Weird Start-up Problem

[MuggleDude]

I'm running Oblivion on a laptop with a docking station and a 1980 x 1024 screen. I typically launch through Steam using Mod Organizer.

 

Everything worked fine.

 

I took my laptop to work and played on the small screen. Came home, docked, changed the video specs, and it crashes when I hit play. (Oblivion has stopped working.)

 

I disconnect the docking station. Change the video specs and it runs on the laptop screen.

 

Connect the docking station, still crashes. Try lower video specs. No luck.

 

Launch through Oblivion_Launcher and it runs. (no mods running) So, I figure it must be a mod causing the problem. Ran Loot. No luck. I go through and disabled every mod one-by-one. No luck.

 

Running out of ideas. I'm a week into the game and really don't want to start over.

 

Other considerations. I used the 4 GB tweak. HGEC, Robert's V4 and Cute Elves are loaded through OBMM and the rest are loaded through Mod Organizer. I'll post a list if anyone thinks it's relevant.

 

Skyrim works fine modded to the gills. (I have to monitor active animations.) I don't have near that much loaded on Oblivion.

 

Hardware on Docking Station: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Monitor, and External Drive. The station itself has a video booster that (I think) steals ram from 8 GB on the laptop.

 

Thanks

MuggleDude

Edited April 4, 2017 by MuggleDude

[MuggleDude]

Update: I went into Mod Organizer and disabled every mod added including the DLC's. Still crashes with docking station.

[Surilindur]

Did you change the Mod Organizer profile ini file to reflect any changes to the actual ini file in your Windows my documents directory thingy? The 'normal' ini file is somewhere close to (on Windows 10 at least)

C:\Users\<windows-username>\Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Oblivion.ini

but the MO profile ini file (which MO uses, if you use the 1.3.11 one at least, the newer ones were giving me issues)

<your-mo-install-directory>\profiles\<mo-profile-name>\Oblivion.ini

or somesuch. I cannot remember exactly. Also, when you mentioned you "typically launch through Steam using Mod Organizer", does it mean you have the launch mechanism in MO set to "script extender" and that you are launching the game itself (which opens the Oblivion Launcher, from which you click play) from Steam and not Steam itself through Mod Organizer because that sounds like an odd thing to do?

[MuggleDude]

Also, when you mentioned you "typically launch through Steam using Mod Organizer", does it mean you have the launch mechanism in MO set to "script extender" and that you are launching the game itself (which opens the Oblivion Launcher, from which you click play) from Steam and not Steam itself through Mod Organizer because that sounds like an odd thing to do?

 

I created an executable I called "Steam" that launches steam.exe with the argument -applaunch 22330. If Steam is already open, it just launches Oblivion with OBSE and mods from Mod Organizer.

[Surilindur]

Ah, okay. You can also do it by going in the workarounds tab of MO and selecting the "script extender" option. It will create a "hook.dll" and "mo_path.txt" in your OBSE plugins folder, and when OBSE loads, it will load the hook.dll that will then load MO and all the mods. It is just another way to do it, though. That way you can start the game from Steam directly, if OBSE has been installed correctly. But if you have it working, then that is great. :)

 

How about the ini file thingy? The MO profile ini? Did modifying it do anything... ?

[MuggleDude]

You still have to use the script extender option to work this.

 

I didn't make any changes to Oblivion.ini that I know of. Were you suggesting I do?

[Surilindur]

Ah, okay. Then you can also just launch through Steam. One less step to run the game. :)

 

What I meant was that, if you changed options in the Oblivion Launcher, they will always end up in the "normal" Oblivion.ini in the Documents folder. For example, when using the script extender launch mechanism and running the game from Steam, there will be no mods visible in the Oblivion Launcher, because Mod Organizer will not be loaded before OBSE is loaded (I think OBSE loads hook.dll which in turn loads MO, which in turn loads the mod files). So if you change things in the Oblivion Launcher, the changes would probably end up in the "normal" Oblivion.ini instead of your MO profile ini file. You could compare the two to see where your changes went. If the changes went to normal Oblivion.ini and not your MO profile Oblivion.ini, then the issues might be caused by MO loading the MO-profile-specific ini which does not have any of the new changes you have made. As an idea.

[MuggleDude]

Okay, I got it working. I re-installed Mod Organizer, got it working, and added the Mods back in a few at a time. Guess what? All the previous mods loaded.

 

Curiouser and Curiouser.

 

Oh, well. It's working.

[Surilindur]

Okay, great. Did you remove the Mod organizer profile ini file, as well? And did not select to use default game settings? If so, MO probably copied the adjusted Oblivion.ini from your "...\Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Oblivion.ini" to your MO profile folder (located inside your MO folder). That way your new changes (the ones you mentioned in the first post) would also have been copied to the MO profile ini as well. Maybe that was it. Assuming it was about the ini file. Of course it could have been something else, as well.

 

Anyway, what matters is that you got it working somehow, which is great. Enjoy the spring - and summer, when it finally gets here/there! :)

[MuggleDude]

Thanks for your tips. I appreciate the effort it takes to respond.

 

Muggle