Weird Anequina crash

[AnubisRaven]

So, I recently got Elsweyr, Deserts of Anequina, and, while it's been working great for the most part, there is one pretty big problem.

 

Whenever I try to cross back into Cyrodiil, whether by fast travel or just walking, my game instantly crashes. I have honestly no clue why this happens. Any help?

 

I thought I followed the installation process pretty well, and I've run the DistantLOD.

[dubiousintent]

That's pretty sketchy information to go on.

1. Normally with a CTD you get a Windows error message. What does it say?

2. Are you using BOSS v2.1.0 or an older version? If older, upgrade now and try again.

3. Are you using Wrye Bash v300 or an older version? If older, upgrade now, rebuild your patch, and try again.

4. If you disable Elsweyr, do you have any CTDs or other problems?

5. Are you using any patches with Elsweyr?

6. Any Unique Landscape mods?

7. How confident are you about your Load Order?

8. Have you cleaned all your mods according to the 'Cleaning List' and BOSS recommendations?

 

Meanwhile, here are some general things to look into that most closely match those symptoms.

 

Problem

In some areas the game crashes within seconds of entering the area.

Cause 1

Requirement for specular lighting in the areas, while it has been switched off.

Solution

Set Specular Distance in the in-game video options to minimum.

Workaround

Set the variable bDoSpecularPass in Oblivion.ini to 1 if you switched it off before. You can turn it back off after you're past the problem area.

 

Cause 2

Corrupted master file. Casual crashes in Oblivion are to be expected, but sometimes the crash corrupts the master file causing exceptional crashiness in damaged areas (and as result likehood for further corruption of the file).

Workaround

Be in the first person perspective mode. As soon as you enter the area, look straight down at the floor and run to the desired exit door using your feel (map, hints from the floor looks), without looking up. Of course you can't do much in such areas that way. It can get you, say, across the Skingrad castle courtyard though.

Solution

Reinstall Oblivion. Your saves shouldn't be lost but just in case back them up (My Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves) then uninstall Oblivion (with Add/Remove Programs), reboot, install Oblivion again, possibly reboot again. Most likely your savegames are still present, if not, recover from backup. Don't start with a savegame created in the crashy area, pick an earlier one if needed. If you would prefer not to reinstall the game, you can restore your autosave. Go to your Saves directory (commonly C:\Documents and Settings\"user name"\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Saves) and delete autosave.ess. Then rename autosave.bak to autosave.ess. Occasionally, the .ess and .bak will not have been generated during the same save, so restoring the .bak will result in starting from 2nd most recent autosave point. For reasons unclear, following the steps in Solution 2 will cease corruption of autosave files also.

Solution 2

Stop overwriting existing save files and avoid using Quicksave. Disabling quicksaves will have a dramatic effect in reducing crashes. Supporting the hypothesis that corrupted saves cause game crashes rather than game crashes corrupt saves, it seems that clicking "new save" everytime will eliminate those pesky "crash on area transition" crashes. Autosave is still ok.

 

Cause 3

iShadowMapResolution was changed from 1024 to 256 in Oblivion.ini for patch 1.2

Solution

Open Oblivion.ini. Find iShadowMapResolution. Change 256 to 1024. Close Oblivion.ini and save changes.

 

Cause 4

HDR lighting is enabled

Solution

Just go into video settings and turn HDR lighting off.

 

Cause 5

Internal shadows are turned off. Sometimes going through a door will immediately CTD.

Solution

Turn on Internal shadows.

 

-Dubious-

[AnubisRaven]

I believe I figured out the problem. I had previously bought a War Elephant. When I killed the Elephant and tried to fast travel to a Cyrodiil location again, it worked. Not sure why this would prompt a CTD when I just crossed over, but mods can be weird sometimes.

 

To answer your questions, no error message was given, I just updated BOSS, and ran it, but that didn't help, I can't figure out how to use Wrye Bash for the life of me. Honestly, I've had it for maybe half a year now, and I'm not even sure what it does.

 

EDIT: nevermind. Problem is definitely not solved. Still getting fast travel CTD when I try to go to Leyawiin, or the stables outside Leyawiin. Haven't tried many other regions. Seems like I can fast travel to the Imperial City Marketplace at least, but it's weird. NPC's no longer have voices or lip-sync.

Edited August 26, 2012 by AnubisRaven

[dubiousintent]

1. The documentation for Wrye Bash has been vastly improved in v300. WB is well worth the time invested to learn it. The BAIN 'Installers' tab alone is worth it even if you never merge any plugins. Among many other things, it tells you exactly which mods 'conflict' with each other. The Bashed Patch lets 'conflicting mods' combine the non-conflicting parts together, and also lets you determine which of the parts that do directly conflict you want to 'win'. It really is indispensable if you have more than a couple of mods. Check out the thread 'OBMM alternative or solution' for other reasons.

2. In addition to the updated documentation of WB v300, you want to check out the ''Wrye Bash Pictorial Guide". It's specifically written to help you get started with WB, and utilized by even experienced WB users. It's a great complement to the official docs.

3. No error given? That's a graceful, if unexpected, exit; not a CTD. Then check in the Windows Eventlog, for the "Application Errors". log. Google it if you don't know where to find that. Hint: It's in "Administrative Tools".

 

-Dubious-

[AnubisRaven]

Ok, I'll try and learn it.

 

Anyway, I did a complete reinstall of Oblivion. Reinstalled all the mods I had installed previous to Anequina, and tried to make a new game. As far as I can tell, everything works fine, except for one thing, the voices and lipsync for EVERYONE is still missing. What's going on here?

[dubiousintent]

Anyway, I did a complete reinstall of Oblivion. Reinstalled all the mods I had installed previous to Anequina, and tried to make a new game. As far as I can tell, everything works fine, except for one thing, the voices and lipsync for EVERYONE is still missing. What's going on here?

When you re-installed, did you remove your old Oblivion.ini file, which is located in your 'My Documents\My Games\Oblivion' folder? You should rename or move it as well.

Did you go through the Options setting on the first menu screen? Where it detects your hardware and builds the Oblivion.ini file? Once you have done that, then compare the old INI and the new one and slowly make the tweaks to the new one. Some mods (especially OBSE and UI types), make changes to your INI that will cause problems if they aren't present.

Did you backup or remove your Data folder? With a complete re-install it would be best to also reinstall the OBSE plug-ins as well. Clear out any you are no longer use. Unused dlls can cause problems.

And you may have forgotten since you last installed, but a 'silent voice' plugin is needed for dialogs that are not voice-acted to display long enough to read. Elys' Universal Silent Voice is such an OBSE plugin.

 

-Dubious-