Oblivion Freezing at Load (Before Main Menu)

[Hickory]

I don't see anything untoward in there, though there are a lot that I don't recognize.

 

Have you been through your BOSS log, because that is usually a mine of useful information re. stuff like dirty mods, incompatibilities, etc? It's worth going through it thoroughly.

[Kymarcher]

Yeah I'm going to clean some mods and see if that helps. Other than that boss hasn't said much.

[dubiousintent]

Just some general solutions that might apply here.

 

@ Problem

Oblivion crashes on startup, I don't even get to the main menu.

Cause 1

Other programs disrupting disk operation, or you have old save games and settings in the (My Documents/My Games/Oblivion) folder.

Solution 1

Disable them. Most likely you'll have to switch off your antivirus (if it scans all files you access), Google Desktop (same), possibly any P2P apps running in the background (they are rather disk-intense and memory-heavy) and anything that could pop up a message from system tray during the game (email notifiers, instant messengers, automatic updaters). This is the recommended minimum, but for optimal performance and stability turn off everything that is not essential to the system operation, freeing up resources for the game. You can safely switch this all back on after you finished playing. Note the firewall apps shouldn't affect the game stability (theoretically...) so feel free to leave them on, or if you feel unsafe, disable the network connection together with the firewall for time of playing.

Solution 2

Replace the Oblivion.ini in the (My Documents/My Games/Oblivion) folder with a backup copy, or completely remove so it is recreated. May also require reinstalling mods which modify the ini if this corrects the load problem. Also, check that any selected font files (such as DarnUI provides) have been installed in the fonts folder. "MyFiles\Oblivion\INI Backups" has a copy of the last known working version of "Oblivion.ini", along with versions at various stages of mod implementation.

Solution 3

Move all files in (My Documents/My Games/Oblivion) to a different location. Start the game and see if it works. If it does then you may copy back the "Save" folder back in.

 

Cause 2

Mods selected without having the correct master files

Solution

Check through all mods and ensure they have the required master files present and clicked on.

 

Cause 3

DirectX is missing newer d3dx9 revision files.

Solution

Download and install the newest DirectX End-User Runtime. [http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35]

 

Cause 4

Installing a mod in the wrong folder, i.e placing a "textures" or "meshes" folder with files in them, in the root folder instead of in the data folder.

Solution

Remove/move mods that are out of place. Almost all mods should go to the data folder, unless otherwise specified.

 

Cause 5 (as of 23 Jul 2012)

'Better Cities IC Waterfront FPS Patch.esp' from BBC 5.2.0 has a pair of placed references which the patch is overriding with invalid base formIDs, they are xx112FD2 and xx112FD2. It also injects two disabled references that no longer exist in Better Imperial City.esp, they are xx110122 and xx110124. These cause a CTD when merged into a WB Bashed Patch.

Solution

Disable the 'Better Cities IC Waterfront FPS Patch.esp' and rebuild the Bashed Patch, until this file is fixed.

 

-Dubious-