Incredibly Frustrated - Blackscreen Problems with caves

[GrailQuest]

Summary: Installing mods causes blackscreen issues. So far, it is with "natural caves" such as those in the Tutorial dungeon.

 

How I Test

I did a clean install of Oblivion. NO mods yet. I created a save game in the jail cell, then used TCL to go to the sewer exit for a second save game point. Exited the sewers and saved there for a third save point.

When I check for blackscreen, I use TCL to walk straight ahead through the wall, and then turn to my left to start looking at the map.

 

What works

So far, the safest seems to be Qarl's Texture Pack III. This is WITHOUT any subsequent changes to QTP3, including so-called fixes that integrate changes from the Unofficial Patch with QTP3.

QTP3 showed (so far) no blackscreen issues.

 

What doesn't work

The patch that integrates QTP3 and UOP3.2 causes blackscreen whenever the screen looks at natural caves. Not sure exactly what yet, just that as soon as I see cave wall, the screen goes all black.

 

nVidia BlackScreen fix also seems to make no difference.

Wyre Bash nVidia fix also seems to make no difference. Sometimes it says it has changed various cells, sometimes not.

 

Various mods -- NONE of which claim to change the Tutorial Dungeon or cave textures/meshes -- also cause blackscreen. Don't know exactly which ones yet. I suspect some of these are "dirty", or have textures/meshes that are improperly done somehow. In any case, even though Oblivion will load up fine, when I do my basic check, I often get blackscreen. I am sick and tired of rolling back to a previous set of mods. :wallbash:

 

Streamline also caused blackscreen. Fine when looking forward at the exit grate, but blackscreen when I turn around in that tunnel to look back. Not sure why as I even turned off everything except clearing the cell buffer.

Purge Cell Buffer also caused blackscreen. This was at the sewer grate that leads from Septim's assassination into the short section of sewers and the final exit. As soon as I step through the grate and the new area has loaded, the screen goes black. Not sure why loading a new area would cause blackscreen when it is otherwise fine.

[Balakirev]

Still, logic dictates that it must be related to your video card. Since the blackscreen mods don't work, I would suggest googling this problem and looking for comments on the various video card tech forums, or going to a few of them and posting your issues. Oblivion is a widely known and played game, especially among graphics enthusiasts. They're likely to be familiar with it, and might have some ideas to offer.

[David Brasher]

It sounds like vanilla Oblivion works great. I am inclined to say that certain mods are not compatible with your hardware. Machines vary greatly in their capabilities. My advice might seem obvious and lame, but if certain mods don't work on your machine, don't use them. It is entirely possible that there is no solution to your problem. No way to make these mods work on your computer as it is. If you can't find a way to make them work then you could do one of the following:

(1) Disable the mods that cause problems.

(2) Upgrade some of the hardware on your computer.

(3) Buy a newer, more powerful computer.

[GrailQuest]

Still, logic dictates that it must be related to your video card. Since the blackscreen mods don't work, I would suggest googling this problem and looking for comments on the various video card tech forums, or going to a few of them and posting your issues. Oblivion is a widely known and played game, especially among graphics enthusiasts. They're likely to be familiar with it, and might have some ideas to offer.

 

My card is supposed to be one of the "supported chipsets" (listed at http://oblivion.wikia.com/wiki/Technical_information ). Still, that probably just means everything they tested only.

 

My personal suspicion is that some of the meshes are done in a way that somehow isn't properly handled by my card, since the other meshes work fine. Could be a new technique or could be some kind of short-cut taken by the mesh-maker.

The main problem is finding which ones out of Qarl's 999 files is causing the problem. :confused:

[GrailQuest]

:wallbash:

 

Incredibly weird:

 

(a) Entered final stage of the tutorial (manhole into sewer). Everything okay. Took screenshots. Exited game.

(b) Used Faststone (from faststone.org) to convert pics from BMP to JPG.

© Reloaded Oblivion, savegame in Sewers. BLACKSCREEN. Exited.

(d) Reloaded Oblivion, savegame in Sanctum. OK. Entered Sewers. BLACKSCREEN.

(e) Rebooted computer.

(f) Reloaded Oblivion, savegame in Sanctum. OK. Entered Sewers. OK.

(g) Took a screenshot. Exited. Used Faststone to convert screenshot. Exited.

(h) Reloaded Oblivion, savegame in Sanctum. OK. Entered Sewers. BLACKSCREEN.

 

WTF!? :wallbash: