Elder Scrolls Anthology: Oblivion issues

[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.

 

According to canirunit.com the only "question mark" that popped up was regarding the OS since I have Windows 10 and Oblivion was designed for XP. I'm unsure what to try next, maybe compatibility mode. I'm still quite the novice when it comes to this type of thing, as I'm not even really sure where to look for the problem I'm experiencing. I am on minimal settings too as far as I know 640X whatever, all the sliders down and options like vspec, shading, etc. off. I did try setting the affinity to only use cpu 0 and that didn't help either. I think I need to learn more about why I am doing what I am doing rather than just the what.

What is the 4gb patch you are referring too and could I possibly use it? BTW, should I have posted this in a different area of the forum?

Edited June 3, 2016 by Ovennamedheats

[Striker879]

No you're OK with having it posted here (it could have gone into Oblivion Technical Support, but with so little traffic on the Oblivion Forums these days any who look to give a hand are used to looking at all and any posts).

 

The 4GB patch is to allow the game to use more RAM than it was originally designed to use. This game was designed back in the 32 bit OS days, so will only use a little less than 2GB of RAM even on a 64 bit OS with 4GB RAM or more. Using the 4GB patch when you only have 2GB RAM doesn't make any sense as the game is by default using all of the RAM that the OS will allow.

 

If you want to do something to help in that area you need to shut down everything you can before starting the game (so no browser etc. left running when you start the game).

 

I know that plenty of people have had problems after upgrading to Win10 (but just as many or more have the game running on Win10 without issues). I personally will never have any Microsoft OS after Win 7 on any machine I build so to be honest I've spent very little time learning anything about Win10.

 

The only thing I can think to suggest is to force the game to build a new Oblivion.ini and then immediately turn all the settings to minimum.

 

To force a new INI just rename the file Oblivion.ini (found in Users\[username]\ Documents\My Games\Oblivion ... NOT Oblivion_Default.ini found in the Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion folder). I usually change the name to Oblivionini.old, but you will get the OS squawking about changing the file extension ... OblivionBU.ini would work equally as well (the key is that the name is no longer Oblivion.ini). Start the game and it will build a new Oblivion.ini using default values based on what it finds for hardware (and at that point it is usually lost because none of today's hardware existed in 2006 so it will give you fairly low settings for screen resolution etc). Exit to the desktop and then restart the game and change all the sliders to minimum (but stick with your screen's native resolution ... it actually puts more strain on the system to display less than your native resolution than it does to display the resolution your screen was designed for).

 

If you have a save from before exiting the sewers then you won't need to run through the entire tutorial to get outside ... otherwise remember to make a save in a new slot just before you exit this time. Then as soon as you exit make another new slot save (which will be your starting point save once you start testing raising the settings and eventually start adding mods).

[Ovennamedheats]

Thanks again for your help. I don't want this damned Windows 10. I had upgraded to it when I first got the loaner at the recommndation of my MS Office instructor, don't remember why she did, but then when I went back to revert to Windows 7, the time period for reverting had expired. I'd really just like to create a dual boot with XP and 7. One of the instructors at my school said he'd help me with it so it's just a matter of bringing it by. In the mean time I'm trying to install the game on my XP laptop using a new external disk drive because the onboard one is shot. I'd really like to keep the laptop up and running but am unsure how. I've still really new when it comes to working on computers, still trying to learn the ropes. I'm curious why you said you don't care much for Steam, I only signed up for it because you need an account to run Skyrim with this Elder Scrolls Anthology set I bought.

[Striker879]

From my understanding of the Anthology version you need Steam to activate any of the games it includes ... even ones that predate Steam's existence.

 

I was an old Half Life/Team Fortress Classic player (from way back when you bought disks and used the included CD keys to install). I'm the type who owns more copies of games I like than I have machines to put them on ... I like to have backup disks. Granted I normally waited until the games I wanted extra copies of were deeply discounted, but still I've always been a supporter of games I like.

 

When Valve created Steam they put Half Life under it's "protection" and I could no longer get updates without a Steam account. To run Steam I needed to disable my antivirus software but still needed to maintain my internet connection. Went through a number of messages back and forth with Steam Support about this. I wasn't left with a good taste in my mouth ... they have received zero dollars from me since.

 

Unfortunately Valve/Steam's vision of world domination has come true. In a way I've gained by that ... the last game purchases I've made are my extra copies of Oblivion GotY and some Oblivion DLC disks I was able to find on a discount rack. Because I don't run any more recent games I haven't really required any hardware upgrades (my systems are always built as gaming machines). Saves me money on the games I don't need to buy, saves me money on the computer hardware/operating systems I don't need to run the games I don't have.

 

Works out for the retired guy ... sucks for the computer industry.

 

Laptops are the pits for maintaining ... they are designed to be just another disposable bunch of plastic and metal. You could get that CD/DVD drive replaced but it would cost you most of what you'd pay for a new laptop (all be it not a new gaming laptop ... but that's a whole 'nuther rant I could get on). Something dies on my desktop and it's a simple open the case and replace the part (which is why I'm running the video card I'm running ... it was bought way back for use in a SLI for my next computer and got pushed into service on this one when it went through the death of a couple of video cards).

 

External CD/DVD drives aren't the fastest, but then again CD/DVD drives in general are about the slowest piece on any computer. As far as I know the game (once installed) will only need to do it's startup disk check so the external shouldn't be a slowdown issue during gameplay. You will need to connect the external drive every time you want to play however.

[Ovennamedheats]

I've become quite frustrated with trying to troubleshoot this damn thing. I'm thinking if I replaced the video card with a better one and ran the game on Windows 7 or XP couldn't that possibly solve the problem? What would you do if you saw what I had? I basically don't want to play anything more demanding than Fallout 3 and Skyrim. I've now tried running the downloadable Oblivion from Steam and the disc copy and they both freeze about halfway through the tutorial dungeon. I'm still quite a novice when it comes to computer mechanics. I never did get in to multiplayer games as I've always been one that likes to be vids by myself but am thinking about trying ESO because I hear you can play solo or with others. What games do you mostly play these days?

[Striker879]

Oblivion. And when I get tired of playing Oblivion, I play Oblivion.

 

Actually that doesn't happen (getting tired of playing Oblivion that is). I'm not home for most of the summer and don't have a machine to play games on when I'm away. Seems strange to say, but sometimes it seems winters aren't long enough (scary thought). I have a ton of other games, I even have games that have never been installed (Homeworld GotY for example). I owned Oblivion for a couple of years before I got around to installing it ... been lost in Oblivion since.

 

Hard to say what's the right course for you. I can tell you that upgrading a store bought desktop was what got me started down the road towards learning to build machines (and it was a video card upgrade that started the ball rolling). Unless you have absolutely huge hands it's not a particularly challenging task physically, the challenge is in the researching of components to meet your expectations. Back in my building heydays there was always that next game I wanted and so I always started by comparing game reviews with an eye to their testing hardware.

 

Know this ... building your own is not equal to cheaper, in fact I'd say it adds at least a 15 to 20% premium to the machine's cost. What is does equal is that you are in control of where the compromises happen (and there will always be compromises ... just one of the laws of the Universe).

 

I got away from playing multiplayer a long time ago. Got tired of the kids bunny hopping around in TFC, or stuff like one of your own guys capturing their flag but instead of bringing it home, taking it to your equipment room (where you can't kill him and the other team can't reach him ... effectively making it impossible for your team to score captures). Tried a couple of LAN parties but it never gained enough traction in this little city to be more than an infrequent thing. I found that for the most part single player FPS got to all be the same. Never been a fan of real time strategy games (e.g. Age of Empires series or Command and Conquer) ... too much of a frenetic click fest for me. I like turned based strategy games like Alpha Centaurii but they don't hold me for very long.

 

Way back at the start of my computers/computer gaming days I was seriously addicted to the Privateer series. Maybe that's why I gravitated to Oblivion so strongly. I didn't know that Privateer was a role playing game at the time, but as soon as I played Oblivion I could feel the similarities. Both are open world, do what you want when you want ... and with Oblivion you can change/enhance what you want too!!

 

Just had a look at the specs for the Quadro FX 580. It's a bit on the shy side for VRAM size (512 MB) but I've run the game on a GeForce 9800GT that only had 512 MB (so a bit different type of GPU but the same GDDR3 memory). The Quadro is designed more for graphics/CAD type applications where the GeForce was designed for gaming but I can't see any reason why the Quadro shouldn't handle the game on minimal settings (my GeForce was OK at middling settings). I wouldn't spend a bunch of money on a graphics card replacement before trying other things.

 

I see in rereading your original post that you haven't actually been able to get outside the tutorial dungeon (in fact I see you say you crash before trying to exit ... is it while you are in the loading screen after activating the gate or before you activate the gate, perhaps when you should be getting the menu popups for character finalization ... the exact time of the crash may hold clues).

[Ovennamedheats]

Never heard of the Privateer series myself but if it's not too much older than Oblivion I might check it out. I've decided that I'm not going to play much further past Skyrim in terms of chronology, not specifically Elder Scrolls but pretty much anything past 2011 when I think it came out. I tried Morrowind but it was too dated for me so I wanted to get that Morroblivion or even Skywind mod because people rave about how good the game is. I also want to be able to mod Fallout 3 and New Vegas but I've decided to stay away from Fallout 4 because of that timeline thing I mentioned. I want to go back and play some older PC rpgs like Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, those Gothic, and Vampire games, the Witcher. I'm 35 years old so I still have a lot of stuff I want to play on ps2 and similar era consoles, a time when it seems games were better in terms of content rather than just graphics.

Regarding the Oblivion crashing, I've tried playing both the Steam and retail versions and the furthest I've been able to get is right to that lower open area part with the bonfire where a couple of rats hop up the little staircase towards you. It's usually the first place where the overburdened message pops up if you pick up every item you've come across. It has some vegetables lying around and a shield, warhammer maybe. The thing will either freeze when I go in to the menu to lighten the load or right after I will lose control and go plowing in to the wall and the rats start eating me, then I have to ctrl+alt+del to s*** it down in task manager.

 

I've been chatting on the Steam forums since the Steam version contains all the dlc besides SI and KOTR so I've installed and uninstalled both the Steam version and the disc version multiple times. Could this be causing a problem? Now I can't even enter the game without a little notice popping up saying "Oblivion stopped working A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify me if a solution is found." Another menu popped up like this prior, when I was actually able to make it in to the tutorial dungeon that said "video hardware unrecognized. Video quality settings defaulted to medium quality". I should have created a system restore point. My little Avast thing keeps popping up to say that Oblivion left 10 files behind. Would there be any other files that have been left behind that the Avast thing couldn't find?

Edited June 7, 2016 by Ovennamedheats

[Striker879]

I've zero experience with how Steam handles uninstalling the game. With the disk version of the game you should run a registry cleaner if you are going to install the game to a different location (say if you uninstalled from C:\Program Files (x86)\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion and wanted to reinstall to C:\Games\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion). As far as I know if you are reinstalling to the same location then left over registry entries shouldn't cause issues (the reinstall will create those same registry entries and overwrite what was there ... a different location reinstall would have the old registry entries and new ones that point to the new location, and Windows won't know which to use).

 

A couple of resources for uninstall/reinstall ... Oblivion reinstall procedure and the more recent version by the same author Bbens Complete Uninstall/Reinstall for Oblivion. Though lots of people have the game installed in the default C:\Program Files (x86) location I discourage it ... game (and Steam) belong outside of any UAC protected folders. C:\Games\... is the recommended location.

 

That spot you describe also has zombies that spawn right after that area if I recall correctly. Have you tried a don't pick up anything/just try to make it through type run through? When troubleshooting I always try to limit the variables as much as possible so you're seeing the problem and not some side-effects of something else.

 

The standard Windows "Stopped working" message is normal on a game crash (or crash on exit, another Oblivion "feature"). The unrecognized video hardware is also a common thing ... none of the video hardware you can buy today was even conceived back when the game was last updated. That's a problem with many old games on modern hardware. I have a game that requires a patch to add wait states to the processing because it can't run properly on fast CPUs. Others won't work with modern video cards.

 

Privateer is from another age all together. I first ran it on a 386SX 25 MHz Toshiba laptop that cost me the price of more than two desktops to buy (and was bleeding edge for all of about two weeks ... lessons learned). The last I remember playing it was on one of my first Pentium 3 machines. Tried installing it on this WinXP Core2 Duo box and wasn't able to get controllers to work (and didn't want to dig out one of my old joysticks and find a soundcard with a port that would work for it). Playing using the keyboard wasn't much fun (and the graphics didn't suit a 24" widescreen monitor worth a darn).

Edited June 7, 2016 by Striker879

[Ovennamedheats]

I forgot to mention this too, when I am playing from the beginning, when the emperor first sees you, it's almost like the game is running in a mild slow motion almost like the emperor and the jailors are teleporting instantaneously through their walking motions evry in game foot distancegoing through their walking motions rather than walking smoothly, the mouse kimd of does the same thing as does the camera when looking around. Almost like there are frames missing if you were watching a movie. This on medium setting, when it's on very low is doesn't do this slow thing as bad but I still detect it slightly.

[Ovennamedheats]

I'll try installing the game under a different path as you described. Would the video card not be the problem then if it's ten years ahead? I'm no expert but I almost have a hunch that something in the background might be causing the problem because evey time I open task manager to close it, it looks like all sorts of s#*! is going on but I'm hesitant to stop anything other than the game.