Oblivion keeps crashing!

[chupamaflabla]

Like the tile says my copy of Oblivion keeps crashing. When I click play from the disk menu it closes the menu and loads a small black sreen in the corner of the screen like normal then it just closes instead of going to full screen. I tried finding conflicts between mods and there were none and I also turned off all mods but it still keeps crashing. This might be signifigent, but right befor it started doing this it would randomly in buildings (ussually soon after I entered the building) the screen would go to random weird pictures not from the game or mods and would keep shifting pictures and then would pixelize on the one of the pictures (lots of tiny squares with more squares that had the whold picture in each) and would freeze the whole computer for about 5 min and then my system would un-freeze but the game stayed the same as when the whole system froze. I also tried reinstalling it but that didn't help. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

-Chupa

[Varus Torvyn]

We need a lot more info to help. What your game is patched to, system specs (DXDIAG would be nice), mod list, running Unofficial Patches or no, etc. Bare-bones info isn't enough to go on.

[chupamaflabla]

We need a lot more info to help. What your game is patched to, system specs (DXDIAG would be nice), mod list, running Unofficial Patches or no, etc. Bare-bones info isn't enough to go on.

have the latest patch, no unofficial patches, no idea what dxdiag is but 3ghz dual core cpu 4 gb ram geforce 8800 cs alpha dog eddition, running all official mods excluding battle horn and theives den and kotn. Also running cute elves, akathosh mount, custom race fix, greater souls, runeskulls, sanctum sanctorum, servant of the dawn, fellmoon's dawn, windspear tower, magicreleasecheatgodthingunlimitedmostly, blackpowder bombs, multiple enchantments, glenvar castle, the soul of illithial, assassin's blade, apachii goddes store, malevolent, ancient towers, arashikages gear, bag of holding, kylin, and the lost spires.

[Javalin]

If you still have all of those RAR files.

 

You may have to remove your entire game from your system, removing EVERY trace of it.. that is what i found worked wel when I had your problem.

 

I reinstalled oblivion, making a backup folder so i didn't have to reinstall again- incase it didn't work when i installed mods. Ever since, mine has been working fine. you could try the same?

 

It doesn't sound much like a hardware error at all. I think it might just be a small file error on your oblivion directory

[Varus Torvyn]

DXDIAG stands for "Direct-X Diagnostic." In XP: Start - Run - dxdiag

 

After running it then bring up the resulting .txt fle into Notepad, then copy & paste it into your post.

[bben46]

If you must reinstall, here is my recommended procedure.

 

When you uninstall Oblivion it doesn't really uninstall everything. Then when you start adding mods before you have started the game, some things may not get initialized properly. Here is my recommended procedure for uninstalling and reinstalling.

 

It does not remove your mods, save games or Oblivion.ini. It also does not remove helper programs such as OBSE, OBMM, Wrye Bash, The construction set or any other programs you have installed in the \Oblivion folder or the save game folder. I recommend that you go ahead and delete them, then re download and install them again later.

 

I would appreciate any feedback on this as it is something I expect to post often and I hate to give bogus or useless information.

 

Uninstalling Oblivion

 

My instructions assume you are using Windows XP and have installed Oblivion into the default location. If you are using Vista or Linux, the file locations may be different, however, the procedure will be thae same.

 

For a full reinstall, first you can try to preserve your mods and save games. I recomend that you save them in a new folder with a new name. Create the new folder in C:\Program files\Bethesda Softewrks. Name it Old Files. So it will be C:\Program Files\Bethesda softworks\Old files.

 

Then copy the data folder where your mods are to the new folder - do not erase them, copy them. And in the new folder, rename the \data folder to \olddata. Then copy and rename the folder that has your saved games and Oblivion.ini, C:\documents and settings\your user name\my documents\My Games\oblivion to something like \My games\Old Oblivion - this saves your saved games and the oblivion.ini file.

 

Then, using the original CD, NOT the Launcher on your Hard drive. Select uninstall.

 

After it completes the uninstall, reboot your computer - this is important as it allows Windows to remove some references to the original Oblivion.

 

This would be the time to erase all of the helper programs you have in the \Oblivion folder. Such as OBMM, OBSE and some others. The simplest way is to erase the folder completely. The new install will re create the folder for you along with a fresh oblivion.ini and when you start the game and make a save, a new save folder and new \data folder.

 

This would also be a good time to do a file clean up and defragment your hard drive.

 

 

Now to Reinstall.

 

Again using the original CD, install Oblivion.

 

Before adding any mods, patches, helper programs, Shivering Isles or anything else, start the game and make a save. This initializes some stuff that needs to be initialized.

 

If you are using the Game of the Year version of Oblivion you should not need any patches, skip the patching part.

 

Now, If you DO NOT use Shivering Isles, patch the game using ONLY the latest Oblivion patch. All of the stuff from the earlier patches is included.

 

Be sure you use the proper language patch. If you use the wrong one it may work, but with a strange mixture of languages. (Germanglish?) Or it may crash.

 

NOTE: there are two English Patches UK & US and they are different. (Some people actually think we speak the same language) Use the one that matches your original disk.

 

If you use Shivering Isles, Install it now. DO NOT install the Oblivion patch. Install Shivering Isles, then ONLY the latest Shivering Isles patch. All of the updates for Oblivion are included. There is only one Shivering Isles patch for both US & UK English

 

Now, again start the game and make a save. Test to be sure everything is working right (No purple objects or yellow blocks)

 

Before adding any mods, back up both your \data folder and the save game folder. Copy them, don't move or rename them, to a different folder - such as \Bethesda\Clean Oblivion\data and \Bethesda\clean Oblivion\saves. Note that this is a different folder than the one used for your old data and saves.

 

Note, Your Oblivion.ini file is in the same folder, but separate from, the save game folder.

 

Now, if you want to try to run with your old mods, first rename the original folders. The \data folder to \newdata and the \oldata back to \data. this restores all of your mods. You should now have 2 data folders \data, and \newdata in your \oblivion folder

 

To restore your original saves and ini file, rename the new My Games\Oblivion to something like \New Oblivion. and the \Old oblivion to \oblivion - this restores all of your saved games and your original Oblivion.ini file.

 

DO NOT erase the files you renamed. These are your backup files in case the original mods do not work or give you the same problem.

 

If you have the same problem, it is most likely caused by a mod. However, you now have a clean install to fall back on. You can rename the files back to what they were and be back to your clean install without having to reinstall again.

 

Sounds like lots of work, but you will have a clean install and a back up clean install when you are finished.

 

Post your comments here: http://s1.zetaboards.com/TheStormRavenLibrary/forum/236320/

[Varus Torvyn]

Nice post, bben. It has been so long since I've had to reinstall Oblivion that I can't remember the locations offhand, but you might want to consider adding instructions for RegEdit to clean out the Oblivion Registry Entries prior to a reinstall.

[Guest]

I have done the complete reinstall of Oblivion, no mods are in use, and all traces I could find have been removed- yet a few seconds into the game, the game crashes- is this just a problem with my computer, or am I missing something?