So, at highish setting I get about 14-16 fps. So I defragged my drive, I updated by drivers, I tweaked the ini file a little. Nothing changed. I reduce the settings to the "Medium" preset. Still 14-16. I go as low as I can. Still 14-16! This is aggravating. 
 
My specs:
Windows 7
AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz
GeForce 9800 GTX+  512MB
4GB RAM(I can't remember if it's DDR2 or 3)
 
By no means on the cutting edge, but I figured that is would be able to easily run a 6 year old game. Any suggestion? I'll post my mod list if someone wants me to.
 
 
 
 

 

Something is definitely not right. You should be able to crush Oblivion. I suck at troubleshooting this kinda stuff, but maybe try checking for malware? I have specs lower than yours and I max out Oblivion no problem.

Try using your mod manager to disable your Oblivion mods, then load up the game. See if the problem persists.
 
Some Oblivion mods need to be loaded in a specific order, or else craziness happens. A good rule of thumb is things lower on the list boot later, so they'll be the specific things that overlap mods higher on the list. Going by this logic, you can disable them all, then start loading your mods, one by one into the game, going down the list, until you find the problem.

Hm, I have avast doing a daily scan, but I guess I should run another scan. But if something has gotten to the very kernel then no amount of scans will help. I just hope it's not something like that.

Well, flash has also been slowing sometimes, but I'm pretty sure that's just flash being flash. I'm not convinced it's malware, but I'm running a full scan, just to be sure.

" Well, flash has also been slowing sometimes, but I'm pretty sure that's just flash being flash. I'm not convinced it's malware, but I'm running a full scan, just to be sure. "

Okay, I disabled all mods. Now the game just crashes. Before the first logo appears. Typical Oblivion. I'm starting to lose the will to play this game.
 
I guess uninstalling all of those OMODs could have knocked something loose, but I doubt that. Though I might need to reinstall the game.

" Okay, I disabled all mods. Now the game just crashes. Before the first logo appears. Typical Oblivion. I'm starting to lose the will to play this game.  I guess uninstalling all of those OMODs could have knocked something loose, but I doubt that. Though I might need to reinstall the game. "

As of right now there is none. It crashed with just the Oblivion.esm. I could try to recreate the load order of before.

" As of right now there is none. It crashed with just the Oblivion.esm. I could try to recreate the load order of before. "

That's the only mod site I use. Oblivion.esm was the only esm file I had after the uninstall. I'm going to try and turn everything back on and see if it at least loads. Though I'll skip QTP3R, which I figure is contributing to the FPS problem, but I doubt it's the main cause. 
 
EDIT: Well, that didn't work. You know, I think I have just about had it. I thank you gentlemen, especially you, Laughing Man. But I am tabling this.

Hi I'm coming back to this, because now it's just weird and stupid. So I deleted the "Local Content"(steam version). Deleted the Oblivion folder itself (though I thought that's what "delete local content meant) and reinstalled it from scratch. It still won't load the logo without crashing. There is something sinister going on here and it makes me rather annoyed. I don't even have a single mod installed. What am I to do, Giantbomb?

are u using any ridiculous mods for the  textures or something 
because u should be getting a solid 70 fps

If you are using large overhaul mods (all of FCOM) and lots of minor mods in conjunction with Qarl's, you will lag.

" Hi I'm coming back to this, because now it's just weird and stupid. So I deleted the "Local Content"(steam version). Deleted the Oblivion folder itself (though I thought that's what "delete local content meant) and reinstalled it from scratch. It still won't load the logo without crashing. There is something sinister going on here and it makes me rather annoyed. I don't even have a single mod installed. What am I to do, Giantbomb? "

Of course, the .ini. I had forgotten. Okay, I'm doing it again. I'm deleting everything INCLUDING the My Documents Oblivion folder. We;ll see what happens then. Thanks for reminding me, good sir.

Okay, it seems the initial problem was the mods. I got it to run and while going through the tutorial dungeon on medium settings I ran the gamut between 25-60 fps, though I am willing to believe that it was because I was noclipping through the entire thing. When I was outside I got closer to 50 fps. When I went with higher setting and running it at my monitor's native resolution (1920x1080) I got between 30 and 40 fps while outside. Still not as good as I would imagine, but I can live with that. I guess if anyone else has something to suggest to boost my performance, I'm all ears. But I think I might be able to tweak it myself from here.