Is Vortex possessed? Freezing and forced minimising

[BlueSteelRanger]

Salutations,

So, I've been running Oblivion and a very small mod list via Vortex (alongside Wrye Bash and LOOT for load order stability).

And sometimes, out of nowhere, when playing, the game will suddenly minimise (I run on full screen). When I get it back up, the game just...locks up. Freezes. Forcing me, ultimately, to do a hard reboot.
It's done this on a few load orders before, but never twice in a row during the damnable tutorial dungeon.
It's honestly cheesing me off.

Vortex version:  1.12.6
Mod List:

Active Plugins:

00  Oblivion.esm
01  Cobl Main.esm  [Version 1.74]
**  Cobl Glue.esp  [Version 1.73]
02  Unofficial Oblivion Patch.esp  [Version 2]
++  Oblivion Citadel Door Fix.esp
03  UOP Vampire Aging & Face Fix.esp  [Version 1.0.0]
04  DLCShiveringIsles.esp
05  Cobl Si.esp  [Version 1.63]
++  Cobl Tweaks - SI.esp
06  DLCHorseArmor.esp
07  DLCHorseArmor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.9]
08  DLCOrrery.esp
09  DLCOrrery - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.8]
0A  DLCVileLair.esp
0B  DLCVileLair - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.11]
0C  DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
0D  DLCMehrunesRazor - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.9]
0E  DLCSpellTomes.esp
++  DLCSpellTomes - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.1]
0F  DLCThievesDen.esp
10  DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.16]
11  DLCThievesDen - Unofficial Patch - SSSB.esp  [Version 1.0.14]
12  DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
13  DLCBattlehornCastle - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.12]
14  DLCFrostcrag.esp
15  DLCFrostcrag - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.0.11]
16  Knights.esp
17  Knights - Unofficial Patch.esp  [Version 1.1.10]
18  BSRCheatBag.esp
19  The Lost Spires.esp
1A  The Lost Spires - Assorted Fixes.esp
1B  lTraveler's Tent.esp  [Version 1.2]
++  lTraveler's Tent COBL Patch.esp
++  lTravelers Tent - Magic Fire.esp
++  Cobl Filter Late MERGE ONLY.esp  [Version 1.53]
1C  Bashed Patch, 0.esp

What causes that madness and how can I fix it? Or can it be fixed at all?

[Nagev]

Hi there - why do you suspect Vortex is the culprit in this case? Vortex only grabs focus if you're actively downloading mods from the website. Any in-game issues are always down to the mods you have installed, or potentially a different application grabbing focus.

[BlueSteelRanger]

When I'm in-game, I run full-screen. Nothing else is allowed to operate. Even my adaptive things are set to minimum, to avoid interfering with gameplay.
I never tell the thing to minimise or go out-of-game. So unless Vortex responds to antivirus checks, I don't know what other program would cause it to do that.

Further, when I get the game back up, the game freezes/locks up entirely, forcing me to do a full hard reboot on my PC.

[Nagev]

Game freeze/lock on alt+tab/minimize is a common issue with Oblivion and Skyrim too I believe. Can't say for sure what may be causing the game to minimize, but it's not Vortex (Unless you're downloading/installing mods in the background). You can confirm this by running `obse.exe` without starting up Vortex.

[BlueSteelRanger]

Hrmmm. Wait, you can do that? I'm going to try that. I did manage to rule out my adaptive junk. That stuff is kept as far away from game related stuff as I can.

"Game freeze/lock on alt+tab/minimize is a common issue with Oblivion and Skyrim too I believe." This was a big help in ruling out my adaptive stuff. Alt+tab is a common JAWS and WindowEyes command for navigating the desktop. When I'm in-game, I'm an exclusive controller-user.

[Pickysaurus]

13 minutes ago, BlueSteelRanger said:

Hrmmm. Wait, you can do that? I'm going to try that. I did manage to rule out my adaptive junk. That stuff is kept as far away from game related stuff as I can.

"Game freeze/lock on alt+tab/minimize is a common issue with Oblivion and Skyrim too I believe." This was a big help in ruling out my adaptive stuff. Alt+tab is a common JAWS and WindowEyes command for navigating the desktop. When I'm in-game, I'm an exclusive controller-user.

Is it possible that the buttons you're pressing on the controller map to Alt + Tab? 

[7531Leonidas]

One other thing - I know that for Skyrim, Vortex is not needed to be running to run the modded game, and using the SKSE shortcut.  I would assume that OBSE is the same, but cannot be sure.  Also, Skyrim should just be run with the built-in LOOT in Vortex, due to its mod/file conflict resolution routines.  Again, not sure about the applicability to Oblivion.

[BlueSteelRanger]

Quote

s it possible that the buttons you're pressing on the controller map to Alt + Tab? 

It's unlikely, but worth double checking, actually. My version of JAWS isn't the latest and it has been known to get weird on me.

[BlueSteelRanger]

1 hour ago, 7531Leonidas said:

One other thing - I know that for Skyrim, Vortex is not needed to be running to run the modded game, and using the SKSE shortcut.  I would assume that OBSE is the same, but cannot be sure.  Also, Skyrim should just be run with the built-in LOOT in Vortex, due to its mod/file conflict resolution routines.  Again, not sure about the applicability to Oblivion.

I did actually try running Oblivion through the OBSE launcher in the Oblivion folder without opening Vortex. It straight-up didn't let me, popping up a message about "You're trying to run a Steam version..." So either I messed that up, or Vortex and OBSE want each other, pardon the odd wording.

[BlueSteelRanger]

Update: It happened again tonight, twice in the same places in the Tutorial Dungeon. I'm starting to think it might be one of the mods in my list (Heavily disappointing if that's the case, as I've been wanting to run through one of those mods for a while now).