Crashes, Freezes, lockups

[BossDweebe]

A while back there was a lengthy discussion on the various causes of crashes of all sorts.

Around that time I started having what were random, and then accumulating lock ups.

Like so many others I kept looking into my mods for the source including ini., load order, and

all that.

What I have found instead is this.

When the game locked up I would press the reboot button (for some reason I was having trouble

getting task manager to pop up over the game so I was unable to close Oblivion that way).

After doing this the game would crash more frequently. If I had any hair I would have been tearing it out

because the next time I went to play (I was doing a lot of mod play testing) things would be alright

for and hour or more then it all started going astray again.

 

What was happening ? By rebooting with the power button I was not clearing the page file.

(My computer is set up to clear the page file at Windows shut down)

The game crashes leaving a blocked up page file. (some of this is Windows debug info from the crash).

Reboot play and crash, more data in the page file = more frequent crash.

 

ANSWER: If your game locks up or crashes and you have to reboot then reboot again through Windows

to clear the page file. If you are able to escape with task manager it may still be a good idea to reboot again.

This has worked for me.

 

On the topic of clearing the page file on shut down. I use software I got from a magazine DVD to do this

(Tweak XP Pro),but I am sure there is a place in Windows where this can be done.

Maybe someone with more tech knowledge can tell us all how to do it.

 

In addition to this it is important to have a good size page file. I thought "I have 2Gig of RAM why do I need

a large page file" - Wrong. It does not matter haw much RAM you have you still need a page file at least

equal to the amount of RAM. One and a half time the RAM is said to be best. Oblivion, especially heavily moded

with hi res textures and all that, requires lots of memory, especially when changing cells a lot, and it will run

smoother if all this is held in the page file.

 

Also when setting up your page file first defrag it by getting rid of it altogether (set to no page file and reboot).

Then set up a new one. Many of the pundits recommend min & max at the same value. I think this keeps it from

getting spread around the drive and fragmented as it does with windows managed size.

[MrCooper2006]

Thanks Boss,

 

This is a nice tip, I will see if it makes a difference as im still getting the crashes from my old post. Though not as many since iv got rid of a few mods.

 

Anyway for Vista/XP to mod the page file you simply go to Control Panel - System - should be in there somewhere. The box itself is pretty self explanatory.

[BossDweebe]

Hello again Coop-

 

Anyway for Vista/XP to mod the page file you simply go to Control Panel - System - should be in there somewhere. The box itself is pretty self explanatory.

I was actually referring to clearing the page file on shut down. The system set up is the place to go to set up the page file,

and the "Windows managed" setting (default) is the least desirable for gamers, but I have not found a setting to clear it on shut down.

BTW: It takes longer to shut down when Windows is set to clear the page file.

 

Also to further clarify what I was talking about with the page file getting clogged. When there is a crash etc. this error is

written to the page file. So if the page file does not get cleared then that error stays, and the errors build up leading to

an increase in frequency of crashes.

[MrCooper2006]

Yeah, see what you mean.

 

I set mine to 6141 which is what was recommended (I have 4gig ram)

 

It does seem to smooth things out a little and the crashes arent as constant.

 

However i still cant find the "clear on shutdown" option, I did have this before but it came with a program i cant remember the name of.

 

I have Ace Utilities and VistaManager but doesnt seem to be in either, if i find it again i'll post back.

 

Cheers