I really need help

[firefable]

My game keeps crashing. if i press the save button, it crashes. If I try to fast travel to any location, it crashes. Luckily i can still move out of cells. I had a few mods before that required the script extender, i got some better mods and removed those ones and even reinstalled oblivion, but it still keeps crashing! I deleted everything, all the programs and the remnants of the files. I reinstalled the game and the mods i liked and needed. This crashing business has been going on for a while, but i never thought i would get this bad. Before i only couldn't load older saves, now i can even make saves! I really need help, this is very annoying. Please help. :(

[SoulReaver911]

Does the game still crash even without running mods? Because it might be a mod issue, or perhaps OBSE. Does the game crash while using OBSE, or just regular Oblivion, or both? I can't imagine it would be something to do with your install, because as you said, you reinstalled and what not.

 

So we know that you're game crashes when you fast travel and when you try to save.

 

Not to sound dense but it sounds like a saving issue. Trying to save manually, and also when the game auto saves before fast traveling. Try disabling auto save for a sec and then fast travel. See if it crashes. That will eliminate a lot of possibilities.

 

By the way, love your avatar. It's from Lost Spires right?

[bben46]

I'm currently working on a help file for crashing. it is still incomplete, but, I will let you both have it for free, as that is what I normally charge for advice anyway. I would appreciate any feedback on this. Thanks.

 

Oblivion crashes can be caused by many things and come in several types.

 

The different types of crash are:

CTD - (Crash to Desktop) you will be playing and suddenly find yourself looking at your desktop instead of the game.

Reboot - the computer restarts just as if you pulled the plug and powered it down, or pressed the reset button.

Freeze - the image freezes and you cannot move at all. - usually followed within a short time by a CTD or you may have to do a Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out.

Stuck - your character is locked in place and unable to move, but can still look around and NPCs still move.

Black Screen - the screen turns black. the HUD is still visible and you can hear things. You may be able to move but can't see what you are running into.

 

An occasional random crash usually CTD is actually fairly normal. If they are occurring too often or consistently is when they become a problem.

 

In order to diagnose a crash, we need a lot of information:

What kind of crash is it and is it always the same or sometimes one kind and sometimes another. Does it happen in the same place (Such as when I try to enter the Inn of Ill Omen)or at the same time? (like at about 10 minutes of play time)

The specifications on your computer. CPU, Motherboard, Amount of RAM, Video card and video RAM, Sound system - is it 'on board' or a separate board and the info on it.

Or,if you do not know any of this, the brand name and model number of the computer.

Do you have the most up to date driver for your video card? Sound card? Windows?

 

Which version of Windows (or other operating system) do you have?

 

Which version of Oblivion do you have? Which patches are installed? Are you using Shivering Isles and what patch for it?

 

Are you running Oblivion full screen or in a window?

 

Are you using any helper programs such as OBMM (Oblivion Mod Manager) OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) Wrye Bash or anything else.

 

Have you shut down any background programs that might be running. Some anti virus and other programs like to grab a portion of the system to perform some operation in the background. This can cause Oblivion to crash.

Xfire and other instant messengers can crash Oblivion. An older HP printer driver will cause crashes. Oblivion does not like to share the computer with any other programs.

 

Are you using any mods? and which ones? a true load order might be helpful - the load list you get feom the Oblivion data list is usually NOT in load order.

 

If you need to get a true load order, this might be helpful _ insert link

 

Then, is you computer getting too hot? Usually you can start a game just after powering up cold and run for a while before you start having crashes if you are overheating.

Clean out the dust before adding any fans or more cooling. - Be sure to unplug the computer first!

 

Is your power supply too weak? These crashes can be a freeze - everything stops and will not do anything. or a Shut down and reboot.

Many low end brand name computers are underpowered and undercooled for games such as Oblivion. They were intended for office type use.

 

Before trying anything desperate, such as reinstalling. Clean your system - run the disk clean up utility and remove any unused old programs (have you left a copy of an old game you no longer play on the hard drive?)Then run the defragment utility - if it hasn't been done lately this could take several hours. Oblivion runs much better on a clean and defragged hard drive.

 

If the crash is happening at the same place when you try to go into a certain area, Go somewhere else for a while and work on another quest, then after at least 3 game days have passed come back and try again. Unless you have changed it with a mod, the cell will reset in 3 days and the problem may no longer be there. If it is in an exterior location, try approaching the place from another direction.

 

Then there is one crash that is directly related to the Nvida video cards. Known as 'The Nvida Black Screen Crash' it manifests as the screen suddenly goes all black, EXCEPT you can still hear everything, the HUD is still there, and you can move. Its just black. There is an entire set of fixes for this, and several forums. The usual fix is installing EITHER the unofficial Oblivion Patch mod. OR 'nVida Black Screen Fix Updated' But NOT both.

 

The unofficial Oblivion patch fixes many more small problems in the game. However,It cannot fix problems caused by mods.

 

Found here:

 

nvida Black screen updated: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=17947

 

Unofficial Oblivion Patch: http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5296

You need both the patch and the Hotfix if you use this one.(2 files)

[shacksbeer]

Thank you, after installing "Unofficial Oblivion Patch" and deleting couple of Mods, Oblivion works well now... Well I am happy that the problem was so easy to fix, I hope in the future it will stay o.k. - but with 152 Mods activated at the moment, I'm very lucky that everythinh is fine now ^^

[firefable]

hmmm, well, i stopped using many of my mods. I uninstalled the OBSE and OBMM, and now i run oblivion normally, i deleted all the OBSE mods and now im running about 10 mods (out of 47 i was running before) I admit some of them were useless, so i deleted them. I disabled the autosave, and still fast travelling doesn't work, when i try to save, the game crashes to desktop and when i try to load up that save it says its corrupted. I backed up all my old saves, but I was forced to start a new character. The new character works fine, the load and save, fast travel and autosave work fine. I do regret losing my lvl 52 char, but thats life.... unfair.... grrrr oh well (sigh)

[SoulReaver911]

I'm sorry we weren't much help. However I recommend that you keep your save file for a while. You never know, someone might post an answer.

[firefable]

thats alright. If it cant be saved, it cant be saved. oh well.... thnx anyway

[luceid]

Stupid guess: Is your savefile-folder set to read-only?