crashing... Im at wits end...

[remotecontrol]

Ok, so I been looking for a looong time for a solution to this. It boggles the mind how this problem that is so prevalent for people who play Oblivion for PC and STILL there is hardly ANYTHING on the topic. Always the same old things... update drivers ...re arrange mod load order ...unofficial patch ...and fine those things are great but what if THOSE don't work? Has anyone ever had this ridiculously frustrating problem happen to them and actually FIXED it? ...please share.

 

*stands up and looks around the room* :(

 

My name is Remote Control and my Oblivion crashes often... right at the moment I click to attack, when I click to use a spell, when I release the click to shoot an arrow. There is no rhyme or reason ??? ...no warning, just total video freeze and the lonely music playing as I weep and ctrl/alt/delete wondering if it's even worth playing anymore. :'(

[BossDweebe]

Don't know if I was one of the previous posters but....

 

Yes Oblivion does, and will crash when you least expect it, but your situation is well beyond the norm.

Has your Oblivion been crashing this readly for long ?

Yes - all the things that have been suggested do help, but Oblivion will never be without crashes.

It's a tough game especially when modded with high res textures, and needs a tough machine.

btw -What are your machines specs.

 

The latest drivers are not always the best, it depends on the card series.

I had lots of problems with my Nvidia 8800GT using the 180... drivers. I was having

crashes of every sort, but with the newer 181... things go generally well.

The 179... drivers also worked well. The 181... seem smoother than the 179... though.

My other computer has an older NVidia 7600GT and is still on 169... drivers - no problem.

 

One thing that has helped me as well is keeping the Page File clean. I only have 2Gig RAM.

The Page File should be set up properly. That is - don't let windows adjust the size for you.

The Page File should be set to 1.5 times your RAM - both min and max. This will keep it

from getting fragmented and help speed up the HD search. A Page File can be defraged by

deleting it then rebooting and re setting it as specified above.

I use a utility called Tweak XP that clears the page file on shut down.

 

Error reports may also get written to RAM and cause more frequent crashes. It may be best

to reboot or use a RAM defrag utility it you get several crashes at close intervals.

[dezdimona]

Try this, Windom Earle_s Oblivion Crash Prevention System

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=22282

 

follow installation instructions carefully

[remotecontrol]

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.090302-1506)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion

System Model: GG781AA-ABA a6110n

BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz

Memory: 3582MB RAM

Page File: 982MB used, 6405MB available

Windows Dir: C:\Windows

DirectX Version: DirectX 10

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

 

I have a Radeon ATI X1650 video card... yeah, planning on getting "

ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB GDDR3 PCI-E Video Card

 

or

ATI Radeon HD4650 PCIE 1024MB GDDR2 Video Card" soon... funds pending.

[bben46]

Check the power requirements before upgrading your Video board. Some of those stock HPs are under powered to start with (might be your problem) A decent vid card draws a lot of power.

 

 

Your crashes are "I click to attack, when I click to use a spell, when I release the click to shoot an arrow." each one of these occurs when there is an increased load on your video. A jump in the needed amount of processing power required to properly display the new action. The new vid card may or may not fix this.

 

I just looked at your model, the vid card listed, a Nvidia Geforce 6150 SE with 128 MB. Is not the one you list. That seems a little weak. It also does not show anything on the power supply - that usually means an underpowered propritary supply that may be hard to replace due to an odd size or shape.

 

A search found one report saying it had a 250Watt Power supply - That is way underpowered.

Luckily, the ATI HD 4670 only takes 60 Watts so you might get away with it.

While I couldn't find the power requirements for the older board, one review suggested using a minimum of 350 Watt power supply.

[remotecontrol]

Check the power requirements before upgrading your Video board. Some of those stock HPs are under powered to start with (might be your problem) A decent vid card draws a lot of power.

 

 

Your crashes are "I click to attack, when I click to use a spell, when I release the click to shoot an arrow." each one of these occurs when there is an increased load on your video. A jump in the needed amount of processing power required to properly display the new action. The new vid card may or may not fix this.

 

I just looked at your model, the vid card listed, a Nvidia Geforce 6150 SE with 128 MB. Is not the one you list. That seems a little weak. It also does not show anything on the power supply - that usually means an underpowered propritary supply that may be hard to replace due to an odd size or shape.

 

A search found one report saying it had a 250Watt Power supply - That is way underpowered.

Luckily, the ATI HD 4670 only takes 60 Watts so you might get away with it.

While I couldn't find the power requirements for the older board, one review suggested using a minimum of 350 Watt power supply.

 

actually.. the man at future shop said that this card would need a higher power supply, I bought a 300Watt one that same day. Now heres the tricky part, at that time I had a friend who I thought knew alot about computers... so he goes to work putting this new stuff into my computer. Only very lately have I noticed that the power supply is "physically" installed but is not plugged into anything, the only plug is an outlet going out the back of the computer... it is seemingly doing nothing at all in there. The card needs more power yes... the power supply is just a decoration I think, there is no plug to connect the card and the supply anyways... I checked and saw nothing.

 

 

...this ATI HD 4670 ...will this be ok for playing oblivion I mean graphics wise? ...also does it have a plug to connect to power supply to the card?

[SiniVII]

I really don't think you should concern yourself with graphics. New video cards are way past the time Oblivion came out so now you can even buy a model two years old and still run Oblivion without problems. The graphics aren't all that good unless you enhance them with mods, which is what draws quite a lot out of your computers performance. It all comes down to if you just want to be able to play Oblivion, or play Oblivion with graphic enhancements.

 

However I run Oblivion fairly well full graphics + Graphic enhancement mods. Using the Gainward GeForce 9600GT 512MB PhysX CUDA. I recommend one if you want to be able to play Oblivion with decent graphics, isn't that expensive either. Still if it's the power supply that is the problem then you might not have to.

[remotecontrol]

also I found that codecs could be the problem:

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Today I fixed Oblivion's random crashing problems on my main gaming rig. To fix the random crashing I ended up uninstalling all but the most basic audio and video codecs. Here is how it's done, but be warned, if you don't know what you are doing you might trash your OS.

 

1. Goto your Control Panel, and open the "Sounds and Audio Devices" item

2. Select the "Hardware" tab and select "Audio Codecs", then press "Properties"

3. In the "Audio Codec Properties" window select "Properties" again

 

You will see a list of installed codecs. In my case the list was rather large, because I work with audio and video files a lot. You'll need to figure out which codecs are third party codecs for yourself.

 

1. Select the third party codecs one at a time and click "Remove"

2. Repeat these same steps with video codecs

 

You also might want to try this piece of software to help you remove codecs.

 

After you follow the above codec removal steps, reboot your pc and run Oblivion. Hopefully your crashing problems will be fixed.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

fine, would try it but I dont have "sounds and audio devices" in control panel, in classic view or home view. I have the SOUND icon wich brings up something totally different... I have vista, dunno what this guy has... so I cant seem to get to this hardware/audio codecs tab he's referring to...

 

 

Yeah, I do have a power supply in the computer, but it's not plugged into anything... I dont understand how it's supposed to do ANYTHING if it's not connected to the computer in some way? I looked it up and it says to plug it into the video card, but my video card doesnt have a plug for it to go into. So does the power supply plug into the computer somewhere? to somehow supply the video card with more juice?

 

...is there a thorough detailed and simple instructional tutorial somewhere out there?

 

 

P.S. Believe me, its not for lack of searching and looking for solutions, I spend more time trying to fix computer related things than enjoying what computers have to offer me... I'm starting to miss those days when I was little just fishing in childhood fishing spot, just relaxing and enjoying life... shooting my BB gun out across the mirror calm water at sunset. *ehem* sorry...

 

power supply and codecs problems...

[bben46]

The power supply should have a cable that plugs into the mother board, and other cables to plug into each drive, floppy, Hard and CD. Then, usually some fans. Smaller video cards may not have a separate plug as they can draw enough power from the motherboard. The documentation that comes with the video card should tell you if you need a power supply connection, and what kind of plug you need.

[Qwaxalot]

The fact of the matter is that if the power supply was not connected to the computer's components the computer would not run at all.

 

As far as the size (300 watts) of the power supply it is almost certainly not made with the auxiliary power connection required for a top notch video card. Those power supplies are generally at least 450 watts.

 

As far as codecs are concerned, here are links to two Codec reset utility sites

 

K-lite

 

Nightmare

 

If you want to test first, before resetting codecs:

 

in the ...\Documents\mygames\oblivion\Oblivion.ini file locate:

 

bMusicEnabled=1

bSoundEnabled=1

 

And change both 1's to 0

 

This will turn off Oblivion's sound.

 

If you get a big improvement either buy a sound card or try to reset the codecs