Crash after full loading before the main menu

[Komisarkomrd]

(Win7) My Oblivion crash just after the first loading (before the main menu) is done, making it black screen and pop up the standard Windows7 crash error, my drivers are updated and i also tried w7 capability with XP/sp3, runned as admin, rebooted the PC, reinstalled the game and stuff like that, it happened with any oblivion version (my disc works on my friend`s PC and hes disc too, but not on mine either) by the way i don`t have any modes, i reseted Oblivion files in My Documents and i tried settings combinations, my PC is good enough to run it (Skyrim works just fine), is there any another thing i can try? thanks.

[Striker879]

What type of sound card does your machine have? Sound issues (either incompatible 'effects' or codecs) can cause crashes.

[Komisarkomrd]

videocard ATI Radeon 4800 series

sound Realtek HD

ram 2gb

Edited November 23, 2011 by Komisarkomrd

[Striker879]

Does your onboard sound have any options for special effects (e.g. concert hall) ... if so try turning those effects off. Here's a quote from Koroush Ghazi's Oblivion Tweak Guide:

If you are experiencing audio-related glitches or problems, firstly make sure you have installed the latest audio drivers for your sound card. Details of these are in the Driver Installation/Windows Drivers chapter of the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion, along with further instructions in that chapter for correct driver installation and general driver tips. Disable all additional audio effects or enhancements. For example, if you run a Creative sound card, go into the Audio HQ/Audio Console and in the EAX Control Panel click the 'All Effects Off' option or select 'No Effects' for all the presets. You should also consider disabling CMSS 3D, and indeed any other audio effect options which may be conflicting with Oblivion's sound. You should also consider uninstalling any 'codec packs' you may have installed, as these are known to cause audio problems in a range of games. Contrary to popular belief, most sound cards and even recent onboard audio solutions do not have a conflict with Oblivion, so typically the problem is with the audio settings and/or other audio codecs installed on the system.

 

You could also try disabling all sound in the ini file (though if you're crashing right before the menu then it's the menu music that's the problem). Find the file Oblivion.ini located in either Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Vista and Windows 7 or in Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion for Windows XP (and NOT the file Oblivion_default.ini that is found in your game install Oblivion folder). Find the following lines in Oblivion.ini and change the 1 to a 0 (change one to zero), again quoted from the Oblivion Tweak Guide:

bDSoundHWAcceleration=1 - If set to 1, uses hardware acceleration (i.e. your sound card) to reproduce audio. This provides the best audio quality, however if you are having problems such as odd crashes, you can try a value of 0 to disable hardware sound acceleration.

 

bMusicEnabled=1 - If set to 0, turns off all background music. This will detract from the atmosphere of the game, but can noticeably improve stuttering on some systems, as background music dynamically loads throughout the game.

 

bSoundEnabled=1 - If set to 0, turns off all sound effects, but does not affect music. This would be an extreme way of gaining performance or reducing crashes and is not recommended for anything other than troubleshooting purposes.

If you don't crash you know it's a sound related issue (either what I mentioned at the outset with an effects setting or codec issues).

[Komisarkomrd]

It works! Thank you so much! I searched the issue for 3 years :dance:

Didn`t have any effects, I changed the three 1`s to 0 and its enters the menu :wub:

[Striker879]

Great! Now those were just troubleshooting first steps, as this will leave you with a game with no sounds. Do you know what version of Realtek audio you have onboard? The only machine that I have that uses Realtek is my laptop and it uses a Realtek ALC268. To find out what one your machine has go to Control Panel (click Start and then Control Panel on the right hand pane of the Start menu for Vista and Windows XP, and I'll assume Windows 7 ... don't have one of those machines right here right now). In the Control Panel window find and double click Realtek HD Audio Manager. In the Realtek HD Audio Manager window find the ' i ' just above the 'OK' button, lower right corner and click it. In the resulting dialog window find Audio Driver Version (should be top entry) and Audio Codec (should be bottom entry) and report them back here.

 

If you're feeling adventurous open your Oblivion.ini again and turn on bSoundEnabled (change the zero back to a one) and see if the game starts and gets to the menu. That will leave you with a game with sounds and voices, just no music. Have you tried getting past the menu (after all, the Oblivion menu isn't that exciting ... is it)??

[Komisarkomrd]

Ok so i see now that the problem is really bMusicEnabled, with bSoundEnabled=1 my game works and it do have basic sounds.

My RealtekHD codec is ALC888, driver version: 6.0.1.6069 . By the way you can speak to me simpler, im not new to computers and i know such things as finding my control panel and stuff. :psyduck:

Also the game works with bDSoundHWAcceleration=1 though

Edited November 24, 2011 by Komisarkomrd

[Striker879]

Cool ... I wasn't trying to 'talk down to you' ... honest. It's just I've found that when I don't know much about who I'm helping it saves misunderstandings and needing to go back and clarifying steps etc.

 

A look at the readme for the latest Realtek driver package shows the latest version to be 6.0.1.6482 for both 32 bit and 64 bit versions and your ALC888 is listed as supported. They always list 'customizations' under the Add/Fix section along with the latest hardware supported, but scarcely ever specify any details of the 'customizations'. The only significant item in the readme notes for versions released after your version other than the standard 'customizations' is this note at version 6.0.1.6316:

6. Add/Fix

1.) Driver :

1. Customizations.

2.) Package :

1. Realtek Setup program will update audio driver automatically in update Realtek audio driver case under Vista/Windows 7.

Realtek setup program will un-install the previous version Realatek audio driver on the system first.

And it will re-install Realtek audio driver automatically after system re-boot.

I don't like auto driver updates myself, but the uninstall previous version is an improvement over previous versions. I'm on version 6.0.1.5953 on my laptop (don't use the machine for much other than web) and any time I have updated it in the past you had to uninstall manually before installing the newer version, which is a bit of a pain.

 

Since you can run the game without music you may want to leave well enough alone. If you really want the game music you could try the Realtek driver update. As you've said you don't have any effects turned on, eliminating that as a possibility, I'm left wondering if it could be 'Codec packs' that have been loaded, maybe with a music player?

 

If you're looking for the Realtek update here's a link to their site. Pick 'HD Audio Codec Driver' from the Quick Links and then the appropriate driver after accepting their terms.

[Komisarkomrd]

After a hour of gaming i got that i cant live without the music... joke, i don`t care about that a bit, even better without, i can hear the NPC without some annoying beta dovahkiin songs, all is just fine this way thanks to you! Respect! :wub:

 

*SOLVED*

[Striker879]

Good to hear that you can hear and play ... I'm a no music guy myself so I understand completely (though the menu music at the start of the game does get me pumped ... anticipation perhaps?).