Oblivion crashes at startup with Windows 7

[anorkash]

Hi all. This my first forum post ever so forgive any mistakes please. I have looked at many forums for an answer to this but none fits. I have installed Oblivion GOTY with the Shivering Isles expansion and Knights of the Nine plug in. This is the first time. It is not a reinstall or migration from another system. I just got the game. Its the original DVD not D2D. The technical support menu says it version 1.2.0416. I have installed the 3 unofficial patches for Oblivion, Shivering Isles and Mods. However when I try to start the game it gives a small black window then the screen goes black and then it goes back to the desktop. Nothing else. Can someone please help? I am running a AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual core Processor 5200+ @ 2.71Ghz;

2Gigs Ram;

a Nvidia GeForce 9400 GT with

Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit

I have noticed that when detecting video hardware, it says that it cannot recognise the hardware and defaults to medium quality. However, no amount of adjusting can get it to run. Will appreciate any help.

[MarkInMKUK]

Run the game from the launcher on the desktop and, assuming it reaches the point where you get the first menu, check the Data files settings. Make sure that the Unofficial Patch for mods has NOT got any ticks for mods you do not have installed - if you don't HAVE the horse armor mod, for instance, the patch will cause a crash when it tries to modify the non-existant mod.

 

If you can't get that far (and probably also even if you can), it's possible that you've fallen foul of User Account Control by installing to the default location, i.e. a subfolder of c:\Program Files. The attempted installation of the unofficial patches may have only partially installed as Windows thinks anything other than a registered installation program trying to write to that location is an attack, and blocks it.

 

Keep the downloads for the patches (obviously), uninstall Oblivion from where it is, and reinstall JUST Oblivion at C:\Games\Oblivion. Run it to test it works ok. Then install Shivering isles and Knights of the Nine, and retest. Once THAT is behaving, then apply the unofficial patches, testing after each one. That will REALLY pay dividends if you want to add any other mods later, too.

Edited July 11, 2011 by MarkInMKUK

[Striker879]

A small addition to MarkInMKUK's advice ... you may find that the installation for the GotY prompts you for the second disk when installing to C:\Games\Oblivion. I would alter Mark's advice in that you should go ahead and install the second disk at the same time you're installing. The second disk on the GotY edition installs Shivering Isles and patches the game to version 1.2.0.416. When SI is installed it actually alters the file oblivion.exe (which is also the reason you need to use the correct download patch if you were patching manually). I'm not sure if your installation would properly complete if you stopped it before the second disk and then tried installing SI from that disk afterwards. I agree with his advice to make sure the game is working after installing Oblivion and Shivering Isles and before adding any of the unofficial patches or Knights of the Nine (all of which are mods in the game's eyes).

[Spawn2007]

Most of the stuff posted before me is what you should check, i only have this to add if your still experiencing problems.

 

Win 7 doesnt like oblivion to be installed to the default folder, check THIS guide out

 

Also are you using wyre bash by any chance? if you are v293 wont work in win 7, downgrade to v291.

[bben46]

One recommendation I have not seen yet, but I do on every reinstall is to start the game and make a save after installing the first disk. This allows the game to create the Oblivion.ini file that is needed. Then Install the second disk, - Shivering Isles only, Start and make another save. Then before installing any mods play the game for a little while to see how it runs before installing anything else.

 

Nothing happens in the game that needs anything besides the base game until after you complete the sewers tutorial anyway.

 

Make a permanent save just at the point immediately BEFORE you exit the sewers. Just before you open the final gate to get out. When you activate that gate, you will be offered the chance to make any changes in your character. This will be your emergency restart point - never overwrite or delete that save. Later on, after you have installed a bunch of mods, you can come back to this save and basically restart the game with your mods active. from that point.

 

When you exit, the graphics requirements jump quite a bit. and the real game starts.

[anorkash]

Thanks guys. I will try them one by one and see which works. I do know that I initially followed the guide Spawn2007 suggested and installed to C:\Oblivion not C:\ProgramFiles..... I will try the other stuff though. Keep you postedI

[cerpinandcygnus]

I know this is old, but I was having a similar issue and found a fix. The game had worked a a year ago on Windows 7, but crashed immediately when I loaded it up in my most recent attempts to play. I uninstalled, re-installed in a new folder, changed permissions and compatibilities. Finally, I realized that my "Documents/My Games/ Oblivion" folder hadn't changed since the last time I played despite hardware and driver changes (and uninstalling). I deleted the entire folder and started up the Launcher which recreated that entire folder and ini upon video hardware detection. Worked.