Freeze/Lock-up Advice?

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

Heya. Recently started playing Oblivion again.. clean install, newest version, most of the DLC's, and threw on FCOM + a few smaller mods. Followed a tutorial to get everything running, used boss and wrye bash, and everything shows up in game. And after hours and hours of gameplay, not a SINGLE CTD! :laugh:

 

However, that out of the way, I do get the infamous freeze/lock-up. The one where randomly out of nowhere, the video will freeze, the music will continue playing, and you're un-able to load the taskbar to end the process. I read an old thread from 2008 that talked about this, but I wasn't able to find an answer, here nor google. And the lock-up seems to have no specific trigger. I could be moving or holding still, I could be fighting or just standing there plotting my next move. I could be in a dungeon or out in the open.. doesn't matter. And it's totally random when it locks up. I can play hours without a problem, or it could hit me after 10 minutes. And there has even been a few times I've managed to save my game just before it happens (luck), and upon reloading the save and attempting to do everything exactly how I had before, I won't get the lock-up.

 

What causes this? And how do I prevent it? I would be eternally grateful for any help on this.. as, this is the first time I've gotten Oblivion to play stable with FCOM and all that.. and I'm addicted. The mass amounts of wildlife.. the large groups of raiders.. the goblin war parties.. it's just all great. But as many others have stated, even with you constantly saving in fear of a lock-up, soon as one hits and catches you off guard, it breaks any immersion the modders may have aimed for. Especially when I have to reboot or logout my system just to get the darned process to stop.

 

So please, if you have any useful hints, I'll try anything (minus completely reinstalling again, since I just did that). I'm running a GeForce 7600 Go, I've heard rumors about nvidia problems. I have no overheating issues, everything stays 60C and below. 3GB ram, dual core Turion processor. Using WinXP MC 32 bit. I have things like shadows/antialiasing/bloom etc turned off, as I prefer my FPS over little details (and my laptops aging). Feel free to ask any other info, I'll respond as quickly as I can.

 

Edit: Where I say taskbar, I meant the Task Manager.

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

Any ideas? I see the other threads are somewhat active. :whistling:

[JerWroten]

Have you used BAIN? That has been the single best tool. Also, after FCOM, install your mods one at a time so that you can detect what mods are crashing your game.

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

I followed the complete manual install instructions (BAIN wasn't used in those instructions at the time). And I've already tried removing all non-FCOM mods with no change.

 

Also I'd like to add, while technically my game "is" crashing, this isn't the common CTD from incorrectly installed mods. This is the lock-up that some people experience even with everything properly installed. But apparently not everyone experiences it. I had hoped that someone would have found a way to reduce or eliminate it by now.

 

Back to BAIN though... is FCOM installed via this BAIN now? And does it simplify things at all? FCOM is a nightmare to install the old way even when you know what you're doing.

[Marie46]

Maybe it is running out of memory and then freezes itself to death? Have you applied the 4GB Patch? Stutter Remover? Streamline? Do you have QTP3 Redimized + Lighter/Regular running instead of the normal QTP3? Regards.

[bben46]

Here is a link to Bben's Crash Help

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=298.

It doesn't cover freezing directly, but some of the advice may help.

 

One cause of a windows program freezing is loosing focus. Another program, such as a background process has taken enough cpu cycles to cause the program to fall behind and loose track of what is going on. This is usually random and not repeatable in the same place.

 

Note: The 4G patch only applies to 64 bit operating systems and will not help on a 32 bit as it cannot use more than 3.2G of ram - and it may cause more crashes when it tries to address ram that isn't there.

 

A load order may help. How to post a Load order list article

http://www.tesnexus.com/articles/article.php?id=295

Or use the Wrye Bash to make the list - or copy/paste the BOSS load order list. any of these will work. Just don't try to type the entire load list.

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

Hi guys, thanks for the responses.

 

Marie46:

I suppose memory could always be a possibility but I kinda doubt it. I like to restart my computer before I play Oblivion to make sure everything's fresh, and then once in-game, sometimes the freeze can happen right away or sometimes not for a few hours. And nothing slows down before it happens. And like bben46 said, running 32bit so no 4gb for me. However, I have none of those performance mods you mentioned. I've peeked at them but since I rarely experience lag, didn't know if I should try them or not. But I'll give them a look.

 

bben46:

Wow, that link is really informative! I know I have at least one or two of those things listed, but I had no idea they could effect Oblivion like that. Like, an annoying pop-up from my virus scanner asking me to update, and non-mod related files being in the Oblivion folder. Pretty crazy, I'm a pretty heavy gamer and have never heard of a game being so touchy. Definitely going to work my way down that list and try it all.

 

Going to try the list first, and if I still get freezes I'll try some of those mods Marie mentioned that look applicable. And if all else fails, I guess I'll nab my load order and post it. Either way I shall return. Thanks again, I now have hope of actually playing the game!

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

Hello again. Got some time to test it out. Things did seem to improve, but it's still there. And I did finally experience an actual CTD (or my g/f did rather). I believe she said it was when she got a disease from an animal attacking her. Anyway, as requested, here's my load order.

 

The mods I'm using are likely out of date by now. And as much as it saddens me to say it, I'm contemplating doing a complete reinstall again. If you think this may be the best course of action, have any advice on the easiest way to do so without spending hours researching, etc, to make it work?

[Eiries]

One cause of a windows program freezing is loosing focus. Another program, such as a background process has taken enough cpu cycles to cause the program to fall behind and loose track of what is going on. This is usually random and not repeatable in the same place.

 

THIS

 

If other applications decide to take the upper hand, updating and whatnot, it can and will screw up the game. In simple terms, your computer may take the memory used to run your game and use it for a new program it deems to have a higher priority, usually because it just started up. The result? Your game freezes. And Oblivion does not like to unfreeze.

 

Shut down any applications you can get away with, maybe go as far as to disable your internet connection when you play. Use the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del in XP, Ctrl+Shift+Esc in Vista and Win7) to shut down any background applications you don't need running.

 

Good luck!

[tr0ubl3mak3r]

One cause of a windows program freezing is loosing focus. Another program, such as a background process has taken enough cpu cycles to cause the program to fall behind and loose track of what is going on. This is usually random and not repeatable in the same place.

 

THIS

 

If other applications decide to take the upper hand, updating and whatnot, it can and will screw up the game. In simple terms, your computer may take the memory used to run your game and use it for a new program it deems to have a higher priority, usually because it just started up. The result? Your game freezes. And Oblivion does not like to unfreeze.

 

Shut down any applications you can get away with, maybe go as far as to disable your internet connection when you play. Use the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del in XP, Ctrl+Shift+Esc in Vista and Win7) to shut down any background applications you don't need running.

 

Good luck!

 

That was pretty much covered in bben's link lol. I already had most of my background programs shut off, but what few I wasn't sure of (microsoft services and such), game booster helped me identify and shut off. So far, the program is awesome. I only wish I would have found it sooner.