Oblivion stops working

[Gunslinger46]

I can't play a game in peace and add some mods to it to make the experience better

 

To explain to you guys what is wrong with the game ill start from the beginning.

 

So one day (last week) i installed the game (Heavy breathing) and played it, how ever i did not like a few things and i wanted to spice it up a bit, so the first thing i did that day was installing NMM and the only few things i did install were a inventory tab expander, Unofficial Oblivion patch, Shivering isles patch and the Official Oblivion patch 12416 patch.After that i wanted to install more mods but i just settled down for some time and was satisfied with some bug patches and a larger inventory tab, but after a few days i gathered up some strength and i decided to get started with modding and after a while of painful searching and gathering some information i found out that most mods (good ones in fact) worked real good on OBMM (by the way you can start detecting that i'm a little moding peon which has little to know) so i installed DarNifiedUi,Phinix Immersive DarkUI then i installed OBSE, after that i was still modding the game without even checking if the game could run, so then i saw Oblivion character overhaul and decided to install it hastefully, so then i downloaded and installed it step BY step and i managed finishing placing Blockhead mod and after that i installed the OCO mod on OBMM and i decided to start the game, then in between the bethesda logo a error popped up saying that Oblivion stopped working, at this point i knew i was f :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: after taking a small brief brake to cool down i wanted to check OBMM settings for anything that can help and i found a conflict detector program so i used it, it detected that Unofficial/Official/Shivering isles oblivion patch, where maybe causing problems (by the way i have the GOTY Deluxe edition from the game and there were red lines showing on most of the DLC files) what i regularly do is uninstall the game at this point but i can learn a thing or two from some of the community members that specialise in it.

 

So yeah that's all i have to say if some experts see this post hope you reply soon, and ask me if you want additional information of the problem (also include instructions for me if so).

Thank you guys for having the time to look at this boring long :devil: :devil: :devil: post, hope to get a reply soon.

[Striker879]

So you have started to learn a very important lesson ... install one mod and then test thoroughly.

 

Don't worry, all is not lost. Give us a bit more info on your situation and we'll get you sorted out and modding away. First, do you have the disk version or the Steam version? Next, what operating system are you running (e.g. Win 7, Win 8 or Win XP) ? Last bit of pre-info ... where did you install the game (e.g. C:\Program Files (x86) or C:\Games) ?

[Gunslinger46]

Yep it's gonna take some time, but i'll learn something.

 

1.The game is a steam version no disc

2.It's a Vista (Hope the vista is a ok when it comes to limitations of modding)

3.The game should be in steam so D:/Steam/Steamapps/common/oblivion

[Striker879]

OK, so with your D: install location we shouldn't run into any UAC issues (Vista is the OS that introduced that wonderful love to hate/hate to love feature). As far as I know the game should work on Vista ... perhaps not quite as well as XP or 7 but the game will still be largely limited by your hardware more than OS.

 

So considering you haven't progressed very far into the world of mods let's get your game back to square one vanilla state. I suggest Bben46's wiki article Revert to vanilla data. Take note of the differences on whether or not you have Shivering Isles (is your Steam version the GotY or GotY Deluxe). Read through the article and ask about anything that you're unsure of before diving in ... I'll be lurking here.

 

Get the game back to vanilla and check that everything is running correctly. If you don't have a save from immediately before the sewer exit (where you can see the sewer exit in the distance, but before you get your character finalization pop-ups) then I suggest you complete the tutorial and test your baseline performance outside and in the Imperial City Market District (preferably in the day time when it's busy).

 

Before you exit the sewers make a save at that point before you finalize your character. A note about saving ... never use quicksave, it's a known corrupter of save files. Use save from the Esc menu or console named saves. Don't overwrite saves, always save to a new slot (gives you a fallback position if/when you run into a snag with a game crashing save). After making your pre-sewer exit save make another just outside of the sewers. This save can be used to continue your character after getting your base mods installed. When you get to the IC Market District make a third save. This will be a handy mod testing save (but doesn't need to be your only mod testing save).

[Gunslinger46]

I have the GOTY Deluxe version just so you know and few more things i like to know are:

 

1.Let's say that i have finished making oblivion folder back into vanilla, will there be a conflict between NMM and OBMM if i keep them.

 

2.At some point in the game i have a saved slot but i usually concentrate more on the quicksave button will it be tricky if i retrieve the quicksave file since its the recent gameplay.

 

3.If you don't mind i can give you some information of my pc, i like to know if it can run visual effects does new textures....basically i want to make the graphics new so i can feel comfy and cozy when playing it

 

Processor Intel® Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz Video Card NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Memory 3.3 GB Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 2 (build 6002), 32-bit

[Striker879]

Your CPU speed will limit things a bit. When you say Memory 3.3 GB are you talking system RAM or video card ?

 

The primary limiting factor for the "look better' type mods is video memory, but that said a machine with a slow CPU will limit how effective a fast video card with plenty of VRAM can be. I'd say your machine specs puts thorough testing at a premium for you. Get a good baseline feel for a number of different situations in the game before adding mods (big bandit fights with multiple enemies & crowded cities with lots happening will be the biggies). Even some armor/clothing mods with high poly count meshes can bring a slower machine to it's knees. If you have a good baseline and add a mod you'll know when something has exceeded your machine's capabilities.

 

You can use more than one mod manager at a time. They both won't always report the same things so you need to understand their differences.

 

For example I use Wrye Bash and have OBMM (which I only use for BSA extraction of files I want to use from the vanilla game BSAs). I have manually installed most of my mods, have used Wrye Bash's BAIN installer on a few, but mostly use WB for activating/deactivating mods and it's bashed patch. When it builds a bashed patch it will offer to deactivate certain mods that it then includes in the bashed patch. WB marks those mods in a way that shows that they are deactivated but active in the bashed patch. OBMM has no clue about such stuff and just reports that those mods aren't activated. This doesn't cause me any concern or confusion because I understand what each is doing and what OBMM's limitations are.

 

If your quicksave isn't very old (i.e. hasn't been repeated overwritten many many times) chances are it will load fine providing the mods that that save relies on are working correctly. Many times the "missing content" warning can safely be ignored and an old save with mods in the save record that aren't installed any more will load just fine. It depends on what the missing mod or mods added to that save and if it can continue without them. All you can do is try and see what happens.

 

Now that you are back to vanilla it's time to start getting a solid base to work from.

 

First in OBMM open the Utilities menu and select Archive Invalidation. In the Archive Invalidation dialogue that opens select BSA Redirection, click on Reset BSA Timestamps and then click Update Now. This is a do once and forget about it procedure that will enable the game to use replacement assets (textures, animations etc.) without the need for an ESP (primary use is body/clothing/armor/animation replacers as well as some environment texture replacers).

 

Steam should have your game up to date version wise (version 1.2.0416 is the latest version), but the latest version still left many many things undone or unfixed (ever seen a floating rock or tree??). The Unofficial patches (UOPs) fix most if not all of those. Get those installed and remember to test afterwards. The UOPs are just mods, and in some cases very large mods, so see how having them installed affects your machine performance. You will probably see an increase in "crash on exit". It's a "feature" of modded Oblivion ... learn to live with it as best you can.

 

Get your game UOPed and then tell us what you're thinking of next. Also note that there are quite a few Oblivion mods that won't install using NMM. That's also just something you'll need to learn to live with. Get into the habit of reading mod descriptions, mod install instructions and mod comments.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Striker879

[Gunslinger46]

First thing i like to say is that i have 4Gbt RAM the last info was incorrect, also.

 

Ok so turns out i had to reinstall the game and i also uninstalled OBMM, i made a folder in my desktop ill re install OBMM there i like to start real fresh and i'll add all mods there.Should i still follow the steps you mentioned for the OBMM? And my next question is i understand that some mods require a different mod manager but is it possible if i had some mods on NMM and some on OBMM would they not cause conflicts (i know i'm repeating the question again but i want to hear it one more time) and if i were to launch Oblivion from one mod manager would the other one be working? And one more thing for the UOP's im pretty sure some of the mods messed up the patches since the patches made most of the conflicts happen after mod installation's can i prevent that happening again?

 

thank you for all of your help Stiker879 :thumbsup: also i should maybe close this since the issue is resolved, but i should close this since we solved the problem, and in the future how can i contact you if possible or just make new posts when needed.

 

Thanks again

[IkeCoast]

Hey, Gunslinger!

 

If you don't mind me meddling here (I know Striker won't mind, he even would be surprised if I did not poke my snout here), I would like to add a few things:

 

First, no, NMM and OBMM will not conflict one with the other, they will co-exist peacefully. However, be aware that NMM is a modern program and is designed with newer games in mind, like Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas and up. It will not work quite well with Oblivion. If a mod states that it can be installed with NMM, do it. If a mod DOES NOT say anything at all about NMM, best practice is to NOT use NMM for it, even if the "Download with NMM" is enabled.

 

Second, the ORDER of installation is an important factor. A base game installation should be, more or less:

 

The Game.

The Official DLCs, with Shivering Isles last. If Steam did not update your game to last version, then the Official Shivering Isles Patch (this patch also contains the Official Oblivion Patch, so it's redundant to install both).

The Unofficial Oblivion Patch.

The Unofficial Official Plug-ins Patch.

The Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch.

 

(Note: this is also the recommended Load Order for these packages. They should be always listed in this order in your Mod Manager).

 

Next is recommeded to add these system framework and utility:

 

OBSE

Blockhead.

 

Then, with just all these installed, start the game, create your character and save exactly when and how Striker instructed you. Test the game as Striker told you, and then save a last time and start modding, adding just one mod at a time and testing it.

 

OBMM can't be installed in another folder than the main Oblivion game folder, I think.

 

Remember to ALWAYS read the Readmes of the mods you intend to install, and come here to ask if you don't understand the instructions or you have some questions in mind.

 

Cheers!

 

EDIT: by the way, you can either close this thread or simply use it to address us when you need help. Having all your posts in one single thread could help you to have the information easily available, but it's up to you.

 

You're now on our list and we will watch you.

 

Closely.

Edited January 22, 2015 by IkeCoast

[Gunslinger46]

Thank you so much, you can be sure i'll come back to get some hard mods done with some help of the community

[Gunslinger46]

oh one new thing that just happend.The game still stopped at the logo screen and then i just went to computer/C drive/User/User name/my documents/my games/oblivion and i deleted the saved contents there and when i started the game i still had my saved files so i guess i should make a backup folder of oblivion and start it over again