Nice Specific Crash

[SeanyB]

Ok, specs.

 

Core2Duo E7500 running stock

2Gb Ram

Asrock 4Core Dual Sata R2.0 Flashed to latest Bios

HIS HD 3850 AGP

Using onboard Realtek High Def Audio (I know, I know, but I have had zero problems with every other game, including Fallout 3)

 

So here's the crash. Every time I open a book that either levels up a skill, or is main quest related I either CTD with no error, or the whole system resets with serious error recovery. If I turn off all sound in Oblivion.ini the problem goes away, but makes for a muted experience. I've tried every combination of fixes I've seen in these forums (lower accelleration, etc) but no dice.

 

Anyone out there have the same problem and found a solution that doesn't involve buying a new sound card?

 

Interestingly, I use to play without any issue whatsoever on this system before upgrading, and it had real crap AC97 audio.

 

Cheers, all.

[Shadowfen]

Try checking out your sound card manufacturer for an upgraded driver.

[bben46]

Whenever I see a problem where the computer resets I look at the power supply first. Usually a reset is caused by the +5 volts dropping down. Many big name computers come with a cheap power supply that can barely run what they come with. Adding a decent video board,or even a second hard drive can cause power problems.

 

An inexpensive sound board will cost about US $20. But if the power supply cannot handle what is already installed that would just make it worse.

[SeanyB]

Well I've bitten the bullet and bought a sound card. Sound Blaster Audigy Value. Not the best one on the market, but an upgrade from onboard. No dice. Same issue. As for power supply, I've go an OCZ StealthXtreame 500w. The only things I have connected to it are hard drive, optical, motherboard and graphics card. This particular card does suck more power than most cards due to it being a 3850 on agp, but I've never had an issue until now.

 

This is a workaround issue. I can just not read books and I'll be fine. Hell, if I really want to get all the benefits from books, all I have to do is exit, turn off all sound in Oblivion.ini, and go for it. But for me that isn't the issue.

 

This is the sort of poo I used to go through in the DOS days. Muck around with settings until the game works properly. DirectX was supposed to eliminate this. What annoys me most about this is that I've played this game on a lesser rig and had no issues. Now I've got an upgraded rig that should blast it out of the water, I've suddenly gotten all these issues.

 

Rant off, this is now a legacy title so I guess I just have to suck it up! I only paid $25 bucks for it anyway.

[d181sp1]

After installing the sound card did you enter BIOS and disable the onboard sound?

[Tomlong54210]

Reset your codecs, else, turn off hardware acceleration in the Dxdiag menu. What OS are you running?

 

K-Lite Codec pack - http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.codecguide.com%2Fdownload_kl.htm&ei=unnlS4ugNoOClAfltID7Cg&usg=AFQjCNExOValyzAW4ai_N5jxxrFXG86_Gg&sig2=kPSxTIClVsNCC_RmslWBmg <-- use this to reset your codecs, make sure you set FFDShow to ignor oblivion, sound and video if you have it

[SeanyB]

Well, over the course of the weekend I have tried absolutely every single fix recommended on the internet. I started leaning towards the graphics card being an issue, it being a slightly exotic configuration.

 

I've tried running with the settings all the way down, sound off, codecs reset, new drivers for everything, old drivers for everything. The only thing I haven't done is nuked the entire OS and reinstalled. A single game doesn't warrant that at present.

 

So thanks for the advice, but I'll just leave book reading alone for now. I'm getting crashes everywhere else now and then, but the book thing is a guaranteed crash.

 

Cheers, guys.

[Jenrai]

Is your game modded?

Simple solution if you have no problems with anything else is that its not a system problem. Its almost certainly not a hardware problem anyways. And AC97 audio, for what it was, was actually damn good. ;)

 

That out of the way, if your game is modded you likely have a sound file that's missing. One that's specific to books that level skills and attributes. Whilst missing sound files generally just cause a momentary stutter, if they are part of a script, or are linked to multiple events, they can cause game, and even catastrophic system crashes because your comp is having an absolute hissy fit looking for something that just isn't there. Disabling all sounds in the .ini WOULD fix this, because contrary to popular belief doing that doesn't just turn volume right down, but it stops Oblivion from even attempting to play any sounds (which is why you will occasionally see a minor performance boost when you do this on weak systems).

 

Did basically rebuilding your .ini not fix it? I know its really obvious and I'm not saying you're a n00b, what I'm saying is people often overlook this step because they assume it can't help that, when in fact it fixes hundreds of things, including a helluva lot that it really shouldn't fix.

 

If that doesn't help, Lets shoot for the conflict angle first as yours seems to be quite a rare and specific issue:: Do you use any levelling/book/ or skill/attribute specific mods, in particular ones that change vanilla attributes/skills and what they do? Next I'd look at UI mods as they can change a whole host of things.

 

Good Luck.

Jenrai

[SeanyB]

Is your game modded?

Simple solution if you have no problems with anything else is that its not a system problem. Its almost certainly not a hardware problem anyways. And AC97 audio, for what it was, was actually damn good. ;)

 

That out of the way, if your game is modded you likely have a sound file that's missing. One that's specific to books that level skills and attributes. Whilst missing sound files generally just cause a momentary stutter, if they are part of a script, or are linked to multiple events, they can cause game, and even catastrophic system crashes because your comp is having an absolute hissy fit looking for something that just isn't there. Disabling all sounds in the .ini WOULD fix this, because contrary to popular belief doing that doesn't just turn volume right down, but it stops Oblivion from even attempting to play any sounds (which is why you will occasionally see a minor performance boost when you do this on weak systems).

 

Did basically rebuilding your .ini not fix it? I know its really obvious and I'm not saying you're a n00b, what I'm saying is people often overlook this step because they assume it can't help that, when in fact it fixes hundreds of things, including a helluva lot that it really shouldn't fix.

 

If that doesn't help, Lets shoot for the conflict angle first as yours seems to be quite a rare and specific issue:: Do you use any levelling/book/ or skill/attribute specific mods, in particular ones that change vanilla attributes/skills and what they do? Next I'd look at UI mods as they can change a whole host of things.

 

Good Luck.

Jenrai

[SeanyB]

When I started noticing the pattern the game was vanilla with only the official patch. I haven't tried it with a clean install out of the box unpatched. I might also add that this problem has happened with sound disabled in the .ini file, so it may very well not be a sound issue. At present I've only modded it with stability mods (obse, windom earls, oblivion stutter remover)

 

As for rebuilding the .ini file, I currently have about 20 of 'em sitting in my recycle bin. I've also tried using common optimizations of .ini. One thing I haven't mentioned is I'm using XP Home with SP3.

 

It's more than likely due to a particular combination of hardware. When Oblivion first came out I was reading about people who just could not get the thing to run properly. I was fortunately one of those who had no issues whatsoever, and that was on an AthlonXP2800, 1gig ram 6600GT and a SoundBlaster 128!

 

I've also attached my dxdiag, if anyone wants a squizz. Keep in mind the graphics drivers are deliberately old at present.