Startup and container hanging problem

[RS219]

Hello all, I've been a browsing around this site for a while and have a question regarding a problem I can't solve because I can't find another like it. My game once ran 100% smooth with a GeForce 9500GT and 2GB of RAM backing it but recently;

 

Problem 1: I have to wait a long amount of time for the game to startup, as well as to load the first save game after starting up. With the startup movies cancelled from oblivion.ini, the loading screen hangs for a while with the slider staying still for a good minute before shooting off, signalled by a shift in the screen to one with a 'tip of the day'. With the movies not removed, the game hangs at the Bethesda screen. The slider used to immediately shoot off within 5 seconds, why is this happening? Annoying, but tolerable and unnoticeable if I walk off to do something else, this problem certainly isn't as bad as

 

Problem 2: Opening every sort of inconceivable container causes the game to hang for roughly 5 seconds. While it hardly seems like a big deal, it drives me nuts when I must go ruffling through my Frostspire Crag vault, reopening containers because I think I left something behind in it, or going through an entire dungeon's worth for that matter. Opening a locked chest brings up the lockpicking menu instantly, then the screen hangs after picking all locks. My inventory is unaffected and pops up instantly when I press Tab. Compared to problem #1, this is very game-breaking for me.

 

What I've done:

 

-Disabled all mods, problem still stayed.

-Defragged hard drive more than 5 times, didn't work.

-Search internet for similar case, haven't seen one.

-Just reinstalled the game, didn't work either.

 

That said, is there anything else I can do? I've patched the game (GOTY UK) with the official Oblivion_v1.2.0416UK.exe patch since the Shivering Isles version (ShiveringIsles_v1.2.0416English.exe) outright refuses to work.

[alex2avs]

how many items do you have in inventory ?

 

This can slow down a lot . same thing goes for spells.

With all the spells in inventory (around 950 ) I have to wait more than 1 minute .

Oh... and try storing items in more containers , meaning that you must not put , let's say 100 different items , in one container

 

Hope this will help.

[RS219]

In my inventory right now:

 

Main + chainmail armor from bandit, mace, dagger, bow and arrows I usually take around with me, 187 lockpicks and 31 repair hammers, potions and ingredients totalling a weight of 272/400.

 

45 spells, I doubt they're the cause of this problem.

 

I was going to ask if this problem has something to do with having too many items stored in non-restocking containers, since this problem also appears on a different character on a different account in this same computer who may or may not have done mass-hoarding as well (my brother deleted his save files to make space). If not, it's definitely something in the Oblivion folder.

 

Thanks for the reply, by the way!

 

P.S. I doubt putting too many items in the containers would affect the startup screen as well. Wait a sec, I'll move my save files and settings out of the Oblivion folder and restart the game.

 

Just tried it, yep, starting screen was still hanging. When I opened Task Manager to end the game while it was still in startup it's status was "Not Responding".

[alex2avs]

do you have any other programs that eat a lot of memory active ?

Y!Messenger 9 eats up to 40 mb for example.

[RS219]

Nope, not really, I turn every memory-hogging app off before I go Oblivion. Well, this time I've kept Firefox running to post these messages. At the very most, the startup hang gets shortened to just over 10 seconds.