Essell Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Hi guys. Here's the deal. I've been playing Oblivion on and off for about a year-and-a-half now. Like so many, I have been through the gamut of crash types, caused by such issues as application conflict, overtaxed memory, mod conflict, and the ever endearing "I'm Oblivion and that's just what I do, so there" quirk, and have learned to fix them all (with the exception of the last) one by one. The latest is something beyond my range of knowledge, and I am hoping someone might be willing to share theirs. First, the hardware. My CPU is an Athlon 64x2 dual-core, nice n' fast, I am running with 1 GB ram (I know, I know, I really need to add more), and am using an Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card. Yes, I have experienced the blackscreen problem which I understand to be quite common with users of GeForce 7- and 8-series cards, but this really hasn't proven to be a major issue for me. So, it has been awhile since I upgraded my video-card drivers, and thought it would be in my best interest to do so. It's what all the other kids at school are doing, right? Well, I logged on to Nvidia's site, downloaded the upgraded drivers, and then set out to play what I thought would be a slightly smoother game of Oblivion. However, as soon as the Bethsedsa logo began to appear, the game abruptly crashed back to the desktop. I tried several more times with the same result. I then turned off all mods and downloadable content, going "vanilla". Same result. Thinking I had a bad download, I uninstalled the new drivers, reinstalled them, yet still experienced the immediate crash. So here I was thinking that "upgrade" = better, faster, stronger, higher in calcium, etc. Apparently not(?). I could just go back and reinstall the original drivers, but I am certain there must be a way to configure the new to work properly. However, I am unfortunately unfamiliar with the exciting world of video card tweaking, and could use some assistance. I would be very, very appreciative of any suggestions or assistance. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaugain Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Hmm, I'm not very familiar with Nvidia graphics drivers but it seems that some of the older driver it wasn't uninstall properly. Did you upgrade your latest drivers on top of the older ones? I usually uninstall the older one, clean my system, defragment, restart, and install the new ones just to make sure everything goes smooth.(I'm running XP Pro) There is also a software which deal with most of the bad drivers installation, but it's not free.....this is the link to it: http://www.drivercleaner.net/ ....., although, I'm not sure that you really need it, but you can check their forums for more info. Hope this helps a bit. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrmaad Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Not sure if it will help since I'm using the even more inferior Nvidea 7350, but Nvidea updated their drivers in May, and I downloaded that one with no troubles.. About 2 weeks ago Nvidea released some newly updated drivers, and my friendly and helpful :whistle; auto-update function grabbed them so I allowed them to install. Immediately my game started crashing. I just rolled back the install to the May version and I had no more troubles. I wonder if you could try finding a little earlier release for your card, maybe it will do the trick for you too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varus Torvyn Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 I'm using a 7800 GTX, with WHQL Driver 175.19 installed. A long time ago I used to install over the old one, until I found out that nVidia recommends uninstalling the old one first. Also, they recommend you deactivate any download accelerators and just let Windows handle the download. I'm not experiencing any Oblivion-related problems with 175.19. I'm also running XP SP3. I too had the Black Screen problems, so I got in touch with Kivan (Unofficial Patches) and he gave me a 7800 GTX-specific fix. If you have the latest Unofficial Patches installed, go to C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Data\Meshes\Dungeons then find and delete all files labeled "Cobweb.nif". That won't break your game. Those files are telling the 7-Series nVidia cards to do a task they cannot do (it's 8-Series & higher). If you're using the nVidia Black Screen Fix mod, place it as far down in your load-order as possible, especially after mods that change interior cells. I offer this suggestion to help you on some other Black Screen, load-order, and other issues that I posted to help out another member who had a 7-Series card like ours. Please take a look at this topic, as I believe it has a lot of info that will help you. Black Screen Topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essell Posted July 31, 2008 Author Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thanks for the prompt input! So..no, I didn't uninstall the original drivers first. I just downloaded the new drivers over the old thinking the latest would simply update what I already had in there. I did perform an uninstall/reinstall of the new drivers after realizing there was a problem, however. Would this not have erased the old drivers as well, or are they still floating about in my hard drive? I am also not using any download accelerator programs, as far as I am aware. The only such thing running is the Installshield Wizard that comes with the XP package. Does this need to be disabled? If so, how do I go about this? Gaugain: I will definitely follow your advice and do a clean, defragment, etc. during my next attempt. I also had already taken a look at drivecleaner, but opted out of paying for a program I would use only on rare occasions. Thanks, though. myrmaad: If worse comes to worse I will certainly go back and download 175.16 instead, as you suggested. Never hurts to go back to what works. Varus Torvyn: I suppose I should direct the question regarding download accelerators to you (see above). Also, I had no idea that mods/fixes for the blackscreen problem were available. Thanks ever so! That info alone was worth this post. At any rate, any further input before I delve into this again would be most appreciated. Cheers to all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varus Torvyn Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thanks for the prompt input! So..no, I didn't uninstall the original drivers first. I just downloaded the new drivers over the old thinking the latest would simply update what I already had in there. I did perform an uninstall/reinstall of the new drivers after realizing there was a problem, however. Would this not have erased the old drivers as well, or are they still floating about in my hard drive? I am also not using any download accelerator programs, as far as I am aware. The only such thing running is the Installshield Wizard that comes with the XP package. Does this need to be disabled? If so, how do I go about this? Gaugain: I will definitely follow your advice and do a clean, defragment, etc. during my next attempt. I also had already taken a look at drivecleaner, but opted out of paying for a program I would use only on rare occasions. Thanks, though. myrmaad: If worse comes to worse I will certainly go back and download 175.16 instead, as you suggested. Never hurts to go back to what works. Varus Torvyn: I suppose I should direct the question regarding download accelerators to you (see above). Also, I had no idea that mods/fixes for the blackscreen problem were available. Thanks ever so! That info alone was worth this post. At any rate, any further input before I delve into this again would be most appreciated. Cheers to all!You're welcome. Glad I could help. Your Installshield Wizard is fine - that's standard Windows fare. Download accelerators are file download applications that take over from Windows and do the downloading job (usually much faster). I'm using Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) Premium Edition by Speedbit. I disable it before I download a new driver from nVidia. After downloading a new driver, your next step should be to uninstall the old one. The most important step after that is to always do a Restart before you install the new one. This is so your PC is starting fresh, with all system variables reset. Then do another Restart after installing the new driver, again so your PC is set correctly. And I'm sure you already know about having to tweak your Desktop settings and such back to your liking after the new driver is fully installed & your PC restarted. You might do it differently, but I made a shortcut to the Microsoft Device Manager so I could use that to uninstall old drivers. The file I made a shortcut of is C:\Windows\System32\devmgmt.msc If you click on the link I gave you in my previous post, you'll find a whole bunch of links to some good programs that will help you out with Oblivion. Edit - Another good reason to click that link is because the latest Unofficial Patches have the nVidia Black Screen Fix's code merged into them. Even so, having the separate mod is a good idea, as mods can change the "Fog Fix" settings and cause you to have a black screen. Last-loaded mods have precedence, which is why I mentioned putting the black screen mod as far down as possible. It will then override mods setting the Fog. FCOM Helper does a fine job of load-ordering, but you'll need OBMM and/or Wrye Bash to reorder certain mods. I cover that in my link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billypnats Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 have you tried deleting oblivion.ini? that usually solves it =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essell Posted July 31, 2008 Author Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thanks so very much for all the great info. I've actually gone ahead and created a shortcut to the device manager myself, as this seemd to be a capital idea. I've also been using obmm for quite awhile and can only agree as to its efficacy. I'm going to go through the process later on this evening when I have more time, and will post my results tomorrow. Again, thank you.. billypnats: Do you mean that performing this action will solve the driver problem or the blackscreen issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varus Torvyn Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 You shouldn't have to delete the INI file. I certainly didn't have to after doing the fixes I mentioned. By the way, I use almost everything offered for Oblivion: FCOM Helper (you don't have to have the FCOM mod to use this), OBMM, and Wrye Bash. I don't have the Construction Set as of yet, because unfortunately I currently don't have the extended amount of time it takes in order to learn all of the ways to use it correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billypnats Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 Actually when you install new drivers oblivion might have recognized it as new hardware? and when they do that they reset the oblivion.ini file. Might as well try it anyways cus thats the usual suspect for CTD after logo or loading screen stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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