Elder Scrolls Anthology: Oblivion issues

[Ovennamedheats]

Hello,

I'm new here and I'm new to forums. Please let me know if I'm not following "etiquette" properly and how to change. I've played Oblivion on the 360 but I just can't stand the frustrations I've been having so I decided to get it on PC to add some mods that will help with enjoyment. I got the Anthology because it also comes with Morrowind and Skyrim. Oblivion keeps crashing right as I'm about to exit the prison during the tutorial and I'm not sure what to do. I think it might be due to having a quad core because I faced a similar problem trying to run Thief Gold on my laptop that was a dual core. I did download both the Nexus mod manager and the Oblivion mod manager.Any help would be appreciated as well as proper rules for posting.

[Striker879]

The tutorial dungeon doesn't put much strain on your system, but once you step out that door look out. I'd advise to lower your setting a bunch just before you exit and then gradually raise them up until you are either maxed or run into problems. Often systems (even desktops) don't have a dedicated graphics card (and the Intel graphics don't perform well with this old game ... can be done, you just need to find out how much it an handle).

 

Also note that adding mods while in the tutorial dungeon is a sure fire way to set yourself up for frustration. Exit the sewer and make a save. Then start adding mods one at a time. When you run into problems it will be trivial to figure out where to start troubleshooting (whereas when you add 50 mods and then the game won't even start you have a plate of spaghetti to try to sort out).

[Ovennamedheats]

The tutorial dungeon doesn't put much strain on your system, but once you step out that door look out. I'd advise to lower your setting a bunch just before you exit and then gradually raise them up until you are either maxed or run into problems. Often systems (even desktops) don't have a dedicated graphics card (and the Intel graphics don't perform well with this old game ... can be done, you just need to find out how much it an handle).

 

Also note that adding mods while in the tutorial dungeon is a sure fire way to set yourself up for frustration. Exit the sewer and make a save. Then start adding mods one at a time. When you run into problems it will be trivial to figure out where to start troubleshooting (whereas when you add 50 mods and then the game won't even start you have a plate of spaghetti to try to sort out).

 

Thanks man. I'll do as you recommended. Where would you suggest I turn next if I continue to experience problems or are there any resources I can consult that might help? I'm new to all this type of stuff. One other thing I saw posted at Steam, and I'll make sure to ask over there as well but some guy said this

 

"Always validate all game files BEFORE pressing Play the first time, i had this issue until i did a fresh install, validated all files before playing and voila! no more crashes. This also happens with other games. Raven Shield was crashing and I did the same fix, it worked! This game also has issues with certain video cards."

 

Could you explain how to do that if you know?

 

I did find out how to do this in case somebody else needs to know. Right click on the game in your Steam library, then click properties, choose the local files tab on the popup menu and then choose "Verify Integrity of game cache".

Edited June 1, 2016 by Ovennamedheats

[Striker879]

Good thing you did your own detective work on that ... I'm a total non-Steamer (some would even go as far as to call me an anti-Steamer).

 

The source I used when first learning how to get the game set up was Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Tweak Guide at TweakGuides. I suggest you don't do any of the Oblivion.ini tweaking until after you get the game to run stable with only the settings adjustments found on the Video Options menu sliders.

 

The key to troubleshooting is only change a single thing at a time once you get the game running and are looking for how high you can get the settings. When you find something that starts to create problems you can either back it off a little or if it's something you'd really like to get better then you'll have a very specific question to post.

 

What specific hardware are you running?

[Ovennamedheats]

Hey man, thanks for leading me to that tweak guide, full of great information. I always wonder to myself if the individuals that write stuff like that get paid for it. I've been trying to follow my troubleshooting by writing in a journal, which seems it would be helpful for just about anything in life. I'm not sure what kind of hardware is in this machine as it's a loaner from my school. How can I find out?

[Striker879]

I'm an old Windows XP dinosaur myself, so this may or may not be something that newer versions of Windows has, but I use Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Device manager. Look at Display Adapters to find out which video card and Processors to find out which CPU.

 

I build my own desktops so I have a very good idea of what components I have (well I used to build my own desktops back before I retired, now I mostly try to save enough money to build my next desktop). I've never used them myself, but there are utilities you can download such as Belarc Adviser 8.5.3.0 (overkill for what you need) or perhaps FreeSysInfo 1.5.4 or FuturemarkSystemInfo 4.45, all available as free downloads at MajorGeeks: System Info Tools.

 

If it's a loaner machine from a school I doubt it'll turn out to be much of a gaming box. Probably pretty slow CPU and little RAM along with the Intel graphics (that isn't really a graphics chip ... it just routes things to use your CPU and RAM).

[Ovennamedheats]

I ran a dxdiag and got this:System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 6/2/2016, 18:55:22
Machine name: STEVEHCLASS-PC
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro N 32-bit (10.0, Build 10586) (10586.th2_release_sec.160422-1850)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Compaq 6000 Pro MT PC
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel® Core2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 2030MB RAM
Page File: 1533MB used, 2543MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: 11.1
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
Miracast: Not Available
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
DxDiag Version: 10.00.10586.0000 32bit Unicode

 

I did check CANIRUNIT.COM and the only issue they gave me was possibly having Windows 10. I updated my driver for the graphics card but need to update drivers for the Standard SATA AHCI controller(which I can't seem to do) , PS/2 Compatible mouse and High def Audio device. I got these driver update details from driver agent which is recommended by CANIRUNIT.COM.

[mrmayhem2]

I tried to run the Oblivion disc on my old XP with minimized settings and it craps out right when I hit play. So at least you made it to the tutorial dungeon! You probably have a mod that is ment to be activated later. Kind if like Helen Reborn in Skyrim.

[Striker879]

I'm not seeing anything about graphics in that dxDiag report, but the CPU will be marginal lower end for the game, and like my old desktop your 2GB RAM isn't helping you at all. It's an old game, unable to take advantage of modern multi-core processors, and with the RAM bottleneck you're snookered for using tricks like the 4GB patch to get the game to at least use some of what your 64 bit OS can deliver.

 

For a frame of reference, I'm running an old 3.0 GHz Core2 Duo, 2GB RAM and an nVidia GTX 275 with 896MB VRAM and I don't have all the sliders maxed. Been quite a while since I looked but I do remember doing a lot of "try this and then test" to find a sort of sweet spot. If you aren't running a dedicated graphics card your CPU and RAM are doing double duty (so you're taking a marginal situation and pushing it past marginal by asking too much of the very hardware that is part of the bottleneck).

 

Make a save outside of the sewer on minimal settings and then roll up the sleeves on your "testing shirt", put on a pot of coffee and have at it.

 

- Edit - ... and to MrMayhem's point ... that save outside the sewer should be pure vanilla Oblivion. Get the base game running how you want and then add ONE mod at a time. Once you have a reasonable set of settings that work for vanilla you'll be able to tell which mod brought you down to a crawl or worse.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Striker879

[Ovennamedheats]

I'm not seeing anything about graphics in that dxDiag report, but the CPU will be marginal lower end for the game, and like my old desktop your 2GB RAM isn't helping you at all. It's an old game, unable to take advantage of modern multi-core processors, and with the RAM bottleneck you're snookered for using tricks like the 4GB patch to get the game to at least use some of what your 64 bit OS can deliver.

 

For a frame of reference, I'm running an old 3.0 GHz Core2 Duo, 2GB RAM and an nVidia GTX 275 with 896MB VRAM and I don't have all the sliders maxed. Been quite a while since I looked but I do remember doing a lot of "try this and then test" to find a sort of sweet spot. If you aren't running a dedicated graphics card your CPU and RAM are doing double duty (so you're taking a marginal situation and pushing it past marginal by asking too much of the very hardware that is part of the bottleneck).

 

Make a save outside of the sewer on minimal settings and then roll up the sleeves on your "testing shirt", put on a pot of coffee and have at it.

 

- Edit - ... and to MrMayhem's point ... that save outside the sewer should be pure vanilla Oblivion. Get the base game running how you want and then add ONE mod at a time. Once you have a reasonable set of settings that work for vanilla you'll be able to tell which mod brought you down to a crawl or worse.

 

I don't have any mods installed at all currently. The graphics card is an NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 and I just updated the driver. I can't seem to find an updated driver for the other items I listed above and am unsure if they would affect anything. I guess I'm naïve to think that this computer I'm using now would have no problems running a game from ten years ago. I did try running the Steam version which is Deluxe GOTY with everything and I had the same problems. I have a Gateway laptop from 2006 that has XP but the goddamned cd drive doesn't work, I tried installing the game via my new Toshiba Portable SuperMulti Drive but nothing popped up on the screen. I did download the Oblivion mod manager and Nexus mod manager but haven't messed with it at all.