output that quality? Any good guesses?
Aertyr's Avatar
Aertyr at 04/14/2008 21:11

My PC can run Oblivion inside to look just as good as that, the outside however is just stunning.
I think I shed a tear of joy looking at the trees alone. *Ugh* God I love the Elderscrolls.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 04/14/2008 21:24

Yes it looks great, but I didn't see that much of an improvement, especially within the city.

I loves me some Oblivion though.
Stonedfox's Avatar
Stonedfox at 04/14/2008 21:29

Weird...the song in the background is the instrumental of "Going Home". I'm actually singing that in Choir right now...
Jerkbutt47's Avatar
Jerkbutt47 at 04/14/2008 21:33

@Stonedfox: I had to play that for instruments class about 2 years ago.
Namelessted's Avatar
Namelessted at 04/14/2008 21:40

that video is total sex.

one question, who did this? Who took the time to remap all of Oblivion into the CryEngine 2?
Volomon's Avatar
Volomon at 04/14/2008 21:50

Hell you can crank the graphics up on anything the question is who the hell could handle it 20% of the market? Seriously Crytek has a serious issue of underestimating the hardware requirements to the point where they program the game to recommend things that your comp can't handle.

@Namelessted it says at the end Crytek.
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 04/14/2008 21:51

Zatsuga: Tomorrow.
Cheeburga's Avatar
Cheeburga at 04/14/2008 22:04

Crytek is really trying to show off their engine and get more buyers.

Honestly, I think the reason many people have not jumped ship to CryEngine is because most PC's can't run it effectively.
Kiranio's Avatar
Kiranio at 04/14/2008 22:34

Man that looks amazing... now if we could actually RUN it..

I didn't like Oblivion though. I hated that whole "you never level up or get stronger thing". It's too pretentious.
luciferific's Avatar
luciferific at 04/14/2008 22:46

That song sounds so familiar - anyone know what it is?
Drift64's Avatar
Drift64 at 04/14/2008 22:56

Now I want to see some Aliens fighting humans in there...
lompocus's Avatar
lompocus at 04/14/2008 23:44

This guy imported resources directly from Oblivion. It took him 2 months to do it.

I dunno...part of it just doesn't look good. IMO the original oblivion looked pretty enough. Something is missing, but eh. He WILL run into the 14-texture layer limit though, so it is technologically an imposibility to perfectly recreate all of Oblivion. This is teh dude's first map, btw! Kudos to him!

The problems I can see are creating new player models (the originals suck) and making this look REAL. The first oblivion, as said before, was nice. This needs to look REAL! lol. He has the tod right on spot, so that certainly is something! I can't help but feel its a bit of an idiotic attempt to rebuild all of oblivion, but I'm sure with some tweaking here and there he can make it look real or really frickin close to real. The problem is that the Crysis assets he's using are just leaps and bounds more advanced than the Oblivion assets he's using.
hammburglar's Avatar
hammburglar at 04/15/2008 00:15

i really want another elder scrolls game. ive got 100 hours of life to spare anyway.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 04/15/2008 00:35

Wow... just Wow... that's some seriously impressive shir right there! damn...
Vitamin Awesome's Avatar
Vitamin Awesome at 04/15/2008 01:12

I can has CryEngine2 bays'd eldur skrolez gaam plz?
thunderleg's Avatar
thunderleg at 04/15/2008 01:24

The song seems to be Symphony No. 9, in E Minor "From the New World", composed by Antonín Dvořák.
Dr Milkdad's Avatar
Dr Milkdad at 04/15/2008 01:27

I like it, it gives me bonerzzzz
thunderleg's Avatar
thunderleg at 04/15/2008 01:29

Movement II, Largo, to be precise.
brainderailment's Avatar
brainderailment at 04/15/2008 01:34

Kudos for using Veoh, looks tons better than that youtube shit.
Log1c's Avatar
Log1c at 04/15/2008 08:43

Whatever, fuck Oblivion, I'm waiting for MechWarrior!
CJSchmidt's Avatar
CJSchmidt at 04/15/2008 08:59

I love the idea of Oblivion, but I wish they would build in an "easy-mode" that uses static enemy levels and a little more actiony combat. There are a lot of us who would love to buy the game, but know we don't have the time to deal with the grind. We're generally the ones who play on consoles and can't install mods either. Come to think of it, I don't understand why all RPGs don't have an easy story mode that lets you play through the game quickly and easily.
Daynger777's Avatar
Daynger777 at 04/15/2008 09:32

I think they should remake daggerfall with crysis graphics :P Why do I like daggerfall you ask? Well it's simple really! Daggerfall's ability to climb walls > Morrowind's Levitate Spells > Oblivion's flightlees world of climbing stairs
Novakaine's Avatar
Novakaine at 04/15/2008 10:29

moocow21: "Screw Oblivion. If Bethesda would remake Morrowind with graphics like this (and perhaps a new combat system) I would truly be in gaming heaven."

Improve upon Oblivion's combat system--it's hands-down the best in the franchise. And yes, Morrowind + Oblivion engine + tweaked = amazing.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 04/15/2008 12:11

That's some damn beautiful video footage!
jzero222's Avatar
jzero222 at 04/15/2008 12:30

I love the Dvorak Largo in the background. It gives the video a great feel.
Azereki's Avatar
Azereki at 04/15/2008 15:21

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/203274.html
KorJax's Avatar
KorJax at 04/15/2008 16:35

Holy shit, my Digg made it on Destructiod! Awesome! I know the person who made this, it's pretty amazing how his work he's been doing for the past month on Crymod.com is really spreading around the internet!
Hellbender's Avatar
Hellbender at 04/15/2008 21:14

goddamit! video's been removed. for me, anyway.
lompocus's Avatar
lompocus at 04/16/2008 01:04

not only has the video been removed, but crymod has essentially, as of sometime at 5 pacific time, prevented the creator from advertising his map.

In regular English: The map has been forcibly canceled by Crytek.
Grim's Avatar
Grim at 04/16/2008 15:29

Swapped out videos. Should be viewable now.
Ocified-Xboxer's Avatar
Ocified-Xboxer at 04/16/2008 16:09

@CJSchmidt- The whole point of RPGs is to give you a huge adventure, with a story that matches. Hopefully the devs achieve that. What would games like Xenogears and Xenosaga be without the story? Oblivions actual "main quest" isn't as long as the 2 games I just brought up. You could concievably 'beat' the game in a much shorter time. You would just miss out on the point of why you should play it. I think the best thing about Oblivion is that I would boot it up, and say I'm just gonna do (X) quest, and 6 hours later I couldn't even tell you why I started...I'd just get lost in the world they created. Oblivion is the only game I've kept, everything else gets traded in...But Oblivion stays.

I still haven't beaten the main quest, and I have over 110 hrs on my guy.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/20/2008 03:53

Wow, fuck you, Crytek, for canceling this. It looked amazing.

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